Category: News

{{The head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zambia has denied accusations that her organization is forcing Rwandan refugees to return to their country.

“The UN agency can never be involved in “forced return but does facilitate voluntary repatriation of refugees,”said Joyce Mends-Cole.}}

The Rwandan refugees recently staged a peaceful demonstration in which they accused the UNHCR of working together with the Zambian and Rwandan governments to force them to return to their country under the cessation clause. They argued that it is still not safe to return to their country.

In a statement released on Thursday, UNHCR Representative in Zambia Joyce Mends-Cole said it is not true that the organization is conniving with the two governments to have Rwandan refugees be taken back to their country.

Only those who fled the country as a result of the violence that erupted between 1959 and 1994 in that country will have their refugee status revoked, the official added.

“UNHCR is recommending countries of asylum, including Zambia, to invoke the ‘ceased circumstances cessation clause’ in respect of Rwandan refugees who fled their country of origin between 1959 and Dec. 31, 1998, latest by June 30, 2013,” she said.

“In Zambia, Rwandan refugees who feel that it is not safe for them to return to Rwanda were invited last year to submit individual applications for exemption from cessation. The majority of Rwandans registered as refugees in Zambia applied for exemption, and most of these applications are still in the process of being reviewed and determined,” she added.

As of Dec. 31, 2011, Zambia was hosting 4, 659 refugees at two of its refugees camps Mayukwayukwa and Meheba in the western part of the country.

{{The permanent secretary in the Health Ministry has announced new reforms in service delivery in health centers and hospitals including medical transfers to take effect very soon.}}

Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana told IGIHE.com that the general public has expressed concerns that patients on local health insurance(mituelle) are most of the time ignored and despised at several health centers.

“A patient will no longer get a transfer paper only for sometimes he finds a doctor busy, in meeting and so on, but the transfer provider has to find a proper time, informs a doctor to whom he sends a patient and make sure a patient will find the doctor aware of all his problems.”

Ndagijimana added that a nurse or doctor will get his prime according to his performance at work.

He said, “Suggestion boxes have been established in health centers and hospitals; patients will put out their problems and ideas through those boxes.”

He added that to prevent treachery in report by physicians, the key will be kept by an agent in charge of social affairs in sector or district in which the health institution is located.

This might be one of the solutions to many people who have been facing problems once they are transferred from a health center to a hospital or a hospital to another hospital.

{{Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame attended National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Kagame was accompanied by Hon. Minister Aloisea Inyumba and Rwandan Ambassador to the United States James Kimonyo.}}

The National Prayer Breakfast was Founded in 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, it unites individuals of various nationalities, religions, and political orientation in the power of prayer.

The 60th National Prayer Breakfast took place today in the Nation’s capital Washington, DC and was attended and addressed by U.S President Obama accompanied by the First lady Michelle Obama, Vice president Joe Biden, Cabinet Members, Members of U.S Congress and many other international dignitaries were present.

Rwanda was represented by the First Lady Jeannette Kagame who addressed the Leadership Luncheon attended by more than 3000 guests, including citizens of the United States and 130 nations from all over the world representing different nations and denominations.

In her remarks she noted, “I am truly honoured by the privilege to share with you my country’s ongoing experience and aspirations. Rwanda’s experience is a powerful reminder that, as humans, we are capable of the best and the worst. We bear in mind that evil is never far from us, but we also know that it can always be overcome.”

Mrs. Kagame explained that “However, I remain mindful that my country’s story is only a modest contribution to the collective search for peace, unity and stability. Indeed, we too continue to learn from both our successes and challenges.”

“When Rwanda emerged from the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the country was largely considered as doomed to failure. Our nation’s human and physical infrastructures were in ashes; and our society was deeply divided,” She said.

She added that “Before I take you into the details of Rwanda’s story, let me share with you a story that just came to my mind. In 1994, as the newly established government of national unity made it clear that revenge was not an option, choosing reconciliation and unity as the only way forward.”

“Rwanda’s socio-economic recoveries are the products of its people resilience, sacrifices and resolve to write a new and better chapter in their history.
Today, Rwanda is a secure, stable and developing nation,”She Noted.

{{A commuter bus tout has been injured by his mate with a razorblade tearing his face due to a dispute over frw100 coin. The incident happened at Sonatube bus stop stage at Kicukiro.}}

Jean d’Amour Habanabakize, 28 like other touts that work at the Bus stop stage earns Frw 100 for every commuter bus they fill with passengers.

Habanabakize said, “When a bus approached the bus stop stage, we scrambled for passengers wooing them into the bus however, the scuffle resulted into the bus leaving without passengers entering in it.”

He admits that that cruel action was from all the daytime dispute and he waited until dark.

He said, “After the fight which occurred during the day, I went home and returned in the evening thinking that all is over; suddenly, an unrecognized person crushed me in the face with a razor blade and nearly killed me.”

Habanabakize says that he has a problem of the payment for after being wounded, he was taken to CHUK.

He says, “I thought the guy would pay for my treatment he was provisionally freed without any contribution.”

Me Furaha Mbaraga, a lawyer, says that the suspect could not keep busy with the treatment for there is no proof of guilt for him.

“He would better follow the proceedings of his trial, otherwise provisional releasing does not mean the suspect is frank,” Me Mbaraga said.

He added that once the suspect is proved guilty, he will be punished by the law besides paying all the money you spent at the hospital.

Habanabakize says he is worried about the hospital debt worth Frw 39, 416 he consumed within three days he spent at hospital. He says he has no health insurance (mituelle de Sante).

{{What is B2R Scholars?}}

Bridge2Rwanda Scholars is a comprehensive program to help Rwanda’s best students prepare and show they are qualified for university in the U.S. We work with outstanding students to help them show they are good enough to succeed at US schools and to try to win scholarships.

{{How does your program work in practice?}}

We offer classes, similar to an intensive 7th year of secondary school. The difference is our classes focus on preparing students to transition into university in the US. This means our students work mostly in reading and writing in English, to improve until they are good enough to work in these subjects in a US university.

This is a very high level and requires a great deal of work from our students, but the results in our first group have been great.
The secondary benefit of the reading and writing work is that our students’ test scores improve greatly for the TOEFL and SAT exams they need to do well on, in order to show they are qualified to attend school in the US.

{{What have your results been so far?}}

Our typical student comes to us with a good TOEFL score, but an SAT score that is too low to apply for admission to US schools, and too low to win a scholarship. After they work on their reading and writing for six months, in addition to the other training and activities we provide them, our students’ test results are now good enough that they can often apply to the best schools in the US, and hope to get in with scholarships!

{{What does a typical Bridge2Rwanda scholar look like?}}

Our Scholars are very hard-working, ambitious students who want to achieve the best that they can for themselves and their country. Their English is very good to outstanding, and their secondary grades and national exam are outstanding. But above all, these are students who will work as hard as they can to realize their dreams.

We are doing this program because we see an opportunity for ourselves to help Rwandan students achieve great things, and because we think students who attend university in the US have the potential to be great future leaders in Rwanda. The goal, in fact, is to help Rwanda’s best students get the education they deserve, so that they can contribute as much as possible to the future of their country — so that they can be the future leaders of their country.

{{Besides classes, what else does the program involve?}}

When we started this program, we had a challenge: to help Rwandan students succeed at university in the US. When we looked at this goal, we realized very quickly that we had to provide training in quite a few different areas, to make sure our students are ready for college, to help them find the right school and get accepted, and to make sure they can succeed as they make the transition.

We provide all of the support our students need in order to succeed in this process, from classes to a resource lab that includes library and computers, to help finding the right schools and support at each step of the application process. The applications are so complicated; the only way to get through them is to work with someone who has already applied!

And now, we are providing additional classes to our students who have already applied to schools, so that they will be ready to walk into a university classroom from the first day.

{{What is the timeline for your program?}}

Our first group started in May 2011, studied through November and wrote the different exams (TOEFL, SAT and SAT subject tests) from August to December. The students worked on their applications from August and submitted most of them in December, with a few more this month.

They will hear back from schools mostly in February and especially March, but we have a few results already: 2 students have been admitted and started school in the US, while 2 more students have already been admitted to other universities and are waiting to hear back from more!

{{What kind of scores do students need to apply to US schools?}}

To apply to the hardest schools (which also have the most money for scholarships), a student needs to get a 600 or higher on the TOEFL. For the SAT, they should do as well as they can, ideally above 1800 since this is a score that an American might have to get into the same schools.

For the reading section on the SAT, students should try to get a 600 to get into the best schools, so that is the score to try for. In our first group of Scholars, nine of our students had TOEFL scores above 600 and nine of them also had SAT scores of 1500 or
higher.

{{What have you learned from the first group of students?}}

This is a remarkable process. To take one example: one of our Scholars came to us with scores that he couldn’t send anywhere, and after six months of hard work, he now has improved so much that he can apply to any school in the US. And if he gets in, this will be with a scholarship. And this is a typical outcome for us, to have students make that kind of improvement.

We take students who have the potential to succeed but who need to work a great deal, which we help them to do. After six months, the student who came to us with scores that she couldn’t send anywhere now has scores that are quite strong for African students.

More importantly, they are the best scores this student could get. So our students have great intelligence, the ability to work hard and potential, and we help them show what they can do.

{{The 5-pound male baby gorilla was born Jan. 23 in his mother’s cage at the Gulf Breeze Zoo in Florida, according to Griffin and zoo veterinarian Natalie Dyson who performed a cesarean section on the baby’s mother, a western lowland gorilla named Rwanda.}}

“I loved it,” said Griffin, who has a practice in Gulf Breeze. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be that close to such beautiful creatures. I was just in awe.”

The baby, who has not been named yet, may be on display as early as Saturday. Zoo workers are wrapping up renovations to a building near the train station that will serve as his nursery for the next five months.

His mother’s pregnancy caught the staff off guard. Rwanda had rejected a number of young male gorillas loaned to the zoo for breeding purposes through a Species Survival Plan approved by the American Zoological Association, said Kayte Wanko, the zoo’s director.

Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered. When the zoo changed hands two years ago, those gorillas were returned and all that remained were the zoo’s gorillas 25-year-old Rwanda and a 19-year-old male named Babuka, who had been living alone.

Because primates are social animals, the decision was made to reintroduce Rwanda and Babuka in the hopes they would keep each other company.

They did more than that. Nine months ago, zoo employees walked in on the couple when they were mating.

“It was a private matter that we happened to interrupt,” Wanko said. “We knew almost exactly when we were expecting our baby.”

The gestation period for gorillas is eight and a half months, which zoo staff members used to research and prepare for the birth and for the possibility that Rwanda, who has spent most of her adult life at the zoo, would not know how to nurse or care for her infant.

The gorillas, which share an island on the zoo’s reserve, spent the entire pregnancy together until the last month, when they separated at night.

“Rwanda decided later in her pregnancy that she did not want to spend the night with him,” Wanko said. “She was getting agitated when he would bother her.”

When Rwanda went into labor Jan. 22, staff members monitored her behavior closely. She did well for the first six to eight hours, after which her labour stopped progressing. Griffin was called in and the c-section was performed in Rwanda’s cage.

“The gorilla and human anatomy are very similar,” Griffin said. “(Dyson) took care of the anesthesia. She took care of the baby. We both did the c-section.”

It was Griffin who reached in and pulled the baby gorilla out, feet first.

“Dr. Dyson had to give the baby mouth-to-mouth,” she said. “It was a very courageous act.”

Wanko said the baby will stay in the nursery until he is 5 months old, at which point he can be safely reintroduced to his mom.
In the wild, gorillas nurse their babies for the first four or five years. Rwanda was unable to produce milk and showed behavior that were potentially threatening to the infant.

Wanko said that at 5 months, the baby will be old enough to get supplemental feedings, but young enough so he and his mother can bond.

“I’m not concerned that she won’t want to take care of her infant,” she said. “She’s extremely maternal. But it’s always a concern with a first-time mom that they don’t understand breastfeeding. The sensation, they don’t like it.”

Rwanda and Babuka were back together several days after the delivery, although they continue to maintain separate bedrooms.
“We’re going to slowly introduce them back in the house at night,” Wanko said.

Ultimately, it’s up to Rwanda to decide when the two will resume other activities. “When she’s ready, she’ll let him know.”

{{A new and hip radio station is on air. This new radio station will pick its name through the millions of choices that will be given by listeners calling in where the lucky winner will receive a prize of US$ 100.}}

The new nameless radio station broadcasting on 98.7FM is a recently launched radio station run by a group of young entrepreneurs and former Rwandan radio presenters.

“The radio has remained nameless because we want the listeners to call in and pick out what they would like to call the show; we want the public to feel involved in the process,” a source said preferring to remain anonymous.

The lucky winner will win US$100 if their proposal for the name of the station as well as the kinds of shows, news, and ways to start the morning win over the committee responsible for picking the name from many suggested by listeners.

The radio station will pick its winner name before the official launch. A source told IGIHE.com that the name should be a name found befitting, inspiring and captures the essence of the stations aims and goals in providing what the audiences wants!

The official launch will be on the 6TH of February 2012, at Serena hotel in Kigali, where the hosts and members invited will attend the event after the name and winner have been finalised.

The radio facebook page has over 200 likes-hits. A source further said that this radio doesn’t represent any specific theme, its presenters range from the ages of 18years and above to cater for all interests of various age groups.

{{President Paul Kagame in his first 2012 monthly press briefing has said that it is pathetic to find Africa with all its resources was reluctant in constructing the new African Union head Quarters in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. }}

“It is ok to receive donation from China but on the other hand it’s pathetic to find Africa with all its resources was reluctant in constructing the building. The donation is a symptom to a big problem, Africa needs to do more to stand on its own,” said Kagame.

The African Union (AU) last weekend unveiled its new headquarters worth US$ 200million that was financed by the government of the Peoples Republic of china.

Critics argue that the construction that was financed entirely by the People’s Republic of China is a manifestation of the dependency on foreign AID that Africa has become.

Kagame’s reaction was triggered by the issue of Africa’s growing dependence on foreign aid adding it was a disgrace since the continent has enough resources to grow economies in member states.

During his periodical press conference, President Kagame has advised on the need to build national capacity to facilitate solving internal issues, the aim is to avoid outsiders in interfering in solving local problems which they often do so to pursue their own interests.

The press conference further covered issues related to both local and regional.
Concerning free education in the country, the president cautioned teachers who send away students who have failed to pay maintenance fee adding that it was not compulsory but rather voluntary.

About complaints from teachers over low salaries, Kagame noted for the meantime the government doesn’t have enough money to pay them according to what they think is handsome but rather wants to offer them credit through Mwalimu Sacco’s so they can improve their welfare in forming income generating activities.

In regard to deportation of genocide suspect Leon Mugesera from Canada, Kagame explained that the transfer process wasn’t a favour to Rwanda since the local judiciary has shown the potential to work professionally and that other foreign countries harboring genocide suspects should replicate Canada’s move and deport them to Rwanda to answer for their crimes.

The president further reminded members of the press on government priorities for this year which include food security, social transformation, peace and security and investments which are expected to boost the country’s economy.

“We will also enhance food security to be sufficient enough for exporting,” said Kagame.

{{Police has arrested a school Headmistress of Nawe 9YBE school in Rubona sector ,Rwamagana district and four other accomplices for embezzling 62 sacks of cement that were meant for constructing Nine Year Basic Education (9YBE) class rooms.}}

According to a police statement the arrested have been identified as Mukashyaka Venancia the headmistress, Jean de Dieu Twagirayezu the store man, Faustin Nizeyimana a mason and Leonce Rugoboka the night guard.

Police sources in Rwamagana said residents close to the school premises called for police intervention after seeing Nizeyimana carrying half a bag of cement from the school store on the evening of January 17.

Police investigations later indicated that up to 62 bags of cement and 54 timber logs had been siphoned.

Asked about the whereabouts of the stolen construction materials, Mukashyaka conceded that though she knew about the missing construction materials, she did not know how they were stolen.

Police Spokesperson Superintendent Theos Badege cautioned those involved in stealing construction materials meant for schools that the law would strike hard on them.

“We shouldn’t keep a blind eye while some people are trying to steal construction materials meant for schools after all they are bought by tax payers money and are meant for the common good”, Badege said.

Supt Badege commended citizens for their role in the apprehension of the suspects urging citizens to vigilant and always report any cases of embezzlement and misuse of government property.

{{In a monthly press briefing today, President Paul Kagame has described the indictments by the Spanish Judge as confused political rubbish and not different from the indictments by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.}}

“All these indictments were created to tie the hands of Rwandans and preventing us from moving forward,” President Kagame noted.

The Spanish indictments are still standing. Among the indicted are 40 current or former Rwandan military officers for several counts of genocide and human rights abuses and terrorism during the 1990s when several Rwandans died or disappeared.

Asked on what he is thinking about confronting the Spanish indictments, President Kagame responded saying, “the Spanish indictments are only slightly different but they continue from Bruguere indictments. The same witnesses in the Bruguere case would be sent to provide information in the Spain case.”

Kagame explained that the Spanish case is confused. “It starts by indicting the RPF not for crimes committed during the war, the killing of Habyarimana according to them but It starts from the birth of RPF. According to the Spanish Judge the birth of RPF was a crime and continues to incorporate these other crimes.”

“The case in France started by Bruguere has more influence on what happens to the Spanish case. You can’t dismiss one case and retain the other. The Spanish and Bruguere indictments were more about inconveniencing Rwanda and making sure that our hands are tied,” Kagame noted.

Kagame Narrated, “In fact even with Rose Kabuye’s case, when German was to send her to France, France would say they didn’t ask for her. But german would later say they arrested her under the usual France-German cooperation this is what we had to do. The France would tell German why don’t you let her go maybe she could be arrested another day.”

Rose Kabuye was arrested at a German airport on a French warrant on causing extended wave of protests by Rwandans allover the world.

Rwanda government then formally protested to Germany over Kabuye’s detention, she immediately waived an extradition hearing by asking to be transferred to Paris, France.

The German authorities had forewarned Kabuye that she was likely to be detained, but she chose to travel to Europe anyway because a trial would expose France’s politically motivated attempts to whitewash its own complicity in the 1994 Rwanda Tutsi genocide.

The government of Rwanda considered the indictments as an abuse of international law,political and judicial bullying that Rwanda would not accept.

Bruguière had alleged in his indictment that Kabuye,who retired from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel, and other senior RPF officials assassinated Habyarimana as “the necessary precondition for seizing power by force”. She was “inscribed in a vast plan worked out to this end”, Bruguière claimed.

Kagame explained that “These indictments are just political things. Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière had clearance from politicians..This communication is known and it was political rubbish. If justice is to be universal, the reverse should be true.”