IGIHE

Category: People

  • Widow Offered Material Support

    {{A widow, resident at Kinyiya sector, Gasabo District , has reason to smile after a surprise visit by a team of ten staff members of Digital Opportunity Trust-DOT Rwanda.}}

    Mukabutera Illuminee 50, is a widow and has three children., she survived the 1994 Genocide against ethnic Tutsi’s which claimed a million lives.

    During their visit on June 28, Mukabutera was provided with support including; sannitary materials, 2 materesses worth Frw120,000, and 2 bags of rice, 3 bags of sugar, 3 bags of beans all worth Frw100,000.

    Mukabutera is among among 60 vulnerable women who still live in an abyss of sorrow.

    She basically depends on the assistance from AVEGA Agahozo – an association of the widows of victims of the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi and other donations.

    She lives a slim house, where she still facing a critical life condition.

    Violette Uwamutara, DOT Rwanda Country Director, said that their support is not only an assistance they can deliver, but also an obligation in Rwandan society.

    “When having a glance to the past and considering how Genocide destroyed the whole country, we decided, as youth to act. We belong to the same past, even the consequences” Mentioned Uwamutara.

    “We shall comfort each other, someone who didn’t die will not perish”, Emmanuel Nzeyimana, DOT Rwanda Program Manager emphasized.

    “A large number of perpetrators were youth, we shall, in turn rehabilitate and rebuild” He noted.

    “I am thankful indebt, may God consider your act. And i hope i will long an instance” Mukabutera said.

  • Man Beheads Wife After Quarrel

    {{Reports from Kenya indicate that a 50- year-old man went berserk in Kinangop area Nyandarua County and decapitated his wife of twenty years following a domestic quarrel.}}

    The trader stabbed his wife to death before chopping of her head.

    Police say he hid the body in the house in Ndunyu Njeru trading center before the murder was discovered.

    When cornered, the father of one tried to commit suicide at a Naivasha lodging but he was rushed to hospital and later arrested.

    According to neighbors, trouble started on Thursday last week when the man arrived from Nairobi where he operates a night club.

    The witness said that the man who had earlier fallen out with the wife demanded that she joins him in his business but she declined.

    The man is said to have summoned his wife from a burial she was attending on Thursday and that was the last time she was seen.

    Confirming the incident, Nyandarua South OCPD Samson Munyao said the body was discovered by the couple’s daughter.

    “The body had several knife wounds and the head had been completely severed at the neck,” he said on phone.

    Munyao said the daughter traveled from Murang’a where she is married after failing to reach the mother on phone.

    “The door was locked from the outside and on checking through the window she spotted the lifeless body lying on bed and called on the police,” he said.

    {standard}

  • Obama, Bush Honour Embassy Bombing Victims

    {{US President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush joined up in Africa Tuesday to honour those killed in the US embassy bombing in Tanzania in 1998.}}

    Democrat Obama and Republican Bush arrived at a memorial to the bombing victims, a block of stone in a new embassy compound in Dar es Salaam, together in a rare meeting of US leaders on foreign soil.

    They stood side by side and bowed their heads in a moment of silence, after a US Marine fixed a red, white and blue wreath on a stand, and then greeted American and Tanzanian guests.

    The event came on the final day of Obama’s Africa tour and while Bush was on the continent to promote humanitarian programs run by his policy centre.

    The actual site of the embassy bombing, which was carried out by Al-Qaeda and killed 11 people, is a mile and a half away from the new US compound.

    Fifteen Tanzanians who worked at the embassy and who survived the attack are still employees of the US mission today, the White House said.

    The bombing was timed to coincide with a separate attack on the US embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi that left 213 dead and several thousand wounded.

    {CapitalFm}

  • Former US Spy Agency Contractor Threatens new Leaks

    {{Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden broke his silence on Monday for the first time since fleeing to Moscow over a week ago, blasting the Obama administration and saying he remained free to make new disclosures about U.S. spying activity.}}

    Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the United States and is believed to be staying in a transit area at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, surfaced with a letter to the Ecuadorean government and in a statement released through anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which has taken up his cause.

    WikiLeaks also released another statement saying Snowden was asking for asylum in several countries, including Russia, China, Brazil, India and Ireland. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was quoted in Britain’s Guardian newspaper as saying his country could not consider an asylum request unless Snowden was on Ecuadorean territory.

    In his WikiLeaks statement, Snowden accused the Obama administration of deception in a campaign to prevent him from finding political asylum and of “leaving me a stateless person” by revoking his U.S. passport.

    Snowden, 30, had not been heard from in the eight days since he flew to Moscow from Hong Kong, where he had first taken refuge after fleeing Hawaii.

    Snowden has sought asylum in Ecuador and in an undated letter sent to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, said the United States was illegally persecuting him for revealing its electronic surveillance program, Prism, but made it clear he did not intend to be muzzled.

    {reuters}

  • Putin Signs ‘Blasphemy’ and ‘Gay Propaganda’ Bills

    {{Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the so-called “blasphemy bill” and the “gay propaganda bill” — two pieces of legislation that have outraged the liberal opposition.}}

    Both bills were passed unanimously by the State Duma on June 11, 2013, and their full texts appeared on the Kremlin’s site Sunday.

    The blasphemy law will punish “public actions expressing obvious disrespect toward society and committed to abuse the religious feelings of believers,” with potential punishment of up to three years behind bars, fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($15,430), and compulsory correctional labor, Lenta.ru reported

    It also stipulates fines of 80,000-300,000 rubles and a prison term of up to three months for hindering the activities of religious organizations and preventing religious rites from being conducted.

    A fine of over 200,000 rubles can be levied for deliberate destruction of religious or theological literature.

    The bill was introduced to the parliament last year following rock group Pussy Riot’s “punk prayer” in Christ the Savior Cathedral, a performance that infuriated conservative leaning segments of Russian society.

    Rights activists say the new law might be used for religious purposes, for example, to put pressure on the opposition or on free speech, and contradicts constitutional principles.

    The legislation on gay propaganda will ban the distribution of any information that could make homosexuality seem attractive, promote the “distorted perception” that traditional and non-traditional sexual relations are equal, or force them to become interested in such relations, according to the bill’s text.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel had asked Putin to veto the bill out of concern that it would lead to discrimination, but her pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

    Citizens found guilty of propagandizing “non-traditional” sexual relations among under 18-year-olds can be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($154), while officials could be fined up to 50,000 rubles.

    The fines could rise to 100,000 rubles for citizens and 200,000 for officials if they use the media to distribute forbidden information.

    Legal entities will have to pay up to 1 million rubles or suspend their activities for 90 days if they are in breach of the legislation. Foreign citizens would face fines and deportation.

    Gay teens, many of whom face debilitating hostility at home and at school, look likely to be the hardest hit by the legislation, because the ban will probably make it harder to find objective information that could help them come to terms with their sexuality and find support

    {The Moscow Times }

  • Michelle Obama tells youth to dream big

    US First Lady Michelle Obama addressed about 200 young people at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg on Saturday and told them to take risks, dream big and to respect the power of education.

    Michelle Obama, who is in South Africa with her husband, US President Barack Obama, told local youth: “We need you guys to step up as leaders.”

    She encouraged them to look up to people like Mandela and the youth of 1976 who fought for a better education in the country.

    The First Lady, dressed in a casual bright green skirt and floral top, was accompanied by her two daughters and mother. On a serious note she asked everyone to pray for the ailing Nelson Mandela.

    {news24}

  • George W. Bush in Zambia again

    {{Former US President George W. Bush arrived Friday in Zambia’s tourist capital Livingstone for a four-day private visit.}}

    Mr Bush’s aircraft touched down at Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International airport Friday morning.

    He was welcomed by Zambian government officials on arrival.

    According to a programme made available to the local media, Mr Bush and his wife Laura are in Livingstone to support the Pink Ribbon-Red Ribbon initiative on cervical and breast cancer interventions.

    The Pink Ribbon-Red Ribbon is an innovative partnership between the US-initiated President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), the George W. Bush Institute, the Zambian government and several other organisations involved in the fight against cervical cancer and HIV/Aids.

    According to the official schedule, Mr Bush will take part in the refurbishment of the Mosi-O-Tunya (local name for Victoria Falls) clinic which is aimed at strengthening Zambia’s ability to detect and treat cervical cancer.

    The former president will also engage in other social outreach activities.

    Only last year, Mr Bush and his wife were in the central district of Kabwe for the same activities.

    An estimated 40,000 Zambian women have been screened for cervical cancer following the international launch of the Pink-Ribbon initiative two years ago, according to the organisation.

    {NMG}

  • European Femen Activists Released from Tunisia Jail

    {{A Tunisian court has released three European (one German and two French) feminist activists who staged a topless protest in Tunis last month against the government.}}

    Wednesday’s release of the three women, who are members of women’s rights group Femen, comes ahead of a planned visit by French President Francois Hollande early next month.

    The decision to jail the three European women angered France, Germany and Tunisia’s main economic ally European Union who urged the government to regulate its laws on freedom of expression.

    They were sentenced to four months in jail for indecency and attacking the public morals earlier this month after their protest on May 29 to call for the release of fellow Tunisian activist Amina Tyler.

    The 18-year old Tyler is still in custody, awaiting trial. She was arrested in Kairouan on May 19 after she hung a feminist banner from the wall of a mosque and tried to bare her breasts, on the same day that the group calling themselves Islamist Ansar al-Sharia held a rally in the city that authorities tried to ban.

    Witnesses said the women left the prison of Manouba late on Wednesday night amid a protest of a small group against Femen activists outside of the court. They would fly back to Europe on Thursday morning.

    Tunisia was the first country to be rocked by an “Arab Spring” uprising, inspiring similar revolutions in Egypt and Libya.

    Secular groups say the Islamist-led government is trying to stifle freedom of expression and creativity, but the government strongly denies this.

    {wirestory}

  • Obamas Meet Mandela Family

    {{U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will meet on Saturday with relatives of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, but they will not visit the hospital where the former South African president is critically ill, the White House said.}}

    Obama is in South Africa on the second stop of a three-nation Africa tour. His visit had triggered intense speculation that the United States’ first African-American president might visit 94-year-old Mandela in the Pretoria hospital where he has spent three weeks being treated for a lung infection.

    “Out of deference to Nelson Mandela’s peace and comfort and the family’s wishes, they will not be visiting the hospital,” the White House said in a statement.

    The Obamas would meet privately with members of the Mandela family “to offer their thoughts and prayers at this difficult time,” the statement added.

    Since starting his Africa tour in Senegal on Thursday, Obama has paid fulsome tribute to the man globally admired as a symbol of struggle against injustice and of racial reconciliation for the way he led South Africa out of centuries of white-minority rule.

    The U.S. president has called Mandela a “personal hero” and is due to make a tour on Sunday of Robben Island, the former penal colony where South Africa’s first black president passed 18 of the 27 years he spent in apartheid jails.

    Obama held bilateral talks on Saturday in Pretoria with South African President Jacob Zuma.

    {Agencies}

  • 54% Sudanese ‘wish to Leave’ their Country

    {{About 54% of Sudanese wish to leave their country, a study released Wednesday has disclosed.}}

    Conducted by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies in Qatar, the report reveals that out of those seeking to leave, 79% were unhappy with their living conditions; 5% security reasons and 4% would prefer a better political climate.

    Already, about 25,000 Sudanese left the country in 2013, official data indicates, a figure that civil society contests, putting it at around 90,000.

    “Sudan ranked first among countries included in the report such as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Yemen, Kuwait and Libya” the fresh study says.

    Most of the Sudanese respondents preferred moving to Saudi Arabia (20 per cent), Qatar (10 per cent) and the US (8 per cent).

    The survey is the second in an ongoing series. The first one was between 2010 and 2011 on a sample size of 16,173 in 12 Arab countries, compared to 21,350 in 2012-2013.

    The supervisor of the project, Mr Mohammed al-Masri, said the survey was the most extensive one that had been carried out in the Arab world.

    He added that it analysed the results of the data at the provincial and the states level.

    Responding to the report, Sudan’s commission of statistics refuted the figures, describing the report as baseless, biased and unscientific.

    On the other hand, the leader of the Sudanese opposition alliance, Mr Farouq Abu Issa, concurred with the study, saying the economic situation in Sudan could be worse than captured by the survey.

    “Dictatorship, corruption and wrong polices are the key reasons which have led to this situation” he told media.

    Currently, Sudan is hard hit by an economic crisis caused by a severe shortage of hard currency following the loss of three quarters of its oil production after South Sudan gained its independence in 2011.

    Oil was the main source of income for Sudan’s budget and for foreign currency needed to pay for vital imports, including food and medicine

    {NMG}