IGIHE

Category: Politics

  • Uganda:Gen Museveni receives highest military honour

    {President Museveni has received the Order Katonga, which is highest military decoration in Uganda.}

    The medal was presented to him on Thursday by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe during the national Heroes Day celebrations at Ssi Town Council, Ssi Sub-county, Buikwe District.

    President Museveni’s younger brother, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho alias Salim Saleh got the Kabalega Star, the second highest honour in the country.

    Gen Museveni decorated Gen. Saleh.

    A citation by Gen. Elly Tumwine, the chairman of the Decoration Board, said Gen. Museveni immensely contributed to the liberation of Uganda.

    Gen. Tumwine traced Gen Museveni’s role to an event in December 1972 in Mbale District, some 260 kilometres East of Kampala.

    Field Marshal Idi Amin was the President of Uganda, having captured power through a coup a year earlier, from Milton Obote.

    Gen Museveni, who was not happy with the Amin regime, started meeting with like – minded persons in Uganda to brainstorm on how to liberate Uganda from Amin’s grip.

    During one such meeting, in Maluku Housing Estate in Mbale, an estimated 15 Uganda Army Military Police, acting on intelligence information, surrounded the house in which Gen Museveni was meeting his comrades.

    Fighting broke out, resulting in the death of two Uganda Army personnel and two of Gen Museveni’s comrades Martin Mwesiga and H. Mpiima.

    Gen Museveni, who reportedly had only a pistol, made a daring escape from the Uganda army soldiers.

    “That escape of Yoweri Museveni in 1972…ensured his survival, thus enabling him later, to lead an attack on Kabamba Barracks in Mubende District,” Gen Tumwine said.

    He said the attack on Kabamba Barracks marked the start of the National Resistance Army (NRA) bush war struggle.

    Gen Tumwine said: “For Museveni to begin the struggle stands out as a unique attribute of leadership, service and sacrifice. This unique contribution to the struggle culminated in the liberation of our country on January 26, 1986 and forms the basis for this award.”

    Gen Tumwine said it was Mr Museveni, who conceptualized and planned the execution of the liberation struggle against Amin.

  • Congo frees U.S. security adviser working for presidential contender

    {CONGO: A U.S. citizen working as an adviser to Congo’s leading opposition presidential candidate has been freed six weeks after being arrested during a street protest and will return to the United States, the general prosecutor said on Wednesday. Darryl Lewis, who was detained on April 24 along with three other members of Moise Katumbi’s entourage in the southern city of Lubumbashi, has been handed over to the U.S. }

    ambassador in the capital Kinshasa, Victor Mumba Mukomo told reporters. Katumbi, the former governor of mineral-rich Katanga province in the south, was indicted last month on charges of hiring mercenaries as part of a plot against the state. He denies the accusations, saying they are meant to derail his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila in the vast Central African country’s elections scheduled for November.

    Congolese authorities said Lewis was arrested because he lacked a permit to work in Congo. He will return to the United States but his case will remain open, Mukomo said.

    Lewis’s lawyer Azarias Ruberwa confirmed that Lewis would return home and said U.S. officials were looking into the case.

    Political tensions are running high in Congo, which has vast reserves of precious minerals, ahead of the election.Kabila is ineligible to stand after serving two elected terms but opponents accuse him of plotting to hold onto power by delaying the vote or even changing the constitution to remove the term limit, as several African leaders have recently done. The government has said the vote is unlikely to occur on time because of logistical and budgetary problems.\

    In May, Congo’s highest court ruled Kabila could remain in power until elections can be held. Protests against any delay have already turned violent and authorities have arrested dozens of critics of Kabila, who took power when his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001. Congo has never had a peaceful transfer of political power.

  • Uganda:I have no powers to release Besigye from Luzira prison- Museveni

    {Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he cannot influence the release of his closest rival during the February 2016 presidential election, Dr Kizza Besigye, from Luzira prison where he’s held.}

    Dr Besigye was charged with treason and remanded after a video clip in which he (Dr Besigye) sworn in as president circulated online.

    Mr Museveni on Wednesday said at the Serena Hotel in Kampala during the reading of the 2016/17 budget, “It is court that releases people.”

    Dr Besigye’s party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) insists he won the polls with 52 per cent of the valid votes cast. Besigye was the party’s flag bearer.

    Mr Museveni’s remarks that there is no much he can do to free Dr Besigye, came after some members of the Opposition in Serena conference room stood up and displayed placards demanding the release of Dr Besigye who was arrested on May 17, a day before president took oath of office.

    Their action, on the other hand, followed Mr Museveni’s derisive remarks that he had heard that FDC had finally appointed a Leader of the Opposition in the 10th Parliament.

    As their murmurs spread through the conference hall, Mr Museveni’s voice was drowned.

    At this point, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga then requested the mainly Opposition MPs to show the President respect by resuming their seats and keep quiet.

    “Hon. Members your request has been heard and noted. Please take your seats,” Ms Kadaga pleaded.

    During the State of the Nation (SON) address a week ago, Mr Museveni avoided mentioning Dr Besigye, who like many political activists, and lately some development partners, has been calling for political reforms.

    President Yoweri Museveni

  • Motion to pull Kenya from ICC tabled in Parliament

    {The government has insisted that future crimes against humanity cases would be handled locally.}

    A Bill seeking to have Kenya pull out of the Rome Statute has been tabled in the National Assembly.

    Though cases against six Kenyans — among them President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto — were dismissed by the International Criminal Court, the government has insisted that future crimes against humanity cases would be handled locally.

    The tabling of the Bill by Bumula MP Boniface Otsiula was expected.

    During a thanksgiving at Afraha Stadium, Nakuru in March after the charges against Mr Ruto and Mr Joshua arap Sang were dismissed, President Kenyatta said no Kenyan would be allowed “to travel ICC route” in future.

    {{ISSUED WARRANT OF ARREST}}

    ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has issued an arrest warrant against three Kenyans, accusing them of interfering with witnesses.

    Attorney-General Githu Muigai has insisted that the offences they are accused of can be dealt with by local courts.

    In September 2013, an emergency motion was sent to the House by Jubilee MPs seeking the exit of Kenya from the ICC after the court summoned President Kenyatta to The Hague.

    The motion was boycotted by most opposition lawmakers.

    The ICC judges dismissed the cases against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang, saying the evidence did not meet the threshold to convict them.

    However, they said the cases could be revived in future if the prosecutor gathered enough evidence. The charges facing the Kenyans referred to as “Ocampo six” stemmed from the violence that followed the declaration of Mr Mwai Kibaki president two days after the December 29, 2007 general elections.

    ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. A Bill seeking to have Kenya pull out of the Rome Statute has been tabled in the National Assembly.

  • Hillary Clinton claims Democratic nomination victory

    {Democrat frontrunner wins New Jersey and New Mexico to become the first female presidential nominee of a big US party.}

    Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has laid claim to the party’s presidential nomination after a series of victories in primaries held on Tuesday evening.

    Clinton took the states of New Mexico, South Dakota, and New Jersey before declaring victory over her party rival Bernie Sanders, who won North Dakota and Montana.

    Serving US President Barack Obama called Clinton to congratulate her on securing enough delegates to clinch the nomination.

    Counting is ongoing in the biggest state, California.

    “Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” she said at a rally in New York, before taking aim at her likely Republican competitor, Donald Trump.

    Clinton told supporters in New York that Trump was “temperamentally unfit” to be president, citing Trump’s attacks on a federal judge, reporters and women.

    “He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds and reminding us daily just how great he is,” Clinton said.

    “Well, we believe we should lift each other up, not tear each other down.”

    Sanders has vowed to continue his campaign to next week’s primary in Washington DC and further to the convention held in Philadelphia on July 25.

    “The fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate,” he told a rally in Santa Monica, California.

    Clinton declaration of victory comes a day after the Associated Press announced she was the presumptive Democratic nominee based on a count of elected pledged delegates and unelected superdelegates.

    The Sanders campaign rejected that announcement as premature and said it would continue to campaign in California.

    In an interview with NBC News, Sanders expressed concern that the news of Clinton’s victory came the night before “the largest primary” and that it was based on what he described as “anonymous” commitments from superdelegates, who vote at the Democratic convention in late July.

    “They got on the phone, as I understand it, and started hounding superdelegates to tell them in an anonymous way who they were voting for,” he said.

    “The night before the largest primary, biggest primary in the whole process, they make this announcement.

    “So I was really disappointed in what The AP did.”

    Sanders is set to meet Obama at the White House on Thursday, the Reuters news agency reported.

    Clinton has won primaries in New Jersey and New Mexico

  • Brazil prosecutor seeks arrest of top politicians

    {Supreme Court asked to authorise arrests of the Senate President and other politicians for obstructing corruption probe.}

    Brazil’s political crisis heated up, as authorities reportedly sought the arrests of senior figures in the push to impeach suspended president Dilma Rousseff, accusing them of obstructing a corruption probe.

    If reports in the main Brazilian newspapers on Tuesday are confirmed, new doubts would be cast over the impeachment of Rousseff, pushing Latin America’s biggest economy into ever greater uncertainty with less than two months to go before Rio de Janeiro hosts the Summer Olympics.

    Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court to authorise the arrests of Senate President Renan Calheiros, former Brazilian President Jose Sarney, Senator Romero Juca and powerful lawmaker Eduardo Cunha, O Globo newspaper reported.

    Cunha, who is the suspended speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress, said prosecutors’ request for his arrest on charges of obstructing sweeping corruption investigation at state firms was “absurd.”

    The report, which did not name its sources, was matched by two other newspapers shortly thereafter.

    However, officials at the prosecutor’s office and Supreme Court refused to confirm the reports to AFP news agency.

    The four are accused of participating in a huge embezzlement and bribery network centered around the state oil company Petrobras.

    Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said if the court does grant the arrests, it would be a huge deal for Brazil.

    “It is worth noting that Brazil’s general prosecutor refused to comment on whether these reports are true – that he asked for the Supreme Court of Justice to issue those arrests for these four men.

    “If granted by the Supreme Court, this would be a huge deal for Brazil because these four are one of the most powerful politicians,” Raney said.

    According to the reports, Janot now accuses them of trying to obstruct the probe into the scheme, known as Operation Car Wash.

    The alleged evidence against them came from secret recordings of conversations made by a former oil executive, Sergio Machado, who is cooperating with Car Wash prosecutors as part of a plea bargain.

    Calheiros denied any wrongdoing, calling the request for his arrest “irrational, disproportionate and abusive.”

    “I did not practice any specific act that can be interpreted as a supposed attempt to obstruct justice,” he said in a statement.

    All four in the prosecutor general’s crosshairs are from Temer’s PMDB party, which has been crucial to pushing impeachment through Congress.

    Supreme Court decisions on such sensitive cases often take a long time.

    But if confirmed, the scandal would be a huge blow against interim president Michel Temer, who took the reins after the suspension of Rousseff last month for her impeachment trial.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera on the Talk to Al Jazeera Show, Roussef said there were no legal grounds for her impeachment trial.

    “Because they are unable to find any corruption charges against me, they are trying to have me convicted of violating fiscal obligations.

    “When you believe justice is on your side, that gives you strength to withstand all odds,” she said.

    Prosecutor Janot accused of participating in a huge bribery network centered around the state oil company, Petrobas

  • Burundi frees some students accused of defacing president’s photo

    {Burundi said on Tuesday it had released six juveniles who were part of a group of 11 students jailed last week for allegedly defacing a photograph of President Pierre Nkurunziza in a school text book.}

    Authorities in the central African country have been cracking down on critics and the opposition against a backdrop of tension and violence sparked by Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term last year.

    Last Friday, police shot and wounded a student and a taxi driver during a protest by schoolchildren against the arrest of their colleagues a day earlier.

    Agnes Bangiricenge, spokeswoman for the ministry of justice said in a statement six of the students had been dealt with under proceedings for juvenile offenders. “After a hearing…the juvenile judge provisionally released them,” she said.

    Prosecution of the other five students, aged between 18 and 21, would proceed “normally”.

    In another incident last month, more than 300 students of a school in the capital’s Ruziba neighborhood were sent home after being accused of defacing Nkurunziza’s image.

    Violence broke out in Burundi last year after Nkurunziza announced he would seek re-election for a third term.

    Opponents accused him of violating the constitution, which they said limited him to two five-year terms. The government cited a court ruling which they said cleared him to stand again, and Nkurunziza subsequently won re-election last July.

    More than 450 people have been killed in violence between government security forces and various rebel factions opposed to his continued rule. The United Nations estimates the year-long violence has displaced over 250,000 Burundians, who have fled mostly to Tanzania and other neighboring countries.

    Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza walks during a ceremony in tribute to the former late President Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza at the national congress palace in Bujumbura, Burundi May 16, 2016.

  • Uganda:New Cabinet: Dropped ministers speak out

    {Left out. President Museveni on Monday appointed 38 new persons to the Cabinet and dropped 35. In other cases, Mr Museveni transferred a minister from one ministry to another – as he did with his wife, Janet Kataha Museveni, whom he moved from Karamoja Affairs to the Education ministry. Some of those Mr Museveni dropped from the cabinet told Daily Monitor’s Neslson Wesonga they saw it coming and that, fortunately, they have always had something to fallback to.}

    Efforts to reach others, including Mr Jim Muhwezi (Information and National Guidance), Mr Asuman Kiyingi (State minister for Works), Ms Prisca Ssezi Mbaguta (State minister for Public Service), Ms Rebecca Amuge Otengo (State minister for Northern Uganda), Mr Fred Jacan Omach (State minister for Finance General Duties), Ms Rose Akol Okullu (Internal Affairs), failed.

    John Nasasira: Information and Communication Technology

    “I retired from elective politics [in 2016]. I was involved in an accident and since I had to go abroad for treatment, I informed my constituents I would not be in position to run for Parliament again. I am happy with the 27 years that I served as a Member of Parliament and a minister. I am not in the new cabinet. I will now focus on my private work as an engineer and a farmer. Definitely, I have not retired from working for the National Resistance Movement.”

    Barbara Nekesa Oundo: State for Karamoja Affairs

    “I am not bitter I have been left out of cabinet because there is a time for everything. God knows. I have not yet decided on my next move. I could decide tomorrow or even next week. I was committed to my constituents in Busia District in eastern Uganda.”

    Henry Banyenzaki: Economic Monitoring
    “ I am going to attend to my businesses. I am not bitter. I did my part; I have served the nation diligently. If those who fought against my reelection follow me in business, I will fight back. I support NRM. But in business, I would not want to mix it with politics.”

    Fredrick Ruhindi: Attorney General
    “I will be at Ruhindi & Company Advocates in Kampala. I look back to my time [in politics] with a lot of gratitude. I appreciate the people of Nakawa [in Kampala] who gave me an opportunity to serve them. I appreciate the appointing authority who found it fit to appoint me to the Cabinet [then].

    Suleiman Madada: State for the Elderly

    “I thank the President for having given me an opportunity to serve Uganda. There are many Ugandans he could have chosen. I served in the ministry for 10 years nonstop. Since I was active before I joined politics, I will never be idle; I am enterprising. I have institutions of learning and a foundation that deals with employment issues that I run.

    Sarah Kataike Ndoboli: State for Luweero Triangle

    “ I saw it coming. But I am not bitter with the appointing authority. Actually, I thank the appointing authority for having me serve in the previous Cabinet. I also have been working with Gen Salim Saleh, the chairperson Operation Wealth Creation (OWC). So OWC is the immediate address I could go to.

    Clockwise: (Fredrick Ruhindi: Attorney General), Sarah Kataike Ndoboli (State for Luweero Triangle), John Nasasira (Information and Communication Technology), Suleiman Madada (State for the Elderly), Henry Banyenzaki (Economic Monitoring) and Barbara Nekesa Oundo: State for Karamoja Affairs

  • US election: AP says Clinton wins Democratic nomination

    {AP news agency names Clinton presumptive Democratic nominee based on count of superdelegates who say they support her.}

    Hillary Clinton has commitments from the number of delegates needed to become the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, the Associated Press news agency reports.

    An AP count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates.

    Based on the count, AP named her the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee almost eight years to the day she conceded to now-President Barack Obama.

    Speaking to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Clinton said she did not want to “get ahead of herself” and encouraged her supporters to vote in Tuesday’s primary in California, the largest US state, and in other states.

    “It is historic and I’m aware of that, and I take that responsibility seriously…I think it’s going to be a positive development- not just for little girls and women but for little boys and men because I’m running to be president for every single American,” Clinton said.

    The campaign of Bernie Sanders, her rival, said declaring Clinton the presumptive nominee was a rush to judgment.

    The campaign said the Democratic Party’s presidential pick is dependent on superdelegates who can still change their minds between now and the July convention.

    ‘Impossible’ for Sanders

    Political analyst Bill Schneider from the University of California Los Angeles said it was “impossible” to imagine how Sanders could now win the nomination but added the senator could still pose problems for Clinton.

    “The only way he could do it is with superdelegates but he’s complaining that she’s doing it with superdelegates … she’s ahead with elected pledged delegates and that’s very democratic,” Schneider said.

    “The question is what’s he fighting for now, what’s his stamp on the party platform? The longer he keeps his campaign going, the more he’ll depict her as the candidate of the national establishment.”

    Delegate count

    The Democratic contenders are fighting for pledges from 4,765 delegates, of which 4,046 are elected at primaries held across the US.

    The remainder, or superdelegates, are senior members of the Democratic party, including members of its national committee, senators, and members of Congress, who are free to vote as they choose when the party holds its convention on July 25.

    Excluding superdelegates, Clinton still leads Sanders by 1,812 delegates to 1,521.

    Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she didn't want to celebrate just yet

  • Khartoum and Juba sign security deals

    {The two sides have agreed to stop supporting rebel in both countries.}

    Sudan and South Sudan late Monday signed a package of security agreements related to the re-deployment of joint military forces along the Safe Demilitarised Border Zone, and approved a plan to stop supporting and harbouring rebels and open border crossings.

    The joint Political and Security Committee between Sudan and South Sudan convened in Khartoum on Sunday in the presence of the foreign, defence and oil ministers of the two countries.

    “The committee agreed to implement the joint agreements related to the demilitarised zone,” local media quoted Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour as saying.

    The two sides also agreed to stop supporting rebel groups in the two countries, he said, noting that the concerned security authorities in both countries would adopt specific measures in this regard.

    South Sudan’s Defence Minister Kuol Manyang, meanwhile, was reported to have said that the two sides agreed to carry out the joint cooperation agreements, and immediately embark on implementing the decisions reached during the meeting.

    REBEL GROUPS

    The South Sudanese minister admitted the presence of rebel groups in the two countries, saying “the rebel movements are a reality and their problem must be solved so that peace will prevail between the two countries.”

    The committee also agreed to gradually open the border crossings, and a joint border committee is to meet in Juba within two weeks to agree on dates and procedures for opening the 10 border crossings between the two countries.

    The two sides agreed to ask the African Union to support the safe buffer zone and provide the two parties with the necessary technical teams, besides establishment of three consulates in the cities in the safe demilitarised border area.

    The meeting also agreed to task a joint committee headed by the directors of intelligence services to address issues related to the disputed areas.
    In September 2012, Sudan and South Sudan signed a cooperation agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa under the patronage of the African Union.

    The agreement included a package of understandings related to security, citizens’ status and border and economic issues.

    However, the signed agreements did not tackle the issues of Abyei and border demarcation.

    The border issue represents one of the biggest obstacles hindering the settlement of differences between Sudan and South Sudan, revolving around five border areas — Abyei, Dabatal-Fakhar, Jabel Al-Migainis, Samaha and Kafia Kanji.

    Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour (left) meets with his South Sudanese counterpart Deng Alor in Khartoum on June 5, 2016. The two countries signed a peace deal.