Category: Politics

{In Exercise of Powers conferred on the President of Uganda by Articles 108(1), 108 (2), 113(1), 114(1) and Article 99(1) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, I have appointed the Vice President, the Prime Minister, created new Departments of Government (Ministries); and appointed Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State as indicated below, Mr Musevni has sai.
}

H.E. the Vice President ─ HON. KIWANUKA
EDWARD SSEKANDI

1. Rt. Hon. Prime Minister ─ DR. RUHAKANA
RUGUNDA

2. 1st Deputy Prime Minister ─ GEN. MOSES ALI
& Deputy Leader of Gov’t
Business in Parliament

3. 2nd Deputy Prime Minister and ─ HON. KIRUNDA
Minister of East African KIVEJINJA
Affairs

4. Minister of Education and ─ HON. MUSEVENI
Sports JANET KATAAHA

5. Minister of Public Service ─ HON. MURULI
MUKASA

6. Minister of Trade, ─ HON. KYAMBADDE
Industry & Cooperatives AMELIA ANNE

7. Minister of Internal Affairs ─ GEN. JEJE ODONGO

8. Minister of Agriculture, ─ HON. SSEMPIJJA
Animal Industry & VINCENT
Fisheries BAMULANGAKI

9. Minister of Finance and
Economic Planning ─ HON. KASAIJA MATIA

{Concerned over Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s apparent attempts to cling to power, U.S. officials are pushing for sanctions against his inner circle but running into opposition from European powers wary of moving too quickly.}

Kabila is ineligible to stand in Democratic Republic of Congo’s next election due in November, after serving two elected terms. Opponents accuse him of plotting to hold onto power by delaying the poll or even changing the constitution to remove the term limit, as several African leaders have done.

His government says it is unlikely to be able to organize the vote on time, and the electoral commission has said the delay could last 16 months. Senior Kabila ally Henri Mova Sakani on Saturday raised the possibility of a constitutional referendum on the number of terms he can serve.

Any such move risks triggering further violence in Congo, which has never had a peaceful transition of power. Donors worry about a repeat of the regional conflict in eastern Congo between 1996 and 2003, when millions of people died and more than a half-dozen countries were sucked into the fighting.

“This is an historic moment because Congo is such an important part of Africa,” Senator Edward Markey, the Africa subcommittee ranking Democrat, told Reuters. “They are going to be looked to for leadership or a failure of leadership.”

Protests against a potential delay have already turned violent and authorities have arrested dozens of critics of Kabila, who took power when his father was assassinated in 2001.

The resolution last month by three senior Democrat senators, including Markey, calls on President Barack Obama to join with international partners “to impose targeted sanctions on those officials … who are responsible for violence and human rights violations and undermining the democratic processes or institutions of DRC, including visa bans and assets freezes.”

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U.S. officials, including the State Department’s special envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region, Tom Perriello, and several senators, are considering sanctions against Congolese officials, for the moment mostly lower-level people in the security forces.

The Senate’s Africa subcommittee will hold a hearing on June 8 on U.S. sanctions policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Senator Jeff Flake, the subcommittee’s chairman, told Reuters he had discussed targeted sanctions with State Department officials.

The U.S. Congress is pushing President Barack Obama’s administration to act unilaterally if it must.

But without the EU, sanctions may have little impact since officials in Congo, a former Belgian colony, are thought to have most assets in Europe. The European Union is divided on the subject, and even nations that support sanctions want to exhaust other options first.

“The assessment … is that we still have a little bit of time to see what is going to happen in DRC,” one Western diplomat posted to Washington said.

A European diplomat based in Kinshasa said European thinking is that sanctions threats would “have the best effect when they serve as a warning, not having to be implemented”.

Within the EU, Britain is among those leaning toward sanctions with Spain and Italy more reluctant, diplomats say.

The Washington-based diplomat suggested that, as is often the case, commercial interests may play a part in some calculations. A Spanish-led consortium is one of two finalists to develop a $14 billion segment of the Grand Inga hydroelectric project, meant to produce 44,000 MW in all. [ID:nL5N18760P]

Spain’s ACS, which is in the consortium, declined to comment. The Spanish Foreign Ministry said it had no comment.

Other EU states also question the efficacy of actually going through with sanctions. The concern is that they “would put him [Kabila] in a corner right now and actually make him more defiant and probably make it even more complicated to have … substantial dialogue,” the Washington-based diplomat said.

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“We hope to coordinate with the Europeans and that they would follow suit quickly,” one U.S. official said.

The vast wealth contained in Congo’s forests and the minerals underneath them has often divided world powers since its independence in 1960, when the United States and the former Soviet Union vied for Cold War influence.

Extra U.N. sanctions beyond current travel bans and asset freezes related to conflict in eastern Congo would not get past veto-wielding Russia and China, Congo’s top trading partner.

Meanwhile, the country’s African neighbors, who analysts think carry the greatest influence, have remained silent.

Congo’s government has bristled at talk of sanctions. In a statement last month, foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda denounced the “selective application” of sanctions threats, when the presidents of Rwanda and the smaller neighboring state Congo Republic have already changed their constitutions to let themselves stand for third terms.

Last month allies of Moise Katumbi, Kabila’s main political rival, visited Washington to plead for sanctions.

Stephanie Wolters, a Congo analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said U.S. sanctions could send an important message but warned that it was also a risky strategy.

“The more isolated the government becomes, the harder it will be to manage potential fallouts of the growing crisis,” she said. “European countries are worried about just that.”

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations, Robin Emmott in Brussels, Aguado Gonzalez in Madrid and Maria Vega Paul in Rome; Editing by Tim Cocks and Peter Graff)

{Kinshasa: A top ally of Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Saturday raised the possibility of a constitutional referendum. }

This is in a bid to alter the number of terms President Kabila can serve. This defies opponents and western powers who insist Kabila should leave office this year. Term limits in Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2006 constitution bar Kabila, who has ruled the central African country since 2001, from running for a third elected term in a presidential poll scheduled for November.

The government, however, has said the election is likely to be pushed back because of budgetary and logistical problems. The country’s constitutional court ruled last month that Kabila would remain in office if the vote does not take place on time.

Kabila would likely face more opposition to any such move. Yet in a speech to thousands of supporters at a rally in the capital Kinshasa to celebrate Kabila’s 45th birthday, the secretary-general of his PPRD party, Henri Mova Sakani, said a constitutional referendum was an option. “If the people decide to go to a referendum, they are going to do it,” he said.

{A top ally of Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Saturday raised the possibility of a constitutional referendum to alter the number of terms he can serve, defying opponents and western powers who insist Kabila should leave office this year.}

Term limits in Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2006 constitution bar Kabila, who has ruled the central African country since 2001, from running for a third elected term in a presidential poll scheduled for November.

The government, however, has said the election is likely to be pushed back because of budgetary and logistical problems. The country’s constitutional court ruled last month that Kabila would remain in office if the vote does not take place on time.

The presidents of neighboring Congo Republic and Rwanda last year pushed through constitutional changes by referendum to allow them to stand for third terms, but Kabila would likely face considerably more opposition to any such move.

Yet in a speech to thousands of supporters at a rally in the capital Kinshasa to celebrate Kabila’s 45th birthday, the secretary-general of his PPRD party, Henri Mova Sakani, said that a constitutional referendum was an option.

“If the people decide to go to a referendum, they are going to do it,” he said. “The people of Congo Republic did it. The people of Rwanda did it… Learn to read the signs of the times.”

Western powers have repeatedly called on Kabila to organize the presidential election and step down this year, with the United States and Britain threatening sanctions in the absence of concrete progress.

They fear that political instability in Congo, which has never experienced a peaceful transition of power and where millions died in regional wars from 1996-2003, could ripple beyond the country’s borders.

Dozens died in protests in January 2015 against a revision to the election law that opponents said was a pretext to keep Kabila in power beyond this year. The United Nations and rights groups say the government has since arrested dozens of its critics on trumped-up charges.

Kabila has declined to comment publicly on his future plans. Meanwhile, his allies have adopted an increasingly intransigent tone toward foreign critics, with Mova telling advocates of sanctions at a rally last month: “you won’t scare us.”

{The United States has sanctioned two Burundi government officials and one rebel leader over violence in the country linked to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s extended tenure.}

Those sanctioned are military commander Marius Ngendabanka, security official Ignace Sibomana and rebel leader Edouard Nshimirimana, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement late Thursday.

The three men were sanctioned for engaging in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of the East African country, the statement said.

According to the United Nations, at least 400 people have died since Nkurunziza ran for and won a third term in July that many called unconstitutional.

On Friday, U.N. Spokesman Farhan Haq said his organization has decided not replace Burundian police units serving as peacekeepers in the Central African Republic when their tour of duty ends, due to the situation in Burundi.

He also said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “urges all stakeholders to commit to a genuine and inclusive dialogue in order to move forward with resolving this crisis.”

The U.S. in November also sanctioned officials including Burundi’s minister of public security and a leader of the national police.

Burundi’s military spokesman Col. Gaspard Baratuza declined to comment on the latest sanctions, which freeze all assets in the U.S. of those named and prohibit U.S. nationals from engaging in transactions with the men.

Ngendabanka is alleged to be one of several Nkurunziza government officials alleged to be involved in “purification” operations in the capital, Bujumbura, against those opposed to the president’s third term, the U.S. statement said.

He allegedly assigned squads of Burundi soldiers to arrest, torture and assassinate opposition figures in Burundi, the statement said.

Sibomana is a security official linked to Nkurunziza’s inner circle and has been involved in operations to target those opposed to the government, the U.S. statement said.

Nshimirimana is a former senior Burundian army officer who leads the Force Republicaine du Burundi, or FOREBU, rebel group, which launched in December, the statement said. FOREBU was behind attacks on military camps in which least 87 people were reportedly killed in Bujumbura, the statement said.

{Kampala. Religious leaders have thrown their weight behind the calls for electoral reforms despite President Museveni saying Uganda does not need such reforms because it is one of the highly democratic countries in Africa.}

“The assembly [Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC)] noted that elections constitute the building of democratic governance, which is essential for peace and sustainable development.

“The assembly expresses concern about the minimal nature of constitutional and electoral reforms that were undertaken in the run-up to the general election held in 2016,” the UJCC executive secretary, Rev Fr Dr Silvester Arinaitwe Rwomukubwe, said.

“In that regard, the assembly asked UJCC secretariat to continue to engage the government, political parties and all other stakeholders on the issues of comprehensive electoral reforms based on adequate consultation involving all stakeholders, including the civil society fraternity,” Rev Fr Rwomukubwe added.

He was addressing the press at Jevine Hotel during the closing of the UJCC annual meeting on Thursday. It was attended by the Council Chairperson and Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Stanley Ntagali, Co-chairperson Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga and a representative of Kampala Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga and Fr Stephen Lunagula. Government has ignored repeated recommendations by civil society, the opposition and other organisations to appoint an independent electoral commission to manage national elections. ]

The religious leaders meeting under the theme ‘‘striving for greatness through servanthood (Mathew 23.11)” also condemned sex education in schools, abuse of alcohol and called for sensitisation of the public on the proposed Islamic banking.
“We are making all these recommendations in good faith. The Church believes in dialogue and not confrontation,” ArchBishop Kizito Lwanga said.
Archbishop Ntagali called for dialogue between the ruling National Resistance Movement party and the opposition parties.

The opposition disputed the results of the February 18 elections, which President Museveni who won with 60 per cent of the vote. The opposition said the elections were rigged in favour of Museveni, a claim the NRM denies.
Former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye of FDC took the lead in disputing the elections and insisted he won the elections with 52 per cent with Mr Museveni receiving 45 per cent. He is now in Luzira prison on treason charges following a video posted on social media in which he appears to be swearing in as the new president of Uganda.

{{The reforms
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{{Some of the electoral reforms demanded by the Opposition include:}}

•The Opposition demanded that an independent Electoral commission appointed by the Judicial Service Commission and approved by Parliament be instituted.
•Presidential term limits be reinstated in the Constitution.

•Putting an end to the use of military and other security agencies in elections.

•They demanded that the army be removed from Parliament.

•Equitable access to both private and public media during campaigns

•Provide for a running mate for the President

•Voters should be empowered to challenge the presidential result.

•Increase time given to challenge the presidential elections from 10 to 21 days.

•Supreme Court delivering the judgment after the elections be revisited.

{President Pierre Nkurunziza has given armed gangs in Burundi 15 days to surrender to authorities and hand in their weapons or face unspecified action.}

Nkurunziza was speaking during a visit to Mugamba district, some 65 km southeast of the capital Bujumbura, where many local officials have been killed in recent weeks.

Tit-for-tat attacks between Nkurunziza’s security forces and his opponents have escalated since April 2015 when he announced a disputed bid for a third term. He won re-election in July.

“We give them 15 days to surrender,” Nkurunziza said of the armed gangs on Wednesday. “On the 15th (of June) we will put a stop to (the violence). I came to tell you that we won’t rest until security is restored.”

The government conducted a similar arms mop-up in the capital in November.

Burundi police said in early May that more than 450 people had been killed in unrest that began a year ago. The United Nations says over 250,000 have fled the country since last April.

A new round of peace talks between the government and its opponents aimed at ending the political crisis was launched in the Tanzanian city of Arusha in late May. Previous discussions in Burundi and Uganda over the past year collapsed or stalled.