Category: Politics

{The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic is repatriating three military officers on suspicion they committed human rights violations during political unrest in their home country, Burundi, an internal document showed.}

Ten months of violence triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term has left more than 400 people dead in Burundi, which emerged from an ethnically charged civil war in 2005. He won a disputed poll in July.

A fax dated Feb. 5 sent by the U.N.’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in New York and seen by Reuters on Thursday notified the Central African mission, MINUSCA, of the decision to send the officers home.

“(The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) has raised serious concerns about alleged human rights violations committed by the officers during the violent demonstrations in Burundi,” the document stated.

Officials in Burundi, which contributes more than 1,200 soldiers and police to U.N. peacekeeping missions, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the repatriations.

It is fairly common for troops to be sent home for alleged abuses committed while serving with a U.N. mission. MINUSCA has repatriated members of several contingents amid a wave of sexual abuse and rape accusations over the last year.

However, the repatriation of troops over allegations of abuses committed in their home countries is extremely rare.

A spokesman with MINUSCA confirmed the three men were being sent home but declined to give details of the allegations against them.

“Assessments have been conducted. Following the assessments, this decision was taken,” Vladimir Monteiro said. “The mission is doing everything to ensure that they return to Burundi.”

Source:Reuters:[U.N. mission sends Burundi officers home over unrest->http://www.reuters.com/article/us-burundi-unrest-un-idUSKCN0VK20Q]

{A team of politicians from Kenya will return to Uganda Friday barely a week after they attended a fundraiser in what has been viewed as a bid to drum up support for NRM presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni.}

Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, Uasin-Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, Endebess MP Robert Pukose and Deputy President William Ruto’s personal assistant Farouk Kibet will be on the team making Friday’s trip.

Trans-Nzoia Senator Henry Ole Ndiema, Narok Governor Samuel Tunai and Mr Ruto are the other politicians to have made their way to Sebei sub-region in less than three months.

When the Daily Monitor contacted Mr Pukose who is heading the delegation to Uganda, he said he was tied up in a meeting and promised he would contact this reporter. He had not got back by the time the report was filed.

Sources close to the Jubilee MPs said the group was here to drum up support for Mr Museveni, just a week to the general election on February 18.

“Yes, they are coming back. We got reports that more than 3,000 residents in Tulel and Chesawer in Bukwo District raised dust over claims of being sidelined when the group visited the region last week,” one of the people organising for their return told the Daily Monitor on Thursday.

{{MEDDLING IN UGANDAN AFFAIRS}}

Prof Sheme Chemangey Masaba, the first minister for animal husbandry and fisheries in President Museveni’s government and also a 2006 FDC contender for Tingey County MP seat, however, said the politicians are meddling in Ugandan affairs.

“That means the Uganda government has failed in its role. How much does it take to build a school? This is just a political move and has nothing to do with helping our people,” Prof Masaba said.

There have been reports of a drift away from the NRM in Sebei sub-region to the Opposition and according to Ms Rose Nancy Chelangat, an NRM aide and mobiliser, the ruling party has responded by heavily deploying agents in the sub-region.

“When Dr Kizza Besigye visited Sebei, we were shocked by the reception he received. In a bid to woo back our supporters, we have been involved in a lot of mobilisation and campaign work,” Ms Chelangat said.

At a weekend fundraiser event in Sebei, the Kenyan politicians Mr Pukose and Mr Tunai handed over 100 bags of cement, 170 iron sheets and Shs48 million for the completion of schools in Tumbaboi (Kapchorwa), Ngenge (Kween) and Kapkoros (Bukwo).

Reports also emerged that Kuka’s Inn in Kapchorwa was full of activity, as ruling party members remained expectant of the visitors.

When the Kenyan politicians arrive, they are expected be hosted to a breakfast at State Lodge Kapchorwa and spend a night there after several rallies. On Saturday they will attend a get-together with the Sabiny community big shots.

Source:Daily Nation:[Kenyan lawmakers return to Uganda in campaign for Museveni->http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenyan-lawmakers-campaign-in-Uganda/-/1056/3073296/-/or4y1d/-/index.html]

{Independent presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi has said no Ugandan should go into exile or become a refugee because of election results or bad governance.}

“I don’t want a situation where some of our people feel they are not exactly Ugandans because other members of the community regard them differently. I was in Bunyoro and some Ugandans who live in a neighbouring refugee camp are being treated as refugees in their own country,” Mr Mbabazi told a rally in Koboko District on Tuesday evening.

The former prime minister said the country needs political stability and an end to the anxiety that grips citizens each time there is an election.

“I want to end the tension that builds up in the country each time we talk about the possibility of changing the presidency because change of a leader should be a matter of routine. And this time, people should feel comfortable,” he explained.

Mr Mbabazi said in the last 53 years, the change of presidents has been by use of guns.

There were elections in 1980 which were disputed and NRA/M led by President Museveni waged a guerilla war that ushered the incumbent into power in 1986.

“We have widows scattered all over the country and the world because of this (post-election) violence and we must bring this down once and for all. And the way to end violence is to have peaceful change of leaders.”

The Go Forward candidate said Ugandans, especially those living in exile, should not be haunted by crimes committed in the past, and promised to set up a government that will respect the law that will be applied without discrimination.

The background

After the downfall of President Idi Amin, many residents in West Nile sub-region went into exile as the soldiers loyal to the fallen president and his successors revenged on the people thought to have been loyal to either camp.

This also followed the Ombaci massacre where several people were massacred at St Joseph’s College Ombaci, in June 1981, as they sought refuge from the Uganda National Liberation Army soldiers.

In the past, President Museveni has always said he was proud to have made sure the people of West Nile returned to their homes in 1986.

Source:Daily Monitor:[No one should go into exile over polls – Mbabazi->http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/No-one-should-go-into-exile-over-polls–Mbabazi/-/688334/3071294/-/7140tz/-/index.html]

{President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday started a two-day meeting with 31 of the 47 governors at the Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri with a promise to keep the fruits of devolution flowing to the grassroots.}

On the agenda of the high-level talks is the thorny question of managing public finance including grants for counties, the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis), which governors have been complaining has been inefficient, and the achievements made under devolution, which was introduced in the country after the 2013 election.

In his opening remarks, President Kenyatta said devolution had been a success.

“The system has its challenges, but which healthy young child does not have some bruises to show?” he asked. “We want to bring devolution, that healthy young child, to a mature and prosperous adulthood. We all know it requires patience and wisdom.”

The major bone of contention between the National Government and devolved administrations was billed to be the debate on devolving of road construction, transfer of money from the National Treasury to counties, and the management of the health services, particularly guidelines on free maternity care and the equipping of hospitals.

“In the past, development came from the national government alone. Now, we have devolution, so that each of us, however far from the capital Nairobi we may live, has a say in development,” President Kenyatta told the governors.

In the past, the county bosses have complained that Ifmis — the system used to transfer money from the Treasury — had its challenges, which ended up delaying payments and hence projects of the counties.

Healthcare has remained a controversial with health professionals claiming that counties were mismanaging it.

The President gave the clearest indication yet that the push to devolve even more services to the grassroots was unstoppable.

“We are here in Sagana to make certain that Nyeri, as well as every county in the country, enjoys the full promise of devolution. And that means development driven by decisions made at the grassroots,” he said.

The meeting with the governors, also known as The Summit, was attended by a national government team that included Deputy President William Ruto and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri on the one side, and 31 governors on the other. Sixteen governors were “absent with apologies”, according to the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit.

Meru Governor Peter Munya — who is also the chairman of the Council of Governors — said he expected discussions on finances, including conditional grants such as funding for free maternity, as well as sharing of road construction and rehabilitation.

As the governors and senior State officials trooped into the Sagana State Lodge, MPs and senators were conspicuously missing from the leaders lined up to receive the President.

State House had earlier announced that Wednesday’s meeting was strictly for governors and was not a political event.

The theme of the talks is to celebrate the successes and challenges of devolution and it is constitutionally required that the Summit convenes at least once a year.

When he arrived at Sagana, the President was received by local administrators led by the Regional Coordinator, Mr Naftali Mungathia, Nyeri County Assembly Speaker David Mugo, Deputy Governor Samuel Wamathai and County Secretary Alice Wachira.

{{POLITICAL THEATRICS}}

No MP, governor or MCA was present. However, what the event lacked in political theatrics, it compensated with a display of power, opulence and curiously, a show of austerity.

The opulence came in the lavish display of a wide range of four-wheel-drive vehicles that have come to be associated with governors, while the show of austerity was dramatised by Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, who arrived at the venue in a Probox.

Police manning the gate at first refused to let him in but after he identified himself, he was allowed into the sanctums of power.

“The bottom line is that I got to the meeting,” Mr Ojaamong told journalists outside the State Lodge gate.

Squatters from Iruri village also gathered outside the gate waiting to give the President a petition on their resettlement. Form One students armed with admission letters to various high schools were also there to ask for bursaries.

One of them, Catherine Nyamiru, said she had been admitted at Tumu Tumu Girls but could not raise fees.

“I came here in the hope that I will get an audience. I have tried to get help in all offices but I have not succeeded,” she said

Acting County Secretary Alice Wachira told the Nation that Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua, who was not among the governors present, had travelled for a “routine medical review”.

{{CONSULTATION}}

“In his absence, and through consultation as may be necessary, the deputy governor is taking charge of the county and will represent the governor in all official functions,” she said.

Some of the MPs who spoke to the Nation said leaders from the county met in Nairobi on Wednesday to discuss the President’s visit.

They then met the President’s Chief of Staff, Mr Joseph Kinyua, where they outlined the issues affecting the region and were briefed on plans that the government has for the county.

Source:Daily Nation:[Cash for counties top agenda as Uhuru meets governors->]

{Johannesburg – The African Union’s (AU) decision not to send a peacekeeping force to Burundi has been slammed by a Burundi opposition leader, and called inevitable by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.}

“It was predictable that the African Union (AU) would have to back down after Burundi called their bluff,” Jakkie Cilliers from ISS told the African News Agency (ANA) on Monday.

“Right from the beginning it was highly unlikely that the AU would send peacekeepers. The AU basically set themselves up,” said Cilliers.

Disagreement among AU members, fears of being considered an invading force without Burundian cooperation, no authorisation from the United Nations, setting a precedent, and exaggerated reports of genocide were factors in the AU’s about-turn.

The AU’s 15-member Peace and Security Council (PSC) member states decided in December 2015 to deploy a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Burundi following reports, by members of the AU Commission for Human and People’s Rights of killings, torture and arbitrary arrests, reported the “defenceWeb” news portal.

Not only was the AU concerned of the human rights violations, but also of Burundi’s civil unrest impacting the region.

Burundi’s unrest was aggravated by President Pierre Nkurunziza entering a third term in office in 2015, exceeding the constitutional two-term limit.

However, on January 29, on the eve of the Assembly of Heads of State meeting at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the PSC met at the level of heads of state and a very different discussion took place, reported “defenceWeb”.

“Some heads of state and members of the PSC, like The Gambia, openly rejected the deployment of a force without consent from the Burundian government. On the other hand, Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president, spoke in favour of sending troops.”

But Cilliers said the AU really didn’t have any choice but to retreat from previous plans.

“If they had gone into Burundi without that government’s approval they would have been treated and seen as an invasion force,” Cilliers told ANA.

“The AU force would first have needed authorisation from the UN Security Council (UNSC) which wouldn’t have been the main problem as the AU and the UNSC cooperate on such matters,” said Cilliers.

Furthermore, the Protocol of the PSC states that heads of African states can mandate such a force being sent into an African country without the relevant government’s approval.

The Constitutive Act that established the AU also says the organisation can authorise such a force in cases of gross human rights violations such as genocide.

“However, there is a huge difference between theory and the practical implications and this appeared to be a bridge too far for the AU and would have set a precedent,” Cilliers told ANA.

The exiled leader of the opposition Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), Jean Minani, accused the AU and the international community of turning their backs on the people of Burundi while, he said the people were being killed by the government of Nkurunziza, reported the Voice of America (VOA).

AU deputy chairman Erastus Mwencha denied Minani’s claims and stated that the Burundian government said it was making progress in all-inclusive talks.

The AU would have had to say that to save face, said Cilliers.

“While Minani does have a point, it’s a question of scale. Yes, there are people being killed and rights abuses but it’s not genocide at this point,” Cilliers said.

“All the AU can do at this point is to move forward with regional negotiations.”

Source:IOL:[AU’s inaction on Burundi ‘predictable’->http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/aus-inaction-on-burundi-predictable-1982164]