Other members of the delegation included Angolan Police Chief, Alfredo Edwardo Manuel Mingas and the head of the prison services, Eugenio Pedro Alexandre.
The officials were received by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, who gave them an in-depth insight on RNP, right from its inception in the year 2000 to the current status.
The delegation expressed interest in learning more about RNP’s growth and offered to send senior police officers for a “detailed technical exchange visit.”
Minister Ângelo de Barros said that their visit to Rwanda is aimed at opening up more doors to strengthen cooperation between the two police forces.
“Certainly, there is going to be more exchange visits in expanded areas of public order management. Just like Rwanda, Angola has also seen hard times in her past and now embarking on enhancing her foreign cooperation,” he said.
He added: “It requires Police-Police cooperation to tackle emerging cross-border security threats particularly, cybercrimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism and money laundering, among others. Through this kind of cooperation, we can counter any negative forces that may want to destabilize our countries. It’s time to take stronger steps towards realizing our cooperation.”
IGP Gasana explained to the delegation that RNP values Police-Police cooperation to effevtively address cross-border security challenges.
“We are looking forward to a stronger partnership in policing, exchange of best practices as well as learning from each other,” said IGP Gasana.
Prior to his visit at RNP, Minister Tavares and his delegation paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye where they also discussed areas of cooperation at a policy level.
Born in Bugesera District and now a second-year student in Civil Engineering Construction Technology at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC Kigali), Nzirorera says he developed a passion for construction during his childhood and pursued it in secondary school.
With the encouragement of the college for innovation, Nzirorera found his skills insufficient to do anything new in Rwanda’s construction sector. He started online courses with Archystore in Madagascar in April 2017 and later with Harvard University in the United States. He did Lumion software and Twinmotion, the world’s best rendering tools.
Nzirorera, then, opened Golden Construction and Designing Ltd (GCD) in February 2018 and recruited a supporting team of seven including professionals and students in different construction-related fields.
“Something new I have brought into Rwanda’s construction sector is the use of walkthrough animation that Rwandans are currently looking for abroad. No one else is doing this here and if there is any, they are weak because all local big projects should not be going to foreign firms,” said Nzirorera.
“I am able to deliver any building design like Kigali Convention Centre and other world-class buildings wherever they might be in the world. I want to do more courses to improve skills about designing other structures like airports and stadiums. Meanwhile, I am trying to raise funds for redeeming my completion certificate at Harvard University.”
IPRC Kigali’s Vice-Principal for Academics and Training, Eng. Jean Claude Benimana, told IGIHE last week that the college decided to support Nzirorera with offices and a good computer because they found his work as important.
“We found his activities very important and decided to support him as we usually do for other students who show good ideas for implementation. We even want him to share skills with other students. We haven’t done yet a thorough evaluation of his work especially because that software he uses is not what we teach here,” said Eng. Benimana.
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In addition to some residential buildings, Nzirorera’s GCD Company has delivered a project of a world-class tennis stadium which is set to be the best in the East African region, according to Eng. Valens Habimana, the Secretary General of Rwanda Tennis Federation (RTF).
Located in IPRC Kigali in Kicukiro District, the tennis stadium project is owned by RTF and Workforce Development Authority (WDA).
“Nzirorera designed four tennis pitches in our first phase of tennis stadium. The second phase he also designed is about other facilities at the stadium such as lodges to host people who will be attending international competitions in Kigali. I found a talent in him especially because I am an engineer. He first showed me what he does and I showed him the project we had and I was surprised to see how quickly he understood it. That way of walkthrough animation he uses to demonstrate the design is really important,” said Eng. Habimana.
He said the first phase of the stadium has been completed at a tune of Rwf90 million and the federation is raising the funds for the second phase.
“When we presented the project in the presence of Rwandan ministers and officials from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) a fortnight ago, they admired it and promised to support it. I presented the project and even foreigners were amazed to hear that a Rwandan can design such a project and put it in a self-explanatory way of walkthrough animation. It looked new to many,” noted Eng. Habimana.
“We have other Rwandans who can design that project but they don’t have those good ways of demonstration which doesn’t require the presenter to explain a lot. They do design but in our other ways.”
Other ways of demonstrating architectural designs include 3D and physical models which show a building in drawings while the objective of walkthrough animation is to give the object the physical properties as it would exist in the real world.
Nzirorera says the biggest challenge he is facing is about convincing people on what he can do because many say that they are designs he just copies from South Africa or other developed countries while others don’t believe that someone as young as him can deliver a great project.
“Others still question the skills of someone who acquired courses online. They think no one can be as competent as the one who physically attends the campus. I am trying to convince people by all means including developing designs that nobody is going to pay,” he says.
Nzirorera plans to keep expanding skills, offer training to Rwandans and make up a big team of competitive professionals who can design master plans of cities in Rwanda and abroad.
He said this during a 4-day Annual Review Meeting that convened in Kigali between the University of Rwanda and Swedish partners to discuss activity plan for the financial year 2018-2019, on Monday, 14th may 2018.
“Supporting education is the best way to support the development of Rwanda and Sweden was the 1st country to believe that Rwanda needed a strong and well-functioning higher education.” said Murigande.
According to Raymond Ndikumana, the Overall Coordinator of UR-Sweden Programme, the Programme contributed to UR’s ambition of becoming a research-led university.
“On top of a dedicated line and mechanisms for doing research, the Programme has supported areas of innovation and sustainable ICT, research expertise in many different ways through trainings for PhD supervisors and improvement for skills in research management to mention but a few” said Ndikumana.
At least 29 PhD students have graduated thanks to the Programme support. 33,000 e-journals already subscribed to ease access to online content while 9 in-house masters’ programmes are being run.
The meeting also discussed proposals & letters of intents that will mark the extension of collaboration up to 2024. The new partnership is expected to result into critical mass of training in areas of poverty reduction and sustainable development while mainstreaming gender, environment and other crosscutting areas.
The multi-million dollar plant is being constructed in Special Economic Zone where the first phase will be completed in 18 months.
The biotech industry will have a diverse portfolio of over 100 essential medicines that will include general medicines and consumer healthcare products.
In the first year of operation, the plant is expected to employ over 100 local staff for them to be able to acquire skills and expertise about pharmaceuticals production.
Speaking to IGIHE, Health Minister, Dr. Diane Gashumba said that Rwanda imports 90% of drugs used in the country. She said that the plant will help the country close the gap for importation of drugs which costs much money.
“Drugs which will be produced here will be cheap and of better quality. The plant will also provide jobs to many people and facilitate availability of drugs on time. It happens that shipping drugs takes longer or some drugs get out of stock before ordered consignments are delivered to us,” she said.
She said that the plant will produce different varieties of drugs including antibiotics, pain killers, malaria drugs, tuberculosis drugs and HIV/AIDS antiretroviral drugs among others.
“They will produce all these types of drugs, but, they will need to follow international standards,” she added.
Gashumba said that every year, Rwanda spends at least Rwf30 billion to import, stocking and distributing drugs to different health facilities across the country.
“We spend at least Rwf25 billion for buying drugs. If we had more local plants, we would reduce the cost of imports,” she added.
Ministry of Health says that currently, four plants have expressed interest in producing pharmaceuticals in Rwanda.
Apex Biotech Ltd Managing Director, Dr Masroor Ehsan said that they will produce quality drugs as they will have decent quality testing measurements which follow international standards.
The CoK spokesperson, Bruno Rangira confirmed to IGIHE that Nkurunziza submitted his resignation letter to the Acting Mayor, Parfait Busabizwa this Wednesday.
Rangira said that in the letter, Nkurunziza cited personal reasons.
The City Engineer steps down following the April resignation of Mayor Pascal Nyamulinda who also cited personal reasons.
The by-elections of Nyamulinda’s successor are scheduled on May 25th 2018, but the City Engineer position goes through a recruitment process.
Rutagungira, a Rwandan citizen, was kidnapped by Ugandan security operatives in August this year, and held incommunicado at Mbuya military barracks for months where he was subjected to all sorts of torture before he could be produced to court.
Incarcerated at Makindye Military Prison, Rutagungira is jointly charged with eight other people including police officers in connection with kidnapping the former bodyguard of President Paul Kagame in 2013 who was extradited to Rwanda and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In a letter to the Country Representative of the UN Human Rights, the family through Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates, accuses Uganda’s security agencies of torture.
The lawyers’ letter shows that Mr Rutagungira has been denied visitation rights from his family, lawyers and medical personnel, a situation that has worried his family about the state of their relative.
“We therefore invite your good offices to take solid interest and strongly intervene in the matter so that you firmly demand an end to the said torture and other violations against the said Rene Rutagungira,” the letter reads in part.
Addressing journalists in Kampala, Mr Eron Kiiza the lawyer representing Mr Rutagungira explained that the move to seek the intervention of UN office followed the denial of the military court to hear his client’s application.
“Our client’s visitation rights have been denied yet the other suspects are allowed. His relatives, children, wife and lawyers have been blocked from accessing him at the prison and we believe this is a violation of his personal liberty and it is very painful for them,” Mr Kiiza said.
According to the petition, Rutagungira was arrested in August last year by soldiers attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) who subjected him to physical and mental torture including solitary confinement and death threats among other violations.
The Kigali International Peace Marathon 2018 was organized by MTN Rwanda, Bank of Kigali (BK), RwandAir and Skol and other sponsors.
The cheque was received by Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) president, Fidèle Mubirigi, where he acknowledged the commitment of the Christian Humanitarian Non-governmental organization towards athletics development in the country and peace building.
Country Director at World Vision Rwanda, Sean Kerrigan, said that their priority mission is peace building around the country and that they were fully determined to work hand in hand with RAF to carry on supporting the event as it is one way to spread the message of peace building.
“We want to support and put emphasis in Peace Marathon because it offers the best way for different people to meet an interact and share peace building ideas.” said Sean Kerrigan
Receiving the donation, the local athletics governing body’s representative, Fidèle Mubirigi, said that the preparations of the marathon were in high progress and that its success was guaranteed due to the support it was receiving from bodies like World Vision Rwanda.
“We are grateful for World Vision’s donation and it is not the only one as earlier this week, we received other donations from our sponsors. These donations are guaranteeing the success of this year’s Peace Marathon” he said
Over 8,000 athletes including amateurs and professionals are expected to participate in this year’s marathon that is scheduled for May 20 at a tune of Rwf73 million.
The event that was organized by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), aimed to event to advocate international cooperation for global peacebuilding and support for the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.
Chairman Man Hee Lee, a Korean War veteran, appealed to attendants of the forum, “More than anything else, a peaceful world without war would be the greatest legacy to hand down to our children. If a single country achieves peace, it does not mean the world has become peaceful. Peace has to be realized in the entire world. If each person walks in the path towards peace, peace will be accomplished in the global community.”
Prof. Dr. Hans Köchler from Austria, president of International Progress Organization, said the issues of denuclearization and reunification of Korea are mutually reinforcing. He pointed out the prospect of a reunified Korea will be “the best security guarantee to both the North and the South.”
He also maintained that nuclear disarmament should be carried out not only in Korea but also in the rest of the world, saying “there must be no policy of double standards concerning disarmament obligations of states.” Dr. Köchler is serving as a member of HWPL Peace Advisory Council, a group of policy makers and experts from civil society for advancing peace in the international community.
At the end of the event, Dr. Welker presented to HWPL delegation a Letter of Support for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and global peace.
In line with its advocacy campaign for global peacebuilding, HWPL is collecting the Letters of Support from state officials to civil leaders, which aim to being sent to the leaders of two Koreas.
Also, in a move to build sustainable peace, HWPL is implementing peace education programs in various educational institutions and collaborating with educational experts and teachers worldwide to develop peace education textbooks and curriculums.
Sherrie Silver, the choreographer for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” video, is originally from Huye District, Rwanda and has performed in around 30 countries.
In an interview with Forbes, Silver explained that she is planning to come back to Rwanda and celebrate next week by throwing a [party] for homeless and underprivileged and disabled kids.
Asked on what inspired her, she said that standing up for her culture was upfront in what moved her.
“For me, I stand for taking Africa to the world and taking the world to Africa. I feel like it’s such a unique and diverse culture. There’s so many countries in Africa, and everyone just needs to know about it, and everyone needs to know how we dance, everyone needs to know what we eat. I think we’re really interesting, and this is our time to shine… I want you, for example, to watch Donald’s video and see the kids and me dancing in it, and I want you to want to join in, and I want you to feel like these kids just landed from Africa.” she said.
Silver said that Glover’s team contacted her after seeing some of her videos, and was especially interested in her work with children.
“I basically wanted to bring my authentic style from different parts of Africa—not just my country—because I felt that it was very important to represent a lot of the continent,” she said of her choreography for the video. :With the song being called ‘This is America,’ I wanted to make sure that there were some American references as well. That’s why you got dances in there like the Shoot and the Reverse and the Nene. And, obviously, Donald added his own style of movement.” Silver said.
Only yesterday, she released a tutorial of the dance moves found in the clip. As she explains at the start of the guide, she promised to share step-by-step instructions as soon as the video reached 100,000 million views.
As of this posting which has surpassed 120,000 million views at the moment, begins with Glover dancing to afro-beat pop. The Atlanta star, who makes music under the moniker Childish Gambino, is flexing for the camera, his facial expressions echoing the troubling lyrics of the song.
With the new destination, RwandAir will operate four times a week.
RwandAir’s 75-seater Bombardier CRJ-900 NextGen which made the career’s maiden flight landed in Cape Town last week.
Kigali-Harare-Cape Town is the 26throute of Rwanda’s career in Africa, Europe and Asia.
RwandAir has had Harare flights four times a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
RwandAir South Africa Country Manager, Thembela Dladla said that opening Kigali-Harare-Cape Town route has been so long planned as Cape Town is destination sought by everyone on the continent.
Last year, RwandAir started London, United Kingdom flights and plans to enter Israel, New York, United States of America and Guangzhou, China skies in 2018.
The Official Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape (Wesgro) Chief Executive Officer, Tim Harris welcomed the introduction of new route saying that it will benefit Cape Town.
“We welcome the introduction of the direct route from Kigali via Harare to Cape Town. Not only does this facilitate improved business and tourism between the two Capitals, but further positions the Cape as a gateway to Africa,” said Tim Harris.
In a press release, the Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde said that the route opens new opportunities for business and tourism sector.
“This route opens up new opportunities for business and the tourism sector. Rwanda is one of the fastest growing economies on the continent and Zimbabwe holds a lot of potential for development and we hope that by opening up access between Cape Town, Kigali and Harare, it will be easier to explore these possibilities,” Winde said.
RwandAir enters Cape Town few days after the Government of Rwanda and South Africa committed to revitalize the relations. When South Africa’s President Cyrill Ramaphosa was in Kigali in March for the signing of Continental Free Trade Area, he agreed to address challenges of visas for Rwandans entering South Africa territory.
