UNHCR released a statement on Thursday following reports of refugees’ protests turning violent in Kiziba refugee camp located in Karongi District, Western Province. According to UNHCR, Kiziba refugee hosts over 17,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, around 77 per cent of which are women and children.
Protesting refugees were reportedly angry about reduction in food assistance.
Humanitarian operations in Rwanda remain severely underfunded, forcing the World Food Programme (WFP) to cut food rations by 10 per cent in November 2017 and by 25 per cent in January 2018. “Refugee protection and safety is our top priority,” said Ahmed Baba Fall, UNHCR Representative in Rwanda.
UNHCR urges the refugees to respect local laws and express grievances through dialogue, while calling on authorities to handle the situation with calm and restraint. Some refugees have also indicated their desire to return to the DRC, out of desperation.
“Refugees have the right to return to their country whenever they wish. But we urge refugees to make an informed decision and not to listen to misinformation or rumours,” added UNHCR’s Country Representative. UNHCR is advocating with donors to address the gaps in humanitarian funding and urgent needs of refugees.
To date, UNHCR’s 2018 appeal for US$ 98.8 million to support refugees in Rwanda only 2 per cent is funded. WFP warns about potential larger ration cuts if monthly requirements of US$2.5 million are not met. Prolonged ration cuts put at serious risk food security and nutritional needs of refugees, who are dependent on assistance. Rwanda hosts over 173,000 refugees in six camps, including Kiziba, where Congolese refugees have lived for over 20 years.
Kagame was speaking to his Zambian Counterpart, Edgar Lungu who is in the country for a two-day state visit.
In a State Banquet that took place in Kigali Convention Center yesterday, Kagame told Lungu that it was a pleasure to welcome him to Rwanda.
He said that Rwanda and Zambia share many things including similar aspirations of prosperity and dignity for people.
“You may have noticed that there are many of us, with Zambian-sounding names. But Rwanda and Zambia share more than that. We have similar aspirations, of prosperity and dignity for our people, and a common vision for our continent,” Kagame said.
Kagame said that both countries are linked by membership in regional organisations, for the realisation of different common objectives.
In Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Kagame said both countries are connected by the desire to foster greater trade in the region, and ultimately across Africa.
“The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, brings us together to foster peace and security, so that our people can achieve their ambitions. Rwandans and Zambians are now more connected than ever before,” he noted.
He said Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, has regular flights to Lusaka, “We can take advantage of this opportunity, to increase visits and do more business,”
He said Rwanda and Zambia are united by commitment to building a stronger, and more efficient African Union, able to deliver quality services, to the citizens of the continent.
“This is a continuation of Africa’s liberation, and all of us are stakeholders, in working towards this goal,” he added.
Kagame said that Lungu’s visit to Rwanda is a sign of the warm friendship, between Rwanda and Zambia, and a catalyst for more collaboration.
President Lungu arrived in Kigali yesterday and was received by President Kagame and other senior government officials at Kigali International Airport.
He visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Center where he paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi by laying a wreath to the graves.
Yesterday, President Lungu also visited Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ).
The Exercise code-named ‘SHANTI DOOT 4’ aims at building capacity of the Armed Forces of troops contributing countries in the United Nations Peace Operations and also get an opportunity to share their natural cultural values.
The Contingent is due to depart for the exercise on Friday 23 February 2018.
In a briefing at RMA Gako, on 21 February 2018, the Army Chief of Staff (ACOS), Lt Gen Jacques Musemakweli urged RDF officers and troops, led by Lt Col Theodore Gakuba to reflect RDF values and be good ambassadors of Rwanda during the multinational Exercise.
“Our culture as RDF should be reflected during the exercise. Keep in mind the core values of RDF, keep your discipline very high and exercise high level of professionalism. You have to be very smart and respect RDF posture in whatever you will be doing. You should showcase Rwandan Culture through cultural performances from different countries that will be represented.” the ACOS briefed the Contingent.
The Multinational Peacekeeping Exercise is jointly organized by the US Pacific Command (US PACOM), a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and US Africa Command (US AFRICOM) as well as Bangladesh as the Host nation.
The PSO exercise will take place at the Bangladesh Institute of PSO Training (BIPSOT) at Rajendrapur Cantonment, Gazipur area, Central Bangladesh.
During the just concluded Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) between Rwanda and Zambia, it was agreed to strengthen cooperation in science and technology, trade and investment, governance and tourism sector. Zambia is keen to draw lessons from Rwanda on the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), given that they are at the early stages of developing their own Multi-Facility Economic Zones (MFEZ).
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In 2017, trade between Rwanda and Zambia amounted to US$ 40.9million, consisting mainly of imports in sugar, oats and grains (including maize and soya). East African Exchange (EAX) is reported to import Barley, Grade 1 Maize and Soya from Zambia equivalent to US$ 1.5 million.
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There are existing opportunities to further enhance trade between Rwanda and Zambia through inland water transport to and from Mpulungu port through Tanganyika. In addition to the Northern and Central corridors, Rwanda could explore the Tanganyika corridor route through lake Kivu-Rusizi River to Lake Tanganyika that links EAC with SADC countries, as well as explore the Mpulungu, Dar es Salaam – Isaka – Kigali routes.
President Kagame visited Zambia in June last year for two days, during which he laid a wreath at the Embassy Park Presidential Memorial site, held talks with his host President Lungu and also paid a courtesy call to former Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda.
The protests followed a decision of the World Food Programme (WFP), a partner UN agency, to reduce food assistance to the refugees by 25% due to funding shortage. All refugees hosted in Rwanda are affected by this WFP decision.
Jean Claude Rwahama, Director of Refugees Affairs in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees said:
“Refugee representatives have been meeting camp management, local authorities, as well as UN partner agencies to discuss the cause of Tuesday’s incident. It is unfortunate that some refugees resorted to violence even as local authorities and security personnel were working to find a solution to their grievances.
Several people were injured, but we are thankful that there were no fatalities.
We are mindful of the rights of refugees but also caution that they must respect the laws of the host county. Police will therefore carry out thorough investigations into this incident, to establish responsibility and ensure it doesn’t re-occur.”
Mr. Rwahama also dismissed claims that there are plans to categorise refugees in Ubudehe, as this is a development-planning tool for Rwandan nationals. However, GoR has learnt that UN agencies were inspired by this model to provide assistance to refugees based on their specific needs and capacity, as part of the UN’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework.
The Kiziba camp is one of five refugee camps in Rwanda. It was established in 1996 when thousands of Congolese refugees were fleeing the conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The camp currently hosts more than 17,000 refugees.
The Government of Rwanda is committed to ensuring the safety of refugees hosted in Rwanda. The Government will continue to work with various partners, including UN agencies, to improve the wellbeing of all refugees living in Rwanda.
The EAC Sectoral Council on Cooperation in Defence directed the EAC Secretariat to convene a DEWG to benchmark the Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) medical simulation Centre and develop a standard protocol for management of health conditions in the EAC Armed Forces.
The five-day meeting started on Monday with a tour to the Rwanda Military Hospital and its International Trauma Life Support Training Simulation Centre (ITLS). The centre serves as a Pre and post deployment training Centre for the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions.
According to Col. Dr. Jean Paul Bitega, the Commandant of RMH, the meeting of EAC Armed Forces medical experts will help in the harmonisation of EAC health services in the military.
“The aim of this meeting is to harmonise the EAC way of delivering health services to the level that any patient treated in Nairobi is eligible to receive the same treatment in Kigali or elsewhere in EAC without any difference”.
The Representative of the EAC Secretariat, Brig. Gen. Kansigazi Tumusiime reiterated in the same line that the meeting was convened in Rwanda to specifically address medical challenges affecting EAC defence forces.
“What we have seen in Rwanda is a very positive achievement by the Rwandan military; they have shown us how post traumatic matters can be handled. When EAC Member States unite they would be able to handle many health issues together.
Rwanda has given us a way forward, we are very glad for the people of Rwanda, they have been able to break through, they are able now to address traumatic matters in their military,” he said.
The meeting due to conclude on Friday 23 February 2018, is conducted in accordance with Article 2 of the EAC Protocol on cooperation in Defence Affairs.
In a suspension order signed by the RURA Director General, Lt. Col. Patrick Nyirishema the radio was requested to air a statement of correction and apologise to the public in not more than two hours after receiving the letter.
The radio also was instructed to close down for a month.
RURA said that the radio failed to uphold national interests and national Security. The letter also says that the radio also failed to comply with Rwandan culture, norms and values.
According to RURA, the radio didn’t comply with relevant laws and regulations as well as licence obligations.
“Due to non-compliance of the elaborated above, Amazing Grace Christian Radio is hereby ordered to suspend all broadcasting services for thirty calendar days after apologizing to the public,” the statement reads.
The Radio was asked to pay administrative fine of Rwf2 million on RURA account in fifteen days.
In his sermon, preacher Nicholas Niyibikora referred to women as prostitutes and evil among other shameful words.
Different people criticized the sermon calling institutions in charge to act on the preacher and the radio.
The Rwanda Media Commission recently deliberated on the matter and requested RURA to shut the frequencies of the radio.
The district’s Mayor George Mupenzi says the educationists resigned by their will during the meeting held on February 2nd in which he and his subordinates informed the summoned teachers about their disciplinary faults.
However, the victims say they were forced to sign the resignation under a tense pressure of district officials flanked by army and police officers in a showdown that ran from 11am to 2am of the next day as some of them received beatings and detained in a transit centre.
Mupenzi rejects claims of beating or detaining any of the teachers and says there were no security forces involved in the exercise that intended to safeguard the quality of education.
He says the teachers’ faults include reporting at work when they were drunk, skipping some working days and delays to attend their work, poor hygiene and bad schools management.
But the handling of the faults, whether true or false, has ignited public outcry with many wondering if the district had exhausted all disciplinary sanctions or if there is an untold story behind the allegedly forced resignation.
Again if the all the sanctioning procedures were exhausted, the district had legal powers to dismiss the teachers instead of waiting for their resignation.
“We are wondering how people decide to resign today and come back to claim their jobs tomorrow. Unless it is proved that all 46 have acquired mental illness,” says Faustin Harerimana, the General Secretary of Rwanda Teachers’ Syndicate.
{{But what’s really behind the saga? Victims speak out.
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Some teachers have told IGIHE that they are victims of claiming their dues and denouncing faults of their schools’ leaders who are cherished by district officials.
Dorothée Mukapeti, former Deputy Head-teacher in charge of Studies (DOS) at GS Bufunda, says she started denouncing her school leader’s actions in 2015 but the tension tightened in April 2017 when the DOS pointed out her school teachers who had no full work timetable and others receiving higher remunerations than their qualification deserved but they were under cover of the head-teacher
“I reported that mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds to the district’s vice mayor, the checking was done and the two teachers were transferred from our school but my headmaster got so angry with me and slapped me in front of students and teachers when I asked him the teachers’ attendance book as usual but he feared I would see other unnecessary teachers in the book,” said Mukapeti, the mother of six and a teacher since 1996.
The checkout by the Ministry of Education found at least 128 ghost teachers in Nyagatare in 2017.
Mukapeti says she reported her assault case to police and her deprivation of duties by headmaster to district’s officials who later visited her school to reconcile the two and headmaster apologised for his deeds. Her assault case is now in Nyagatare Primary Court.
She was relieved of her DOS duties last month and transferred to another school where she had started working as a mere teacher a week before her forced resignation
A male victim, who signed the resignation after days of detention and beatings, says he was charged with drunkenness but he had issues with his head-teacher over funds that parents contribute for teachers’ welfare commonly known as PTA. He says he and his fellows were falsely accused to the district’s officials by their own head-teachers with whom they had some disagreements.
Another male victim says he was, together with his seven colleagues from Bushara Primary School, accused of drunkenness but he puts his firing on his head-teacher with who he once had a misunderstanding.
Another victim lady also says she had issues with her head-teacher over the school’s mismanagement while the leader is a close friend to Nyagatare Vice-mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Domithille Musabyemariya.
Musabyemariya told IGIHE last week that these teachers’ issue was strange to her while the teachers say she was in the team that forced them to sign resignation letters.
As teachers’ syndicate awaits holding talks with the district, Harerimana says that they consider going into court of law in case the talks fail.
A teacher from Tabagwe Sector told IGIHE yesterday that some of the victims were getting back into their jobs since Monday but we were unable to verify the news by press time.
{{Legal disciplinary sanctions
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According the Presidential Order of 2014 determining modalities of imposing disciplinary sanctions to public servants, sanctions of the first category correspond with petty disciplinary faults according to their gravity. From the least to the heaviest, sanctions of the first category are warning and reprimand.
Sanctions of the second category correspond with serious disciplinary faults according to their gravity. They include delay in promotion, suspension for a period of three months maximum without pay and dismissal.
Article 14 stipulates “A public servant to be sanctioned by dismissal shall be the one who refuses to take oath as a public servant in accordance with the relevant laws; deserts his/her work without known reason or without authorization for a period of at least fifteen (15) consecutive days; is definitively sentenced by a court to a term of imprisonment equal to or exceeding six (6) months; fraudulently alters the content of his/her or another person’s professional file; has submitted among his/her credentials falsified documents in order to get recruited; steals at work; assaults another person at work; insults the head of his/her institution or his/her deputy or any other high official on the same or superior job level; commits a fraudulent act or omission aimed at favouring a candidate or putting his/her at disadvantage in course of recruitment process; requires, receives or offers donation or illegal benefit for provision of a service; harasses another person for the purposes of sexual intercourse and there are proof thereto; commits a gender-based violence at workplace,” it reads.
The Office of the President in Zambia has announced that Lungu will arrive in the country today with a team made up with Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo; Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji; Transport and Communications Minister Brian Mushimba and Commerce Minister Christopher Yaluma.
During the visit, Lungu will learn how Rwanda’s economy continues to grow in and how the country continues to develop in terms of citizens’ welfare under the leadership of President Paul Kagame.
It is expected that Lungu will visit Kigali Genocide Memorial Center to honor victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and will also visit Kigali Special Economic Zone. Lungu will be hosted by President Kagame in a state banquet in Kigali Convention Center.
Lungu had been in Rwanda in August, 18th last year during the swearing in ceremony of President Kagame.
Kagame also visited Zambia on June 19th last year. As a result of discussions between both Heads of States, both countries signed agreements in Aviation, army and security cooperation and extradition of criminals.
Transforming from her past fame as Sandy Soul to Sandra Nankoma, this album is perhaps inevitable to miss-the vocal soul star covers the musical baselines of Jazz and soul-ballad with a distinctive identity and tune that will break barriers of an African soul singer and take the world by storm.
As a singer, song writer, Sandra Nankoma has collaborated with Multiple geniuses on this project: Kaz Kasozi her Mentor, producer and Music director of Littleroom Studio, Uganda; David Felgeirolles, of Future Paradise Studio, France; Michael Avron, Christophe Pittet and Felix Sabal-Lecco.
YE’NZE drops this week on Thursday 22nd February 2018. You can find it on all digital platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, Believe, and CD Baby. To make an order for a CD or vinyl, you can contact maijakrivenburg@gmail.com
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