According to the Ministry of Defence, the market was constructed at an estimated cost of US$25,000 within 54 days.
The Governor of Cabo Delgado Province, Tauabo who was the guest of honor commended the joint forces commitment to improve the quality of life of the population after returning to their homes.
The RSF Joint Task Force Commander, Maj Gen Eugene Nkubito in his address said that Rwandan Security Forces are not in Cabo Delgado for combat operations only, but to also pledge their support to the social economic development of the province.
He assured the authorities of their continued support to the leadership in addressing the human security issues in order to achieve lasting peace and security.
The ceremony was concluded by a friendly football match between RSF and Mocimboa da Praia youth football team.
Soldiers of Congolese Army (FARDC) were shot dead in Rwanda at different times on 19th November 2022 and recently on 4th March 2023.
The two soldiers were shot dead in Gisenyi Sector as they opened fire at Rwandan soldiers on guard at the border between Rubavu and Goma.
Some of gunned down soldiers include Kasereka Malumalu and Sambwa Nzenze Didier from FARDC.
Congolese Army denied that Kasereka is among its soldiers but an assessment conducted later established that he was among missing soldiers where he was shot dead at the border trying to confront Rwandan soldiers.
It is said that he was drunk at the time.
The second soldier was shot dead storming Rwandan territory around 15:30.
Their bodies were taken from the mortuary of Gisenyi Hospital and handed over to EJVM and Congolese leaders.
EJVM also received guns and ammunition seized from these soldiers as they stormed Rwandan territory.
DRC accuses Rwanda of backing M23 rebel group, claims which the country has repeatedly denied noting that it is part of Congo’s plan to externalize its problems.
Details about his death emerged in the evening of Tuesday 7th March 2023 but it is said that he breathed the last on Monday.
A source has told IGIHE ‘that Gatsinzi was not critically ill’ but felt unhealthy and went to a hospital where he died shortly after arrival as doctors prepared to attend to him.
He has been living in Rwanda but traveled to Belgium for medical attention.
People who lived with him attest that he was a patriotic and honest man.
A statement signed by M23 political spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, indicates that the group has taken the decision in fulfillment of outcomes of consultations between M23 and Angolan President, João Lourenço in Luanda and the decision taken in different regional summits in Bujumbura, Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
All the meetings were aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The M23 movement, hereby, declares a ceasefire from this Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 at 12:00 hours to pave the way for the political process to take place,” reads the statement.
M23 has thanked regional leaders and international partners who have made efforts to understand its problems and for endless efforts to restore peace and security in eastern DRC.
“From the foregoing, the M23 calls on other regional leaders and international partners to spare no effort in contributing to the current initiatives aimed at the restoration of peace and stability in eastern DRC and the region as a whole,” adds the statement.
M23 has reiterated commitment to peacefully resolve conflict in eastern DRC but highlighted that it ‘reserves the full right to defend itself once attacked by the DRC Government Coalition of FARDC, FDLR, NYATURA, Mai-Mai, APCLS, PARECO, NDC-R and mercenaries.
The rebel group further stated that it won’t spare any effort to protect the civilian population and their belonging.
M23 controls large swathes in eastern Congo even though it has already handed over some of captured areas to forces of the East African Community.
The Office of UK Prime Minister has announced that both leaders held a phone conversation on Monday 6thn March 2023.
“The Prime Minister and President Kagame also discussed the concerning escalation in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and international efforts to support a lasting peaceful resolution,” reads part of the statement.
Kagame recently said that security crisis in DRC is a problem of the country noting that Rwanda has never harboured intentions to destabilize the neioghbouring country.
Meanwhile, Congolese leaders relentlessly accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 rebel group in a fighting with Congolese Army (FARDC). Rwanda has repeatedly denied the allegations but accused Congo of working with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
“In my view, there is nothing like eastern Congo’s problem. […] It is actually Congo’s problem and a regional problem, meaning it affects even neighbours. If we are referring to Rwanda, you wouldn’t say Northern Rwanda problem because it is neighbouring with eastern Congo and the spillovers of problems mainly come to the north of the country. That doesn’t make it a northern Rwanda problem. It makes Rwanda’s problem. I want us to understand that eastern Congo’s problem is Congo’s problem,” he said.
“This problem has a very long history in terms of the cause of that. But it also has a long history of how it has been mismanaged from the beginning. That is why it was there for over 20 years. If you look at the attention that has been paid to this so-called eastern Congo’s problem, it is so much that one would think we should have got a solution. So, it has been there for long and has been mismanaged for very long,” added Kagame.
The Head of State further said that the issue was discussed for long during meetings of the African Union, others held in Kenya, Angola and at the level of the United Nations.
“The other day we were supposed to go and meet in Qatar over the same problem. That didn’t happen but, may be, it is going to happen in the near future,” he noted.
The statement also indicates that both leaders discussed the UK-Rwanda migration partnership and ‘joint efforts to break the business model of criminal people smugglers and address humanitarian issues’.
The leaders committed to continue working together to ensure ‘this important partnership is delivered successfully’.
The assessment conducted by the United Kingdom indicated that the first batch of migrants might be deported to Rwanda in 2024.
Rwanda and UK signed the Migration and Economic Development partnership signed in April last year.
Through this deal, the UK will provide an upfront investment of £120 million to fund invaluable opportunities for Rwandans and migrants including secondary qualifications, vocational and skills training, language lessons and higher education.
These asylum seekers from African countries and others outside the continent will be treated decently like Rwandans upon arrival. It is expected that those willing to return to their mother lands will be helped to do so.
Last year, over 45,000 illegal migrants crossed into the UK. The number is expected to increase to 80,000 this year.
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2022 shows that women account for 31% in leadership positions.
Different partners in the areas of women empowerment continue to expend much effort to bridge the gender gap, which in turn has a negative impact to the economy and wellbeing.
In light of celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, different institutions have organized an event dubbed ‘Mentoring Walk & Environment’ which will bring together women and girls.
Participants will come from public institutions, private sector, non-governmental organizations and youth representatives among others.
Walking through Nyandungu Eco-Tourism Park, interactive talks, hearing testimonies, women’s performances, networking and sharing lunch are among activities expected to mark the event.
Managed by QA Venue Solutions, Nyandungu Eco-park was opened in 2022.
Stretched on 121.7 hectares in size, including 70 hectares of wetland and 50 hectares of forest; the wetland also features a medicinal garden, a Pope’s Garden, five catchment ponds, three recreation ponds, a 10km network of walking and cycling paths, viewing areas, picnic areas, an information centre, and a restaurant among other facilities.
It is home to more than 62 local plant species and over 100 bird species.
Participants will sit in pairs at Nyandungu –Eco-Park for a networking session before walking through the recreational facility.
KORA Coaching Group designed the feasibility of the walk.
The company believes that coaching can help people especially women in leadership to shape their future.
It is also convinced that the youth accounting for 60.3% of the country’s population can benefit from coaching sessions as they are empowered to make the right decisions, hence fast tracking individual progress and national development as well.
Bourbon Coffee will host participants at its restaurant in Nyandungu and serve them with coffee and other courses.
The event will start from 6:00 a.m. to be concluded at 9:00 a.m.
These solid results were supported by a growth in voice, data and mobile financial services underpinned by good operational momentum. Our subscriber base grew by 381,000 subscribers to 6.8 million. The Active data user base grew 9% compared to the previous year, with 191,000 new active data customers added to the MTN customer base in 2022. This growth was driven by the addition of over 308,000 new smartphones to the network, increasing smartphone penetration by 3.4%.
Speaking on these achievements, Mark Nkurunziza, MTN Rwanda Chief Finance Officer, highlighted “We are thrilled to announce these strong results for 2022. The renewal cost for our individual license in 2021 for Rwf 91 billion was amortised over 10 years, which impacted finance and amortization costs resulting in a 12.8% decrease in net earnings. Our Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) grew by 20.8% compared to the previous year, closing 2022 with an EBITDA margin of 48.3% that came in 0.6pp stronger than 2021. The margin improvement was primarily a result of strong revenue growth as well as a yearlong focus on expense efficiencies to contain operating expenditure growth.”
Anchored on one of our Ambition 2025 pillars, to build the largest and most valuable platforms, our subsidiary Mobile Money Rwanda Limited (MMRL) recorded an increase in the active Mobile Money subscriber base to 4.3 million users from 3.7 million users with an exponential increase in MoMo Pay merchants to 141,222 from 47,678 active merchants in 2021. Additionally, Mobile money revenue continued its strong trajectory closing at 48.4% growth compared to 2021.
“We are pleased to see that the adoption of our mobile money services by our customers and the drive from our partners, MoMoPay merchants, has translated into such strong results. This year, we are even more committed to introducing products and services that will propel financial inclusion across the nation, leaving no one behind,” commented Chantal Kagame, Mobile Money Rwanda Limited Chief Executive Officer.
Mapula Bodibe, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer expressed that “These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees and the continued support of our board of directors, and stakeholders as well as the continued loyalty of our customers. We would like to thank and appreciate all our customers and stakeholders without whom we wouldn’t have been recognized as the 2022 top performing MTN operation across the MTN Group footprint of countries in the MTN Group ‘Million Dollar Challenge’, announced a few weeks ago. Also noteworthy, Mobile Money Rwanda Limited emerged as the overall winner of the Build the Largest and Most Value Platforms: Fintech award, being the best performing Fintech operation across the MTN Group footprint.
In 2022, we also continued our focus on investments in a sustainable future through our strategic priority Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) programme, aligned to the MTN Group commitment to achieve zero net carbon emissions by the end of 2040. MTN Rwanda launched a pilot grid-connected solar system at our data centre as a proof-of-concept project, under the localised Project Zero umbrella, for which we foresee expansion in the coming years.
Building on our commitment to “Lead Digital Solutions for Rwanda’s Progress”, MTN Rwanda in partnership with our telecom tower provider IHS Rwanda Ltd donated laptops and subsidized data to schools for the second year in a row as part of the ongoing nationwide school digitization programme.
“This year, we are excited to be celebrating twenty-five years of operation in Rwanda. Our journey in this nation of a thousand hills has been one of growth and innovation. We are looking forward to celebrating this milestone throughout the year. There’s a lot in store for our customers under the theme “Tubitayeho” including a number of events and giveaways, appreciating all our stakeholders and partners for their continued support and trust over the years,” added Bodibe.
Looking ahead, we are at the mid-way point of the execution of the MTN Group Ambition 2025 strategy and the beginning of the implementation of Rwanda’s new broadband policy, which presents even more exciting growth prospects for MTN Rwanda. We are focused on delivering on the policy expectations which are in line with MTN’s ambition to lead digital solutions for Rwanda’s progress.
“We look forward to building on the success we achieved in 2022. The Company is well-positioned for future growth, with plans to introduce new products and services, underpinned by a continued focus on improved network and customer experience,” concluded Bodibe.
{{About MTN Rwandacell Plc}}
MTN Rwandacell Plc (MTN Rwanda) is the market leader in mobile telecommunications in Rwanda. Since 1998, it has continuously invested in expanding and modernising its network.
MTN Rwanda offers various services to subscribers, including innovative propositions such as personalised voice and data offers with MTN Irekure. The company is also the front runner in mobile financial services in Rwanda with Mobile Money, MoMoPay and MoKash Loans and Savings.
The duo was arrested on Sunday, March 5, in Kamugani village, Umunini cell in Kansi sector with 13kgs of lightning rods.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Habiyaremye, the Police spokesperson for the Southern region, said that the lightning conductors were unearthed on pylons from Kibirizi power plant.
“The vandalism was reported by Kansi residents. The two suspects were unearthing and cutting lightning rods from pylons. They were arrested red-handed after collecting 13kgs of rods from pylons. They were selling them as scraps,” CIP Habiyaremye said.
They were handed over to RIB at Ndora station for further investigations.
The suspects said that they were selling the conductors to dealers in scraps for Frw3,500 per kilogramme.
CIP Habiyaremye warned against destroying public infrastructure.
Article 182 of the law relating to offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, states that “any person, who maliciously demolishes or damages in any way, in whole or in part of construction, building, bridge, dams, water pipes and their routes, railway rails or any other means of communication or electric power infrastructure, wells or any other constructions, which do not belong to him/her, commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3) years and not more than five (5) years with a fine of not less than Frw3 million and not more than Frw5 million.
The visit known as “Ad limina Apostolorum” is scheduled between 6th and 11th March 2023.
‘An ad limina’ is an obligatory visit made by all bishops to Rome during which they pray at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. In addition, they meet with Pope Francis and Vatican officials and present a quinquennial report of their respective diocese.
The Archbishop of Kigali, Cardinal Antoine Kambanda has said that bishops in this visit meet with Pope Francis for presentation of a report on state of Catholic Church and evangelization in Rwanda over the past five years.
They also share challenges, new plans whereafter they receive advise and message to deliver to Christians.
Apart from meeting with Pope, Cardinal Kambanda disclosed that they also hold talks with other senior members of the Catholic Church and Vatican’s top leadership.
He explained that a lot has been achieved by the Catholic Church following the previous visit in 2014, such as the increase of Christians, priests, members of the clergy, Christian families and parishes among others.
These activities go hand in hand with the ‘quasquicentennial jubilee’ (125th anniversary) since evangelization was introduced in Rwanda.
Cardinal Kambanda said that they have a many things to be discussed with Pope Francis.
“Normally, we have a message to share with him during such the visit. As the church is expanding with new parishes and increase of Christians, we need new dioceses,” he said.
“It is about learning how larger dioceses can be split to get closer to Christians even further. It is within our powers as bishops to establish new parishes but only the Pope can decide on the creation of a new diocese,” added Kambanda.
Besides, newly created congregations need approval by the Pope.
“We are grateful to God that we have a large number of young people willing to serve God not only through usual congregations but also newly created ones that still need the Catholic Church’s approval. This is among other issues to be discussed with His Holiness,” she revealed.
A mass is expected to be celebrated at the tomb of Saint Peter during this visit.
Rwandan Bishops will also meet with the Secretariat of Vatican which oversees foreign relations.
Cardinal Kambanda also disclosed that they want to hold talks with the church’s body responsible for canonization.
“We have God’s servants Cyprien Rugamba and Daphrose Mukansanga and children. We made request to have them named venerable. The Pope’s office in charge is reviewing it. We will discuss with them on the progress and when to expect answer,” he noted.
Their itinerary shows that the bishops will meet with Pope Francis on Friday 10th March, Vatican’s secretariat on 9th March and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Evangelization on 7rh March 2023.
Pope Francis invites bishops to present the quinquinnal report. Rwanda’s invitation was sent early December 2022.
The previous visit was held between 25th March and 3rd April 2014.
It has however been almost nine years without holding the visit due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
Moreover, dioceses increased to 3,017 that the Pope that it would like to meet more than one bishop per day yet he is in advanced age with other duties.
It had also taken seven years for Rwandan bishops to go in Vatican for the visit in 2014.
He made the revelation on Sunday following repetitive provocations by soldiers of the Congolese Army (FARDC) to Rwanda. Of recent, a Congolese soldier was shot dead on Rwandan territory in Rubavu District after opening fire at Rwandan soldiers manning the border area.
As a team from the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) investigated the incident on Saturday, Congolese people threw stones in Rwanda prompting Rwandan soldiers to fire warning shots.
Similar incidents involving soldiers storming Rwandan territory, no man’s land and opening fire at Rwandan soldiers have happened three times.
DRC’s fighter jets have also violated Rwandan airspace three times.
Among others, Congolese soldiers in collaboration the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi shelled rockets on Rwandan territory at different times last year.
Commenting on the provocations while appearing in a talk show with RBA on Sunday 5th March 2023, Mukuralinda said that the reactions by Congolese soldiers are often fuelled by statements or behaviours of the country’s leaders.
“This can be looked at in two ways. The first is provocation but when you analyze the frequency, there are also recurrent statements by Congolese leaders prompting some soldiers to put into action what they heard,” he observed.
“When you always tell somebody that Rwanda is an enemy […] sounding it every day, one of people with guns might say ‘we are always told that these guys are enemies, why can’t I cross to shot them’.”
On the other hand, Mukuralinda disclosed that DRC might be attempting to drag Rwanda into a war.
He explained that the incident that happened towards the end of last week was more severe because it involved the exchange of fire between both countries’ soldiers. Mukuralinda however reassured residents that their security is guaranteed.
“The most important thing is that no one died or injured on our side. It was highlighted through the recently released statement that Rwanda’s and its people’s security is guaranteed,” he noted.
“It is not surprising […] measures have been taken, we have soldiers, we have weapons and all necessary preparations have been made that it won’t surprise us. Provocations will continue but we won’t be caught into that trap,” added Mukuralinda.
He further disclosed that Rwanda will continue to safeguard territorial integrity irrespective of the provocations by Congolese soldiers.
“If they cross the area, they can be dealt with appropriately,” assured Mukuralinda.
Rwanda and DRC have been experiencing stained relations following the resurgence of M23 rebel group towards the end of 2021.
DRC accuses Rwanda of backing M23, which has been claiming for rights of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities. However, Rwanda repeatedly denied the allegations but accused DRC of forming a coalition with FDLR.
Since tensions escalated between Rwanda and DRC, different resolutions have been reached to solve the problem through established regional processes but Congolese leaders reportedly failed to implement them.
These reactions saw the country’s President boycotting his participation in a recent meeting in Doha, Qatar to mend ties between Rwanda and DRC.
