Ahimbisibwe Rugaju, Kanungu Deputy Resident District Commissioner, in a statement on Monday said two elephants strayed out of the park on Sunday and destroyed acres of gardens before the residents started chasing them back into the park.
“However, as the elephants moved towards the park, they came across the deceased while he was guarding his potato garden near his homestead where he was killed instantly,” Rugaju said.
According to Rugaju, the residents have been complaining about stray animals destroying their crops despite the government promising to put a fence around the park.
“The residents have since threatened to kill wild animals when they are sighted in their gardens since the Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers have failed in their duty to drive the animals back to the park whenever they attack,” Rugaju added.
He however urged the residents against harming wildlife and to always work with park authorities to ensure that the animals are returned to the park.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva told reporters during a press briefing in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that the refining capacities of the Port-Harcourt refinery which is currently under rehabilitation, and the Dangote Refinery under construction, as well as the modular refineries in the country, will see the end of the importation of petroleum products with their combined production.
To ensure the local supply of petroleum products, the government takes a 20 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery, the official said, adding that it also takes a 30 percent equity stake in each of the modular refineries in the country.
Bilie By Nze is responsible for forming a new government. He will replace Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda who was appointed the same day as vice president of the Gabonese Republic, a post vacant for more than three years.
Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, 56, held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Energy and Water Resources. He had been working alongside Ali Bongo Ondimba since March 2012 when he was promoted to political adviser and spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic.
At the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and other senior officials welcomed 269 tourists from the Chinese city of Xiamen, who were greeted with flowers and gift bags.
The increase in the number of tourists entering Thailand from China and other countries is a good sign for Thailand’s tourism sector, generating income and creating jobs for the people which contributes to the country’s economic recovery, Anutin said.
A total of 15 flights from China accommodating about 3,465 passengers were expected to arrive in Bangkok on Monday, he said.
The Thai government expects about 300,000 Chinese tourists to visit Thailand in the first three months of this year.
Also on Monday, Anutin said that visitors would not be required to show the evidence of vaccination, but travellers from the countries that require RT-PCR testing on their returns would be required to have health insurance coverage, including COVID-19, before entering Thailand.
He made the statement on Monday after presiding over the swearing-in of the new Senate President, Dr. François Xavier Kalinda.
The Head of State said that the country continues to be affected by the actions of DRC which should address internal problems without dragging Rwanda into its mess.
The problems are mainly related to accusations that Rwanda supports M23 rebel group which is considered as the cause of insecurity in eastern Congo, despite the presence of more than 130 armed groups.
Meanwhile, the problems have existed for many years given that Rwanda accommodates over 80,000 Congolese refugees that arrived more than 20 years ago fleeing insecurity.
In the past few weeks, it was reported that DRC brought European mercenaries believed to be from Russia to help the country deal with security crisis.
President Kagame has said that Rwanda should not be blamed for those problems, a stand which it has always maintained.
He also assured that the country stands ready to deal with those mercenaries where necessary.
“When you hear a situation is relying on mercenaries, you know that situation is a mess. If it comes to us dealing with the mercenaries, we are overstocked to deal with mercenaries. Mercenaries are the most useless people you can rely on,” he said.
“Those countries relying on mercenaries, you just know they are in trouble. They have original problems before they brought mercenaries and when they bring mercenaries, the problems are multiplied by a big factor. It gets worse, not better,” added Kagame.
“So, I am saying this with a sense of frustration. It’s like the world has gone crazy. Nobody is listening to the other. Facts no longer apply to anything. Since when Congolese, well, of Rwandese origin become Rwanda’s problem?” he wondered.
Kagame stated that the history of the presence of Kinyarwanda-speaking citizens in DRC should be considered first before sounding alarms that they must return to Rwanda.
“When you say they go back, first of all ask yourself who brought them there. Ask those who took them to Congo. How they went there I don’t know. Those who took them there or who created those conditions should be the ones to answer not me. You are not going to force that problem on me, zero. It can’t happen,” he underscored.
Kagame said that DRC’s intentions to expel a group of citizens without talking about the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) because it wants them to stay, is the heart of the matter.
FDLR is a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The President highlighted that the aforementioned actions align with some people’s plans to overthrow Rwanda’s leadership and expressed optimism that they will fail.
Kagame made the disclosure on Monday 9th January 2022 as he received oath of the new Senate President, Dr. François Xavier Kalinda.
In his speech, Kagame talked about different issues including tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Deteriorated relations between both countries arises from reciprocal accusations where DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 rebel group in a fighting with Congolese Army (FARDC) while the latter refutes the allegations and blames Congo for working with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
FDLR is a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi with intentions to continue propagating ethnic divisionism and destabilize Rwanda.
Apart from the alleged support, DRC says that some of M23 fighters are Rwandans who must return home.
President Kagame has said that those Congolese called Rwandans have stayed in Congo for so many years that they became nations due to reasons linked to history.
He said that Rwanda can’t stand and watch continuous blames over the problem of hosted Congolese refugees who fled violence in their country.
“I want to talk about the usual problem we have in our neighbourhood which keeps bringing up Rwanda’s name in all sorts of ways […] I want to start with a problem we have had for long time. We have had refugees from different places for different reasons. There is one type of refugee that I think we are not going to accept,” he said.
“ We cannot keep being host to refugees which later on we are held accountable in some way or even abused about, refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing based in another country and we must be the dumping ground of those people deprived of their rights,” added Kagame.
Today, Rwanda accommodated over 75,000 Congolese refugees in different camps across the country. The majority of them have spent more than 25 years in the host country.
Kagame went on to explain that the problem of Congolese refugees in Rwanda was addressed to Congolese President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi shortly after taking power.
“In fact, when the current President of DRC, when we were still talking, I raised this matter with him when he had just come to the office. And I told him a long story about all along what we even contemplated doing. We tried many things,” he noted.
“I told that we even thought of saying, should we absorb these people and make them our citizens and put the matter to rest just as a way of solving the problem. I also told him the difficulty with that,” highlighted Kagame.
The Head of State further disclosed that the plan to grant citizenship to Congolese refugees failed as they had different views. Firstly, he said that some refugees themselves did not want the citizenship because they wanted to go back home in DRC.
Secondly, Kagame stated that others were not interested in having Rwandan citizenship but wished to stay in Europe, US and Canada.
“I have no quarrel with that at all. When we were proposing to give them citizenship, we also told them that, if they accepted it, they can’t be the same people who would again go and cause trouble in the DRC. If they did that, we would be rightly blamed that our citizens are springing from that and now causing trouble in their country of origin,” he said.
Kagame said that he raised the issue to his counterpart of DRC AND promised support to have it resolved.
“At the beginning, he looked he was convinced and was may be going to do something about it. But now, you see where we are,” he stated.
{{Remove Congolese refugees from here to wherever you want }}
President Kagame said that Congolese leaders who continue to say that M23 combatants are wrong.
“We even tried to explain on regular basis how those people fighting there did not actually come from here. Little did I know that those who say it are actually saying these are Tutsis from Rwanda as of origin even if it is hundred years ago. So, they must go back to Rwanda,” he noted.
“At least, that’s what the authorities in Congo are actually implying. I don’t know whether those who support the idea from outside are aware of this and therefore could be doing it deliberately also or doing it knowingly. But it is a gross abuse of people’s rights and actually abuse against us as a country,” added Kagame.
The President went on to say that Rwanda won’t keep carrying that burden and held responsible for problems in DRC.
He said that one of Rwanda’s reactions to prove how it has nothing to do with Congolese problems is to handover accommodated Congolese refugees for which the country has been blamed and abused for.
“We are going to ensure that everybody realizes that it is not Rwanda’s problem. And starting with saying, those who think this is Rwanda’s problem and not Congo’s, first remove these Congolese from here. Those who coming in every day just on the actions of the government and institutions, you will tell me, ‘the government is not functioning properly, this or that but this is still none of my business,” said Kagame.
“If it is my business, it yours also meaning the international community. These are the ones I am addressing. It is as much your problem as it is mine. But I am refusing that Rwanda should carry this burden and be insulted, abuse every day about it. So, either carry them from here to wherever you want or they go back to Congo and you protect them there,” he added.
Kagame makes the disclosure at a time when Congolese refugees accommodated in Rwanda have been staging protests to denounce violence against their relatives and demanding the international community to take action, return them to Congo and defend their rights as is the case for other nationals.
The accident happened as a Coaster Registration number RAE281S took learners to Path to Success school arrived at a road junction in Rebero.
The deceased identified as Kenny Mugabo was a Primary 5 pupil at Path to Success located in Kicukiro District of Kigali City.
The Police Spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety Department, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) René Irere has told IGIHE that the deceased was critically ill.
“The child has passed away. He is the one who was undergoing blood transfusion at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali [CHUK],” he said.
SSP Irere has revealed that other children have been discharged.
As learners testified, the bus started oversteering when they arrived at a steep slope in Rebero, moved to a nearby woodlot and hit trees as the driver tried to make a turn to the school.
In a message shared via Twitter, President Paul Kagame said that he learnt about the accident, consoled the children’s families and wished them quick recovery.
One Celestin Manirafasha, 28, was arrested on Saturday, January 7, in Murambo Village, Bukwashuri Cell of Kivuye Sector in Burera District, after he was found in possession of 14kgs of cannabis and 22 litres of crude illicit gin commonly known as Kanyanga.
Meanwhile, one Didier Bahati was arrested on Monday, January 9, Kabasengerezi Village, Kabasengerezi Cell in Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge District with 197 pellets.
Superintendent of Police Alex Ndayisenga, the Northern Region Political and Civic Education Officer (RPCEO), while reacting on the arrest of Manirafasha, said that he had sneaked the narcotic drugs and illicit gin into Rwanda from Uganda through a porous border point.
“A responsive resident, who was returning from Uganda, tipped off the Police that two people had used an illegal border to traffic narcotics into Rwanda.
An operation to arrest the suspects was put into motion, and Manirafasha was taken into custody as he crossed from Uganda through Buhita, with 14kgs of cannabis although his accomplice, who had 22 litres of Kanyanga, managed to flee,” SP Ndayisenga said.
According to investigations, the duo was at the time delivering the narcotics to another dealer in Ruhunde Sector also in Burera District, who is yet to be arrested.
The suspects were handed over to RIB for further investigations on the high impact crime.
All alcoholic drinks produced without the standard mark (S-Mark) issued by Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) or without complying with the standards, are classified as narcotics.
Cannabis is classified as a “very severe drug” in Rwanda while kanyanga is listed as a “simple drug” under the Ministerial order nº 001/MoH/2019 of 04/03/2019 establishing the list of narcotic drugs and their categorisation
Article 263 of law No 68/2018 of 30/08/2018 determining offenses and penalties in general, states that any person, who unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, commits an offence.
Upon conviction for “very severe narcotics,” the offender faces between 20 years and life imprisonment, and a fine of up to Rwf30 million.
In case of simple drugs, the offender faces between seven and ten years and a fine of not less than Frw5 million but not more than Rwf10 million.
