{Construction of the railway line from Tanzania to Burundi and Rwanda could start next year after the three countries hired a transaction advisor for the project.
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Canadian Pacific Consulting Services (CPCS), railways transportation services consultancy firm is to source funding and investors in the planned railway line connecting the three countries.
The hiring by the governments of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, which are jointly funding the project, paves the way for CPCS to market the project to investors and ultimately attract financiers.
A functional and reliable railway line along the Central Corridor is seen as crucial in bringing down transport costs and also as key oto protecting roads, which are being damaged by heavy trucks.
Information from the Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali / Keza-Gitega-Musongati Railway project co-ordination office in Kigali indicates that the planned 1,672 kilometre standard gauge railway project is to cost the three countries $5 billion.
And the model of investment is a private public partnership. It is also emerging that Chinese, Indian, African and German investors have expressed interest in the project. But what is holding back negotiations is that the three countries have no expertise in the private-public partnership mode of investment for railway project.
“A note of no objection has been sent to African Development Bank and should the bank okay it, CPCS will start marketing the project to prospective investors,” said a source in the Rwanda Transport Development Agency.
AfDB is a key financing agency of this project after studies that have informed the three countries about the viability of the project.
Traders spend 40 per cent of the cost of an item on transport partly because of an inefficient railway system, a poor road network and growing non-tariff barriers.
{Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe on Thursday announced her candidacy to succeed her husband, 90-year-old president Robert Mugabe, when he leaves office.}
“People say I want to be president, why not? Am I not a Zimbabwean?” the 49-year-old said when addressing veterans of the country’s liberation struggle in Mazowe at about 40km north of Harare.
Mugabe called on Vice President Joice Mujuru – regarded as one of the top contenders to succeed the president – to resign.
“There are plenty of people who can run this country, not Mujuru,” she said, adding that her husband’s deputy would take Zimbabwe “back to where we were before independence.”
Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, has travelled several times for medical care abroad, sparking speculation that he could step down before his term ends in 2018.
Mugabe has meanwhile been appointed to head the women’s league of the ruling party Zanu-PF.
The first lady’s political ambitions have faced resistance from Mujuru and others who participated in the liberation struggle against the white minority government of the then Rhodesia – today Zimbabwe – alongside Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe has also come under fire for a doctorate she obtained from the University of Zimbabwe in September – allegedly just months after she enrolled there.
{The number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with 4,922 deaths, the World Health Organization says in its latest report.
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Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Those three countries account for all but 10 of the fatalities.
Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a two-year-old girl. More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been quarantined.
The latest WHO situation report says that Liberia remains the worst affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281 fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea.
Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and one in the United States.
{Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party and its candidate Filipe Nyusi won this month’s presidential and legislative elections, according to provisional results announced on Friday, with votes counted from all provinces.}
The initial full results of the 15 October vote will still need to be ratified by the Constitutional Court before becoming official and final.
The tally from the national electoral commission gave Nyusi 57% of the votes, while Renamo’s Afonso Dhlakama had just over 36% and Daviz Simango of the Mozambique Democratic Movement obtained nearly 7%.
Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since its independence in 1975, also maintained its majority in the 250-seat parliament.
Renamo, the main opposition party, and its candidate, former civil war rebel leader Dhlakama, have alleged widespread fraud and irregularities in the elections in the former Portuguese colony on southern Africa’s Indian Ocean coast.
But the vote was endorsed as broadly acceptable by international observers.
Dhlakama, who has lost every major election to the ruling party since the end of a 1975-1992 civil war, says he will challenge the results but has ruled out violence, which is reassuring for foreign donors and investors.
Mozambique is hoping revenue from its large natural gas deposits and its fledgling coal mining and export industry will help it emerge from years of poverty and aid dependence.
Today, Rwanda will once more join the global community in celebrating the United Nations (UN) Day, which constitutes the anniversary of the founding of the UN on October 24th, 1945.
The signing of the UN’s Charter in San Francisco, USA, on that day was a solemn pledge to the world’s people to prevent serious and widespread assaults on human dignity and the wholesale destruction of human life, infrastructure and properties as happened during the WWII as well as to always provide assistance and protection to affected populations in the face of natural disasters and emergencies. It was also a pledge to promote sustainable development of all countries within peaceful environments.
With the passage of time, the UN Day celebrations have also come to provide the opportunity for recognizing the important contributions that the Organization has made to world peace, security, humanitarian response and development. Numerous UN workers continue to risk their lives in many parts of the world to protect innocent civilians from the ravages and destruction of war and natural disasters. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives while carrying out their duties in such processes.
The UN’s landmark integrated approach to security, humanitarian assistance and sustainable development makes it a unique partner for countries and people throughout the world in their search for human security, good governance, peace and inclusive development. This is particularly underscored by the Millennium Development Goals, which have provided the world with a unique compact for combating extreme poverty, disease burdens, environmental deterioration and promoting gender equality and much better international cooperation.
But over the past few years the UN Day has also increasingly prompted a somber reflection on the deepening challenges it is facing in terms of the sheer magnitude of problems that the world is facing against the dwindling resource base of the Organization. The resurgence of conflicts and terrorism over the past few years in so many parts of the world, notably the Middle East and North Africa and the outbreak of epidemics like Ebola in West Africa as well as the worsening effects of climate change have presented the UN with unprecedented challenges.
These challenges notwithstanding, there are important achievements from the UN’s work to celebrate. We are currently in the last year of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) implementation and they have helped to galvanize more holistic development efforts at both the global and national levels. With the agreed deadline for the MDGs fast approaching, the UN has been working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and fashion an ambitious post-2015 development agenda.
The decisions that will be finally adopted next year regarding this new agenda will undoubtedly lead to a much more decisive global action plan for ending poverty, ensuring prosperity and well-being for all, stepping up of environmental protection and addressing climate change threats effectively.
As the UN Secretary-General puts it, “the UN treaties addressing inequality, torture and racism have protected peoples, while other agreements have safeguarded the environment. UN peacekeepers have heroically separated hostile forces, our mediators have settled disputes and our humanitarian workers have delivered life-saving aid”.
There is no doubt that more than ever before, the United Nations is needed in addressing the multiple crises and conflicts around the World. Despite some of the much discussed deficits of the Organization, it is uniquely placed to lead the global response to epidemics, terrorism, war, discrimination, poverty and climate change.
In Rwanda, the UN has continued over the past year to reinforce its delivering as one (DaO) frameworks and mechanisms, building upon the successes of the pilot phase of the DaO between 2008 – 2012. These processes have rendered the UN’s operations more relevant, efficient, effective and results-oriented. Thus the UN system in Rwanda is currently is better placed to support the country’s accelerated poverty reduction and transformational agenda as encapsulated in Vision 2020 and second the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II), 2013-2018.
Within the framework of the Rwanda UN Country Team’s single business plan, the United Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) 2013-2018 the UN agencies are implementing joint programmes in the areas of Inclusive Economic Transformation, Accountable Governance, Human Development as well as Humanitarian Actions and Disaster Management. Thus, its programmes are responding directly to the key priorities of the country’s medium-term priorities.
Rwanda has not only sustained its contribution to UN reforms at both national and global levels, but it continues to expand its contributions to UN Peace Keeping missions in various parts of the world. It is also among the few countries in Africa that are on track to meeting the MDGs, and it is also already playing a lead role in the fashioning of the Post-MDGs agenda. All this is a clear testimony to the commitment of the Rwandan leadership to the fulfillment of the key ideals underpinning the founding of the UN and successful domestication of important international agreements.
This year, with the development and implementation of UN – supported joint programmes, the UN family in Rwanda has engaged even more vigorously the Government of Rwanda and its development partners for the country’s transformation and sustainable development, trying to put into effect the words of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who called on “Governments and individuals to always work in common cause for the common good”.
{The M23 Movement has condemned the government of DRC President Joseph Kabila over the “unacceptable laissez faire attitude” towards North Kivu after the Ugandan rebel group, ADF, slaughtered scores of civilians especially women and children in the worst massacres since the year began.}
The criminal attacks were perpetrated in the Ngadi and Kadou localities near the town of Beni, sparking outrage from the international community.
M23 which used to operate from Kivu said, “Our fellow North Kivu compatriots and those of the “Great North” are looking like orphans at the moment as they are suffering the abject cruelty of the ADF, a group which is murdering them under the incomprehensible and unacceptable silence of the country’s highest authorities.”
The group’s leader, Bertrand Bisiimwa exclusively told Chimpreports on Thursday the killings in Eastern Congo were “predictable and therefore preventable,” but that the war-torn area “has not got a special attention from the Government to put in place a conflict prevention strategy.”
Bisiimwa observed that the area is known to be infested with bandits especially ADF, “an enemy well known for its recurring criminal activities against civilians for decades.”
He alleged the attackers were able to inflict considerable damage on the civilian communities because “they would take several hours killing people without any intervention by DRC forces.”
“The criminal actions took place in an area concentrated with several regiments of the Government’s army and MONUSCO’s units which have been preparing for combat against negative groups,” said Bisiimwa.
Following the defeat of M23 in December 2013, DRC troops and a UN intervention Brigade decided to fight the deadly ADF movement.
On 17 January 2014, FARDC launched ‘Operation Sukola I’ against ADF in Beni territory of North Kivu Province to neutralize the ADF and its leaders, release remaining hostages and completely restore State authority in the affected areas.
FARDC claims dislodging ADF from their bases with heavy gun power.
Highly placed sources say over 500 DRC soldiers were killed in the war against ADF.
However, pressure is mounting on Congo to fully clean Eastern Congo of militants occupying large swathe of territory and restore full state control.
Bisiimwa maintained that government’s failure to prevent the massacres underlines the “complacency and procrastination of the DRC’s Government which is in favour of the negative forces which are one of the main causes of chronic insecurity that has brought sorrow to our families and asphyxiated our towns and villages for three decades.”
He also denounced what he termed as the “surprising and unjustified passivity of the MONUSCO and its Brigade’s response to the various negative forces whose neutralization is, however, the basis of its mandate granted by the Security Council of the United Nations in its resolution 2098.”
Bisiimwa told the international community that security and peace will not come from the “outside but will be the result of our own efforts, our reconciliation and our sacrifices. The tragedy facing the ‘great-North’ at the moment, despite the strong presence of the MONUSCO’s forces in North-Kivu, proves it.”
({{AFP}}) – {Iran executed Saturday a 26-year-old woman who had spent five years on death row for the murder of a former intelligence official, defying international pressure to spare her life.}
Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn, the official IRNA news agency quoted the Tehran prosecutor’s office as saying.
A message posted on the homepage of a Facebook campaign that was set up to try to save her, but which now states “Rest in Peace,” confirmed the report.
Amnesty International said in a statement issued late Friday that Jabbari, an interior designer, was due to be executed for the 2007 stabbing of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi.
A UN human rights monitor had said the killing of Sarbandi was an act of self-defence after he tried to sexually assault Jabbari, and that her trial in 2009 had been deeply flawed.
Iranian actors and other prominent figures had appealed for a stay of execution, echoing similar calls in the West.
Efforts for clemency had intensified in recent weeks. Jabbari’s mother was allowed to visit her for one hour on Friday, Amnesty said, a custom that tends to precede executions in Iran.
According to the United Nations, more than 250 people have been executed in Iran since the beginning of 2014.
{Botswana’s ruling party was leading in most local council constituencies as general election results trickled in Saturday, but opposition parties made a strong showing in the capital, the electoral commission said.
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There had been delays in the counting of parliamentary ballots and no results had been received so far, the Independent Electoral Commission spokesman Osupile Maroba told AFP.
“We are hoping to start receiving parliamentary results from 57 poling districts by mid-morning,” he said.
Parliamentary results will also determine who will be president for the next five years, with incumbent Ian Khama of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) expected to win a second term.
“We are still on track for the release of final results by the end of the day,” said Maroba.
The IEC had verified results from 200 of the 490 local council voting districts, with the BDP winning six of the capital Gaborone’s 13 wards.
The newly formed Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), a coalition of parties contesting the elections for the first time, took four wards while the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) won three.
The election was seen as the most competitive for the BDP, which has ruled Botswana since independence from Britain in 1966, after a split in the party in 2010.
The landlocked, diamond-rich southern African country of two million people is seen as one of the continent’s strongest democracies, and electoral authorities said the Friday vote saw a high turnout of the 800,000 registered voters.
{A Malaysian diplomat, accused of sexual assaulting a young woman in Wellington, was flown to New Zealand and appeared in court on Saturday.}
Former defence attache Muhammad Rizalman, 35, was remanded in custody when he appeared in Wellington District Court to face charges of attempted rape and burglary, Xinhua reported citing Radio New Zealand.
Rizalman’s appearance was brief and he was remanded until Tuesday.
He was accused of stalking and attempting to rape 21-year-old Tania Billingsley at her home in May. Rizalman, who claimed diplomatic immunity, left New Zealand May 22 after he was first charged and released on bail.
Malaysia got New Zealand’s request for extradition Oct 3, Radio New Zealand reported.
“Mr. Rizalman’s return to New Zealand is testimony of the close cooperation between the various government agencies of both Malaysia and New Zealand and in keeping with the rule of law of both countries,” the Malaysian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Malaysia is confident that Mr. Rizalman will be accorded a fair trial by the New Zealand court”.
Rizalman, a former defence staff assistant at Malaysia’s high commission in Wellington, arrived in Auckland late Friday on a Malaysia Airlines flight with two New Zealand police officers and two officers from Malaysia’s armed forces.
{The US is looking into reported chlorine gas attack carried out by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.}
“I am not in a position to confirm it, but I can tell you that we take these allegations very, very seriously,” Xinhua quoted Kerry as telling reporters after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.
A total of 11 Iraqi police officers were diagnosed to be poisoned by chlorine gas last month, which appears to be the first confirmed use of chemical weapons by the Islamic State (IS) on the battlefield, a Washington Post report said.
“These allegations are extremely serious and we are seeking additional information in order to be able to determine whether or not we can confirm it,” Kerry said.
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest told a press briefing Friday that the US will “have staff on the ground and other places analyze what exactly happened and try to get to the bottom of these reports”.
The use of any chemical weapon is “an abhorrent act”, said Kerry, adding that the allegations underscore the importance of the work that the US is currently engaged in.
“It will not change our strategy,” the top US diplomat said. “It obviously can affect tactical decisions within that strategy, but our fundamental strategy remains absolutely clear.”
US began air campaign against IS targets in Iraq in August and expanded its strikes to Syria in September with the objective of ultimately degrade and destroy the extremist group.
