API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.
Speaking at the launch which took place at Norrsken, the biggest start up hub in East Africa; Jean Claude Gaga, the Managing Director of Airtel Money said: “We are excited to embark on this new journey where we open our platform to Developers across Rwanda and the rest of the world as we strongly believe they will bring amazing innovations which will in turn contribute to our efforts as well as the
Government of Rwanda’s focus on turning Rwanda into a Cashless economy with 100% financial inclusion.”
“This is our first step in our focus on supporting Start ups to grow through Partnerships with us”
To access the AirtelMoney APIs, Developers and organizations will simply visit https://developers.airtel.africa/home and follow the prompts. Incase of any query, they will simply contact the Airtel Money Support team at amopen.api@rw.airtel.com
This launch comes as the closing event of the Airtel Money Month which kicked off on July 1st with the launch of the communication of the recently launched Interoperability between Airtel Money and MTN MoMo and was followed by other numerous activities during the course of the month which were aimed at showcasing the many innovations and services Airtel Money has been offering to its Customers.
I Matter Initiative has been working with young girls in different communities across the country at village level since 2019, with the aim of ending period poverty in Rwanda, through service, awareness and advocacy.
Considering the progress that has been made by I Matter Initiative, Bank of Kigali is joining hands with I Matter Initiative to impact more young girls by providing them with equal rights to menstrual hygiene supplies while creating a community of girls and women confident and aware of sexual reproductive health and rights-related issues.
Commenting on the development; Emmanuel Nkusi Batanage, the Head of Corporate Affairs at Bank of Kigali expressed delight for the partnership with I Matter Initiative.
‘‘We are very delighted to partner with I Matter Initiative for this positive cause. We believe that women empowerment is a key pillar in the development of our communities and every young girl deserves a right to healthy menstrual hygiene supplies to eradicate period poverty,” he said.
I Matter Initiative will carry out school visits and will be donating sanitary products.
Included in the donation package to the young girls will be pads, underwear and sanitary soap.
“I Matter Initiative has strived to support end period poverty, access to sanitary products and fight against stigma attached to menstruation through several patterns since 2019. Today, comes another opportunity for us to celebrate our partnership with Bank of Kigali enabling a life transformation for 1500 girls with free access to period protection products that they have not been able to afford,” said Divine Ingabire, I Matter Initiative Executive Director.
“On behalf of I matter Initiative, I would like to express my gratitude to the leadership and dedicated team of bank of Kigali, for their trust in our vision, investment in Rwandan girls’ life transformation and their voice added to ours to break the silence about girls and women’s sanitary need,” she added.
{{About Bank of Kigali Plc}}
Bank of Kigali Plc. is the largest commercial bank in Rwanda, by total assets. In 2017, Global Credit Ratings affirmed Bank of Kigali’s long-term and short-term national scale ratings of AA-(RW) and A1+(RW) respectively with a stable outlook.
The Bank has won several back-to-back international and regional banking awards from Euromoney, The Banker, Global Finance Magazine, and EMEA Finance. Bank of Kigali has been recently awarded “Best Bank in Rwanda 2022” by Global Finance.
The struggle launched by Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) began on 1st October 1990.
It was hard to fight the struggle as RPA soldiers were not familiar with the terrain.
Besides, fighters came from foreign countries where they had fled with different backgrounds. However, their courage, determination, discipline and other values that characterized them led to victory.
On 1st October 1990, RPA soldiers attacked Kagitumba border, marking the beginning of the Liberation Struggle which lasted for four years after failure of diplomatic processes which prompted members of RPF Inkotanyi to free the country by means of war.
Initially, RPA – the military wing of RPF Inkotanyi was commanded by Maj Gen Fred Gisa Rwigema who was killed in early days of the struggle by soldiers of the former regime of Habyarimana on the support of mercenaries.
For the first 14 days of the battle, some of top commanders of RPA were killed. This left loopholes in the leadership of RPA and lowered the morale of soldiers.
President Paul Kagame who had the rank of Major at the time took over as the commander and introduced new tactics among other reforms.
He gave them a clear guidance, introduced tactics to launch attacks from the hills of Northern Province and volcanoes, instilled the spirit of working together for a common goal and discipline among other values.
After introducing the reforms, the fight took shape. RPA soldiers captured areas of Mulindi and Gikoba in Gicumbi where they established a strong base with trenches that provided protection against rockets shelled by the then government forces (FAR) and mercenaries including French soldiers that had come to their support.
At the time, soldiers’ morale went high because they would communicate and receive orders helping them to repel back attacks by FAR soldiers.
Commenting on the battle, the Senior Presidential Advisor on security matters, Gen James Kabarebe says that attacking Byumba town on 5th June 1991 helped them to expand the area under their control and pushed the regime of Habyarimana to accept peace accords that never materialized.
Gen Kabarebe says that some of commanders initially resisted the decision to attack Byumba lest their loose captured areas providing protection against enemies. As he says, Maj Gen Kagame convinced them and went with soldiers to attack Byumba town.
FAR soldiers were reinforced by foreigners and recaptured Byumba town.
However, RPA continued to control other captured areas which exerted pressure on Habyarimana to sign Arusha Peace Accords.
On the second day of the fight, Maj Gen Kagame asked his forces to withdraw from Byumba town and dig trenches in few kilometers.
It is said that the withdrawal was a tactic that confused the then government forces who thought the attackers had been defeated yet they were still in the surroundings and standby to capture the town.
At the time, RPA soldiers had added Mukarange and Bubande to existing areas under their control including Mulindi and Gikoba.
The expansion of controlled areas motivated RPF politicians to come to Mulindi base which also served as their political headquarters.
FAR continued to shell the new base but efforts remained futile as RPA soldiers were sheltered in strong trenches.
This prompted Habyarimana to sign Arusha Peace Accords, which he considered papers that could be destroyed anytime.
Meanwhile, the then government continued preparations and execution of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi until it was stopped by RPA soldiers who liberated the country.
The three-day retreat taking place in Nyagatare District, kicked off on 27th to be concluded on 30th July 2022.
The Senate President, Dr. Augustin Iyamuremye has observed that there are still areas of improvements even though a lot has been achieved in the third term.
These achievements include community outreach programs, extending awareness and overseeing compliance of fundamental principles among others.
“The Senate Bureau approved the necessity for senators to dedicate time for evaluation, take stock of achievements realized within two years and half of the third term of Senate, reflect on challenges and take measures to improve performance,” he said.
As the retreat will be drawing to the end, senators will join residents of Nyagatare Sector in a monthly community work.
IGIHE has learnt from credible sources that Blinken will arrive in Kigali next month.
Dates for his visit have not yet been disclosed but it is said that he might arrive in the country in the first two weeks of August.
Sources reveal that he plans to visit Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
We could not verify the agenda of his visit to Rwanda and DRC but sources indicate that it is in context of tensions between Rwanda and DRC over the resurgence of M23 rebel group.
Top on the agenda of discussions with DRC officials include presidential elections scheduled next year and mining activities.
Blinken is set to visit Rwanda at a time when the country’s ambassadorial post in Rwanda has been vacant since February this year when Amb. Peter H. Vrooman who represented US interests in Kigali was posted to Mozambique.
Since then, US interests in Rwanda are overseen by Chargé d’Affaires, Deborah MacLean.
Rwanda and US enjoy cordial relations but some of its officials have been exerting pressure on Rwanda over the arrest of Paul Rusesabagina, the former President of MRCD-FLN terrorist group who was handed 25-year jail term.
Some US lawmakers proposed sanctions against Rwanda accusing the country of having kidnapped Paul Rusesabagina.
On Monday this week, the spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Ned Price told the media that negotiations between Rwanda and DRC should be given priority to calm tensions.
US are great development partners of Rwanda where it provided US$141 million funding in 2021. The funding doesn’t include medical equipment and over vaccine doses donated to Rwanda to fight COVID-19.
In 2016, Rwanda received US$268 million funding from US.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Cotonou, the Beninese president said that the challenge Benin is currently facing is the fight against terrorism, especially in the northern part of his country.
“The French President Macron and I agreed that France would support us more in our effort to fight against terrorism because today terrorism is one of our main challenges,” he said.
For his part, Macron reaffirmed that “France will always be at the side of the Beninese authorities to deal with these threats. We will listen to your requests.”
“In terms of security, in accordance with the reorganization that we have adopted across the entire sub-region, we will meet your requests in terms of training and equipment,” he said.
Macron arrived in Cameroon Monday night for his first official visit to Africa after he was re-elected for a second and last mandate in April. After his visit to Benin, he will also visit Guinea-Bissau on Thursday.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), helped the individuals wear their medals, presented them with certificates of honor, and took photos with them.
He also conferred the honorary flag to award a model ground-to-air missile battalion of the PLA Air Force.
Xu Qiliang, CMC vice chairman, read orders signed by Xi to honor the service personnel and the unit. The awarding ceremony held in Beijing was presided over by Zhang Youxia, also vice chairman of the CMC.
The 95th anniversary of the founding of the PLA will be marked on Aug. 1.
Heavy downpours are expected to hit some parts of southwest, northwest, east, north, and northeast China in the next three days, according to the country’s meteorological department.
The administration urged local governments to make preparations for flood prevention work.
China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe.
The ceremony took place on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace located in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Amb. Nyiramatama will oversee Rwanda’s interests in the country with residence in Morocco.
She had presented copies of credentials to Mohamed Salem Merzoug, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania on Monday 25th July 2022.
Amb. Nyiramatama also serves as Rwanda’s envoy in countries including Guinea and Tunisia.
Rwanda and Mauritania enjoy existing cordial relations strengthened by air transport agreement signed in February this year.
The agreement enables the national carrier, RwandAir to operate flights to the latter in the future, an addition to existing destinations in Western Africa.
There are also possible areas of cooperation including defence and security, ICT and digitalization, mining, agriculture and investment promotion.
The motorcycle TVS registration number RE 562L, was recovered from the suspected thief identified as Issa Ndatimana, 21, who was arrested Monday, July 25. His arrest came three days after three other thieves were arrested in Gicumbi and Nyagatare districts with two stolen motorcycles.
According to Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Sylvestre Twajamahoro, the Police spokesperson for the City of Kigali, Ndatimana had hidden the motorcycle in the bush in Nyabigugu, where it was found.
“The victim reported the alleged theft of his motorcycle on Sunday at about 11pm, from where it was parked in Gahanga. It was easy to locate the motorcycle where it was hidden in the bush at about 1am on Monday because it had a GPS,” said CIP Twajamahoro.
He added: “Although the motorcycle was found in the bush, Police did not know the suspected thief. So, the Police continued to surveil the area until Ndatimana showed up later that night to take the motorcycle, and he was taken into custody.”
CIP Twajamahoro reiterated the importance of GPS in fighting motorcycle theft.
The suspect was handed over to RIB for further investigations.
Article 166 of law determining offences and penalties in general states that; any person convicted of theft is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than two years and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf2 million, community service in a period of six (6) months or only one of these penalties.
In article 167, the penalty for theft doubles, if the offender committed the crime through burglary, climbing or possession of keys other than the owner; the theft is carried out during the night or the theft is carried out by more than one person.
