Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport in the night of 10th October 2022, Gatete revealed that he was impressed by the country’s magnificence.
“I am overwhelmed with joy. I can see the country and Kigali City have undergone a lot of transformations. It is my pleasure to be back to my motherland where I will have an opportunity to interact with Rwandans whom I have been missing so much,” he said.
Gatete played for different teams in Rwanda including Mukura VS, Rayon Sports and APR FC.
He scored goals as Rwanda faced off Uganda and Ghana that helped the country to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2004.
Gatete, Khalilou Fadiga and Patrick Mboma arrived before other veteran players including Roger Milla, Lilian Thuram and Laura Georges awaited in Rwanda to attend the official launch of The ‘Legends in Rwanda’ between 12th and 14th October 2022.
The ‘Legends in Rwanda’ tour seeks to promote the 2024 Veteran Clubs World Championship to attract global participation, mobilize the Rwandan and African to be part of the event, promote Visit Rwanda campaign and recruit business, institutional, operational and media partners as well.
The promotional tour was organized by the International Federation of Football Veterans.
Throughout the two-day tour, the veteran footballers will meet with the Minister of Sports, president of Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA).
They will also participate in talks on different topics in the areas of education, economy, tourism and interact with aspiring young footballers.
The Veteran Clubs World Championship (VCWC) is due in Rwanda for the first time in May 2024.
It will bring together 150 football veterans from 40 countries (eight teams) facing off in 20 games.
Antonio Ovando, who arrived in New York City less than a week ago, was expecting some people from the city to bring some clothes on Sunday afternoon when he joined his family members and fellow asylum seekers around the entrance of a hotel in Staten Island.
Ovando told Xinhua that he arrived in Texas at the end of September, and then was advised to come to New York assuming they could get material support there.
“We have no clothes and no shoes. And we ran out of money,” Ovando said.
Ovando stays with his wife and two young children in Comfort Inn on Staten Island, which is far from the downtown area and was recently converted into a shelter center for asylum seekers.
New York City has contracted over 40 hotels across the city to accommodate over 17,000 asylum seekers since April 2022.
Some migrants waiting outside the hotel were in their shorts, when the temperature in New York City had fallen to around 10 Celsius degrees.
It was reported that some asylum seekers from the Comfort Inn knocked on the doors of local residents and asked for help.
Ovando and other migrants finally picked up some clothes, which were dropped off by some New Yorkers at the hotel.
More importantly, asylum seekers don’t have work permits and have to wait for months, which adds to their anxiety and hardship.
Ovando, who worked as an accountant in Nicaragua, said he needs to find a job though he is thankful for help from others.
Jose, who came from Venezuela with his wife and son, said, “Getting a job is the most difficult thing for us who are here from far away.”
“We don’t know how long we will stay here and we’re just following instructions,” said Ovando.
As the vast majority of asylum seekers only speak Spanish, there is a language problem in everyday life and school.
Moreover, the newly arrived asylum seekers may find themselves unwelcome in the local community.
Shortly after the arrival of asylum seekers at the Comfort Inn, elected officials from Staten Island held a press conference voicing their opposition to placing migrants in the Comfort Inn, which is located in Travis-Chelsea neighborhood.
“Travis is not the place for these asylum seekers. It’s sad to say, but it’s just not going to work here,” said Gene Guerra, president of the Travis Civic Association.
John Michael, a member of Travis Civic Association, posted a comment recently on the social media suggesting that community members hold a rally and protest against using the Comfort Inn and other hotels in the neighborhood as migrant shelters.
Meanwhile, New York City is building a humanitarian emergency response and relief center for asylum seekers on Randall’s Island in Manhattan borough.
Dubbed as a “tent city,” the transitory relief center is designed to accommodate 500 newly arrived asylum seekers, but the island’s relative isolation, as local media reported, would not help migrants interact with the local community.
Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency in response to a record-breaking influx of asylum seekers into the city, mostly from the southern border of the United States.
The strikes at TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil refineries will extend to Tuesday, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) said.
According to the Ministry for Energy Transition, 29.4 percent of service stations in the country were experiencing difficulties with at least one product on Monday, compared to 19 percent on Friday.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne organized an urgent crisis meeting Monday evening. According to French media, the government will ban the filling of fuel jerry cans across the country.
The strikers’ actions have led to a decrease in fuel deliveries, provoking fears and long hours of waiting. School bus transportation was also affected by the strikes.
“The French must not be prisoners of this social conflict which does not concern them,” said Minister for Energy Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher on Monday.
In addition to the strikes, the price of fuel has increased in the last seven days. In order to counterbalance the fuel shortage, the French government has released significant volumes of fuel from its strategic stocks and reinforced fuel imports from Belgium.
Over the weekend, TotalEnergies and the CGT agreed to start negotiations but no agreement was concluded.
The strikers demand a raise in salary to compensate for the high inflation that France is experiencing.
“We believe that the internal issues is related to the (Iranian) government and the people of Iran and we do not allow any other country to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs,” Kanaani said during his weekly press conference.
“The positions and views of Iran (on nuclear talks) have been expressed many times, and we are ready to proceed in the same direction and reach a comprehensive agreement that will meet the interests of all parties,” he added.
The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.
The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus.
On Aug. 8, the EU put forward its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA.
Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal in a process that has so far failed to produce any favorable outcome.
Emmanuel Ainebyoona, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, in a statement issued in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, said the number of dead since the virus was first reported in the country on Sept. 20 now stands at 17.
Ainebyoona said as of Oct. 9, the cumulative number of confirmed cases was 48 after four new confirmed cases were registered in the last 48 hours. Of the 48 confirmed cases, nine are health workers. The cumulative number of recoveries is 14 people.
Earlier Monday, Ainebyoona confirmed that a team of senior World Health Organization (WHO) officials was in the country to discuss support for the Ebola response. According to the WHO, the senior officials will also attend the High-Level Emergency Ministerial Meeting on Cross Border Collaboration for Preparedness and Response to Ebola Virus Disease scheduled for Oct. 12.
The two UN agencies, in a joint statement issued in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to mark World Mental Health Day confirmed commitment to joint action to make mental health a priority.
Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF regional director for eastern and southern Africa, said the impact of violence or humanitarian crises is not limited to economic impact, noting that the invisible wounds suffered by communities must also be at the heart of the interventions. “The psychological distress in which hundreds of thousands of children and parents live across the continent has a dramatic impact on individuals and by extension on the well-being and development of societies,” Fall said.
The UN agencies said children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable, adding that Africa has one of the highest numbers of children and adolescents globally. They said the last 12 months have seen families and communities under growing strain as a result of the impact of climate shocks, global inflation and economic hardship.
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are facing extreme droughts, while in the Sahel area, armed groups have stepped up exactions on communities, leading to massive displacement, the UN agencies said.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said mental health is integral to wholesome health and well-being. “The greatest challenge to adequate mental health service provision in Africa is the chronically low investments by governments. It’s time for a radical change,” Moeti said.
The UN agencies said the serious gaps that exist in mental health care in the region are a result of historic under-investment in mental health promotion, prevention and care.
The two agencies in 2020 agreed on a ten-year partnership on mental health, which seeks to address some of the main challenges to mental health and limitations in access to support.
Joint initiatives are underway in Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, with both agencies working with governments to scale up mental health and psychosocial support services across sectors, according to the UN agencies.
According to the UN, responses to mental health need to encompass support beyond the area of specialized mental health services, including child and family services, education, protection, violence prevention, community support, housing and social protection.
Scheduled to run from 11th October to 10th November, the training seeks to equip entrepreneurs and business leaders across different sectors with tangible and actionable steps they can take to advance in the digital economy.
Its launch comes after the success of the first and second classes, which graduated a total of 33 Rwandan participants in 2019 and 2021.
Following a rigorous selection process, the final candidates will embark on a series of online classes where they will delve into approaches to harnessing technology to grow their businesses within the local economy. All participants are founders of their respective start-ups from industries such as agriculture, education, information & communication technology (ICT), and trading.
“We are delighted to be able to continue advancing our vision of sharing the positive impact of the digital economy with entrepreneurs and enrolling our third cohort of Rwandan participants. With companies taking to online channels to keep their business afloat during the pandemic, digitalization is no longer a foreign concept to consumers and entrepreneurs.
We hope this edition of our Alibaba Netpreneur Training will help entrepreneurs in Rwanda develop long-term, savvy digital strategies that will open up more opportunities for them,” said Dan Liu, Senior Advisor at Alibaba Global Initiatives.
The Alibaba Netpreneur Training program is conducted online in English by certified Alibaba trainers and business leaders who have had experience leading their own digital businesses to success.
Participants can deepen their knowledge and understanding of: the digital economy in China and the latest trends and practices shaping its development; the journey of select traditional businesses that have successfully gone through digital transformation, the evolution of Alibaba’s business, including the role of digital technology in supporting the growth of companies in its ecosystem.
They will also be taken through frameworks and approaches for building a successful and innovative business in today’s digital world.
Participants who complete the program will receive an e-certificate and will be eligible to join the AGI entrepreneur community. The community comprises a diverse mix of passionate and successful like-minded entrepreneurs, and provides unmatched opportunities to network, collaborate and learn.
Outstanding participants will also have the opportunity to participate in a one-week offline immersion program at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, subject to fulfilling the online course criteria.
The Alibaba Netpreneur Training Program is part of Alibaba’s initiatives to help promote economic development in Rwanda. In 2018, the first eWTP (electronic world trade platform) hub in Africa was launched in Rwanda following the signing of three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the Rwandan Government and Alibaba Group.
Key initiatives under the collaboration include helping Rwandan small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) sell their products to Chinese consumers and providing capacity building to support Rwanda’s digital economy.
The Alibaba Netpreneur Training Program was first introduced in 2019 and has successfully trained close to 1,500 entrepreneurs in Africa, Europe, Latin America as well as South and Southeast Asia since its inception.
{{About Alibaba Group}}
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a good company that lasts at least 102 years.
{{About Alibaba Global Initiatives}}
Alibaba Global Initiatives (AGI) inspires and supports entrepreneurs, youth and women globally by sharing the positive impact of the digital economy in promoting inclusive development.
Its programs encourage entrepreneurs to share and use digital economy tools to create a positive social impact and to collaborate with each other as well as the public sector to make a larger impact.
To date, there are close to 1,900 digital entrepreneurs and business leaders from more than 60 countries and regions trained directly by AGI, who have subsequently shared their learnings with other members of their own communities.
{{About the Rwanda Development Board}}
Rwanda Development Board (RDB)’s mission is to fast track economic development in Rwanda by enabling private sector growth with a vision of transforming Rwanda into a dynamic global hub for business, investment and innovation.
The Center provides advanced training on Peace Support Operations.
IGP Munyuza and his delegation were received by the Deputy General Commander of the Italian Carabinieri, Lt. Gen. Maurizio Detalamo Mezzavilla and the Director of CoESPU, Brig Gen Giovanni Pietro Barbano.
At the CoESPU, IGP Munyuza was given presentations on the Center’s mission to train peacekeepers.
The week-long visit to Italy at the invitation of the General Commander of the Italian Carabinieri, is guided by the cooperation agreement signed between Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Carabiniere in 2017.
IGP Munyuza thanked CoESPU for working with RNP to train Rwandan Police officers, including Training of Trainers and UN pre-deployment courses.
The CoESPU has so far trained more than 400 RNP officers in peace support operation courses, conducted in Rwanda and Vicenza, Italy.
Brig. Gen. Barbano commended RNP leadership for “good cooperation with CoESPU.”
RNP and CoESPU are exploring ways to introduce peace support operation courses at the Peace Support Operations Training Centre in Gishari, Rwamagana District.
Under this partnership framework between RNP and CoESPU, some peace support operation courses conducted in Italy will be conducted in Rwanda, drawing participants from across the globe.
Last Thursday, October 6, IGP Munyuza and the General Commander of the Italian Arma dei Carabinieri, Lt Gen Teo Luzi, held a bilateral meeting in Rome and discussed matters related to strengthening the existing cooperation in various policing areas.
The course conducted by Rwanda National Police (RNP) in partnership with the Dallaire Institute for Children Peace and Security, was officially opened by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Felix Namuhoranye, at the RNP General Headquarters Kacyiru.
It was also attended by the Germany ambassador to Rwanda, Dr. Thomas Kurz.
DIGP Namuhoranye said that the course is very important to gain knowledge and skills to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in armed conflicts.
He added that the Dallaire Institute for Children Peace and Security is one of the RNP major stakeholders in capacity building programmes especially in pre-deployment training for peace support operations units.
“In line with the implemention of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the Kigali Principles on the protection of civilians in peace operations, and the Vancouver principles mostly on the role of female police officers in prevention of recruitment and use of children as soldiers in armed conflicts; Rwanda National Police has significantly increased its numbers, especially of female police officers, in peacekeeping operations,” DIGP Namuhoranye said.
The UNSCR Resolution 1325 urges all actors to increase the participation of women in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and incorporate gender balance perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts.
The RNP and Dallaire Institute for Children Peace and Security signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2019.
Since then, DIGP Namuhoranye said, one of the major achievements has been a steady increase of capacity of female officers ready for deployment in peacekeeping missions.
He reiterated the protective service rendered by Rwanda Formed Police Units to the the vulnerable groups in host nations, mostly in IDP camps where children face risk of all sorts of violence and abuse, including forced recruitment into armed forces.
Rwanda is one of the leading contributors of female Police officers to peace support operations, and currently maintains a female-dominated Formed Police Unit (FPU) contingent under the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
“This TOT will enable participants to transfer the knowledge and skills gained to other officers of the force… to ensure sustainability of the training,” DIGP Namuhoranye said.
“The knowledge and skills will certainly increase the capacity of trainees and subsequently impact positively on the vulnerable communities in conflict areas where children face the risk of by being forcibly used in armed conflicts,” he added.
Amb. Kurz noted that despite the efforts realized, the African child remains threatened by conflict and the risk to be recruited and used as soldiers among other possible grave violations.
“This training reminds us that women police officers, when empowered, have an important voice in the protection of children and have the power to create sustainable peace in communities,” Amb. Kurz said.
He commended the Government of Rwanda and RNP in particular, for supporting the peace and security agenda both domestically and regionally.
This, he added, has created a significant platform where female police officers are empowered to fit into their daily duties and giving them space to share experiences and design new localized strategies to respond to the needs of children.
Maj. Gen (rtd) Ferdinand Safari, the Director of Dallaire Institute for Children Peace and Security, said that the training is based on the fundamental techniques of preventing recruitment and the use of children as soldiers in armed conflicts.
He added that the ToT will provide an interactive forum for the trainees to share, explore and discuss concepts and issues related to the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.
This pool of trainers, he explained, can be deployed to support training in other Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Security sector actors are often the first point of contact with children in the context of armed violence. We can create a more comprehensive international response that allows us to take a preventive approach to contribute to a peaceful and more sustainable security,” Safari said.
The Dallaire Institute, whose African Centre of Excellence is based in Rwanda, has since its establishment in 2007, trained more than 15,000 people from more than 100 countries across the globe.
Gen (rtd) Romeo Dallaire is a Canadian, who commanded the UN peacekeeping force that was deployed in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Their dismissal has been announced through a communiqué released by the Office of Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente on Monday 10th October 2022.
The sacked executives include the Acting Director General, Eng. Deo Muvunyi; Pearl Uwera, Senior Manager in Charge of Finance and Fabian Rwabizi, Senior Manager in Charge of Human Resource and Administration.
Eng. Muvunyi was named the Acting Director General of RURA replacing Dr. Nsabimana who had been appointed as the Minister of Infrastructure.
Eng. Muvunyi was appointed to the position on 16th February this year.
Prior to that, he had been serving as the Senior Manager in charge of Transport Planning and Industry Development at RURA since 2004.
Eng. Muvunyi studied Civil Engineering at the former Kigali Institution of Science and Technology (KIST), now University of Rwanda (UR) – College of Science and Technology and obtained a Masters from the University of Technology, Malaysia
