{{In the past two months, residents of Kicukiro have been fetching water at past midnight because during day the taps are dry. }}
However, the Energy Water And Sanitation Authority (EWASA) denies any knowledge about the problem because to them, no complaints have been submitted at their major branches situated in the district.
In the real sense this sounds as if someone has been sleeping on their job, because EWASA’s uninformed director James Sano boasts that EWASA is extending its pipelines due to the rise in water levels.
Despite Sano’s comment, affected residents seem not satisfied. Angry Patricia Uwabaho aged 59 from Isangano cell stresses that she has been waking up late at night to fetch water for weeks.
Uwabaho seemingly ill doesn’t have a house help and stays with her grandchildren who are still minors to assist her. “Just imagine we stay alert during the night as if we’re waiting for robbers, it’s really annoying because sometimes we fail to get water after a sleepless night,” she remarked.
In this situation, residents don’t have a choice but to stay awake the whole night since during the day water is scarce. “In case one does a mistake and is taken away by slumber the following day is often a bizarre and among the consequences is that they either buy the water which is extremely costly or have to travel for miles to fetch water from streams,” she remarked.
However, many residents have acquired water storage containers yet the vulnerable can’t afford the giant tanks for instance. So far Sano has assured the residents of a quick response.
{{Aspire, a new local NGO has started a family health and nutrition education program aimed at assisting illiterate and semi-illiterate women in addressing their basic family constraints, {Igihe.com} has established.}}
In an event held on Sunday at their headquarters in Kigali, Aspire in partnership with Medical Students’ Association of Rwanda (MEDSAR) instilled what was termed: “Body Mass Index” to women and a number of their spouses on health nutrition for their families.
The organizations Founding Director, Ms. Peace Ruzage revealed that the Aspire program was founded in 2007 after she had seen an idle and frustrated group of women in her neighborhood.
“It really started as community outreach, because the women neighbours would gather on my veranda and I would hear them arguing in desperation about their family problems and that’s when I started interacting with them”. She added that the number grew and she decided it was high time they could do something to overcome their constraints.
After much discussion with her neighbors Ruzage says she discovered that the women were bored and marginalized from society due to lack of education and basic training to help them shape their destiny.
“Most of the women were illiterate, unskilled widows and single mothers with many children” she passionately stressed explaining they started teaching them simple vocational skills like reading and writing.
Later in 2009 she realized the need to do something more formalized by getting partners and register the NGO with government and international partners assistance in helping the vulnerable households.
Ruzage pointed out that every year Aspire adopts 100 women in Kigali into its twelve month training program, which currently has three hundred graduates and 175 currently still enrolled in the basic education focusing family health nutrition.
She emphasized that the organization strongly makes sure that women passon these skills to their children and communities. She further stressed that without the men also taking part, there exist barriers to any sustainable changes.
“Before they graduate we evaluate their progress and when we are doing the evaluations the women tell us: “you talk to us, but you are only talking to only one side. Men are still decision-makers in households be it family planning, be it nutrition because if it is the man who is giving money for food, they must also decide what to eat.” She clarified adding: “This is the first time we are talking to men as an organization.
“ We hope to continue the program at least for two Sunday’s a month.”
More often, health organizations focus on educating the women in households as they are seen traditionally as caregivers. However, says Aspire and MEDSAR have partnered up to successfully create a dramatically different approach to including men in addressing household challenges faced.
Jean Baptiste Habiyambere, the President of MEDSAR and a fourth year medical student told Igihe that it is part of their mission to serve the Rwandan people.
“I was called by the coordinator and we met and discussed how we can be involved in their health related issues.
“That is how we planned for these activities where we can screen for some diseases that affect spouses, teach them about various health issues like family planning, reproductive health, and infectious diseases.” He observed adding that on Sunday they were screening for their Body Mass Index, where the results can indicate their cardiovascular health and risk for developing diabetes.
“But the main purpose today is to get the men here and teach them about nutrition for their families and teaching women while the men remain uneducated is useless.”
The event attracted dozens of men who commented after their nutrition lesson that they able to know much better what their wives had been talking about and the importance of diet to their own health.
{{The Ministry of Disaster preparedness and Refugees has started a week long “Come and See Visit” for three Rwandan Refugees who are living in Lubumbashi, DRC.}}
The purpose of the visit is to allow the refugees to come back to Rwanda for themselves, assess the situation and choose to return voluntarily.
The refugees chosen for the visit were Methode Umimana, 17 years, Innocent Hategekimana, 43years and Jean Basco Zumushukuru 18years along with Gaitrie Ammersing, UNHCR Protection Officer .
Also in the delegation were CNR Representative Theresa Prado from DRC and the ministry official Gaspard Murekezi who will be traveling with the regugees throughout the various provinces of Rwanda to experience what it is like now.
This morning the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Antoine Ruvebana welcomed the refugees, telling them: “The current stage of development Rwanda is on is a result of the work of all Rwandans, not an individual effort, what we need now more than ever is to work together. In order to do so, we need our fellow Rwandans in refugee camps to return”
He explained to them all the changes that have occurred while they were refugees, especially in education sector urged them to avoid the propaganda outside of Rwanda, see for themselves so that repatriation occurs out of individual desire.
Out of the three refugees that were chosen, only one had lived in Rwanda for a long time but he appreciated the changes he saw upon re-entry.
“When we entered the country no one asked for our identity, so we felt comfortable.” He said adding that the only problem is that many still believed Rwandan refugees coming from the Congo now were working for FDLR, and many refugees in DR Congo were stigmatized, although this is not the case for them.
Both Umimana and Zumushukuru, revealed they never really knew Rwanda, as they left when they were still infants. Zumushukuru said: “I was always curious about the country and its people, because I did not know what it was like here.”
UNHCR Representative Ammersing assured the refugees that the UNHCR was indeed there to assist them in understanding how Rwanda has changed and what their possibilities of life here are.
The group will now be headed to Butare to visit the Nyaruguru district, visit family there and various projects that are taking place there.
Tomorrow they are scheduled to go to Cyanguga and Rusizi, followed by a visit to the refugee transit center at Nyagatare, Gisenyi, and Rubavu.
They are expected to be shown all the socio-economic improvement programs taking place in Rwanda that seem to give them positive impression of the country.
{{150 patients suffering from cataracts are expected to receive free treatment from Kanombe Military hospital during the course of the next four days in a project as part of the army week annual event.}}
A cataract is a clouding that develops in the lens of the eye that eventually results in the loss of vision.
“During this annual army week event, the Rwanda Defense force tries to reach out to the community by accessing vulnerable areas in activities aimed at improving the lives of the residents.” says Lt. Col. Dr. Dr. Ben Karenzi, Director of Kanombe military hospital.
” We went to Gisagara and treated around 4,000 patients that previously had no access to healthcare. Among those patients, we encountered 71 cases of cataracts which led us to bring them here for proper diagnosis and treatment “. He said.
The Military hospital is the only health institution in the country with the available medical equipment required in carrying out the surgical procedure for treating cataracts.
It is expected that 150 patients in total would receive the treatment, including the 71 were from Gisagara while 40 more are expected to come from the same region as well 39 more from Bugesera.
“It is reported that approximately 0.5% of the population is suffering from a case of blindness among those cases it is estimated that about 80% of them which amounts to around 200,000 individuals have cataracts according Munana, Joseph Ophthalmology clinical officer.
“The major issue with the victims is that they don’t come for treatment. Not just in the case of cataracts but in general, patients are unaware that most of these illnesses are insidious and report to the hospital only when they are critically suffering “he highlights.
One of the patients who would undergo treatment Martha Kubwimana, a resident of Gisagara, gave her testimony saying: “ I am really grateful that I am receiving this treatment, I have been blind for two years and because of that I was unable to cater properly to my family.”
For some others such as Twagirayezu Theodore , who had been blind for much longer ( 20 years) looking forward to the treatment: ” I had grown accustomed to my condition and accepted it as fate so knowing that it can be changed is like a miracle.
”I look forward to this treatment and encourage many others like me to come and get treated as well.”
According to Dr. Karenzi, there are various types of cataracts such as those that naturally due to old age and Traumatic cataracts after an eye injury.
Radiation cataracts is infected through direct exposure to some kind of radiation such as ultra violet rays from the sun and congenital cataracts which can be acquired from birth.
{{As the Rwanda film industry continues to gain international recognition, the few filmmakers in the country ought to have professional skills backed by sophisticated equipments.}}
It is in this respect that a delegation of eight renowned film professionals from the American Academy of Motion Pictures are in the country to conduct a one week training to local filmmakers under the Rwanda Cinema Centre. (R.C.C).
In an exclusive interview with {igihe.com}, Ellen Harrington, a film director noted that the weeklong training will cover subjects related to film writing, directing, producing, acting and cinematograph amongst others.
She explained that though Rwandan films have exited many, the talent would manifest itself well if the filmmakers had professional skills since they wouldn’t only compete internationally but also their films would have a higher demand.
The weeklong training also marks the opening of the Kwetu Film Institute (KFI) that will be conducted by RCC with the aim of promoting professionalism in the film industry.
Pierre Kayitana, the director of the Rwanda Cinema Centre noted that enrollment of students is underway. “So far we have 100 applicants but it would be better if interested people first showed us their interest through a short footage they have made”.
He further said that one ought to have a minimum academic qualification of a high school certificate, explaining that its an institute of higher learning.Those that have completed a three year course will be entitled to a university degree.
Kayitana adds that the institute has a film master’s program for those who have both average skills and long time experience.
The visiting US professionals will focus more on the skilled filmmakers since there’re able to handle some sophisticated equipments which they might later acquire through donations.
Currently acquiring the right machines is still a major challenge to the Rwandese film industry.
“Getting better equipment is the main problem, the cameras for instance are highly expensive and even those imported are highly taxed; that’s why we don’t have a choice but to use some of the traditional cameras,” said Chrisitan Gakombe RCC cameraman.
He pointed out that he is disappointed to use low quality equipment because they’re not fit for modern production which frustrates him given the skills he has acquired from several trainings abroad on how to use professional cameras.
Reacting to that assertion, Redempter Batete, the Director of Planning and Policy at the ministry of youth noted that the ministry has the will to promote local film industry if the filmmakers unite and consolidate their ideas.
“If only they would unite and send us a credible proposal, who knows the advantages they would get? She wondered, adding that financing their activities would be followed by easing taxes on necessary equipment for film industry which is making a commendable progress.
She further revealed that the ministry has a project to promote film talent at the Kimisagara Youth Centre which is open to interested people.
Yet lack of sophisticated tools is not the only challenge.
Joseph Njanti, a screen writer at RCC noted that though he has acquired most of his skills through experience, getting a mentor to guide him in the profession is still a constraint for him since even the ones available are either expensive or inaccessible.
Trying to give a solution to Njanti’s concern, Kayitana was quick to note that lack of mentors was a major problem both for Rwanda and region but insisted that the film institute will try to deliver better studies.
“Our director who is a professional from German has assured us that he will avail more mentors through his network with some of the renowned film training centers,” he stressed.
Eric Kabera the RCC Chief Executive Officer says the rationale for the film school is simple: “We have over the past seven years trained over 200 young people, with the assistance of partners in Sweden, the USA and elsewhere”
Kabera explained that at first they invited similar professional trainers to assist those in post graduate classes which covers all aspects of film-making and in the end, Rwanda needs a real film school.
Moreover the school will not focus on Rwanda only because the institute aims at serving the whole region and that is why it was called it Kwetu , a Swahili word meaning home of the East Africa Community according to Kabera.
“A cinema is a social and cultural tool that can promote cohesion and integration within the region. We want to create a form of cultural expression from this part of the world – apart from the Nigerian film industry- Nollywood, there isn’t much.”
{{Eligible candidates for the forthcoming senatorial elections are expected to submit their candidatures effective from 1st to 15 August . Campaigns will later kick start from 6th to 25 September.}}
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) chairman Chrysologue Karangwa has noted that senatorial aspirants must be Rwandan citizens aged at least 40 years and above and should have a minimum academic qualification of a university degree.
The Rwf 500 million amounts to be used in the voting process will come from the government coffers.
Normally the senate is made up of 26 seats of which 12 represent various provinces while eight are appointed by the President, four by the political party forum, and finally two come both the private and government institutions.
The eligible voters are electoral colleagues from both the district and sector advisory councils while senators representing higher learning institutions from both public and private sectors will be voted by their fellow lectures.
In terms of gender equality, Charles Munyaneza the NEC executive secretary noted that women would make up at least 30 percent. Final election results are scheduled to be announced on 4 October.
{{Soon activities at MAGERWA and branches will be much quicker than before. This follows announcement by the new investor Larry lam, chairman of Portek a Singapore operator of medium sized containers and multipurpose ports.
}}
Portek now owns 66% shares of MAGERWA and it will be in charge of the day to day activities of the once public bonded warehouse. Lam noted that much effort would be put in ensuring better customer care, better service delivery and reducing congestion at the warehouse.
The Singapore based company will also construct several dry and seaports at the two largest ports in the region situated at Mombasa and Dares salaam.
“We intend to buy several lands closer to the ports at which goods from Rwanda and region would be offloaded. Currently, the two major ports are holding more than their capacity a fact that delays activities,” he remarked.
In Rwanda more storehouses will be constructed. “With new branches cargo trucks for instance will offload quickly and service delivery would be enhanced reducing the current long queues,” he commented adding, “there will also be a reduction of miscellaneous costs.”
The minister of trade and industry Francois Kanimba hailed the new investors saying that they represent a country that has shown tremendous economic progress. “We’re happy that you bring to Rwanda professionalism and replicating some of the best practices,” said Kanimba.
The minister noted that improvement of the warehouse would be a big achievement for the landlocked country.
{{In the ongoing Primus Guma Guma Superstar competition, four contestants have been selected to continue in the competition for the final prize winner.}}
The contestants selected this night include DREAM BOYS, JAY POLLY,TOM CLOSE and KING JAMES.
The Primus Guma Guma Superstar competition is designed to bring together the best of Rwanda’s local artists and engage the whole nation in an exciting and energetic music journey.
The winner of the competition THE PRIMUS GUMA GUMA SUPERSTAR 2011 will win 10 000 USD; perform live with Sean Kingston on July 30th and fly with the star to the USA to record a track and a music video – boosting his career to a higher level and giving his talent tremendous exposure.
{{Gen. SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT}}(President of Republic of South Sudan)
This is a Dinka name; according to Dinka custom, this person properly should be referred to by the name “Kiir”, not “Mayardit”.
Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 1951) is the first President of the Republic of South Sudan.
{{LIFE AND CAREER}}
Gen. Kiir is a Dinka, though of a different clan than former Southern Sudan president John Garang. In the late 1960s, Gen.Kiir joined the Anyanya in the First Sudanese Civil War. By the time of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, he was a low-ranking officer.
In 1983, when Garang joined an army mutiny he had been sent to put down, Gen.Kiir and other Southern leaders joined the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement(SPLM) in the second civil war.
Garang had little military field experience and relied upon the more experienced Anyanya veterans, including Gen.Kiir, to actually carry out the ground war. Gen.Kiir eventually rose to head the SPLA’s military wing.
Most of SPLA operation successes in the field during the war were attributed directly to Gen.Kiir, who controlled the movement’s army.
An attempt to remove Gen.Kiir from his post as SPLA chief of staff in 2004 nearly caused the organization to split. Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement formally ending the war in January 2005, which he had helped start, he was appointed Vice President of Southern Sudan.
After the death of Garang in a helicopter crash of 30 July 2005, he was chosen to succeed to the post of First Vice President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan. He is popular among the military wing of the SPLM for his battlefield victories and among the populace for his unambiguous pro-secession stance.
Gen. Kiir in October 2009 comments that the independence referendum was a choice between being “a second class in your own country” or “a free person in your independent state” were expected to further strain political tensions.
Gen.Kiir has an unenviable task to balance the rival and heavily armed ethnic groups in the vast and grossly underdeveloped swamps, jungles and grasslands of the southern Sudan.
Some members of other groups, especially the Nuer, the second most numerous in the south, resent the perceived Dinka dominance. The two groups sometimes battled each other during the civil war, as well as fighting together against northerners.
{{ORIGIN OF CONFLICT}}
According to intelligence notes, the origins of the civil war in the south date back to the 1950s. On August 18, 1955, the Equatoria Corps, a military unit composed of southerners, mutinied at Torit. Rather than surrender to Sudanese government authorities, many mutineers disappeared into hiding with their weapons, marking the beginning of the first war in southern Sudan.
By the late 1960s, the war had resulted in the deaths of about 500,000 people. Several hundred thousand more southerners hid in the forests or escaped to refugee camps in neighboring countries.
By 1969 the rebels had developed foreign contacts to obtain weapons and supplies. Israel, for example, trained Anya Nya recruits and shipped weapons via Ethiopia and Uganda to the rebels.
Anya Nya also purchased arms from Congolese rebels. Government operations against the rebels declined after the 1969 coup, and ended with the Addis Ababa accords of 1972 which guaranteed autonomy for the southern region.
The civil war resumed in 1983 when President Nimeiri imposed Shari’a law, and has resulted in the death of more than 1.5 million Sudanese since through 1997. The principal insurgent faction is the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), a body created by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
The SPLA was formed in 1983 when Lieutenant Colonel John Garang of the SPAF was sent to quell a mutiny in Bor of 500 southern troops who were resisting orders to be rotated to the north.
Instead of ending the mutiny, Garang encouraged mutinies in other garrisons and set himself at the head of the rebellion against the Khartoum government.
Garang, a Dinka born into a Christian family, had studied at Grinnell College, Iowa, and later returned to the United States to take a company commanders’ course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and again to earn advanced economics degrees at Iowa State University.
By 1986 the SPLA was estimated to have 12,500 adherents organized into twelve battalions and equipped with small arms and a few mortars. By 1989 the SPLA’s strength had reached 20,000 to 30,000; by 1991 it was estimated at 50,000 to 60,000.
{{ABYEI–The oil rich province }}
The dispute over the province of Abyei flared into open fighting between northern and southern forces, although there is now agreement to bring in an Ethiopian peacekeeping force. There is no agreement, however, on the referendum that was promised for the province but never held.
Abyei`s permanent population is Christian by religion and `southern` in their loyalty. The north, however, insists that the Misseriya, Arabic-speaking Muslim nomads who bring their herds of cattle into Abyei to graze during the dry season, also have the right to vote in the referendum. So, there is deadlock.
Such ethnic quarrels will persist and proliferate: at least five rebel groups are fighting the new southern government, and Bashir`s regime faces big rebellions in Darfur, South Kordofan and Nile Province.
Bashir`s immediate problem is economic. The deal to split the oil revenue equally between north and south lapsed with South Sudan`s independence, and he is bringing in harsh austerity measures.
{{LATEST}}
On 14 July 2011, South Sudan became a United Nations member state. The country is not yet a member of the African Union, but membership is expected soon. South Sudan has also applied to join the Commonwealth of Nations, the East African Community,the International Monetary Fund,and the World Bank.
The country was declared eligible to apply for membership in the Arab League as well.
What is now South Sudan was part of the British and Egyptian condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and became part of the Republic of the Sudan when independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983.
A second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed.
South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011 at midnight (00:00) local time following a referendum held in January 2011 in which nearly 99% of voters opted for independence from the rest of Sudan.
{{MEDIA}}. There is a printing press and a score of publications and online media,TV and radio.unrestricted access for journalists to the country.
{{LITERACY}}: only 15% of the population of the southern sudan is literate
{{POLITICAL VIEWS}}: Homosexuality is condemned and Gen. Kiir considers homosexuality as a mental illness.
{{RELIGION}}: Christians and other indigenous traditional African religions.
{{POPULATION}}: The 2008 census conducted by Kharotoum government shows 8.26Million. However, this was been rejected by Gen. Kiir.
{{SPORTS}}: southern sudan has a national football team
{{Despite a few irregularities in the recently concluded local leaders’ election, the Rwanda Civil Society (CSEOM) in it’s report has given recommendations aimed at avoiding reoccurence of mistakes that were highly due to lack of capacity and corruption among some polling officers.}}
However, the chief observer Eugene Rwibasira noted that the elections were fair and the voter-turn-up was impressive. “In general the elections were free and fair, there was high turn-up of voters that freely elected candidates of their choice,” he remarked.
The elections that started on 4 February to 5March saw the nomination of leaders from the cell to the district levels, other elections included representatives for both women and disabled people.
For the disabled and women elections, a good number of hindrances were seen especially in polling stations where voters arrived late and voting had to be postponed, while elections involving people with disabilities, in some districts they lacked candidates with the required academic qualification that allows only those with high school certificates to compete. The majority haven’t studied to this level.
Lack of adequate awareness was a challenge even though the election guidelines were published late since in some areas some voted without any legal documents (national identity or voter’s card).
Some election supervisors abused their powers by voting on behalf of some voters that had not turned up to vote. However,the National Electoral Commission (NEC) chairman Chrysologue Karangwa noted that disciplinary measures were taken against the fraudulent polling officers.
“In our future trainings to polling officers we will insist on honesty and transparency and of course we will also make the penalties clear hoping they wouldn’t favor anyone,” he remarked.
Another challenge was seen in the withdrawal of some candidates in the last minute which made it hard to inform voters on latest changes. “ There should be a time limit for the withdrawal of candidates that ends before candidates photographs are sent to the printer since this would not only avoid confusion but also reduce the printing costs and other resources,” Rwibasira pointed out.
