The suspects paraded before the media on Wednesday 27th October 2021 include a Congolese national, who sneaked the elephant tusks into Rwanda from Bukavu town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was arrested in Rusizi district.
The quartet include Desire Murokozi, Derrick Gisa, Cyriaqué Kaburaburyo from Burundi and Nicodem Bagabo from DRC.
The four men sneaked the elephant tusks using a vehicle belonging to an official working with the power utility company of the Great Lakes Region known for its French alias as Société Internationale d’Electricité des pays des Grands Lacs (SINELAC).
It is said that they wanted to use Rwanda as a transit from where they would send elephant tusks to foreign countries.
Three of them have accused the official working with the company to have dragged them into the case. The official has however refuted the allegations explaining that he gave them a lift without checking their luggage.
RIB Spokesperson, Dr. Thierry B. Murangira has said that the suspects planned to traffic the tusks to Asia through Rwanda.
“The four suspects were arrested at different times. They face charges including attempt to traffic 45kgs of elephant tusks through Rwanda. The tusks were seized in a vehicle belonging to an official working with SINELAC. The elephant tusks are not poached or sold in Rwanda but rather the country is used as a transit for such trade,” he said.
Dr. Murangira assured that the foiled trafficking is a testament that Rwanda has no place for peddlers.
If convicted, suspects are liable to a sentence between five and seven years behind bars and a fine between Rwf5 to Rwf7 million as per Rwanda’s Penal Code.
The suspects are detained at Kicukiro RIB Post awaiting their files to be transferred to the Prosecution.
Kagame was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Control Award on Tuesday 26th October 2021 during the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit 2021 held virtually to recognize leaders who exhibited outstanding commitment to prevent and control cancer globally.
Hosted by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the summit was held under the theme ‘driving innovation to advance cancer control equitably’.
Kagame was awarded for Rwanda’s remarkable milestone in the prevention and control of different types of cancer through ensuring universal access to health services and inoculation programs among others.
He said that it has been ten years since Rwanda launched campaign to prevent different types of Cancer, ensuring universal access to state-of-the art cancer treatment since 2012.
The President highlighted that the award given to him is a deep honour and thanked UICC and the judging panel, for recognizing the efforts that Rwanda has made to prevent and treat cancer.
Kagame also commended the immediate past president of UICC, the Princess of Jordania, Dina Mired for her exceptional leadership and commitment to the field of cancer control, and her attention to Africa.
He congratulated his fellow finalists, from both the policymaker and civil society categories, whose collective achievements ‘inspire us all’.
The Head of State stressed that cancer diagnosis is frightening, in any setting noting that there is a sense of hopelessness in places with no accessible treatment options. He however revealed that any country can make a positive impact within available capacities to control cancer, no matter its income level.
Kagame pointed out an example of Rwanda where the national insurance scheme started to cover annual check-ups for all citizens above the age of 40. This has allowed for earlier detection of cancers, and better treatment outcomes.
The President stated that the top two cancers in Rwanda are breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Among others, Kagame said that the structural focus on maternal and child health in Rwanda’s health system has helped the country to give these conditions the attention they deserve.
The Ministry of Health shows that 1237 out of 5000 Cancer patients detected last year were diagnosed with breast cancer while more than 750 were screened with cervical cancer.
In the same year, the two cancers took lives of over 1400 women with 636 being victims of breast cancer while over 800 patients died of cervical cancer as per figures from the Ministry of Health.
In the next ten years, Rwanda plans to be among top countries taking the lead in eradicating cervical cancer. The country has so far achieved a major stride where over 97% of teens are vaccinated against the virus that causes the cancer every year.
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President Paul Kagame has said that the region has some of the highest rates of liver cancer in the world, due to untreated hepatitis infections and shed light on Rwanda’s efforts.
“In 2018, we began an eradication program for hepatitis C, which screened more than 5 million at-risk people. Those found to be infected received treatment, free of charge. We also made hepatitis B vaccination routine,” he noted.
The President emphasized that early detection is only relevant when treatment is available and accessible. To this end, he said that Rwanda has started offering state-of-the art treatment that citizens no longer have to travel abroad.
“Since 2019, the Rwanda Cancer Center has been operational, offering both radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments. This means that Rwandans no longer have to travel abroad for many cancer treatments,” noted Kagame.
He stressed that local production of morphine has reduced the suffering of patients in palliative care.
The Head of State also said that partnerships are essential highlighting that the modest gains that Rwanda has made in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer have come by working together with others.
He commended the partnership between Rwanda and Partners in Health led by Dr. Paul Farmer which bore fruits and paved the way for establishment of Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence located in Burera district, Northern Province in 2012.
Kagame revealed that the Africa Training Center of the Institute for Research on Digestive Cancers (IRCAD) will be inaugurated in Rwanda next year.
The center is under construction in Masaka, Kigali City on partnership between Rwanda and Professor Jacques Marescaux, a world leader in minimally-invasive cancer surgery who founded IRCAD in 1994.
Kagame said that there is still a long way to go in the fight to control cancer in Rwanda and Africa, noting that the award gives motivation to aspire to do even more and better in the years ahead.
Kagame is among six leaders honoured with the award from two categories including policymakers and civil society categories.
Finalists in policy makers category include President Paul Kagame, President of the United States of America, Amerika Joe Biden and Greg Hunt, Australia’s Minister for Health and Aged Care.
Finalists in the category of Civil Society include Maira Caleffi, Breast surgeon and founder of FEMAMA, a Brazilian Federation of Philanthropic Institutions for Breast Health Support and Advocacy.
Othera are; Dr. Paul Farmer the founder of Partners In Health (PIH) and Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, the Chief Executive Officer of The Max Foundation, an organization dedicated to accelerating health equity by increasing global access to treatment, care, and support for people living with cancer.
These include Jean-Yves Le Drian from France, Nasser Bourita from Morocco, Amb. Tete Antonio from Angola.
The President also received the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and his delegation for a discussion on key areas of bilateral cooperation.
Among others, Kagame met with the European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen.
The decision is the result of a meeting between Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije, Senegal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Aïssata Tall Sall, Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech and Sierk Poetting, COO of BioNTech as well as Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre and Dr. Amadou Alpha Sall, Director General of Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Kigali.
The meeting happened upon the invitation of the kENUP Foundation. It took place as a side-event of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the African Union and the European Union and resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This comes after the parties signed a Joint Communiqué at a previous meeting in Berlin on August 27, 2021.
Speaking at the event; Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech thanked all participants of the meeting for the support and trust to establish the first mRNA manufacturing facility within the African Union.
“Together, we will work on developing a regional manufacturing network to support the access to vaccines manufactured in Africa, for Africa. Our goal is to develop vaccines in the African Union and to establish sustainable vaccine production capabilities to jointly improve medical care in Africa. We have made great progress in the past few weeks, which will help us on our way to turn these plans into reality,” he said.
Sierk Poetting, the COO of BioNTech emphasized that the company seeks to accelerate the building of a GMP-certified manufacturing facility and plan to begin the construction on site in mid-2022.
“The MoU underlines that time is a critical success factor in the development of sustainable vaccine production for the African Union. We have finalized the planning and initial assets for the new facility have already been ordered,” he revealed.
The parties agree to jointly establish end-to-end manufacturing capacities for mRNA-based vaccines in Africa starting immediately. BioNTech has finalized the construction plans and ordered the assets, which will be delivered by mid-2022.
The new manufacturing facility could become the first node in a decentralized and robust African end-to-end manufacturing network enabling an annual manufacturing capacity of several hundreds of million mRNA vaccine doses.
BioNTech plans to develop and implement a scalable construction network based on the expertise and learnings from the ramp-up of the Company’s production facility in Marburg.
To enable an expedient set-up of production capacities according to GMP standards, BioNTech will start with the construction and validation of a first production line enabling the manufacturing of drug product for about 50 million of, for example, COVID-19 vaccine doses per year, once fully operational.
The capacity will be increased sequentially by adding further manufacturing lines and sites to the manufacturing network on the continent, supporting the production of several hundreds of millions of mRNA vaccine doses.
BioNTech will initially staff, own and operate the facility to support the safe and rapid initiation of the production of mRNA-based vaccine doses. BioNTech plans to transfer manufacturing capacities and the know-how to local partners.
Therefore, BioNTech, Rwanda Development Board and Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal agreed to swiftly build-up the required human resources capacity and systems so that the partners can take over ownership and operational duties.
In parallel, the Republic of Rwanda and the Institut Pasteur de Dakar have committed themselves to scale-up fill and finish capacities to complete the local end-to-end manufacturing process. In addition, BioNTech is in discussions about an expansion of the current partnership with Cape Town-based vaccine manufacturer Biovac, which is part of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing network.
Commenting the development; Dr. Daniel Ngamije, Rwanda’s Minister of Health said that bringing end-to-end vaccine manufacturing of biologicals to Africa is essential for the continent’s health security and prosperity.
He stressed that Rwanda is committed to working with the African Union, the European Union, BioNTech, and other technology partners ‘to make this a reality as quickly as possible’.
“The BioNTech partnership will not only build physical infrastructure but also strengthen human capacity in Africa to develop the most advanced vaccine technologies,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Aïssata Tall Sall. “With decades of experience manufacturing yellow fever vaccines, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar is ready to partner with BioNTech to rise to the challenge of developing mRNA vaccines for Africa.”
Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission who also attended discussions, highlighted that by working together in the spirit of the meeting, ‘the African Union, the European Union, key technology partners, and other stakeholders, can make decisive contributions and effective coordination in the fight against this pandemic, and future health challenges’.
Jutta Urpilainen, European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships welcomed the milestone which he considered a concrete step towards making mRNA-based vaccines in Africa, for Africa.
“Through our Team Europe Initiative on local manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and medical technologies, the European Union is committed to making this initiative a success,” he said.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa noted that state-of-the-art facilities like the one to be developed will be life-savers and game-changers for Africa and could lead to millions of cutting-edge vaccines being made for Africans, by Africans in Africa.
“This is also crucial for transferring knowledge and know-how, bringing in new jobs and skills and ultimately strengthening Africa’s health security. WHO is ready to work with countries to step up their commitment to vaccine manufacturing,” he said.
Holm Keller, the Executive Chairman of kENUP Foundation emphasized that global vaccine equity is key to accelerating the end of the pandemic.
He said that today’s announcement is an important next step towards sustainable vaccine production in Africa, thanked partners for their decisive contribution and their relentlessness towards making swift Africa vaccine production a reality.
The initiative is aligned with the Team Europe Initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and medical technologies (MAV+) led by the European Commission in collaboration with the EU Member States and the European Investment Bank.
The meeting brings together foreign affairs ministers from both continents to discuss COVID-19 response and recovery as well as building resilience.
Ministers attending the meeting on 25th and 26th October 2021, are expected to exchange views on the EU-AU partnership and how to strengthen cooperation.
Discussions will also revolve around various topics including the response to and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as building resilience.
Other areas of interest are investing in the digital and green transitions, peace, security and global governance, migration and mobility, education, science, technology and skills development.
The ministers who held talks with Dr. Biruta on Monday 25th October 2021 include his counterpart of Denmark, Danemark, Jeppe Kofod; Gordan Grlić Radman of Croatia; Christophe Lutundula of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Gen Jeje Odongo of Uganda.
Minister Biruta also met with Martin Tlapa, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic and Poland Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcin Przydacz.
Discussions revolved around deepening bilateral relations and cooperation, strengthening political and economic cooperation, cooperation in education, trade and climate change.
As she opened the AU-EU ministerial meeting on Monday; the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Clementine Mukeka said that it is an occasion to strengthen existing cooperation and explore new potential areas.
“It also an opportunity to reflect on the AU-EU relationship and propose areas for improvement,” she stressed.
Africa and the European Union enjoy partnership in different development areas.
Figures from EU show that Europe exported goods worth Euro 124 billion to Africa while Africa’s exports to EU are estimated at Euro 101 billion in 2020.
He was received at Village Urugwiro along with his delegation that is in Rwanda for the African Union-European Union (AU-EU) ministerial meeting.
Josep Borrell Fontelles has been in Rwanda since Sunday 23rd October 2021 to attend AU-EU ministerial meeting scheduled on 26th October 2021 at Kigali Convention Center.
Ahead of the meeting, Josep Borrell Fontelles visited Gashora Transit Refugee Camp located in Bugesera district.
On Monday 25th October 2021, she was also received by Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Vincent Biruta. They discussed joint agenda, focused on regional peace and security, closing the vaccination gap and deepening EU-Africa partnership.
Ministers attending the meeting are expected to exchange views on the EU-AU partnership and how to strengthen cooperation.
Discussions will also revolve around various topics including the response to and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as building resilience.
Other areas of interest are investing in the digital and green transitions, peace, security and global governance, migration and mobility, education, science, technology and skills development.
Africa and the European Union enjoy partnership in different development areas.
Figures from EU show that Europe exported goods worth Euro 124 billion to Africa while Africa’s exports to EU are estimated at Euro 101 billion in 2020.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana has welcomed EIB’s latest private sector engagement in Rwanda and the launch of its Euro 175 million East Africa COVID-19 Response Facility in the country.
Rwanda is the first country in East Africa to benefit from the new streamlined financing programme that will provide long term financing in both Rwandan Francs and US Dollars.
“COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Rwandan businesses which has led to a negative economic impact on our country. The European Investment Bank partnership with Bank of Kigali and KCB-Rwanda will ensure that businesses can continue to invest and more specifically, targeted support will also improve access to financing by companies that contribute to the economic empowerment of women and girls,” Minister Ndagijimana said.
Commenting on the development, Thomas Östros, European Investment Bank Vice President said: “Since the COVID-19 outbreak the European Investment Bank has worked with leading banks and financial institutions across Africa to ensure that companies can continue to invest, protect jobs and harness new business opportunities. The agreements signed today will help strengthen economic resilience in Rwanda and includes targeted financing for female entrepreneurs and firms that accelerate the economic empowerment of women.”
Dr. Diane Karusisi, Bank of Kigali Chief Executive Officer has also highlighted that provided funds will help clients to maintain business growth.
“We are delighted to partner with the European Investment Bank in financing Rwandan businesses that were affected by the pandemic especially women-led businesses. The funds provided will enable our clients to stay afloat and continue progressing steadily even after the COVID-19 crisis. This facility clearly compliments the Government of Rwanda and Bank of Kigali’s efforts to stimulate the country’s economic recovery,” she said.
“It is our pleasure to be involved in this partnership with the European Investment Bank,” said George Odhiambo, the Managing Director of KCB Bank Rwanda.
“We believe in enabling local businesses with multiple financing options, targeted to various sector growth initiatives. Over the past 2 years we have seen several businesses and households overly affected by COVID-19. Therefore, this is a timely convergence of funds that will ultimately seek to benefit women entrepreneurs, many of whom are the backbone of our society”, he added.
30% of new financing will support female economic empowerment.
Female led companies and firms that contribute to gender quality will benefit from improved access to finance up to 30% of the total financing under the two new credit lines.
Allocation to companies that support female economic empowerment will be made under the EIB’s SheInvest criteria and global 2X Challenge Criteria.
Among others, the Government of Rwanda and the European Investment Bank have also signed a project agreement to complete the last milestone of the financing contract worth Euro 22 million for National Health Referral Laboratory Project.
Leligdonova was approved to represent her country to Rwanda by the cabinet meeting held on 30th July 2021. She will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Recently on 8th October 2021, Slovakia joined other countries supporting Rwanda’s response to COVID-19 pandemic with a donation of 280,000 vaccine doses.
At the time, Slovakia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Katarína Žuffa Leligdonová who joined other officials to receive vaccines upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, highlighted that COVID-19 pandemic can only be successfully overcome ‘if we join hands together’.
“That is why Slovakia has joined the EU family in Kigali to provide 280,000 Astra Zenecca vaccine doses to help Rwandan Government and people to control this pandemic,” she said.
As he celebrated his birthday on 23rd October 2021, Rwandans, friends and officials used different social media platforms to send best wishes to Kagame.
One day following his birthday on Sunday 24th October 2021, Kagame used his twitter handle to voice appreciation for all who sent heart-warming messages.
“I take this moment to express my sincere appreciation to all of you who wished and have been wishing me [over the years] Happy Birthday. Bless You all,” he tweeted.
Kagame also thanked friends and relatives for making his day a special one.
“Thank you to friends and family that made my Birthday a very happy one,” he said.
The President also revealed that spending his day with his grandchild was the best part of his birthday celebrations.
Paul Kagame was born in Nyarutovu, former Commune Tambwe, Gitarama Prefecture currently in Ruhango district, Southern Province.
He is the last born in a family of six born to late Deogratias Rutagambwa and Asteria Rutagambwa.
In 1959, his family fled to the north-east of Rwanda before moving to Uganda in Nshungerezi refugee camp, two years later.
Like many Rwandans, Kagame spent his childhood life in refuge in Uganda where he did primary and secondary school.
He commanded the liberation struggle until 1994 when RPA Inkotanyi soldiers stopped Genocide against Tutsi.
After winning the battle, Kagame held different positions serving as the Vice President and Minister of Defence.
On 24th March 2000, Kagame became the interim President replacing Pasteur Bizimungu who had resigned. He was elected for the first term during presidential elections held in 2003.
The Acting Executive Secretary of Nyamirama sector, Pascal Nkuriza has told IGIHE that clashes arose as the man ambushed the debtor.
“We went to the crime scene following the incident. We learnt that the deceased had lent Rwf200 to the young man and ambushed him to claim his money. Upon arrival, they engaged in heated argument which sparked fight. The man hit the debtor with a bottle who also hit him with a big stick on the head resulting into his death,” he said.
The murder suspect is detained at Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Mukarange station awaiting his files to be transferred to the Prosecution.
