Tag: GreatLakesNews

{Police are holding 35 Ethiopians arrested during an anti-human trafficking operation the outskirts of Nairobi on Tuesday night.}

The 9pm operation was carried out in Ruai, where the aliens were found cramped in a house whose owner is being sought by police.

Nairobi County police commander Japheth Koome said two of those in custody are aged between 35 and 40 years and the rest are 20 to 25-year olds.

“The problem we have is that none of them can speak either English or Kiswahili. So we are looking for an interpreter so that we are able to interrogate them,” he said.

Mr Koome added that they would be presented in court with the aim of getting orders to continue holding them before preferring charges, most probably being in Kenya illegally.

However, police are looking for the owner of the house and others who facilitated their travel to the country so that they can face human trafficking charges in court.

Police believe the aliens were on transit to southern Africa, because it is the most common route used to smuggle people from Ethiopia to Europe.

{The Chair of the Southern African De-velopment Community (SADC)’s Organ of Politics, Defence and Security (Troi-ka) Ministerial Committee, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga, has started a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to assess the situation in the country.}

His tour comes a few days after the Troika Chairperson, President John Ma-gufuli, pledged to dispatch foreign affairs ministers from three African countries to assess the political situation in the DRC.

Along with Dr Mahiga are Angolan Foreign Minister and Mozambique Dep-uty Defence Minister.

The mission seeks to meet different stakeholders, discuss the political situation and advise accordingly.

A statement released in Dar es Sa-laam yesterday by Ambassador Innocent Shiyo from the Department of Regional Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, said the protests organised by opposition parties that took place in DRC on Sep-tember 19 forced President John Magu-fuli to dispatch the mission.

“The volatile political situation, security and peace in DRC that was at-tributed to, partly, by protests that were organised by opposition parties and took place on September 19 to pressurise the National Electoral Committee (CENI) to announce the date for the General Elec-tion prompted the president to send the mission.It will meet different stakeholders in the country, evaluate the situation on ground and advise accordingly,” stated Ambassador Shiyo.

The mission was to take place be-tween October 4 and 5 but due to the visit by President Joseph Kabila to Tanzania it had to be rescheduled.

“After consultations between Presi-dent Magufuli and President Kabila dur-ing the tour, it was agreed the mission should take place from October 10 to 13.

In the delegation, there is the Execu-tive Secretary of SADC, Dr Stergomena Tax and senior officials from the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, President’s Office and the Ministry for Defence and National Ser-vice,” Ambassador Shiyo said.

The 36th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government that was held from August 30 to 31 in Mbabane, Swaziland, elected President Magufuli to be the Chairperson of the Troika.

Angola is vice-chairperson and Mozambique is outgoing chairperson.

According to Ambassador Shiyo, the mission had met some people, including SADC member ambassadors in DRC; the Chief Mediator of the African Union; Mr Eden Kodjo, DRC Minister for For-eign Affairs; Chairperson of CENI; non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and religious institutionsAmbassador Shiyo said the mission was putting great emphasis on the need for dialogue as the only means to get out of the deadlock, necessity of political tol-erance and later to hold an election at a time to be agreed upon amicably.

The SADC meeting received re-port on efforts being taken by the DRC Government and some other political stakeholders to ensure the country moves peacefully during and after the general election.

{At least eight civilians shot dead in the crossfire in eastern Beni town after insurgents were engaged by DRC troops.}

At least eight civilians have been killed during a firefight between the army and rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Gilbert Kambale, a civil society leader, told AFP news agency on Monday that rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked the town of Beni in North Kivu overnight, with eight civilians, a soldier, and an ADF fighter shot dead.

Mak Hazukay, the DRC army’s spokesman, said the civilians were killed in the crossfire between the army and the rebels.

“The armed forces of the DRC intercepted the ADF and in the exchanges of fire civilians and soldiers were killed,” Hazukay said.

The ADF was founded in Uganda in 1995 with the aim of toppling President Yoweri Museveni . It later moved to the DRC where it is one among dozens of armed groups seeking control over territory and mineral resources in the east of the country.

Human rights violations

In the past, independent observers have blamed both ADF rebels and DRC forces for deadly attacks against civilians.

The Beni area in particular has seen numerous massacres since October 2014, which have left more than 700 civilians dead.

On Friday, US-based rights group Human Rights Watch criticised the government for failing to protect the people of the Beni region and called on authorities to develop “a new strategy to protect civilians” in the area.

On August 4, DRC President Joseph Kabila and Museveni held talks in Uganda seeking a coordinated military strategy against the ADF fighters.

The rebels have been present in eastern DRC for more than 20 years.

The group has been accused of human rights abuses and is thought to be deeply embroiled in criminal networks funded by kidnappings, smuggling, and illegal logging.

{The US Department of State last Thursday tendered a letter of condolence regarding the death of Olango to the Ugandan embassy authorities in Washington DC.}

KAMPALA- The US has promised to push for the immediate release of findings of the September 28 shooting that led to the death of the Ugandan Alfred Olango.

The US Department of State last Thursday tendered a letter of condolence regarding the death of Olango to the Ugandan embassy authorities in Washington DC.

The letter, diplomatic sources told this newspaper, was delivered to Ambassador Olive Wonekha by the director, office of East African Affairs Eric Whitaker, who was accompanied by the desk officer for Uganda, Sean Comber at the State Department.

During the meeting, Mr Whitaker besides the “message of condolence from the US government on the death of Olango”, also said they “are taking investigations into the matter seriously.”

Mr Whitaker, who has served before at the US Mission in Uganda between 1993 and 1994 under Ambassador Johnnie Carson, admitted that his country “is still torn by race relations” as evidenced by the recent spate of police shooting, and ugly confrontations with mainly black people which has heightened nationwide tensions, triggered debate on police brutality and international scorn.

Olango, a 38-year-old Ugandan born was shot dead last month by two officers in El Cajon, a city about 15 miles from San Diego, who were responding to a 911 call about a man endangering himself and motorists outside a strip mall in the San Diego, according to US media outlets.

About a minute after arriving on the scene, one officers fired an electric stun gun and another fired his service weapon several times, fatally striking Olango.

Eye witnesses interviewed insist that Olango was unarmed.

{An international NGO has urged Kenya to remove the November deadline imposed by the government for the closure of the Dadaab camps even as it faulted the repatriation process as no longer “being voluntary, safe or dignified.”}

Kenya, which hosts as many as 600,000 refugees mainly from neighbouring Somalia, said in May it would close down its two biggest refugee camps because of the “very heavy” economic, security and environmental costs.

“The government of the Republic of Kenya, having taken into consideration its national security interests, has decided that hosting of refugees has to come to an end,” the Interior ministry said then.

But in a new report titled Dadaab’s Broken Promise the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says that the decision by the Government of Kenya to close the Dadaab refugee camps in November has led to a situation where the voluntary returns process does not meet international standards, and breaks the agreement that Somalis would be assisted to return home safely and voluntarily.

It says return should be viewed as a process of “rehabilitation, restructuring and rebuilding, not as a project with an end date in mind.”

It adds the Kenyan government should return to the process of organised and planned returns, to “ensure a safe, dignified, sustainable and voluntary return process.”

“We are willing and able to enable voluntary return, but the pressure to push more than 280,000 registered refugees from Dadaab camp has led to chaotic and disorganised returns.

“From what we have seen on the ground, it is no longer voluntary, dignified nor safe,” said Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Secretary General Jan Egeland.

“The deadline to close the world’s largest refugee camp must be lifted.”

The agency says the Kenyan government and the UN refugee agency should reinstate “the organised and voluntary process of return” under the Tripartite Agreement adding that the “unrealistic deadline” must be removed before the situation further deteriorates.

TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT

The Tripartite Agreement for the voluntary return of Somali refugees from Kenya was signed by the Kenyan and Somali governments and UNHCR in 2013.

It was based on international law and created a framework in which returns were to be organised.

“The initial returns programme under the 2013 Tripartite Agreement was largely a success, as it saw Somali assisted to reach their return locations safely and with dignity.

“We should return to the terms of this agreement, rather than simply aiming to push back as many refugees as possible,” said Egeland.

In addition to failing to meet international standards for voluntary return, the report claims that refugees returning to Somalia are not sufficiently protected, exposing them to insecurity risks associated with Al-Shabaab militants.

Returnees interviewed claimed that repatriation staff in Dadaab have solicited bribes prior to agreeing to register a person for return.

It also reveals that the pressure to speed up the repatriation process threatens to create a revolving door scenario.

“The number of vulnerable Somalis planned for return far outstrips the resources available to support them in Somalia,” said NRC’s Country Director in Kenya Neil Turner.

“Sustainable return should form a key component of the returns programme. It must prevent families ending up in displacement camps in Somalia or returning as undocumented refugees to Kenya.”

Kenya hosts more than 335,000 Somalia refugees, including over 270,000 in Dadaab refugee camp.

{Zanzibar President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein is today scheduled to open the two-week session of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).}

It is the Second Meeting of the Fifth Session of the Third Assembly. Briefing reporters about the sitting here yesterday, the EALA Speaker Mr Daniel Fred Kidega, said the members were happy to be in the islands and have hailed Dr Shein’s acceptance to address them.

Mr Kidega said the 45 EALA members are expected to discuss and pass three key bills–the EAC Counter-Trafficking in Persons Bill 2016, the EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill 2016 and the EAC Gender Equality and Development Bill 2016.

He said the EAC Counter- Trafficking in Persons Bill 2016, seeks to provide a legal framework, develop common measures, strategies and programmes to the prevention of trafficking in persons and the perpetrators of such actions.

“Taking historical perspectives of this place, there can never be a better place other than Zanzibar to pass the proposed law. We seek to end this practice of our people, particularly young girls are taken abroad on the pretext of finding job, but end up being enslaved,” the Speaker said.

He added that EALA condemned the people behind the suffering and torture of young women abroad, as he appealed to the partner citizens and Ministry of foreign Affairs to work with ambassadors in respective region to ensure the EAC citizens, economically vulnerable, are in safe hands and in difficulties repatriated back home.

The EAC Counter-Trafficking Bill is being debated at a time when the region and the globe are reeling from major effects of counter-trafficking in persons, as most of the victims have travelled to find jobs abroad.

The EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill 2016, moved by Ms Patricia Hajabakiga, aims at providing a legal framework for the preservation of a clean and healthy environment through the prohibition of manufacturing, sale, importation and use of polythene materials.

While the EAC Gender Equality and Development Bill 2016 from Ms Nancy Abisai, sets out to make provision for gender equality, protection and development in the Community.

It seeks to consolidate and harmonise the various commitments on gender equality that have been made at regional, continental and international levels in the context of the EAC.

Mr Kidega informed reporters here that House is also expected to discuss a number of reports from committees including Communication, Trade and Investments; Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution and the Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges; and Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources.

He urged them to take a critical role in forming and educating people about EAC” rated the best regional block in Africa, because the members of the assembly cannot reach the 140 million people without media commitment.

EALA sittings are held under the principle of rotation in line with Article 55 of the EAC Treaty. EALA meets at least once in every year at its headquarters in Arusha.

{About half of the 122 million coffee seedlings distributed to farmers countrywide under the government’s flagship Operation Wealth Creation programme have dried up due to scorched farmlands, President Museveni has revealed.}

“Unfortunately, I am told that around 40 per cent of the coffee seedlings have dried up because of the beneficiaries not watering them. This is terrible carelessness,” he said at the 54th Independence celebrations in Luuka district yesterday.

Mr Museveni’s lamentations foretell the irony of a country generating most of its wealth and food through a nature-dependent agriculture, but one he eyes to transform into a middle-income status within the next four years.

The inability to harvest rain or tap Lake Victoria or River Nile waters to soak the soils for farming highlight a deficiency in technology and irrigation policy by the ministry of Agriculture, which the President yesterday challenged to do more for higher farm yields and food security.

In the meantime, Mr Museveni proposed what he said is a basic and pragmatic drip irrigation solution: farmers should perforate and fill mineral water bottles to sprinkle water on the seedlings.
“It is so easy,” he said. “The plant will not dry in the dry season. Therefore, please stop this carelessness.”

There was no report card on whether households given 11 million fruit seedlings, 15 millions of tea seedlings as well as banana suckers, dairy heifers, cassava stalks, piglets and chicken as select enterprises under the wealth creation scheme since 2013 have started earning Shs20 million per year, a government-set threshold.

President Museveni, after faulting professionals in-charge National Agricultural Advisory Services or Naads, ordered UPDF soldiers to run Operation Wealth Creation with his brother Salim Saleh as the overall overseer.

Critics at the time flagged that the uniformed men and women had battle experience unrelated to farming skills, but the President disregarded the reservations, handing the multi-billion project to mostly veterans ahead of the 2016 elections.

Mr Museveni yesterday said the government, working with a Chinese company, will soon begin making fertilisers in Tororor to reduce its price and increase supplies in the countryside.

He directed government departments and agencies to begin buying only from local entrepreneurs so as to capitalise the fledgling private sector whose major players have complained of declined earnings, prompting some to seek state bailout.

Citing Nyanza Textile Industries Ltd, a Jinja-based textile manufacturer, Mr Museveni said “I don’t want to see uniforms [for security forces] from outside (Uganda)”.

“And, I don’t understand why (the) government is buying things from outside. This should stop!” he said. This proclamations in many ways appeared to revive the Marxist-oriented Museveni, who on capturing power in 1986, despised thing made in West, preferring to buy from local markets. His taste however evolved with longevity in power, turning not only to embrace iberalisation, but with it also exotic imports.

Such trend should be reversed, he said.
The President yesterday looked four years back, repeating what the ten “strategic bottlenecks” to Uganda’s progress that he first enunciated in his 2012 Golden Jubilee Independence speech.

These include fighting ideological dis-orientation; eliminating sectarianism; improving education to refine human resource; facilitating private sector-led economic growth; developing road, rail and electricity infrastructure; market expansion through regional integration; pursuing industrialisation for value-added exports; develop the service sector to create jobs; modernising agriculture to increase household incomes; and, deepening democratic governance.