Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The push is on for[[ a negotiated settlement to resolve the maritime dispute with Somalia despite the war ravaged nation insisting on the International Court of Justice.}

As he concluded his oral submissions last week, Attorney-General Githu Muigai informed the court that Kenya was suspending all explorations in the disputed region as a show of good faith.

He has a team of 22 legal and diplomatic personnel.

“Mr President, in May, we invited Somalia to enter into provisional arrangements pending an agreement on the maritime boundary. We remain open to discussing these arrangements with Somalia.

“I remain confident that the parties will reach an amicable solution consistent with their MOU (memorandum of understanding) of 2009,” Prof Muigai said.

Petroleum exploration is in the disputed 42,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean between the line of parallel latitude and the equidistance line, the latter which is lies in Somalia.

Related Content
Kenya denies Somalia’s claim on maritime boundary dispute
There are three offshore petroleum exploratory blocks there, L-21, L-23 and L-24.

In his final submissions, Prof Muigai requested the ICJ to uphold its admissibility and jurisdictional challenge.

“The Republic of Kenya respectfully requests the court to adjudge and declare that: the case brought by Somalia against Kenya is not within the jurisdiction of the court and is inadmissible, and is accordingly dismissed.”

However, Somalia wants the ICJ to reject Kenya’s preliminary objections.

In fact in Mogadishu’s final oral submissions on Friday, their representative insisted that the court has jurisdiction over the dispute.

Somalia’s delegation of 15 legal, diplomatic and government officials is led by Mogadishu’s ambassador to Belgium Ali Said Faqi.

“On the basis of its written statement of February 5, 2016, and its oral pleadings, Somalia respectfully requests the Court to reject the preliminary objections raised by the Republic of Kenya; and to find that it has jurisdiction to entertain the application filed by the Federal Republic of Somalia.”

{{Possible outcome}}

The oral hearings on Kenya’s preliminary objections took place from Monday to Friday at the Peace Palace, The Hague, which is the seat of the court.

According to a statement from the ICJ, “the court’s judgement on the preliminary objections will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course.”

A finding by the court that Somalia’s case is admissible and the court has jurisdiction over the matter will mean that the dispute goes to full hearing.

Such a determination will also mean that the MoU that Kenya has presented in its objections holds no water and will be thrown out.

In coming up with its judgement, ICJ says the procedure will be for the court to first hold a preliminary deliberation, during which the President of the court Ronny Abraham outlines the issues which, in his opinion, require discussion and decision by the court.

“A full deliberation is subsequently held, at the end of which a drafting committee is chosen by secret ballot, taking account of the views expressed. That committee consists in principle of two judges holding the majority view of the court, together with the president, unless it appears that his views are in the minority.”

That internal judicial committee will prepare three preliminary draft texts.

“In the meantime, judges who wish to do so may prepare a declaration, a separate opinion or a dissenting opinion, which are communicated to the other judges.

“The final vote is taken after adoption of the final text of the judgement at the second reading,” ICJ said in the press statement released at the conclusion of the oral hearings on Friday.

Converse, if the ICJ agrees with Kenya’s preliminary objections, the two countries will be asked to adhere to the MoU and allow the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf that the MoU had agreed on to resolve the dispute.

{Two days of violence in a city in central Democratic Republic of Congo have left at least 10 people dead.}

Security forces in Kananga clashed with militia fighters seeking to avenge the death of their leader who was killed in August by the military, officials and media reports say.

The fighters attacked the city’s airport on Friday, killing an airline worker, witnesses said.

DR Congo has suffered from years of unrest and political instability.

Protests against President Joseph Kabila in the capital Kinshasa earlier this week left at least 50 people dead, the UN said.

Reports said fighters loyal to late tribal chief Kamwina Nsapu first entered Kananga on Thursday morning.

Broadcaster Radio Okapi said the militia clashed with security forces and were eventually beaten back.

They returned on Friday and attacked the airport.

“There was heavy fighting with small arms and heavy weapons,” said witness Killy Ilunga, who saw the body of a dead flight attendant.

“They burst into the hall of the airport. One of them beat her with a club.”

Another witness reported seeing the bodies of several militia fighters at the airport.
The number of deaths has not been confirmed but reports put the toll at between 10 and 13.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the situation was under control.

“The airport has been under the control of our forces since this afternoon,” he said. “We don’t have a death toll at the moment. But yes, there were deaths.”

{A resident of Takaramiam in Awalwal parish, Gweri sub in Soroti district was arrested on Sunday after she was found having sex with the minor in a nearby bush.}

Police in Soroti district are holding a 30 year old woman on allegations of defiling a 15 year old deaf and dumb boy.

A resident of Takaramiam in Awalwal parish, Gweri sub in Soroti district was arrested on Sunday after she was found having sex with the minor in a nearby bush.

The boy, a son of a teacher in the same locality has according to Police authorities since been given post exposure prophylaxis drugs by doctors in an attempt to prevent him from acquiring the incurable virus.

This case was first handled at Gweri sub-county police post but was later registered under CRB 873/ 2016 at Soroti Central Police Station according to the file records kept at Soroti District Criminal Investigations Department.

The East Kyoga police spokesperson, Mr. Michael Odongo on Friday confirmed to Daily Monitor that the suspect is in their police custody with charges of aggravated defilement preferred against her.

Mr Odongo, said Police learnt of the incident from a tip-off by another woman who saw the suspect luring the boy to the bush.

“After subjection to a medical checkup and test by our police surgeon Dr. Joseph Ongaria, it was found that the boy had been defiled. She also tested HIV positive” Odongo said.

Mr. Odongo explained that her file is being processed and forwarded to the Resident State Attorney for further guidance pending her appearance in court.

More than 20 minors are believed defiled every day in Uganda with most cases reported in East and North Eastern parts of the country.

{December 19, 2016, is a date hangs over Joseph Kabila’s head, as well as the nation he has ruled for 15 years, the Democratic Republic of Congo – and over fragile central Africa.}

That should be the last day of his second and final term in office as president, according to the country’s constitution. The nation’s electoral commission, however, says it won’t be able to hold elections until late 2018. Kabila has not said publicly what he will do. Kabila’s critics say he has been stalling to stay in power. Some of his supporters have called for a referendum to remove term limits.

This limbo has not been peaceful. Deadly protests this week over the delay have raised fears that this giant central African nation might become yet another chaotic, violent political crisis. Diplomats say the nation’s neighbors need to step up and encourage dialogue to end the impasse.

The situation is following a worryingly familiar script: elsewhere in the region, leaders’ attempts to extend their grip on power have led to violence in fragile, underdeveloped nations that can ill afford the accompanying economic shocks.

Burundi was the most recent example, with its president sparking deadly protests, a coup attempt and an exodus of refugees when he said the constitution allowed him a third shot in office in 2015.

Richard Moncrieff, central Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, says the DRC has been torn apart by civil conflict in the past, and this crisis is about more than just leadership — it’s about a document that captures the nation’s soul.

“The constitution of 2006, for them, is how they got out of the civil war,” he said. “So it’s not just a constitution; it embodies a peace agreement, and it embodies the desire of the Congolese to live peacefully together. So when we see the president try to undo that constitution for his own narrow ends, it’s fairly natural and understandable that people are upset and angry about that.”

Rights groups say the DRC government has acted to suppress dissent, imprisoning activists and violently putting down protests.

A government spokesman defended the security forces’ response to demonstrators this week, telling VOA that some of the protesters “came just to loot and destroy and kill.”

Analysts say Kabila is not the first African leader who has served past the end of his term.

Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni is serving his fifth term in office after pushing for the removal of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit a decade ago.

The Republic of Congo held a 2015 referendum after violent protests that allowed the longtime president – in power since 1979 – to run for re-election earlier this year. He won. Rwandan voters last year approved a constitutional change that opens the door for its longtime president to run for yet another term.

Central Africa analyst Stephanie Wolters of the Institute for Security Studies says what happens in the DRC inevitably reverberates.

“Because Congo is so big and because it has often drawn in other countries around it into its wars and other neighboring countries have chosen to get involved in wars in the DRC – greater instability and the lack of credibility of a government in Kinshasa is very bad news for the region as well,” she said.

Wolters has criticized the African Union for being “relatively absent” from the debate, and called for the continental body to reiterate its stance against changing constitutions to extend presidential term limits. Instead, the AU has set up a continuing national dialogue that much of the opposition has boycotted.

The United Nations has called for the nation’s ruling party to “build bridges with the opposition.” And Thomas Perriello, the U.S. special envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes region, says the DRC’s neighbors need to push for a resolution through dialogue. The president of the neighboring Republic of Congo has come to Kinshasa to attempt to mediate the crisis, but it is not clear how much success he has had.

“This is an excellent time for regional leadership,” Perriello said. “Leaders in the region of course have such depth of knowledge of the country, but also have such a direct stake in the impact of the situation in DRC…If the DRC makes it through this historic transition that is so deeply desired by the Congolese people, that is something that could have very positive reverberations in terms of economic investment and human capital across the region.”

It is not clear whether the region will take that to heart and take a firmer line on the crisis. On Thursday, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, expressed concern about the violence in the DRC and called on all parties to participate in the AU dialogue. In a statement, however, Zuma did not mention Kabila by name, or allude to Kabila’s next step.

{At least 2,000 Ugandans operating in the second biggest market commonly known as Owino II in the South Sudan’s capital Juba are facing eviction after one of the landlords cancelled a 14-year lease and took over management.}

The Ugandan traders told Daily Monitor that they signed a lease agreement with some South Sudanese landlords led by Sultan Ladu for a 14-year lease at Gumbo in Juba but have now turned around after business in the market picked up.

Mr Iddi Mutebi, the chairperson of the Ugandan traders in Owino II, said they are worried their members are going to lose property and money because of the illegal take over.

“Last Friday, they closed our office and took over management. On Monday, we petitioned the South Sudanese Attorney General and halted the entire process. We are worried that any time they are going to come back,” Mr Mutebi said yesterday.
In 2013, at least 2,000 Ugandan traders contributed funds and acquired land on which they built shops and stalls in the new market after they secured a 14-year tenancy.
Ugandan traders said a group of South Sudanese operating under a company called Kadala want to even own the stalls built by Ugandans.

“They are telling us to leave the stalls and shops we built. They are giving them to their fellow South Sudanese,” a Ugandan trader said.

The traders said they have contacted the Uganda embassy in South Sudan to help them retain their market, but they have not been helped.

Mr Julius Malinga, an official at the Uganda embassy in South Sudan, said traders’ livelihood in the market is under threat because of a rivalry between Ugandan directors, who manage the market.

{Police officers in Mutomo, Kitui County, on Thursday arrested a suspected ivory trader with seven pieces of tusks with a Sh3.5 million street value.}

John Muli Kavuva was caught in a police dragnet after undercover detectives, posing as interested buyers, approached him and offered to purchase the 57-kilogramme illegal cargo at Ilamba trading centre.

Area police boss Kingsford Nyaga told the Nation that the officers were acting on a tip-off from the public.

He said the suspect was being held at Mutomo police cells pending arraignment in court once police conclude investigations into the man’s involvement in the illegal trade.

Mr Nyaga also said the recovered tusks were taken to ivory experts to ascertain their authenticity.

{United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki Moon, has urged Tanzania to uphold mediation efforts in conflict-hit countries across the Great Lakes region.}

Mr Ki Moon observed yesterday during his meeting with Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga. Dr Mahiga is in New York, where he is attending the 71st session of the United Nations on behalf of President John Magufuli.

The UN chief stressed that Tanzania, being an abode for peace, security and democracy, should sustain its efforts to promote peaceful dialogue in conflict- borne countries, including South Sudan, Burundi and DRC. “I thank the Tanzanian government for a well done job in promoting peace and security in the region.

South Sudan is currently giving us serious doubts. President Magufuli should help restore security and peace in the newest country,” he told Amb. Mahiga. Apparently, the UN chief lauded Tanzania for a continued support in peace mission as well as dedicated peace troop in Africa.

Mr Ki Moon seized the opportunity to thank Tanzania for voting him into second term as UN Secretary General. “I thank Tanzania, former President Jakaya Kikwete and you minister (Mahiga) and other government leaders for facilitating my re-appointment,” he stressed.

He paid tribute to the 17 souls lost during the Saturday’s 5.7 Richter Magnitude Earthquake that struck Kagera Region. Mr Ki Moon is in his last year in office and already the process to get his successor is underway.

Dr Mahiga told the UN Chief that he is representing President Magufuli who is still working on the earthquake aftermath. On his part, Amb. Mahiga lauded Mr Ki Moon for his good work as the UN boss during his ten years in office.

“On behalf of Tanzania, we are grateful for the contribution that you have made during your leadership at the UN. You offered a greater support to Tanzania, including appointing Dr Asha-Rose Migiro to be your deputy, also appointing me as your special envoy in Somalia,” Amb. Mahiga told the UN chief. He explained that Mr Ki- Moon had given most priority to Africa and Africans during his entire time in office.

The foreign minister assured Mr Ki-Moon of Tanzania’s commitment to sustain mediation efforts in the Great Lake region. Meanwhile, Tanzania has appealed to international community to discuss the issue of stateless people at the ongoing UN General Assembly.

Amb. Mahiga made the plea on Tuesday at the assembly’s session in New York. Tanzania raised the concern as among the countries that accommodate refugees or helping the latter morally and materially, including granting them citizenship, employment and humanitarian aid.

At the session held to discuss the refugee issue, countries were required to give new pledges on helping the displaced persons to get more opportunities to relieve them of the many challenges they face. Dr Mahiga told participants that for Tanzania to shelter the refugees, it was a historic matter that started many years ago.

“Due to its geographical location, Tanzania became an immediate place for refugees to seek asylum. For over 60 years now, we have been receiving them and giving them shelter,” he said.

He pledged that the country will continue supporting the refugees by considering local and international laws. “We have always been insisting on having regular discussions on the challenges facing the refugees.

But now another problem of having stateless people is becoming rampant as a number of them, particularly youth, is increasing,” he said. Such situation has been more seen in southern part of the Great Lakes.

“When we discuss about the refugees, it’s also good to consider that there is a problem of presence of stateless people,” Amb. Mahiga pointed out.

Being a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC), Tanzania vowed to push the same agenda to these regional platforms for discussion.

Dr Mahiga promised at the assembly that Tanzania would help the refugee children access social services, including education and health. For the adults, the country would empower them to be able to employ themselves in agricultural sector.

Tanzania also pledged not to forcefully deport the refugees to their home countries.