Tag: GreatLakesNews

{A mobile South African military court has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo to try 32 South African peacekeepers accused of misconduct, the U.N. mission in Congo said on Friday.}

A mobile South African military court has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo to try 32 South African peacekeepers accused of misconduct, the U.N. mission in Congo said on Friday.

U.N. peacekeeping missions have been dogged by accusations of sexual abuse. The United Nations reported 99 such allegations against staff members across the U.N. system last year.

Friday’s statement said none of the 32 cases to be tried in Congo involved alleged sexual abuse. It said that the mobile courts, which South Africa first used in 2001, represented an important tool in the fight against impunity.

“Holding the trial in DRC is indeed more practical, less costly and, above all, more attentive to the circumstances of victims who are not able to travel to another country,” the statement said.

It added that the mobile court, which arrived this week, consisted of a judge, a lawyer, a prosecutor and a clerk. It will hold hearings in the capital Kinshasa and in the conflict-torn east before returning to South Africa on March 22.

The statement said the alleged infractions dated back as far as May 2015, but did not specify the charges.

“We’re trying to clamp down on all elements of ill-discipline wherever they are,” military spokesman Xolani Mabanga said in South Africa.

U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called this month on troop-contributing states to allow prosecutions inside countries where the alleged crimes took place and for the creation of a DNA registry of all peacekeepers.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo is the world’s largest, with about 20,000 uniformed personnel. South Africa has contributed more than 1,000 troops and experts.

South Africa has in the past tried its soldiers in Burundi, Congo and South Sudan, Friday’s statement said.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Johannesburg; editing by Andrew Roche)

{Two people have been shot dead and four soldiers critically injured in an attack in Hima town council in fresh ethnic violence in Kasese district.}

The attacks are believed to have been triggered by ethnic conflicts stemming from the sub-county elections in the district this week in which the opposition again swept most of the seats. It is alleged that a group of more than 60 people armed with guns, spears and machetes on Thursday at around 10pm, attacked and speared three UPDF soldiers who were on night foot patrol at Kikonzo village, Kendahi Ward in Hima town council before the soldiers killed two in alleged self-defence.

The Regional Police Commander for Rwenzori East, Mr Bob Kagarura, confirmed the attack on Thursday night.
“We have been attacked by people from the mountains. As I speak, two people have already died and three of our soldiers are critically injured,” said Kagarura.

He said the attackers were holding deadly weapons such as guns, spears and pangas (machetes). Among the dead were commanders of the group that attacked the soldiers.
“As soldiers were on night patrol, a group of over 60 people singing Mai Mai and dressed in navy blue trousers and black new boots attacked them, started stabbing them on arms, backs and foreheads before soldiers defended themselves by killing two on the spot” said Mr Kagarura.

He identified the injured as Cpl Moses Ssentongo, Cpl Rwot Owengyo, Cpl James Otodde and Lance Cpl Matiya Senyonga all attached to Hima-Kaveera army barracks in Kasese. They were admitted to Kilembe Hospital. He said those who had guns among the attackers quickly disappeared while the rest vainly tried to grab guns from the soldiers.
The bodies of the attackers who are yet to be identified, were taken to Kilembe hospital. Other attackers reportedly vanished into the bushes.

“We have arrested four people in a cordon-and-search operation at night while others had been arrested earlier during the post-election demonstration that happened during the day,” Kagarura said.
He said earlier, security had sensed danger when many people started descending down to attack police posts, including Kithoma in Buhuhira sub-county.
Earlier on Thursday, police fired tear gas in Hima town as they tried to disperse crowds that had started burning houses in protests.

How it started
The attacks came in a day after an independent candidate, Mr Tom Wabukombi, lost to the incumbent Mr Musana Katura (NRM) by 200 votes in the Hima Local Council chairperson elections.
Prior to the attack, a house of one of the supporters of Wabukombi was set ablaze after he was suspected to have caused the defeat of their candidate by allegedly having undercover dealings with their opponent.

The 305 Brigade army spokesperson, Lt Amos Nsamba, said security agencies had combed the whole village in a hunt for the attackers. He said there is need to encourage leaders to avoid misleading their followers in a manner that will not develop Uganda.
The attack in Kasese comes on the day after Presidenti Museveni had just warned against tribal chauvinism in Kasese district. In a March 10 press statement, the president said: “There can never be a Yiira Republic.”

President Museveni was meeting a delegation of the minority tribes in Kasese who were complaining about marginalisation in Kasese district. Some of the minority tribes were also talking of a scheme to create a Yiira Republic involving the Bakonjo of Congo and the Bakonjo of Uganda.

The minority groups represented were the Basongora, the Banyabindi, the Bagabo and the Bakyingwe [Banyabutumbi] as well as some other immigrant tribes [Bafurukyi].
The President assured the delegation that if a Yiira Republic was ever to be created, it would never ever involve a single inch of Ugandan territory.

Previously
Similar incidents happened in the neighbouring Bundibugyo district last month after the incumbent district chairman, Mr Jolly Tibemanya (Independent) lost to Mr Ronald Mutegeki (NRM) in a hotly contested race. The attacks left over 10 people dead in Kirumya Bughendera County.

{The State Law Office is drafting a model agreement that will see Kenyans serving in foreign jails repatriated back.}

Attorney-General Githu Muigai is guiding the drafting of the document that will form the basis for the implementation of the Transfer of Prisoners Act, 2015 which came into effect on October 12, 2015.

“If bilateral agreements and treaties with the sentencing countries are put in place, then it will be made possible for Kenyans to be brought back to the country and charged here,” a statement from the Public Communications Department indicated.

Legal structures are also being put in place to enable the Kenyan inmates in different countries be repatriated to complete their jail sentences in Kenya.

The model agreement is also expected to detail the conditions for transfer of prisoners as well as the eligibility of the transfers to Kenya and from Kenya.

Prof Muigai estimated that close to 3,000 Kenyans are serving jail sentences in various countries with Kenyan prisons also holding a similar numbers of foreign nationals.

“The model agreement will form the basis for the exchange of prisoners between Kenya and other signatory states to the agreement,” he said.

The Transfer of Prisoners Act 2015 is to help in the transfer of persons serving sentences for criminal offences committed in Kenya or in countries outside Kenya while ensuring that prisoners are accorded basic dignities in line with human rights laws and international conventions.

“It will also allow the inmates to serve their sentences within the communities that they have ties,” the AG said.

The model agreement will, according to the Act, only apply where an agreement exists between Kenya and another country.

The conditions for transfer however, can only be made through an application by the two states through the Attorney-General or by an application from the prisoner to the Attorney General for consideration but only if that person is a national of Kenya.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON
Prof Muigai made the statements during a visit to the Lang’ata Women’s Prison last Friday where he received petitions from women inmates seeking consideration for presidential pardon.

During his visit to the facility, he met several inmates of Pakistani origin who made a plea for the transfer to their home country.

The visit to the women’s facility comes at a time when the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee (PMAC)chaired by the Attorney-General, is making recommendations to the Head of State for female inmates to be considered for pardon.

Several other Kenyans are serving jail terms in foreign countries for various crimes including assault, murders, drug related charges and theft.

One of them, a 28-year-old, was arrested in South Korea on Wednesday morning in connection to the murder of his friend in Gwangju.

He is also alleged to have proceeded to rob another male customer of his winter jacket and smartphone at a cyber café before fleeing.

Another Kenyan, Anastasia Wanjiku, 59, is in jail in Maryland after being accused of neglecting an elderly man he was looking after.

And in Indiana State United States, a man who allegedly stabbed his wife and killed their daughter is serving a life sentence.

Such are some of the inmates likely to be repatriated home so that they can complete their sentences.

{The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved 70 million US dollars in new financing to support Tanzania’s agriculture sector and strengthen it by linking smallholder farmers to agribusinesses for boosting incomes and job-led growth.}

As part of its national development strategy the government of Tanzania is currently implementing the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Programme which seeks to promote agribusiness partnerships to tackle low farm productivity and limited market access that are impeding development of the country’s agricultural sector, according to the World Bank.

A WB statement issued in Dar es Salaam notes that the newly-approved SAGCOT Investment Project is financed by the International Development Association (IDA) and seeks to develop income opportunities for 100,000 smallholder farming households by providing them with new technologies and marketing practices and expanding partnerships with lucrative agribusinesses in the Southern Corridor of Tanzania.

Once implemented, the project will directly benefit over half a million people and engage 40 agribusiness operators, with emphasis on including women in successful commercial value chains.

“Smallholder farmers play a central role in Tanzania’s agricultural sector” says Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia.

“The SAGCOT Investment Project has the potential to be transformational as it will provide them with crucial access to capital and new technology needed to invest in higher value production, promote their livelihoods and meet their nutritional needs.”

Over 80 per cent of the poor and extreme poor live in the rural areas with limited opportunities to establish links with productive value chains and higher value crops. As a result, Tanzania’s otherwise remarkable economic growth rate of 7 per cent over the past decade has left behind most of the poor in the rural areas.

The SAGCOT Investment Project will link them by encouraging greater investments by agribusiness firms partnering with smallholder farmers through providing matching grants that they can use for capital and operational costs directly related to expanding smallholder participation in competitive agricultural supply chains.

The government of Tanzania has created two new public-private-partnership institutions to lead sound implementation of the SAGCOT Programme – the SAGCOT Centre as a focal point for planning and advertising the wider SAGCOT Programme; and the SAGCOT Catalytic Trust Fund, which supports early stage investment in the corridor by providing matching grants.

The World Bank-financed project will achieve its objectives by channeling support through those two entities as well as improving the operations of the Tanzania Investment Center (TIC) which is tasked with preparing and promoting investment projects and attracting private sector investments.

“Tanzania has achieved demonstrable successes in boosting productivity in the horticulture, rice, sugar and tea sectors,” says Mark Cackler, World Bank’s Manager for the Agriculture Global Practice.

“The challenge is to extend the reach of existing efforts and expand poor farmers’ access to lucrative market opportunities, which are the goals of the project.” The SAGCOT Investment Project is aligned with the World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (Mkukuta II); specifically Cluster I: Growth and Reduction of Income Poverty, which calls for the modernisation and commercialisation of private sector-based agricultural activities through accelerating productivity growth and removing bottlenecks in agribusiness value chains.

{The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has said it would engage both the government and FDC presidential candidate Kizza Besigye to chart a way out of the current “stalemate” following last month’s disputed elections.}

While paying a courtesy visit to Dr Besigye at his home in Kasangati yesterday, the UHRC officials also indicated that another team from the commission would be dispatched today [Friday] to “officially record” a complaint of his tribulations.
Dr Besigye’s complaint will be captured as part of the wider report.

“In the interim, what we can get involved in is to start discussions with [government] to have the stalemate resolved,” said the commission’s director Complaints, Investigations and Legal Services, Ms Ruth Ssekindi.

During the visit, UHRC officials wondered whether the four-time presidential aspirant was able to establish the cause of his arrests and house arrest, and whether any form of dialogue with government had happened. The officials also asked him about his recent remarks that he planned to establish a separate government.
President Museveni was declared winner of the February 18 polls with a 60.7 per cent of valid votes cast.

Dr Besigye, the main challenger, was said to have scored 35 per cent. But FDC, the largest opposition party, insists their candidate won and slammed the election as fraudulent.

Former prime minister Amama Mbabazi who stood as a Go Forward candidate, is challenging the election in the Supreme Court, citing non-compliance with the law and several malpractices which affected the outcome.

In response to UHRC queries, Dr Besigye described his house arrest as “illegal” saying: “For me, the most disturbing and outrageous thing is to turn my home into a prison. I don’t mind if they arrest me for no reason but they should detain me in a recognised place of detention; a place recognised under the law.”
Dr Besigye also said he was not aware of any dialogue between the NRM regime and his FDC party.

“And frankly, I don’t know what kind of dialogue there could be. To have a dialogue whether we could have back our freedom, enjoy rights in our own country?” he asked.

“The question is, what kind of dialogue can be established with citizens whose rights you usurped? The source of rights in this country is guns and that is the contradiction.”

{Police officers deliberately bungle some investigations against their colleagues accused of murder or misusing their firearms, independent investigations reveal.}

To achieve this, some initial reports are distorted to influence the nature of investigations to be carried out, while in some cases firearms are planted on the victims.

In one of the cases in a report released by the Independent Oversight Policing Authority (Ipoa) on Wednesday, police officers from Kabiyet Police Station in Nandi County made a report in the Occurrence Book that they had killed a carjacker, even after they established that he was innocent.

The investigations team headed by the Nandi DCI boss was bungled, and the file forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with recommendations that the matter be disposed of by way of a public inquest.

Ipoa took over the investigations and Inspector Isaac Sirengo Siatah was found to have murdered Mr Edward Kipchumba Barng’etuny.

He is to be charged in court next week.

The Ipoa head of Communications and Outreach Dennis Oketch Thursday said they also recommended to the Inspector-General of Police and the police commission that disciplinary action be taken against officers who interfere with investigations.

In January this year, the DPP directed that Constable Rajab Korir of Makongeni police station be charged with the murder of Mr Benard Ogutu.

The officer and his colleague went to Carmel Guest House in Mbotela estate where he found the deceased, who was the only one within the guest house compound at that particular time.

‘UNKNOWN PERSONS’

They were not in uniform and did not identify themselves, prompting a struggle. The officer shot him dead and later claimed that the deceased was armed.

Even though he had his national ID card, they wrote in their records and at the mortuary that he was as an “unknown person.”

“Investigations also established that there was no robbery or any criminal activity on that day at Carmel Guest House and Bernard was not armed as alleged by Constable Korir,” the report said.

The DPP also in January directed that three officers from Olenguruone Police Station be charged with murder of Ms Caren Chepkoech Rono.

The deceased died in the back of a police vehicle while in the custody of Corporal Silas Mutuma Marimi, Constable Reuben Maino and Constable Wycliffe Wangila Sikuku.

She had been arrested at night but at around 2.45am, they rushed her to the hospital, claiming that she had jumped out of the moving vehicle in an attempt to escape.

It was later established that Ms Rono died as a result of a serious injury to the back of the head, and that the injuries were not consistent with what the officers reported.

When Kwekwe Mwandaza was shot dead in August 2014 when eight police officers stormed her home in Kinango, initial police report indicated that the minor was armed with a machete and that police were justified in using their guns to kill in self-defence.
Police preliminary investigations did not find the two officers culpable.

However, after independent investigations, former Kinango DCIO Veronica Gitahi and Constable Issa Mzee were last month sentenced to seven years in prison.

In another case, after the Kitengela OCS Chief Inspector Fredrick Mukasa shot and seriously injured Mr Joshua Munene Gachoki during a demonstration on April 1, 2014, he claimed that he shot in the air and not at anybody in particular.

The investigations were bungled but the Ipoa found out that the bullet removed from Gachoki’s foot was fired from Mr Mukasa’s firearm.

He is expected to be charged in court next week for the offence of unlawful wounding after the inquiry revealed that his actions “were reckless, unjustified and unprovoked in the circumstances.”

{The Norwegian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Tone Skogen, who is on a four-day official visit to Tanzania, has just visited the East African Community headquarters in Arusha reaffirming her country’s support towards the EAC integration agenda.}

The Community now consists of six member states, following the recent inclusion of South Sudan. The founding three are Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, who kicked off the revived EAC in 1999, while Rwanda and Burundi followed in 2007.

Welcoming the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and her delegation to the EAC the Head of the Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Department; Mr Owora Richard Othieno, on behalf of the Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, commended the Norwegian government’s support to the regional integration process.

Mr Othieno briefed the Norwegian envoy on the current status of the EAC integration process and the milestones achieved so far. Among the key highlights of the latest achievements included the establishment of the Single Customs Territory, implementation of the Common Market Protocol and progress made towards a single currency by 2024.

Mr Othieno made reference to the 17th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State which was held last week in Arusha, culminating in the admission of the Republic South Sudan as the sixth EAC Partner State.

“In addition, the Heads of State officially launched the new generation International East African e-passport; a regional travel document that will fast-track clearance of East Africans within and outside EAC borders,” said Mr. Othieno.

He informed the minister that the positive developments taking place within the region were indicative of the right path the EAC was pursuing, adding that in the period ahead, emphasis will be on full implementation of the Single Customs Territory.

Such emphasis will also be placed on the Common Market Protocol, Monetary Union Protocol, regional infrastructure development, and movement towards the Political Federation. He said the integration process may be delayed or slowed down but it can’t be halted or reversed.

{Tanzania Naval Command will conduct a military training with their counterparts from Pakistan, China and South Africa that is geared towards fighting transnational crime and piracy in the Indian Ocean.}

The Fleet Commander in Tanzanian Navy, Brigadier General Richard Makanzo, said in Dar es Salaam that the three-day training would be an ideal platform for four armies to share ideas and exchange experiences.

“We need collective efforts including sharing key information to fight piracy and transnational crime,” said the Fleet Commander after the arrival of three warships from South Africa, Pakistan and China es Salaam at Dar es Salaam Port.

Brigadier General Makanzo pointed out that Tanzania’s naval command has different programmes with the three armies and that the naval command would carry out the military training with the countries separately.

The South Africa ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Thami Mseleku, said the joint training cements the historical ties between Tanzania and South Africa, saying Tanzania played a great role during a liberation struggle in South Africa. In another development, Pakistan Navy ship (PNS) ASLAT yesterday docked at Dar es Salaam Port for a training visit in the city from March 10 to 16, this year.

In a statement issued by the Pakistan High Commission in Dar es Salaam, the stopover of PNS ASLAT in Dar es Salaam is part of the goodwill visits and training cruises to be undertaken to the Ports of some other friendly countries.

“The ship is paying this goodwill visit under the command of Captain Ijaz Ahmad of the Pakistan Navy,” read part of the statement. It said the visit is a landmark in the broader framework of close, cooperative and friendly relationship between the armed forces and navies of Pakistan and Tanzania and on the other, a reaffirmation of our commitment to promoting bilateral relations in diverse fields.

“The visit will also provide an opportunity to the Navies of the two countries to share professional experiences and discuss future prospects of cooperation,” the statement observed.

The statement further pointed out that the three-day visit to Dar es Salaam, will cover a host of activities including meetings and courtesy calls of Pakistan navy officers on high-ranking Tanzanian Navy, Air Force and Army officers as well as engagements such as a visit to a local school and orphanage in Dar es Salaam to participate in charity and social work.

According to the statement, the Charge d’ Affaires of Pakistan Amir Muhammad Khan will host a welcoming reception in honour of Pakistan Navy officers and Tanzanian dignitaries, and high ranking civil and defence forces officers.

The Commander and officers of PNS ASLAT will also host a reception on board the Ship. The Tanzanian and Pakistani Navies will also conduct joint training exercises. PNS ASLAT is Pakistan Navy’s frontline ship, which is fitted with stateof- the art weapons and sensors.

The ship’s motto, “Attack and Vanquish” signifies the ability and willingness of her crew to ensure that ASLAT is ready to thwart any peril to her nation’s security. ASLAT is “Sword of Pakistan Navy” serving the nation with honour, courage and commitment.