Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{East African partner states need to harmonise laws that increase access of credit to women, activists have said. }}

Women entrepreneurs from Kenya and Uganda operating small, medium and large scale enterprises observed that despite the formulation of the East African Common Market protocol, laws, regulations and practices that hinder women access to financial assistance are still present.

The women under the Women and Girls Empowerment project (WOGE) echoed their concerns during an advocacy meeting organised by the East African sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) at the Blue York Hotel in Busia recently.

EASSI is a regional civil society organisation advocating for effective mechanisms for the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality.

Fridah Oyugah, the chairperson Wamama pamoja (Funyula) Samia group, noted that many women operating along the borders have been empowered, but added that more sensitisation is needed.

NV

{{South Sudan’s government has attempted to justify the involvement of foreign troops in the devastating conflict, which has pitted government soldiers loyal to president Salva Kiir and defectors backed by ethnic fighters allied to former vice-president , Riek Machar.}}

Deputy speaker of the national parliament Mark Nyipuoc, a close ally of Kiir’s, said the violence, which initially started as simple administrative differences over political ideologies within the leadership of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), had claimed more lives than was lost in the past civil war with neighbouring Sudan from which the new nation seceded in 2011.

“The lives of the people who have been lost and the destruction done to the infrastructure just in few months of this senseless war is not comparable to the lives in the war of liberation struggle. In just less than six months, the country has lost lots of people and towns and villages have been set ablaze and razed down to zero mercilessly,” said Nyipuoc on Monday.

Nyipuoc denied that government troops had committed atrocities in their attempts to contain a spiralling rebellion in the country, arguing that the actions of the latter were carried out in defence of the country.

“There are reports circulating around trying to vilify and incriminate the action of the SPLA (South Sudanese army). The people who write these reports seem to forget the SPLA is a national army with [a] constitutional mandate and the responsibility to protect the lives of our people and their properties against from any form of threat,” he said.

“All their actions [during this conflict] were in defence of the constitution, the lives of the people and their properties from the rebels of Riek Machar,” he added.

Meanwhile, the speaker of the house, Magok Rundial, said his country was not an island and that foreign support was justified to contain rebellion in the country, which had spread like “wild fire”.

“We are part of the international community and in this world … even the developed and advanced countries seek help. That is why you hear countries like the United States talking of allies. This is because no country can defend itself alone, so you have to team up with others in order to defend yourself,” said Rundial. “So what is being discussed about the intervention of the foreign troops, especially the role played by our brothers and sisters in Uganda and all those who extended us support during this time of the crisis, is something that every nation in the world has a right to do,” he added.

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{{Donors including the US and the UK have pledged more than $600m (£360m; 440m euros) in aid to South Sudan at a conference in Norway.}}

The sum raised will go towards the target of $1.8bn the UN says is needed to help millions facing starvation.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos says it is still possible to prevent a famine in the conflict-torn country.

More than a million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in December.

{{Unable to farm}}

Thousands have now died in the crisis that started as a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar, but escalated into ethnic violence.

The conflict has left people unable to farm and with little access to food, aid experts say.

Nearly four million people in South Sudan are now at risk of serious food insecurity, according to the UN.

The UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator, Valerie Amos, said there was still “a small window of opportunity” to avert a famine before the rainy season begins.

“The important thing is to be able to get seeds and so on to people who are in desperate need… so that they are able to plant,” Ms Amos said.

“We can prevent the famine if there is enough food available for next year, but if there is not, if people are not able to plant, if the herders are not able to move, then we will face a severe crisis.”

{{The United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi (UNON) has heightened its security in the face of increased terror activity in the country.}}

UNON Director General Sahle-Work Zewde has therefore directed that several measures be taken including further restricting entry into their Gigiri complex only to persons with official business.

“Unfortunately, Kenya has been a consistent target of terrorist groups over the last several months, the latest tragic attacks having occurred on May 16 at the Gikomba Market,” she explained in a communiqué to UNON staff.

And in the drive to restrict access to the UNON complex, Zewde also directed that guided tours of the facility be suspended and deliveries be restricted to the hours 6pm and 10pm.

“Deliveries should be announced beforehand and the registration number and names of the driver provided to the Security and Safety Service in advance,” she underscored.

She also directed that the UN Petrol Station be shut down temporarily and alternative fuelling options sought.

“All Staff and all Agencies, Funds and Programmes with official vehicles should make alternative arrangements for fuelling their vehicles,” she stated.

Managers have also been encouraged to provide a flexible working environment by staggering work hours, through telecommuting and a compressed work week.

“This will, inter alia, reduce the congestion along UN Avenue,” she explained.

The UN recreation centre and commissary, Zewde added, would also forthwith only cater to UN Staff.

“Visitors will not be allowed, and access will only be granted to those with a valid UN Identification Card, duly programmed for the pedestrian turnstiles within the UNON complex,” she said.

The increased security measures at the UNON complex follow travel advisories issued by the United Kingdom and the United States of America which is also expected to make staffing changes to its Kenyan Embassy in the near future.

“The most important responsibility of every US ambassador and embassy is to protect American citizens and to keep them informed,” the US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec explained.

The Kenyan government has however said the travel advisories as unnecessary and an over-reaction as it has the security situation in the country firmly in hand.

{{Fighter jets pounded a key base of Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab, in the latest push by African Union troops against the insurgents, the Islamists and witnesses said Sunday.}}

The air strikes on the town of Jilib are understood to be part of the offensive by the 22,000-strong UN-backed AU force, who launched in March a fresh bid to wrest remaining towns from the Islamists.

“I heard two heavy explosions, military jets were flying over the city,” said Osman Mohamed, a resident of Jilib.

The impoverished town is a key Shabaab hub in southern Somalia’s Middle Juba region, some 320 kilometres (200 miles) southwest of Mogadishu.

Senior Shabaab commander Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Hamze said war planes had struck the town, but denied any casualties.

“The enemy tried to terrorise the children and women by dropping bombs in the suburbs of the city, but thanks to God, there were no casualties at all,” Abu Hamze told media.

“The mujahedeen fighters have managed to repel the enemy with anti-aircraft weaponry, they have fled.”

It was not immediately clear where the jets were from, but Kenya is part of the AU force and has used its air planes to strike Shabaab bases before.

Witnesses said bombs had landed on the main route out of the town.

“Two of the bombs struck the main road that goes south to Kismayu,” resident Mohamed Hashi said.

Hardline Shabaab insurgents once controlled most of southern and central Somalia.

After withdrawing from fixed positions in the capital Mogadishu nearly three years ago, they have lost most large towns to the AU and government soldiers. However, they still regularly launch guerrilla raids.

{{Malawi’s Joyce Banda, under the cloud of a huge corruption scandal and a donors’ aid freeze, is fighting to hold on to the presidency in an election Tuesday in one of the closest races ever in the tiny southern African state.}}

Voters will decide whether to stick with former Vice-President Banda who came to power after the death in office of president Bingu wa Mutharika two years ago.

Her bid to be elected president in her own right is overshadowed by a scandal involving the disappearance of $30 million from the national coffers that rocked the dirt-poor country last year.

Mrs Banda, who had launched an anti-graft crusade, ordered the audit that revealed the theft — known as Cashgate — and charges have been brought against 68 ministers, civil servants and business people.

Mrs Banda denies any personal involvement in the scandal, saying in fact Cashgate is her trump card and will not damage her performance at the polls.

“In fact that’s my greatest achievement,” she told reporters before her final campaign rally, adding that the graft had been going on before she came into office.

But her opponents charge that she and her supporters have syphoned off public money to fund her campaign and handouts to voters ahead of the May 20 presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections.

Donor nations which finance a large chunk of Malawi’s budget have pulled the plug on $150 million in vital aid over the scandal.

It has also led to a heated presidential race that an Afrobarometer survey shows is too close to call. Although there are 12 hopefuls, the real contest is between Banda and three other candidates, including her predecessor’s brother.

“We have never really had elections that are this close, that are really hard to call,” said Boniface Dulani, Afrobarometer coordinator in Malawi.

NMG

{{The secretary-general of the rebel SPLM-N, Yasir Arman, has warned against Islamist militant groups and the growing threat they pose for peaceful coexistence and political stability on the African continent.}}

Arman who was in Paris where African leaders held a summit for security in Nigeria to discuss a joint action against Boko Haram terrorist group told Sudan Tribune that “Khartoum remains one of the important centers for spawning Islamist and Jihadist elements in Africa”.

He said that the recent arrest of Aminu Sadiq, a member of Bako Haram involved in a deadly bomb explosion in the Nigerian capital Abuja last April, was not a coincidence because the International University of Africa is a main center to form the Islamists and extremists in the continent.

The British-born Nigerian who was arrested last Tuesday by the Sudanese police is studying Arabic at the International African University in Khartoum from where he travelled to Nigeria several times since last year.

The SPLM-N secretary-general and chief negotiator further mentioned the death sentence for apostasy against a Sudanese woman, saying there is no difference between this case and the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls by the Nigerian group.

The SPLM-N which fights the government army since nearly 3 years in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states is calling to not involve religion in politics.

In a peace process brokered by the African Union, the rebel group calls to hold comprehensive talks ensure democratic transition in the country and refuses to negotiate a separate peace deal for the Two Areas.

The Sudanese government and the SPLM-N are expected to meet before the end of this month to resume discussions over a framework agreement before to engage in negotiations.

Arman said the current political situation in the country and the lack of a conducive environment do not encourage them to participate in a political dialogue the government proposes to hold inside the country.

“We will not participate in the national dialogue under the current political climate particularly because of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in Darfur and the Two Areas, bloody repression against university students, death sentence against Dr Miriam and the arrest of Sadiq Al-Mahdi,” he said.

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