Tag: GreatLakesNews

At least 15 people were killed in a stadium stampede in Kinshasa on Sunday.

The tragedy occurred as scores of soccer fans tried to force their way out of the Tata Raphael Stadium after a section of it collapsed.

The fans were cheering a match between the Lubumbashi-based TP Mazembe and the Kinshasa-based ASV Club.

The encounter was nearing its end with TP Mazembe leading 1- 0.
The game was tough and tense.

The referee allowed five extra minutes of play during which the supporters of ASV Club started hurling projectiles on to the playing field.

Panic then ensued and scared fans’ resorted to a mad rush out of the stadium, leading to a section of it collapsing.

“Everyone wanted to be the first to get out. Then a wall collapsed. The confusion was total,” an eye witness told media.

{{The East African Court of Justice has blocked the removal of Margaret Zziwa as Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly until May 29 when it will deliver a final verdict.}}

The First Instance Division of EACJ on Monday issued as interim order that EALA maintains the status quo and restrain from discussing the matter of Zziwa’s removal pending its ruling later this month.

The order was made after hearing of applications filed by Zziwa and EALA MP Mukasa Mbidde against the respondents who are the EAC Secretary General and Attorney General of Uganda.

The applicants are seeking an interim injunction from court against the EAC Secretary General and the Uganda directing EALA to refrain from referring the motions for resolution to remove the speaker.

The applicants also seek an order against the EALA Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges to refrain from conducting any investigation pending the hearing and determination of the main case.

The court ordered that the applications be consolidated and be heard together because they were related matters.

The Applicants represented by lawyers Mbidde and Jet Mwebaze submitted that the respondents failed to seek an advisory opinion from the regional court on the procedure of removing the Speaker.

Also, EALA continues to operate without proper rules in place which infringes on the treaty establishing the EAC on good governance including adherence to the principles of democracy and rule of law.

Mbidde further submitted that EALA should be stopped from proceeding with the impeachment process using informal rules of procedure and that there are no grounds for the censure of the Speaker.

He argued that although there must be investigations conducted to reach the clear decision, there are no rules to guide the EALA Legal, Rules and Privilege Committee in carrying out the investigations.

The applicants also said that if the interim order is not granted, they would suffer irreparable damages which would not be compensated.

{{Eleven people, including a former rebel leader, have been killed in Congo Republic in a clash between police and a group of immigrants from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), police said on Sunday.}}

The clash came amid heightened tensions between the two countries after Congo Republic expelled more than 70,000 DRC citizens in an operation Brazzaville officials say is aimed at ending a crime wave linked to foreigners.

Among those killed in Saturday’s clash were three policemen and a former DCR rebel leader, Udjani Mangbama, who fought in the so-called Dongo rebellion in northwest Congo in 2009.

Police said they had come under attack from a group of DRC nationals waving machetes after following up on complaints from local residents in the town of Owando, about 500 km (300 miles) north of Brazzaville.

Three people were killed in the initial confrontation and seven more, including Mangbama, died after police pursued the group in a car chase, the police statement said, adding that the situation in the area had now returned to normal.

Tens of thousands of refugees from northwest DRC spilled across the border into Congo Republic in 2009 when inter-ethnic fighting broke out over access to fishing ponds.

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{{A Kenyan Politician has caused mixed reactions after announcing claims that the EAC leaders are plotting to assassinate Kenya’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.}}

Member of Parliament Dr Oburu Oginga made the allegations at the inaugural graduation ceremony of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology.

“I am reliably informed that the leaders claim Raila is behind the problems Kenya is currently facing,” said Oburu.

His remarks have elicited mixed reactions from across the political divide.

Manoah Esipisu, Kenya’s State House spokesman, dismissed the allegations. “It is total nonsense. It is cheap politics which should stop,” Esipisu said.

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{{Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has assured Kenya that his government will assist in the repatriation of Somali refugees, as part of their efforts to boost security in the region.}}

The premier who spoke after a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi said China is committed to assist Africa, and Kenya in particular to be stable economies.

“China supports the efforts of Kenya in safeguarding state sovereignty and stability, developing the economy and improving people’s lives,” Li said during a joint press conference on Saturday.

“Just as I said to Mr President in our talks, China is prepared to provide supplies of assistance through Kenya for the repatriation for the Somali refugees.”

Kenya has recently vowed to repatriate all Somali refugees back to their law-less country, following insecurity challenges posed at the border points, and the in capital Nairobi and Mombasa.

Although some of the international humanitarian organizations are opposed to the move, the Kenyan government has vowed to carry on the exercise.

During the press conference, Li said China will also play a part in ensuring stability in South Sudan which also contributes to the region’s economy, especially in providing humanitarian assistance.

On Friday, South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar signed a peace deal vowing to end the nearly five months of civil war that has left thousands killed and millions more displaced.
“China has provided humanitarian assistance to South Sudan and we will continue to do so in the future,” Li assured.

On his part, President Kenyatta acknowledged China’s support in regional peace and stability, saying the intervention by AMISOM has stabilised the situation in Somalia and has limited the acts of piracy along the East African coast.

“We seek a deeper engagement with China on matters of peace and security. Our talks centered on issues of critical importance and particularly on Somalia and South Sudan,” the President said.

He maintained that Kenya was ready to work with China as the latter possesses political, diplomatic and financial assets that would be a game-changer in the regions’ peace and security effort.

“IGAD recently achieved substantial success in South Sudan, when the leaders of the main contending parties, President Kiir and Machar, reached a peace deal,” the President said.

Li is in Kenya on his final leg of a tour of four African nations, during which he will seal deals on key development projects with President Kenyatta, to boost trade ties with the World’s second largest economy.

The two leaders have already witnessed the signing of 17 new deals by Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers from China.

{{Sierra Leonean government’s effort to put out a brave face of its military involvement in Somalia has run into headwinds following reports that troops are demanding a return home.}}

This follows on the heels of a dispute over the soldiers’ pay last year.

According to Sierra Leonean media, the current claims centre around a demand that Freetown observe its practice of rotational deployment.

About nine members of the west African country’s 850-strong contingent deployed last year say they have overstayed their one year tour of duty.

They claimed that the depression and frustration caused by the hard times experienced in Somalia had led to the death of one of their colleague, independent media reported.

Lance Corporal Alusine Yorpoi died at a Nairobi hospital 10 days after admission following an undisclosed illness, the bi-weekly Politico newspaper said.

Since deploying its troops to Somalia, Sierra Leone has received several threats of domestic repercussion by the Al-Shabaab militant group, which in September attacked Nairobi’s up-market Westgate shopping citing retaliation for Kenya’s military involvement in the Horn of Africa country.

There have also been several reports of attacks on Sierra Leone troops, who are serving alongside other foreign soldiers under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in the restive southern region of lower Juba.

The Sierra Leone Defence ministry has engaged in a media campaign aimed at reassuring the public following what it says are unfavourable reports in the independent media.

The government policy in peacekeeping operations has been of rotational deployment, in the past a thorny topic was it was a dream for serving soldiers to go abroad, in part due to the increased pay.

But apparently, the combatant experience forced on these troops by the Islamic Al-Shabaab has changed this view.

“They (Sierra Leonean troops) were not expecting this level of resistance and many of them have apparently come to see that it`s no point dying and leaving behind money,” a military analyst who spoke to Africa Review on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said Saturday.

Defence ministry spokesman, Col Michael Samura, was quoted saying replacement of the current group of soldiers was due for June.

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{{Children displaced in the violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 elections are too poor to attend school and are turning to sex work to survive, a senior United Nations expert said this week.}}

Some children are living on the streets while others remain in battered tents issued to their families six years ago, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), Chaloka Beyani said at a press conference at the end of a nine-day visit to Kenya.

More than 660,000 people were chased from their homes and 1,200 died in violence that erupted after Kenya’s disputed 2007 elections, fuelled by historical grievances between ethnic communities.

Kenya’s government has bought land to resettle some IDPs and given others cash. But the programme has been plagued by corruption and inefficiency.

“Many IDP [internally displaced] girls, for example … were being exploited sexually because they have no basic livelihood,” Beyani told media.

“There is no space for them to farm at all. So they find their own livelihoods in terms of going into the town and doing what they have to do.”