IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Obama’s Aunt Buried, Family Denies Rift

    Obama’s Aunt Buried, Family Denies Rift

    {{Saidi Obama, a brother to the late Zeituni said the family was astonished by reports that the larger Obama family is in disarray and says that they are united.}}

    “Lately there have been reports saying that there is a rift in the larger Obama family. I can say now that there is no rift in the family because we are united and that was a very big lie that we are fighting,” he said.

    Faisal Mboya, the first born of Zeituni says their father abandoned them when they were young and had got no moral authority to block the burial.

    “There are some basic questions that need to be answered because we are all grown up and unfortunately our father abandoned us when we were very young. Right now the person that made us who we are today is our late mother,” he stated.

    Zeituni is survived by three sons and a daughter. Her mother Mama Sarah Obama paid her last respects but did not accompany the body to the graveside in accordance with Islamic tradition.

    Zeituni died in a Boston rehabilitation centre after several years of sickness. She previously survived a legal battle against deportation from the US.

  • UN to Support Somalia’s Peace Building

    UN to Support Somalia’s Peace Building

    {{The UN said it stands ready to play a central role in supporting Somalia’s peace-building process.}}

    Assistant Secretary-General of the UN for Peace building Support Judy Cheng-Hopkins paid a courtesy call to Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on Monday and promised to continue supporting peace and stability in the Horn of Africa nation.

    She was accompanied by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Kay.

    “The Peace building Fund will assist the federal government in a timely, flexible and pragmatic way to sustain momentum of its state- and peace-building efforts under the Somalia New Deal Compact,” she said.

    “The Fund is designed to help especially women, children, youth, disadvantaged groups, minorities and those who bore the brunt of the protracted conflict.”

    The Fund was set up in 2006 following a request from the General Assembly and the Security Council to support peace building efforts in countries emerging from conflict or political crisis.

    The UN Secretary-General declared that Somalia would be eligible to access the fund in December 2013.

    In March, Mr Kay welcomed the development made by the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and the Somali National Army in taking over almost ten districts from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab.

    He announced the allocation of $3 million from the UN Peace-building Fund to support the stabilisation efforts in the newly recovered areas in south central Somalia.

    Mr Ahmed on his part told the high powered UN delegation that his government was focusing on reconciliation, peace building, finalisation of the constitution and federalisation.

  • Ban Ki-moon Jets into South Sudan

    Ban Ki-moon Jets into South Sudan

    {{U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flew into South Sudan on Tuesday to urge government troops and rebels to end more than four months of fighting – the second peace mission there by a major global figure in less than a week.}}

    Ban was expected to meet South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, part of a mounting international push to stop the increasingly ethnic violence that Washington and regional powers fear could descend into genocide.

    U.S. and other diplomatic sources told Reuters on Monday Washington would back up the diplomacy with sanctions on figures from both sides of the conflict in coming days.

    Showing the message had hit home, a South Sudanese official said there was no need to sanctions on the government side, as the president had already responded to international pressure and agreed to hold talks with the main rebel leader.

    “(The government is) doing precisely what has been asked,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Arik told Reuters.

    Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than a million have fled since fighting started in mid December between troops loyal to Kiir and fighters backing his sacked deputy Riek Machar.

    Fighting quickly spread, often along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s Dinka people against Machar’s Nuer.

    Government and rebel negotiators in Ethiopia agreed on Monday to consider a “month of tranquility”, but as they did, rebel fighters and the army battled for control of a northern oil town.

    Aid workers in Bentiu reported no fighting on Tuesday. Both sides claimed control of the town, capital of oil producing Unity state and scene of an ethnic massacre last month that fuelled fears of a genocide.

    Kiir agreed to hold face-to-face talks with Machar after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Friday.

    wirestory

  • EA Scholars Discuss Education

    EA Scholars Discuss Education

    {{Top administrators of higher education institutions in East Africa, academic researchers and education policy makers convene here from today to discuss how the quality of higher education in the region can be improved.}}

    The six-day meeting has been organised by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), an institution under the East African Community (EAC) under the theme; “Creating a Quality Assurance Culture in the East African Higher Education Area.’

    “The conference will provide a unique opportunity for quality assurance practitioners of higher education institutions, executive members of national accreditation bodies, higher education researchers and policy makers to share ideas on quality assurance issues, systems, practices and challenges, including prospects of higher education in the region,” said a statement issued by IUCEA from its headquarters in Kampala.

    The event would give academicians and practitioners in quality assurance the opportunity to strengthen collaboration and networking as well as discuss policies concerning quality assurance in the EA higher education systems.

    Best practices in quality assurance in education in and outside the region will also be discussed.

    The role of Quality Assurance Networks in enhancing quality culture in the education sector in the region.

    Besides IUCEA, other organizations which have collaborated to organize the conference at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge outside Arusha are the East African Quality Assurance Network (EAQAN), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Aga Khan University.

    EAQAN was formally established in 2012 following the adoption of its Constitution. It is mandated to oversee quality assurance issues, systems, practices, challenges and prospects in the East African Higher Education Area.

    NMG

  • 4,000 Vehicles Disappeared from Mombasa Port

    4,000 Vehicles Disappeared from Mombasa Port

    {{Importers of used motor vehicles have expressed fear that their vehicles impounded at various private Container Freight Stations (CFSs) in Mombasa after being declared older than the permissible eight years have gone missing. }}

    Association of Importers of Motor Vehicles (AIMV) national chairman Mr Peter Mambembe raised the alarm on Monday saying most of the 4000 cars they stopped from destruction through courts in 2012 were missing.

    The importers allege that the vehicles could have been stolen at the CFSs or secretly destroyed by the government.

    Mr Mambembe said after members were allowed by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) re-export the vehicles, they managed to trace only 80 vehicles.

    “Out of 4000 vehicles I managed to trace only 80 vehicles,” said Mambembe.

    He estimated cost of the vehicles and loss of business at about Sh6 billion and threatened to issue CFSs and Kenya Ports Authority KPA) which nominates the private warehouse operators to court to provide the disputed vehicles.

    In a letter dated March24 this year, Kebs allowed the importers of vehicles aged more than eight years to re-export them.

    Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) also issued a similar letter dated on March 26 this year. Mambembe said AIMV members were planning to re-export the vehicles to Uganda and South Sudan after they were declared unroadworthy in Kenya under the KS1515:2000 eight year age limit rule but they are not available.

    About seven years, then acting Finance minister the late John Michuki ordered the destruction of hundreds of overstayed vehicles at the port of Mombasa to free space for new imports and exports.

    {standard}

  • SPLA Claims Capture of Rebel Base

    SPLA Claims Capture of Rebel Base

    {{South Sudanese government forces said Sunday they had overrun a key rebel base and that heavy fighting was raging for control of the northern oil hub of Bentiu following a major offensive.}}

    “Our forces captured Nasir this morning. After we launched an assault yesterday with heavy bombardments, the town is ours,” South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguer told reporters, adding that rebel leader Riek Machar had fled towards the Ethiopian border.

    “The rebels including Riek Machar are fleeing towards the Ethiopian border, we are still advancing,” the spokesman said.

    “In Bentiu we launched a major assault at the same time, our forces are there and have been fighting. We are awaiting confirmation of its capture, but we are hopeful of good news.”

    The attack comes just days after the country’s president, Salva Kiir, agreed during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to hold direct talks with Machar on ending the brutal four-month-old conflict.

    Independent aid sources, who asked not to be identified, confirmed there was fierce fighting in and around Bentiu, capital of the oil-rich Unity State, as well as around Nasir, situated close to the border with Ethiopia and one of the main bases of Machar and his rebel army.

    AFP

  • Nigeria 1st Lady Orders Arrest of Protesters

    Nigeria 1st Lady Orders Arrest of Protesters

    {{A leader of a protest march for 276 missing schoolgirls says Nigeria’s First Lady abused them, expressed doubts there was any kidnapping and accused them of belonging to the terrorist network blamed for the abductions. }}

    Then she ordered two of them arrested.

    Saratu Angus Ndirpaya of Chibok town said State Security Service agents drove her and protest leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar to a police station Monday after an all-night meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, the capital. She said Nyadar remains in detention. Police could not be reached for comment.

    Ndirpaya says First Lady Patience Jonathan accused them of fabricating the abductions to give Nigeria’s government and her husband “a bad name.”

    Police say more than 300 were abducted April 15 from Chibok school and 276 remain in captivity.

    agencies

  • Uganda to Enforce Axle Load Control

    Uganda to Enforce Axle Load Control

    {{ The Uganda National Police has created a special road traffic unit that will be working with the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to ensure that trucks traversing Ugandan roads adhere to the axle load rules.}}

    While addressing journalists at East African Community (EAC) non-tariffs barriers communication strategy meeting on Tuesday, Dr Steven Kasiima, the director traffic and road safety at Uganda National Police said, overloaded trucks are the major causes of accidents on highways because they breakdown around black spots.

    {{Damaging roads}}

    He added that the abnormal loads especially cement, also damage the roads, weigh bridges and bridges yet it is hard to tow them away because of the load.

    He explained that during a joint EAC consultative meeting on Non-tariff barriers held in Mombasa recently, it was identified that road traffic blocks are some of the non-tariff barriers impeding the smooth flow of goods across the region and the Uganda police has removed all of them in Uganda.

    “Imagine in a roadblock, a truck spends five minutes being checked and we had 30 of them from Malaba to Mutukula, that meant two and half hours wasted on roadblocks.

    Given the state of the roads, if the goods being transported were perishable, then it meant the traders were making losses,” he explained to journalists.

    He said as a control measure, Police has started escorting fuel tankers from one border point to another and also increased motorised patrols on all the highways instead of the roadblocks because they are proving more effective.

    NMG

  • US Asks Kabila not to Seek 3rd Term

    US Asks Kabila not to Seek 3rd Term

    {{The United States urged Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday to stick to its constitution that sets terms limits for the president, as speculation grows that Joseph Kabila may seek a third term.}}

    Highlighting an issue that exists in several African countries where leaders have sought to extend their rule beyond constitutional limits, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged $30 million in aid aimed in part at ensuring “credible” elections in 2016.

    Kabila has not announced his intentions for the 2016 poll but, with his political fortunes sharply improved after last year’s defeat of the M23 rebel group, there are growing opposition fears he might try to remain in power.

    “(Kabila) has an opportunity which he understands to be able to put the country on a continued path of democracy,” Kerry told reporters after talks with the Congolese leader in Kinshasa.

    Kerry stressed that the legacy of Kabila, who in 2006 won Congo’s first democratic elections since independence but was heavily criticized over fraud-tarnished polls five years later, must go beyond security gains.

    “I believe it is clear to him that the United States of America feels very strongly – as do other people – that the constitutional process needs to be respected and adhered to.”

    “We’re a country with term limits. We live by them … and we encourage other countries to adhere to their constitution,” he added.

    Kerry did not explicity say Kabila should not seek a third term, but U.S. special envoy to the Great Lakes region Russ Feingold, made the point clear.

    “President Obama, when he was here last year made a very important statement: What Africa needs is not strong men but strong institutions,” Feingold told reporters travelling with Kerry on his tour of Africa.

    “One of those strong institutions is a credible method of executive succession, executive term limits.”

    The speculation in Congo is hardly an exception. There is widespread public expectation that Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore and Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza will seek constitutional changes in order to stay in power.

    Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has also refused to rule out running for a third term when his mandate expires in 2017.

    Kerry said the $30 million in U.S. aid, which was expected to be delivered mostly to non-governmental organizations, would support elections as well as recovery and reconstruction programs in the remote and conflict-hit east.

    A U.S. official said Washington reserved the right to withhold funds if the process were not transparent and credible.

  • South Sudan IGAD Summit Postponed Again

    South Sudan IGAD Summit Postponed Again

    {{The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Summit which was to take place Saturday in the South Sudan capital of Juba to discuss the crisis in the country has been postponed.}}

    The summit of the IGAD heads of state was to also discuss urgent issues concerning the peace dialogue and how to achieve stability in South Sudan.

    A Communique from the IGAD secretariat was sentout to member states alerting them of the cancellation.

    Central to the talks would be the issue of the formation of the Protection and Deterrent Force (PDF) which is expected to be deployed the troubled country to avert further conflict.

    This is the second time that an IGAD slated to be held in Juba is being postponed, the first being in January after clashes erupted in mid December.

    The summit if held would come as fighting still rages in the South Sudan northern town of Bentiu in the oil rich Unity State between SPLA and rebels loyal to former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and against the back drop of the expiry of the time frame for Uganda to pull out its forces from the country. The deadline expired on April 15.

    In March regional Heads of State and governments in a summit authorized the prompt deployment of a PDF from the region to help restore peace and stability in the country.