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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Western Diplomats Condemn South Sudan’s Attack Against UN Mission

    Western Diplomats Condemn South Sudan’s Attack Against UN Mission

    {{Diplomats from different western nations have reiterated their support for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), condemning its government and opposition forces for threatening UN personnel in the country.}}

    “We strongly condemn the continued obstruction of UNMISS operations by Government and opposition forces and any threats to UNMISS personnel”, partly reads their 28 March statement.

    “We call on all parties to publicly denounce any actions against the mission, SRSG Johnson, and any UNMISS personnel”, the statement by envoys from the US, UK, Norway, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada missions, and European Union delegation in the country added.

    Last week, the head of UN peacekeeping department South Sudan government of engaging in “negative campaign” towards the world body and urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to intervene to discipline those responsible in the new nation.

    Herve Ladsous, in a briefing to the Security Council in New York on 18 March, said South Sudan government had resorted to harassment against peacekeepers, UN personnel, restriction of activities by the World Food Programme (WFP) as well as organising demonstrations against the leadership of the UN mission in the country.

    “There has been a negative campaign against UNIMISS and its leadership in South Sudan which seems systematic and organized,” Ladsous told the Security Council.

    The envoys also condemned the ongoing violations of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the Government of South Sudan, including restriction of movement, harassment, detention of personnel and seizure of UN properties and supplies.

    The latest stern warning against the new state indicates how relations between the world body and its new member have turned sour.

    The western diplomats described as “unacceptable” all threats and attacks on UN personnel and facilities, saying it may constitute violations of international law.

    “We condemn the violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law that have resulted in the loss of lives, and internal displacements as well as refugees along the borders in neighbouring nations”, their statement noted.

    “We express concern at the dire humanitarian situation and urge all parties to expedite as a matter of urgency the free, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian organizations for the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to populations in need”, it added.

    UNMISS troops are currently operating under a Chapter 7 mandate, which allows the use of force to protect civilians and ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and assets. Over 70,000 displaced people have taken refuge into the UN camps within the world’s newest nation.

    The world body estimates that some 3.7 million South Sudanese are now “severely food insecure,” while more than a million have been displaced by the violence. Estimates indicate that over 10,000 people have been killed in the country’s violence.

    Meanwhile, the various envoys urged all parties in the South Sudanese conflict to engage constructively in the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD)-led negotiations.

    “We are deeply concerned by ongoing violations by all parties of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and urge all parties to the conflict to immediately comply with that Agreement, and cooperate with the IGAD monitoring and verification efforts.”

    {sudantribune}

  • Torrential rains Pound Dar es Salaam

    Torrential rains Pound Dar es Salaam

    {{Residents in Tanzania’s Capital Dar es Salaam have accused the city authorities of laxity in enforcing urban planning laws that has seen people build their homes in the path of streams, blocking the waterways and wreaking havoc}}

    Local media reports that hundreds of residents are living in pathetic conditions after a two-day downpour flooded their homes.

    The situation has been made worse by the fact that there are few or no outlets for the rainwater to drain away.

    Residents accuse municipal authorities of allowing people to build in restricted areas such as river beds.

    Some have built walls and fences that have blocked the flow of rain water. The damage caused by the floods has extended from the usual flood-prone areas to other parts of the city.

    An expert has blamed the problem on a poor building permit system, an outdated city master plan and a poor solid waste collection system.

    “We should expect the worst in the next few years if we don’t adopt robust measures to reverse this trend,” said Dr Robert Ntakamulenga, the director of environmental compliance and enforcement at the National Environment Management Council.

    NMG

  • Gambia internet Phobia and Censorship

    Gambia internet Phobia and Censorship

    Gambians living in the country are facing what may best be described as internet censorship by the state.

    Smartphone users via Viber and Line have discovered blockage of these online communication applications.

    Though it is not yet clear who is behind the blockage, but it is known that President Yahya Jammeh’s government has been very much distrustful of the widespread internet use among Gambians.

    Last year, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services like Skype and dating websites were targets of a state crackdown.

    The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), a multi-sectoral regulator established under the law had last year issued a prohibition to companies and individuals operating through Internet cafes and offering dating services and VoIP services.

    Following an outcry from internet service providers and users, the government later relented and allowed citizens to continue enjoying Skype, but it did not shy away from justifying PURA’s decision as a drive to protect consumers and “the national interest”.

    According to the government, it was necessary for the regulatory body to draw the attention of all operators of Internet cafes of the “criminal act” that “deprives” registered internet service providers and the national Treasury of revenue.

    (Ordinarily internet cafes pay connection fees to ISPs).

    {{Harsh internet laws}}

    As if that was not enough, on July 5, 2013, Gambia’s parliament passed an information and communication law which contained several new offences on online speech that are punishable by a 15-year jail term or a fine of three million Dalasis (approximately $80,000).

    The aw criminalises whoever spreads “false news” about the government or public officials, “caricatures” or makes derogatory statements against public officials, incites disaffection or instigates violence against the government.

    The current blockage of Viber and Line have caused fears that Facebook and Skype may also be targeted because the other websites critical of the government and of President Jammeh cannot be accessed by those who do not know how to use anonymous browsers.

    Gambians, especially those in the diaspora, widely use social media, blogs and online newspapers to criticise Jammeh’s regime.

    The government is patently uncomfortable with the use of social media and internet-based communication applications by Gambians, especially the young people.

    This discomfort is evident at political gatherings where politicians caution parents against allowing their children to browse online newspapers, especially the online Freedom newspaper published by exiled Gambian journalist Pa Nderry M’bai.

    {{Concern of users}}

    Local users of smart phones, laptops, and computers all complain of the difficulties of accessing blocked applications.

    Critical websites like Gambia Echo, Gainako, Kibaaro News, Kairo News, Senegambia News, Jollof News, American Street News, Gambia Dispatch, Hello Gambia among others published by the Gambians in the diaspora are seen by the State as purveyors of dissent.

    Besides blockage, computer technicians raise the danger many internet users could face of online surveillance.

    Syria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and Myanmar are other countries that put tight restrictions on internet usage. Lately they have been joined by Turkey, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

    “Any government that does not want a pluralistic media environment and does not allow freedom of expression will only invite criticism from hardcore critics out of its reach,” says a veteran Gambian journalist who does most of his work online.

    He described it a waste of resources to give unnecessary attention to the internet and its related communication channels when there are serious development deficiencies in the country.

    NMG

  • Uganda ‘top Pork Consumer in sub-Saharan Africa’

    Uganda ‘top Pork Consumer in sub-Saharan Africa’

    {{Uganda is the leading consumer of pork in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).}}

    Over 2.3 million pigs are kept by one million households in Uganda for consumption, says the institute which further indicates that the majority of pigs are kept by women in smallholder households.

    Pig rearing has become a popular and a lucrative venture in Uganda over the last 30 years.

    The institute, which works to improve food security and reduce poverty in developing countries, says the local pig population has climbed from 190, 000 to over 2.3 million in the three decades.

    A 2011 report showed that the domestic consumption rate of pork stood at 3.4kg per person per year.

    Researchers from ILRI – whose headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya – are conducting two projects in Uganda.

    The projects are targeted at presenting more efficient ways of raising pigs, safer ways of handling and selling pork, and ways to increase access to pig markets by poor farmers.

    NV

  • UN Criticises Kenya’s Refugee Clampdown

    UN Criticises Kenya’s Refugee Clampdown

    {{The UN refugee agency has criticised Kenya’s decision to order all refugees, most of them Somalis, to report to two overcrowded camps after a deadly attack on a church.}}

    “UNHCR understands Kenya’s need to address security concerns,” said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

    “Reinforcement of law enforcement measures are important in this regard, but blanket measures that target people based on nationality or membership of a group is discriminatory. It can create suffering for innocent people and is usually ineffective,” he told reporters in Geneva.

    Kenya issued its order on Tuesday, following a weekend attack by unknown gunmen near the port city of Mombasa that killed six people, and came amid heightened warnings of a threat of Islamist violence in Kenya despite boosted security in major cities.

    Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks since sending troops into southern Somalia in 2011 to battle Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents — the deadliest being an assault by Islamist commandos last September on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall that claimed 67 lives.

    “Insecurity affects all communities and populations alike. Scapegoating refugees is no answer. Refugees are as much at risk from insecurity as the wider Kenyan population,” said Edwards.

    Kenyan officials have also asked locals to report to police any refugees or illegal immigrants who remained outside the remote and overcrowded camps — Dadaab in the east and Kakuma in the northwest.

    Dadaab, where people often live in appalling conditions, is home to more than 400,000 mainly Somali refugees, while Kakuma, a vast desert settlement, is home to more than 125,000 refugees from across the region, including Somalia.

    To the UN refugee agency, “blanket implementation of the encampment measures carries threats to human dignity, equality and freedom. It has no regard for individual circumstances and is therefore arbitrary and unreasonable,” Edwards said.

    Rights groups in Kenya have accused police in the past of a brutal campaign against Somali refugees, following a string of grenade attacks and shootings blamed on supporters or members of the Shabaab.

    Edwards echoed those concerns, showing that past measures against refugees had been “accompanied by increased police harassment, detention and extortion”.

    The country had previously ordered all asylum seekers and refugees to report to the camps in December 2012, after attacks that included blasts in a largely ethnic-Somali neighbourhood of the capital Nairobi.

    {capitalfm}

  • World Bank Funds Repair Works at Jomo Kenyatta Airport

    World Bank Funds Repair Works at Jomo Kenyatta Airport

    {{The World Bank has approved a US$206mn fund to repair Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) arrivals hall, which was destroyed by fire in August 2013
    Of the total amount, US$27.6mn is expected to be alloted for the construction the temporary Greenfield Terminal as well as permanent facilities for the international arrival lounge in Terminal 4, currently under construction.}}

    Diarietou Gaye, World Bank country director for Kenya, said, “Additional financing will support the government to restore operations at Kenya’s premier airport and improve disaster preparedness.”

    Gaye added that the financing will also enable completion of ongoing contracts for upgrading of the two major trade and transport corridors to facilitate regional trade and integration.

    Germany’s Roder HTS Hocker has already been awarded the tender to construct the 2.5mn passenger terminal expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

    The Kenya government had also started work on the construction of a new US$654mn terminal at JKIA in December 2013.

    The project is jointly funded by Kenyan and Chinese governments.
    Two Chinese companies — Anhui Construction Engineering Group and China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation — are working on the project.

    Upon its completion in 2017, the new terminal would increase the passenger capacity from the current 6.5mn to 20mn.

    With an annual passenger growth of 12 per cent, it is expected that by 2020, the passenger numbers will reach to 17.1mn and double by 2030.

    The airport is projected to contribute over 10 per cent of the GDP through tourism, horticulture and other sectors.

    Mbuvi Ngunze, chief operating officer of Kenya Airways, said, “We need to have the right infrastructure in place as we grow. We are optimistic that the works will be completed on time.”

    africanreview

  • Mobile Payments in Africa (Infographic)

    Mobile Payments in Africa (Infographic)

  • Cement Co. to Build US$200M Plant in Kenya

    Cement Co. to Build US$200M Plant in Kenya

    {{Cement producer Athi River Mining (ARM) will construct a US$200mn cement plant with a capacity of 2.5mn tonnes in Kitui, Kenya}}

    Construction is expected to begin in early 2015 and end in 2017, with the facility set to boost annual cement production in Kenya to five million tonnes.

    ARM has also commissioned another cement plant in Tanzania, with a capacity of 1.5mn tonnes in the limestone-rich Tanga region.

    This plant will allow ARM to access the market in Mozambique and other nations that form part of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

    Surendra Bhatia, deputy MD of ARM, said, “We will pursue greenfield development of manufacturing plants with a strategy focusing on increasing cement capacity to five million tonnes per annum.”

    According to ARM, the high demand for cement has been driven by Kenya’s booming construction sector, comprising projects in sectors like real estate, roads, railways and oil, and will be expected to grow in the East African region by five to six per cent annually in the next few years.

    {africanreview}

  • Ethiopias Giant Dam to Start Production 2015

    Ethiopias Giant Dam to Start Production 2015

    {{The 6,000 MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) hydropower project, worth US$4.7bn, will begin generating electricity in 18 months, according to the Ethiopian government.}}

    Two turbines from among 16 at the plant will start producing 750 MW of power from September 2015, depending on rainfall patterns.

    The project will become the largest power plant in Africa according to government officials, and is being built on the Blue Nile River, the main tributary of the Nile which is 30km from the Sudanese border.

    GERD will cover an area of 1,800 sq km and will be 170 metres tall, according to reports.

    According to Zadig Abraha, deputy general director of GERD’s National Coordination Office, Ethiopia is boosting electricity output to cater to growing demands and electricity production might have to increase to 35 per cent annually to feed the country’s growing economy.

    Increasing electricity generating capacity from the existing 2,000 MW will allow Ethiopia to sell excess power and reduce trade deficits of US$8.5bn. The East African nation already exports power to Sudan and Djibouti.

    Construct has already started on a transmission line to Kenya and the country’s government has also been in talks with Yemen and South Sudan over the export of electricity, added Abraha.

    “Once GERD is finished and other hydropower projects including the 1,870 MW Gibe III are online, Ethiopia may earn US$2bn a year from the exports,” Abraha said.

  • Homosexuality Equal to Terrorism in Kenya

    Homosexuality Equal to Terrorism in Kenya

    {{Homosexuality in Kenya is as bad a problem as terrorism, the ruling party’s parliamentary leader said on Wednesday, but argued against stepping up legal sanctions on the grounds that existing laws were tough enough.}}

    Aden Duale, the majority leader from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ruling Jubilee coalition, was responding to a group of MPs demanding tougher laws.

    “Can’t we just be brave enough, seeing that we are a sovereign state, and outlaw gayism and lesbianism, the way Uganda has done?” legislator Alois Lentoimaga said.

    Uganda has voted for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts, prompting some international donors to suspend aid.

    Duale, who speaks on behalf of the Kenyan government in the assembly, said: “We need to go on and address this issue the way we want to address terrorism …

    “It’s as serious as terrorism. It’s as serious as any other social evil,” Duale said, referring to a spate of attacks by al Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist militants carried out in retaliation for Kenya’s intervention in neighboring Somalia.

    But he said the Kenyan constitution and the penal code already had sufficient anti-gay provisions, denying the government was reluctant to tighten such laws for fear of losing international aid.

    Duale said 595 cases of homosexuality had been investigated in Kenya since 2010, when a new constitution was adopted, and courts had convicted or acquitted the accused, while police had found no organizations openly championing homosexuality in violation of the law.

    “We do not need to go the Uganda way, we have the constitution and the penal code to deal with homosexuality, and so this debate is finished, we will not be enacting any new tougher laws,” Duale told Reuters later.

    Homosexuality is broadly taboo in Africa and illegal in 37 countries. Fear of violence, imprisonment and loss of jobs means few gays in Africa are open about their sexuality.

    Kenya’s penal code says any person “who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” is guilty of a felony and can be jailed for 14 years.

    Anti-gay groups have emerged in Kenya after Nigeria and Uganda toughened up laws against homosexuals.

    One of these groups, The Save Our Men Initiative, has said it is launching a “Zuia Sodom Kabisa” campaign, meaning “prevent Sodom completely” in Swahili, to “save the family, save youth, save Kenya”.

    Nigeria has outlawed same-sex relationships. Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has said homosexuals are “vermin” and must be fought like malaria-causing mosquitoes.

    agencies