Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has agreed to meet with American experts to discuss his nation’s draconian anti-gay law which has triggered international outrage, the top US diplomat said Tuesday.}}

Secretary of State John Kerry told US students he had talked with Mr Museveni recently and he “committed to meet with some of our experts so that we could engage him a dialogue as to why what he did could not be based on any kind of science or fact.”

“He welcomed that and said, ‘I’m happy to receive them and we can engage in that conversation.’ And that’s what we’re going to do,” Mr Kerry added.

Last month Mr Museveni signed off on one of the world’s toughest anti-gay laws, despite warnings from his Western allies, which state that “repeat homosexuals” should be jailed for life, outlaw the promotion of homosexuality and require people to report on gays.

Mr Kerry has likened the new law to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany and warned it could damage ties with Washington.

“The enactment of the homosexuality act was a step backward to Uganda. The law is more than an affront and a danger to the gay community in Uganda,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed Tuesday.

“It reflects poorly on the country’s commitment to protecting the human rights of its people and will undermine public health, including efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.”

The US administration was already looking at ways to rein in its aid to Uganda as punishment for the law, and had decided not to resume what she called “top-off” payments on the salaries of 18 top health officials.

“These are individuals at the top who are speaking on behalf of implementing the policy,” Ms Psaki told reporters.

But she added Ugandan gay rights activists had specifically asked Washington not to cut off its aid to the Ugandan people.

NMG

{{An al Shabaab suicide bomber rammed a car into the gates of a hotel used by African Union peacekeepers in central Somalia before gunmen sprayed the building with bullets, killing many, the al Qaeda-linked militant group and residents said.}}

The night-time attack happened in Bulobarde, abandoned by al Shabaab last week as African troops advanced on the town in a new offensive aimed to flush the militants from the area. Bulobarde’s streets were mostly deserted on Tuesday.

Local elder Hassan Nur said his nephew, the military commander of Hiran province, and a local government official were among the dead.

“Most of the troops and civilians inside the hotel died or were wounded. We couldn’t count how many died because AU and Somali forces swarmed all over the place,” Nur told media.

AMISOM, said it stood with “the fallen soldiers” but did not say how many had been killed. AMISOM launched this month a new push to drive al Shabaab from southern and central Somalia.

The militants, who seek to impose their version of Islamic law, were driven out of bases in the capital more than two years ago, but have continued to control swathes of countryside and smaller towns, which they use as launchpads to carry out attacks at home and abroad.

An al Shabaab spokesman said two gunmen sprayed the hotel with bullets immediately after the initial explosion, killing at least 32 soldiers. In the past, al Shabaab has often exaggerated death tolls while government officials have downplayed losses.

Nur reported hearing a prolonged gun battle and later seeing the bodies of five militant fighters being dragged through a street early on Tuesday, indicating more rebels were involved in the raid. Other residents confirmed hearing sustained gunfire.

Tuesday’s strike by al Shabaab followed an attack on Monday on a military convoy near the capital Mogadishu, which killed four Somali soldiers, according to an army captain.

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{{Sudan’s presidential assistant and chief negotiator, Ibrahim Ghandour, has affirmed that the government is determined to achieve permanent peace in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, but warned they will not sign any agreement which allows rebels to retain their weapons.}}

Last month the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) suspended the stalled talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) on the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile and referred the matter to its mandating authority, the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), asking for further guidance.

Negotiations stalled because the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the two areas while the SPLM-N delegation called for a holistic approach to solve Sudan’s problems.

The AUPSC renewed its confidence in the AUHIP mediation team led by Thabo Mbeki to broker peace talks between the two parties on the Two Areas and asked him to reach an agreement by the end of April.

Ghandour said in a meeting with the stakeholders from the political and social components in South Kordofan on Monday that the recent round of talks in Addis Ababa broke down because the rebel SPLM-N insisted on retaining its troops, adding the government delegation will participate in the next round of talks with an open heart in order to achieve permanent peace in the Two Areas.

He said the delegation would seek to end the crisis in the Two Areas and achieve peace before the end of next April and in accordance with the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2046.

The stakeholders agreed that negotiations are the only means for ending war and achieving peace in the Two Areas particularly South Kordofan state which suffered from the long war, demanding participation of the traditional administration and stakeholders in the negotiations with the SPLM-N.

It further underscored importance of reaching a cessation of hostilities and fulfilling wishes of the citizens.

The Blue Nile and South Kordofan’s conflict erupted months apart from each other in 2011 when Sudan attempted to forcibly disarm SPLM-N fighters it accuses of being backed by their brother-in-arms in the South Sudanese army.

{sudantribune}

{{Uganda has warned that Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab insurgents were planning to use fuel tankers as bombs, one day after Kenya thwarted a “massive” car bomb attack.}}

Both Uganda and Kenya are key contributors of troops to the African Union force fighting the Shabaab in Somalia, and the Islamists have carried out major attacks in both countries in retaliation in the past.

“We have received credible information to the effect that Al-Shabaab are planning to blow up fuel trucks in Kampala to cause extensive damage to people and property,” Ugandan police chief Kale Kayihura said in a statement.

“The public is asked to be very vigilant and help the police and report any suspicious movement or activity”.

Al-Shabaab bombers killed at least 76 people in Uganda’s capital Kampala in 2010.

On Monday, Kenyan police arrested two men driving a vehicle packed with explosives in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa.

{{Gunmen}}

Top Kenyan coastal government official Nelson Marwa said Tuesday the two men arrested had been preparing a “massive attack”.

Foreign special forces were part of the operation to stop them, he said.

“The two were tracked from Somalia by both Kenyan and foreign forces,” Mr Marwa said Tuesday.

NMG

{{Police in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa say they have arrested two people who were driving a car with two improvised bombs hidden inside it.}}

The suspects, one Kenyan and the other of Somali origin, were planning to attack an unspecified target, they say.

The arrests followed a tip off, a police official added.

Kenya is on a heightened state of alert after militants from Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamist group attacked a shopping centre in Nairobi last year.

Security was increased further following Monday’s incident.

“We have not established where the target was, but we have detained two terror suspects who were in the vehicle,” said Henry Ondiek of the Mombasa Criminal Investigation Department.

“We were tipped off that the two were headed for an attack on an unspecified place and we laid an ambush,” he said.

Two homemade bombs were found in the car along with a mobile phone, which could have been used as a detonator, according to police.

In last September’s attack, at least 67 people died when al-Shabab stormed the Westgate shopping centre.

In February more than 100 people appeared in court in Mombasa accused of being members of al-Shabab, after a raid on a mosque.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab has carried out a series of attacks in Kenya in what it says is retaliation for Nairobi’s decision to deploy troops to Somalia.

{Wirestory}

{{Tens of thousands of South Sudanese civilians sheltering in UN peacekeeper bases fearing revenge attacks after weeks of conflict are to be moved to new camps, UN officials said Monday.}}

More than three months since fighting broke out, some 77,000 civilians are still inside eight UN bases across the troubled nation, in overcrowded conditions that are worsening with the early arrival of torrential rains.

UN peacekeepers opened their gates to protect civilians after brutal fighting broke out in December with reports of massacres and targeted ethnic killings.

But the temporary shelter has stretched into months, and with fighting ongoing and a ceasefire in tatters, civilians are too fearful to leave.

Aid officials had hoped the thousands would be able to return to their homes, but are now being forced to prepare more permanent sites for people.

Toby Lanzer, the UN humanitarian chief in South Sudan, said there was “desperate overcrowding” for the 25,000 civilians crammed into the UN’s base in war-ravaged Malakal, the state capital of oil-producing Upper Nile.

Aid agencies and the UN are preparing a new “protection of civilians” site in Malakal, which will also free up space inside the UN camps for normal operations.

Those in the camps say they fear the creation of enclaves but are too fearful to return home.

“I don’t want to live a life stuck in a camp, but my neighbourhood in Juba is in ruins, and I would not be safe there,” said John Nyoun, a student in the UN base in the capital.

“At my family home in the countryside… that is where the fighting is.”

South Sudan’s government has been at war with rebel groups since December 15, when a clash between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar snowballed into full-scale fighting.

Over 930,000 civilians have fled their homes since fighting began, including over quarter of million leaving for neighbouring nations as refugees, the UN said.

In the capital Juba, some 10,000 civilians squeezed into one UN base — a swampy area used previously only as a sports ground — are being moved to another UN camp in the city, as work is done on a new site.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) an agency supporting those in the camps, warned of “deplorable conditions” for all those who had fled their homes.

“People are still afraid to go home but also fear living knee-deep in water amid dangerously unsanitary conditions,” IRC country director Wendy Taeuber said.

AFP

{{The governor of Sudan’s troubled North Darfur state has survived an ambush after visiting a town briefly seized by rebels, local media reported Sunday.}}

“He’s OK,” the source told media after the Saturday attack against North Darfur governor Osman Kbir, which was the latest sign of instability in the region.

It came while he was returning to the state capital El Fasher after assessing the situation in Mellit town, more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) north, said the source, who asked for anonymity.

There was no indication of who carried out the ambush.

The state-linked Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) reported that Kbir, accompanied by a legislative and security delegation, had visited the area but the report made no mention of an attack.

SMC is close to Sudan’s security apparatus.

The official SUNA news agency on Saturday quoted Kbir as saying Mellit was “fully under control of the armed forces” after the attack by insurgents.

Minni Minnawi, who heads a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, told press on Thursday that his forces had captured the town.

It was the fourth major outbreak of violence in Darfur since late February, with rebels attacking an area in the southeast and another uprising erupting in the far west, where local sources said militia loyal to Musa Hilal took control of Saraf Omra town.

nation

{{East African countries could soon have one communication platform on matters to do with regional integration.}}

Ministries of East African Community (EAC) affairs, the Arusha-based secretariat and organs and institutions of the Community will, in this scheme of things, streamline their communication channels for better information on regional matters.

The move was agreed during the fourth EAC Communication Policy and Strategy Forum early this week, where joint communication and sensitisation strategies and activities were raised.

The two-day forum brought together communication experts from the partner states, EAC organs and institutions and a raft of affiliate organisations.

They included the East African Business Council, the East African Law Society, Centre for Constitutional Development, East African Local Governments Association and the East African Civil Society Forum.

“Ministries and institutions have a critical role to play in implementing the communication policy and strategy,” said Mr Owora Richard Othieno, who heads the EAC Department of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs.

NMG