Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Tanzania’s coffee, cotton and tea exports generally suffered from falling prices in the world market during November last year as the result of different factors.}}

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Monthly Economic Review (MER) for December 2013 outlines the factors as including low demand for cotton, increased coffee production in Brazil and increased global supply of tea. “The price of cotton declined mainly due to increasing use of synthetic fibres by textile manufacturers,” notes the report. The prices of coffee declined on account of bumper harvests in Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

According to the International Coffee Organisation (Ico), coffee production in 2012/13 is estimated at 145.2 million bags, a 9.8 per cent increase compared to preceding season.

Ico said coffee prices have fallen consistently over the course of 2013, with decreases recorded in nine out of the last twelve months.

“Although prices in December rose slightly compared to November, the Ico composite indicator is still at its second-lowest level of the year, and 2013 recorded the lowest average annual price since 2009,” notes Ico.

MER says robusta production increased by 11.9 per cent, while that of Arabica increased by 8.5 per cent when compared with previous seasons.

Increase in tea production in Kenya, India and Australia following favourable weather conditions coupled with low global demand was the reason behind fall in prices of tea.

According to the Tea Board of Kenya’s monthly records, the harvest increased from 32.8 million kilos in September to 44.3 million kilos last October.

Some records of tea exports last September from Tea Board of Tanzania shows that the country exported only 826,616 kilos, which was less than the 1,097,644 kilos exported last August.

citizen

{{A member of the SPLM in Opposition – a rebel entity that emerged following a split within South Sudan’s ruling party on Thursday claimed his team was less optimistic about prospects of success in the next round peace talks with government.}}

“We believe the forthcoming talks will not bring much progress as long as Ugandan troops continue occupying South Sudan land,” said Bor Gatwech, a lawmaker and humanitarian liaison officer for the SPLM/A in Opposition.

The rebel official, speaking to journalists from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, insisted Uganda removes all its troops from South Sudanese territory and take a neutral position over what he described as an “internal” crisis.

Uganda, a member of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has been facilitating talks between South Sudan’s warring parties since early January.

The presence of the Ugandan People Defense Forces (UPDF) in South Sudan was one of the main sticking points in the first round of peace talks, which culminated in a fragile ceasefire deal signed on 23 January.

Kampala’s role in the conflict, rebel official told Sudan Tribune, could disrupt the IGAD brokered peace talks due to resume on 10 February in Addis Ababa.

Despite the truce agreement, however, government forces and rebels have continued fighting in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states where large parts of the military defected to form the SPLM/A in Opposition, led by ex-vice president Riek Machar.

{sudantribune}

{{The International Criminal Court (ICC) has convened another critical meeting in The Hague to deliberate over the future of the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.}}

Kenya’s Attorney General Githu Muigai, who is the Government representative at the ICC, has been invited for the status conference scheduled for Thursday next week.

“The parties, the Legal Representative for Victims and a representative of the Kenya Government, are invited to attend.

The discussion will, in principle, take place in public session,” the three-judge bench said yesterday.

During the meeting, judges will take oral submissions following complaints by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that the Government had failed to provide key evidence by clinging on to the financial records of President Kenyatta.

Bensouda wants the judges to adjourn the case until the Government complies with her request even as Uhuru fights to have the proceedings terminated.

“Withdrawing the charges now would reward the accused, who heads the Government that has obstructed the court’s work, and who is in a position to ensure that the GoK compiles with its treaty obligations, if he wishes to do so,” Bensouda maintained in one of her filings.

Prof Muigai wants to be allowed to respond to allegations by the Prosecution by ‘setting the record straight’ on the provisions of the Kenyan Constitution and the International Crimes Act.

He also wants to make submissions on the role of the President vis-a-vis other constitutional bodies concerning the issue of co-operation as well as separation of powers and independence of various organs of Government.

The new meeting comes on the heels of another one held on Wednesday, when Uhuru’s defence team pleaded to terminate the case.

“We repeatedly alerted the court and the prosecutor as to the inconsistencies and falsity of the evidence upon which they were seeking to relay. Our warnings were not heeded,” Uhuru’s lawyer Stephen Kay said.

{Kenya Standard}

{{ South Sudan’s former vice-president Riek Machar, now a wanted rebel leader, has reiterated calls for the release of the country’s four remaining political detainees, saying there was no reason for their continued stay in detention.}}

This comes days after South Sudan government released seven of the 11 senior members of the ruling party (SPLM) detained in connection with an alleged coup attempt in the capital, Juba on 15 December. Authorities also slapped treason charges against four politicians, including Machar and two others still at large.

Machar, whom President Salva Kiir accused of an attempted coup after the 15 December violence, instead accused the latter of falsely maligning him and his group in order to silence opposition in the SPLM ahead of its national convention and 2015 elections.

Sources say the president had ordered the commander of the presidential guards units to disarm Nuer soldiers within the force, triggering the violence along tribal lines fitting the Dinka; Kiir’s ethnic group against the Machar’s Nuer community.

The ex-vice president has, however, admitted he launched a rebellion “forced on him” to fight for free and fair democratic reforms allegedly denied by President Kiir, dismissing earlier claims of a coup attempt while accusing the president of instigating the violence.

“There was never a coup plot in the first place. And the 7 SPLM party leaders recently released and those that are still in detention in Juba have not taken part in the new rebellion I am leading,” Machar told Sudan Tribune by phone from his secret location in Jonglei state.

He said the detained leaders were his colleagues pushing for peaceful democratic reform within the party, but were not part of the armed struggle.

“I don’t count them as part of the emerged armed rebellion,” he said, while referring to the 11 initially detained leaders, adding that it was only him, former Unity state governor Taban Deng Gai, and ex-environment minister Alfred Lado Gore who were up in arms against government.

The rebel leader, who currently leads the SPLM/A In Opposition, said his group was ready for the peace talks scheduled for 7 February in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, but added that his group were yet to be contacted on its preparations.

ST