Tag: GreatLakesNews

{Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for his political goodwill to the East African Community.}

Speaking during the formal handing over of the EAC chairmanship to President Kenyatta on Saturday, President Museveni said through political goodwill, the time taken for goods to reach Kampala from the port of Mombasa had reduced from 18 days to three, while it only took four days for cargo from the port to reach Rwanda.

President Museveni praised the Kenyan government’s commitment to enhanced regional trade and urged EAC member countries to hasten the process of integration.

The Ugandan leader also claimed Africa was facing a threat to its sovereignty from the Western world and integration was the only option.

He expressed gratitude to Kenyans for launching a renewed resistance movement against imperialism and hegemonism by the way they voted against arrogant meddling in their internal affairs.

“The way the Kenyan people voted last March was the second but peaceful Mau-mau resistance,” he said.

Daily Nation

{There were scenes of celebration at the High Court and later on the streets of Kampala on Wednesday after a judge ruled that Mr Erias Lukwago is still the Lord Mayor.}

In his ruling, Justice Yasin Nyanzi said an interim court injunction issued on Monday by acting registrar of the court, Mr Fred Waninda, still stands.

Justice Nyanzi said the interim injunction would be in place until Mr Lukwago’s main application seeking a judicial review of the Kampala Capital City Authority Tribunal report is determined.

The tribunal headed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire had among others, found Mr Lukwago guilty of abuse of office, incompetence and misconduct.

The tribunal was constituted by Kampala Minister Frank Tumwebaze after 17 councillors petitioned him.

On the basis of the tribunal report, Mr Tumwebaze on Monday called a city authority council meeting where 29 councillors voted to impeach Mr Lukwago. Three voted in the mayor’s favour.

However, minutes before the KCCA meeting could start, Mr Lukwago’s lawyers obtained an injunction issued by Mr Waninda, restraining Mr Tumwebaze and KCCA from proceeding.

The order asked KCCA to wait for the ruling on the case challenging the tribunal report. Efforts to serve Mr Tumwebaze with the order turned chaotic as police denied Mr Lukwago’s lawyers entry into KCCA premises.

The police under the command of the Kampala South regional commander, Mr James Ruhweza, beat up one of the lawyers, Mr Abdullah Kiwanuka, before bundling him onto a pick-up truck.

Mr Allan Ssewanyana, a councillor, had to be bundled out of the meeting room by plain-clothed security operatives after he tried to serve a copy of the injunction to Mr Tumwebaze in vain.

The government also contested the authenticity of the interim injunction, labelling it a forgery since it lacked a seal.

But Justice Nyanzi on Wednesday upheld the injunction and said he was convinced that Mr Lukwago would suffer irreparable damage that would not be compensated in monetary terms if the interim injunction was not issued.

The judge also explained that the position of the lord mayor is not commercial but elective one before directing the Attorney General, one of the respondents, to bear all Lukwago’s legal bills incurred in pursuing the case.

Daily Nation

{{(Xinhua}}) — {The victory of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Armed Forces (FARDC) over M23 rebels has prompted over 1,500 combatants of various armed groups in North Kivu province to surrender, according to the Congolese and UN authorities.}

“About 1,500 fighters from Masisi and Rutshuru territories have responded to the call by the president to surrender,” a FARDC officer who requested for anonymity said in the provincial capital Goma on Wednesday.

According to the UN Mission for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) , from Nov. 19 to date, over 300 combatants from different armed groups had surrendered to the UN troops and to different offices for Demobilization, Disarmament, Reintegration and Repatriation (DDRR) set up across the eastern province.

The MONUSCO military spokesman, Col. Basse said combatants who have surrendered include those from the Congolese Popular Front Mai Mai groups (FPC), Mai Mai Nyantura, Mai Mai Sheka-Nduma, Mai Mai Shetani, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the People’s Self Defense Movement (MPA) and M23.

Since the defeat of M23 rebels early this month, the Congolese army and MONUSCO have urged various armed groups in eastern DR Congo to surrender.

{Senior Ugandan opposition leaders Tuesday said that removing President Yoweri Museveni’s regime is the “first line of wisdom” if the problems gripping Kampala and the country are to be resolved.}

The leaders met at the headquarters of the Uganda People’s Congress party in Kampala where they issued a joint statement read by Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, the leader of the main opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change, FDC.

The leaders, including Mr Olara Otunnu (UPC), Mr Asuman Basalirwa (Jeema) and Mr John Lukyamuzi (Conservative Party), spoke of a cloud of fear that they said continues to hang over Ugandans, inhibiting their ability to participate in civic actions.

The leader of the Democratic Party, Norbert Mao, was unable to attend due to the meeting’s short notice, Mr Otunnu said.

They accused Mr Museveni of blocking avenues citizens can explore to choose their leaders, such as free elections.

They spoke strongly in condemnation of Monday’s controversial impeachment of Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.

“If the prospect of removing the regime through free and fair elections is blocked by Museveni, then the people of Uganda should resort to popular uprisings using non-violent methods to remove this regime,” Mr Otunnu said.

He added: “If anyone who has had any doubts that the Museveni regime has gone mad and berserk, the events we are witnessing in Kampala are an expression of the sickness of the regime.”

However, Mr Otunnu explained that he disapproves of a coup d’état or the use of guns because “the power of the people can defeat the most powerful armouries”.

“Our assessment is that majority of the people are fed up and want to see change. If you were to carry out a poll, my assessment is that 70 per cent — including those who are in the [ruling] NRM — want change and that is where clear focus should be,” Maj Gen Muntu said.

Mr Lukyamuzi, also Rubaga South MP, promised to table a motion for the censure of the Kampala minister Frank Tumwebaze over his role in the controversial impeachment of the Lord Mayor.

“We have lost track of parliamentary sanctity because Parliament is equally blocked. This is a demonstration that we are no longer under any rule of law,” Mr Lukyamuzi said.

Mr Museveni came to power in 1986 following a guerrilla war. He was re-elected in February 2011 with 68 per cent of the vote.

Africa Review

{The over 1,000-km road trip followed the recent routing of M 23 rebels in the region by the army. Following the recent defeat of M 23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, by the army and the Special Intervention Brigade of UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, President Joseph Kabila last week began a road tour of the region formerly held by the rebels.}

The over 1,000 km road trip that began on November 20, 2013 in Kisangani in Eastern Province, has since taken him to Bunia. He is expected in the North Kivu provincial headquarters of Goma today, November 26, 2013, where a cabinet meeting will hold later this week, Radio France Internationale, RFI reported. Observers say the Head of State opted to make the long trip by road to assure the people of the return of State authority to the area M 23 rebels occupied only three weeks ago.

President Kabila on Friday, November 22, 2013, held discussions with Eastern Province Governor, Jean Bamanisa Saidi and the executive of the provincial assembly. The Speaker of the Provincial Parliament, Philippe Masikini, said they discussed security, economic and social problems with a plea to the President to ensure the return of peace and security to Ituri and Bas-Uélé areas where local and foreign armed groups continue to operate, the Digital Congo website reported.

The spokesman of North Kivu civil society groups, Barrister Me Omar Kavota, urged the President to take urgent action against armed groups in the region, facilitate the return of displaced people and prosecute soldiers accused of sexual abuses in Minova area in 2012, ‘La Tempête des Tropiques’ said.

Cameroon Tribune

{The National Council of Churches (NCCK) has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to attend his trial at the International Criminal Court.}

NCCK urged the ICC to conclude the cases facing the Kenyan leaders at The Hague “as soon as possible” and ensure justice for victims, witnesses and the suspects.

The churches’ council accused the government of clawing back Kenyan freedoms by targeting the media and non-governmental organisation.

Rev Canon Peter Karanja, speaking on behalf of the council, urged the withdrawal of the Bill in the National Assembly seeking to control NGOs

“By seeking to control the NGOs and the media, the government is essentially seeking to muzzle the institutions that hold it to account,” the NCCK general secretary said.

Daily Nation

GENEVA – {IPU has welcomed the release of former Congolese opposition MP Pierre Jacques Chalupa but urges the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to resolve the issue of his nationality once and for all.
}

Chalupa, who had spent all his life in the DRC and had been elected as an MP, had already served more than half of a three-year jail sentence for allegedly falsifying documents to gain nationality and met the conditions for “anticipated release” under Congolese law.

In urgent need of medical assistance for some time, he was one of nearly 400 people released on 22nd November as part of a presidential amnesty that had already seen the release of more than a thousand prisoners since late August 2013.

IPU’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has been working to find a resolution to the case since Chalupa’s arrest early in February 2012, including sending a mission to the DRC in June this year. An IPU resolution at its October 2013 Assembly in Geneva lamented the lack of progress on Chalupa’s case and that of 33 other Congolese MPs.

“It’s great news that Mr. Chalupa has finally been released. However, there is the long-standing issue of his nationality to be resolved. As he appears to have fulfilled all conditions for obtaining nationality, we urge the authorities to recognize this and to find a favourable solution,” says Kassoum Tapo, President of IPU’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians.

“IPU similarly remains concerned by the other cases before the Committee, all of which intrinsically are about issues relating to political and parliamentary freedoms. We urge the DRC to take action to not only resolve them but also to ensure that political freedoms in the country are respected and enforced,” Tapo adds.

Biztellers

{Ugandan police say they lobbed tear gas to disperse protesters angered by the ouster of Kampala’s mayor who is a fierce critic of the country’s longtime president.}

Deputy Police Spokesman Patrick Onyango said police officers were injured when they were pelted with stones by demonstrators angered by the impeachment of Erias Lukwago as mayor of Kampala, Uganda’s capital. He said police responded by firing tear gas

Lukwago was ousted Monday by city councilors as Kampala’s mayor after a government tribunal earlier this month found him guilty of abuse of office, incompetence and misconduct.

The charges were brought against Lukwago in May at a time the Ugandan authorities were trying to quell a resurgence of opposition protests against President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 27 years.

ABCNews

{The United Nations says it will not close Somali refugee camps in Kenya, despite an order from a government minister for the camps to shut down.}

Kenya hosts nearly 500,000 Somalis who have fled their country over the past 20 years, most of whom live in the sprawling Dadaab camps near the border.

On Sunday, Kenyan Internal Security Minister Joseph Lenku said the camps must close and refugees must prepare to return to Somalia.

Kitty McKinsey, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, said in an interview with VOA the agency is not taking Lenku’s words as a command.

“We do not believe that there is any order for the refugee camps in Kenya to be closed,” she said. “The Kenyan government and the Kenyan people have been very generous to the refugees over the years, and we certainly have every reason to expect that will continue to be the case.”

McKinsey emphasized that the agreement did not call for the refugee camps to be shut down.

“There are no plans to close the refugee camp,” she said. “Certainly the agreement that was signed among UNHCR, the govts of Kenya and Somalia does not call for the closing of the camps. There’s not going to be a closure any time soon, nobody is talking about closing the camps any time soon.”

VOA