Tag: GreatLakesNews

{Residents in the disputed border region of Abyei jubilated on the eve of the upcoming referendum in which they will choose between Sudan and South Sudan, a local leader said Saturday, despite concern the exercise could spark violence.}

Abyei’s Ngok Dinka people have been “singing and dancing” ahead of the “people’s referendum” on Sunday, according to Luka Biong, spokesman for a civic group that is organizing the vote. The Sudan-allied Misseriya nomads, who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle, will not be allowed to participate, he added.

Both Sudan and South Sudan claim ownership of Abyei, whose status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from its northern neighbor in 2011. The region’s majority Ngok Dinka people are believed to be in favor of joining South Sudan.

“People are in a celebratory mood here. Last night they were singing and dancing as they wait for Sunday to cast their vote,” said Biong, spokesman for the Abyei Referendum High Committee, which has been mobilizing people for the referendum.

Up to 100,000 people are expected to participate in the vote despite repeated warnings that such an event might trigger violence in the border region, said Biong. A local commission that will supervise the vote is expected to announce results on Oct. 31, he said, insisting the exercise would proceed without the official involvement of Sudan or South Sudan.

The African Union has warned against holding a referendum, saying such action could increase the risk of violence between the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya. The Misseriya have warned that a referendum in which they are not participants cannot take place.

The Abyei region is rich in oil, one of the reasons both Sudans are reluctant to give it up. An African Union panel mediating talks between the countries last year proposed a referendum to be held in Abyei this month to determine which country the region would join. The AU proposal said only the permanent residents of Abyei would be allowed to vote in the referendum. That proposal was rejected by Sudan, which does not agree with South Sudan over who should be eligible to vote.

While South Sudan says only the Ngok Dinka should vote, Sudan insists the Misseriya —nomads who spend up to six months in the area — should also participate. Khartoum has argued against any unilateral action in Abyei, with Foreign Minister Ali Karti saying the dispute can only be resolved through negotiations between the two countries.

According to a cooperation agreement signed last year, both Sudans were expected to set up an interim administrative body in Abyei comprised of representatives from the Dinka Ngok and Misseriya ethnic groups. They were also expected to set up a police force and a legislative council, with the Ngok Dinka taking 60 percent of the seats and the rest going to the Misseriya. However, that plan has stalled amid disagreement over who should chair the council.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir wrote to the African Union recently urging it to do more to end the deadlock over Abyei, saying he saw no possibility of reaching an accord with Sudan anytime soon.

ABCNews

{Swahili is set to become the official language for the East African Community (EAC) and the Uganda government has since ordered that all citizens must learn the language.}

The EAC is made up of five countries, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

South Sudan’s application to join the community is still being considered by member states.

Swahili is already an official language in Tanzania and Kenya where it is spoken by the majority of the population.

It is also widely spoken in Rwanda and Burundi but very few speak the language in Uganda.

Ugandans claim Swahili was used by harsh colonial officials as well as by former dictators, hence their dislike of the language.

Uganda has experienced some of Africa’s harshest military dictatorships whose ruthless soldiers were trained in Swahili.

However, the latest directive that the language should be vigorously used has shown that President Yoweri Museveni’s government’s determination to popularise the language.

The government has instructed all relevant agencies to renew efforts to promote, teach and use Swahili and make it an alternative national language in in the East African country.

Acting Information minister Barbra Nekesa said the rigorous introduction of the Swahili language was aimed at easing the country’s engagements with people from other states under the EAC.

The language is also spoken in Africa’s largest state, Democratic Republic of Congo.

”Swahili will help Ugandan traders to easily communicate with traders from other parts of east Africa,” Nkesa said.

“Currently there is a challenge of language barrier between out traders with their counterparts and consumers from other east African countries.”

She said the government had always encouraged Ugandans to use Swahili but the efforts had not borne fruit because of the negativity caused by dicator Idi Amin’s regime whose security forces used the language.

Swahili is a mixture of Arabic and local languages of east African coastal tribes.

The language developed before Africa’s colonial era, when Arab traders camped on east African coasts and interacted with local people.

In Tanzania and Kenya the language is taught in schools. In Uganda it has been on the school curriculum but very few schools have been teaching it.

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{{Jalandhar}}: {Eighteen months after the brutal assault on 23-year-old African student Yannick Nihangaza that left him comatose, a local court yesterday awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment to seven persons in the case.}

Additional District and Session Judge BK Sharma also imposed a penalty of Rs. 20,000 each
on the convicts Romi Uppal, Sahildeep Singh, Amandeep Singh, Sumant Ralhan, Amarbeer Singh, Harsh Gosain and Jaswant Singh.

Romi is son of a late senior officer of Punjab Police.

“The accused have been awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 20,000 each,
failing the payment of which they will have to serve two years more in jail,” defence counsel Mandeep Sachdeva said.

He said they will challenge the local court’s order in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Yannick, a Burundi citizen and student of a private university, was going to a party in Jalandhar on April 22, 2012 when he was attacked.

While the attackers had managed to flee, Yannick was admitted to a private hospital in Patiala where he is still lying in coma.

After the incident, Ambassador of Burundi Rubuka Aloys had met a senior External Affairs Ministry official seeking legal help in the case.

The police had registered case against nine persons and two of them – Jaskaran Singh and Ranjot Singh – are still on the run.

NDTV

{President Uhuru Kenyatta’s failure to officially receive newly appointed foreign envoys is causing anxiety in diplomatic circles, putting at risk billions of shillings in trade and investment from some of Kenya’s most valuable partners, reported Business Daily.}

At least six countries, including Zambia, Japan, Italy, France, Germany and Austria have been left in a diplomatic limbo in Kenya after the Foreign Affairs ministry suspended the accreditation of their envoys indefinitely, citing Mr Kenyatta’s busy diary.

The ministry has since advised new envoys posted to Kenya to delay their arrival until they are told of the President’s availability.

Though Mr Kenyatta’s men have stuck to the busy diary narrative, the delay in accrediting the envoys is being seen as communicating a message to the affected countries.

“Whereas there is nothing common among the countries in the list, delay in accreditation has traditionally been used as soft language of rejection or a way of expressing that the matter is not a priority,” said Macharia Munene, a professor of History and International Relations at the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi.

Top Foreign Affairs ministry officials did not respond to queries on the matter but analysts warned that delay in accrediting foreign envoys could send wrong signals to foreign capitals that Kenya is not open for business — a position that could cost the country billions of shillings in missed trade and investment opportunities.

“We cannot accept a situation where ambassadors are kept waiting without explanation. We have summoned the Cabinet secretary to appear before us next week and explain what is happening,” said Bare Shill, the vice-chair of the National Assembly’s departmental committee on Defence and Foreign Relations.

“The President must create time to receive credentials from ambassadors.”

Envoys are crucial in the negotiation of trade treaties, bilateral financing deals and other areas of mutual interest and are the ones who sign bilateral assistance agreements.

Ochieng Adala, a retired career diplomat, said accreditation makes one an ‘ambassadeur extraordinaire et plénipotentiaire’ meaning she or he is the head of mission with full powers to engage the State on all matters.

“Without accreditation, an ambassador cannot meet the President in a formal capacity, cannot host his country’s national ceremonies such as Independence Day and is not empowered to sign and negotiate any bilateral assistance deals,” said Mr Adala in an interview.

The list of diplomats who are awaiting accreditation to assume office includes Tatsushi Terada of Japan and Rémi Maréchaux of France.

The gravity of the diplomatic impasse is underlined by the fact that three of the countries — Japan, France and Germany — are some of Kenya’s leading creditors, accounting for almost a fifth or 18.5 per cent of total external sources of financing.

{Somalia’s central government is in talks with some of the world’s biggest energy companies in an attempt to restart oil exploration in the war-torn country, an adviser to the government said Monday.}

A number of big oil companies signed concessions in Somalia before the country descended into civil war in 1991. The instability prompted the companies to suspend onshore and offshore exploration; they say their contracts remain valid since it has been impossible to conduct activity in the country.

Somalia last year transitioned to its first permanent government in years, and the internationally recognized central government is trying to rebuild Somalia’s economy, with oil as a cornerstone.

Recent, large oil and natural gas discoveries elsewhere in East Africa make Somalia attractive for oil explorers. But so far, no large companies have committed to returning to the country, which is struggling to contain terrorist group al-Shabaab and is plagued by tensions between its central and regional governments.

Shell said talks with the government of Somalia “are of a preliminary and exploratory nature. Any future progress would be dependent on advancing discussions as well as progress on the security and operating environment in and surrounding Somalia.”

BP “had some discussions” about Somalia concessions, a spokesman said. Eni said its chief executive met with Somalia’s president last month. Exxon and Conoco declined to comment. Chevron spokespeople weren’t immediately able to comment.

A number of small companies have signed oil-exploration deals with regional authorities in Somalia, raising tensions with the central government. The only company to sign an agreement with the central government is private startup Soma Oil & Gas Ltd., which is conducting early-stage data collection, its chief executive, Robert Sheppard, said in an interview last month.

WSJ

{A British man in Uganda has been charged over possession of a video depicting a “sexual act”.
}

Bernard Randell was arrested earlier this month and appeared before magistrates with a Ugandan man who was charged with “procuring another person to commit acts of gross indecency”.

The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the arrest.

Ugandan prosecutors have denied local media reports that the charges related to “homosexual acts”.

Same sex relationships are illegal in the east African country, where politicians have proposed introducing the death penalty as punishment.

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Mr Randell and Ugandan Albert Cheptheptoyet were released on bail until 18 November after after appearing at Entebbe Magistrates’ Court – 25 miles (40km) from capital Kampala.

The British man’s lawyer confirmed he had been charged with trafficking an obscene publication.

A press officer for the the Ugandan Directorate of Public Prosecutions denies an account in the local Daily Monitor newspaper of the pair’s court appearance.

The paper quoted state prosecutor Ivan Kyazze, who reportedly told the court the men had been subjected to “medical tests” which confirmed they had engaged in “homosexual acts”.

But the prosecutor’s office told the BBC that whether or not homosexuality was involved, they were not being charged with that crime.

The UK Foreign Office said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national on 19 October in Uganda and are providing consular assistance.”

BBC

{The EAC secretariat will soon summon all telecom operators and sector regulators from the region to address the high costs of making calls win the region.}

During an interview with the Daily Nation yesterday, East African Community deputy secretary-general for planning infrastructure, Mr Enos Bukuku, said the secretariat was reacting to a decision by Safaricom to raise its international call tariffs.

“We are going to call the operators and governments to the discussion table to resolve this issue. We want a model that will make roaming and international calling seamless as well as affordable in the region,” he said.

Last week, the mobile service provider increased international calling and roaming charges to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, citing a harsher taxation regime.

Though he did not disclose when the meeting would take place, Mr Bukuku said it would be held soon given that addressing the high cost of calling within the region is one of the deliverables in his 2013/2014 performance contract.

Mr Bukuku was speaking on the sidelines of the regional investment forum that was held in Nairobi yesterday.

Daily Nation

{The government officially renounced the ‘coalition of the willing’ between Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, and now Burundi.}

In a statement issued by the ministry of East African Cooperation, the government also said the ongoing trilateral talks between the countries were against the EAC protocol.

According to the government, the projects under deliberation by the new coalition, and which have received the blessing of Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame, should have been endorsed first by all the EAC member countries.

The statement was issued by head of communication department, Mr Vedastina Justinian. Mr Justinian said the communication was in response to growing concern among the public that the activities being advanced by the three EAC member countries would isolate Tanzania.

He said Tanzania’s official stand regarding the willingness of other countries to enter bilateral or trilateral arrangements needed consensus before their implementation.

“This is notwithstanding the fact that the coalition of the three countries in exclusion of Tanzania and Burundi is being run under their respective foreign affairs dockets and not through the EAC secretariat,” the official said.

Mr Justinian said the Kenyan, Rwandan and Ugandan leaders were in contravention of Article 7(1) (e) of the EAC protocol. “Even though this Article allows member countries to enter bilateral or trilateral agreements, it is a must that issues under consideration for implementation under this arrangement are fully discussed and agreed upon by all member countries,” read the statement.

Heads of State from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda met in Kampala in early July this year and agreed to roll-out several cross-country infrastructure projects in a move that has elicited heated debate on the future of regional integration.

The Citizen

{The names of almost 50 people from Britain who have links to al-Shabab – and related organisations – have been established by the BBC.
}

Most of those on the list travelled to Somalia to fight or attempted to do so.

Somali-based militants al-Shabab carried out the deadly attack on the Westgate mall in neighbouring Kenya.

Lawyers for the family of one British recruit known to have died in Somalia are investigating whether he was killed in a raid involving western military.

Al-Shabab is fighting to impose a brutal version of Islamic law on the country and the group is linked to al-Qaeda.
Fate unknown

The 47 names compiled by the BBC are based on a combination of sources, including public records from courts in the UK and abroad, and further first-hand research and accounts.

It is not a complete list of people from the UK who are suspected of having gone to fight because it is impossible to establish or estimate with any certainty how many Westerners have taken up arms in Somalia.

The research found that security chiefs believe at least 32 of the identifiable individuals went to fight.

A further seven were named in British court cases as having attempted to enter Somalia, but their plans were discovered and disrupted.

Others have been accused or convicted of raising money for al-Shabab, or facilitating the travel of others.

Seven people on the list returned to the UK – but the fate of most of the others is completely unknown.
‘A disservice’

Four of the men on the list are known to be dead, including men who featured on a video released by the group a week ago.

The video included a message from a young man named as “Talha”, who asked Muslims in Tower Hamlets – a borough in east London – to join the jihad in Somalia.

Talha, whose real name was Taufail Ahmed, died in Somalia in November 2012.

The Foreign Office said it had confirmed the death to his family, who are of Bangladeshi origin.

He grew up in Stepney Green in east London. The BBC has tracked down people who knew him at school.

They say he fell into a life of gang crime before leaving that world behind in favour of an extreme interpretation of Islam, before disappearing from the UK.

“For British Muslims he’s doing a disservice,” said one former schoolmate. “For Muslims around the world, he is doing a disservice.”

In the al-Shabab video, the narrator says that “Talha” died after an attack involving American and British forces.

The government has not commented on that claim but his family has asked the legal charity Reprieve to investigate.

“The family were notified by British police officers. The FCO [Foreign Office] have knowledge of the incident and have told us that Taufail Ahmed received a Muslim burial,” said Kat Craig from Reprieve.

“We have reason to believe that there are Somali eyewitnesses who identified those involved as British personnel and for those reasons we believe that further inquiries need to be made and that the family has quite legitimate questions that need to be answered.”