IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Abyei, Borders to Take Centre Stage in Bashir-Kiir Summit

    Abyei, Borders to Take Centre Stage in Bashir-Kiir Summit

    {{The status of the disputed oil-rich Abyei region and the demarcation of borders will be the key items discussed when Sudan President Omar al-Bashir visits Juba on Tuesday for talks with South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir.}}

    South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the talks would generally cover the implementation of the nine agreements the two leaders signed in September 2012 in Addis Ababa.

    This would touch on the organisation of a referendum on Abyei, and the demarcation of agreed-on borders between the two former civil-war foes, he said.

    “Abyei will be one of the main issues in the agenda. There will be talks on Abyei and the borders,” Mr Makuei said.

    African Union mediators have proposed the vote on whether Abyei should return to South Sudan, from where it was transferred in 1905, or remain in Sudan, be held this October.

    But Mr Makuei admitted that as the two leaders meet, there was little possibility that the vote would be held on current timelines.

    “Even if Bashir and comrade Salva agreed today, it will not be conducted because of the timeline … What is important is that we need the two parties to agree on the way forward,” he said.

    Concerns have mounted on the level of mobilisation of the Dinka Ngok for the vote, with prospects that the may unilaterally decide to join South Sudan if the plebiscite is not held as proposed.

    Push vote

    Mr Makuei said his government policy is to push the conduct of the vote through the African Union.

    Abyei and the borders are among the key post secession issues both countries are yet to resolve since the formal independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011.

    Eighty per cent of the borders have been agreed upon in paper, but the demarcation on the land remains unresolved.

    “We are optimistic that with the visit of Bashir to Juba, there will be talks, and these talks will lead to opening of border corridors between the two countries,” Mr Makuei said.

    The border corridors were agreed on in a September 3 summit in Khartoum and another memorandum on the matter was later signed by the country’s interior ministers.

    The two leaders are expected to formalise the deal on crossing points.

    The border demarcation will include the cross-border movement of nomads and goods.

    NMG

  • Ugandan Student Dies from Self Immolation

    Ugandan Student Dies from Self Immolation

    {{A second year female student of Uganda Christian University – UCU has died in Namayingo district after setting herself ablaze.}}

    24 –year-old Ruth Ajambo set herself ablaze after leaving home this afternoon to visit a neighbour.The incident happened on Sunday afternoon .

    The neighbour has reportedly gone into hiding from the Police since the incident occurred.

    Anna Nabwiire, the mother of the deceased, says that the victim doused herself with petrol and set herself on fire.

    Nabwiire says that she was alerted by the screams of frightened neighbours who saw a figure on fire running through gardens. On rushing to stop the fire it was found that Ruth Ajambo had set herself ablaze and rushed into the gardens.

    Nabwiire says after the fire was put out, the dying Ruth Ajambo told her mother that she had come to have a last meal with her. Although there were frantic efforts to rush her to Mulago Hospital, she died on her way to Kampala in Iganga.

    {redpepper}

  • Rebels Kill 41 in South Sudan Cattle Raid

    Rebels Kill 41 in South Sudan Cattle Raid

    Rebels in South Sudan’s volatile Jonglei state killed at least 41 people and wounded 46 others in a raid on three cattle camps on Sunday, a local official said.

    Since breaking from Sudan in 2011, oil-producing South Sudan has struggled to assert control over remote territories awash with weapons after a 1983-2005 war with the north and torn by ethnic rivalries.

    Dau Akoi, commissioner of Twic East, a county in Jonglei, said rebels loyal to former theology student David Yau Yau were believed to be behind the attack.

    Yau Yau last year recruited armed youths antagonized by a government campaign to end tribal violence in Jonglei, which human rights groups say was marked by abuses by soldiers.

    More than 1,500 people have been killed in Jonglei since independence, according to the United Nations. Yau Yau has refused President Salva Kiir’s offer of amnesty.

    Akoi said all the cattle were taken in the raid that killed 41 people and wounded 46.

    agencies

  • Conflicts Over Water Rise in Tanzania

    Conflicts Over Water Rise in Tanzania

    {{Conflicts over water are increasing in the sprawling Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania as farmers and herders jostle for dwindling water resources in the face of climate change.}}

    Over the past decade, Maasai pastoralists from the northern areas of Moshi and Arusha have been streaming towards the basin with tens of thousands of their cattle in search of water and grazing pasture.

    Hafsa Mtasiwa, the Pangani District Commissioner, told IPS that the Maasais’ traditional land was strained by overuse of water resources and overgrazing. She said in the last three years 2,987 herders with 87,1321 cows and 98,341 goats moved into the basin’s low land, destroying arable land.

    She said that although the government of this East African nation was trying to control the influx into the basin, a lack of policy coordination between relevant regional authorities made this difficult.

    “This is a very complex issue whose solution requires a general consensus between the fighting groups. You don’t simply chase away cattle keepers. We must educate them on the need to respect the rights of the others,” she said.

    The Pangani River Basin, which sprawls across 48,000 square kilometres, is already stressed as it faces continued demands on its water resources and ecosystems.

    According to the Water and Nature Initiative of the International Union of Conservation of Nature, the basin has a population of 3.4 million people, “80 per cent of whom rely on small-scale farming.

    Ecosystems are in decline and, with aquatic resources supplying up to 25 per cent of household income in parts of the basin, the poorest are those most affected by declining water levels.”

    Statistics from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) show rainfall patterns across many parts of the Pangani River Basin have drastically dropped in the past 10 years. Some areas that recorded 990 mm of rainfall a decade ago receive almost half of this now.

    “The impacts of climate change are very difficult to foresee, they keep changing from time to time. It could start with drought then abruptly switch to floods, the important thing is for the people to adapt,” TMA’s director general Agnes Kijazi told IPS by phone.

    {{Irrigation}}

    What little water there is, is mostly used for irrigation and electricity generation. The Clim-A-Net project, which aims to develop scientific knowledge on climate change, states on its website that “almost 90 percent of the surface flow in the Pangani Basin is used for irrigation and hydropower generation.”

    “We are spending sleepless nights just finding water, the little we get we feed our cattle. We have lost so many cows … The people here should also understand the situation we are in,” Vincent Ole Saidim, a Maasai youth living in Pangani, told IPS.

    But farmers here complain about the number of cattle that enter their fields, destroying crops and irrigation structures in the process.

    “These Maasai are very selfish people, they think they are always right, even when they destroy other people’s lives. I can’t bear them, they should go back to where they belong,” Mwasiti, Isinika a farmer in Pangani, told IPS.

    Residents from the region told IPS that over the last six months tensions between farmers and herders have been ongoing and many feel that there is no end in sight.

    The most recent incident that IPS noted occurred in August in Makenya village, a community of 600 people located about 19 km from the basin’s Pangani Town.

    According to residents, a scuffle involving farmers and pastoralists ensued when 24 herders attempted to take over the village’s central water source in order to feed their animals. The villagers managed to remove them and no deaths were reported.

    However, two years ago in Mbuguni village, which is about 18 km from Pangani Town, four farmers were hacked to death by angry Maasai morans (warriors) as they tried to stop a group of cattle from trampling on their maize seedlings.

    {{Reduced rainfall}}

    Omar Kibwana, a local government official from Mbuguni village, told IPS that conflict was rife because the government was reluctant to create borders separating farmers from pastoralists.

    “This issue should have been resolved a long time ago had there been clear demarcation,” he said.

    The Pangani Basin Water Board said it was aware of the challenges here.

    Arafa Maggidi, an engineer from Pangani Basin Water Authority, told IPS that while climate change was the main reason for the reduced water supply here, other factors such as deforestation, increasing number of livestock, and an expansion of farming activities contributed.

    “The threat of climate change and the need to adapt cannot be over emphasised. We are trying our very best to educate the people to change their life styles, they must understand by destroying environment they are preparing for their own suffering,” Maggidi said.

    “We strongly believe that successful management of the water resources has to integrate all environmental, economic and social demands,” he said.

    Going forward, scientists predict increasing temperatures, reduced rainfall and ultimately less water.

    According to Pius Yanda, a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam who is also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise of between 1.8 and 3.6 degrees Celsius, decreasing rainfall and increased evaporation in the river basin can be expected before the end of the century.

    But as they face an uncertain future, people here recall better times when the river was full and its flow was guaranteed throughout the year.

    “The river has lost all its old glory, some of the fish species have also disappeared, how disgusting,” Fundi Mhegema, a villager at Buyuni village in Pangani, told IPS.

    -IPS-

  • Ugandan Minister to Chair UN Board on ICT

    Ugandan Minister to Chair UN Board on ICT

    {{Uganda’s ICT minister Eng. John Nasasira has been nominated to head a UN body dealing with international telecommunications development.}}

    Nasasira was appointed chairman of the Smart Sustainable Development Model advisory board, a UN body under the International Telecommunications Union, whose headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

    “This is a great opportunity and honour, not only for me but also Uganda,” he told New Vision. “I will do my best to deliver on this assignment and represent our country as I always do.”

    The body, whose mandate is to link ICT for development and ICT for disaster management, is an initiative developed to mobilise infrastructure for social services in cases of disaster emergencies. Nasasira becomes a founding member and first chairman of the advisory board.

    The 20-person board includes ministers from Japan, Luxemburg, Indonesia, Thailand and Jamaica. It also includes satellite professionals from the UK, US, Netherlands, France Saudi Arabia and UAE. Others are officials from the UN and other humanitarian organisations.

  • Uganda Raises Security Alert to Maximum

    Uganda Raises Security Alert to Maximum

    Uganda’s police have raised the country’s “terror alert”, as domestic and US intelligence agencies warned of an imminent attack similar to last month’s assault on a shopping mall in neighbouring Kenya.

    Security staff have been recalled from leave and thousands of extra police deployed across the capital, Kampala.

    “Our intelligence and that of the Americans show an imminent terror attack is likely,” police spokesman Patrick Onyango told Reuters news agency on Friday.

    The Ugandan police appealed for calm and people’s understanding as the police carried out more random searches and said the force’s staff would not be allowed to take leave until further notice.

    Al-Shabab threat

    Uganda had already heightened security after the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, claimed by Somali armed group al-Shabab. About 70 people were killed during the siege of the mall.

    Al-Shabab also carried out the 2010 bombings in Kampala, targeting crowds gathered for the occasion of the football World Cup final in reprisal for Uganda’s participation in an African Union force that swept into Somalia to neutralise rebels and help end prolonged war and anarchy in the country.

    The US Embassy in Kampala said on Tuesday it was assessing reports that a “Westgate-style attack may soon occur in Kampala”.

    It also cautioned its citizens to be vigilant about visiting crowded areas.

    Al-Shabab has issued several threats to again strike Uganda, a staunch western ally, unless it withdraws from Somalia where its troops are fighting as part of a 17,000-strong AU peacekeeping force.

    Source: Reuters

  • DRC Urged to Punish Soldiers over Rapes

    DRC Urged to Punish Soldiers over Rapes

    The United Nations has urged the the DR Congo government to prosecute soldiers for dozens of sexual assaults committed against women last year in the country’s east.

    “Congolese officials should fulfil their obligations … towards the victims of such atrocious acts and their families to whom justice must be rendered,” the head of the UN mission in the country, MONUSCO, said in a statement on Sunday.

    Its joint investigation with the UN human rights agency recorded 135 cases of sexual violence committed by the regular army in and around the city of Minova in November 2012, MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler noted.

    According to Human Rights Watch, soldiers went on a 10-day raping and looting rampage in the area while they were fleeing an offensive by rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) on the main city of Goma, further north.

    “Almost a year after these incidents, none of the presumed perpetrators of these human rights violations has been brought to justice … in spite of the Congolese authorities’ commitment to prosecute the perpetrators,” the MONUSCO statement said.

    The DR Congo government signed an accord with the UN in April to step up the fight against sexual abuse by armed groups and soldiers, which remains rampant mainly in the volatile east of the country.

    The feeble DR Congo army has been much criticised for its brutality against civilians and corruption.

    UN officials said it “melted away” during the M23 advance on Goma, which the rebels took over on November 20 and held for nearly two weeks.

    MONUSCO also recalled in the statement that the investigation identified 59 cases of sexual violence committed by M23 fighters in the Goma area during the same period.

    The DR Congo army is heavily reliant on UN equipment and military support in its efforts to control the armed groups that hold sway in the resource-rich region.

    Source: Agencies

  • $6.7m Ivory Seized in Uganda

    $6.7m Ivory Seized in Uganda

    {{About 832 pieces of ivory, with an estimated worth of $6.7m, has been seized by Ugandan officials. }}

    Experts say some of the ivory is believed to have come from elephants poached outside Uganda and was apparently heading to Mombasa – Kenya’s port city.

    Uganda is believed to have about 5,000 elephants and this haul would represent the tusks from about 400 animals.

    After a sharp fall in the number of elephants in Africa, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned the trade in ivory in 1989.

    Even with the ban, poaching has increased in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa with criminal gangs slaughtering elephants for ivory markets in Asia.

    {agencies}

  • Tanzania Police Arrests 2 over Terror Trianing

    Tanzania Police Arrests 2 over Terror Trianing

    {{Tanzanian Police are holding two more suspects in connection with illegal military training in a forest using al-Shabaab manuals.}}

    The arrest puts the number of people arrested to thirteen, according to Mtwara regional police commander Zelothe Stephen. A fortnight ago, eleven people were arrested at Makolionga Mountain in Nanyumbu District following a tip-off from informers, who saw them performing military drills.

    Already, eleven suspects have appeared before a Nanyumbu court and were due to be transferred to Mtwara Town where, according to commander Stephen, their case was to be mentioned yesterday.

    “The two suspects will be joined with their eleven colleagues…a team of our lawyers is looking at the proper provisions of legislation to be able to charge them,’’ said Mr Stephen.

    The RPC who was addressing a news conference said investigations into the al-Shabaab training was ongoing, adding that there were still unanswered questions that needed a thorough probe.

    The alleged al-Shabaab recruits were found in possession of 25 digital video discs (DVDs) featuring Al-Shabaab training manuals and locally made firearms.

    After previewing the DVDs, the police found out that they contained footage featuring activities of the militants and the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

    citizen

  • Downstream Countries to Hold talks with Ethiopia Over Dam Row

    Downstream Countries to Hold talks with Ethiopia Over Dam Row

    {{Officials from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will meet next week to commence discussions over concerns about a massive hydropower plant project that Addis Ababa wants to build on the Nile River.}}

    “The meeting is scheduled to take place on 22 October between officials of the three countries”, said Fekahmed Negash, boundary and trans-boundary rivers affairs director at the ministry of water, irrigation and energy.

    According to Negash, the three parties will discuss ways of implementing the final recommendations announced in June by the international panel of experts who were tasked to assess the possible impacts of Ethiopia’s grand renaissance dam project on downstream countries.

    In their final findings, a panel of 10 experts conclused that the dam project won’t have a significant effect on lower riparian countries.

    Following the report’s release, Sudan accepted the final findings and even offered to send experts and technicians to help with the construction of the dam.

    However, Egypt has refused to accept the report’s conclusions, calling for more studies and consultations with Ethiopia and Sudan.

    The meeting, which has previously been cancelled twice before, will be held in Khartoum.

    According to the ministry, the tripartite meeting will be the first since the international panel of experts submitted their final findings to the governments of the three countries.

    The panel’s report hasn’t yet been made public, but Negash says experts recommended further studies to analyse the impact of the dam on Egypt’s water use and future Nile dams to be built by Sudan and Ethiopia.

    Egypt fears that the $4.6-billion mega dam project, which Ethiopia is building near the Sudanese border, would diminish water flows to its territory and insists that its historic water rights be respected.

    The Nile River, of which Ethiopia sources 85%, is a lifeline to over 90% of Egyptians.

    When the 6,000 megawatt plant is completed, Ethiopia plans to sell clean and cheap energy to neighbouring countries, including Egypt.

    The project, which Ethiopia is fully funding from its own coffers, is currently 23% completed.

    {sudantribune}