Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Ministers and other top African leaders met in Addis Ababa to forge a way to deal with the continent’s population growth that has now surpassed the one billion mark.}}

The 179 governments committed to a 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) to deliver human rights-based developments.

Since the adoption of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in 1994, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), working jointly with the African Union and UNFPA, has provided intergovernmental platform to translate the ICPD into regional realities.

In 2012, while global growth declined by 2.7 per cent, due to the economic crisis, Africa bucked the trend and grew at five per cent.

Notably, all the sub-regions grew faster than the global average, with the highest rate being 6.3 per cent and the lowest one 3.5 per cent.

“Smart investments in human capital and institutional capacity with emphasis on domestic mobilisation are critical.

Therefore strong government commitment coupled with strategic planning are key,” Mr Ato Hailemariam Dessalegn, Ethiopia prime minister, said at the opening of the ICPD conference.

“That means despite our exceptional demographic vitality, and even more astounding our five per cent average growth, we are not capable of creating the 15 million jobs we need every year,” he added.

Uganda was represented by state ministers Sarah Opendi (Health), Fred Omach (Finance) and Rukia Nakadama (Gender).

{Thecitizen}

African leaders agreed on Saturday that Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta should not attend trial at the International Criminal Court if the U.N. Security Council did not agree to delay the proceedings, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said.

Tedros Adhanom said that the African Union would request the trial be deferred under article 16 of the court’s Rome Statute that allows a delay of a year subject to renewal and would request a postponement if that demand was not agreed.

“If that is not met what the summit decided is that President Kenyatta should not appear until the request we have made is actually answered,” Tedros told journalists, explaining decisions of a meeting to discuss Africa’s relations with the court.

wirestory

{{The Renault-Nissan Alliance has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with West African conglomerate Stallion Group to start a vehicle assembly unit in Nigeria
According to a media report, the car makers have decided to set up a base in Nigeria as they expect the government to approve a new policy designed to encourage the development of the automobile industry in the country.}}

The first vehicle from this assembly unit to be introduced to the market would be the Nissan Patrol SUV in early 2014, company sources said.

Renault-Nissan Alliance chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn said, “Nissan is preparing to make Nigeria a significant manufacturing hub in Africa. As the first-mover in Nigeria, we are positioned for the long-term growth of this market and across the broader continent.”

Stallion Group, which is Nissan’s exclusive distributor in the country, is also expected to increase capacity to 45,000 at its existing plant in Lagos, Renault-Nissan Alliance said. It will be an assemble of cars, light-duty trucks, pickups and vans, media added.

{africanreview}

{{Norway said on Thursday that one of its citizens may have been involved in the attack on a Kenyan shopping mall last month which killed at least 67 people and was claimed by Somali Islamist militants.}}

More than two weeks after the mall assault, the worst attack on Kenyan soil since al Qaeda bombed the U.S. Embassy in 1998, it remains unclear how many gunmen were involved and what their nationalities were.

Kenyan government officials at the time of the raid said 10-15 militants had stormed the upscale mall, but so far only four have been named. Witnesses have said some of the gunmen may have escaped the building early on in the four-day stand-off with the military.

Norwegian investigators were now in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Norway’s police security service, known as PST, said.

“PST has received information that a Norwegian citizen of Somali origin may have been involved in the planning and execution of the attack, and PST decided to initiate an investigation on this basis,” PST said in a statement.

Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels have said they staged the attack as an act of revenge for Kenya’s military campaign in the Horn of Africa nation to help neutralize al Shabaab and restore order there after two decades of anarchy.

Jan Glent, a PST section leader, told Norway’s private broadcaster TV2 that he could not rule out “more Norway-linked suspects”.

U.S. special forces carried out a raid on the Somali town of Barawe, a rebel stronghold south of the capital Mogadishu, on Saturday to capture a militant commander linked to multiple plots against Kenya. The mission failed after the Navy SEALS retreated under heavy gunfire.

U.S. officials identified the target as Ikrima, the nom de guerre of Abdikadar Mohamed Abdikadar who Kenyan and Western security agencies say was a go-between for commanders of al Shabaab with al Qaeda and Kenya’s home-bred militants.

Earlier this week, Norwegian TV2 reported Ikrima travelled to Norway where he applied for asylum, but left in 2008 before there was a decision on his application. When in Norway, he lived in the Oslo area but visited Somalia, the channel said.

-Reuters

{{The first in a fleet of United Nations drones will begin monitoring rebel activity on the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo next month, a UN commander said mid-this week.}}

General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, commander with the UN peacekeeping brigade in the country, said the unarmed drone would be airborne by the last week of November.

“The initial base to operate the aerial vehicle will be in Goma, and for five months we are going to increase the equipment,” he said.

The brigade hopes to have surveillance 24 hours a day by “March or April”, he added.

The United Nations said in August it had ordered its first surveillance drones from an Italian company to patrol the volatile eastern region, centred around the flashpoint city of Goma.

The drones’ target will be the activities of the M23 movement.

{agencies}

{{A proposed law that seeks the withdrawal of Kenya’s membership from the Rome Statute which establishes the International Criminal Court will be introduced in the National Assembly next week.}}

Leader of the Majority Coalition in the National Assembly Aden Duale vowed to push on with the Bill that seeks to repeal the International Crimes Act, to end the country’s pact with ICC.

Duale repeated the stand that has now been adopted by the African Union that the ICC is meant to punish Africans, as it has not prosecuted perpetrators of atrocities in other countries where thousands have been killed.

“This is a very unfair approach and we need to ask the following questions; is it about skin colour, is it about race, what scale does the ICC use to weigh crimes against humanity to pursue and which to let go,” Duale posed.

He said the resolutions of Saturday’s African Union Extra Ordinary Meeting will have no effect on parliamentarians’ push to pass the Bill.

“If other African countries decide to do the same in their summit in Addis, that is within their right as countries and within the Rome Statute. They won’t and they don’t need to seek the permission of anybody including Kofi Annan, who in our opinion left his country of origin, Ghana, 35 years ago,” said Duale.

The 54-member African Union is due to meet from Friday to debate a possible withdrawal from the International Criminal Court over claims it targets Africa and has specifically demanded that the war crimes court drop the proceedings against Kenya’s top leaders.

Duale added that African states do not need permission from anybody including former UN chief Annan to withdraw from the ICC.

“In any case, the Rome Statute is not a pact with Allah. It was done by men and women and can only be undone by the same men and women. We are up to the task. The leaders of African states are up to the task.”

But CORD MPs later in the afternoon, convened a news conference to urge President Uhuru Kenyatta to co-operate with the ICC.

Eight MPs led by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed vowed to lobby MPs to ensure the Duale’s Bill fails.

“This is not a government sponsored Bill, it’s brought by people who are eager to please the President and his Deputy. We are asking Duale not to bring the Bill to Parliament. It is of no good.”

They also urged African states against endorsing a mass pullout from the Rome Statute.

“The decision on how ICC will go depends on the members states who ratified the Rome Statute and not the 54 states in the AU. We see this move is almost meant to blackmail, it’s not meant to achieve any legal reason,” David Ochieng (Ugenya) added.

Meanwhile, the Leader of Majority in the National Assembly has said the government will not allow any Kenyan to be tried in a foreign country.

Duale gave assurance that Kenya is a sovereign country which will not send Kenyans, including former journalist Walter Barasa to a foreign country.

“We are saying (that) never in the history of Kenya shall we allow any of our citizens, whether it’s a President or a Deputy President or an ordinary citizen including the journalist Barasa to be tried by a foreign court,” said Duale.

He said Kenya has a robust Judiciary, a strong Constitution, the best Bill of Rights and they wouldn’t allow anybody else to interfere with Kenyans.

Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua arap Sang’s trial is currently underway in The Hague where they are facing crimes against humanity charges.

President Kenyatta who also faces similar charges is set to stand trial in the same court on November 12.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed said it will be a complicated affair for the President to face trial while in office because it has never happened world over.

capitalFM

{{Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are behind concerted efforts to lobby African countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court at the African union summit in Addis Ababa, a Sudanese diplomat revealed.}}

The AU is holding an extraordinary summit Friday to discuss the continent’s future relationship with the Hague-based court amid calls from rights groups to reconsider the move.

“The majority of the African leaders are insisting to vote for the withdrawal from the so-called ICC,” Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr Abdul-Rahman Siralkhatim, said on Thursday.

“This summit will be a historic one for African leaders to put an end to this western hostile tool against Africa,” the Ambassador said.

“The meeting will discuss issues of the appointment of a new chairman of the African Peace and Security Council and Africa’s relation with the International Criminal Court and its accusations against African leaders” he added.

ICC faces accusations from African leaders of targeting only Africans.

The court currently has two high profile cases against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir and Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, including his deputy William Ruto.

It is expected that the 34 African countries that are party to the Rome Statute will meet Friday to discuss possible withdrawal from the ICC.

The AU has previously called on its members not to cooperate with the ICC, and has asked the UN Security Council to suspend the Kenyan and Sudanese cases.

The AU has also asked the court to allow Libya to try its own citizens within its territory.

NMG