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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • EU Criticises Tanzania over Media Ban

    EU Criticises Tanzania over Media Ban

    {{The European Union yesterday joined rights activists in a chorus of condemnation at government’s decision to ban Mwananchi and Mtanzania newspapers and urged authorities to do whatever they could to preserve the freedom of expression and the right to information.}}

    The EU expressed its conviction that a constructive dialogue between the government and media stakeholders would have sorted out any differences.

    The EU position comes just a day after outgoing US ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso Lenhardt, voiced against the temporal ban of the newspapers for 14 and 90 days respectively, saying the move was counter to democracy whose central tenet is freedom of the press.

    Yesterday, the EU said in a statement that it was concerned about the government’s decision to temporarily suspend the two newspapers and restrictions on ‘Mwananchi’ website and the ‘Rai’ newspaper. EU heads of mission in Tanzania said that it was the duty of the media to work within the law and to make every effort to adopt and adhere to professional standards.

    The statement read further that: “But press freedom and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of the people, which call for circumspection and proportionality in the application of the laws that govern the media.”

    NMG

  • ADF Approves Lake Turkana Project Guarantee Fund

    ADF Approves Lake Turkana Project Guarantee Fund

    {{The first of the African Development Fund’s Partial Risk Guarantees (ADF PRG), the Lake Turkana Transmission Line Delay Partial Risk Guarantee, has been approved for US$27mn}}

    The ADF’s partial risk guarantee is a risk mitigation instrument that covers private lenders and investors against the risk of a possible government failure to meet contractual obligations to a project.

    It will support the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya which involves the development of a 300MW wind farm comprising 365 wind turbines of 850kW capacity each and a 33kV electrical network.

    The average electricity production of the project is estimated at 1,440GWh per year.
    The Lake Turkana Transmission Line Delay Partial Risk Guarantee will be used to alleviate the risk for the construction of a 428km publicly owned transmission line between Loyangalani and Suswa and associated substations needed to connect the project to the national grid.

    The partial risk guarantee will support the Kenyan Government’s on-time delivery of the transmission line and will reduce the risk of it being unable to meet payment obligations.

    More specifically, it will provide partial risk mitigation to Lake Turkana Wind Power and the providers of debt financing to the project for risks associated with construction delays.

    wirestory

  • PPC to build US$230M Cement Plant in DRC

    PPC to build US$230M Cement Plant in DRC

    {{South Africa-based cement manufacturer Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) is to invest US$230mn in building a new manufacturing plant in DR Congo.}}

    PPC chief executive Ketso Gordhan said the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with local partner Barnet Group to start work on the greenfield project, which includes the construction of a one million ton per annum cement factory and associated quarry.

    The new factory will be located 20km from Kimpese in western DR Congo, which will ensure easy access to the main markets, PPC said.

    Gordhan said, “22 per cent of PPC’s revenue comes from outside South Africa at present, but the target is to increase this to 40 per cent by our 2016 financial year.”

    Gordhan added the company made significant progress with its Africa strategy in 2012, acquiring a 27 per cent stake in the Habesha Cement Share Company in Ethiopia for US$12mn, and 51 per cent of Cimerwa of Rwanda for US$70mn.

    The company announced in February 2013 that its Zimbabwean subsidiary, Portland Holdings, would be building a one million ton per annum cement plant in Harare to service its markets in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

    {africanreview}

  • Report: Tanzania Most Unfavourable to be Senior Citizen

    Report: Tanzania Most Unfavourable to be Senior Citizen

    {{Mauritius is Africa’s best country to grow old in, a new survey shows.}}

    The UN-backed Global AgeWatch Index 2013, released Tuesday, also ranked Tanzania as the most unfavourable country on the continent to be a senior citizen in.

    The survey is the first of its kind to collate global data on the wellbeing of the elderly–defined as those above the age of 60.

    However the index ranked only eight of Africa’s 54 countries, due to what it said was a lack of comparable data.

    “Given that by 2050 there will be 215 million older people –representing 10 per cent of the global population – the lack of data [on Africa] is a key concern,” the researchers said.

    The 91 countries surveyed, however, constituted 89 per cent of the world’s older population, the report noted.

    The index also shows that the world is rapidly ageing, with a fifth of the population– some two billion senior citizens–expected to be made up of the elderly by 2050.

    This would outnumber those under the age of 15, and is attributed to better diets and sanitation, advances in medicine, greater prosperity and falling birth rates.

    Currently, those aged 60 and above number 809 million; 11 per cent of the world’s population, the index, compiled by the HelpAge International advocacy group and the UN Population Fund, said.

    The survey used four key indicators in the rankings; income security, education and employment, health status and an enabling environment. This new data would help bring in normally ‘invisible’ older people into public policy making, the researchers noted.

    “[This report] broadens the way we understand the needs and opportunities of older people, going far beyond the adequacy of pensions and other income support which, though critical, often narrows policy thinking and debate about the needs of this age group,” Prof Sir Richard Jolly of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, said.

    The researchers also said that following the rankings of the BRICS countries—which account for 25 per cent of world GDP—it was apparent that there was no correlation between a country’s economic growth and older people’s wellbeing.

    A new landmark survey this week said that many Africans felt they were not benefiting from the rapid growth on the continent that has given rise to the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative.

    Mauritius’ top ranking is attributed to a long-standing commitment to social protection for its citizens, as well as older people’s positive perceptions on the quality of their life. The island nation was also recently ranked as Africa’s happiest country in another UN-sponsored report.

    Tanzania in contrast was said to be experiencing generalised insecurity, widespread poverty, and rapid social and economic change, with older people working well into old age.

    “Indeed, 73 per cent of older people remain economically active, with most engaged in small-scale agriculture,” the researchers noted, but added that the country was looking to provide universal pension as a first step.

    The survey notes that South Africa has since the end of apartheid had to reprioritise healthcare to benefit as many people as possible, leading to scenario where there now are only eight geriatric doctors for the country’s older population of four million.

    In Nigeria, the survey notes that the provision of basic healthcare and pension is sorely missing, despite its considerable oil wealth, while Ghana conversely has strong health services such as the National Health Insurance Scheme introduced in 2000.

    Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Canada topped the overall rankings.

    Africa Rankings (/100)
    1-Mauritius 58.0, 2-South Africa 41.0, 3-Ghana 39.2, 4-Morocco 26.6, 5-Nigeria 24.0, 6-Malawi 17.8, 7-Rwanda 16.6, 8-Tanzania 4.6

    NMG

  • Somali militants say ‘Western’ forces attack coastal base from beach

    Somali militants say ‘Western’ forces attack coastal base from beach

    Somali Islamist militants said on Saturday “Western” forces attacked a house in one of its coastal bases in the town of Barawe under the cover of dark, killing one rebel fighter.

    Foreign forces landed on the beach at Barawe, about 180 km (110 miles) south of Mogadishu, and launched an assault that drew gunfire from rebel fighters, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab’s military operations, told media.

    It was not immediately clear why the Barawe base had been targeted specifically, nor whether the assault was related to the attack on a Kenyan mall two weeks ago, which the al Qaeda-linked group said it carried out and which killed at least 67.

    Western navies patrol the sea off Somalia – mired in conflict for more than two decades – and have in the past launched strikes on land from warships.

    No foreign military units typically involved in such operations in Somalia have said they were involved in the strike. One Western official in the region declined to comment.

    Kenyan forces stationed in the southern parts of Somalia were unavailable for comment.

    “Westerners in boats attacked our base at Barawe beach and one was martyred from our side,” Musab said.

    “No planes or helicopters took part in the fight. The attackers left weapons, medicine and stains of blood, we chased them,” he said.

    Many residents said they were woken by the noise of heavy gunfire late on Friday night.

    “We were awoken by heavy gunfire last night, we thought an al Shabaab base at the beach was captured,” Sumira Nur, a mother of four told media.

    “We also heard sounds of shells but we do not know where they landed. We don’t have any other information,” she said.

    Although the United States does not report its activities in Somalia, it has used drones in recent years to kill Somali and foreign al Shabaab fighters.

    In January, the French military used helicopters to attack an al Shabaab base in a southern Somalia village to rescue a French hostage. Two French commandos were killed and the insurgents later claimed they had killed the agent.

    Western nations are worried that Somalia will sink back into chaos and provide a launchpad for Islamist militancy despite a fragile recovery after two decades of war.

    Al Shabaab were driven out of Mogadishu in late 2011 and are struggling to hold on to territory elsewhere in the face of attacks by Kenyan, Ethiopian and African Union forces trying to prevent Islamist militancy spreading out from Somalia.

    Al Shabaab wants to impose its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, across the Horn of Africa state.

  • Gunmen Kill Kenyan Muslim Cleric

    Gunmen Kill Kenyan Muslim Cleric

    {{Gunmen in Kenya have killed a radical Muslim cleric who had preached a mosque linked in the past to Somali Islamist militants, raising tensions in the port city of Mombasa.}}

    The apparent assassination of Sheikh Ibrahim Omar, who died along with three other men in the same car, follows the killing of at least 67 people in last month’s attack on a Nairobi shopping mall claimed by Somalia’s militant al Shabaab group.

    Omar’s associates and some people who attended his mosque said he was the latest victim in a string of extra-judicial killings of Muslims by Kenyan security forces, an allegation denied by the police.

    The shooting took place late on Thursday night, just a few hundred meters (yards) from where another firebrand cleric, Aboud Rogo, was shot dead in his vehicle in August 2012 in a strikingly similar attack. Both Kenya and United States had accused Rogo of recruiting and fund-raising for al Shabaab.

    “This is no doubt a police execution given what has happened in Nairobi,” said 37-year-old Abdul Hassan Omar in Mombasa’s rundown Majengo district, where Omar and Rogo both preached. “I will be surprised if Muslims do not protest against this.”

    Mombasa county police chief Robert Kitur said the police had nothing to do with Omar’s killing, but that they would not allow any protests after Friday prayers to lead to unrest.

    “We are warning them not to dare because we shall deal with them,” Kitur said.

    Rogo’s death last year unleashed deadly riots in Mombasa’s run-down neighborhoods where he commanded a loyal support base. Anti-riot police patrolled Majengo on Friday and many businesses remained shut.

    wirestory

  • ICC Supporters Harassed, Rights Group Claims

    ICC Supporters Harassed, Rights Group Claims

    A human rights organsiation has claimed that people perceived to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) cases against two Kenyan leaders are being harassed.

    Human Rights Watch on Friday alleged that there has been increased threats and intimidation of human rights defenders especially those supporting the ICC trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and former radio journalist Joshua Sang.

    The three face charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence.

    “Kenyan authorities should immediately condemn this trend. The authorities should investigate and prosecute threats, intimidation, and killings of human rights defenders,” Mr Daniel Bekele, the Human Rights Watch Africa director said in a statement.

    Mr Bekele said the threats and intimidation of human rights defenders, meddling with witnesses and the heinous killing of two prominent rights activists highlighted the worsening environment for human rights defenders in Kenya.

    He added: “President Kenyatta needs to assure the world that his government will protect people who are active in the community and ensure that those responsible for threats and intimidation against human rights defenders are held to account.”

    He cited recent allegations by the former chairman of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Mr Maina Kiai that some people had threatened to burn down his home after it was reported in some blogs that he will testify before the ICC.

    “The government should make clear that it won’t tolerate intimidation and violence against those who speak their minds,” he added.

    Beyond the ICC issue, Mr Bekele said the broader environment for human rights defenders in Kenya appeared to have worsened.

    He claimed in the last two months, a prominent human rights lawyer in the western town of Bungoma and a human rights activist in Moyale in Kenya’s North Eastern region were shot dead by unidentified assailants.

    “These killings may be part of a wider attack on civil society. The government should show that it is ready to reverse this trend by ensuring that police investigators can get to the bottom of the killing of these human rights defenders, and by protecting other activists who face threats,” he said.

    Nation

  • Amnesty International says more than 200 killed in Sudan protests

    Amnesty International says more than 200 killed in Sudan protests

    {{More than 200 people were killed in the protests that erupted across Sudan last week, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.}}

    “The number of deaths of protesters is estimated at 210 people in Khartoum alone, according to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union. Amnesty International has spoken to doctors who report that the majority of deaths in hospital were due to gunshot wounds to the chest and head. The death toll estimate does not include people killed in other towns and cities in Sudan where protests continue, or those who were not taken to hospital,” the UK-based rights watchdog said yesterday.

    The demonstrations were directly linked to the government’s decision to scale back fuel subsidies which almost doubled the prices of gasoline and diesel.

    Khartoum denied that its security forces have used live ammunition and suggested that rebels from the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) infiltrated the protests and carried out the killings. The government insists that only 34 people were killed including policemen contrary to higher figures offered by activists and opposition.

    Around 700 people were arrested in connections with the riots which saw vandalizing to gas stations and public transportation buses.

    Today, a group of 35 people appeared before a judge in Khartoum’s Haj Youssef district, defense lawyer Muatassim al-Haj told Reuters. Among the defendants were five people from South Sudan, three women and eight teenagers, he said.

    “None of them was actually arrested during the demonstrations but only on the following day,” Haj added.

    The judge offered to release the group on a bail of 20,000 Sudanese pounds ($2,500) but they could not raise the funds, he said.

    In today’s weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, the interior minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed briefed his peers on last week’s demonstrations and emphasized the right to peacefully protest but he pointed out that some protestors resorted to violence and vandalism which required deploying troops to protect strategic facilities.

    According to cabinet spokesman Omar Mohamed Saleh, some individuals and groups used firearm against innocent citizens in areas in the outskirts of the capital that had no demonstrations or vandalism incidents. He added that some arrests were made in connection with these instances while others are still being sought.

    Saleh said that the report also mentioned that vandalism covered large parts of the capital including 42 gas station, 9 pharmacies, 40 public vehicles, 2 companies, eight police stations, 81 comprehensive security sites, 35 police vehicles, 5 banks and 23 governmental buildings.

    The interior minister asserted that what happened is not a protest against the economic measures , but organized operations for the purpose of sabotage and looting.

    The governor of Khartoum state Abdulrahman al-Khidir told the cabinet during the meeting that the police never used live ammunition and that all the deaths occurred as a result of “sinful hands” meant to ignite sedition in the country.

    Al-Khidir said they releases all those who participated in the demonstrations but took no part in any subversive activities or infringement on the lives or properties of citizens.

    The cabinet meeting hailed the police that avoided using force and exercised maximum restraint.

    In a related issue, Sudanese authorities detained 9 female students from University of Khartoum (UoK) who demonstrated to protest against the crackdown on protestors.

    Activists said that dozens of UoK carried signs calling on Bashir to step down and releasing detainees
    “A security patrol came and took 9 of them,” they said.

    On social networking sites, activists have circulated invitation for demonstration tomorrow across Sudan following Friday prayers.

    ST

  • Fastjet Posts Mega Loss Over 6 Months

    Fastjet Posts Mega Loss Over 6 Months

    {{Low-cost airline Fastjet recorded a whopping $13.3 million (Sh21.9 billion) loss from its Tanzania operations in the first half of 2013, casting a bleak future to an airline, which many thought would be their new saviour.}}

    Though some aviation experts including the company’s Chief Executive Ed Winter say the loss won’t affect Fastjet operations in Tanzania, the figures released show a contrasting reality.

    To put things into perspective, the airline, made an average loss of $2.21 million(Sh3.6 billion) a month between January and June, this year as it sought to build its empire in a country where both private and state owned airlines have been in a shambles.

    The loss Fastjet posted in Tanzania is 53 per cent of $24.9 million, which the low-cost airline recorded at group level during the same period, an interim report released by the company says.

    “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) loss $24.9million including $13.3million trading losses in the Tanzanian operation…Tanzanian operation reported quarterly EBIT loss of $9.1 million in Q1 and $4.2m in Q2 – a 54% reduction quarter on quarter,” says the report seen by The Citizen.

    According to the interim report, the company’s net cash by the end of June, this year was $4.4million. Subsequent to this $9.3million (gross) raised via equity issuance, whereby in Tanzania Fastjet achieved $81 revenue per passenger in June – almost two times $46 it recorded in January, this year..

    However, the company downplayed the poor performance it recorded in the first half, saying the future was still bright in Tanzania’s aviation sector.

    “Tanzanian operation is now profitable on an underlying route level basis; and based on current performance once scale increases with additional routes and fully utilised resources the business is expected to become profitable at the EBIT level… Growing endorsement of the Fastjet brand and low cost airline model by Tanzanian consumers”

    The company’s interim report further states, “Though it did post operational losses of $9.1million and $4.2million in first quota and second quota of this year respectively, and based on current performance once scale increases with additional routes and fully utilised resources the business is expected to become profitable at the EBIT level.”

    The whopping losses, according to the company, were also caused mainly by start-up losses associated with launching Fastjet Tanzania in 2012.

    “The company remains optimistic about the future, expecting its financial situation to considerably improve in the second half of 2013 with further network expansion planned in Malawi and Zambia.”

    Though some aviation experts including the company’s Chief Executive Ed Winter, say the loss won’t affect Fastjet operations in Tanzania, the figures released show a contracting reality.

    {wirestory}

  • Juba in Talks with Yau Yau Group to Abandon Rebellion

    Juba in Talks with Yau Yau Group to Abandon Rebellion

    {{South Sudan said on Wednesday it had started direct talks with Jonglei-based militia leader David Yau Yau, in an apparent bid to end the almost two-year conflict which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and uprooted scores of people from their homes.}}

    “There is a positive beginning this time. The Murle elders – especially religious leaders – have taken big strides towards ending conflict in Jonglei state. They have been holding direct talks with knowledge of the government with David Yau Yau”, a senior official with the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

    A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the talks were sanctioned by president Salva Kiir Mayardit during series of meetings with Murle community leaders and intellectuals from the area reportedly held in August in the country’s capital Juba.

    Senior military sources have also confirmed the talks, stressing that the government had decided t to give the peace initiative spearheaded by the Murle community and religious leaders a chance to resolve the conflict.

    “As far as I know the constitutional mandate, the SPLA (South Sudanese army) acts on orders to protect lives and properties but does not decide what the government should do to address conflict.

    It is the government to come up with the way forward to addressing the Jonglei which is what the president had decided to do. He has now given peace initiative by Murle elders and religious a chance”, a senior military officer told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

    Baguoot Amum Okiech, a national legislative assembly member on a special women’s ticket, told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that the president remained committed to seeking peaceful dialogue as a means to end the conflict.

    Okiech is the wife of the late Nyancigak Nyachiluk, a highly respected former senior member of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) from the Murle ethnic group in Jonglei state.

    She said Kiir is now working to develop initiatives with various institutions and groups to end the conflict in Jonglei.

    “I want to say that the government is also ready to take any step to see if, once and for all, we can end the conflict, said Okiech.

    “We have the support from peace loving group. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has made it very clear that it would be ready to assist [the] peace process in the country, she added.

    Jonglei has been the scene of ongoing violence between the rival Murle and Lou Nuer tribal groups, as well as fighting between Yau Yau’s fighters and the SPLA.

    Meanwhile, SPLA spokesperson Colonel Philip Aguer said on Wednesday that Gordon Koang, a militia leader whose forces have already decided to abandon a rebellion against the South Sudanese government in Upper Nile state, had yet to return to the country.

    Some 1,500 rebel fighters under Koang’s command handed themselves over to the SPLA on 28 September after accepting a presidential amnesty.

    “Still there is no official information about Gordon Koang. It is [General] Oyuok Ogot who has come. Arrangements are being made to verify the actual number of this group”, he said.

    Aguer said weapons and ammunitions, as well as vehicles in possession of the group loyal to Koang were most likely supplied by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

    {Sudantribune}