Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{As Ugandan schools opened for their third term, Monday was characterised by padlocks on classroom doors and general inactivity as teachers and learners spent hours doing nothing.}}

Most schools, majority implementing the government’s universal education, while showing a façade of normalcy in the morning, did not have business as usual as the day progressed; students sat in half-empty classrooms while many others were sent home by frustrated head teachers.

Meanwhile, the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) yesterday warned that the government’s failure to implement the 20 per cent salary increment it agreed with teachers last year will undermine confidence in democratic governance and institutions in the country.

It emerged last evening that teachers refused to meet President Museveni after they were instructed to select only four members for the meeting.

“It is despicable and unacceptable for the government to renege on its contractual obligations with its employees and this will definitely affect output and undermine the confidence of Ugandans in the institution of government,”FDC spokesperson said.

A lion has mauled to death a keeper at a zoo in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, after he forgot to close the door to the inner cage where the animal sleeps, officials say.

The lion, named Kenenisa after the famous Ethiopian athlete Kenenisa Bekele, bit Abera Silsay, 51, in the neck, they said.

The attack is said to have lasted for 15-20 minutes.

The zoo was opened in 1948 for the pet lions of former emperor Haile Selassie.

Officials say about 2,000 people visit it daily.

Guards tried to scare off the lion by firing shots into the air, but to no avail.

Mr Abera was attacked as he was cleaning the lion’s cage.

“He entered cage number 10 where Kenenisa lives and he forgot to close the door [to the lion’s sleeping chamber],” the zoo’s director general Musie Kiflom told media.

“Finally, the lion came and he mauled him,” he said.

Mr Musie told journalists that police were called to help, but it was “very difficult to save our colleague”.

Mr Abera died at the scene, he added.

The zoo is home to 15 endangered Abyssinian Lions, which are found in Ethiopia.

The lions are kept in enclosed cages, but officials plan to move the zoo to a larger, grassier enclosure in the next 13 months.

This is the second time a zookeeper has been killed by a lion at the centre in the past 17 years.

{wirestory}

{{Donors have pledged 1.8bn euros ($2.4bn; £1.5bn) at a conference in Brussels to help Somalia end more than two decades of conflict.}}

The money is part of a “New Deal” for what is widely regarded as a failed state, officials said.

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab dismissed the meeting as “Belgian waffle”.

Al-Shabab is fighting to oust Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government, the first to be recognised by the US in more than 20 years.

The group controls most of southern Somalia, but it has been driven out of the main cities and towns, including the capital Mogadishu, by an African Union (AU) force backing the government.

The EU and Somali government believe now is a good time to adopt the programme as the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front.

Mr Mohamud told media he welcomed the New Deal.

“It’s a standard deal throughout the world in the post-conflict environment. This is a deal that is based on Somalia-led initiatives,” he said.

He said he would target four key priorities – security, legal reform, public finances and economic recovery.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the extra money would support a “new phase in the life of Somalia”.

The EU would give 650m euros, while the rest would come from countries such as Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK, he said.

The EU contribution would be in addition to the $1.6bn it gave Somalia from 2008 to 2013.

Most of this money was used to finance the AU force of some 18,000 troops.

{{Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto Monday morning departed for The Hague in Netherlands ahead of resumption of trial on Tuesday.}}

Ruto facing crimes against humanity charges returned to Kenya Thursday last week after the International Criminal Court (ICC) Presiding Judge Chille Eboe-Osuji adjourned the trials due to witness hitch.

The first prosecution witness, a lady, is expected to take stand on Tuesday.

Sources told The Standard that she will testify on how the arson attack on Kiambaa Church in which 30 people were killed at the height of 2007/2008 post-election violence was planned.

The deputy president might be away for 18-days if he opts not travel back over the weekends since the ICC trial will run until October 4, when a two-week break is scheduled.

After the scheduled adjournment on October 4, Ruto’s trial will resume on October 14 and will run up to November 1.

Mr Ruto, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and former radio journalist Joshua Sang are accused of orchestrating violence after elections in 2007, and are being tried separately at The Hague.

Mr Ruto becomes the first serving official to appear at the ICC.

The two trials are seen as a crucial test of the ICC’s ability to prosecute political leaders.

{Standard}

{{About 12 years ago, a man in a hoodie with his face almost covered came into the InterAsian Market and Deli on Nolensville Pike Road in Nashville, Tennessee. It was near closing time.}}

Somboon Wu, who was working that night with his father, remembers that the night was cold. He also remembers the man buying beer, then asking for cigarettes. And when Wu’s father opened the cash register, he remembers the customer pulling out a handgun and demanding all the cash in the register.

Wu says his father, Keosavanh Xayarath, always said two things: “Stay calm” and “Money can be replaced”. So he gave the guy the cash. The store had been open for several years by that point and had never been robbed before. That robbery was the only time his father had been threatened with a gun, according to Wu.

Other than a deep gratitude that no one was hurt, the incident didn’t really change the family much.

Fast forward to September 6, 2013. Two men approach the younger Wu at the market and explain they have something to leave for the owner. One man places a white envelope on the counter.“He told me to make sure the owner got it because there was money inside,” Wu said. “I slid the envelope back toward him and told him he’d have to come back when my dad came in. I was wary of these two.”

The two men retrieved the envelope and stepped outside, where Wu watched them talk to each other. Then they walked back in, dropped the envelope on the counter and walked away. “I didn’t know what it was, so I took it to our attorney,” Wu said. “He was floored.”

In addition to $400, inside the envelope was a handwritten note on yellow notepaper. It begun, “I am a drug addict.”

The letter went on to explain, with a few misspellings, that the money and letter were an attempt to make amends to the store owner for the 12-year-old robbery.

The family posted a photo of the letter to Instagram and Twitter with the caption, “To the anonymous person, we want to tell you all is forgiven and thank you for the note. We don’t care about the money. We are more inspired and touched by your act.

We hope you find peace in life and prosperity. Best wishes!”

Wu said his father wished he would have recognised the man. When asked what the men looked like, Wu said he didn’t want to go into too much detail out of respect for his wishes to remain anonymous. Xayarath also told Wu he wished he had known then what the robber was going through.

“We think he had a lot of courage to come back and say he’s sorry,” Wu said. “He may not realise how many lives he’s touched. If he happens to read this and if he ever wants to talk, he is welcome back here.” (CNN).