Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto and broadcaster Joshua arap Sang want their trial at the International Criminal Court held at different times with that of President Kenyatta in a move aimed at avoiding a vacuum in the country’s leadership.}}

The matter was raised on Monday at a status conference that had been convened to discuss among other issues, the duration of the prosecution case and the average time witnesses should take while giving their testimonies.

Lawyer Katwa Kigen, for Mr Sang, said according to the schedule of the hearings, they had realised that come November, the court will have the difficult task of conducting the two trials simultaneously.

Mr Ruto and Mr Sang’s trial is set to commence on September 10 while that of President Kenyatta will begin on November 12.

The three face crimes against humanity charges for their alleged role in the 2007-2008 post-election violence in which 1,133 people died and at least 650,000 others were rendered homeless.

The lawyer proposed that the two cases be held on a three-week alternating period.
Presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji asked the parties involved in the trial to give their views on the proposal.

Mr Ruto’s lawyer, Mr Karim Khan, said: We support the proposal by Mr Kigen.” A representative from the prosecutor’s office also said he had no objection to the request.

{Consultation Time}

However, Judge Eboe-Osuji said the chamber could not make an immediate ruling on the matter as it needed further consultation with the judges set to preside over the trial of President Kenyatta.

“This is a matter that this chamber cannot resolve on its own. We shall consult with the judges in the second case and make a resolution which will be communicated in due course,” he said.

{NMG}

{{Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has apologised for calling a South African aide a ‘street woman.}}

Mr Mugabe is said to have been furious with Ms Lindiwe Zulu during his country’s election campaigns and told her off.

He is alleged to have called her “some idiotic woman” after she urged him to introduce some reforms before the polls.

The 84 year old leader was so incensed that he told his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma to reign her in, newspaper reports said.

Ms Zulu was the spokesperson for President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team during Zimbabwe’s elections in July.

However on Sunday, a dramatic apology was made at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Lilongwe, Malawi.

According to reports, President Mugabe first apologised to President Zuma during a closed door meeting at the summit.

He described his counterpart as a patient facilitator saying: “He was handling a difficult matter and we Zimbabweans did not make matters easy.

“We were a very difficult customer to the facilitator – a temperamental one too.

“I even shouted at one of his officers (Ms Zulu). It is not that I hate her or I sought to berate President Zuma through her.

“Quite to the contrary, I love her, something that can make many of you wonder given that I am 89 years old.”

At the end of the meeting, Mr Zuma approached Mr Mugabe with the aide in tow chanting: “Zimbabwe, I want my bride price, Zimbabwe I want my bride price.”

The Herald newspaper wrote: “President Mugabe accepted the ‘bride’ (Ms Zulu) and proceeded to kiss the bride much to the laughter of all the Heads of State and government who were present.”

On his return home, President Mugabe said he was pleased that 14 SADC countries endorsed his re-election.

Zimbabwe has been elected as deputy chair of SADC, which means that Harare will host the 2014 summit of Heads of State and Government.

Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s former Prime Minister however claims that the polls were rigged a move that has prompted Botswana to demand an audit.

wirestory

{{The Russian Government has pledged to support Kenya’s efforts towards securing agro-fertilizers in adequate quantities and at affordable cost.}}

Speaking when he met President Uhuru Kenyatta in Moscow on the sidelines of the 14th IAAF World Championships, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Kozak, said the Russian Government will assist Kenya to access fertilizer directly from Russian producers without going through middle men.

Towards this end, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister said he looked forward to the visit by the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Felix Koskei who is expected in Moscow in a week’s time for further discussions.

Koskei is expected to meet his Russian counterpart as well as the Russian Association of fertilizers producers.

The commitment from the Russian Government was in response to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s appeal for partnership with the Russian Government as well as investors in the production of fertilizer when he addressed the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Friday.

Kozak further said the Russian Government is ready to increase the number of education scholarships in areas of specific interest to the Government of Kenya.

He hailed cooperation between the two countries in the area of education observing that over 1,500 Kenyan students have graduated from Russian universities.

On security, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Russian security agencies will establish contacts with their Kenyan counterparts in support of Kenya’s efforts in dealing with terrorism.

In response to the desire of the Kenyan Government to initiate cooperation in sports with the Russian Government, Kozak said he will personally initiate consultations towards this end.

“As two sports power houses, our two countries can cooperate in a wide range of areas including the development of sports facilities and training,” said Kozak.

He hailed Kenya for her outstanding performance in field and track events saying the ongoing 14th IAAF World Championship had narrowed down to a competition between Kenya, Russia, US and Jamaica largely relegating other countries to the level of spectators.

President Kenyatta expressed his satisfaction with the bilateral relations between Kenya and Russia adding that the two countries have continued to support each other at the multilateral level.

Kenyatta however noted that engagement between the two countries in the economic arena has not matched the levels enjoyed in the political and social spheres.

He underscored the need to enhance cooperation in trade and investments.

He called upon Russian investors to venture in the country saying there are lucrative investment opportunities in many sectors of the economy especially in agriculture, power generation and transmission, infrastructure development and tourism.

The Head of State extended an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Kenya.

NMG

{{Tjostolv Moland, one of two Norwegian citizens imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo on murder charges since 2009, has died, officials say.}}

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Mr Moland was found dead in his cell on Sunday morning and that his family had been informed.

Mr Moland and British-Norwegian citizen Joshua French were sentenced to death in 2009 for murdering their driver.

The two former soldiers were also convicted of spying for Norway.

“We have been informed today that Tjostolv Moland is dead. He was found in his prison cell in Kinshasa this morning,” Mr Eide told reporters.

The cause of death was not immediately clear, says lawyer Hans Marius Graasvold.

“Conditions have been better now for the past year than they were, because they were transferred a year ago, but still it is a prison in Congo and they have been on death row and it has been hard both physically but also mentally for them,” Mr Graasvold told media.

Mr French, who had been informed of Mr Moland’s death, was upset but in good health, he added.

“He’s in shock; he has just lost his very good friend, but he is a very sensible person so he is dealing with this as best he can,” said Mr Graasvold.

The two men were convicted in the north-eastern city of Kisangani for the murder of their driver, Abedi Kasongo, and attempted murder of a witness. They were also found guilty of spying after military ID cards were found on them.

Both men have maintained their innocence.

{wirestory}

{{The Egyptian government is seeking support of the Republic of South Sudan to reclaim membership at the African Union, after it was suspended due to the ouster of its first elected president by the military, a South Sudanese senior diplomat on Friday.}}

The spokesperson for South Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs and International cooperation, Mawien Makol, said his country is expecting a visit by Egyptian foreign affairs minister, Nabil Fahmi on Tuesday with a high level delegation.

The talks will focus on “the role the government of South Sudan can play to assist Egyptians government reclaim membership at the African Union”, he said.

South Sudan became the African Union’s 54th member shortly after it seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011. Egypt was suspended from the pan-African body on 6 July after the military took power from Mohamed Morsi, who won elections last year as the candidate of the Freedom and Justice and party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hundreds of people have died as the Egyptian police and army have attempted to break up protest camps established by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in the wake of Morsi’s ouster and incarceration.

Ambassador Makol said Juba hoped to improve its friendly bilateral relations with Cairo, revealing that the Egyptian government has offered to assist in breaking the deadlock between Sudan and South Sudan over post-independence issues.

“The delegation will also meet the president and other key officials to explore ways to strengthen relations and design together mechanisms to help the two countries address issues of concerns. There were will discussions touching mainly issues relating to how manage Nile Water, strengthening trade ties and other developmental issues, especially projects which are supported by the Egyptian government”, he explained.

The senior diplomat said his country expects the visiting ministry to brief president Salva Kiir Mayardit of events in Egypt since Morsi was deposed on 3 July.

“It will be good opportunity to learn about how the current government in Egypt is managing affairs of the nation at this critical moment and how the leadership expects other countries to extend helping hand”, he said.

“As a government and people, we wishes Egyptian people and their government hold each other together and strongly and embrace peaceful dialogue as a means to resolve differences”, said Ambassador Makol.

ST

{{The Ad Hoc Investigative Mechanism (AIM), which was set up by the African Union (AU) and the East African regional bloc, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to probe accusations traded by Sudan and South Sudan of support to rebel groups has arrived on Saturday in Khartoum in a two-day mission.}}

Last June, the head of African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki put forward proposals for solving the problems facing the implementation of cooperation agreements signed last year between the two countries.

Khartoum says the rebel groups of Darfur, Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains are harbored and supported by the South Sudanese government. In return, Juba points out that the ongoing rebellion led by David Yau Yau in Jonglei is backed by the Sudanese authorities.

The AUHIP decided to assign the African Union Commission (AUC) and the head of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to take the necessary steps to verify claims of support and harboring of rebels.

Mbeki’s panel demanded that both sides work together to renounce and end any support to armed rebellion in the other country and urged them to fully and sincerely implement the security agreement signed in September 2012.

The Sudanese army spokesperson, Col. Al-Sawarmi Khalid Saad, told the official news agency (SUNA) that Sudan is absolutely committed to cooperate with the AIM.

“We hope that the AIM manages to achieve its objectives in order to stop support and harboring for rebel groups”, he said.

Col. Sa’ad added that the AIM could help create the conditions for resuming the implementation of all the cooperation agreements.

Tensions between the countries have escalated last June when Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir ordered the closure of pipelines carrying oil from landlocked South Sudan.

Sudan also announced that it will put on hold cooperation agreements signed with South Sudan on a wide range of issues that included citizenship rights, security issues, banking and border trade.

Last March the two sides also agreed on the implementation schedule for these accords.

Source: {Sudantribune}

{{A bid by International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to strengthen her case against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang suffered a blow on Saturday.}}

This is after the Pre Trial Chamber II rejected her request to amend charges against the duo to include crimes that were allegedly committed in Eldoret between December 30 and 31, 2007.

Ekaterina Trendafilova, sitting as a single judge ruled that allowing such an amendment in the absence of any justification would be an ‘unfair burden’ to the defence, which would require time to conduct its investigations ahead of their trial scheduled to commence on September 10.

“This course of action would unduly compromise the rights of the accused persons to be informed promptly of the nature, cause and content of the charges, to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence and to be tried without undue delay,” she ruled.

“In light of the foregoing, the single judge cannot but reject the Prosecutor’s request.”

Ms Bensouda had sought the chambers permission to extend the scope of the crimes against the deputy President and Mr Sang in Eldoret to prove that crimes in the greater Eldoret area began on or about 30 December 2007.

The Prosecutor argued that she had since the confirmation of charges, obtained evidence from twelve witnesses who allege that crimes were committed in the greater Eldoret area – namely in Kimumu, Langas, Yamumbi and Huruma areas – “soon after the announcement of the presidential election results on 30 December 2007”

According to the Prosecutor, the Defence has been provided with the statements of these twelve witnesses between 30 November 2012 and 9 January 2013 and that rejecting her request would cause monumental prejudice to her case.

However, the defence teams for Mr Ruto and Mr Sang called for the rejection of the Prosecutors’ request as it will be prejudicial to their rights to a free and expeditious proceedings and adequate time to prepare their defence.

Mr Rutos defence team said the proposed amendment was far from insignificant, as contended by the Prosecutor, because it would extend the temporal scope of the charges by 50 per cent.

They argued that granting the request would impel the Defence from being ready to effectively represent Mr. Ruto given the upcoming commencement of the trial as currently set.

“Further, this would require additional time to conduct Defence investigation, thus negatively impacting on Mr Ruto’s right to expeditious proceedings, as enshrined in article 67(l)(c) of the Statute,” Ruto’s lawyers argued.

Lawyers representing Mr Sang on the other hand said the incidents mentioned in the newly collected evidence of the Prosecutor would need to be analysed and investigated prior to the trial.

Thursday, Judge Trendafilova said if rejecting her request would cause monumental prejudice to her case, the Prosecutor should have “seized’ the Chamber much earlier, at a minimum when she learned about the new date for the start of the actual trial and not only few weeks before its commencement.

She said one cannot assume that the defence was in a fair position to prepare its case on the basis of facts and charges related to particular dates which were explicitly rejected by the Pre Trial Chamber in their confirmation of charges decision.

“Parties and participants in a case are expected to prepare on the basis of the charges as confirmed which shape the subject-matter of the case, and thus, to take into consideration the evidence that is only relevant to the charges confirmed,” Judge Trendafilova ruled.

“Thus, the Prosecutor’s argument that the Defence was on notice of these additional dates cannot be sustained,” she went on.

The judge said even though the prosecutor is not barred, under legal framework of the court, from continuing her investigations ‘post confirmation of charges’, the exercise of such discretion should be diligent and professional and should also not lead to abuse.

However, Judge Trendafilova said a brief review of the procedural history of the two cases arising from the Kenya situation reveals lack of efficiency and due diligence on the part of the Prosecutor in handling the said request.

NMG