IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Litmus test for Ebola to be Developed

    A project in Uganda that aims to develop a paper-strip test for the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses is among 102 initiatives across the world to be funded by the government of Canada through its Grand Challenges Canada project.

    The paper strip test would, if developed, help test for the virus in a cheap and quick manner within the community just like it is done for malaria. The project has been boosted with $100,000.

    The Uganda project leader, Dr Misaki Wayengera of Makerere University College of Health Sciences said that the highly infectious nature of both Ebola and Marburg, coupled with poor epidemiological data on their origins make it hard for them to be easily detected in the early days of an outbreak.

    “Amidst the inappropriateness of existing diagnostic technologies towards usability in bio-terror and point-of-care settings, development of rapid, easy to use, cheap, and reliable biomarkers for either filo viruses is a global health priority,” Dr Misaki explained.

    “Ebola and Marburg outbreaks are often initially silent, much as the clinical picture should raise suspicion. As a result, health workers are exposed and die of viral haemorrhagic fever.”

    NMG

  • Kenyan Adongo joins NFL

    {{New Zealand based Counties-Manukau loose forward Daniel Adongo has made the leap from the NPC to the USA National Football League.}}

    The Indianapolis Colts announced they have signed the 23-year-old as an outside linebacker with the player becoming the first Kenyan to feature in American football’s elite professional competition that has 32 teams.

    It’s an incredible transfer for a player who has just come off a season of Super Rugby with the Southern Kings in South Africa.

    Adongo first emerged in Kenyan age grade teams before being snapped up by the Natal Sharks academy then the Bulls Super Rugby squad in 2011.

    However, he was released early from that contract after being persuaded by Counties coach and former All Blacks international, Tana Umaga to try his hand in New Zealand.

    Adongo played 13 matches for the Steelers in last years’s NPC before heading back to South Africa to join the Kings.

    The addition of Adongo is all about potential. He’s a 6-5, 257-pound outside linebacker prospect who most recently was with the Southern Kings of Super 15 Rugby, the world’s highest level of pro rugby.

    “He is not only an elite athlete and rising international rugby player, but he is an exceptional competitor and human being that has the right makeup for our sport,” Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson said in a statement released by the team. “We all look forward to watching his growth and development in the ensuing weeks.”

    Adongo joins a loaded outside linebacker mix. It includes projected starters Robert Mathis and Erik Walden, first-round draft pick Bjoern Werner, Lawrence Sidbury, Monte Simmons, Justin Hickman, Quinton Spears and Caesar Rayford.

    The Colts generally carried only four outside linebackers on their active roster last season. Adongo’s development might include a stint on the practice squad this season.

    Adongo, a 23-year old Kenyan national, is a 2006 graduate of Strathmore High School in Nairobi who attended the University of South Africa the following year.

    His rugby resume includes playing in the 2012 Varsity Cup for the University of Pretoria Tuks, the Vodacom Blue Bulls and the New Zealand ITM Cup team Counties Manukau.

    At 1.98m and 115kg he is well known for his muscular physique and is perfectly built for the NFL.

    “We are excited as an organization with the acquisition of Daniel Adongo,” Colts general manager Ryan Grigson said on the organisation’s website.

    The announcement was even accompanied by an action shot of Adongo playing for the Steelers against Otago.

    capitalFm

  • Tutu Says He Cannot Worship ‘Homophobic’ God

    {{South African peace icon Desmond Tutu has said he would rather go to hell than worship a homophobic God, likening the fight against gay prejudice to the anti-apartheid struggle.}}

    Tutu made the comments on Friday at the launch of a United Nations gay equality campaign in Cape Town.

    “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” the retired archbishop said.

    “I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this,” he said, condemning the use of religious justification for anti-gay prejudice.

    Launched by the UN Human Rights Office, the public education campaign “Free and Equal” aims to raise awareness of anti-gay violence and discrimination.

    Tutu, a Nobel laureate, compared the project to the fight South Africans waged to end the former white racist minority rule, a struggle in which he played a pivotal role.

    “I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level,” the 81-year-old said.

    Navi Pillay, head of the UN rights agency and herself South African, said same-sex relationships were illegal in more than a third of countries around the world and punishable by death in five.

    {{‘Worst cases’ }}

    Even in countries where gay rights are upheld challenges remain, she said, noting that South Africa has “some of the worst cases of homophobic violence” despite having some of the world’s best legal protections.

    The country has seen brutal, deadly attacks on lesbians, who also risk falling victim to what is known as “corrective rape”, which involves sexual assaults by men who claim they can change their victims’ sexual orientation to heterosexuality.

    A South African lesbian was last month found dead, having been sexually assaulted with a toilet brush.

    “People are literally paying for their love with their lives,” said Pillay.

    The campaign, which aims to push for legal reforms and public education against homophobia, will have a strong focus on working with governments.

    “I constantly hear governments tell me ‘but this is our culture, our tradition and we can’t change it’… So we have lots of work to do,” said Pillay.

    Source: Agencies

  • Axed South Sudan VP Plans to Run for Presidency

    South Sudan’s former Vice President Riek Machar said on Friday he planned to become the frontrunner for the ruling SPLM party in elections in 2015, throwing down the gauntlet to President Salva Kiir who dismissed him three days ago.

    Kiir touched off a power struggle in the African oil-producing country by firing Machar and his cabinet and placing under investigation his top Sudan negotiator, Pagan Amum, in the biggest shakeup since the South gained independence in 2011.

    Analysts say the struggle risks undermining a consensus among tribes and militias leaders holding together the unruly country at a time of heightened tensions with Sudan over crucial oil flows.

    In his first comments since his dismissal, Machar said he planned to head the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which led the country to secession from Khartoum after fighting one of Africa’s longest civil wars.

    “I have told my colleagues in the politburo that come the next elections in 2015, I would contest those elections,” Machar told reporters in the capital Juba.

    He said he wanted to run for the sake of democracy. “I believe that this country must go democratic. If it is going to be united, it cannot tolerate one man’s rule. It cannot tolerate dictatorship. It cannot tolerate tyranny.”

    His spokesman James Gatdet Dak clarified Machar would run for the SPLM chairmanship before the vote to pave his way to the presidency of the one-party state.

    Machar said he accepted his sacking as vice president but accused Kiir of creating a political vacuum for not immediately appointing a new cabinet.

    “We now have a vacuum and this has created apprehension,” added Machar, who said he was “telling people to remain calm”.

    A government officials said Kiir was still consulting the party on a new cabinet probably to be formed by early next week.

    Stability in South Sudan is key for crude producers from China, India and Malaysia operating in the country and east African neighbors Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda which got swamped with refugees during the civil war.

    wirestory

  • Couple Stuck together in Nairobi Hotel

    Drama unfolded at a downtown city hotel on Friday, after reports went round that lovers were ‘stuck’ together.

    A huge crowd gathered outside the hotel on Ronald Ngala Street as police and the management sought ways of resolving the ‘problem.’

    “We have been told there is a couple stuck together in this hotel, but they have refused to let us in,” a witness said. “We want to see what is happening.”

    Nairobi Central police chief Patrick Oduma when reached for comment said “we have been informed of the incident and we are headed there to establish what exactly is happening.”

  • Fears over UN intervention in East DRC

    {{Aid agencies have voiced fears that a possible military offensive by the United Nations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo could make the humanitarian situation worse and lead to attacks on their workers.}}

    A special 3,000-strong UN “Intervention Brigade” has been mandated to mount offensive operations against rebel groups in DR Congo.

    It has already begun some patrols.

    The UN says a robust response to the unrest is necessary

    US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to chair a UN Security Council debate on DR Congo later on Thursday.

    {{UN dilemma}}

    US-based aid advocacy group Refugees International urged Mr Kerry to recognise that: “Unless certain safeguards are imposed, military action by the Intervention Brigade could further exacerbate DR Congo’s humanitarian crisis.”

    The UN says more than 2.5 million people have been made homeless by the conflicts in the DR Congo – most of them in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

    Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres earlier said it was very concerned about a blurring of the distinction between the UN’s humanitarian and military work.

    Because of the potential confusion between those roles, MSF said it no longer wanted any military – including UN soldiers – deployed near its health facilities.

    There was a real danger, MSF said, that heightened tension could lead to a targeting of medical activities.

    The criticisms by aid agencies illustrate a classic dilemma for the UN.

    It is damned if it does not act firmly enough, as when rebels of the ethnic Tutsi-dominated M23 movement took the eastern DR Congo city of Goma last year.

    But it is also damned when it takes tougher action that has humanitarian fallout.

    The UN operation in DR Congo is already the largest UN military mission in the world. Its main mandate is the protection of civilians.

    But the huge number of people made homeless by the many conflicts in DR Congo – mainly in the east but also in Katanga Province in the south and Orientale Province in the north – clearly show that the UN has not always succeeded in shielding people from the worst of the war.

    So in March the UN Security Council tried a new tactic and passed a resolution creating the Intervention Brigade.

    According to the official UN News Service the Brigade is mandated “to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups that threaten peace in eastern DR Congo”.

    The Brigade is tasked with “neutralising” armed groups, the UN said.

    It is commanded by Tanzanian Brigadier General James Mwakibolwa.

    “The Intervention Brigade is very positive”, he said.

    “It should be understood that our first concern should be the protection of civilians as we take on the armed groups.”

    BBC

  • US Hails Uganda’s Efforts in Fight Against LRA

    {{The United States deputy defence secretary, Ashton B. Carter, has hailed Uganda, describing the East African country as a key security partner.}}

    “Uganda is an important partner for the United States and has emerged as a regional leader in addressing conflicts across Africa”, said a press statement from the US embassy in Kampala on Carter’s visit.

    Carter met with Ugandan government officials in Kampala on Tuesday during a visit to the country that also took him to Ethiopia and Israel.

    The US deputy defence secretary said the United States is offering continued support to Uganda in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group that has increasingly become a source of security problem in the Great Lakes region.

    “As part of a comprehensive approach to countering the LRA, the US military is advising and assisting the UPDF (Uganda Peoples Defence Force) and other regional partner forces in an effort to bring [LRA leader] Joseph Kony and his top lieutenants to justice”, the US embassy statement said.

    The US official also thanked the Ugandan government for its contributions towards improving security in the Great Lakes region, particularly threats posed by the LRA and terrorism.

    During his visit to Uganda, Carter also met American personnel deployed by his government to help regional forces in the fight against LRA rebels.

    In October 2011, US president Barrack Obama sent 100 special forces to Uganda to provide support to regional forces in the hunt for the elusive LRA leader.

    According to its mandate, US special forces are tasked with offering advice to local forces and are not permitted to engage in fighting unless in self-defence.

  • Dispute Over Next Vice-President Delays new Government in Juba

    {{Deep disagreements over who should be the next Vice President of South Sudan has delayed the formation of the next cabinet and left a power vacuum since the dissolution of the whole government on Tuesday.}}

    South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, on Tuesday issued a rare decree removing his long time Vice President, Riek Machar Teny, and dissolving the whole cabinet.

    Government ministries were closed since Wednesday as staff feared to report to work in anticipation of violence.

    President Kiir had directed the under-secretaries to take charge in their respective ministries under the secretary general of the government, Abdoun Agau, who will run the government until the next cabinet is formed.

    There have been rumours that the president had left the capital since Tuesday evening, but a former official dismissed it saying the president had been in his resident in Juba making consultations on the formation of the next government.

    Sources close to the presidency however said there have been deep internal disagreements since Tuesday between the close aides of the president over the choice of the next Vice President if the former Vice President, Riek Machar, was not to be reinstated.

    He said President Kiir had promised or approached a number of his colleagues to appoint them as the vice president.

    “Now that it is time to implement the promises to different colleagues, things have become difficult particularly that others have now turned down the offer”, the source disclosed.

    Among the possible candidates is the current speaker of the parliament, James Wani Igga, former head of the National Congress Party (NCP) in South Sudan, Riek Gai Kok, former minister of Justice, John Luk Jok and the current chief of general staff, James Hoth Mai.

    While Igga is reportedly willing to the take over the seat of the vice president, Jok and Mai were said to have turned down the offer.

    Kok is also rumoured to have changed his mind in the last 48 hours by also turning down the offer to take over the position.

    Many in the consultative meetings also rejected Igga as the next vice-president, accusing him of weakness and lack of seriousness as a leader.

    In normal circumstances, the president should first appoint his deputy who will in turn consult with him on the formation of the cabinet.

    It is reported that many people have been waiting for the appointment of the vice-president or formation of the government before they could express their reactions.

    {{INTERNATIONAL CALLS}}

    Meanwhile, the African Union Commission, Canada, the intergovernmental Authority on Development, along with Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint statement, calling on all parties to maintain calm and prevent violence, as well as urging leaders in the country to expedite the formation of a new cabinet.

    “We encourage South Sudan to do so in a manner that reflects the diversity of the South Sudanese people, and in conformity with its Transitional Constitution and the democratic ideals the new country has espoused,” the statement said.

    Since the 24 July, the State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, issued a statement calling on all the parties to maintain calm and prevent violence.

    He also urged that the new cabinet be formed “quickly and transparently”.

    “We encourage South Sudan do so in a manner that reflects the diversity of the South Sudanese people, and that respects its Transitional Constitution and the democratic ideals the new country has espoused”, Psaki stressed.

    ST

  • Ethiopia & Huawei Sign $700 mln Mobile Network Deal

    {{Ethiopia on Thursday signed a $700 million agreement with China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to expand mobile phone infrastructure and introduce high-speed 4G broadband network in the capital Addis Ababa and 3G service throughout the country.}}

    Huawei, the world’s second largest telecom equipment maker, has been involved in developing phone and internet services in the Horn of Africa country for several years.

    Africa’s rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totalling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

    Andualem Admassie, acting chief executive officer of state-run Ethio Telecom, and Jony Duon, his counterpart at the Chinese firm, signed the agreement that will double subscribers to 56 million.

    “Although our target is 40 million, now including 3G it will 56 million by 2015. That would be the capacity,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and minister of communications and technology.

    The agreement is half of a $1.6 billion project split between Huawei and ZTE, China’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker. Both firms will finance the amount. Ethiopia will sign the other half of the agreement next week, Debretsion said.

    Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, one of the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

    Although lacking much of a telecoms industry, the government last year gave approval for private companies to provide value-added services – all services other than standard voice calls.

    Ethiopia’s ministry of communications and information technology says it has received applications from 218 firms to provide such services. South Africa’s MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, has already been granted a licence.

    The government has ruled out liberalising its telecom sector saying the six billion birr ($321 million) it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km of railway lines by 2020.

    {agencies}

  • New Trade Rule Blocks Kenyan Exports to EAC

    {{Manufacturers in Kenya are fighting to save a multi billion (Kenya Sh114 billion) regional export business as Uganda and Tanzania increasingly charge full duty on imports from Kenya.}}

    Businessdaily reports that arbitrary protectionist measures are undermining the East African Common Market forcing the Kenya Association of Manufacturers to seek an urgent meeting with the Treasury and the Trade ministry.

    Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) officials said 95% of the companies under its wings had been affected. The lobby brings together 750 manufacturers classified under 14 sectors.

    In some cases, Kenyan companies exporting under the duty remission scheme— where companies are allowed to import inputs without paying full tax — are facing demands of backdated taxes of up to five years.

    Under new regulations ratified by the EAC that KAM wants suspended, manufacturers using imported input can only export outside EAC or pay full duty as opposed to the rules of origin scheme (demanding at least 35% value addition) where tax is paid on imported raw materials.

    KAM says the countries have extended this treatment to even minimal imported input:
    “In some cases, producers use minimal imported content on remission and are still subjected to full payment of duty on the final product.

    We believe that the content imported under remission should be put into consideration when determining when duty is payable on the finished product.”

    But the government says the EAC decision to restrict duty remission goods to exports outside EAC borders — with only 20% allowed into the block —was informed by logistical issues.

    Director of economic affairs Richard Sindiga says even the minimal input has major implications.

    “A firm which wants to sell in East Africa has to pay full duty because it is administratively expensive for countries to audit factories for compliance on input,” said Mr Sindiga.

    He adds that firms exporting under the rules of origin scheme have not been affected, which some manufacturers contest.

    The official said EAC is carrying out a study on duty remission that he urges KAM to participate in.

    agencies