IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Uganda Exports hit $2.3Billion

    {{Uganda’s Exports have hit a US$2.3Billion mark up from US$2.1Billion in 2011, the country’s Export Promotion Board said Tuesday. }}

    The statistics were presented in parliament before the House committee on tourism, trade and industry.

    The Export Promotion Board said non-traditional exports of mainly maize, rice, sugar and mineral water earned the country $1.9billion in 2012 from $1.4b in 2011.

    The growth in exports is attributed to a reduction in informal cross-border trading responsible for a large percentage of cereal trading between Uganda and her direct neighbours.

    Top Uganda export markets, include France for cotton and oil seeds, Sudan, Congo, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Rwanda and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) partner states.

    The Exports Board said tough economic conditions in Europe took a negative toll on Uganda exports, with exports to Netherlands, Germany, UK, Belgium, Italy and Spain all registering a decline.

  • Kenya Police intercepts Mombasa-bound Explosives

    {{Police in Nairobi have intercepted 401 explosives in two cartons disguised as books that were to be transported by bus to Mombasa.}}

    Nairobi Central Division police chief Patrick Oduma says the explosives came in from Tanzania and the matter is under investigation.

    He said that bomb experts have identified the materials as the highly explosive Superpower 90.

  • Kenya Hosts Construction Equipment Event

    {{Case Construction Equipment dealer for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, CMC Motors Group hosted an event in Nairobi, Kenya to showcase its latest products to its customers in eastern Africa.}}

    The event, which took place at a restaurant in Nairobi, was attended by 220 guests, including representatives from the ministry of the roads from Kenya and Uganda.

    Case 580T tractor loader backhoe, SR150 skid steer loader, CX210B crawler excavator, 821F wheel loader and the 845B grader were demonstrated at the event.
    Case’s official demonstrator Steven Beardmore highlighted the new features of the models during the presentations which were followed by a corporate dinner.

    CMC Motors Group managing director Solomon Muturi said, “Our aim is to support the development of Kenya’s economy with a total solution service that includes the wide range of Case Construction equipment.”

    CNH Construction Equipment business manager Randhir Haripersad noted, “We are determined to continue to strengthen our position in East Africa through our successful partnership with CMC Motors Group.”

    {wirestory}

  • Norway Rejects U.N. Experts Claims on Somalia Assistance

    {{Norway has complained to the U.N. Security Council that accusations by U.N. experts that Oslo’s assistance to Somalia was a cover to promote the commercial interests of Norwegian oil companies were “completely unfounded and simply wrong.”}}

    The U.N. Monitoring Group’s annual report to the Security Council’s sanctions committee on Somalia and Eritrea suggested Norway’s development assistance to Somalia could be used “as a cover for its commercial interests there.”

    In a letter to the Security Council, dated Monday, Charge d’Affaires of Norway’s U.N. mission Knut Langeland rejected those allegations.

    “Let me reassure you that these allegations are completely unfounded and simply wrong,” he wrote. “To imply that the Norwegian government’s assistance to Somalia may be ‘a cover for commercial interests’ is therefore totally unfounded.”

    Somalia is struggling to rebuild after decades of conflict and a U.N.-backed African Union peacekeeping force is trying to drive out al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebel group al Shabaab. Piracy off the Somali coast is also a problem.

  • President Kiir Sacks Cabinet Amid Party Power Struggle

    {{South Sudanese President Salva Kiir sacked his cabinet, the deputy president and suspended his top negotiator at talks to defuse tensions with Sudan on Tuesday, state media said, amid talk of a succession struggle in the African oil producer.}}

    Analysts said Kiir was trying to stem dissent and divisions inside his ruling party over an economic crisis, largely the result of disputes with Sudan that have prevented it exporting its lifeblood crude oil, and endemic corruption.

    But the timing for the biggest shake-up since winning independence two years ago could not be worse as South Sudan grapples with multiple challenges – the confrontation over oil flows with its former civil war foe to the north, as well as escalating rebel and tribal violence.

    State television cited a presidential decree saying Vice President Riek Machar had been sacked, and Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak confirmed this.

    The decree also said Kiir had suspended Pagan Amum, Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and South Sudan’s top negotiator at talks with Sudan.

    Machar had recently hinted in an interview that he might challenge Kiir for the SPLM leadership before the 2015 national elections, and Kiir had already stripped Machar of some his duties in April in what seemed to be a move to curb his profile.

    The men were on opposing sides of a split within the SPLM during much of the 1983-2005 civil war with Khartoum.

    Political analyst Andrea Mabior said Kiir had dismissed his cabinet to remove Kiir. “It’s a way to fire the vice president. He can say, ‘I have fired the whole cabinet’ – not just the vice president,” Mabior said.

    Since the SPLM has no political rivals of any standing, the battle for leadership of the SPLM is effectively the race to be president.

    Amum, for his part, had recently criticized Kiir for suspending two ministers in a fraud probe, according to local media. The decree said a party committee would investigate him.

    No more details were immediately available. It was also not clear when Kiir would appoint a new cabinet. The ministries would be run for now by their under-secretaries, the decree said.

    Barnaba Marial Benjamin, until now information minister, said he had only learned about his sacking from the evening television news. Amum, one of the most prominent officials abroad, also said he had been caught by surprise when Reuters reached him on his mobile phone.

    “I don’t have all elements at hand,” he said, giving no more details of the evening’s dramatic events.

    Kiir also removed 17 police brigadiers. There were no signs of increased military presence in the capital Juba after the announcement. The army, an umbrella of former civil war militias, is the power broker in the African country.

    Still, the United Nations and aid groups told their staff to stay indoors until further notice, U.N. sources said.

    {agencies}

  • DRC Refugees Threaten Border Security

    {{Ugandan authorities say Some Congolese refugees who refused to be relocated to the new camp have proved a security threat to the country as they cross back to DRC in search of food}}.

    Uganda’s security organs are monitoring the situation across the Uganda–Congo border, where clashes are still eminent.

    About 1,000 of the more than 60,000 refugees who entered Uganda 12 days ago cross back to see their relatives and bring food into Uganda.

    Sources say security in the DR Congo had not normalised yet, although government troops have dominated Butembo and Kamango areas. ADF is still fighting with the Congo government Forces almost every day.

    Some of the refugees who snubbed the transfer move argue that their colleagues who were earlier taken to Kyangwali in Hoima District and Rwamwanja in Kamwenge District, were allegedly suffering due to lack of food and poor sanitation.

    {wirestory}

  • Kenya Stars Storm IAAF World Championships in Moscow

    {{Kenyan stars preparing to face the world at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow from August 10-18 can look forward to performing in front of a capacity-packed arena.}}

    The world governing body disclosed on Monday that ticket sales for the upcoming Worlds are accelerating fast with a sold out final weekend and an average of 80.59 percent sold for the nine days of competition at the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium.

    IAAF General Secretary Essar Gabriel said today: “Looking at the latest ticket sales summary from our partners in the Moscow LOC confirms that Muscovites prefer to buy their tickets closer to the event.

    “Since the beginning of July, thanks to enhanced promotional campaigns on television, radio, in the press, with billboards throughout the city and most recently, on the Moscow Metro (used by 9 million Russians per day), we have seen a real surge in ticket sales. With the competition not starting until the 10 August, the IAAF is very optimistic that the evening sessions can now be sold out.”

    The 14th edition of the IAAF World Championships will be the largest global sporting event of 2013.

    Nine days of competition which will witness 2000 athletes from over 200 nations compete in front of a cumulative audience of more than five billion TV viewers.

    As already announced, broadcasting agreements are in place covering more territories than ever before in the history of the IAAF World Championships that will ensure coverage of Moscow 2013 in over 200 territories worldwide.

    Kenya has a team of 49 athletes for the event where they are seeking to better their all time best return of seven gold, six silver and four bronze won at the last edition in Daegu, South Korea.

    Ezekiel Kemboi (men 3000m steeple), Edna Kiplagat (women marathon) and Asbel Kiprop (men 1500m) will return to defend their crowns.

    The country’s track and field team is in residential training at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani whilst the marathon squad is building up at Eldoret.

    {CapitalFM}

  • EU envoy in Uganda Quits After Attacking Museveni

    {{The Head of the European Union Delegation in Uganda is leaving the country prematurely, weeks after his public criticism of President Museveni’s perceived succession plan stirred uproar, compelling government to summon him and seek an explanation.}}

    According to diplomatic sources, Mr Roberto Ridolfi, who had said Uganda was not a monarchy for the President to hand over power to his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, will leave in October instead of December 2013, when his three-year tenure was due to lapse.

    Diplomatic sources indicate that Mr Ridolfi has been redeployed after his position became untenable when he was summoned and grilled by the Kampala authorities, following his stinging criticism of President Museveni’s State-of-the-Nation Address in June.

    The government reportedly also filed a protest note to EU authorities in Brussels sources said.

    Mr Ridolfi will now become the director for cooperation at the EU Commission’s Development and Cooperation directorate-general, responsible for developing policies and delivering European aid across the world.

    He is reportedly out of the country on holiday and Mr Simon Kasyate, EU’s press and information officer in Kampala, would neither confirm nor deny his imminent departure.

    Asked if the envoy was leaving over his June fall-out with government, Mr Kasyate said: “EU ambassadors take three to four years during tour of duty in any country.

    Ridolfi’s exit is within the end of his tenure, and all I can say is that relations between the EU and government of Uganda haven’t been any better than under him.”

    {wirestory}

  • Africans bid to avert oil Shutdown over Sudan rebel row

    {{African goverments stepped up their efforts to prevent a shutdown of oil production in South Sudan on Monday, agreeing to send three generals to investigate Sudanese allegations that Juba is supporting anti-Khartoum rebels.}}

    Sudan, the sole conduit for South Sudan’s oil exports, said last month it would close two cross-border oil pipelines within 60 days and insisted output be shut by August 7 unless Juba gave up its support for the rebels. Juba denies backing them.

    The two sides fought one of Africa’s longest civil wars before the south won independence in 2011.

    Analysts say South Sudan might collapse without oil, the main source for the budget apart from foreign grants. They point to recent looting of aid agencies by soldiers as a sign that Juba is struggling to pay salaries.

    Closing the wells is also bad news for Sudan, which has been struggling with turmoil since losing most oil reserves with South Sudan’s secession. Oil fees from Juba are essential to bringing down soaring inflation.

    A team of three generals from the African Union and East African bloc IGAD will travel on Tuesday to Khartoum before heading to Juba on a six-week mission, said Ramtane Lamamra, Commissioner of the AU’s Peace and Security Council.

    “The decision by Sudan to shut down oil exports until and unless this issue is properly handled…has brought President Mbeki to propose to the two countries the formation of this investigation team,” Lamamra Told a news conference.

    Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is the bloc’s chief mediator for Sudan and South Sudan.

    “We hope this mechanism will resolve that longstanding problem, the allegation by both parties of hosting rebels against the other,” said Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, current chair of the Horn of Africa grouping IGAD.

    Khartoum accuses Juba of supporting the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance, which complains of neglect at the hands of the wealthy Khartoum elites. The SRF in April staged an attack on central Sudan.

    South Sudan in turn accuses Sudan of backing rebels in its eastern Jonglei state, where fighting is making it impossible to realise government plans to search for oil with the help of France’s Total and U.S. ExxonMobil.

    South Sudan plans to sell 6.4 million barrels of oil worth $300 million before shutting down its entire production by the end of July due to the row.

    It had only resumed oil production in April, after turning off wells pumping around 300,000 barrels per day in January 2012 when both sides failed to agree on pipeline fees.

    Oil industry insiders say once the pipelines are closed it will take several months to restart production as they would have to be flushed of water and cleaned first.

    reuters

  • Ethiopian Troops Quit Somali City

    {{Ethiopia has begun pulling troops out of a former rebel stronghold in Somalia, but it has no plans for a complete withdrawal from the fight against al Qaeda-linked insurgents, its foreign minister said on Monday.}}

    Somalia has enjoyed relative calm after military offensives by African Union (AMISOM) peacekeepers and Ethiopian troops, who have pushed al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab from urban strongholds in central and southern Somalia.

    But suicide attacks have reinforced concerns the militants remain a potent force and Ethiopia’s sudden withdrawal in March from Hudur – the capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border – enabled al Shabaab to retake the town.

    Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said Ethiopia had begun pulling out of Baidoa – once considered the most important rebel city after the port of Kismayu – because it was now relatively stable and Somali forces were able to take over.

    “The withdrawal from Baidoa should have been done almost a year ago but AMISOM was not ready and that could not be done,” he told Reuters in an interview. Ethiopia seized the city, about 250 km (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, last year.

    “I am now glad that there is a well organized and planned withdrawal and the space is already being occupied by Somali forces,” Adhanom said.

    After a 2006-2009 stint, Ethiopia once again sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al Shabaab, alongside African Union forces from Uganda and Burundi and Kenyan troops that later incorporated the AMISOM mission, after entering Somalia independently to pursue al Shabaab.

    Addis Ababa pledged at the time that its forces would stay in the war-ravaged country until Somalia’s government could ratify a new constitution and its ragtag military was able to fend off the militant Islamist threat on its own.

    Tedros said Ethiopia’s aim now was to deploy in areas where the rebels appeared to have a far stronger presence. He expressed confidence that Somali troops would be able to stand their ground in places Ethiopia left.

    Ethiopian troops may deploy back to areas they have left if AMISOM and Mogadishu asked for their return, he said.

    {reuters}