Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Uganda has said its ready to hold peacetalks with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels to put an end to the conflict that has destabilised parts of East Africa.}}

The Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hillary Onek, said Uganda would consider such talks if the rebel group proposed dialogue.

“The Government is ready to talk to anybody who has grievances, including the ADF. If there is any genuine political group that wants dialogue, we are ready to talk because war is not an option,” he said.

The ADF on Thursday night attacked parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leading to an influx of refugees into the western district of Bundibugyo in Uganda.

Uganda is hosting more than 65,000 Congolese refugees who have fled the conflict.

Monitor

{{Four of the 14 Tanzanian soldiers who were wounded in Saturday’s deadly ambush in Darfur, Sudan, are in critical condition.}}

One of them has been airlifted to Khartoum for specialised treatment and is in intensive care, according to UN-Africa Mission in Darfur (Unamid) spokesperson Chris Cycmanick.

Cycmanick said that the names of the critically ill soldiers would remain undisclosed.

“At this time, Unamid cannot release these names, but you can contact your foreign minister to have them if they are that much in need,” he said.

{Acting Force Commander, Lieutenant General Paul Ignace Mella from Tanzania, addresses troops based in Khor Abeche, South Darfur, after Saturday’s ambush that killed seven African Union-United Nations Mission peacekeepers and wounded 17 others. PHOTO | UNAMID }

{{Kenya has been selected to host the second East African Community (EAC) Secretary General’s Forum in October.}}

This was among issues deliberated during the three-day meeting of experts on the implementation of the consultative dialogue framework for the private sector, civil society and other interest groups in the EAC integration process held in Kampala.

The meeting also picked this year’s theme: “The EAC we want. Focusing on the Quick Wins,” according to a press statement.

The first EAC-SG forum was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last weekend.

The forum is meant to provide a platform for regular dialogue between the EAC Secretary General and the private sector and civil society on how to improve the EAC integration process.

The experts also deliberated on the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the National and Regional Dialogue Committees and considered the draft Rules of Procedure for the EAC-SG Forum.

“The main objective of the Forum is to allow selected stakeholders and the EAC to consult and work towards realising the Community’s objectives and promote a people-centred integration process,” said Mary Makoffu, EAC Director of Social Sectors.

She said the Regional Dialogue Committee for the 2nd EAC-SG Forum would meet in September to put final touches to the Nairobi conference.

In her opening remarks, the chairperson of the meeting Ronah Serwadda, a commissioner in the Uganda EAC Ministry, said that the annual SG’s forum was crucial in the deepening of regional integration.

“It enables stakeholders to hold direct dialogue with the EAC Chief Executive in pushing ahead our regional agenda,’’ she told the experts from the Partner States.

The meeting, which was facilitated by the German International Development Agency (GIZ), was attended by Partner States representatives for EAC Affairs, private sector and civil society organisations and the EAC Secretariat.

{{Development in Africa has been lagging because of Corruption. The remarks were made by Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga.}}

Ms Kadaga said African states had brilliant plans that were let down by “corrupt implementers. While Africa and East Asian countries were at relatively similar levels of development in the immediate post-independent era, the strong governance systems of the latter ensured rapid economic growth and human capacity development in those countries.”

She said that Corruption is one of the key stumbling blocks to good governance and social development in Africa.

Ms Kadaga’s remarks come weeks after Uganda was ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the World and the second in the East African region to Kenya, according to a corruption index released by Transparency International.

{{Western commercial oil exploration in disputed areas of Somalia and discrepancies over which authorities can issue licenses to companies could spark further conflict in the African nation, U.N. monitors warned in a confidential report.}}

In the U.N. Monitoring Group’s latest annual report to the Security Council’s sanctions committee on Somalia and Eritrea, the experts said the Somali constitution gives considerable autonomy to regional governments to enter commercial oil deals.

But a petroleum law that has not yet been adopted by the country’s parliament but is being invoked by federal officials in the capital Mogadishu says that the central government can distribute natural resources.

“These inconsistencies, unless resolved, may lead to increased political conflict between federal and regional governments that risk exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security,” the experts group said in an annex to its annual report, which was seen by media.

The overthrow of a dictator in 1991 plunged Somalia into two decades of violent turmoil, first at the hands of clan warlords and then Islamist militants, while two semi-autonomous regions – Puntland and Somaliland – have cropped up in northern Somalia.

Around a dozen companies, including many multinational oil and gas majors, had licenses to explore Somalia before 1991, but since then Somaliland and Puntland and other regional authorities have granted their own licenses for the same blocks.

In some cases Somaliland and Puntland have awarded licenses for blocks that overlap. The experts said one such case involves Norwegian oil firm DNO and Canadian-listed Africa Oil Corp.

“Potentially, it means that exploration operations in these blocks, conducted by both DNO and Africa Oil under the protection of regional security forces, its allied militia or private forces, could generate new conflict between Somaliland and Puntland,” the report said.

“It is alarming that regional security forces and armed groups may clash to protect and further Western-based oil companies interests,” it said.

“In this case, the involvement of a Norwegian company on one side and of a Swedish-owned/Canada-based company on the other, is even more disturbing, considering the long-standing implication of Norway and Sweden in promoting peace and dialogue in Somalia,” the experts said.

Bjorn Dale, DNO’s acting president/managing director and general counsel, said he was not familiar with the U.N. experts’ recent report but said that the company would never engage in activities that threatened peace in Somaliland.

Africa Oil was not immediately available for comment.

{{“Today, more than ever, Burundi needs support,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message to the first Sectoral Conference in the country, held in the capital, Bujumbura, delivered by his Special Representative for Burundi, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga,}}

“The country has already progressed along the long and difficult path towards peace and sustainable development. Now all stakeholders must come together to implement the recommendations of the Geneva Conference.”

In his remarks, Mr. Ban also called on inclusive participation from all sectors of society, stressing this is essential to fight poverty and promote growth.

“The State holds primary responsibility for upholding its commitments but civil society, the private sector, religious and local communities and development partners must all play their part,” he said. “The engagement of women and youth is especially critical to success.”

Mr. Ban added that the Conference represented an essential step in efforts to ensure that the commitments made at the Conference of Development Partners in Geneva in October.

During the Conference, more representatives from a range of countries identified ways to support Burundi’s continued progress in reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable livelihoods.

The international community also committed $2 billion to accelerate the country’s development.

“I am grateful to the Government for organizing this Conference, which is an essential step forward in our common efforts to ensure that the Geneva commitments are realized. I also thank Burundi’s partners for their engagement, which reflects an important degree of international solidarity,” Mr. Ban said.

“Together, we can help Burundi to fight poverty, generate employment, promote fair economic growth, participate in regional integration, and reinforce the State while protecting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all citizens.”

{{Fresh reports are emerging on the deadly attack on Saturday that claimed the lives of seven Tanzanian soldiers in Darfur, as Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) forms a team of experts to investigate the mystery surrounding the incident.}}

The slain soldiers, who were part of the UN-Africa Mission in Darfur (Unamid) died on Saturday after gunmen ambushed a convoy comprising Tanzanian peacekeepers.

Their 17 colleagues were seriously wounded in the incident described as the deadliest ever single attack on the international force in Sudan.

The unidentified assailants ambushed the convoy of the African Union and the United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur at Khor Abeche in southern Darfur, killing the seven Tanzanian soldiers instantly.

TPDF spokesman, Colonel Kapambala Mgawe, said on Sunday that a team of experts would travel to Khartoum and Darfur for talks with authorities over the attack.

Speaking from Sudan, a police officer who working in Nyala town, Darfur the attack occurred when the soldiers were on a search for UN vehicles which are said to have been stolen by a rebel group.

“The soldiers were in a normal patrol, but a week ago, unknown assailants attacked members of the army and disappeared with four vehicles without causing any injury,’’ he said, adding:

“On Saturday our soldiers saw their vehicles parked somewhere, but when they moved to recover them, they were suddenly and viciously attacked.”

He described the incident as the biggest and that the surviving soldiers are engulfed in fear. “It is really traumatising here; I can tell you the rebels are fully armed with sophisticated weapons’’, said the police.

He added that of all the incidents he has witnessed while working as a security man, the one on Saturday was the most vicious.

As of yesterday, the TPDF was yet to reveal the names the fallen Tanzanians. Colonel Mgawe said the army was communicating with the UN in part of the process to bring the soldiers’ remains home. He, however, declined to give names.

“It is too early to divulge the names, but we are all set to receive their bodies which will be transported here by the UN,” he said.

Yesterday, Unamid spokesperson Chris Cycmanick, told The Citizen that plans to bring the bodies to Tanzania were underway and that by the end of the week, they would be in Dar es Salaam.

The Citizen

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has said his Government’s Foreign Policy will be geared towards deepening trade relations with East Africa Community member States.

He was addressing the Kenyan diaspora in Nigeria. Uhuru said intra-Africa trade diplomacy would form the backbone of Kenya’s foreign policy.

The Kenyan leader said the policy is to facilitate people to easily cross borders to explore opportunities and engage in trade within the continent.

He added that African countries should focus on removal of trade barriers while rooting for internal solutions to the many challenges facing the African continent.

Elsewhere, Uhuru urged African countries to fully utilise the existing world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the continent.

He said the facilities have the capacity to produce drugs to win the war against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

Uhuru was speaking during a Special Summit meeting on HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria at Abuja International Conference Centre.

{{The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir returned home abruptly before the conclusion of the HIV summit that took place in the Nigerian capital of Abuja amid controversy over his attendance.}}

A Sudanese diplomat who would not give his name told The Associated Press that Bashir left at 3 p.m. Monday, less than 24 hours after he arrived and in the middle of a two-day summit ending Tuesday.

But he denied that Bashir’s hasty departure was related to demands for his arrest.

The Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) issued a statement today condemning the government for hosting the Sudanese leader who is wanted by the ICC in connection with war crimes committed in Darfur.

NCICC said that Nigeria’s failure to arrest Bashir “will be a brazen disregard of its international treaty obligation under Article 89 of the Rome Statute of the ICC which it has ratified since 2001”

“Such failure also undermines the pursuit of international justice, peace and security which are the objectives of the ICC” the group said.

The group also revealed that it has filed a suit at the Federal high court Abuja seeking a domestic arrest warrant for Bashir.

“The judiciary in this country has the responsibility to implement legal obligations created by treaties undertaken by Nigeria. As a state party to the Rome statute of the ICC, Nigeria is under legal obligation to execute within its national jurisdiction the arrest warrants issued by the trial chamber of the ICC against Mr Al Bashir while in its national territory”.

The British government also released a statement expressing disappointment at Nigeria.

“The UK has a strong and abiding bilateral relationship with Nigeria. I am therefore disappointed that Nigeria has chosen to host President Al Bashir of Sudan at an African Union event, despite International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against him for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

This undermines the work of the ICC and sends the victims a dismaying message that the accountability they are waiting for will be delayed further,” said the UK Foreign Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds

Abuja defended its decision to host Bashir saying it is abiding by AU decisions that instructs members not to cooperate with ICC in executing the warrant against the Sudanese president.

The minister of health Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, who accompanied Bashir to the summit, described the summit as a success adding that Sudan has played a crucial role with regards to establishing a roadmap to protect HIV+ individuals and simplifying efforts to combat this virus and others including Malaria and Tuberculosis.

He went on to say that resolutions issued in previous summits have been reaffirmed such as linking healthcare to development.