Tag: GreatLakesNews

Kenya is set to open a museum on the region’s slave history in September at Shimoni in Kwale County.

The museum, the first of its kind in East Africa, will be housed at the colonial District Commissioner’s residence that was built in 1885 and abandoned in the 1980’s.

At Shimoni, restoration works funded at a cost of Sh2.5 million by United States of America Embassy Ambassador Fund and government are ongoing.

Shimoni Curator Cultural Landscape Patrick Abungu said the museum space would be used by communities for dialogue and exhibitions on slavery from Africa, East Africa and parts of the Kenyan coast.

“Collections of artefacts and paintings will be on display within the building for tourist to see and learn more about the slavery concept,” he said.

Mr Abungu said for sustainable development and opportunities, the community will be able to internalise the sad historic memories to their benefit.

The heritage conservationist said the museum will be a one stop shop on slavery activities from Freetown, Gazi, Rabai and Takaungu.

“Our agenda is to empower the community and promote the economic development agenda, “he said.

Chairman Shimoni caves Ndalu Mshee said they expect that the initiative would translate into more revenue generation annually.
“The museum will boost the education kitty and the numbers of students sponsored by the cave shall increase from four to more in the coming years,” he said.

Chairperson Wasini Women Board Walk group Swabir Shilingi said the museum presence will market the destination more and tourists visitation on the coral reefs and mangrove would increase.

“The famous Shimoni caves on the Mombasa South Coast are a stark reminder of the human trafficking that thrived up to the mid-19th century,” she said.

Ms Shilingi said although castigated for the atrocities that the victims went through at the hands of the raiders, traders and finally the masters, Shimoni, an important tourist haven and a bubbling fishing village, is a direct beneficiary of the business.

Kwale County Tourism executive Adam Sheikh said the museum would add diversification on the tourist menu from the traditional beach safaris.

“The museum will be an opportunity for job creation and also poverty reduction in the county ,”Mr sheikh said.

According to the NMK which has conducted extensive research and archaeological work on the subject, Shimoni developed to what it is today from the influx of interior residents running away from the slave hunters.

Businessdaily

The former spokesperson for the Uganda Army, Col. Shaban Bantariza has been arrested after investigations discovered that the outspoken officer had allegedly mismanaged funds while managing the National Leadership Institute (NALI) several kilometers away from the capital city Kampala.

Col. Bantariza was the director of NALI from 2007 and 2009 before being suspended.

“The investigations were done, completed and a report produced. He has questions to answer,” The current army Spokesperson, Lt. Col Paddy Ankunda confirmed the arrest and said Col. Bantariza might face the military court martial.

Col. Bantariza was recently appointed deputy director Media Centre last month.

Col. Bantariza worked as the army spokesperson at a time when UPDF was fighting Allied Democratic Forces, Lord’s Resistance Army and Laurent Kabila government in the 90’s.

{NMG}

{{The Somali government has called for the removal of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) out of Kismayo for arresting a commander in its army and involvement in violence.}}

At a press conference in Mogadishu, Deputy Minister for Information Abdishakur Ali Mire accused the Amisom Section Two forces, which includes KDF of engaging in Kismayo violence that lasted for three days.

“Amisom Section Two forces purposefully arrested government appointed division 43 SNA commander, Col Abbas Ibrahim Gurey,” Abdishakur Mire said.

“We are also informed that there was a targeted offensive against civilians and the SNA command centre in Kismayo by the Amisom Section Two forces, which is unfortunate,” he added.

The Somali government has put forward further demands including the replacement of Amisom Section Two forces to a more neutral African Union (AU) force for supporting one side of the warring parties in violation of their mandate.

The Somali government also wants the establishment and the dispatch of a fact finding mission to assess the situation in Kismayo.

Mr Mire also wants the immediate release of Col Abbas Ibrahim Gure to resume his military duty in the region as well as the appointment of African Union Political Officer to the region not part of Amisom Section Two.

The Somali government has also called for humanitarian intervention to prevent crisis and assist the civilian victims in Kismayo.

NMG

{{At least 30 people were killed and scores more injured when a fuel tanker exploded on a highway in Uganda, a major transit route for fuel heading from Kenya.}}

The truck exploded late on Saturday a few miles north of the capital Kampala after it had stopped when it was involved in an accident with another vehicle and people nearby crowded round trying take fuel from the tanker, the Uganda Police spokesman said.

The practice of taking fuel from stricken trucks is not uncommon, although what caused the blast was not immediately clear.

The leaders of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, who met in Kampala this month, agreed that a fuel line that already runs inside Kenya from its Mombasa port would be extended to Uganda and Rwanda. That would reduce transport costs and improve safety.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is on a visit to Tanzania, sent condolences and said he was monitoring the work of police and medical workers.

{Below; President Museveni at the scene of Explosion}

wirestory

{A billboard welcoming US President Barack Obama straddles Nyerere Road in Dar es Salaam ahead of his arrival in the country today}

{{US President Barack Obama left Cape Town on Monday morning, heading to Tanzania on the last leg of an African tour in which ailing Nelson Mandela’s offstage presence complicated a key US diplomatic push in a rising continent.}}

Obama warned on Sunday that Africa could only fulfil its destiny with leaders who strive to improve the lives of their people, and his stop in Tanzania is intended to boost a democracy viewed with approval in Washington.

He will be hot on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who included Tanzania on his first overseas tour in March. Talk of an economic rivalry in Africa between Washington and Beijing has been a theme of Obama’s trip.

Obama spent the weekend paying homage to Mandela, the political hero who drew him into politics, on an ascent that led him to become the first black president in America, a country, like South Africa, with a tainted racial past.

He decided not to visit the father of modern South Africa, who lies critically ill in a Pretoria hospital, but paid repeated tribute to his legacy, painting him as one of history’s most important political figures.

On Sunday, Obama stood in the tiny cell once occupied by Mandela on Robben Island outside Cape Town, and took his daughters to the lime quarry where Mandela and fellow prisoners once did futile, back-breaking, hard labor.

Later, in a speech at Cape Town University, Obama decried “thugs and warlords” who hold back the promise in Africa.

In a strident call for democratic change and good governance, Obama used the political legacy of Mandela and South Africa’s emergence from grim years of racist apartheid rule as proof that freedom will ultimately prevail.

{{Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto over the weekend urged striking teachers to hold negotiations with the government and end the stalemate over their allowances demands.}}

Mr Ruto also wondered why the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) had refused to negotiate with the Jubilee government yet it did so with previous regimes.

“We have seen the union negotiate with Moi and Kibaki regimes. Only talks can help us get our children back to class,” said Mr Ruto.

The teachers strike enters second week with the union stating that members will continue boycotting classes even as the government threatens to withhold their June salaries.

Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion has repeatedly argued that the Collective Bargaining Agreement (1997) has to be implemented in full and that teachers will refuse new offers.

“We are not ready to meet them (government) as they want to introduce a new CBA without fully implementing the 1997 agreement,” said Mr Sossion.

Mr Ruto asked the teachers’ union to meet the Cabinet Secretaries for Labour and Education to find an amicable solution.

{Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto (centre) after being installed as a Teso community elder on June 29, 2013}