Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The African Union has condemned armed attacks recently carried out in Sudan’s North Kordofan State and other areas in South Kordofan State.}}

The attacks, allegedly launched by Sudan Revolutionary Front, have resulted into deaths, casualties and destruction of property.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma , the Chairperson of the Commission of the AU said the and destruction of property, including a power grid for the town.

In a remark posted on AU website on Tuesday, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma , the Chairperson of the Commission  said: ’’These unfortunate incidents constitute a setback, as they have taken place immediately after the commencement of direct talks between Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), held in Addis Ababa, from 23 to 26 April 2013.â€

AU appealed to the conflicting parties to exercise maximum restraint and allow the political leadership to work through direct talks to reach a comprehensive resolution to the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile States.

The Commission also urged the Government of Sudan and SPLM-N to embrace direct talks under facilitation of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and the Chairperson of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the interest of peace, security and wellbeing of the people of Sudan.

Last week, Sudan Foreign Ministry issued a statement terming SPLM-North, Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Movement “biggest threat to peace, security and humanitarian situations in South Kordofan, Blue Nile , Darfur and the area as a whole†.

The ministry further condemned   the use of civilians by SPLM-North and its allies as human shields and exploiting the subsequent human suffering to achieve narrow political objectives.

{{World Bank disaster risk management specialist, Francis Muraya has lauded Uganda for being one of the African countries that is ahead in implementing disaster policies.}}

He said most African countries don’t have fully-fledged ministries of disaster preparedness like Uganda does.

He also made it clear that Uganda has made significant strides in responding to disaster strikes through a disaster-emergency-response policy.

The specialist was speaking during the opening of a disaster management international conference in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Uganda is prone to a multitude of natural and human-induced disasters that impact on human lives by causing death, destruction of infrastructure, property, livelihoods and setting back socio-economic development.

Bududa district in the eastern part of the country has been centre-stage in recent deadly disasters.

In 2010, about 100 people were reported killed in a landslide that was triggered by heavy rain in the district. Scores were displaced, which prompted government to swing into swift action to resettle them.

{NV}

{{Chief Justice Willy Mutunga revealed on Tuesday that the Judiciary was facing financial challenges in setting up the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court, to comply with the law.}}

Speaking when he gave updates on the progress of establishing the ICD, Mutunga said the process was on course but was constrained by lack of adequate finances.

“There will be great challenges to be surmounted in the establishment of the Division as the cost of setting it up and operationalising it at the expected international standards is enormous.

Therefore the Government of Kenya will be expected to resource it adequately in addition to seeking financial and technical support from development partners,” the CJ asserted.

Despite the challenges, he said consultations were still ongoing to strengthen the ICD in its mandate to address transnational crimes.

Apart from other organs dealing with justice issues, Mutunga said the ICD plans to have elaborate consultations which will include other sectors that can play a role in control of transnational crimes.

Kenya has been a prey of numerous transnational crimes.

Terrorism, animal poaching, human trafficking, illegal firearms, piracy, money laundering and among others cyber crime have been common terms that have hampered the country’s security system.

According to Mutunga, ICD will be seeking to address such and related crimes to restore security by protecting people in view that Kenya had lost thousands of lives to transnational crimes.

{CaptialFm}

{{ The M23 rebels in Eastern DRCongo warn they’re getting ready to fight against a new United Nations brigade due to arrive in the coming months.}}

Stanislas Baleke, an official with the M23 rebels, said Tuesday that his men are on high alert and ready to fight.

The threat comes as peace talks appear to have reached a dead end between the rebels and the Congolese government.

The M23 fighters seized the provincial capital of Goma late last year and held it for two weeks before withdrawing.

The U.N. Security Council has authorized a special brigade for eastern Congo whose mandate allows it to actively pursue armed groups in addition to protecting civilians.

Critics, though, say the special troops due to arrive by July may not be enough to stabilize eastern Congo.

{agencies}

{{A woman collapsed and died on arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi on Monday morning after drugs she had swallowed burst in her stomach.}}

The middle-aged woman had arrived aboard an international airline from Entebbe, Uganda when she collapsed.

She was rushed to hospital where doctors revealed some of the drugs that she had swallowed burst in her stomach.

A search on her body found more of the narcotics strapped on her chest, police said. Airport CID boss Mr Joseph Ngisa said they were yet to know the nature of the drugs.

“The doctors have indicated the narcotics burst in her stomach leading to her death. We are still analysing them to know what it was,” said Ngisa.

He said police vigilance at the airport is high in efforts to stop trafficking of narcotics that has become rampant in the region.

Ngisa also revealed the courts had ordered for the destruction of narcotics that had been seized in the past at the airport.

The drugs, which served as exhibits in various cases were destroyed on Monday at an open field near the airport.

{Standard}

{{Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for the removal of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which impede free movement of people and goods and services within the EAC bloc.}}

He said, “Non-tariff barriers have greatly reduced the benefits that we should already be enjoying”adding that he was not comfortable with the situation.

The newly elected Kenyan leader was attending his first regional leaders’ summit since his election as Kenya’s fourth president last month, said poaching was another major threat to wildlife in EA and the tourism industry.

He stated that his government’s priority would be to work closely with the four EAC partner states; Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda “to eliminate those barriers so that we can move freely throughout our region”.

Kenyatta also stressed that regional stability remained a critical ingredient for the future development and prosperity of the East African Community (EAC) bloc.

“All member countries of the Community must ensure peace and security regained in the region,” he noted emphasizing, “We must continue to combat collectively the threat of terrorism in our region”.

On a simillar note, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni warned that any sign of instability within the bloc must be fought using all energy to make East Africa more conducive for investments and development.

{{The spokesperson for the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A) has denied the group was among thousands of rebel fighters that surrendered to the government after accepting an amnesty offer by president Salva Kiir.}}

The deal has raised hopes of an end to nearly three years of upheaval concentrated along strategic border areas with neighbouring Sudan.

According to reports, some 3,000 rebel fighters from the South Sudan
Liberation Army (SSLA) crossed the border from Sudan with about 100 trucks and handed over their weapons to authorities in oil rich Unity state, which lies on the border between the two countries.

The apparent mass surrender of troops came after Kiir on Friday repeated an amnesty offer first made to rebel commanders ahead of South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

The SSLA, which formed in the late 1990s, is one of largest rebel groups in the region and switched sides several times during the north-South civil war.

However, SSDM/A spokesperson Col. Peter Kobrin Konyi described media reports to the effect that all South Sudanese rebels had surrendered to the government as “baseless and untrue”.

He also cited one press statement that claimed the SSDM/A and the now defunct South Sudan Defence Force (SSDF) were all part of the capitulating forces.

The statement availed to local media carries the signature of Gordon Buay, who identified himself as spokesman of the coalition.

“The leadership of SSLA, SSDA and SSDF is very thankful to president Kiir for promoting the unity of the people of South Sudan”, Buay said in the statement.

“Because South Sudan needs development, peace and forgiveness, we have decided to end rebellion in South Sudan and ordered all rebel forces to interact with the SPLA until the integration is complete,” he adds.

However, Konyi on Sunday clarified that it was only SSLA forces that had accepted the amnesty deal, and reported to Unity’s state’s Mayom county to surrender their weapons.

Konyi said the group still had genuine grievances against the South Sudanese government.

“Lack of will from the government’s side to address these matters left us with no option but to take up arms, exactly for the same reason the SPLA [South Sudanese army] did so when the successive governments in Khartoum turned a deaf ear to the just demands of the South Sudanese. These grievances are still outstanding”, Konyi said in the statement.

“We are not war mongers but are seeking a serious peaceful resolution the armed conflict through dialogue and negotiations,” he added.

He also questioned the credibility of the amnesty, saying the government had made no direct contact with the group after its initial public announcement.

“If the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is serious about a negotiated peaceful settlement to the current conflict in the country, then as the government of the day, they should address us directly on the matter rather than resorting to mass media. They know how to get us”, he said.

Konyi said the past experiences of several rebel leaders at the hands of the South Sudanese government following their defection, including David Yau Yau, showed they had good reason to take such amnesty offers “with a grain of salt”.

{ST}

{{Negotiations on the proposed East African Monetary Union (EAMU) should be concluded in August for signing in November this year, the regional leaders’ summit directed yesterday.}}

However, experts say several issues need to be addressed to pave the way for an effective monetary union.


The 11th extra-ordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) heads of state held at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha urged the partner states to ensure negotiations were completed according to the schedule so that the long-awaited protocol could be signed during the next summit.


The Arusha Summit was attended by presidents Jakaya Kikwete, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) and Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Rwandan Prime Minister Pierre Habumuremyi and Zanzibar Second Vice President Seif Ali Idd.

Reading the joint communiqué at the end of the meeting, EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera said the Sectoral Council on Monetary Union would meet on Saturday to consider and give guidance to the draft protocol.

This will be followed by two ministerial meetings in July, one of which will give a legal input for the protocol in readiness for consideration and signing by the heads of state during their ordinary summit in November.

Negotiations for the protocol started in January 2011 and were among the key agendas of yesterday’s summit. 
Tentatively, the protocol could be signed in November, but experts have observed that this would also depend on how the partner states resolved a range of issues to pave the way for the pact.


Despite EAC leaders’ desire to see the monetary union up and running, experts have pointed out several technicalities that are likely to further delay the conclusion of the process.

Key among the technicalities that have to be ironed out are the scope of EAMU, institutions necessary for its proper functioning, the macroeconomic convergence criteria and management of foreign reserves.

Others are the funding mechanism, transitional arrangements covering temporary and permanent institutions to be established during the transitional stage and harmonisation and coordination of fiscal policies.

Separate fiscal policies for a country in a single monetary union have been blamed for some of the major economic difficulties facing the Eurozone, and the EAC could face similar problems if the issue is not handled well, experts say.

A report of last week’s ministerial meeting that preceded the summit said experts working on the monetary union had observed considerable challenges with harmonisation and coordination of taxation.

“Partner states are at different levels of economic development and, therefore, need to provide for a provision for partner sates not to engage in harmful tax competition”, said the report seen by The Citizen.

On the establishment of the EAC Economic Stabilisation Policy, the experts maintained the facility should be established but the modalities and mechanism for its operation be left to be handled through a bill.
Institutions proposed for establishment under EAMU include the East African Financial Services Authority, East African Surveillance and Enforcement Commission and the East African Statistics Bureau.

The High Level Task Force (HLTF) observed names of the institutions should not be spelt out in the EAMU protocol, but provisions establishing each of these institutions be maintained “as they are critical to support the EAC Central Bank”.


In another development, the summit yesterday did not also agree on the extension of the jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to include crimes against humanity.

Instead, the summit resolved that the five partners in the bloc – Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda – should consult further on the matter.

The previous summit had directed the Arusha-based secretariat to prepare a technical paper on how the powers of the Court can be extended to cover human crimes.


The court, which is a judicial arm of EAC was launched in November 2001, is mandated to determine or arbitrate disputes arising out of cooperation among the member countries to the community.

That is despite Article 27 of the EAC Treaty providing the possibility for extension of its jurisdiction at a suitable subsequent date to include “such other original, appellate, human rights and other jurisdictions as determined by the EAC Council of Ministers”

The summit appointed former director general of the Communication Council of Kenya (CCK) Charles Jackson Njoroge as the new EAC deputy secretary general to replace another Kenyan national, Dr Julius Rotich, whose three-year tenure ends in June.

Mr Njoroge was sworn in along two new EACJ judges Faustine Ntezilyayo from Rwanda and Liboine Nkurunzinza from Burundi. Justice John Bosco Butasi was appointed the principal judge of the Court to replace Johnstone Busingye whose tenure is coming to an end.


Yesterday, the East African leaders sent a strong signal that the region would not tolerate any insecurity or destabilisation that would scare off investors or undermine its development efforts.

They said with major oil and gas discoveries made, the region must get rid of any threats posed to derail its quest to settle down and tap the vast natural resources for development.

{The Citizen}