Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The secretary general of the East African Community (EAC) has asked the First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to dismiss a suit filed by a former employee of the intergovernmental organisation as a result of a dispute over the duration of her contract.}}

Ms Angella Amudo, who had been a project accountant at the EAC, filed a claim against the EAC secretary general, alleging that she was employed as a professional staff accountant and was therefore entitled to a five-year contract renewable once under the EAC Staff Rules and Regulations.

However, she alleged the Secretary General illegally caused her to sign a contract for twenty two months instead of the five years and has thus sought the Court’s intervention.

Appearing in the EACJ on behalf of the secretary general , Mr Stephen Agaba, however, asked the court to dismiss the claim with costs, contending that it was time-barred under Article 30 (2) of the EAC Treaty, which provides a time limit of two months for a case to be filed in Court from the day in which the dispute arose or from the day it first came to the knowledge of the claimant.

The advocate for the respondent, Mr James Nangwala, opposed the submissions of the applicant and stated that the claim “is properly” before the court under Article 31 of the Treaty, which provides the court the jurisdiction to determine any dispute between the EAC and its employees without regard to the two months’ time limit.

He therefore asked the court to uphold the claim and dismiss the application by the EAC. The Court will deliver its ruling on 2 May 2013.

{Thecitizen}

{{Judge Christine van den Wyngaert on Saturday resigned from hearing the Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after questioning the conduct of the prosecution in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s case.}}

In her opinion the prosecution failed to disclose to the Pre-Trial Chamber on the credibility of witness four and disclosing new evidence after confirmation stage.

“There are serious questions as to whether the prosecution conducted a full and thorough investigation of the case against the accused prior to confirmation. I believe that the facts show that the prosecution had not complied with its obligations at the time when it sought confirmation and that it was still not even remotely ready when the proceedings before this Chamber started,” she stated.

She further agreed with Kenyatta’s argument that the prosecution introduced evidence and witnesses that had not been disclosed before.

“I stress the concerns expressed in the decision about the overwhelming number of post confirmation witnesses and the quantity of post-confirmation documentary evidence, as well as the very late disclosure of the latter.

Wyngaert observed that even though the prosecution faced challenges it has not justified how so many witnesses were interviewed after charges against Kenyatta were confirmed.

“The Prosecution offers no cogent and sufficiently specific justification for why so many witnesses in this case were only interviewed for the first time post-confirmation.

The mere invocation by the Prosecution of generic problems with the security situation in Kenya, without explaining how this situation affected each of the individuals involved, does not adequately justify the extent and tardiness of the post-confirmation investigation,” she opined.

However in her concurrence with the other two judges, she explained that the hitches on the side of prosecution were not weighty enough to warrant a referral to the Pre Trial Chamber or withdrawal of charges against Kenyatta.

Wyngaert was replaced by Judge Robert Fremr who was previously assigned to the Trial Division 4.

The Kenyan cases now will be heard by Fremr, presiding Judge Kuniko Ozaki and Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji.

In a majority decision the Trial Chamber agreed that charges against Kenyatta will remain as confirmed for the trial set for July 9 this year.

The judges said it was not within the mandate of the Trial Chamber to determine the credibility of witnesses and their evidence.

“The Chamber is mindful that it should not place itself in the position of the Pre-Trial Chamber when it comes to the consideration of the credibility of witnesses and assessment of the evidence presented at the Confirmation Hearing,” the judges said.

The majority further ruled that it was not within the mandate of the Trial Chamber to challenge decisions of the Pre Trial Chamber but for the Appeal Chamber to make such a decision.

They also said that it was not within the Trial Chamber’s power to terminate the proceedings as requested by Kenyatta’s defence.

For that reason, the judges dismissed Kenyatta’s application to refer his charges back to the confirmation stage and also to stop the proceedings against him.

“The Chamber has no appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber. Accordingly, the Chamber is not convinced that this issue provides a basis to terminate or stay the proceedings.

Nor is it, in the view of the majority, necessary for the Chamber’s “fair and effective functioning” to refer this issue back to the Pre-Trial Chamber for reconsideration.

To do so for this issue would effectively mean that the Chamber acts as an appellate body, which as considered above, is not permitted by the Statute,” the majority explained.

The judges however agreed that the defence required more time to prepare for the trials based on the fact that there were witnesses and evidence disclosed post confirmation.

However the judges said until it rules otherwise on the start of trials, the trial date for Kenyatta’s case would still remain on 9 July.

“The Chamber considers that it would be disproportionate to terminate or stay the proceedings as a result of the non-disclosure. Nor is it necessary to refer this issue to the Pre- Trial Chamber.

Until the chamber has decided on the amount of additional time that the defence will be given, the current date for trial of 9 July 2013 will be retained,” the majority ruled.

{wirestory}

{{The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebels swept through Umm Rawaba in North Kordofan state on Saturday morning in an attack that took the Sudanese government and observers by surprise.}}

The rebels stormed the major town which lies around 500 kilometers south of the capital Khartoum utilizing 150 vehicles and killed 9 policemen, including a lieutenant, before withdrawing at approximately 2:00 pm local time.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesperson, Colonel al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad, said that troops confronted the rebels after they arrived in Abu Kershola in the far north of South Kordofan state, adding that rebels then looted Alla-Kareem village before targeting Umm Rawaba.

Al-Sawarmi, who didn’t mention any killings, said that rebels destroyed the communication tower and electricity station in Um Rawaba and looted civilian property as well as gas stations.

He did not explain why the army did not stop them before they reached North Kordofan.

The Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which launched an unprecedented assault on Sudan’s twin capital city of Omdurman in May 2008, confirmed its role in the attack.

“This is part of our strategy to overthrow the regime and we want to weaken the troops on the road towards Khartoum,” JEM spokesman Gibril Adam Bilal told Agence France Presse (AFP).

“This is an attack deep in Sudanese territory” Bilal added.

JEM is member of the SRF, which also includes the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) fighting the army in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. It also includes the factions of Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) and another of Abdel-Wahid Mohamed Nur (SLM-AW).

“This is a significant shift in the war in Sudan,” Nur told AFP. “We are heading to Khartoum,” he said. “This is not a joke.”

Eyewitnesses inside Um Rawaba confirmed to Sudan Tribune the death of nine policemen at the hands of the rebels who, according to the sources, refrained from targeting civilians while they destroyed the judiciary headquarters, the power station and attacked three banks but were unable to rob them.

The eyewitnesses further added that rebels warned civilians against leaving their homes and informed them of potential aerial bombardments by SAF.

SAF’s warplanes hovered over the city for hours but did not carry out any bombings, the eyewitnesses said.

Umm Rawaba, with a population of several thousands, is about 100 kilometers east of the state capital El Obeid, home to a military airbase.

According to the same sources, SRF descended on the city from three directions, forcing authorities to shut down the main highway which connects Khartoum to the White Nile and North Kordofan states.

Hundreds of Um Rawaba residents, who gathered in the city’s hospital where bodies of the 9 policemen lie, chanted anti-government slogans especially upon arrival of the city mayor.

Later in the day, SAF spokesperson told Sudan news agency (SUNA) that the “defeated” rebels withdrew and that the army is chasing the fighters who fled in different directions.

Fighting between the rebels and the army has been so far mainly limited to Darfur as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile states bordering South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011.

Sudan’s 2nd Vice president, Al-Haj Adam Youssef, lambasted SRF saying that their acts are aimed at destroying the economic infrastructure of the country, stressing that his government would not “bend”, calling upon SRF to lay down arms and “bow to peace”.

The Sudanese parliament, in an emergency session for its subcommittee on members’ affairs yesterday, described the SRF move as an aggression to strip the nation from its gains and capabilities, calling for the need to defeat SRF militarily and popularly.

The parliament further announced that it will be summoning the defence minister to testify before it on Monday on the circumstances of the attack and taking the necessary measures to “eliminate” the SRF and its pockets.

On a separate front, the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) which is part of the SRF, said it had seized Alremaila, Alkibeba, Alshiheta and Albejaya east of South Kordofan capital of Kadugli.

“[T]hese villages were controlled by popular defense forces and militias they inflicted heavy casualties both men and military equipment, this in retaliation to the killing of children and displace and looting the innocent people” SPLM-N statement said.

There was no comment from SAF on the SPLM-N claims.

{ST}

{{A journalist in Burundi on Saturday sustained serious gunshot wounds after a police officer he saw extorting money from men carrying fruit to market opened fire on him, witnesses said.}}

Patrick Niyonkuru, a reporter with independent radio station African Public Radio (RPA), surprised the police officer in the capital before dawn on Saturday.

The officer beat up Niyonkuru and then shot him in the arm, witnesses said. The journalist is now in hospital.

The policeman, identified as Pierre Havyarimana, was indicted for attempted homicide and tried in a fast-track procedure. On Saturday evening he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

“The policeman was to blame for what happened, and as you’ve seen he was immediately kicked out of the police and brought before the courts,” police spokesman Elie Bizindanvyi told media.

The attack comes one day after a journalist with a private TV station was attacked and wounded in his home by assailants armed with guns and machetes who made off with his computer and several recordings.

{AFP}

{{A coalition of three American civil society organisations has accused the Sudanese government of resuming assistance to Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, designated by the US government as a terrorist group.}}

An official of the Sudan embassy in Kampala, however, dismissed the allegations as “fabrications”, saying President Omar Bashir’s government is actively involved instead in regional and African Union’s counter-LRA initiatives.

The latest allegations against Sudan are contained in a new joint report that The Resolve, Enough Project and Invisible Children released Friday in which they note that between 2009 and February, this year, Kony lived in Kafia Kingi, a disputed border area with South Sudan presently under Khartoum’s control.

“According to LRA defectors and other sources, the rebel leader Joseph Kony himself first travelled to the Kafia Kingi enclave in 2010.

He returned to Kafia Kingi in 2011 and was present there throughout parts of 2012,” notes the report co-authored by The Resolve’s Executive Director Michael Poffenberger and his policy director Paul Ronan.

The Uganda military last year raised similar unproven allegations, which Khartoum denied.

The new report says military officers and diplomats assigned on counter-LRA mission are aware of Khartoum’s renewed support, but reluctant to speak out openly.

{NMG}

{{Kenyan deputy president William Ruto has asked for the start of his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to be delayed.}}

He wants more time to allow his legal team more time to prepare, his lawyer said on Friday.

Judges have yet to rule on the request, but previously they have granted delays in other trials relating to post-election violence in Kenya just over five years ago.

Ruto stands accused of orchestrating the violence, alongside Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Ruto’s trial had been due to begin on May 28, but his lawyers say that late disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence by the prosecutor had made it impossible for them to prepare his defence in time.

“In order to provide Ruto with time it’s necessary to put this case back,” David Hooper, a lawyer on Ruto’s defence team, said.

“There’s still one witness we don’t know the name of, and they are asking for five more to be added. All this should have been sorted out a year ago.”

Prosecutors dropped charges against civil servant Francis Muthaura earlier this year, saying authorities were obstructing their investigations and that key witnesses had been threatened into silence.

{Reuters}

{{A coalition of South Sudanese rebels said on Friday that they “unconditionally” accepted an amnesty by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Thursday, raising hopes of an end to nearly three years of upheaval concentrated along strategic border areas with neighbouring Sudan.}}

By the end of Friday, only David Yauyau, the leader of the South Sudan Democratic Liberation Army (SSDLA) had not reacted to Kiir’s re-granting of the amnesty, which he initially offered ahead of South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011.

However, leaders from the other rebel groups, exclusively members of Nuer and Shilluk ethnic groups, expressed in a statement their readiness to accept the amnesty.

The rebel groups, in statement which carries signature of Gordon Buay, who identified himself as spokesman of the coalition, claimed the leadership of South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) and South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) have declared peace with the government of South Sudan as of April, 26, 2013.

Buay said all the rebels will start interacting with South Sudan’s army (SPLA) without any confrontation to bring peace to the country.

“We have ordered all rebel forces to move to the areas controlled by the SPLA to achieve peace. Today, 5,000 forces of SSLA have moved to Mayom County as part of the ongoing peace process President Salva Kiir Mayardit has called”, Buay’s statement said.

The rebel groups’ spokesperson said the SSLA forces, under the command of Maj. General Mathews Pul Jang, were officially received by the SPLA Division Four commander, Major General James Koang in Unity state’s Mayom town.

He described the atmosphere in which his group was received as “very warm” and claimed that women and children started ululating and singing.

The rebel official said a delegation composed of Gordon Koang Chol, Maj. Gen. Baping Monytuil, Maj. Gen. John Olony, Maj. Gen. Karlo Kuol and himself will land in Juba to meet President Salva Kiir Mayardit to finalise the integration of all rebel forces to the SPLA army.

“The leadership of SSLA, SSDA and SSDF is very thankful to President Kiir for promoting the unity of the people of South Sudan.

Since January, the government of South Sudan has been in contact with the political leaders of rebel forces to stop rebellion and join the government.

The kindness and leadership of President Kiir have convinced us that the president is a man of peace who wants to see development in South Sudan”, the statement reads in part on Friday

The release expressed happiness with the interest for peace and unity demonstrated by General James Hoth Mai, the SPLA Chief-of-staff, who joined President Kiir in reaching out to all rebels to end rebellion and join the government to develop South Sudan.

“Since January, Gen. James Hoth has been working very hard to persuade all the rebels to end the war and he has succeeded today.

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

From today, there will be no more war in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile States,” the statement explains in part.

Kiir said the amnesty covered all rebel leaders who took up arms against his administration and fought against the government.

He expects them to respond and lay down their weapons without conditions.

The order named Major General Gordon Kong, Major General David Yauyau, Major General Oyuok Ogot, Major General Bapiny Monytuil Wicjang, Major General John Oliny and Major General Munto Abdullah Munto as the immediate beneficiaries.

All the officers and men who served under their direct commands since launching their rebellions are included in the amnesty regardless of any crimes they may have committed.

South Sudan has not been able to contain several armed groups it says are getting support from the government of Sudan, a claim which Khartoum denies.

In return, Sudan accuses South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of still maintaining relations with their former colleagues – the SPLA-North – who are currently fighting the government in the Sudanese states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, which lie just north of the new international border.

{ST}

{{Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday became the world’s first carrier to resume flying Boeing Co’s 787 Dreamliner passenger jets, landing the first commercial flight since the global fleet was grounded three months ago following incidents of overheating in the batteries providing auxiliary power.}}

The flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was the first since regulators grounded all Dreamliners on January 16 after two lithium-ion battery meltdowns that occurred on two jets with other airlines within two weeks that month.

U.S. regulators approved a new battery design last week, clearing the way for installation and a resumption of Dreamliner flights by airlines around the world.

The battery faults raised fears of a possible mid-air fire, drawing worldwide attention to Boeing and denting the reputation of its flagship plane.

“I wasn’t aware that I was going to be on the 787 Dreamliner until on my way to the airport. It was a good service and the flight was pleasant,” said Senait Mekonnen, an Ethiopian restaurateur, moments after the plane landed.

The fully booked flight arrived at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport just after 9.30 GMT, with passengers giving the crew a round of applause upon landing.

The grounding of the Dreamliner fleet has cost Boeing an estimated $600 million, halted deliveries of the aircraft and forced some airlines to lease alternative planes.

The Dreamliner cost an estimated $20 billion to develop and represents a quantum leap forward in design, offering a 20 percent reduction in fuel burn and added cabin comforts such as higher humidity, larger windows and modern styling.

But by sparking fears of a dangerous mid-air fire, the battery problems drew worldwide attention to both aircraft safety and the technology behind lithium-ion batteries, which are widely used in laptops, mobile phones, electric cars and other products.

The scrutiny turned from what are often called normal “teething pains” for a new plane into a serious crisis for Boeing. As the plane goes back into service, what caused the fire is still unknown.

The battery that overheated on a parked Japan Airlines 787 in Boston caught fire and burned for more than hour before firefighters put it out. The plane was on the ground and empty. The second incident, which has not officially been termed a fire, occurred during a flight in Japan.

An odor of smoke in the cabin and warnings in the cockpit prompted the All Nippon Airways pilots to make an emergency landing and evacuate the aircraft. Boeing said both incidents showed its safeguards had worked.

{{Cause not yet Found}}

After the second incident, airlines were swiftly barred from flying the 250-seat aircraft, which carries a list price of $207 million. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a full-scale investigation to find the root cause of the Boston fire and examine the process by which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Boeing’s design.

The NTSB has not yet found the cause, and after hearings last week the investigation continues.

The last time an airliner fleet was grounded was more than a generation ago, when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration banned the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 jet in 1979 after a crash in Chicago killed 273 people.

Boeing spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars redesigning the battery system, drawing on its vast staff of engineers and experts in everything from fighter planes to rockets and satellites.

The changes include a revamped battery less prone to heat build-up, a redesigned charger and a stainless-steel enclosure capable of withstanding an explosion and equipped with a metal exhaust tube to vent fumes and gases outside the jet, if the battery overheats.

International airlines have been slowly putting the Dreamliner back into their schedules. United Airlines, the only U.S. carrier with the jet, said it will begin commercial flights on May 31.

All Nippon Airways plans to conduct its first test flight of the revamped 787 on Sunday but has yet to decide when to resume passenger flights.

Ethiopian Airlines previously said its fleet did not suffer any of the technical glitches experienced by other Dreamliner jets, though it withdrew the planes from service to undergo the changes required by the FAA.

Reuters

{{A most-wanted American jihadi in Somalia said Friday that the leader of Islamic extremist rebels in Somali was starting a civil war, just hours after an assassination attempt left the Alabama native with a neck wound.}}

Omar Hammami posted on Twitter about what he labeled an assassination attempt late Thursday as he was sitting in a tea shop. He posted four pictures, one of which shows his face with blood on his neck and a dark blood-stained t-shirt.
Hammami, one of the two most notorious Americans in overseas jihadi groups, moved from Alabama to Somalia and joined al-Shabab in about 2006. He fought alongside the al-Qaida-linked group for years while gaining fame for posting YouTube videos of jihadi rap songs.

But Hammami had a falling out with al-Shabab and has engaged in a public fight with the group over the last year amid signs of increasing tension between Somalis and foreign fighters in the group.

He first expressed fear for his life in an extraordinary web video in March 2012 that publicized his rift with al-Shabab. He said he received another death threat earlier this year that was not carried out.

“Just been shot in neck by shabab assassin. not critical yet,” Hammami tweeted late Thursday. On Friday he wrote that the leader of al-Shabab was sending in forces from multiple directions.

“we are few but we might get back up. abu zubayr has gone mad. he’s starting a civil war,” Hammami posted.

Hammami has been a thorn in the side of al-Shabab after accusing the group’s leaders of living extravagant lifestyles with the taxes fighters collect from Somali residents.

Another Hammami grievance is that the Somali militant leaders sideline foreign militants inside al-Shabab and are concerned only about fighting in Somalia, not globally.

Hammami’s Friday comment about a civil war could refer to violence between those two groups.

Al-Shabab slapped Hammami publicly in a December Internet statement, saying his video releases are the result of personal grievances that stem from a “narcissistic pursuit of fame.” The statement said al-Shabab was morally obligated to stamp out his “obstinacy.”

Hammami has enemies on all sides. The U.S. named Hammami to its Most Wanted terrorist list in March and is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Al-Shabab fighters are not eligible for the reward.

Along with Adam Gadahn in Pakistan — a former Osama bin Laden spokesman — Hammami is one of the two most notorious Americans in jihad groups. He grew up in Daphne, Alabama, a bedroom community of 20,000 outside Mobile. He is the son of a Christian mother and a Syrian-born Muslim father.

Hammami regularly chats on Twitter with a group of American terrorism experts, conversations that are so colloquial and so infused with Americana that many in the counter-terror field have formed a type of digital bond with Hammami.

After Hammami publicized the assassination attempt, one of his Twitter followers, a counter-terrorism expert from Canada, wrote that Hammami had nine lives.

Hammami responded with an apparent reference to the movie The Blues Brothers. “‘I’m on a mission from God.’ minus the blues music,” Hammami wrote.

After the shooting, American terrorism expert J.M. Berger, who has a long-running Twitter relationship with Hammami, posted that it looks like Hammami came within a quarter-inch of death. “Perhaps it’s time to come in now,” Berger tweeted.

Terrorism expert Clint Watts wrote on his blog, Selectedwisdom.com, that the attack proves that Hammami should fear for his life.

Watts said Hammami’s anti-Shabab social rants were annoying the militant group and he predicted conflict between Somali militants and foreign fighters.

“If there is going to be a war inside Shabaab, I’m guessing it will happen soon,” Watts wrote.

AP

{{Applications by South Sudan and other countries to join the East African Community (EAC) are conspicuously missing from the agenda of the EAC Heads of State Summit to take place in Tanzania this weekend.}}

However, officials of the regional body maintained that this does not mean the issue has been put aside.

“What will take place on Sunday is an extra-ordinary summit. Such meetings take place to discuss only specific issues and not all issues on the integration agenda for the Community,” a senior official of the Secretariat told local media.

He said the issue of South Sudan and other states which have applied to join the bloc remained valid, but the Summit slated for Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge outside Arusha would not discuss them.

They could, however, feature in the ordinary leaders’ summit which traditionally takes place in November.

“Extra-ordinary summits are convened when there are pressing issues that cannot await the ordinary meetings of the presidents which takes place once a year,” he explained.

South Sudan alongside Sudan and Somalia are the known states which have officially applied to join the EAC bloc with Juba, which became independent from Khartoum in July 2011, more likely to have its request accepted.

Last year, the EAC Secretariat dispatched a verification team there to assess the readiness of the continent’s newest nation to join the bloc, a development normally considered the applicant met the basic criteria.

The issue of new applications by the three states to join EAC have, however, dominated in several past Heads of State Summits, including the extra-ordinary summits one of which was held in Ngurdoto in April last year.

While South Sudan appeared to be likely to be accepted in the near future given its growing links with the bloc, Sudan could not meet one of the criteria of bordering the region amid concerns over its human rights record.

Somalia, the latest state to apply to join EAC, had its application also pending because of many years of instability in the Horn of Africa state which had had no proper government for 20 years until late last year.

Two key agendas for the leaders’ summit this weekend include extension of the jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and progress on the negotiations for the East African Monetary Union, according to a press release by the Arusha-based Secretariat.

The extra-ordinary summit would also appoint a new deputy secretary general of the East African Community (EAC) from Kenya to replace Dr.Julius Tangus Rotich whose two three-year tenure ends in June. He has been the deputy SG since June 2007.

{NMG}