Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{A former senior diplomat under President George W. Bush has criticised the United States for not formally recognizing Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in last week’s elections.}}

Jendayi Frazer, a former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs said the US and Europe were playing a dangerous game for their delayed endorsement of Kenyatta’s presidency.

“If the US, the UK and the Europeans don’t want to deal with Uhuru Kenyatta, he has another option,” she cautioned.

Speaking in an interview with American TV channel PBS, Frazer said that Kenya is a strategic partner to the United States and a key ally in the fight against terrorism in addition to being East Africa’s economic hub.

“Many American businesses like FORD, General Electric and others are based there so it’s key to the region as whole,” she said.

However, she warned that the West risked losing it’s strategic influence in the region.

“The geo-strategic environment has changed entirely and particulary (in favour of) China. The Chinese have changed the playing field (and) if the US, the UK and Europeans don’t want to deal with Uhuru Kenyatta, he has another option,” she explained.

Frazer who says she has been to Kenya twice this year said the fact that the Chinese ambassador and Foreign Ministry have already welcomed Kenyatta by referring to him as President-elect.

Frazer accused the US, Canada and Britain of meddling in Kenyans domestic affairs by threatening to put trade sanctions to Kenya, if they elected Kenyatta.

“They are in a bad situation because prior to the election, they threatened the Kenyan electorate by saying ‘if you elect Uhuru Kenyatta, there will be consequences; we may put trade sanctions,’ which was extra ordinary because the case for Kenyatta is not proven,” she explained.

She said that the diffusion of power, the expectations about the new institutions as well as the lessons learnt from the 2007 General Elections had accounted for the lack of violence this time.

Frazer also explained that the tribal competition is still imminent and that this election was based on community voting for “their boys” .

“The need for healing and reconciliation is still much there in Kenya,” she said.

{Wirestory}

{{The DR Congo government will grant amnesty to members of the M23 rebel group, as well as offer them positions in the national army if they agree to lay down arms and sign a peace accord this week.}}

A draft peace plan by the DRC government proposes that the M23 rebels should hand in their weapons ahead of the deployment of UN peacekeepers in eastern Congo border with Rwanda.

Also, rebels who are not facing prosecution would be integrated into the army while the government would, in turn, speed up the return of Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees from Rwanda.

The deal also offers M23 fighters a limited amnesty.

“It’s a working document … on March 15 negotiations will be finished in one way or another, with or without a signature,” Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende said, without saying what would happen if the rebels did not sign.

Mende said the draft peace plan was a reworking of an agreement signed in 2009 to end a previous rebellion. The M23 rebels said they took up arms last year because of the failure to implement that deal.

NV

{{Former Tanzanian Chief Justice Augustino Ramadhani is one of three retired top judges whose expertise has been sought to solve a crisis in Lesotho’s judiciary.}}

Mr Ramadhani joined former South African Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo and their Botswana counterpart Julian Nganunu in a fact-finding mission in Lesotho last week as part of efforts to solve the crisis that pits the president of the Court of Appeal Justice Michael Ramodibedi and Chief Justice Mahapela Lehohla.

Mr Ramadhani told The Citizen that the team of three has been commissioned by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) who were alarmed by the failure of the Court of Appeal to hold a session in January because of the dispute.

After a weeklong mission in Lesotho where they met prime minister Thomas Thabane, the president of the Law Society, Mr Monaheng Rasekoai, and president of the Lawyers for Human Rights Zwelakhe Mda, they will compile a report that would be submitted to the government for action. They also met high court judges, MPs, civil society leaders and several newspaper editors.

The nature of the dispute, termed by the Law Society of Lesotho as a “constitutional crisis,” is not yet fully known but the two principals in the judiciary system in Lesotho are not on the best working terms.

The dispute has been raging for years and reached a boiling point in January when the Lesotho Appellate Court was forced to cancel a special session after Justice Lehohla refused to allow High Court judges to hear cases in the Court of Appeal.

Justice Ramodibedi had requested that some High Court judges be allowed to hear appeals because those working in the Court of Appeal, who are all South African, had said they were on holiday.

When Justice Lehohla refused to release the judges, Justice Ramodibedi turned to two acting judges.

However, the Chief Justice ordered the two judges no to hear the cases, forcing Justice Ramodibedi to cancel the session.

The action left litigants in the six cases that were set to be heard during the session stranded. The former Chief Justices team is headed by Justice Ngcobo.

{{The International Criminal Court on Monday dropped all charges against Kenyan civil servant Francis Muthaura, who was accused alongside president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta of crimes against humanity during 2007-2008 post-election violence.

“I have decided, as of the state of evidence available now, that we have no other choice but to withdraw the charges against Mr Muthaura,” ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the Hague-based court.}}

NMG

{{The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir flew to Saudi Arabia on Thursday in an unannounced trip for medical checkup, a presidential source said.}}

The source said Bashir will undergo normal checkup and will return home on Saturday.

The 68-years old president underwent surgery last August in Qatar performed on his throat that was only officially acknowledged weeks after.

He underwent a second operation in Saudi Arabia last November. Officials said he was advised to cut on his public appearances.

Though Bashir appeared to abide by doctor advises for several months, he resumed his public rallies and speeches including one last week in Port Sudan.

This week he postponed a trip to North Darfur state and no official explanation was given for the delay.

Bashir’s brother Abdullahi Al-Bashir, a physician, later admitted that his younger sibling was suffering from a tumor in his throat but insisted that medical tests proved that the swelling is benign.

Bashir has been ruling Sudan since taking power in an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989.

In 2009 he became the first sitting head of state to be served with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Darfur conflict, which according to the UN, led to the death of 300,000 people and displacement of 2.7 million in 2003-2004.

He had made public his intention to step down at the end of his term in 2015 but last month his 2nd VP Al-Haj Adam Youssef said that Bashir will be renominated for a new term.

(ST)

{{United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refrained on Saturday from extending congratulations to Uhuru Kenyatta on his declared election as president of Kenya.}}

A statement by Mr Ban’s spokesman said the UN chief “has noted the results” of Kenya’s election.

But the statement added that Mr Ban “congratulates the people of Kenya for their impressive determination to participate peacefully in the elections, and for the patience they have demonstrated while awaiting the results.”

The UN chief’s response was similar to that of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who also did not congratulate Mr Kenyatta in a statement on Saturday but did congratulate Kenyans on conducting a peaceful poll.

The United Nations thus joins powerful Western nations in declining to offer a figurative handshake to Mr Kenyatta.

The charges of crimes against humanity brought by the International Criminal Court against Mr Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, account for the cold-shoulder response to the Jubilee team’s victory.

The UN chief did speak with Mr Kenyatta and with Prime Minister Raila Odinga by telephone on Friday.

NMG

{{South Sudan has announced it will hold the first national elections since the country was founded in 2010.}}

The next elections, according to the schedule, shall be conducted in April 2015, as first general election since the semi-autonomous region declared independence from Sudan.

The Country’s cabinet on Friday approved a sum of over 30million South Sudanese pounds for the exercise and directed the national elections commission to immediately begin establishing its organizational structures at the national level and across the 10 states of the country.

The minister of information and official spokesperson of the government, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said, “The national elections commission is supposed to commence its work to become fully operational in order to organize itself… and to prepare for the elections of 2015…We need the elections for our democratic transformation and conducting ourselves in a democratic manner.”

The preceding 2010 general elections were however marred with subsequent violence and rebellion which originated from within the ruling party (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – SPLM) as members accused themselves of not following the right procedures for selection of candidates and later on rigging the elections as well.

{{Uganda’s Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Hon. Maria Mutagamba today invited the global community to East Africa declaring it “a secure and safe destination of wonders and opportunities”. She said this during the EAC Joint Event at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) in Berlin, Germany.}}

As the East African region operationalizes the Common Market Protocol to better facilitate the free movement of people, skills, goods and services, Hon. Mutagamba noted the protocol marks a milestone that will enhance the hospitality and travel industry.

“One great milestone that will enhance trade and movement of goods and services especially favoured in the hospitality and travel industry is the removal of non-tariff barriers and enhancing a free trade area”, she said. “Furthermore, the East African region seeks to introduce a single tourist visa and a single currency under a monetary union,” she added.

Hon. Mutagamba affirmed that the region was working towards harmonizing hospitality services and policies, aimed at better cooperation and sustainable utilization of the region’s resources.

“Harmonization of hospitality services includes a focus on quality and not quantity, whereas, the harmonization of policies and laws will develop mechanisms on the movement of people and skills in the vibrant industry to ensure that the standards of quality in hospitality are met and the promotion of a Single Tourist Destination is achieved” she said.

With regard to safety and security in the region and taking note of the recent terrorist attacks in parts of the Community, Hon Mutagamba assured the world that Ministers responsible for tourism in East Africa have agreed that Partner States should fully address the negative image portrayed and subsequent negative travel advisories issued.

“We will employ a positive outlook on the regional approach taken to combat these challenges about the East African tourism destinations.

‘The Tourism Trade Associations are urged to ensure continuous dialogue with all Commonwealth member countires and to advice Commonwealth member countries to notify the EAC Secretariat before publishing any travel warnings,” she reiterated.

In her remarks, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Jesca Eriyo highlighted some key milestones and developments in the Tourism and Wildlife sectors in the last few years.

“These achievements are for you to grasp the opportunities and tasks that lie ahead of us which are being explored and implemented in order to sustainably utilize our resources as a region,” she said.

Hon. Eriyo highlighted that the East African region is endowed with a lion’s share of the new 7 Wonders of Africa. Among the wonders; East Africa is home to: (i) Mount Kilimanjaro the highest mountain in Africa with 5895 metres above sea level and the largest free standing mountain in the world; (ii) the Serengeti Migration, the longest and largest overland migration in the world.

The Serengeti spans over 18,640 square miles; (iii) the Nile River is the longest river in the world stretching 4,132 miles (6,650 km) which traverses across a number of countries has its source in the Region; (iv) lastly, the region boasts the largest unbroken caldera in the world, the Ngorongoro Crater. Measuring 12 miles across, this “Garden of Eden” is home to over 30,000 animals including the rare black rhino.

“Furthermore, the EAC region is home to rare and endemic species of primates, climbing lions and more. In addition, Mt. Kenya, Mt Ruwenzori with snow on their peaks and beautiful ranges, crater lakes and natural hot springs. It is no wonder, that the people of the Community are vibrant, enthusiastic and happy when surrounded by all this beauty!” she concluded.

The EAC Joint Event, this year hosted by Uganda, aimed at bringing the EAC Partner States together to further spearhead the EAC regional agenda. The event was attended by Hon. Victoire Ndikumana, Minister, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism, Republic of Burundi; Permanent Secretaries of Natural Resources, Tourism and Wildlife from the EAC Partner States, Ambassadors of East African Missions in Germany, Heads of Tourism Boards from the EAC Partner States among other invited guests.

The EAC Council of Ministers in 2006 directed the EAC Secretariat to promote the region as a single destination by participating in international tourisim trade fairs.

To the end the EAC Secretariat has been organising such joint events at World Travel Market (WTM) in London and Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin (ITB) in Berlin since 2007.

EAC