Tag: GreatLakesNews

Dozens of people were killed when a plane crashed into a residential area of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in bad weather on Monday, police said.

At least three survivors were taken to hospital, police sources said, though the exact number of passengers on board was still unclear.

The aircraft, a Fokker belonging to the local CAA company, was coming from the central mining town of Lodja and went down just before landing at Goma airport, the sources said.

The accident took place during heavy rainfall.

“We don’t yet know the number of victims because we’re still looking to get the (passenger) manifest from Lodja. But we estimate there could be between 30 and 50 deaths,” Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu province said.

Aircraft accidents are frequent in the vast DR Congo, where many planes are old and airports lack modern equipment.

All of the country’s roughly 50 airlines are on the blacklist of the European Union, which has banned them from its airspace.

In February 2012, a close aide to DR Congo President Joseph Kabila was killed when his plane overshot the runway at Bukavu airport in the country’s east.

wirestory

The EAC secretary general, Richard Sezibera last week told a meeting of manufacturers in Kampala that regional governments are the ones to blame for failing to institute structures that could ease investment in the five member states.

The blame, he said, should not be put on the secretariat as a number of channels have been devised but have not been implemented by the regional governments.

“We all acknowledge that we must remove non-tariff barriers, improve infrastructure as well as encourage import substitution, but why isn’t this implemented?” he said.

He added that EAC member states must reconcile their long term visions within EAC’s long term strategies which seek to develop the region.

However, he said regional governments have failed to implement agreed upon strategies as discussed by the EAC secretariat. “It is clear that we must invest in industrialisation if we want integration to succeed. We must stop talking about it and start doing it,” said Mr Sezibera.

He added that integration would remain an illusion as long as member governments fail to implement agreed upon commitments.

Facing challenges

Members of the five East African states continue to face challenges especially in the movement of goods and services contrary to the EAC deliberations and targets.

The Uganda Manufacturers’ Association chairman, Kaddu Kiberu in his remarks said manufacturers and the entire private sector continue to grapple with poor infrastructure due to lack of implementation of commitments.

“We have spoken about NTBs for years but nothing has happened. And we will continue to talk about them until such a time when EAC governments see some reason to implement them.”

However, Mr David Wakikona, the state minister for Trade said the government was doing whatever is possible with a target of achieving the aims of the EAC.

He said: “…Ofcourse government cannot do enough but it is doing something and we are growing.”

Infrastructure development is another area that he said government is committed to not just internally but regionally as well.

Meanwhile Prof Samuel Ssejaka of Makerere University Business School, said in a presentation that EAC member states must invest in agriculture due to the region’s comparative advantage.

He said the EAC has the ability to fetch more revenue from agribusiness related investments – including positioning itself as the food basket of Africa.

He added that the private sector must not let politicians lead the integration process but work together as partners.

Monitor

UN chief Ban Ki-moon Monday welcomed Somalia’s release from jail of a woman who told a journalist she was raped by security forces, but expressed regret the journalist would remain behind bars.

A Somali appeals court dropped charges on Sunday against the woman, who had been sentenced to a year in jail for “offending state institutions,” but reporter Abdiaziz Abdinuur’s sentence was merely cut in half, to six months.

In a statement, Secretary General Ban urged “the Government of Somalia to ensure that allegations of sexual violence are investigated and perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Abdinuur, 25, was detained on January 10 while researching sexual violence in Somalia, but did not air or print any report after interviewing the woman.

He was also found guilty of making a false interview, and entering the house of a woman whose husband was not present.

NMG

Somali government has opposed gathering of local political forces in the southern port city of Kismayu aimed at forming an administration for the region which was retaken from the rebel group Al-Shabaab last year.

In a statement late Friday the Somali Prime Minister Office expressed regret at the Kismayu meeting which it described as “unconstitutional” and “unilateral”.

“It’s important that what’s happening in Kismayo only takes place within – and not outside – the constitutional framework,” Mr Abdi Farah Shirdon said.

“According to our constitutional mandate, the government won’t accept anything less than correct procedure,” he added.

“We have been extremely inclusive throughout all consultative engagements and played a facilitative role in Baidoa (in Southwestern Somalia) and in Beled Weyne (in Central Somalia), and we expect to do the same in Kismayo as we move towards a federal state.”

“This unilateral act, carried out without reference to the federal government, violates the constitution and is an obstacle to peaceful political development. It neither serves the best interest of the local communities in the area nor that of the new Somali state,”

He emphasised that only the government could call for a conference.

Last year allied Kenya contingent of the African Union peacekeeping Mission (Amison) and Somali government forces as well as local clan militias ousted the militant Islamist Al-Shabaab fighters from the border regions Middle and Lower Juba provinces.

Local leaders in Kisamyo said that it was their constitutional right to form an administration to be called Jubaland for the three provinces along the Kenya-Somalia border but the Somali government object to it, saying: “The government’s constitutional mandate is to establish a federal state as the end goal.”

NMG

Uganda is in a state of panic after suspected heavily armed rebels on Monday morning attacked an army barracks located at Mbuya a suburb in Uganda’s Capital Kampala.

Some Sources have linked that attack to Ugandan rebels based in the DRC which have been reportedly planning attacks in Uganda.

State media reported 4 of the suspected attackers have been arrested, one killed as Ugandan soldiers pursued them. Others are said to be on the run.

Its alleged they intended to loot an armoury at the Barracks but were repulsed.

This is the first time since 1986 when Gen. Yoweri Museveni captured power that a military Barracks has been attacked.

The exact numbers of the attackers have not yet been established but are said to be more than 50 armed men.

Uganda’s Army spokesperson Col. Felix Kulaigye has called for a press conference . Below is his statement at the Press conference.

………………………………..

Today Monday March 04, 2013 in the early morning hours at Lower Mbuya UPDF Barracks, a group of thugs attempted to snatch an assault rifle from one of the sentries, to the North East of the Barracks.

UPDF, as usual will do whatever it takes to ensure the prevailing peace is not disturbed.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says more than a quarter of Congolese children are not going to school, including 1.3 million in the mineral-rich Katanga province.

UNICEF says more than half of children start school late. It says three times more children are out of school in rural areas than urban.

The agency blamed, in part, low income and educational levels of some parents, early child marriage and child labor in agriculture and mining.

But it also said children are being kept out of school by insufficient funding for education and not enough places at schools.

It quoted education minister Maker Mwangu promising that Congo’s government will immediately invest $40 million in building schools.

UNICEF helped fund the study conducted by Burkina Faso’s University of Ouagadougou and published Monday.

Kenya’s only Female candidate in the ongoing Presidential elections has condemned the country’s Electoral body Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for resorting to manual methods at poll centers in clearing voters.

Martha Karua (Narc Kenya Political Party), said she didnt not understand how the IEBC would claim that Passwords to access Biometric data was not functional on the polling day.

While casting her vote today at 9:00 AM Kenya local time, Ms. Karua was manually checked in yet the IEBC was under obligation to use Electronic gadgets.

Speaking to Reporters after casting her vote, Karua urged for peace and that despite the technical failures of the electronic system she urged kenyans to keep calm and accept the outcomes of the elections.

Her campaign centered on integrity values and the fight against impunity and corruption. She is opposed to people with pending cases at ICC vying for the top office.

Elsewhere in Mombasa, heavily armed Gun men attacked a Police Post killing at least 10 people, including two police officers.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga blamed the attack on the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a separatist group that wants Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya, and its surrounding coastal area to secede.

The East African Community (EAC) bloc should reduce energy and transport costs in order to compete effectively in the global market; it was announced here on Thursday.

EAC secretary general, Dr Richard Sezibera, said goods from China and other countries subjected those produced locally to stiff competition due to the fact that production costs in the Asian country were relatively cheaper.

Dr Sezibera, who was speaking during a luncheon organised by the Uganda Manufacturing Association (Uma), said although manufacturing offered a wide range of opportunities in the bloc, production costs made locally made goods expensive.

“The EAC Heads of State have always expressed commitment to the development of the sector through micro, small and medium sized enterprises, but nothing tangible has been done to attain that goal,” he pointed out.

According to the EAC Facts and Figures 2012, the share of the manufacturing sector to GDP registered marginal changes in 2011.

Burundi registered the highest share of 13.4 % up from 12.8% the previous year followed by Tanzania 9.3% up from 9.0% in the previous year.

The EAC boss added that Uganda registered 8.5% up from 7.6% in 2010, and Rwanda 6.6 % down from 7.0% in 2010 while Kenya registered 9.4%, down from 9.9% in 2010.

“For manufacturing sector to prosper, there is need for stakeholders, including the government and private sector, to work together in an effort to give domestic industries a new lease of life,” he said.

Dr Sezibera called upon local manufacturers to take advantage of several opportunities popping up as EAC integrates deeper, especially in areas that include pharmaceuticals, beverage production, vehicle spare-parts production and assembling.

‘’I am happy to report that several projects aimed at building a reliable transport and power supply capacity across the region are underway.

I am also glad to inform you that the EAC has a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan of Action, 2012-2016 which guides Partner States towards evolving an efficient and effective pharmaceutical manufacturing industry,” he said.

He acknowledged the challenges pertaining to the manufacturing sector and called for more efforts to overcome them.

The EAC chief noted that bloc’s Partner States were expected to come up with strategies for formalising the inter-agency approach at the regional level in order to establish a legal and regulatory framework for protection of intellectual property rights and elimination of counterfeit products.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has denied reports appearing in an international daily on Saturday claiming he would not concede defeat if he lost Monday’s election.

The Premier said at no time did he speak of this during interviews last Friday with the Financial Time, BBC Radio and TV.

In a statement sent to newsrooms through his Communication Secretary Dennis Onyango, Raila considered the article works of a writer and organisation with fixed idea of Kenya as the country goes to elections.

At a mammoth rally convened by the Pastor Dr Edward Owuor of Repentance and Holiness Church at Uhuru Park last week, Raila joined other presidential candidates in assuring Kenyans that he would accept defeat and work with the winner in free and fair elections.

During the presidential debates he has repeated the same sentiments, ”I will accept defeat and I will raise any grievances so arising in the courts of law.”

In the statement from Office of the Prime Minister dated March 2, Raila recalls the questions put to him during the interview on Friday.

Asked what if he would be at the end of his political career if he loses the elections, the PM’s answer was: “I strongly believe I am going to win this election, and in round one.

However, in the unlikely event that I lose, I believe there will be a role for me in Kenya. I can write my memoirs, I have a family to take care of, and, most importantly, I have a party that I will continue to guide so we can deepen democracy in Kenya.

I believe the democratisation of Kenya has been my biggest contribution to the country and I want to push it to the end whether I am in or out of elective politics.”