IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Uganda: 42,000 Students Get free Advanced College Education

    {{In Uganda about 42,000 students will study for free under the government’s Universal Post-O-Level Education and Training (Upolet) programme, the country’s Education ministry announced on Friday.}}

    The Upolet scheme was rolled out early this year to enable eligible O-Level graduates enroll in tuition-free secondary and vocational training institutions.

    To qualify for the scheme, one must have passed in Division One to Three.

    Basing on Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) records, 128,773 candidates passed in Division One to Three, meaning that the remaining 99,740 candidates though they passed, cannot benefit from Upolet.

    Education Minister Jessica Alupo on Friday said 3,511 candidates, out the 42,000 will be absorbed in Upolet implementing technical and vocational institution.

    “We would have preferred to take more but we are limited by resources. But I am sure, we shall be increasing the number every year,” she said.

  • Kenyan Envoy Denies influence Peddling

    {{Kenyan Envoy to the US on Saturday denied allegations by The National Alliance (TNA) that he met with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs at the Kenyan embassy in Washington, DC on Tuesday to discuss a US statement delivered on Thursday that was regarded as being critical of TNA’s presidential candidate.}}

    Elkanah Odembo said his meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson was convened specifically to shore up support for Kenya’s candidate for the top job at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Amina Mohammed and had nothing to do with influencing America’s position on the forthcoming general elections.

    “As you know, Kenya has forwarded the name of Amina Mohammed for the position of Director General which is an important position and so I have communication from the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi that we need to do what we need to do to advocate for her candidature so I had a series of meeting,” He said.

    In a conference call with reporters, Carson repeatedly said that Kenyan voters should be ready to face the consequences of their choice come election day.

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  • Juba says Pipeline Construction Begins October

    {{Construction of South Sudan’s oil pipeline, to by-pass reliance on neighbouring Sudan, will commence by October, the country’s petroleum and mining minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, announced Saturday.}}

    Juba says it is engaged in a series of direct discussions with a number of donor countries to help provide funds for the construction of an alternative pipeline to resume production and transportation of its crude oil to international markets,

    In January 2012 – 18 months after seceding from Sudan – the young nation stopped its oil production over a transit fee dispute with Khartoum.

    The move has severely affected South Sudan’s economy, with oil revenues accounting for 98% of the government’s income.

    Dau said he had met with “potential investors” in the oil sector who have expressed readiness to finance construction of the pipeline during a recent visit to South Africa, where he participated in a mining conference.

    No deals have been signed but the government is in “talks with companies and governments who have expressed readiness to finance the construction of the alternative pipeline”, Dau told media.

    South Sudan is still considering three potential routes to reach the East African coast. Prior to the shutdown Southern crude was exported through Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

    Despite agreeing on new transit fees over four months ago, border tensions have meant that production has not yet resumed.

    Sudan insists that border security be resolved as a precondition to other aspects of the September deal being implemented.

    The impasse continues, with Juba accusing Khartoum of adding additional demands in order to block its implementation.

    The official said previous Memorandums of Understanding (MoU), which his ministry has signed with Ethiopia and Djibouti authorities to create a mechanism for the construction of a pipeline through their countries, still stood.

    However, Dau also expects his country to sign similar deals with the government of neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, which would allow the construction of a pipeline to the Kenyan ports of Lamu and Mombasa.

    The construction of one of the new pipelines would begin around October or earlier “if all goes according to the plans”, Dau said.

    Companies including a Japanese company which has just completed feasibility studies on the Lamu route, have shown interest to partner with a number of American companies to jointly fund the project.

    “We have already reached an understanding with some international companies to do more exploration and to build [a] pipeline with understanding that they will own it, operate it and transfer later. We shall only be renting it from them during the period of the agreement”, he said.

    A senior member of the country’s governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said his ministry had already given a contract to German company ILF to carry out a feasibility study on the South Sudan-Ethiopia-Djibouti route.

    The study is underway, but will take between six and nine months before it is completed, he added.

    South Sudan took with it nearly 75% of the oil resources it previously shared with Sudan when it seceded in July 2011 after a self-determination referendum conducted in January that year.

    The vote was a key part of the 2005 peace deal, which ended over two decades of civil war between the north and South.

    (ST)

  • Petroleum Conference Concludes in Arusha

    {{The Second Vice President of The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar HE Seif Ally Iddi has assured investors their investments are safe in the EAC region as all the Partner States are signatories to the international conventions through which investments are protected.}}

    The Vice President added that a number of incentives were on offer from the five governments in the region which he encouraged petroleum investors to take advantage of, noting that “the Partner States are making every effort possible to attract investors in the petroleum upstream sub-sector”.

    HE Seif Ally Iddi was speaking Friday at the closing of the three-day 6th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition at the Arusha International Conference Center, Arusha, Tanzania.

    He noted that East Africa has been a prospective area for petroleum exploration for some time, but the rate of exploration and results has not been comparable to the potential that exists in the region.

    In that regard, he was optimistic that the Conference would greatly help the region’s efforts towards increased exploration and development and affirmed the Partner States’ readiness to consider the comments and recommendations from 6th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition in the ongoing harmonization of the EAC petroleum policies, legislation and fiscal regime.

    The chairperson of the Sectoral Council on Energy and Uganda’s Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Irene Muloni noted that the broad and varied international representation during the Conference was a clear indication that East Africa is becoming a key player in the oil and gas business.

    She added that the Conference has become a remarkable event in the region and in the global oil and gas calendar.

    She affirmed to the delegates that the EAC Partner States would continue to put in place attractive policies and conducive legal and fiscal regimes to govern exploration, development and production of the region’s petroleum resources in accordance with international best practices.

    On her part, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Hon. Jesca Eriyo asserted the harmonization of petroleum policies in the Partner States will help to streamline investment efforts within the region.

    The biennial event was celebrating a decade of existence this year, having held its first edition in 2003 in Nairobi, Kenya.

    EAC

  • Kenya Unveils Isiolo International Airport

    Kenya has unveiled a new international Airport facility–Isiolo International Airport in the northern part of the east African country.

    Kenya President Kibaki has commissioned the 1.4km runway in first phase of the Isiolo Airport and second phase of a passenger terminus.

    Kibaki said upgrading Isiolo airstrip to an international airport would open up development in northern Kenya.

    The second phase includes car parks and a modern passenger terminal to handle over 600,000 people annually.

    Speaking at the event on Friday, the President urged contractors to adhere to high professional standards and strict time lines.

    The passenger terminal building is expected to be complete in two years.

    Isiolo International Airport is the first of its kind in the region and it will serve the northern part of the country.

    Isiolo is also set to become a resort city in line with Vision 2030. Kibaki said Isiolo, as a key part of the Lapsset project would compliment other infrastructural projects the Government is undertaking.

    The facility will play significant role in connecting the Horn of Africa countries due to its strategic location.

    The airport, which sits on 800-acre land, will also open up Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and counties. The runway was completed in July last year.

    Three potential investors have shown interest to put up modern refrigeration facilities for organic grass and beef for export.

    The catchment area for the airport include the neighbouring counties of Samburu, Marsabit, Wajir, Meru, Laikipia and Nyeri targeting agricultural and animal produce exports.

    Kibaki encouraged the Ministry of Livestock Development to partner with livestock farmers to improve animal quality and benefit from the airport.

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  • South Sudan Bishop Wins UN Peace Award

    {{When Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban started his Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron, South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state in 1999, little did he know it would bare fruits several years later.}}

    The project, which initially started as a demonstration farm at the height of the north-south Sudan civil war, later expanded in 2004, becoming a village where people from different tribes, nations and religions live and work together to promote peace and development in surrounding villages.

    It thus not surprising that the United Nations, this week, named the South Sudanese bishop winner of the 2013 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize in recognition for his efforts in promoting peace in communities within the young nation.

    Vieira de Mello, a former UN’s former human rights chief, died in a bombing in Iraq 10 years ago.

    The award recognises an individual, community or institution seen as having made an exceptional contribution to reconciliation of communities or groups in conflict, and whose example can be duplicated elsewhere.

    “The fact that this village [Kuron] is now seen as an example of reconciliation and peace will encourage other communities to follow a similar approach in other areas of conflict in South Sudan and beyond,” Laurent Vieira de Mello, president of the prize foundation said in a statement.

    The jury for the award, given annually, includes the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and human rights chiefs.

    Meanwhile, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is due to present Bishop Taban with his the award at a ceremony scheduled for 1 March in Geneva, Switzerland.

    He will receive 5,000 Swiss francs (about $5,500) in prize money.

    A native of Opari, in Eastern Equatoria, Bishop Taban was born in 1936. He was reportedly ordained a priest in 1964, and in January 1980, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Juba.

    Three year later, Taban became the first Bishop of the then newly erected Diocese of Torit, the provincial capital of Eastern Equatoria state.

    He retired from archdiocesan administration in February 2004, and became Bishop Emeritus.

    (ST).

  • US Warns Sudan Against Darfur air Strikes

    {{The United States on Friday called on Sudan to halt aerial bombing raids in Darfur and for UN sanctions experts to be allowed to carry out wider investigations in the country.}}

    International concern over Sudan is growing as worsening conflict in the country’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states adds to the decade-old war with rebels in the Darfur region and growing tensions with neighbouring South Sudan.

    The United Nations has repeatedly complained about lack of access to conflict zones in Darfur, where it says it has been prevented from reaching areas where government air attacks have been reported.

    The United States is “profoundly concerned” by clashes between tribal militias in North Darfur and between the Sudanese army and rebels in the Jebel Marra district, said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

    The renewed fighting has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Nuland said more people have been displaced in Darfur in the past month than in all of 2012.

    Nuland said the United States urged Sudan to “urgently disarm militias” in Darfur, “to cease aerial bombardments” and implement a Darfur peace accord made with some rebel groups.

    The past 10 years of conflict between Darfur rebels and the Arab-dominated Khartoum government has left at least 300,000 dead, according to the United Nations.

    The United States is also seeking to increase pressure on the Sudan government through UN sanctions investigators.

    The UN Security Council is due to renew the mandate of UN sanctions experts for Sudan on Wednesday. The current UN mandate allows them to investigate breaches of a Darfur arms embargo imposed in 2004.

    Agencies

  • Uganda Returns Stolen Aid Money to Sweden

    The Swedish government said Friday that Uganda had reimbursed some of stolen aid money $3.75 million

    The Aid cash had been misappropriated by senior Ugandan officials.

    The amount is about half of the 45 million kronor (5.2 million euros or $7.0 million) refund the Swedish International Development Agency had sought, SIDA said in a statement.

    “Uganda has indicated that the remaining sum was not misappropriated and has been used correctly. But before we relinquish our demand for full repayment we want an in-depth review of the remaining sum,” SIDA director general Charlotte Petri Gornitzka said in a statement.

    The aid was initially destined for the Peace, Recovery and Development Programme for northern Uganda, established to rebuild the region after decades of conflict and devastation.

    The programme received funds from Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    A guerrilla campaign was waged in Uganda between 1987 and 2006 by the Lord’s Resistance Army, which became notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become child soldiers.

    An investigation by the auditor general of Uganda last year found that 10 million euros in aid had been funnelled into private accounts linked to the prime minister’s office in Kampala.

    Petri Gornitzka said SIDA was “now working intensively to try to find new ways to invest the refunded sum into the same area, but without going via the Ugandan state’s financial system”.

    Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Ireland have all asked Uganda to return the aid. Oslo said Wednesday it had been refunded in full.

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  • Uganda wins Gold at Seoul Special Olympics winter Games

    {{Uganda has won a gold medal in the world special Olympics winter games in the Unified Hockey event in Seoul.}}

    The side overcame Chinese Taipei 5-2 in the final game of the round robin event to accumulate 9 points that saw them reach the semi-finals.

    Uganda managed to finish among the top four countries as well as going unbeaten in the competition that attracted 3,000 athletes with disabilities from over 110 countries.

    They qualified for the final round, where they beat Hong Kong 2-1, after a costly semi-final game against Italy that left many of the players nursing injuries.

    According to team captain Charles Okello, the team had all it needed to win but had to navigate past some barriers on their way to success.

    “Am happy that I led a team that made Uganda proud, but it was not easy because we suffered a lot of injuries during the game against Italy” said Okello during their ceremonial party held in Makindye.

    Africa was represented by only four countries including Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Canada was the overalll winner with 15 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medal. California will host the next event in 2015.

  • UN Says Sudan Paid Funds For Membership

    {{The Sudanese government has recently made a payment to the United Nations to satisfy the delinquent dues which resulted in the suspension of the East African nation’s vote this month.}}

    The UN disclosed this year that Sudan owes $1 million in arrears but to reinstate its voting rights it needs to pay only $347,879.

    The deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, Eduardo del Buey said.

    However, the money has not yet reached the UN headquarters, Del Buey said and as such he could not confirm the amount.

    Sudan’s ambassador, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, said this month that because his country is unable to obtain or maintain a bank account in New York as a result of US sanctions, they make payments through the UN’s resident coordinator in Khartoum.

    Khartoum’s foreign ministry blamed the loss of its voting rights on the finance ministry which ignored its requests for money to pay its UN obligations.

    But an official at the finance ministry responded, saying they had other spending priorities.

    The head of the Foreign Relations Committee at the Sudanese parliament, Mohamed al-Hassan al-Amin, labelled the UN’s move to bar Sudan from voting “politically motivated”.

    ST