In Kenya Local media reports indicate that Five people are feared dead and several others are trapped after a building under construction collapses in Kisumu.
The five storey building, adjacent to Imperial hotel, collapsed on Wednesday evening.
Among those trapped are construction workers and women who were curing the building.
Members of the public rescued one person who has been rushed to hospital.
Rescue operation is underway.
A Ugandan woman activist Engineer Winnie Byanyima has been appointed executive director of Oxfam International.
Her new role will provide strategic direction and co-ordination for the worldwide confederation of Oxfam affiliates.
Oxfam operates in 94 countries to find effective ways to end the injustice of poverty, through its 17 affiliates.
She takes over in April 2013, replacing Jeremy Hobbs, who has served as Executive Director of Oxfam International since 2001.
A statement issued by Oxfam International yesterday said she was selected after a global search, led by the chairman of Oxfam International, Keith Johnston, with the help of an international executive search firm.
“In an outstanding field of candidates, Winnie stood out as exemplifying Oxfam’s values and ambitions,” Keith Johnston said.
He added: “She brings clear vision fired by her commitment to social justice, the toughness of an able negotiator and campaigner, and leadership based on her capacity to inspire and convene, in many circles, cultures and levels.”
Byanyima said: “The world is witnessing a shift in global development, growing inequality, volatility on many levels and mounting aspirations and impatience for change.”
“Oxfam understands how this changing context means it must be strategic and adaptable in its mission to overcome poverty and reinforce peoples’ rights.
Byanyima is married to Uganda’s former leader of Oppsition retired Colonel Dr.Kizza Besigye.
The Congolese government delegation at the ongoing peace talks in Kampala has been boosted with the arrival of the head of delegation Raymond Tshibanda, who is also the foreign affairs minister.
Tshibanda arrived in Kampala on Sunday from the Gabon capital Libreville where he took part in negotiations between the Central African Republic government of Francois Bozize and the Seleka rebels.
The Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Hon. Jesca Eriyo today launched the website for the forthcoming EAC Arts and Culture Festival; Jamafest and welcomed all artists and ordinary citizens to take part in the event.
The website address is www.jamafest.org.
The website is a one-stop resource providing information on the Festival, also known as Jamafest.
The EAC Arts and Culture Festival takes place from 9-16 February this year.
Hon. Eriyo stated that with the launch of the website, the East African citizens and international community will be updated constantly about the Festival.
Similarly, information will be made available via the Jamafest Facebook and Twitter pages.
“Our reach will not be limited to only East Africa, but across the African continent, and the rest of the world”.
The EAC official noted that organizing successful large social events like JAMAFEST requires support from Partner States, local communities, private sector/companies, organizations, as well as international backing.
With the rise of social media, keeping all these stakeholders happy, informed and up-to-date is becoming easier.
Rwanda will host the Festival, the first of its kind, on the theme “Fostering the East African Community integration through the cultural industries”.
More than five venues across the country will host events and activities that include a carnival, live musical performances, theatre, arts exhibitions, workshops and symposiums among others.
Preparations are in high gear for the event that is expected to attract hundreds of artists from the region.
Furthermore a ‘Jamafest Village of Countries’ is expected to be the standout attraction for the eight-day fete.
The village will provide a platform for the participants from the five Partner States to showcase the best their countries have to offer, hence promoting socio-cultural exchanges among East Africans.
The Jamafest Village will feature a country day for each one of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda; the five EAC Partner States.
The event is envisaged to be held biennially with the primary aim to promote socio-cultural integration through arts and culture by providing a platform to showcase culture as a primary driver of EAC integration and sustainable development.
Two men accused of the attempted hijacking of a tanker off the coast of Oman admitted their crimes in a court on Tuesday, reports said, in the first piracy prosecution in Japan.
The two are among four African men arrested in March 2011 over an attack on a Japanese-operated tanker in the Indian Ocean.
Men armed with submachine guns tried to seize the tanker, which was operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and had 24 crew members aboard, reports said.
US Navy personnel captured the men and Japan’s coastguard for the first time applied the nation’s new anti-piracy law to transport them to Tokyo to face trial.
In a hearing at Tokyo District Court that used two sets of interpreters — one from Japanese to English and another from English to Somali — the two pleaded guilty to charges against them, Kyodo News and Jiji Press reported.
The men were identified in court as Mohamed Urgus Adeysey and Abdinur Hussein Ali, and believed to be in their 20s or 30s, but reportedly said they were not certain of their own dates of birth.
The leading Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted one of their lawyers saying that communicating with them was difficult because “they did not receive basic education and are illiterate”.
“I have tried to explain what this trial means and about its proceedings, but I doubt that they understand,” the lawyer said, according to the paper.
Under Japanese law, defendants, lawyers, prosecutors and judges meet before court hearings formally commence to establish points of arguments.
One of the men, both of whom say they are from Somalia, asked one of the judges who he was, the Asahi said.
Defence lawyers have argued the prosecution should have been dropped because neither the place of the attack nor the tanker — which was registered in the Bahamas — were Japanese territory, reports said.
The men will hear the court’s formal verdict on February 1.
Agencies
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab said Monday a French soldier wounded and captured during a failed hostage rescue raid has died and published pictures of the purported commando chief’s body.
“The French soldier who was part of the invasion to Somalia died (from) the injury he sustained,” Al Shabaab military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP by telephone. “Our medical staff attempted to help him but he was unlucky.”
France’s military operation Saturday to free a French spy held hostage by the Shebab since July 2009 was a failure, with another French soldier killed and the situation of the hostage unclear.
The Shebab, who claim the hostage is alive, said they would announce later Monday their decision regarding his fate, while France believes he was killed during the rescue attempt.
The Shebab have posted on their Twitter account two pictures they claim are of a French commando chief killed in the botched raid.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday denounced the publication of the photographs.
“This is a particularly odious display,” he said.
The French defence ministry earlier had expressed fears that the Somali Islamists would put on display the bodies of the missing French soldier and the hostage.
AFP
Sudan and South Sudan have failed to strike a deal on the composition of an interim administration for the contested oil-rich Abyei region, an official said Monday.
South Sudan chief negotiator Pagan Amum Okiech said Sudan had in the latest round of talks in Addis Ababa over the weekend made new demands on the nominees to the Abyei Legislative Council in contradiction of previous agreements.
Sudan’s ruling party was to initially front nominees for 40% (eight) of the seats of the 20-member assembly, while South Sudan was to nominate members for the remaining 60%.
Of the eight, Sudan was to front four Dinga Ngok members–who are the original inhabitants of Abyei–while four would come from the Misseriya tribe that grazes its cattle in the area during the dry season.
Under this model, 16 members of the council would be from the Dinka Ngok.
But during the talks, Mr Pagan said Sudan raised its representation to 50 per cent, without guaranteeing that the Dinka could still hold their four seats.
“Sudan has presented different conditions from those we agree upon. So the talks have ended without agreement,” Mr Pagan told this correspondent.
“We would like the African Union to exercise its influence to persuade Sudan to drop the new conditions,” he said.
The nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms of Abyei, which was administratively transferred from Southern Sudan to Southern Kordofan in 1905, fought alongside the south against the successive Khartoum governments in the decades-long civil war that ended with the 2005 peace deal, paving the way for independence of South Sudan in July 2011.
NMG
Tanzania could adopt a new two-tier parliamentary system that combines Senate and Lower house.
Rwanda runs on this kind of system.Kenya also runs on a two teir parliamentary system.
Tanzania members of parliament made the proposal on the two-tier parliamentary system while presenting their views on the new Constitution monday.
The country’s Speaker of the National Assembly Anna Makinda said most of the legislators want the introduction of the Senate as the best way of safeguarding public interests.
She said the Senate should comprise a small number of experts from various fields who would be responsible for enacting and passing laws, among other functions.
Under the current system, where the National Assembly has the responsibility of passing and enacting laws, Makinda said, some of the legislators have been abusing their positions by putting the interest of their parties first with little regard to the interests of the public as a whole.
With the Senate in place, Ms Makinda said, experts would use their expertise to serve public interests.
“You have seen how the current Parliament operates: the walkouts and all manner of chaos are fuelled by party politics… the introduction of the Senate will limit legislators’ functions to only representing their constituencies,” said Ms Makinda.
The two-tier parliamentary system is common in developed countries like the US and England.
The Citizen
A total of 40 Rwandese were handed over to the Rwanda immigration department at Chanika on the Uganda-Rwanda border on Friday.
They were found without travel documents in Kisoro town, Kisoro district at night in a Kampala bound bus.
Kisoro deputy resident district commissioner Gideon Aheebwa said the Rwandaese came to Uganda in big numbers in buses every day.
“They are free to return as long as they have travel documents,” Aheebwa told the Rwanda immigration officers who received their citizens.
The district Police commander Bosco Otim said the Rwandese, most of them with their families, said they were heading to Kampala, Kiboga, Kibaale and Kyankwanzi districts and other parts of Buganda to look for casual labour.
Meanwhile the residents of Kisoro have asked government to intensify operations to hunt down illegal immigrants whom they said had infiltrated every village in the district in large numbers.
Speaking to the district leaders, residents of Chanika alleged that the immigrants were notorious for house breaking, adultery and violence.
“They freely enter Uganda, marry, steal our property, corrupt our wives, assault us and get away with it,” said Isaac Muhiire a trader at Chanika.
NV
UN Security Council and US Government have given a go-ahead to the peace talks in Kampala between the M23 rebels and DRC Government despite sanctions imposed against some of the rebel leaders.
The minister of defence who is also the chief facilitator at the talks, Dr. Crispus Kiyonga said that the UN sanctions against the M23 rebel leaders would not affect the ongoing talks.
Kiyonga said, “The sanctions took us by surprise because we were not expecting them. We could not start the dialogue soon after, because we did not want to break the sanctions. We contacted the office of the UN secretary general because we believe he supports the dialogue. We also contacted the US government because they moved the motion to sanction the M23.”
Kiyonga also told journalists yesterday that the Uganda government which is mediating in the talks, had availed to the US and UN, the list of the M23 rebel delegation to the ongoing Kampala talks.
“Both parties (UN and US) have assured us that they support the dialogue and sanctions don’t interfere with the dialogue. As long as member of the delegation has not been affected by sanctions, he can go ahead and participate,” he added.
The UN Security Council last week announced an arms embargo against the M23 rebels and the Rwandan dissident rebel force FDLR operating in the restive eastern DR Congo.
The Security Council committee tasked with monitoring sanctions on DRC also imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on M23 rebel officials Jean-Marie Runiga and Lt. Col. Eric Badege.
Runiga is a key figure in the M23 rebel group’s hierarchy and is a central in the ongoing dialogue in Kampala mediated by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
Uganda is currently holding the chairmanship of the rotational presidency.
Kiyonga also added that Uganda would seek for exemption for participation, to enable any M23 rebel leaders under UN travel sanctions to come to Kampala for the talks.
NV