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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • 12 UPDF soldiers confirmed killed in Somalia

    Al Shabaab militants in Somalia on Sunday killed 12 UPDF soldiers in an ambush on African Union troops in the country’s south.

    According to a report by Ugandan News Paper Daily Monitor, the insurgents claimed having killed 39 African Union troops in an ambush in the country’s south.

    A Monday statement by Brig Richard Karemire, the UPDF spokesman confirmed that a joint SNA/AMISOM UPDF patrol under 7th Battalion of Battle group twenty two was ambushed by Alshabaab terrorists.

    “From the battlefield, it is now confirmed that UPDF lost 12 gallant soldiers with 07 sustaining injuries. The dead and those injured have been evacuated to Mogadishu Level II Hospital for further management and treatment,” Brig Richard Karemire told Daily Monitor in the statement.

    He adds: “The UPDF office of Chief of Personnel and Administration is contacting the next of kin of the deceased and injured to inform them of the developments while arrangements are being made to transport deceased comrades to their homes of origin for descent burial.”

    Brig Karemire says a board of inquiry is being constituted to establish circumstances leading to this fateful incident. The same board of inquiry will help in expediting the compensation process by the African Union in respect of the deceased who gave their lives in defence of mother Africa.

    The attack took place at Gorowen between Bulumaler and Beladamini in Lower Shabelle region about 140Kms South West of Mogadishu.

  • Zuma lauds embattled Kabila on ‘progress’ in DRC‚ despite protest outside talks venue

    President Jacob Zuma on Sunday congratulated his counterpart President Joseph Kabila on what he said was progress made in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    “We gather here at a time when your country is going through a political transition following the December 2016 political agreement. This agreement charted a process that should lead to the next elections. We congratulate you‚ Mr President‚ on the progress achieved thus far and the manner with which you have handled the process‚” Zuma said.

    This was contradictory to what Jean Bwasa‚ a human rights activist and spokesperson for the Congolese community living in South Africa had earlier told TimesLIVE he was hoping to hear from Zuma.

    “President Zuma should act as ‘an uncle figure’ and advise Kabila to hand over power‚” said Bwasa.

    He was one of a handful of DRC citizens who had gathered outside the Sefako Makgatho presidential guesthouse in protest as a bi-national commission (BNC) meeting was held between delegates of the two countries.

    Bwasa explained that as stated in the DRC constitution‚ Kabila should have organised fresh elections in December last year in preparation for his successor.

    This did not happen. Instead‚ negotiations about the future of the country dragged on until December 31 when a deal – stating that Kabila will only step down after elections are held by the end of 2017- was brokered.

    No official date‚ has however been set for the elections.

    Zuma seemed oblivious to the anti-Kabila protests happening outside the premises‚ even as protesters used a hailer to declare that Kabila was an illegitimate president who was clinging on to power.

    “The DRC is now politically stable and the security situation has improved. Where there are still challenges‚ the government of the DRC‚ with the assistance of the region‚ continent and international community‚ is addressing those. In this regard‚ we encourage you‚ Mr President‚ and your government to continue on this path‚” Zuma said.

    He called on the people of the DRC to negotiate and hold dialogue about their future and pledged South Africa’s support for the central African nation.

    The meeting between the two heads of state seemingly cemented their relations‚ with plans being put in place to bolster trade and investment.

    But Esale-Prince Mpinda of the National Council of the Congolese for Development in SA said the meeting between Zuma and Kabila would be fruitless.

    “When the DRC officially has a new government‚ whatever agreements are reached between Zuma and Kabila would be regarded void‚” Mpinda said.

    ”It is a private meeting and the Congolese government tomorrow will not consider any signature which Kabila puts down‚” he added.

    Congolese President Joseph Kabila.

    Source:Times Live

  • Uganda:Suspected illicit alcohol kills 11 people in Nansana

    Police have summoned several bar owners who operate in Maganjo Zone, Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District following reports that 11 people have died after consuming a locally brewed gin in the area, in the last two weeks.

    Mr Emilian Kayima, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson said some bar owners have been interrogated to establish whether the victims were killed by alcohol sold in their joints as residents claim.

    “The locals insist all the people died after taking local alcohol from these particular bars. We have arrested one bar operator and others are being interrogated to establish the truth behind these deaths,” Mr Kayima said.

    Mr Kayima said the locals claim their relatives would develop mysterious complications like dizziness, vomiting and partial blindness before dying in a short time.

    “We suspect the alcohol could be poisonous like what happened in Kenya some year ago. We have ordered bars to stop selling locally made alcohol in the meantime as we investigate the matter,” Mr Kayima said.

    In 2014, at least 50 people in Kenya died after drinking illicit liquor and dozens were hospitalised and several went blind. Television footage showed victims writhing in pain in hospitals in the eastern and central counties of Embu, Kitui and Kiambu.

    Mr Kayima said some alcohol samples have been picked from different bars and are being examined at the Government Analytical Laboratory in Wandegeya, Kampala.

    According to a 2012 World Health Organisation (WHO)) report, alcohol consumption was responsible for 3.3 million deaths worldwide.

    Harmful alcohol use not only leads to addiction, but it can put people at a higher risk of over 200 disorders like tuberculosis and pneumonia, according to the report. The statistics translated into one death every 10 seconds.

    On average, every person in the world aged 15 and older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol a year.

    The WHO reports shows that 16 per cent of drinkers partake in spree drinking which is the most dangerous form of alcohol consumption.

    Europe has the highest alcohol consumption per capita although consumption levels have been stable there for the last five years.

    Source:Daily Monitor

  • Kenya:Sigiri Bridge collapses days after Uhuru inspection tour

    The iconic Sigiri Bridge under construction in Budalang’i Constituency, Busia County, has collapsed a fortnight after President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the region to inspect it.

    The Sh1.2 billion project being constructed by Chinese Overseas Construction and Engineering Company collapsed early Monday.

    The cause of the collapse is yet to be known though it is suspected the construction work was hurriedly done ahead of the president’s visit.

    During the inspection, Project Manager Jerome Xzue Hua said they were focusing their attention on the concrete slab and embankment.

    “We did not focus much on road construction on the northern side because the most critical point of construction is the bridge’s slab.

    We expect to complete the bitumen work at the end of June for the entire 3 kilometres for both the northern and southern parts,” he had said.

    The project, which was expected to be completed by end of July, will definitely fall behind schedule.

    The bridge is to link Bunyala North and South wards across River Nzoia.

    On August 30, 2014, 11 people perished after a boat they had boarded capsized, killing everyone on board as they attempted to cross the river.

    Among those who perished was Brian Juma, a Form Three student at John Osogo Secondary School whose burial, among other victims, was attended by President Kenyatta who promised that a bridge would be constructed to avert such deaths.

    During Mr Kenyatta’s tour, area MP Ababu Namwamba said the bridge was a blessing to residents since it would significantly reduce deaths and make it easier for people to access markets, schools and hospitals on either side.

    Mr Namwamba has been using the bridge as a campaign tool for his re-election for a third term and even broke ranks with opposition chief Raila Odinga to join forces with Mr Kenyatta through his Labour Party of Kenya.

    Residents who want to access Port Victoria town and its environs will now have to wait longer and forced to cover a 100-kilometre road daily from Bunyala North to Bunyala South, a distance of less than 3 kilometres across the river.

    A section of the Sh1.2 billion Sigiri Bridge in Budalang'i Constituency that collapsed on June 26, 2017.

    Source:Daily Nation

  • Magufuli ban on pregnant schoolgirls angers Tanzanians

    Many Tanzanians have condemned President John Magufuli’s comments that schoolgirls who give birth should not be allowed to return to school.

    An online petition has been set up to get the president to reverse his comments.
    Mr Magufuli warned schoolgirls at a rally on Monday that: “After getting pregnant, you are done.”

    A law passed in 2002 allows for expulsion of pregnant schoolgirls.

    The law says the girls can be expelled and excluded from school for “offences against morality” and “wedlock”.

    Mr Magufuli, who was speaking at a public rally in Chalinze town, about 100km west of the main city Dar es Salaam, said that young mothers would be distracted if they were allowed back in school: “After calculating some few mathematics, she’d be asking the teacher in the classroom: ‘Let me go out and breastfeed my crying baby.’”

    He said that men who impregnate the schoolgirls should be imprisoned for 30 years and “put the energy they used to impregnate the girl into farming while in jail”.

    The president also criticised rights organisations who have been pushing the government to reverse the expulsion law:
    “These NGOs should go out and open schools for parents. But they should not force the government [to take back the pupils].

    “I’m giving out free education for students who have really decided to go and study, and now you want me to educate the parents?”

    The BBC’s Sammy Awami in Tanzania reports that the crowd at the rally applauded the president’s comments.

    At least 8,000 Tanzanian girls drop out of school every year due to pregnancy, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

    ‘Immoral’

    The online petition says that the president’s support for the expulsion law would end the education of many girls and “propagate more discrimination”.

    It instead calls for the girls to be protected from early pregnancies while in school.
    Tanzanians are also using the hashtag #ArudiShule (let her return) on Twitter to criticise the president’s comments and to highlight the plight of young women who get pregnant while in school.

    Two weeks ago, Tanzania’s Vice-President Samia Suluhu called for young mothers to be readmitted school, saying they should not be denied a right to education.

    Koitamet Olekina, executive director of the Maasai Education Discovery, a non-profit organisation that rescues girls from early marriages in Kenya, condemned Mr Magufuli’s comments:
    “If Magufuli is standing on the pedestal of morality, then in my opinion, it would be more immoral to deny the Tanzanian girl child an opportunity to rise from a fall and be a better person than to relegate them to almost second-citizenship status for reasons sometimes out of their control.”

    John Magufuli said that young mothers would be distracted in class

    Source:BBC

  • DRC rights activist says army kills 7 attackers in Beni

    A human rights activist in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo says at least seven assailants have been killed as the army fought off attacks on a prison, police station and the town hall in and around the city of Beni.

    Omar Kavota said on Thursday the attackers also bombed a school and wounded some students who were taking exams.

    Kavota says the death toll could rise as DRC’s military pursues other attackers.

    Beni Mayor Nyonyi Bwanakawa blames the attack on Mai Mai rebels.

    Kavota also says he has warned officials that a new rebel coalition may have formed for these latest attacks. Armed men also attacked a Beni prison earlier this month, killing at least 11 and freeing 900 prisoners.

    Scores of armed groups fight for control in DRC’s mineral-rich east.

    Source:News 24

  • EU pledges Shs340 billion to Uganda for South Sudan refugees

    The EU pledged 85 million euros (about Shs340,872,633,942) to Uganda Thursday, ahead of a summit to raise twenty times that amount to help it deal with nearly one million refugees from South Sudan.

    Uganda is facing the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis as South Sudanese pour over the border to escape more than three years of civil war in their country.
    UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting a refugee settlement Thursday, before joining other top officials, donors and regional leaders for the Refugee Solidarity Summit in Kampala on Friday.

    The summit aims to raise $2 billion for the coming year, however organisers say $8 billion is needed to deal with the crisis for the coming four years.

    The European pledge is to “help Uganda deal with this unprecedented situation and support the most vulnerable refugees,” said aid commissioner Christos Stylianides, who visited the Imvepi settlement in the remote north of the country with UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi.

    “Uganda’s example of helping vulnerable people cope with displacement is an example for the whole region and the world. However no country can deal with such a high number of refugees on its own,” said Stylianides.

    ‘Treating the symptoms’

    According to the UN refugee agency more than 947,000 South Sudanese refugees are sheltering in Uganda, bringing the total number of refugees in the east African nation to more than 1.2 million.
    South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, was plunged into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.
    An August 2015 peace deal was left in tatters when fighting broke out in Juba in July last year, spreading violence across the country.

    It was this outbreak of fighting that led to the biggest exodus, with some 743,000 South Sudanese arriving in Uganda since July 2016, about 2,000 a day.

    More than 270,000 are housed in Bidibidi settlement, which overtook Kenya’s Dadaab earlier this year as the biggest refugee camp in the world.

    Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been hailed for a progressive refugee policy in which refugees are allowed to work and access public services.

    However the situation on the ground has been overwhelming for locals and aid workers, with not enough food and water to go around.

    The UN estimates that another 500,000 South Sudanese will arrive in Uganda this year.

    The summit will not include discussions on how to end the ongoing fighting, and there is no peace process in sight.

    “We are treating the symptoms but the real root cause of this violence should be addressed. That is what is forcing people to run from their land,” said Wadri Sam Nykua, the top government official in Arua, Uganda, welcoming the EU and UN officials to the refugee settlement.

    The UN Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres shakes hands with some of the refugees at Imvepi settlement camp on Thursday.

    Source:Daily Monitor

  • Kenya:Al Shabaab attack leaves four dead in Mandera

    A police officer and three civilians were on Friday, June 23 killed after suspected Al Shabaab operatives attacked a local bank in Elwak Town, Mandera County.

    According to the County Commissioner, Fredrick Shisia, the suspects – armed with assault riffles – attacked equity Bank in Elwak where two police officers were stationed.

    The attackers started shooting randomly before disappearing.

    Investigations have since been launched even as cases of attacks targeted on police officers have been on the rise in Kenya’s North Eastern area.

    Source:The Citizen.co.ke

  • Uganda, Russia sign pact to develop nuclear power

    Uganda and Russia Tuesday signed a pact on development of uranium into nuclear power for “peaceful purposes.”

    The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Uganda’s State minister for Minerals Simon D’Ujanga and Russia’s deputy director-general of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Nikolai Spasskiy in Moscow.
    The signing was made at the side-lines of ATOMEXPO, an international exhibition of the nuclear industry.

    The annual expo since 2009 brings together several players to discuss matters related to the nuclear energy industry.

    “The Memorandum is the first agreement in the area of peaceful uses of atomic energy to be signed between the countries. It envisages the bilateral cooperation in wide range of spheres: development of nuclear infrastructure in Uganda, programmes for raising public awareness of nuclear technologies and its application, radioisotopes and radiation technologies’ application in industrial, medical, agricultural sectors,” reads a statement issued by Rosatom’s press team.

    Uranium extraction

    Rosatom is a Russian state-owned nuclear corporation which runs uranium extraction and production and other nuclear activities in Russia and globally.

    Other areas of collaboration under the pact include, radiological and physical security, fundamental and applied researches, human resource training, and nuclear research centres based on multifunctional research reactors.

    “The joint working group of Russia and Uganda will define the scope of work for implementation of the initiatives mentioned.

    The parties agreed to cooperate in the feasibility of implementing common projects referred to,” the statement further reads.

    The Uganda-Russia agreement comes barely a month after Uganda’s ministry of energy team led by Undersecretary Prisca Boonabantu travelled to China at the invitation of Zhonguan Engineering Corporation (CZEC), a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), as part of the ongoing discussions with Beijing to help Kampala develop peaceful nuclear at about $3 billion (UShs11 trillion).

    Nuclear discussions with Rosatom commenced last October shortly after the launch of the Uganda-Russian Joint Permanent Commission, an inter-governmental framework for economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

    The discussions followed a meeting between Rosatom’s regional vice-president for Sub-Saharan Africa Viktor Polikarpov and President Museveni on providing professional training in nuclear infrastructure development.

    A nuclear plant. Uganda and Russia have signed a pact on development of uranium into nuclear power for “peaceful purposes.”

    Source:Daily Nation

  • Kenya:IEBC on the spot over tainted candidates

    Religious leaders on Wednesday called out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, again, accusing the polls body of being timid in dealing with aspirants accused of corruption in their past dealings.

    At a press briefing at the ACK Guest House in Nairobi, the clerics from various Christian and Muslim denominations said the electoral commission created a “huge setback” in the fight against graft when it allowed aspirants fingered by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to contest.

    Concerns

    “This DRG (Dialogue Reference Group) notes that the IEBC received a record of integrity concerns regarding specific candidates from the Ethics and Anticorruption Commission. However, the IEBC went ahead and cleared the same individuals to contest for positions in the coming elections,” the clerics said under a joint religious grouping on election concerns.

    The electoral body has been under the spotlight since the EACC submitted a list of 106 politicians flagged for having unanswered questions on their integrity.

    The IEBC, though, claimed that the decision to block any candidate will depend on whether those aspirants have exhausted options to appeal.

    In the end, most of those on the list were allowed to contest in the upcoming elections.

    But the clerics say the commission as being complacent when it failed to blacklist the candidates identified, and want Kenyans to hammer the final nail on their political ambitions.

    Setback

    “We find this to be a huge setback on the war against corruption. However, we do not give up, and appeal to you Kenyans: make use of your ballot by voting out every person who has integrity questions on their character.”

    Ahead of elections, when the IEBC, candidates and political parties have been embroiled in questions about the readiness of the electoral body and how candidates have failed to respect the code of conduct, the clergy came forth with a series of comments.

    They accuse the commission of not doing enough to tame politicians who have had “rampant violation” of the code set by the IEBC.

    “This denotes strong failure on the part of the IEBC to enforce the law as it is today,” they said.

    “Kenyans are waiting for the IEBC and the law enforcement agencies to implement their mandates by bringing to justice any and all individuals found to be breaching the electoral law.”

    Warning

    Both the IEBC, police and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission have recently warned politicians from inciting voters, engaging in violence or generally breaking election laws.

    But it is in the implementation of it that clerics had issue with.

    On Wednesday, the IEBC was due to hear petitions from various aspirants who had complained that their rivals were breaking the very law.

    But the decision on penalties to be meted out would be known later.

    The religious leaders included representatives from the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, the Hindu Council of Kenya, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Council of Churches of Kenya, National Muslim Leaders Forum, Organisation of African Instituted Churches, Seventh Day Adventist and the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims.

    National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Secretary-General Peter Karanja (left), Bishop Alfred Rotich (centre) and Sheikh Abdalla Kamwana lead other religious leaders in addressing journalists at ACK Guest house in Nairobi on June 21,2017.

    Source:Daily Nation