Tag: GreatLakesNews

Tanzania is set to deploy its contingent of peacekeeping troops in the eastern DR Congo city of Goma as per the peace plan agreed on by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the Africa Union (AU) announced on Thursday.

According to Ramtane Lamamra, who is the AU commissioner for peace and security the details of the overall deployment and peacekeeping operation would be discussed at a high-level ministerial meeting scheduled for January 8 in Addis Ababa.

He was speaking during a 48-hour visit to Goma when he met the governor of North Kivu province, Mr Julien Puluku, and members of the Goma-based UN mission.

“I think the commanders of the contigent will be with you here soon,” he told reporters.

From Goma, Mr Lamamra was to travel to Kigali to meet with Rwandan officials on Friday.

The Tanzanian contingent will be part of the so-called multinational “neutral force” to be deployed between Rwanda and DRC to counter the M23 rebels and the FDLR Hutu militia.

AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is also expected in Goma is the coming days on a follow-up visit.

The AU diplomatic intervention comes as efforts to restart the second round of peace talks between the DRC government and the M23 rebel movement in Kampala getunderway.

The first round got suspended after only two weeks owing to deep differences over what should comprise the agenda.

There are hardly any indications that the gulf has narrowed since.

The M23 rebel group has threatened to pull out of the talks unless President Joseph Kabila signs a ceasefire agreement.

The government rejects this position, arguing that it never declared war on anyone such as to merit a ceasefire.

Agencies

Tanzania Police is holding a Chinese National found illegally possessing 3 Lion teeth valued at TShs7.3million (approx. Frw4Million).

The Chinese man is also an Engineer working with a road construction project in Mpanda District katavi Region of Tanzania.

Katavi Regional Police Commander Dhahiri Kidavashari identified the Chinese suspect as Xys Weze 29.

He was arrested at Mpanda airport few minutes before bording a plane destined for Mwanza city.

In Kenya, over 1.28 million unregistered SIM cards have been suspended from service since the deadline for registration lapsed.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), said four local mobile networks had by Friday switched off 1,280,840 unregistered lines, five days after the expiry of the December 31 deadline.

Francis Wangusi the CCK Director General said the disconnection of unregistered SIM cards was progressing well despite initial hitches.

He attributed delays in disconnection of the more than six million unregistered SIM cards to verification of registration data received from dealers and agents countrywide.

“The verification exercise is quite involving as the mobile operators have to ensure that no registered mobile line is suspended from service,” said Wangusi.

In Kenya a man has been charged after allegedly pretending to be an assistant commissioner of police for five years.

Joshua Waiganjo is said to have sacked and recruited police officers in Rift Valley province during this time.

He denied two counts of impersonating a police office, one of illegal possession of police uniforms and one of robbery with violence.

He was reportedly uncovered after flying on a police helicopter to investigate a massacre of officers.

In November, at least 42 police officers were killed by cattle rustlers in the Suguta valley – the most deadly attack on police in the East African nation’s history.

After pleading not guilty on all four charges, the case was adjourned to allow Mr Waiganjo to seek medical treatment for diabetes, local media report.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told Nairobi’s Capital FM that Mr Waiganjo had not been paid a salary by the police service.

A Ugandan local court, January 2, dismissed a disobedience case against British film producer David Cecil Edward Hugh for secretly staging a play supporting gay rights despite a ban by the Media Council on the play script.

The case was dismissed by Chief Magistrate Esther Nambayo after the State on numerous occasions failed to produce a single witness to testify against the producer.

According to the State, the police file for ‘The River and The Mountain’ writer had never been produced in court as it was still with the Uganda police.

While dismissing the case, the magistrate advised the State to reinstate the charges if they wished so.

Further, the court also ordered that Mr Cecil’s Shs500,000 bail money and passport be returned.

Mr Cecil’s play examined the plight of a man who comes out as a homosexual but the Ugandan government persecutes him for his sexual orientation.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and is punishable under section 145 of the Penal Code Act as a crime against morality.

DailyMonitor

Kenya Airways flight to Cairo with 56 passengers on board was forced to return to Khartoum after a “technical problem” with an engine, the airline said on Wednesday.

An official declined to give details but said there were no injuries and the aircraft landed safely back in the Sudanese capital.

Flight 320 took off from Khartoum at 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) Tuesday but after 45 minutes had to turn back, said an airline official who asked not to be identified.

“Due to safety the captain turned back,” the official said. “There was a technical problem with the engine.”

He did not identify the type of airplane but Kenya Airways uses Boeing 737 jets on the route.

A technical team from Kenya was travelling to Khartoum to assess the engine, the official said, adding that most of the passengers had already been transferred to other flights.

AFP

The Africa Union (AU) Commission will closely monitor the regions elections that are set to take place this year.

In her New Year message, Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that the continent needed to focus on conducting peaceful elections in order to foster growth and development.

She revealed that the commission will also send observers to cover Kenya’s first general election under the new constitution.

“For the first time, the Commission will be sending a Long Term Observer (LTO) Expert Mission to the scheduled March 4th 2013 General Elections in the Republic of Kenya,” the press statement read in part.

The country is considered an entry point into the East African region and a strong economy within the trading bloc.

Kenya’s general elections have attracted regional and global attention with a lot of focus being placed on whether the country will slip into a state of violence as was witnessed after the 2007 general elections.

Tunisia and Zimbabwe are also scheduled to hold their Presidential elections later in the year.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma expressed concern over the conflict situation currently being experienced in Mali, the Central African Republic and DR Congo, adding that they were derailing development efforts.

She called for a regional approach to bring speedy resolution.

NMG

Roger Lumbala, an opposition parliamentarian who was elected on the ticket of the Congolese Rally for National Democracy (DR Congo/National), has joined the March 23 (M23) movement, a rebel movement operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), M23 officials said on Wednesday.

“Comrade Lumbala is now a member of M23, he is here with us. Lumbala understands that the revolution being launched by M23 is identical to his revolution that he has been engaged in against the regime of President Joseph Kabila since the rigged elections of Nov. 28, 2011,” said Amani Kabasha, M23’s deputy communication officer.

He noted that Lumbala had not abandoned his parliamentary privileges to go to M23 for positions.

Kabasha announced that in the coming days, five other senior Congolese politicians living in Europe and the U. S. will be joining M23.

“If I am here, it’s first because I am persuaded and convinced that it’s my brothers who are fighting for among other things, the re-establishment of the truth from ballot box, something that Etienne Tshisekedi has been fighting for as the elected president of DR Congo,” Lumbala said.

Investigations by the Congolese interior ministry indicate that Lumbala, an opposition member of parliament who supports the opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, was involved in a plot to overthrow the government in Kinshasa.

Xinhua

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has agreed to attend a summit on Friday with his South Sudanese counterpart to push stalled economic and security deals, official media said.

The meeting, which the SUNA news agency said is slated for the Ethiopian capital, would be the first since Bashir and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir late September signed the deals which they hailed as ending the conflict but which have not been put into effect.

The two countries fought along their undemarcated border in March and April.

In a report late Tuesday, SUNA said Bashir “has accepted the invitation” by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to meet with Bashir in Addis Ababa.

Sudan’s presidential press secretary, Emad Sayed Ahmed, told SUNA that the meeting would “discuss means of speeding up the implementation of the issues agreed upon at the summit between the two presidents” three months ago.

Khartoum accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels inside its territory, which has been a major obstacle to implementing the agreements.

The South, in turn, says Sudan backs rebels on southern soil.

Tensions have persisted along the border, most recently last week when Sudan’s military said “armed groups” from South Sudan clashed with Arab tribesmen in Samaha, one of five areas disputed by Khartoum and the South’s government in Juba.

Sudan considers the area, around the Bahr al-Arab River, to be part of its East Darfur state.

The Samaha incident prompted France to call for an end to fighting along the Sudan-South Sudan border, saying it could threaten efforts to normalise relations between the two states.

In late November Sudan’s army said it attacked an area north of Samaha where rebels had had set up a compound, but South Sudan said bombs landed on its territory, killing several people.

The September deals called for a demilitarised border buffer zone and allowed for a resumption of South Sudanese oil exports through northern pipelines, a move vital for both economies.

They also said border points would be reopened for general trade.
South Sudan separated in July 2011 under a peace agreement that ended a 1983-2005 civil war.