Tag: GreatLakesNews

A delegation of Tanzanian and Malawian officials is expected to travel to Mozambique today to deliver a mediation request to former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano on the Lake Nyasa border dispute.

The two countries co-wrote a letter last month requesting the intervention of the former heads of state of Southern African Development Community(SADC).

Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ephraim Chiume told media that “Having failed to reach a consensus, we are leaving the matter in the hands of the former heads of state of SADC countries to help mediate.”

The decision to involve an independent third party in the Lake Nyasa border dispute comes after Dar es Salaam and Lilongwe failed to reach an agreement at a meeting held on November 16 and 17.

During the meeting in Dar es Salaam, both Mr Membe and Mr Chiume agreed that the Africa Forum of Former Heads of State (Africa Forum) was the right organisation to mediate the Lake Nyasa border dispute.

In a joint statement, they said they planned to ask Mr Chissano, the Heads of State Forum chairman, to step in and help avert a diplomatic crisis.

At the heart of the border dispute is Malawi’s claim that it owns all of the northern part of Lake Nyasa in accordance with the Heligoland Treaty of 1890 between former colonial masters German and Britain.

Dar es Salaam says the Heligoland Treaty is flawed as international laws say borders involving water bodies should be in the middle.

The dispute first surfaced in the 1960s after the two countries gained independence.

It came up again this year after Malawi gave the British firm Surestream exploration rights for oil in the lake.

In Kenya, a man has reportedly killed his five children after a domestic quarrel in an incident that left residents of Kariobangi, Nairobi in shock.

The man is suspected to have poisoned and stabbed the children aged between 10 and 2.

Police say four of the children were poisoned while one was stabbed to death.

Neighbours said the man and his wife have been quarreling and she has been away for sometime.

They said they discovered the cruel act the man had committed on Thursday morning when they failed to see the children playing.

The man and his wife were missing and police are looking for them.

Standard

Armed groups are reportedly setting up new front lines in and around the city of Goma in eastern Congo, where the U.N. said it now has documented at least 126 rape cases last month.

The warning was sounded by Aid workers

Thousands of fighters from the M23 rebel group withdrew several weeks ago from Goma, and the fighters have since taken steps toward negotiating with the Congolese government.

However, residents in Goma say M23 and other armed fighters are now positioning themselves in an around the city — including inside camps for people displaced by the violence.

The arrival of several thousand fighters within the last week is prompting fear among civilians, who already have experienced years of fighting and rebellions, said Tariq Riebl, Oxfam’s humanitarian coordinator there.

“They are very concerned — people are seeing this and they don’t know what it means,” he said. “I think what everyone is scared about is that it seems like people are ramping up, ramping up but for what purpose?”

Oxfam warns that more than 1 million people could come under attack if violence again flares in Goma, where more than 100,000 people already have fled from elsewhere in the region.

“Goma is typically the last refuge safe haven and now it’s being directly called into question. If Goma falls in a big battle, where are people going to go?” Riebl said.

At least four people were on Thursday shot dead and five officers including Gatundu police chief wounded in land clash between two groups at Twiga farm in Ruiru.

The confrontation occurred when people living on the farm mounted resistance to vacate the land.

“Four people have been killed,” Central provincial police Chief Francis Munyambu said. “We also have five of our officers injured in the clash.”

He said the officers who include the Gatundu police chief were shot with arrows by the group opposing eviction from the farm.

“They have been taken to hospital, they are all in a stable condition,” Munyambu said.

He was not willing to discuss circumstances under which the four people were killed, with reports saying they were felled by bullets fired by his officers.

“We have sent more officers to restore order,” he said.

President Mwai Kibaki has reassured of a smooth transition to the leadership that the Kenyan people will elect into office in the forthcoming general elections.

Speaking on Wednesday night during a farewell dinner hosted in his honour by Parliament at Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, President Kibaki said he looked forward to a smooth election.

“I am however very much around and looking forward to a peaceful, just and fair election,” President Kibaki said.

The President, at the same time, urged legislators to be faithful implementers of the new Constitution and Vision 2030, saying the two
documents will lead the country to issue based politics, social equity and economic prosperity.

He stressed that the two documents outline what the country needs in order to realize much progress in the various fields especially with the devolved government.

The President challenged the leaders not to pay lip service to the documents.

President Kibaki said, “We must never pay lip service to these documents. From being proud custodians we must also be faithful implementers of what they outline, especially as we prepare for a devolved system of government.”

In Tanzania, the murder charge against film actress Elizabeth Michael has been reduced to manslaughter.

The decision announced yesterday by the public prosecutor means Ms Michael, popularly known as Lulu, can only be jailed for a maximum of life even if she were to be found guilty of killing fellow artiste Steven Kanumba.

The change of charges was presented in the court after the completion of the investigation, and Lulu will now be charged under section 195 of the Penal Code.

Most suspects found guilty under this section of the law are sentenced to between five and 10 years.The change also means Lulu can now be granted bail.

The new charge against Lulu was supposed to be read yesterday but had to be held back because the government state attorney, Tumaini Kweka, was not available.

The resident magistrate, Ms Augustina Mmbando, said the report of the investigation on the matter was due and the court was supposed to read the new charges but for the absence of the state attorney.

Defence lawyer Peter Kibatala asked the court to adjoin the case to Friday and the case was subsequently adjourned to December 21.

It will be transferred to the High Court, where the registrar will set a date for the hearing.

Lulu’s defence team comprises Mr Kibatala, who is also a vice President of Tanganyika Law Society, Mr Kennedy Fungamtama and Mr Fulgence Masawe of the Legal and Human Rights Centre.

She was taken to court for the first time on April 11and formally charged with killing Mr Kanumba at Sinza Vatican in Dar es Salaam. She was not allowed to enter any plea then because the court did not have the powers to deal with murder cases.

Earlier, Mr Kibatala filed an application asking the High Court to determine Lulu’s age. He said Lulu was not 18 yet and could not be prosecuted in the court and wanted the case transferred to the juvenile court.

On June 11, Judge Fauz Twaibu ordered the defence and prosecution to present evidence to support their arguments.

On June 21, the controversy surrounding Lulu’s age took a new turn after the prosecution produced evidence showing that the accused was an adult.

The evidence filed in the High Court includes a video tape of an interview between Lulu and a TV presenter in which Lulu was said to be over 18 years of age.

Other exhibits were a statement recorded by the police after her arrest on murder allegations along with an application for a passport and a driving licence.

But Lulu’s side subsequently produced a birth certificate issued on July 23, 2004, and a baptism certificate showing her age as 17.

The documents are attached to an affidavit sworn by her parents, Lucresia Augustin Kalugila and Michael Edward Kimemeta, who said she was born on April 16, 1995.

Citizen

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army have carried out 180 attacks in 2012 alone.

Ban said 138 of those attacks were in the DRC and 42 in neighboring Central African Republic.

“They resulted in the deaths of 39 civilians,” Ban said. “A total of 193 persons have been abducted, 84 from the Central African Republic and 109 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. One third of the abductees were children.”

In June, the U.N. Security Council called for global help to equip an African Union force hunting Kony, which lack basic resources such as boots, food, transport and training.

“I am encouraged by the progress made in tackling the threat and impact of (the) LRA,” said Ban. “I urge the international community to maintain its attention to the LRA issue and to provide the financial support needed by the African Union and the United Nations to continue their work.”

Regional forensics experts meeting in Kampala earlier this week have called for deeper coordination and utilization of the forensics center to be located in Kampala to avert rising crime levels.

Dr Julius Rotich, East African Community deputy secretary general in charge of political federation said, “We want to improve standards of investigations so that once somebody is taken to court we have the evidence, we don’t want innocent people jailed and guilty people freed.”

He said the establishment of the centre would go a long way in managing crime which is taking a new form with criminals traversing the region because of open borders since the commencement of the common market about two years ago.

Terrorism, drug and human trafficking, illegal trade and piracy are some of the crimes to which the region’s citizens are exposed to. Lately Kenya has especially experienced several cases of terrorist attacks.

On Monday, forensics heads of the five member states began crafting the structure, shape and possible sources of funding required for the centre.

NV