Tag: GreatLakesNews

Kenyans living in the East African region will now be enlisted through the Biometric Voter Registration process until December 25.

Registration in Rwanda will take place in Kigali at the Kenyan Embassy.

In Burundi registration booths will be set up in Bujumbura at the Kenyan mission.

In Uganda, the registration booths will be in Kampala at the Kenya High Commission while in Tanzania registration will be held in Dar es Salaam and Arusha at the Kenya High Commission and at the Naura Springs Hotel.

The registration exercise started in Dar es Salaam and Arusha on Friday where everyone who is 18 years of age and with a valid passport is allowed to register.

Those only holding Kenyan identification cards, could only be registered if they visited registration centres in border towns ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

Earlier this month, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced that only Kenyans in the EA region will be allowed to register for the March 4 poll.

Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui has been acquitted by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The case related to the 2003 killings of 200 residents of Bogoro village in the mineral-rich Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The court in the Hague heard reports of victims being burned alive, babies smashed against walls and women raped.

Mr Ngudjolo denied ordering the attack, saying he learned of it days later.

He had been charged with seven counts of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity. Prosecutors said he had enlisted child soldiers to carry out the killings. Some of the killings were carried out with machetes.

But presiding Judge Bruno Cotte said the court acquitted Mr Ngudjolo of all charges, saying the prosecution had “not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui was responsible” for the crimes committed.

He said the decision was unanimous, and that witness testimony had been “too contradictory and too hazy”.

In its summary, the court stressed that the ruling does not mean it believes no crimes were committed in Bogoro “nor does it question what the people of this community have suffered on that day”.

“The chamber also emphasised that the fact of deciding that an accused is not guilty does not necessarily mean that the chamber finds him innocent,” the ICC said in a statement.

“Such a decision simply demonstrates that, given the standard of proof, the evidence presented to support his guilt has not allowed the chamber to form a conviction ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.”

Judge Cotte ordered Mr Ngudjolo’s immediate release, but prosecutor Fatou Besnouda said she intended to launch an appeal. A verdict on whether he should be kept in custody is expected later on Tuesday, and any hearing will be held in 2013.

Nine people including Yemeni nationals have been arrested in connection with Sunday night’s grenade attack in Kenya’s Eastleigh suburb that left two people injured.

Police say the suspects include eight Yemeni nationals who were staying a flat next to the scene where the explosion went off along Muratina Road few meters away from a mosque that was targeted a week ago.

The other one is a Somali national who was a caretaker of the flat, police said.

The grenade was looped into a compound that hosts a bar and exploded few meters away injuring the two.

Nairobi Area police boss Moses Ombati said the suspects were arrested for interrogation.

“It seems the target was the bar and the grenade was looped in there from a different compound but we will know more soon,” said Ombati.

Ombati said there was one grenade that was thrown at the scene adding police patrols will be enhanced in the area.

Eastleigh has suffered previous attacks that police have blamed on Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militant group.

Wirestory

South Sudan Human Rights Commission (SSHRC) has called for the resignation of security ministers due to the killing of innocent civilians across the country, and in the capital, Juba, in particular; and to allow investigations into the death of Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol to take place fairly.

Chairperson of the SSHCR, Lawrence Korbandy, made the comments at the prayer service organised by Awuol’s relatives and friends, and attended by top-level government officials and foreign diplomats held at the house of undersecretary in the ministry of defence, Bior Ajang Dut, in Juba on 16 December.

Awuol was a leading political commentator. He was shot outside his home in Gudele on 5 December.

Korbandy called on the security ministers to “step down” if the government intends to conduct independent and credible investigation into Awuol’s killing.

He claimed that “if the government has a hand in this, then it will be difficult to establish the fact because those who may have participated will not cooperate with investigators.”

According to Korbandy investigations into constitutional post-holders will be hampered by their immunities and that for an “independent and credible result” resignations must take place.

Korbandy is one of the first senior government officials to echo calls by members of civil society organisations and civil right activists, urging the government to produce the culprits and bring them to justice.

“The tragedy is being felt not only by the immediate family members with relatives and friends of late Isaiah, but indeed by the country at large. We have lost a great thinker and a leader. He was a nationalist and freedom fighter,” said Korbandy.

He claimed that South Sudan’s “rampant killings” are adding to a perception that the people of the young nation are not able to govern themselves.

A member of the National Legislative Assembly representing Awuol’s area, Anna Lino Wuor, urgued journalists and opinion writers to carry on writing.

“We are in complete pain. […]The killers are cowards and must be traced. The government must produce them so that they are brought to book,” said Lino.

The national security minister, Oyai Deng Ajak, said all security organs and other associated institutions have received “clear instructions” from the President to conduct “full and thorough” investigations to establish the facts and will they resign if the investigations find them responsible.

“I will not accept to work for an institution which kills people. I actually refused to attend training for security and combat intelligence in Bonga in 1983 when I was among the first groups to for training.

It was actually our current president Salva Mayardit who was selecting us. The reason for which I refused was that I did not want to take part in the killing of our people in the same way Nimeri was doing it.

But commander Salva Kiir at the time said ’no’. He explained that the security and combat intelligence training you are going to attend is not to kill our people but to allow you acquire knowledge on how to get the information about the activities of the enemy to the front line. This was why I accepted,” Oyai explained.

The US ambassador to South Sudan, Susan Page, said she was “struck” by the level of disappointment amongst senior government officials over the killing.

Page pledged the US’s commitment to exert efforts and expertise to establish the facts.

“You need to work together as team to assist in the investigation. The American government will support the process and I am glad that president Salva Kiir has accepted the involvement of Federal Bureau of instigation,” Page told the mourners.

(ST)

Reports from Kenya indicate that the number of registered voters is edging towards the 11 million mark, with only two days to the deadline.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) communication’s manager, Ms Tabitha Mutemi, told the Nation that as at last Wednesday, the number of registered voters had reached 10.3 million.

This number is expected to increase, taking into consideration the number of voters registered during the weekend.

This figure still falls short of the targeted 18 million voters by 7.7 million.

As the deadline nears, Beach management unit officials in Migori County have barred locals from fishing unless they register as voters. Fishmongers too must produce voters cards before they can buy fish.

“Voter registration statistics in Nyanza are worrying. That’s why we are using such methods to encourage people to register,” said Mr Victor Otieno, a fisherman from Nyatike.

South Sudan and Uganda have jointly agreed to tighten security along the border between Karamoja region and South Sudan with the objective was to check crime during the festive season.

The move is said to involve sharing border security information and carry out joint operations to oversee and control the flow of arms.

Since representatives of two governments met at Kidepo Valley National Park in December last year, Karamoja had not registered any influx of guns, especially from South Sudan.

Early this year, security officials from Uganda and Kenya met to strategise on how to control the flow of arms between the two countries.

NMG

The rebel group starting negotiations with the Congolese government wants the country’s president to resign, according to a rebel document.

Jean-Marie Runiga, president of the M23 rebels presented to Press a list of demands that he said will be presented to the Congolese government.

The rebels’ demand for Congolese President Joseph Kabila to step down comes as a leading advocacy group says the president is “unable to effectively govern the country.”

The M23 recently withdrew from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in eastern Congo, in order to begin negotiations with Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s government.

But the Congolese government and the rebels have so far disagreed on how the negotiations should be conducted, who they should include and what issues should be discussed.

On Monday, the M23 delegation refused to attend the preliminary meetings in Uganda after the government representative objected to their opening speech, saying it was “insulting.”

The rebels came back to the table Tuesday, but observers are skeptical that the talks will lead to concrete results and resolve the conflict. The delays have already increased tensions, threatening to restart the fighting.

Speaking from eastern Congo territory that the rebels control, Jean-Marie Runiga, the president of the M23, said if given the opportunity, the rebels could retake the city of Goma in eastern Congo.

“The information that I have is that Kinshasa is reinforcing its positions. It is bringing troops, weapons and ammunition. If we are attacked, we grant ourselves the right to defend ourselves and go very far. And this time we will not retreat,”

Kenya’s complex tax system can now be better understood thanks to the publication of a taxation handbook for citizens by the Institute of Economic Affairs.

The Institute has released “A Citizen’s Handbook on Taxation in Kenya”, a 50 page publication that attempts to break down the country’s complex tax system into a user friendly form for use by the average citizen.

The Institute’s CEO Kwame Owino emphasised that the country’s taxation system is far too complicated and pushed for the government to simply the process.

“Our tax system is far too complicated for the level of incomes that we have. It’s far too complicated for people to actually adhere to all those taxes,” he said.

“Even Kenya’s private sectors, who have all manners of tax accountants and people to advise them, still think that our tax system is too complicated.

Maybe simplicity should be the overriding principal, but at the same time taxes need to be raised in order to pay for all the things that we do,” he explained.