IGIHE

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  • Regional Police Command Exercise to Be Annual

    {{The regional police joint command exercise will be held annually to further equip regional forces with modern techniques in the fight against trans-border and organized crimes.}}

    The announcement was made Saturday by the inspector General of Police Emmanuel Gasana, also the Chairman of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO).

    The concluded exercise play, the first of its kind, brought together 58 participants from twelve member states, covered three topics of counter terrorism, human trafficking and Peace Support Operation.

    “I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Though there could still be challenges, but it is a great achievement having moved from commitment to action jointly to create a safe region for our citizens,” Gasana said.

  • Kagame: Cecafa Cup Sponsorship Will Be Sustained

    {{President Paul Kagame has noted that the Cecafa Kagame Cup tournament will not stop even after he leaves Power saying, “sponsorship will be sustained”.}}

    Kagame said on Friday while hosting the 2012 Cecafa Cup champions Young Africans at Village Urugwiro in Kigali.

    The Cecafa Kagame Cup features top regional clubs.

    Yanga are in Kigali for a series of international friendlies ahead of next season’s Vodacom Premier League, which kicks off on September 15.

    President Kagame added that the idea of sponsoring the tournament was to promote solidarity among the East and Central African countries.

    “It is not because Rwanda is richer than other East African nations, but rather a symbol to strengthen the impact of sports and unity of people in the region.”

    ‘The idea was planned in a way that the tournament and its annual sponsorship will stay longer than me. It is beyond individuals,” Kagame said.

    “Even when I am no longer the President of Rwanda, the sponsorship will continue. The impact of the Cecafa Kagame Cup tournament will be preserved,” he insisted.

    Yanga, who won the 2012 title for the second year running after beating local rivals Azam in the final three weeks ago at the National Stadium, are in Kigali for a one-week pre-season tour.

    Club officials said the main purpose of their trip was to extend gratitude to President Kagame for his continued support to regional football.

    “We are here to recognise the support from President Kagame towards developing football which has also acted as a uniting tool in the region,” head of the delegation Yussuf Mwangi said.

    In 2002, President Kagame became the first sponsor of the club competition, injecting $60,000 which is distributed among the top three teams in the annual tournament.

    Besides the prize money, the President also gives $15,000 every year for organising the tournament, bringing his total sponsorship to $75,000, according to Rwanda’s Sports and Culture minister Protais Mitali.

    As a result of that support, Cecafa leaders renamed the competition Cecafa-Kagame Club Cup championship.

    The sponsorship remains the competition’s lifeline to date.

    Meanwhile, Yanga beat Rayon Sports 2-0 in their first friendly match at Amahoro Stadium on Friday.

    Quick first half goals from Ugandan import Hamis Kiiza and Simon Msuva on 1st and 8th minute were enough to hand the Cecafa Kagame Cup champions a deserved win.

    Rayon responded with good attempts but all their efforts were well dealt with by goalie Ally Mustafa while Papy Kamanzi wasted precious opportunities in-front of the goal.

    Today, Yanga wind up their tour with another friendly against Police FC at Stade Amahoro.

    {{The Citizen}}

  • First-ever Gay Play in Uganda

    {{For the first time, a theatre play on homosexuality is being staged in Uganda, a country which has proposed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill. With The River & the Mountain, the actors hope to make their audience reflect. }}

    “In Ugandan society, we hide so many things. Why not talk about it?”, says one of the actors.

    28-year-old award-winning actor Okuyo Joel Atiku Prynce is the first-ever actor to play a homosexual on stage in Uganda. He has already received numerous criticisms about his latest move in his career, among others being accused of “being funded by gay lobby groups.”

    But that does not deter him. “I am not into gay advocacy. Although with this play, we do want to make people understand that we are all human,” he says. “We should not judge, segregate, harm or kill others.”

    {{Condemnation}}

    Uganda is a country where gays and same-sex relationships are far from being accepted and are regularly condemned by conservative pastors and politicians.

    The River & the Mountain premiered on 18 August in a little-known cultural centre in Kampala called Tilapia and runs until Sunday 26. It is a collaboration between a group of local actors, Oxford-educated poet, Beau Hopkins, who wrote the script, and Tilapia manager, David Cecil.

    The play will “hopefully get people to talk about homosexuality, which already helps to reduce the stigma,” says Phiona Katushabe (24), one of the originators.

    {{Avoiding ideology}}

    However, it has not created the sort of public stir that may have been expected given its controversial subject. Those involved in the play believe it is partially because it has deliberately been kept low-key.

    Not out of fear for repercussions but “to avoid being dragged into the ideological debate with, on one side, Uganda’s vocal pastors and, on the other, the international liberal human rights organizations,” says Katushabe.

    “All we want is our audience to make up its own mind.”
    But, apparently, it did cause a sense of uneasiness at the National Theatre, Kampala’s main venue. At the last minute, the Theatre backed away from hosting the play, after having agreed earlier to do so. The actors were told a “clearance” from Uganda’s Media Council was not issued.

    “The refusal of National Theatre only motivated me further,”says Rehema Nanfuka (26), a well-known actress and radio-presenter who is in the cast.

    {{Challenging beliefs}}

    The River & the Mountain revolves around Samson (played by Prynce), a young man who is focused on his career in a cooking oil factory, much to the despair of his mother. All she wants for him is a suitable wife.

    Samson is forced to ‘cure’ himself of his homosexuality by undergoing treatment with a pastor, a witch-doctor and a Ssenga – a ‘sex-aunt’ who, in traditional Buganda-culture, initiates young girls. All attempts fail because Samson says that being homosexual is “how I was born.”

    In the end, after having had his coming-out, Samson is killed by his own factory workers with machetes. But it is his girlfriend Aidah (played by Aidah Nalubowa) who brings hope to the story because she accepts Samson’s the way he is.

    Aidah represents the ‘river’ which stands for openness, for being connected to the open seas that historically brought new influences. The ‘mountain’ symbolizes secluded, withdrawn people, scared of the unknown.

    {{Understanding}}

    Katushabe: “Some of my anti-gay friends who have seen the play now show more understanding.” Nanfuka says the same goes for her. “I never had any problem with gay people but I used to ask myself why they should feel the need to come out. Now, I feel they should. In Ugandan society, we hide so many things. Why not talk about it?”

    The River & the Mountain is attracting several dozens of spectators every evening, including many Western expatriates. The good thing is that so far, only two members of the public have walked out of the performance.

    The first one, an anti-gay and the second a pro-gay. The latter was apparently too affected by Samson’s fate.

    The last two performances, this weekend, will be at MishMash, an uptown cultural venue mainly visited by expatriates. Are the organizers not afraid they will give conservative Ugandans one more reason to believe that gay people are ‘stooges’ of ultra-liberal Westerners with a secret ‘gay-agenda’?” Prynce’s response: “That argument is being used against us anyway. I am not afraid. This play will help change Ugandan society.”

    {Picture: RNW}
    {{RNW Africa}}

  • Premier calls for patriotism and devotion from Rwandans

    {Yesterday, 25th August 2012, the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien HABUMUREMYI participated in community work (Umuganda) in Kitazigurwa Cell, Muhazi Sector in Eastern Province where he called citizens to work for their country.
    }

    “When you have no country you have no dignity, we all owe much our country so we have to work hard and develop it ourselves” said Prime Minister while addressing residents of Muhazi Sector shortly after Community work (Umuganda).

    “I have never seen a country that builds houses and provides cows to its citizens except Rwanda, so you have to love your country and stand for your dignity wherever you are” Premier said.

    Prime Minister called citizens to contribute to the Agaciro Development Fund so as to boost the country’s economy in spite of waiting for assistance from outside.

    He also thanked Muhazi citizens for the way they understand and support government programs like the recent national census.

    Before starting Umuganda, Prime Minister toured Kitazigurwa model village with 65 houses and a modern farm with around 98 cows for residents of the village.

    During Umuganda Prime Minister participated in the constructions of houses for poor people living in the Kitazigurwa cell.

    He urged leaders to make sure that all the citizens should live in villages as the best way to facilitate access to infrastructure like water and electricity.

    {{Hope Magazine Online}}

  • Mandela grandson to Be Arrested

    {{An arrest warrant was issued for a grandson of Nelson Mandela on Monday after he failed to appear in court for not paying maintenance to his first wife, local media reported.}}

    Mandla Mandela, an ANC member of parliament and head of the Mandela family clan, allegedly missed three payments to his estranged wife, Tando Mabunu-Mandela, the weekly newspaper City Press reported on its website.

    The publication reported that a maintenance investigator said Mandela had refused to accept a summons given him on July 11.

    The court granted an order to deduct the sum from Mandela’s salary, and issued the arrest warrant after his failure to appear in court, the newspaper said.

    AFP

  • Kimicanga: Prostitution, Drug Abuse on the Rise

    {{Mutsinzi Christian and Bizumuremyi Abdoukarim were arrested today in an impromptu Police operation at Kimicanga slum. The two were found smoking marijuana and were already high.}}

    However, they claim that they don’t know why they have been arrested.

    They recounted to IGIHE that they had earlier been involved in theft activities in the area but had since stopped and joined school.

    The two pleaded with Police to set them free promising to stop smocking ‘crack’.

    Kimicanga residents are overwhelmed by the growing incidences of theft and prostitution and alleged drug abuse in the slum neighbourhood.

    Dushimiyimana Alfred operates a shop at kimicanga, he told our reporter, “We don’t feel safe living here. Government should take urgent measures to address the issues of drug abuse and prostitution here.”

    He added that, “one cannot go out at night without anyone watching over him. We don’t feel safe to go out untill 6AM. If you manage to wake up early, thieves are all around still waiting to pounce.”

    Dushimiyimana however,is Surprised that all these incidences take place in the presence of the Police.

    Pierre Hakizimana explained,“When the night falls, most youths wear big jeans and very long socks. Small cannabis packets are tucked into socks and in big pockets of their trousers such not anyone can notice.”

    Hakizimana says that prostitutes in the area sometimes engage underage boys in sex when drunk.

    People who settled at the place started misbehaving in February, at the beginning of the relocation process to implement the Kigali Master plan.

  • UNAMISS Praises Rwanda’s Peacekeeping Support

    {{Fred Yiga, The Police Commissioner for the United Nations for African Missions in South Sudan (UNAMISS) has praised the discipline and professionalism exibihted by the Rwanda Police officers on mission in south Sudan.}}

    He noted such good model by Rwanda Police force “should be emulated by other contingents to promote peace in the Region.”

    Mr. Yiga is in Rwanda to attend the Police Command Post Exercise (PCPX) launching today.

    PCPX is organized by Rwanda National Police attracting twelve African countries to train together on cross border crimes.

    “We are determined to help South Sudan Police force get the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to prevent crimes. It is only through professionalism of the force that peace will reign in South Sudan,” said Emmanuel Gasana Rwanda’s Inspector General of Police.

  • Gatsibo to Intensify Soya Production

    {{Gatsibo District has announced plans to intensify soya bean production targeting cultivation of over 2000 hectares only in 2012. Gatsibo located in Eastern province of Rwanda has vast arable land.}}

    Ruboneza Ambroise the district mayor says soya is a good crop which adds nutrients in the soils where it has been planted, “after soya harvest, other crops can be planted in the same garden and will grow well.”

    The Mayor encourages gatsibo residents to consider Soya production to provide enough supply to the new Soya processing factory (Mount Meru Soyco Ltd) being built in nearby Kayonza district.

    Mount Meru Soyco factory has capacity to process over 200 tones of produce every day and an estimated 45000 tons annually.

  • Road Works Leave Jabana Gardens Destroyed

    {{Residents of Jabana Sector in Gasabo district have expressed concern over vandalism of their property caused by road construction machinery.}}

    They claim most of their crops have been destroyed by bull dozers and caterpillars currently constructing new roads in the area. Some houses have been left in the middle of the new roads.

    Local area leaders say there will be no compensation arguing that it’s the residents that requested for new roads and other public facilities.

    However, some residents allege that they were asked to sign on documents whose content they were not explained about saying had they known it would lead to such vandalism and render them homeless, they wouldn’t have consented to the memorandum of understanding.

  • President Kagame Sends Condolence Message to Ethiopia

    {{President Paul Kagame has sent a message of condolence to the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, as well as the family of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who passed away on Tuesday.}}

    President Kagame described Prime Minister Zenawi as “a visionary and gallant leader with a genuine concern for the socio-economical transformation of Ethiopia, and Africa as a whole – with a commitment for Africa’s rightful place in the world.”

    President Kagame said Rwanda was deeply appreciative of Prime Minister Zenawi’s exceptional friendship and continued partnership over the years, and expressed solidarity with Ethiopia during this period.