Igihe

Author: b_igi_adm1n

  • Bashir Threatens to Crash ‘Alliens and Bubbles’

    Sudans President Omer Al-Bashir has warned protesters against his government saying they are ‘bubbles’ who will be dealt with”.

    Bashir was making his first reponce to protesters that have been pressuring Khartoum government for eight years.

    During a Sunday adress to students pro-ruling National Congress Party (NCP), President Bashir described the protesters as “aliens and bubbles” who failed to mobilize the streets.

    Sudanese authorities reported Sunday that they had detected participation of “foreign elements” in the protests that have been spreading across the country.

    The mayor of Khartoum locality, Lt-Gen Omer Ibrahim Nimir, told pro-government media Center (SMC), that foreigners from neighboring countries were seen participating in “the sabotage plot that is targeting the interests of citizens and the state.”

    Protests erupted on Sunday, 17 June, as Khartoum government moved to lift fuel subsidies as part of what officials say is an austerity package that includes downsizing of the government’s bureaucracy as well as cuts in the salaries and perks of senior state officials in order to make up for a budget deficit of 2 billion US dollars.

    The protests, which were initially started by students against worsening economic conditions, gained unprecedented momentum in the following days as demonstrations spread to several parts of the capital as well as other towns including Al-Obaiyd in north Kordofana, Madani in Al-Jazzera State, and Port Sudan in the east.

  • Legless Man Climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro

    A Canadian man 31, who lost his legs as a child has pulled himself up to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro -Africa’s highest mountain, disproving doctors who said he would never be a functioning member of society.”

    Spencer West lost his legs after a genetic disorder — sacral agenesis — paralyzed the lower half of his body.

    However, he didn’t let that stop him from climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro.

    West is from Toronto Canada.He arrived at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, some 6,000 meters (19,700 feet) above sea level, on Tuesday, calling it an incredible personal feat.

    “Reaching the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro was the most mentally and physically challenging thing I have ever done, but in doing so, it reinforced the powerful message of believing in yourself, and believing in others,” West said.

    “Physically, it was challenging because I climbed the majority of the mountain on my hands, which put a lot of stress on my shoulders and arms,” he said, estimating he hoisted himself up 80% of the way.

    West was accompanied on the trek by his two best friends, David Johnson and Alex Meers.

    His goal was to raise money for Free the Children, an organization that supplies drinking water to hundreds of people in Kenya, which in 2011 experienced its worst drought in 60 years.

  • US Bill Pushes For Special waiver On African Garments

    In both the US senate and House of Representatives, a new bill has been introduced seeking to advance the extension of a special waiver aimed at allowing duty-free importation of African garments made using fabric from other countries.

    The Bill was tabled last week by a group of senior lawmakers from both houses raising hope for textile exporters including some East African countries where production of cotton remains insufficient.

    The rule popularly known as the Third-Country Rule of the preferential African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) initiative is scheduled to lapse in September threatening to lock out the bulk of textile imports from eligible African states.

    “This is a win-win legislation that builds upon our nation’s goal of strengthening economic relations with Africa, while ensuring that our regional trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic continues to succeed,” Senator Orrin Hatch, an Utah Republican.

    The legislation seeks to renew the waiver until September 2015, when the entire AGOA will be up for renewal.

    Without the Third-Country Rule, countries that manufacture garments from imported fabric would be locked out of the lucrative US market.

    Though the Act originally covered the eight-year period from October 2000 to September 2008, amendments by then US President George Bush in July 2004 extended it to 2015.

    “This must-do legislation has strong bipartisan and broad industry support. It will benefit US global competitiveness, aid US employment and global development, and strengthen our ties with 55 US trading partners in Africa and the Western Hemisphere,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican, said in a statement.

    Also the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says President Barack Obama’s administration favours extension of the trade rule that has helped to improve trade with Africa under the AGOA initiative.

    The apparel firms accounted for 80.3% of the 32,251 employees at the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) by end of 2011, the Economic Survey 2012 shows.

    For example, to make cotton-based garments, textile firms in Kenya have to obtain 90% of cotton from regional markets such as Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt.

  • Trial of FDLR Chiefs to Resume

    German media has reported that war crimes trial of Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni, President and 1 Vice President of FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), could reportedly continue.

    The challenge for bias against the defense of the senate at the German based Stuttgart Higher Regional Court in connection with the handing over of evidence to the UN, which had caused a disruption of the hearing had been denied and the trial may resume.

    Musoni’s passport though long since expired – should be introduced as evidence, as the exhibit of rough diamonds from Musoni.

    Concerns of rough diamond have been found during the search warrant for Musoni’s arrest in November 2009.

    Its alleged Musoni in 2000, was at the time of founding of the FDLR in DR-Congo and in Zambia. The envelopes found with rough diamonds would come from Zambia, not from the DR-Congo.

    German based media reported Straton Musoni, accused before the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart, worked from 2005 to July 2008 as a computer expert in the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

    He was noticed in security checks only when the FDLR militia became a topic in German media. A year later, on 12 July 2009, he boasted himself to have used the office service telephone for FDLR activities.

    “I’m a real daredevil,” says Musoni on 12 June 2009 during a conversation with another exiled Rwandan. The intercepted telephone conversation was submitted as evidence in the ongoing trial against FDLR President Ignace Musoni and Murwanashyaka before the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart on 13 June.

    “You know, it is difficult to use mobile phone,” says Musoni to his friend. “But then why do I have the service telephone? I have used it for two hours … I called on the expensive satellite phone, and the bill was 800 €. How the government pays the bill, I do not know.”

    “If one asks about the phone calls, I’ll say: Forgive me. But no one has told me that until I left there, and I know they will not know that, because I know that phone numbers don’t appear in the bills were. You see, a ministry has a bill of 2,000 € and you alone have called for 1,000 €. ”

    But don’t play the same game in the next job, advises Musoni’s friend. “It was suicide,” admits Musoni. “Yes, it was suicide,” warns his friend, adding: “If your wife finds out, you divorce …”

  • One Dead in Kenyan Explosion

    Injured patients being attended to by medical personnel at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa
    Just a Day after the US embassy in Nairobi had cautioned Kenyans about an ‘imminent threat’ of a terrorist attack, One person was later killed in an deadly explosion in Mombasa.

    A police source said the blast happened inside Jericho Beer Garden Bar in Kisauni locality at about 10:00 local time where several were reportedly injured.

    Sources said the bar was busy with people watching the quarter-final match between England and Italy in the Euro 2012 football tournament.

    A witness told local media that he saw two men and a woman arrive in a car and walk towards the bar and shortly afterwards the blasts occurred as the car sped off.

    “At first I thought it was electric transformer nearby which had blown up because it has been having problems. But a few minutes later I heard a second blast and then a third one and realised these were bomb explosions,” he said.

    The Kenyan police had earlier arrested two Iranian nationals over suspected links to a terror network that was reportedly planning attacks in Mombasa.

    Police also recovered suspected bomb-making material in the capital, Nairobi, on Saturday.

    Kenyan security authorities including the US, France’s missions in Nairobi had also warned kenyans to be “extremely vigilant.

    US officials had also been told to avoid the area until 1 July.

    Meanwhile, people involved in terrorist activities on Kenyan soil risk being jailed for life and their properties seized if a proposed new law is passed.

    The new law also provides compensation for terrorist victims. The proposed Compensation of Victims of Terrorism Fund would be funded from disposal of property seized from terrorists as well as fines imposed on those convicted.

    However, some Kenyan Legistilators have vowed to reject the proposed law once it is taken to Parliament, but a section of Muslim religious leaders and professionals have supported the proposed law and called for some amendments.

    The MPs claim that the Bill is sponsored by western governments. The latest developments come as the American embassy in Nairobi issued a warning of an imminent terrorist attack in Mombasa.

  • MONUSCO Reaffirms Extra support to FARDC

    MONUSCO has yet again reaffirmed its support to the Congolese forces in their campaign to route M23 rebels who have since the past several weeks put up a tough resistance against the government forces.

    The Deputy Special Representative of UN Secretary General in the DRC, Leila Zerougui (see photo), reiterated Sunday, June 24 in Goma, North Kivu, to support troops Monusco and Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC), engaged in the fight against the mutineers of the M23.

    She also assured that Monusco was desperate to protect civilians. Meanwhile, in Beni, the FARDC confirm that about twenty soldiers, including officers above, joined the rebels of the M23.

    The Deputy Special Representative of Secretary-General visited the combat zones between the FARDC and the mutineers, including Rumangabo, Rugari and Bunagana.

    Zerougui says the rebels will soon be isolated and monitored using the FARDC if they receive no cooperation of the communities. Thus it has urged people to dissociate themselves from them.

    “We need people to understand that peace is in their interest, and that the war serves the interests of the warlords,” she said.

    The Deputy Representative has also expressed concern that the displaced families remain without assistance, humanitarian not acceding to these areas still exposed to the fighting.

    Zerougui also states that the peacekeepers are present in major centers and sensitive areas to strengthen the protection of civilians.

  • Police FC Thrashes Marine FC

    Police FC thrashed Marine FC in a tight game that was dominated by the Police side.

    The match was a competition for quarter finals qualifications where Marine failed to resisit a thorough beating on an indisputable score of 4-1.

    Completely dominated in the first half-time of the game, Marine FC was apparently suffocated by the avalanche of three consecutive goals scored by Rivaldo and Kagere Meddy.

    In the second half time the Marine team, after pouring water on them while in break, tried their level best and scored their sole goal just to retain their tears for consolation.

    Much as they were revived by the oxygen taken in break time, they could not do otherwise better, as Police FC strangled them by 4-1 after Rivaldo added another 4th goal.

    When asked to comment on the victory, Goran Kopunovich said he was confident of his boys and that he was expecting even more than what he got as they played on home pitch.

    He went on to say that there’s no bad surprise to be envisaged ahead of the race. “We are ready for AS Kigali and we will perform.

    The race to the finals is tough but our chance to the cup is not far from our hands”. In all, Police FC scored 9 goals against 2 for Marine FC.

  • CHina Injects US$43 Billion into IMF

    China’s state owned media announcement on Monday that the communist power will inject US$43 billion to recapitalise the International Monetary Fund.

    This decision cemented China’s image as a responsible country and conformed to national interests, experts said.

    “The announcement came against the backdrop of global economic uncertainties and mounting financial market turmoil.

    “It aims to narrow the IMF’s funding gap and let it play a better role in safeguarding global economic and financial stability,” said He Fan, assistant director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    China’s contribution was part of a pledge made by G20 finance ministers in April to increase the financial firepower of the IMF by over US$430 billion in order to shield the world economy from the European financial crisis.

    Analysts said China’s decision to boost resources for the IMF offers China a good way to use its rich foreign exchange reserves.

    “China’s capital commitment is not free aid. It is actually an investment and a useful foreign reserve management tool,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, said on Tuesday in a statement on its website.

    The nation’s foreign exchange reserves stood at US$3,04 trillion by the end of March, the largest in the world.

    “It’s the IMF borrowing from China on the basis of guaranteeing safe and reasonable returns,” the statement said.

    Ding Zhijie, an economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics, said such pledges can be regarded as a preventative measure or a credit line for the IMF, and the fund may only use a small amount of the pledged money.

    For instance, “China promised to buy up to US$50 billion of IMF bills when the fund expanded in 2009, but has so far only purchased US$5,7 billion worth,” Ding said.

    As a global intergovernmental organisation, the IMF takes necessary measures to ensure the capital safety of its member countries.

    “China’s holdings of IMF bills are safe and with normal interest payments so far,” according to the PBOC statement.

    “China’s capital increase to the IMF is line with China’s interests and China’s international status and international responsibility,” the statement said.

    Experts and the PBOC called on the IMF to implement its 2010 quota and governance reform package and increase developing countries’ voting power in the financial organisation.

    In 2010, the IMF’s Board of Governors agreed to shift over 6 percent of the IMF quota to emerging or under-represented countries by October this year.

  • France Silent on Appointing New Envoy to Rwanda

    Although the new French government promised to end France’s post-colonial Françafrique policy, diplomatic relations between France and Rwanda are still a major concern as France remains non commital on the appointement of an ambassador to Rwanda.

    Rwanda is a major political player in the Great Lakes Region.

    The new Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius (in photo) said in May, “With Africa we should have a partnership of equal to equal.”

    Fabius was responding to querries on how he intended to break with Françafrique, a policy that has become a byword for dubious business and political connections between the former colonial power and Francophone African leaders.

    He added that, “We will deal with our African friends in a transparent manner in the hope of having a partnership for development.”

    Fabius noted that the continent can expect “considerable growth” in both its population and its economic, “which implies extraordinary potential.”

  • Manor Hotel To Present First Masquerade Ball Night

    The Manor hotel will on June 30th host the first Masquerade Ball Night.

    According to Irene Nuwagaba, the marketing manager of Manor Hotel the event is slated to be glamorous and participants will be given face masks after paying an entrance fee of Frw 5,000. Fancy masks will go for Frw 8,000.

    “We expect men to be smart in both official or casual wear, while ladies should dress outfits that resemble fashions won in 1960’s or something back dated,” she explains.

    Nuwagaba says she wants to keep the hotel’s frequent clients entertained. In this respect she has introduced daily events.

    Monday evening will be dedicated for Shisha smokers who will be served with various tobacco flavors.

    During this event, Manor’s Dj Rovers will play soft rock music, known to add more thrill to hooker smoking.

    Every Tuesday will be for screening the latest movies on a giant screen to bring the feeling of Cinema in Rwanda. Participants will be served with soft drinks and pop corns a trend in movie theaters abroad.

    Wednesday, Popularly known as ladies night, at Manor, it will be known as Beautiful People. The uniqueness of this event is that, there will be activities meant to facilitate interaction among single ladies and gentlemen. The first 50 ladies will be served a free drink of cocktail.

    Thursday, will be Karaoke night, a growing trend in Kigali. The Manor hotel intends to put it to the next level. Meaning apart from singing following words of the song on a giant screen, videos showing dances will also be played for participants to emulated the dances such as tango, Salsa and Rhumba.

    Friday’s and throughout the weekend, Manor hotel will entertain youthful clients. Swagga a night starts from Friday evening till late after which Dj Rovers will play urban jams ranging from pop and hip hop and old-skul.

    Every Saturday will be Reggea-Ragga night aimed at enticing reggae fans with Jamaican music.

    Finally Sunday closes down the weeklong events in style. Starting from mid-day to 7 pm, there will be a disco for mostly young people.

    Then later after 7pm, it will be the Bollywood night, meaning participants will be entertained to Asian fusion, such as meals, music and cultural dances from Asia.