Igihe

Author: Publisher

  • Hotel spearheads East African cultural integration

    Despite being a few months old Gikondo-based Roasters hotel has become a cultural melting pot for East African communities.

     A co-owner of the establishment Fred Korir explains that traditional events are part of the hotel’s objective to promote cultural exchange, which also plays a big role in the regional integration process.

    Popular cultural events held so far are particularly Kenyan themed, yet related ones from other countries are underway. Recent events include Kenya’s Kikuyu based Mugithi night, Luyha’s Murembe night and Kalenjin’s Tumin night. Cultural events from other countries Uganda’s Baganda night are scheduled to feature in the new future followed by events from Tanzania and Burundi.

    Korir’s counterpart Caleb Kenyanya points out that Rwandan and Burundian patrons are supportive of the cultural themed nights and have requested their respective countries to equally be featured.

    “Currently, we’re planning a Luo night followed by a Rwandan Intore night because we would also want Kenyans to learn more about this rich culture since some of them are busy in offices and might have less time to learn from their neighbours,”

    “So far, the Rwandan culture has taught us a lot. That’s why during this month’s Umuganda (communal cleaning), we intend to visit an orphanage and assist them in cleaning their premises,” he discloses.

    The cultural nights consist of various activities including a featured community’s dancing techniques, food and most interestingly, basic learning of language.

    Korir discloses that a Kikuyu meal known as mukimo has, for instance, been a favourite among the locals. “It (mukimo) is made from boiled potatoes which are smashed with vegetables and green maize. The meal is very nutritious.” 

    Worldwide events are also celebrated at the establishment including the Bob Marley commemoration, which was held on May 13. Other popular events include Valentine’s Day and Women’s Day.

    The events have set the stage for talent promotion where upcoming local musicians would interact with renowned regional artists.

  • Rwandan genocide: Finnish appeal to be heard in Rwanda, Zambia

    The Helsinki Court of Appeal is to travel to Rwanda and Zambia
    to hear witnesses in the appeal of a man convicted of involvement in the Rwanda
    genocide. Francois Bazaramba, a Rwandan-born Finnish citizen, was sentenced last
    summer to life in prison for mass murder.

    The court plans to be in session in Rwanda for 18 days in September and October
    to hear testimony from 39 prosecution witnesses. The court also hopes to visit
    places where killings took place.

    The court will also go to Zambia in October to hear testimony from 15 defence
    witnesses. Most of the witnesses live in Zambia and other countries in the
    region.

    The arrangement still requires the approval of the Rwandan and Zambian
    governments.

    The defendant will follow the events via video link from Finland, as was done
    in the first trial.

    The case is being handled in Finland because the Ministry of Justice refused to
    extradite Bazaramba to Rwanda for fear that he might not get a fair trial
    there.

    The
    lower court found that Bazaramba, a resident of Porvoo, had led attacks against
    Tutsis in the south of Rwanda in 1994 and gave orders that led to their deaths.

    Bazaramba
    sought asylum in Finland, in 2003.

    He was
    convicted on two charges ; intent to destroy the Tutsi population in Maraba, and
    spreading malicious propaganda calling for their extermination, crimes for
    which he was handed a life sentence.

    He is
    said to have masterminded the killing of over 5,000 people in Nyakizu, Southern
    Province.

    Bazaramba
    allegedly organised and maintained night patrols and road blocks, forcing the
    Tutsi to leave their homes. He organised the setting on fire and destruction of
    their homes and property.

  • Rwanda ex-paramilitary chief jailed for genocide

    The UN court for Rwanda handed a 30-year prison sentence to former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for his role in the 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed.

    The court on Tuesday also convicted Augustin Ndindiliyimana, the former head of the paramilitary police, of genocide crimes but ordered his release as he had already spent 11 years behind bars since his arrest.

    The court ruled that while Bizimungu had complete control over the men he commanded, Ndindiliyimana had only “limited control” over his men after the start of the massacres on April 6, 1994 and was opposed to the killing.

    Two senior officers tried alongside the generals were also sentenced on Tuesday.

    Major Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, the former commander of the reconnaissance battalion, was handed 20 years in jail for killing as a crime against humanity and murder as a war crime.

    His subordinate, captain Innocent Sagahutu, was also sentenced to 20 years.

    Bizimungu and Ndindiliyimana are two of the most senior figures to be tried by the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in connection with the genocide.

    Ndindiliyimana was arrested in January 2000 in Belgium and Nzuwonemeye the following month in France. Sagahutu was detained in Denmark and Bizimungu in 2002 in Angola.

    The case had been effectively adjourned since June 2009 when prosecutors requested life sentences for all four defendants while their defence lawyers asked for their acquittal.

    The long-running case is known as the Military II trial.

    In the Military I trial, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, presented by the prosecutor as the brains behind the genocide, was sentenced to life in prison in December 2008, along with two other senior military figures.

    Bagosora appealed and the hearing ran from March 30 to April 1, but the appeal verdict has yet to be handed down.

  • RwandAir adds Libreville to its growing network

    RwandAir the national carrier of Rwanda today launched flights from Kigali to Libreville the capital city of the West Central African republic of Gabon. The three weekly flights have been designed to operate a triangular schedule between Kigali, Libreville and Brazzaville with full right to ferry passengers between Libreville and Brazzaville.

    Making this announcement at a colourful ceremony hosted by the Gabon Ministry of Transport in Libreville , RwandAir CEO John Mirenge affirmed the airlines’ commitment to linking Central and West African cities with East Africa. “Earlier this year we launched flights to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, but that was not the end of it, we were just finalizing arrangements for Libreville which we are now proud to launch,” said Mr Mirenge. He further added that the memorandum of understanding for bilateral air services agreement signed between the representatives of governments of Rwanda and Gabon will allow the carriers of both countries fifth freedom rights. Kigali – Libreville flights will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

    Libreville, located on the west coast of Africa along the banks of Komo River and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean becomes the fourth port city for RwandAir after Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Dubai. The Brazzaville route was launched March this year and is expected to get a major boost from the planned triangular operation.

    RwandAir makes Libreville its second new destination this year with another  domestic destination, Gisenyi, set to launch May 31, 2011.

    The airline will later this year take delivery of two Boeing 737- 800 from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. These aircraft become the first on the continent to be fitted with the Boeing “Sky Interior”.

  • Nexus signs MOU for flight operations centre in Rwanda

    Middle East-based flight operations group Nexus is moving into Africa with plans to establish a flight operations center (FOC) in Kigali. Nexus has just signed a memorandum of understanding for the project with the Rwanda Development Board.

    “We are very excited about the new Nexus Africa, since it is the first step in our global expansion and we believe Rwanda to be the perfect place for our inaugural Africa base,” said Nexus chairman, Mohammed Al-Zeer. “Our ultimate aim is to be globally recognized as the leading African provider of flight operations services, employing the best, serving the elite, and being respected by industry leaders. This is just the first step.”

    The facility will be built in partnership with the government of Rwanda, which has been working through its Civil Aviation Authority to make the country a regional hub for air transport. The FOC will offer the same level of service Nexus currently offers at its centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Manama, Bahrain, catering to both local and international customers.

    “We are delighted to welcome Nexus into our country as their services will provide links for travelers all over the world, not just to Rwanda but to the whole of Africa,” said John Gara, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board. “This move is aligned with our vision as well as our initiatives to promote tourism and trade and to also improve aviation safety and security within the entire region.”

    Rwanda made headlines in the last decades due to its civil war, which officially ended in 2003. With its current stable political climate and central location, it is an ideal site for the FOC, according to Nexus. A date for commencing construction has not been set.

  • Kobagaya: Defence calls son as 1st witness

    The son of
    a man accused of lying to immigration officials about his participation in the
    1994 Rwandan genocide took the stand Monday to testify about their life as
    Burundian refugees in Rwanda and his father’s efforts years later to become a
    U.S. citizen.

    That testimony came as the defence team for Lazare Kobagaya began
    laying out its case. The 84-year-old Topeka, Kansas, man is charged with
    unlawfully obtaining U.S. citizenship in 2006 and with fraud and misuse of an
    alien registration card. The indictment also seeks to revoke his citizenship.

    Prosecutors have said the case is the first in the U.S. requiring
    proof of genocide. An estimated 500,000 to 800,000 people, mostly ethnic
    Tutsis, were killed by Hutu militias in Rwanda between April and July 1994.

    Jean Claude Kandagaye testified that his father is a Hutu and his
    mother is a Tutsi. Kandagaye told jurors that while he was growing up in
    Rwanda, his family was discriminated against because they were Burundian
    refugees. As refugees, they could not join political parties, attend public
    secondary schools or get some jobs and social services.

    Kandagaye told jurors that as a refugee his father was not a
    leader in the Rwandan village of Birambo where they lived — a key point as the
    defence team tries to counter the government’s allegations that Kobagaya was an
    influential community leader who led others during the genocide.

    Kandagaye, who filled out an immigration form in 2005 for his
    father, is considered a key witness as the defence tries to show jurors that the
    elderly Kobagaya did not understand English well and depended on others to
    translate documents and help him fill out immigration paperwork.

    Earlier Monday, prosecutors rested their case after putting on the
    stand the immigration official who interviewed Kobagaya during his citizenship
    application in April 2006.

    Adjudication officer Jeryl Bean testified that Kobagaya responded
    “no” when asked whether he had ever persecuted anyone or ever
    committed any crimes for which he was not convicted. Kobagaya also denied ever
    giving false information to immigration officials or lying to them to gain
    entry into the United States, she testified.

    Prosecutors used Bean to attack Kobagaya’s claim that he did not
    purposefully misrepresent to immigration officials that he was not living in
    Rwanda during the 1994 genocide because he was unfamiliar with the English
    language and may have misunderstood that question on the immigration forms.

    The defence has argued that it was one of his sons, Kandagaye, who
    actually filled out the paperwork because Kobagaya did not speak English at the
    time.

    However, Bean told jurors that Kobagaya spoke English and that no
    interpreter or family member was present during the 2006 interview for his
    citizenship.

  • BNR targets inflation at below 7.5%, Governor Says

    The National Bank of Rwanda will aim to keep inflation below 7.5 percent this year, lower than a previous estimate of 8 percent, newly appointed Governor Claver Gatete said.

    The inflation rate climbed to 5 percent in April from 4.1 percent a month earlier as food and fuel prices increased. Last month, former Governor Francois Kanimba said inflation may reach 8 percent this year. Gatete, who was appointed as Kanimba’s replacement on May 6, said the official estimate is that inflation will reach 7.5 percent by the end of the year.

    “We don’t want it to go that far,” he said in an interview after his swearing-in ceremony on May 13 in Kigali, the capital. “We are fighting inflation.”

    The National Bank of Rwanda kept its key lending rate unchanged at 6 percent last month, after three reductions in the past year, to help boost lending and support the economy’s expansion. Rwanda’s Finance Ministry has forecast economic growth in the coffee-growing country will slow to 7 percent this year from 7.5 percent in 2010 as poor rains curb agricultural production.

    The central bank hasn’t decided whether it will raise interest rates to curb inflation, Gatete said.

    Rwanda’s national budget will increase to 1.12 trillion Rwandan francs ($1.85 billion) in the 2011-12 fiscal year, from 984 billion francs a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance. The increase has been accounted for in the central bank’s inflation projection, Gatete said. Inflation advance last month largely because of higher food and fuel costs, he said.

    While food prices are still rising, the rate of increase has slowed, he said. In April, food prices climbed 6 percent, after jumping 8 percent in the previous month. Higher fuel prices are mainly due to political instability in the Middle East and are beyond the bank’s control, he said. Gasoline prices in Rwanda increased 14 percent between January and April, according to industry regulators.

    “We can only control the effects,” Gatete said.

    Gatete, a former ambassador to the U.K. and previously a deputy governor at the central bank, replaced Kanimba after his predecessor was named as the new minister of trade.

    Gatete said he plans to focus on modernizing communication systems, training staff and improving research capabilities at the bank during his tenure as governor.

  • Actis Weighs Sale of BCR

    Actis LLP, a London-based private- equity firm investing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, may sell its Rwandan bank to Kenyan lenders.

    Banque Commerciale du Rwanda, based in Kigali, the capital, is “a natural acquisition for one of the bigger East African banks wanting to expand their footprint,” Peter Schmid, Actis’s head of Africa, said in a May 12 interview at the firm’s London office. “That’s a probable exit scenario. ”

    Actis, which has $4.6 billion under management, bought an 80 percent stake of BCR in 2004 in a deal valuing the company at $6 million. The Rwandan government kept the rest of the previously state-owned bank. Kenyan lenders including Equity Bank Ltd. (EQBNK) and Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. (KNCB) are expanding across East Africa, opening branches in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and southern Sudan, as the region’s economies grow.

    The Rwandan investment was Actis’s first in the country. Gross domestic product has expanded an average 7.5 percent annually from 2004 and 2009, according to the World Bank. About 30 percent of Actis’s capital is invested in Africa, Schmid said.

    The Rwandan Stock Exchange “is a bit small for now” to list for an investment exit, Schmid said.

    Rwanda held its first initial public offering in November when the state sold 25 percent of Brassieries et Lemonaderies du Rwanda SA, a unit of Heineken NV (HEIA), the world’s third-biggest brewer. The stock is the only company listed on the Rwandan Stock Exchange, which started trading on Jan. 31. Kenya Commercial Bank and Nairobi-based Nation Media Group Ltd., East Africa’s biggest media company, are listed on an over-the- counter exchange.

    BRC increased profit almost four-fold in the nine months through September on reduced costs and higher revenue, Managing Director Sanjeev Anand said in December. Net income climbed to 1.7 billion Rwandan francs ($2.8 million) from 433 million francs a year earlier as sales rose 12 percent to 8.5 billion francs, he said. The bank expects full-year net income of 2.2 billion francs, Anand said.

    In 2004, Actis was spun out of CDC Group Plc, a U.K. government-owned investor in developing markets that was originally started 60 years ago as the Colonial Development Corp., to raise money from government, insurers and pension funds to invest in African and Asian companies.

  • Indian firm to invest US$1b in Rwandan Gold, Diamonds

    Rajesh Exports Ltd., India’s largest jewelry maker and exporter, said it may invest as much as $1 billion in Rwanda over the next five years developing the country’s gold industry and building a diamond-trading business.

    The company, based in Bangalore, India, is in talks with Rwanda’s government about proposals that include establishing a gold refinery within six months, Ravi Chandra, the company’s chief executive officer for mining, said in an interview in Kigali.

    Most of the gold mined in Africa is currently exported to South Africa or Europe for processing, Chandra said. Rajesh Exports is seeking to make Rwanda a continental hub for gold processing over the next three to five years.

    “Our aim is to try to bring the gold from most of Africa to Rwanda,” Chandra said.

     Rajesh has begun exploring a 2,000 square-kilometre gold concession in Rwanda that it wants to increase to 15,000 square kilometres, Chandra said. Eventually the company plans to export products including jewelry and coins. It also intends to set up a diamond business that may involve importing and exporting the gems as well as cutting and polishing, he said, without providing further details.

    Talks between the company and the Rwandan government are “still very exploratory” and may take six months to complete, Clare Akamanzi, chief operating officer of the Rwanda Development Board, said in an interview. The projects envisaged by the company may cost $500 million to $1 billion, she said.

    Rajesh Exports is also working with the Rwandan government to establish a legal way to import gold from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. In March, Rwanda banned the purchase of so-called conflict minerals including gold, tungsten, coltan and tin from Congo after the U.S. passed a law aimed at halting the trade.

    The Dodd-Frank law will require American companies to report any purchases of gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum that might have come from conflict zones in Congo, according to a draft of the regulations on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website. Fighting has raged in eastern Congo for more than 15 years and armed groups often support themselves by taxing or trading in minerals.

    “We are hopeful to find a legal solution,” Chandra said.

  • Swiss firm advances Rwf 591 million to Urwego Opportunity bank

    responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland recently made local-currency loans totalling the equivalent of USD 2 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) Middle East Micro Credit Company (MEMCC) of Jordan and Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) of Rwanda.

    rAMLF invested approximately RWF 591 million (USD 999,000) in UOB. Created as a result of a merger between Urwego Community Banking
    and Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda, UOB is a microfinance institution
    headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda. Its services include loan and savings
    products, business training, HIV/AIDS training and insurance coverage. UOB’s
    shareholders include nonprofit organizations Hope International, Opportunity
    International, World Relief and World Relief Canada. In 2009, UOB reported to
    US-based, nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) total assets of USD
    10.8 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 6.4 million, return on assets (ROA)
    of -6.57 percent, return on equity (ROE) of -16.5 percent and 33,900 borrowers.

    Founded in 2003, responsAbility Social Investments AG is a Swiss investment company whose products aim to enable investors to earn a financial return while assisting people in emerging markets to access information and markets in sectors such as microfinance, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, fair trade and independent media. According to calculations based on data from the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) from 2009 and 2010, responsAbility manages approximately USD 800 million in total assets. responsAbility is backed by Swiss financial institutions and a social venture capital company as founders and shareholders including Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Schweiz, Swiss Re, Bank Vontobel AG as well as George Avenue.

    The responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund (rAMLF) invests in large microfinance institutions (MFIs) through debt securities and equity investments. rAMLF reported to the US-based, nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) that it had USD 160 million in fund assets as of 2010. LuxFLAG, an independent organization that certifies that microfinance vehicles actually invest in the microfinance sector, renewed rAMFL’s label in March 2011.