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Liberia has no plans to abolish Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) despite mounting demands by local and international organisations, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said.

President Sirleaf said, “to hastily abolish the practice could spark off a serious societal crisis”.

FGM is widely practised in Liberia with thousands of young girls annually initiated in traditional “schools” known as the Sande Society in preparation for mutilation.

More than half of the country’s 16 ethnic groups in north eastern, parts of eastern, western and northern Liberia practice FGM.

Those who practise it argue that it controls a woman’s sexual urge.

“This is not a thing that you can legislate. If you try to legislate or enforce it without much sensitisation, we might run into some tension in our society that we don’t need,” President Sirleaf.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma 63, has been elected to head the 54-nation bloc after a hotly contested election. She is a South African and has been working as home Affairs Minister.

She is the first woman to hold the post and is the ex-wife of South African President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma is a more “professional, more accountable and more proficient” person than Ping, said Mehari Maru with the Institute of Security Studies in Addis Ababa, but warned it would likely take months for a change in leadership strategy to take place.

The election conducted on Sunday took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It followed a stalemate in January that left 69-year-old incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon in power after neither side could secure the necessary two-thirds majority.

The run up to the election largely split the continent in two, with West and Francophone Africa firmly behind Ping, while Zuma’s counterparts in the Southern African Development Community firmly backed her bid.

Challenges are likely to come quickly for the new head of the AU as she deals with the aftermath of recent coups in Guinea Bissau and Mali. Ping was criticized as being slow and ineffective in his response to last year’s coup in Cote D’Ivoire and the revolution in Libya.

The republic of Burundi will receive about US$18million grant to finance the country’s Fifth Economic Reform Support Programme (ERSP V).

Funds have been approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Board of Directors from the Fragile States Facility resources.

This contribution is backed by a program of reforms aiming the promotion of accelerated economic growth by enhancing Government efficiency in the management of public resources, promoting private sector development, and creating jobs.

In this context, PARE-V’s main operational objectives are to: (i) enhance Government efficiency in the management of public resources (Component 1); and (ii) promote private sector development and job creation (Component 2).

PARE-V’s expected outputs are: (i) increased tax revenue; (ii) a more efficient procurement system underpinned by a Public Procurement Code, which will guarantee greater transparence, fairness and competition;

Also (iii) an improved and more efficient internal and external control system which will contribute to sounder management of Government’s financial resources; (iv) an increase in the level of private investment; and (v) the creation of more youth employment opportunities.

PARE-V is aligned on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Phase II (PRSP-II), adopted in January 2012 for the 2012-2016 period. PRSP II seeks to create an environment that will foster Burundi’s sustainable development and allow for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It is also aligned on the country’s long-term vision ‘Burundi 2025’.

PARE-V, will support the ongoing reform programme in Burundi, consolidate the achievements, and deepen reforms supported by the Bank in its previous Programmes (PARE I-IV). The programme will be implemented over 2012 and 2013 and the grant will contribute to fund the Budget of 2012 and 2013.

Burundi is a fragile State, one of the poorest in Africa. The Human Development Index (HDI) ranked the country 185th of 187 countries in 2011 and about 67% of the population lives below the poverty threshold. This programme addresses the Burundi Government need for public finance stabilization.

By financing part of the budget deficit, the Programme will contribute to easing social tension and reinforcing the country’s stability. It will therefore, like the other four previous operations, continue to support the country in its modernization process aimed at achieving strong, inclusive and job-creating growth.

East Africa Community Planning and Performance Contract Workshop for all the Executive and Professional staff of the EAC Organs and Institutions is underway at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Workshop(16-17 July) is meant to create synergies for the effective implementation of the EAC Annual Operational Plans, and ensure that the staff delivers on the set targets in connection with the performance contracts and the expected deliverables for the new financial year 2012/2013.

The Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration Jean Claude Nsengiyumva noted that Planning and Performance Contracting processes at Organs and Institutions should not be viewed as belonging to the Planning and Human Resource and Administration Directorates.

However, it is through collective and consultative workshops that both the Executive and Professional Staff can create a focussed approach to the expected deliverables for the new financial year.

Nsengiyumva reiterated that the two Directorates were only facilitating the two processes, but the ultimate ownership and implementation belongs to all the staff. “Our various stakeholders have entrusted us with a great responsibility to transform the Community into a performing institution that will deliver the desired results of integration” affirmed the Deputy Secretary General.

The EAC official cautioned the staff to adopt a performance culture in the EAC if they were to remain relevant in their respective capacities.

He said the EAC was poised on its dynamic and challenging phase, to realize the concrete objectives of the 4th Development Strategy, which calls for a strategic re-positioning of the organization with regard to its internal dimensions, specifically its operational culture, organization and methods as well as its external dimensions, involving the need to intensify the political will and popular participation of the citizens in the integration process.

“Performance contracting as a tool to assist manage our performance has therefore to be imbedded in our management system, and should be clearly understood and owned by all staff in the EAC Organs and Institutions,” asserted Nsengiyumva.

He added, “the output of this workshop should represent the aspiration of the East African citizens to achieve predictable, comprehensive, systematic and rational control over the future direction of the Community in all dimensions of its performance”.

Twenty Five members from Rwanda National Police, Rwanda Defense Forces and the Civil Aviation Authority yesterday started five day training on airport crisis management.

The training aims at equipping airport unit officers with skills to enable them effectively maintain security at airports.

The training is conducted by Rwanda National Police in conjunction with Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA).

Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority’s Director General Richard Masozera noted, “In recent years, the aviation industry has seen the emergence of worldwide attacks against the safety and security of the travelling public, airports, aircraft and aviation workers”.

Masozera added that these acts against civil aviation can be thwarted by developing aviation security programs, measures and procedures.

Emphasizing the need for the training, Justus Nyunja, the Aviation Security regional officer and a facilitator from the International Civil Aviation Organization observed that a country’s security can be easily frustrated by terrorists from a neighboring country if there are no mechanisms put in place to detect them.

MTN Rwanda today provided four BlackBerry® smart phones to the top four, best performing students of the School of Finance and Banking (SFB), academic year 2011.

The four BlackBerry® Curve smart phones worth over Frw800,000 were handed over to t four students by MTN Rwanda’s Senior Manger Marketing Operations, Robert Rwakabogo during a give-away ceremony at the school premises.

The students include two best Bachelors of Business Administration students (Mugwaneza Olivier and Nyiratwagirimfura Juliene) and the best two students at Masters level (Ngige Peter and Mutesi Patience).

The Vice Rector-in-charge of Academics, Papius Musafiri presided over the ceremony.

According to the MTN Rwanda’s Robert Rwakabogo the gesture is part of the company’s commitment to promote and prepare young Rwandans into entrepreneurship, by providing relevant efficiencies and cost savings packages to outgoing students.

“Using the BlackBerry devices provides benefits that are not limited to productivity and cost efficiencies. BlackBerry devices allow the user to convert downtime into productive time by giving one access to email at all times,” Rwakabogo said.

“This is probably why our BlackBerry subscription which is exclusive to MTN Rwanda is growing. By the end of June this year we had recorded slightly close to 6,000 (both pre-paid and post-paid) active subscribers on BlackBerry.”

“The figure varies depending on the package, because we have users that subscriber for a week or a even day,” he added.

Rwakabogo also said that through a partnership with KCB Rwanda, MTN Rwanda is now providing the smart phones with packages that make them affordable for every one.

MTN Rwanda early this year (May) entered into a joint partnership with KCB to offer a facility that can allow customers to own a BlackBerry® smart phone on loan.

The partnership allows eligible account holders to purchase a BlackBerry® handset including one year subscription and pay in 12 instalments.

Ecobank Rwanda ltd, a member of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking network with a presence in 35 countries, has rolled out a CHIP technology for all its Visa Debit card products.

The CHIP card offers high level security due to an embedded microprocessor that will enable customers carry out transactions at ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) in a more secure way.

The microprocessor enhances security against the use of skimmed or stolen account data, a trend that is gaining ground with ATM fraud cases in the world market.

Statistics show that there is an increasing option of using debit and credit cards as a preferred means of settling payments around the world, currently we have over 290,000 cards with which 75,257 are international cards in our market.

Commenting on the new product, Ecobank Rwanda Ltd Managing Director Gilles Guerard said, “We never stop to improve the security of our customer’s funds and one of the major challenges facing the card industry is theft and fraud cases involving cards as a result of limited security features.”

“With our new Chip technology, we will be able to fight such cases through various card usage restrictions such as Personal Identification Number (PIN) authentication for POS transactions and data authentication to protect against counterfeit.”

“This development is a further step to our commitment to provide our customers with innovative and secure solutions for their ever changing needs,” he added. Ecobank Group has embarked on this project across its 33 countries where it operates in line with its strategy of ensuring convenience, accessibility and reliability for all its products.

Ecobank has been at the forefront of creating innovative financial solutions and delivering customer value through its extensive range of unique and diversified products with tailor-made high quality service propositions for its customers.

The Rwanda National Police (RNP) on 16th July launched a two month supervisory course for regional senior officers that is aimed at acquainting participants with necessary skills and knowledge to enhance their professionalism and management competences in work performance.

According to ACP Felix Namuhoranye, the Commandant of National Police Academy (NPA) that will be conducting this course, the main purpose is to provide participants with a package required for police officers to successfully play a supervisory role in the challenging contemporary policing environment.

Participants to this course are 30 senior police officers, all coming from South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi and Rwanda.

The police supervisory course is one of the courses provided by NPA with the aim of enabling the police officers to effectively and efficiently carry out the duties of commanding police stations and district police units.

For this time, participants to the course will include foreigners.

“We have invited foreign police officers to learn from us so that they can organize such course in their countries’’, Namuhoranye says, ‘’the course will also increase their skills in preventing, detecting and investigating transnational organized crimes’’.

The Minister of Internal Security, Mussa Fazil Harerimana said course participants will have what is required locally and internationally to prevent crimes as criminality has no borders.

He added that emerging crimes requires trainings and other related courses for prevention.

The NPA commandant is optimistic that the working experience and cultural diversity of course participants will contribute to sharing of different skills and knowledge.

Ecobank Transitional Incorporated (“Ecobank” or “the Group”) has been named “Best Bank in Africa” by the leading international finance magazine, Euromoney, for the second consecutive year.

The awards were presented last week at the 2012 Euromoney Awards for Excellence Dinner in London.

Regarded as the flagship awards for financial services globally, the Euromoney Awards for Excellence are now in their 22nd consecutive year. This year’s awards process, which began in April, attracted over 600 submissions from the world’s banks and brokerage houses.

In deciding on the award winners, Euromoney’s dedicated research team and awards panel rated all the submissions on both quantitative and qualitative factors, such as KPIs, financial ratios and innovation, over the past 12 months.

Commenting on Ecobank’s achievements, Euromoney’s Editor, Clive Horwood, observed:

“The African continent’s original pan-African group is now the largest financial institution in Africa by geographical outreach, operating in 33 countries.The quality of the management, strategic outlook and growing profitability stand Ecobank in good stead.”

Moreover, “it is close to holding assets of USD20 billion, thus reaching a level where economies of scale will kick in and boost efficiency and cross-selling of products and services.”

Arnold Ekpe, Ecobank’s Group CEO noted, “we are honored to be recognized again in these prestigious international awards. 2011 was a transformational year for Ecobank, thanks to major acquisitions in Ghana and Nigeria and strong organic growth across our Middle African footprint.”

“We are actively managing this growth, continuously enhancing our technology platform and risk management framework. I believe that Ecobank is now positioned rapidly to become the undisputed number one bank in Middle Africa.”

12 Rwandan Police officers serving under the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) were decorated with the United Nations Medal and certificates on July 12, 2012 in recognition of their outstanding and exemplary performance in capacity building for the South Sudan National Police Service.

The RNP contingent commander in UNMISS, Chief Superintendent Francis Nkwaya thanked his colleagues for their exemplary service and dedication to UNMISS He encouraged them to even perform better.

“You are ambassadors of Rwanda and you should always endeavor to lift your Country’s flag high in the areas where you are deployed” Nkwaya said.

The UNMISS Police Commissioner Dr. Fred Yiga thanked the Rwandan officers for their professionalism, commitment and dedication in achieving the UNMISS mandate.

“This medal award is not a routine exercise. You have earned the medals and you should therefore wear them with pride” Commissioner Yiga said.

“South Sudan National Police Service is a nascent institution and your knowledge of post conflict policing will be added value to the development of the Police. Always ensure that you promote your country’s image in execution of your duties” Yiga added.

The colorful ceremony was graced by the presence of Brigadier General Andrew Kagame, the Rwanda Military Contingent Commander in UNMISS.

The medal award ceremony that was celebrated in Juba at the Rwanda Military Contingent base was attended by the UNMISS Police Chief of staff, senior Police and military officers and friends of Rwanda.