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  • Frw 80Billion Pumped into Rice Production

    About Frw 80 Billion has been injected into rice farming in Rwanda for the past five years.

    Nobert Sendege, the Director General of Crop Production at MINAGRI says currently the country’s rice production is 71,000 tons of rice annually.

    Sendege adds that 2400 more hectares of land will be available for rice growing in the country in addition to the current 9,000 hectares.

    The government, World Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development and African Development Bank have contributed the funds.

    The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources says that Rwanda will produce sufficient rice by the year 2017, and that they are doing their best to increase rice production.

    The Permanent Secretary at MINAGRI, Ernest Ruzindaza, said that by the year 2017, Rwanda will have become self reliant in rice production, thus exporting more to local and international markets and importing less.

    “One of the strategies we will be using is buying new marchlands and restoring the existing ones to increase rice production.” He added that, the preparations are underway to cultivate 1,700 hectares of land at Muvumba marshland in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province.

    According to Sendege, “rice production in the country currently covers 65% of the national demand.

    In 2011, the production was at 55% and we believe that with modern agricultural tools and techniques we will not experience any shortage of rice by 2017.”

  • Rwanda, Syria Share Similar experiences–Mushikiwabo

    Rwandas Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo has told a meeting of Friends of Syria that “Though there is a vast distance to cover between Damascus and Kigali, Rwanda and Syria share the same experiences, and therefore Rwandese understand the plight Syria is facing’’.

    Minister Mushikiwabo represented Rwanda at the second conference of friends of Syrian people after the invitation from the government of Turkey.

    The first meeting was held in Tunisia in febuary, 2012 the conference explored human rights violations committed by the Syrian regime and showed their support for Syrian people.

    The main opposition group in Syria alarmed the meeting that the government continues its human rights violations to its citizens.

    The conference demanded the regime to put an end to its abuse and comply with its obligations to international law.

    Minister Mushikiwabo told the meeting that Rwanda would not stand for the killing and inhumane treatment, stressing that all countries are obliged to honor rights of their citizens

    “While it is true that the independence and sovereignty of States are fundamental to international relations, the fight and the right to live — the responsibility to protect — are even more critical for the survival of the community of nations”.

    Minister Mushikiwabo quoted President Paul Kagame’s words at the height of the Libyan conflict to stress Rwanda’s position on humanitarian intervention: “No country knows better than my own the cost of the international community failing to intervene to prevent a State killing its own people.

    Our responsibility to protect is unquestionable and this view is backed with the authority of having witnessed and suffered the terrible consequences of international inaction”.

    The Minister demanded international cooperation to bring about a peaceful settlement in Syria, particularly those of neighboring nations, Turkey which does its level best, to protect vulnerable populations, even beyond its borders as demonstrated recently in Somalia.

    The Conference was attended by 83 countries, mainly Arab and Western countries, together with international and eastern organization.

  • Mugesera Insists to Be Tried in French Language

    Leon Mugesera, a genocide suspect deported from Canada pleaded French language should be used in his trial process since the constitution permits it.

    He made his second appearance before the intermediate court of Nyarugenge.
    This resulted into a hot debate on both sides of the suspect and the prosecutor.

    “Leon Mugesera used Kinyarwanda in his lethal MRND sensitization in 1992. Kinyarwanda is his mother tongue. There is no concrete reason for him to plead in french’’ said Ndibwami Rugambwa, the prosecutor.

    The prosecution council added saying “the constitutional law stipulates that the accused can be questioned in a language he/she understands, not the language of his choice.’’

    Leon Mugesra says that speaking Kinyarwanda does not mean that he understands it fully.’’ In relation to law, Kinyarwanda has specific and complex legal terms used in court that I am not conversant with’’.

    Mugesera asked the court to let him use French in his trial and be given the right to talk to his family and his lawyers.

    The court is due to decide today (Tuesday) on Mugesera’s request. He requested Monday for another postponement of his trial in order to prepare his defence.

    “I need an additional month to make sure that my defence team is complete, so as to ensure that I am fully and properly defended,” Mugesera told the court.

    Mugesera is being assisted by a Rwandan lawyer Donat Mutunzi However, said his team was supposed to consist of six Canadians, two Rwandans and an American.

    Speaking in French, Mugesera told court that he had not yet been questioned and did not yet know the allegations against him.

    Prosecution has not questioned him following his refusal to respond in Kinyarwanda, the Rwandan language in which he delivered the 1992 speech.

    “In the judicial and scientific fields, there are some terms I don’t understand in Kinyarwanda,” said Mugesera, arguing the right to be questioned in a language he understands.

  • Yoga Physical Exercises Improve Health

    YOGA is an ancient system of health and fitness that originated in India improves physical well being.

    “Yoga is an excellent activity for people who haven’t exercised in years or those who aren’t very strong,” says Dr. Suzie Bertisch, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

    Dr. Bertisch has studied the benefits of yoga and other mind-body techniques. A promising body of research suggests that yoga’s combination of stretching, gentle activity may have special benefits for people with cardiovascular and many other diseases.
    yoga.jpg
    According to recent scientific medical research conducted in Europe and The United States, people who regularly participate in Yoga exercises which involves the stretching of the muscles through certain poses or postures, improve circulation, stimulate the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can generally result to better health.

    Yoga includes various postures, each posture enabling the body to heal itself by improving one’s immunity and hence live longer. Each posture has special benefits to each part of the body.

    Olivier Biraro, a yoga practitioner in Rwanda says: “I am experiencing a very happy life because of yoga. When I have flu for instance, I practice a certain posture and it disappears. And since I have made it a regular practice, becoming sick has become a myth to me”

    Yoga practices, which in some ways contribute in mental and bodily balance, many report improved diet and weight loss. They also report increased relaxation and calm which help manage their daily stress at work.
    Biraro continues saying’’ one posture named ’the arrow’ has the following advantages
    arrow.jpg
    This posture gives a good massage to the abdomen so it cures prolonged constipation, dyspepsia and other diseases of the stomach.
    It cures spinal hump and rheumatism of the legs, the knees and the hands.
    It also cures gas and other intestinal disorders.

    Yoga, currently practiced by a minor number of people in Africa and increasingly being embraced in the Western and eastern world, is contributing and working in hand with and as an alternative with modern medicine to prevent before hand diseases caused by the dearth of body exercises, and good diet in improving the well being of a human being as a whole (mind and body).

  • Airport Security to be Tightened

    Following the increased terrorist attacks in the region, 46 officers from the National Police and Army are receiving training on airport screening techniques aimed at improving Airport Security.

    The training which began Monday will last for five days.

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

    Addressing trainees at the launch of the course “excellence in screening techniques” at Police headquarters in Kacyiru, Richard Masozera RCAA’s director general lauded the existing partnership between both institutions noting that the training will help improve security at the airport.

    “We want to ensure that airport unit officers get knowledge and skills that will enable them to use modern equipments to improve security at the airport” Masozera said adding that terrorist attacks were a threat that needs to be jointly counteracted for the safety of Rwandans.

    Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Emmanuel Butera, the Commissioner for Operations and Public Order urged course participants to use the training opportunity to gain skills that will enable them to serve professionally.

    John Otieno Kandere, an Aviation Security (AVSEC) training coordinator and an instructor at the East African School of Aviation will be taking course participants through their paces.

    “It is hard to identify terrorists because they are just like any other normal human being, that is why during training, participants will acquire more skills to deter and consequently discourage their plots, Otieno Kandere said.

    Throughout the weeklong training, trainees will be taken through lessons such as security awareness, screening check point overview, X-ray operation, physical property search, video show among others.

  • ‘Forbidden Fruit’ Film Screening Tonight at Ishyo Center

    Today a touching Film of 51minutes by Georges Kamanayo (2000)-French Original with English subtitles, will be screening for Free at Ishyo Theatre Hall at Kacyiru in Kigali.

    Georges Kamanayo was born in Rwanda in 1947, the ‘forbidden fruit’ of the relationship between a black Rwandan woman and a white Belgian colonist.

    His father was a wealthy industrialist, the owner of tin mines, who was married and had one son.

    His mother was a poor woman, who had no place to go with her mixed race child. He was not accepted by the black community and a place in his father’s large house was completely out of the question.

    The small Kazungu (‘de white one,’ as his nickname was) attended a Catholic boarding school in neighbouring Belgian Congo and, at the age of 14, was taken to Belgium to start a new life with a strange family, and given the French first name Georges.

    In this film, the grown-up boy, now a cameraman and filmmaker, follows the trail back to his native country. He finds his mother, who has survived the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis and is still living in Rwanda.

    Some years later, his search for the past is completed, when Georges also meets his old father, who is now living in the south of France.

    KAZUNGU, LE MÉTIS is not only an account of the search by a lost son for his roots and identity, but it also shows the great political and social changes that have taken place in Africa since the fifties.

  • Club Rouge to Honour Genocide Victims

    Club rouge of Uganda will join Rwandans in the 18th commemoration of Tutsi genocide.

    Club rouge is an upmarket night club that also dedicates every last Saturday of a month to Kinyarwanda music and also hosts guest performers from Rwanda to entertain the Rwandese community in Uganda.

    Onyango Gareth the club rouge marketing manager says the club won’t play anything every last Saturday during April because it’s a genocide commemoration month.

    “Club rouge together with its fans is joining Rwanda in mourning,” he added.

    “We decided to create Rwanda night after we had realised we had a big Rwandese following in rouge, so the demand was particularly there, he said.

    Basically we try to bring the best artists from Rwanda to entertain the Rwandese in Uganda and on such nights we play Kinyarwanda songs all night long and always hire deejay Mupenzi and Bisoso from Rwanda,” he added.

    Gareth said that Masamba Intore will perform in May at Club Rouge

  • ‘Operation smile’ Brings Reconstructive Surgery to Rwanda

    Operation smile is a global non-profit medical group that provides free reconstructive surgery to children and adults with cleft lips or cleft palates in dozens of countries worldwide.

    Operation Smile’s Rwanda team is made up of volunteer doctors from 10 different countries. They perform reconstructive surgery for people with cleft palates or cleft lips.

    A cleft lip is a hole in the lip that has caused the lip to not fully form, and a cleft palate is a hole in the roof of the mouth.

    Patients from every corner of Rwanda made the journey to the capital of Kigali for a chance at this procedure. Emmanuel whom is seven months old, is the youngest patient at Kigali’s Central University Hospital.

    South African Conrad Pienaar,is the plastic surgeon who will be performing some of these operations, in one of his operations, he describe the operation to a journalist from VOA what happens once a patient is under anaesthesia .

    “I’m repairing a kiddy with a cleft pallet. He had a bi-lateral or unilateral-cleft lip, as well as palate, and on one of the previous missions his lip has been repaired and now the second stage is closing up the whole palate.”

    “This one is going very well and we’re almost done. We wonder why do we close up the palate and there’s essentially three reasons: the palate is very important for normal speech; and for eating and drinking; an then also for hearing,” said Pienaar.

    Rwandan patients who do not have access to advanced surgeries can benefit from Operation Smile.

    Dr. Amie Lokulutu of the Democratic Republic of Congo is the Regional Director for Operation Smile. He said the organization’s missions throughout the world, including those in Rwanda and other parts of Africa, have been a success.

    “We’ve been in Rwanda since 2009. We’ve already performed two missions and this is the third one, surgeries for about 200,000 patients around the world in 60 countries, 13 African countries have already been succesful” he said.

    Here in Rwanda, Operation Smile has performed more than 500 surgeries to date.

  • The 18th Commemoration of the Tutsi genocide

    The week marking the 18th edition of the commemoration of the genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda beginS April 7 by the broadcasting of music and meditation songs on all the airwaves and on national television during this period.

    Jean De Dieu Mucyo the president of the Rwandan Commission for the Fight against Genocide made the announcement.

    “During this period no person is authorized to perform marriages, and everyone should avoid the holidays or any other event of its kind,” the source said.

    Among the events planned during this period, it is expected that a minute of silence will be observed throughout the country while the national flag be flown at half mast in honor of the hundreds of thousands victims of this tragedy of 1994.

    A “Flame of Hope” that will shine until next July will be lit earlier in the day by the head of state, Paul Kagame, the genocide memorial site at Gisozi, a hill overlooking the city of Kigali are buried approximately 300,000 Tutsi genocide victims.

    The 18th commemoration of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda will be under the theme “Remembering the genocide against Tutsi in learning from our history and building a better future.”

    During the genocide, more than one million Tutsis were murdered by Hutu extremists who controlled the political and military power at the time.

  • Call for an Open, Inclusive World Bank

    We live in a time of historic opportunity. Today more people live in fast-growing economies than at any time in history, and development can take root anywhere – regardless of whether a country is landlocked, just emerging from conflict or oppression, large or small.

    If we build on this, we can imagine a world in which billions of people in developing countries enjoy increases in their incomes and living standards. Given our collective experiences, successes and resources, it’s clear that we can eradicate global poverty and achieve in our lifetimes what for generations has been a distant dream.

    My own life and work have led me to believe that inclusive development – investing in human beings – is an economic and moral imperative. I was born in South Korea when it was still recovering from war, with unpaved roads and low levels of literacy.

    I have seen how integration with the global economy can transform a poor country into one of the most dynamic and prosperous economies in the world. I have seen how investment in infrastructure, schools and health clinics can change lives. I recognise that economic growth is vital to generate resources for investment in health, education and public goods.

    Every country must follow its own path to growth, but our collective mission must be to ensure that a new generation of low and middle-income countries enjoys sustainable economic growth that generates opportunities for all citizens. As co-founder of Partners in Health and director of the World Health Organisation’s initiative to treat HIV/Aids, I will bring practical experience to the World Bank.

    I have confronted the forces that keep more than 1bn people trapped in poverty. I have worked in villages where fewer than 1 in 10 adults could read or write, where preventable diseases cut lives short and where lack of infrastructure and capital held back entrepreneurs. In all those villages, the local people knew where improvement was needed.

    But for change to happen, we need partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society to build systems that can deliver sustainable, scalable solutions. And as we work for global prosperity, we must draw on ideas and experience from around the globe.

    My message is simple: an era of extraordinary opportunity requires an extraordinary global institution. I want to hear from developing countries, as well as those that provide a big share of the resources to development, about how we can together build a more inclusive, responsive and open World Bank.

    A more inclusive World Bank will have the resources to advance its core mission of poverty reduction. It will have a governance structure that provides legitimacy and fosters trust and confidence.

    The Bank has recently achieved a historic capital increase and begun an ambitious programme to modernise its operations. It has also taken important steps to increase the voting power and participation of developing countries.

    If I am entrusted with the responsibility of leading the World Bank, I shall ensure this continues. If the World Bank is to promote inclusive development, it must give developing nations a greater voice.

    A more responsive World Bank must meet the challenges of the moment but also foresee those of the future. The World Bank serves all countries. My focus will be to ensure that it provides a rapid, effective response to their needs. I will come with an open mind and apply my medical and social-science training to take an evidence-based approach.

    Finally, a more open World Bank must recognize it does not have all the answers and listen closely to its clients and stakeholders. I have led a world-renowned higher education institution and I will ensure that the World Bank provides a platform for the exchange of ideas.

    It is already working more closely with a diverse array of partners and it can build on these changes. The Bank has taken significant steps to become more transparent and accountable: it must continue on this path of openness.

    Opportunity is nothing without action. In the coming weeks, I look forward to hearing the views of the World Bank’s constituents – clients, donors, governments, citizens and civil society – as we forge a common vision to build an even stronger institution, prepared to meet the world’s needs in the 21st century.