Mugume

Janet Kagame plays football

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:33:36 +0200

First lady on target

One Dollar Campaign charity match. www.newtimes.co.rw

Nyampinga FC 5-3 IWRFT
AMAHORO STADIUM - Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame inspired Nyampinga FC to thrash International Women in Rwanda Football Team (IWRFT) 5-3 in yesterday’s One Dollar Campaign charity match played at the Amahoro stadium.

The first lady’s efforts rescued her side which had succumbed to a 0-3 deficit in the first half.

She scored her goal through a penalty which was awarded after she was fouled in the penalty area. Tamara Kabuye and Veneranda Nyihirwa scored a brace each to put Nyampinga in commanding lead.

IWRFT had earlier got their goals through Molly Brostrom who scored a brace and the other goal was scored by Lynley Mannell.

Sandra Idossou who featured for IWRFT praised the First Lady for her initiative in taking part in the match, saying that her presence motivated many women to play and even participate in the One Dollar Campaign.

The event was preceded by Children’s mini-matches which attracted youth from APR Academy, Etoile Sportive de Kigali and Muhazi.

The matches which attracted different age categories from 8 to 12 years opened the One Dollar campaign Charity match.

APR academy lifted the title after defeating Etoile Sportive 2-1 in the U-12 age category; APR played a 2-all draw with Muhazi in U-8 and earned a 2-all draw against Etoile in the U-10 age category respectively.

The match was aimed at fundraising for the ‘One Dollar Campaign’ and was organised by the National Women Council (NWC).

The Ministry of Sports and Culture (MINISPOC), ECOBANK, Caisse Sociale du Rwanda, Utexrwa, Access Limited, Shamibourc, Audiotex, The New Times and Maxnet sponsored this charity match.

Local musicians namely Tom Close, Miss JoJo, Meddy, Sgt. Robert, Natty Dread, Intore Masamba and Uranana drama group graced the event.

Comments

Uganda parliaments since independence

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:20:48 +0200

Uganda parliaments since independence

Lydia Namubiru, Newvision

SINCE independence 47 years ago, Uganda has had a total of 1,608 MPs who drafted the laws by which the country is run today.

Research carried out by Sunday Vision established that some MPs served more than one term in Parliament, while others were for one reason or another replaced before completing their term. Then there are those who were not returned.

The 1,608 figure includes MPs who have served in several parliaments. They were treated as new MPs each time they made it back to Parliament.

The MPs have constituted eight parliaments and served under four constitutions.

However, they worked with only six of the eight heads of state who steered Uganda through its turbulent journey that started on October 9, 1962.

While Idi Amin ruled by decree, having suspended the Constitution and Parliament, he had a defence council which sometimes acted as a legislative arm.

Tito Okello Lutwa, who ruled for only six months in 1985-1986, had no Parliament either.

Over the years, the number of MPs in the House has multiplied more than fourfold, from 80 in the 1962 National Assembly to 332 members in the current Parliament.

The country’s population has also grown, from 6.5 million in 1962 to the current estimated 31 million.

The nine heads of state had about 200 cabinet ministers, excluding their deputies and ministers of state.

The size of the cabinet has also grown over the years, although not as drastically as the number of legislators. The first Obote cabinet had 16 ministers.

This had grown to 26 by 1980. Museveni’s first cabinet in 1986 comprised 30 full ministers, but was later cut down to 20 before going up again to the current 26.

The first Parliament of independent Uganda, called the National Assembly, was partly elected and partly nominated. In the general elections held in early 1962, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) won 37 of the 91 available seats, while DP got 24 seats.

The Buganda Lukiiko (parliament) nominated 21 members to represent the kingdom in the assembly. Nine members were elected to represent other interest groups.

At the final count, the assembly had 86 members as five seats were left vacant. The same members constituted the Constituent Assembly in 1967 to write and adopt the Republican Constitution.

This replaced the interim 1966 constitution, famously known as the ‘Pigeonhole Constitution’.

The 1967 National Assembly, Uganda’s second Parliament, featured all members of the previous one, save for three UPC members who had been detained by the Government for engineering a vote-of-no-confidence against then prime minister Milton Obote.

The second Parliament served until January 1971, when Idi Amin overthrew Obote’s government and suspended Parliament.

The third Parliament followed the 1979 overthrow of Amin and was called the National Consultative Council (NCC).

Initially, it was made up of 30 members, but it later expanded to 120 and eventually 127 members.

It served Yusuf Lule’s government, which lasted only 68 days, Godfrey Binaisa’s, which lasted 11 months, and Paulo Muwanga’s Military Commission, which conducted the controversial 1980 elections.

Despite having served three heads of state, it remains the shortest Parliament in Uganda’s history, lasting for only nine months.

The controversial 1980 elections gave birth to the fourth Parliament of Uganda with 126 members, 72 of whom were from UPC. It served until 1985 when Obote was overthrown by Tito Okello Lutwa. Lutwa’s short-lived regime had not established a Parliament at the time it was overthrown in January 1986 by Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army.

The NRM Government upon taking power established the National Resistance Council (NRC) as the legislative body. From 38 members, it grew to 273 members at the time of making the fourth constitution in 1994.

Under that Constitution, two more parliaments were elected through universal adult suffrage. The sixth and seventh Parliament had 276 members each, while the current eighth Parliament has 332.

Cuthbert Obwangor is recorded as the longest serving Ugandan MP. Having served nine years in the first and second parliaments, he also served eight more years as a member of the NRC.

The first Ugandan Woman MP was F. A. Lubega. She was nominated in 1962 and represented Singo North West in the first National Assembly.

Published on: Saturday, 10th October, 2009, www.sundayvision.co.ug

Comments

Oil cash starts flowing in Uganda

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:14:33 +0200

Oil cash starts flowing

Ibrahim Kasita

People in the Albertine region are already reaping the benefits of the oil ahead of production, a visit to the oil region by Sunday Vision has found.

Previously a remote and backward area, the infrastructure and social services have improved, new jobs have been created, while fishermen and farmers have a bigger market for their products.

Before oil exploration started, Godfrey Kirunda, a father of five from Buhuka parish in Hoima District, had taken his children from school to help him fetch water, which was a problem in the region.

“Four years ago, we had one small water source which served thousands of people of different villages. But when these oil men came, they drilled boreholes that now provides safe and clean water and built a new school too,” he said.

Kirunda has now decided to send his children back to school since he sees new job opportunities in the region.

“The people who were given jobs are able to prosper. Some of them have graduated from grass thatched houses and built houses with iron sheet roofs.”

The oil exploration activities have stimulated economic activities in Hoima, Buliisa, Kanungu, Rukungiri, Packwach, Nebbi and Arua.

A survey along the 23,000 square kilometre stretch of the oil prospective Albertine Graben found that hotels, lodges, restaurants and recreation grounds have multiplied, meeting an increasing demand for accommodation.

The once remote and isolated areas have been opened up and linked to the rest of the world with upgraded murram roads, which will soon be tarmacked to enable oil distribution to the local and region markets.

This has greatly reduced transport costs and led to faster delivery of supplies and products. Fresh fish from Lake Albert and River Nile and other agrarian products are now on high demand. New jobs have been created for security guards, transport providers, cleaners, drivers and caterers.

Simon Aziku, a councillor in Animu Parish in Arua District, said apart from jobs with the oil companies and sub-contractors, the oil sector has also brought better services.

“The market for our products has increased and there are better social services in terms of communication, health care and education,” he said. “Many of our people have been employed as casual labourers, qualified technical people, liaison officers, service providers and drivers for surveyors.”

The changes in the community are undeniable. New roads and buildings are coming up and living standards have improved.Three airstrips, including a helicopter landing pad, have been constructed on the shores of Lake Albert. They are connected to the exploration sites by murram roads.

Four primary schools and several health centres have been upgraded, a modern maternity centre has been constructed in Kaiso-Tonya and there is now a running water system.

In Bugoma Sub-county in Hoima District, a modern sh10m school for 700 pupils was built in memory of Carl Nefdt, the British oil worker of Heritage Oil who was killed by Congolese gunmen two years ago.

Abdul Byakagaba, a senior geologist with Heritage Oil, says ownership of land, especially in Buliisa, remains a big challenge to the oil companies.

“Somebody can be compensated for the use of his land and the next day, another person will claim the land belongs to him and he will want compensation.”

They now work through the local government administration, which ascertains the rightful owners of the land and provides proper documentation before compensation is done, he explained.

Unrealistic expectations are another challenge the oil companies are facing.

“People’s expectations regarding jobs and money being provided by the oil companies are too high,” said Byakagaba.

“Even when they are not qualified for any specialised job, they expect to be employed by the oil companies.”

He attributed the problem to misinformation, with local people believing that the oil is already being produced and taken away by the exploration companies.

“People should be informed that oil exploration, development and production are a long process and that there is no way we, the exploration companies, can take it away,” he said.

Published on: Saturday, 10th October, 2009

Comments

Genocide "Prize" Money wanted by Ugandan govenment

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:39:58 +0200

Uganda to claim US$5m bounty

BY EDMUND KAGIRE
Uganda will move to claim up to US$5m reward issued by the United States of America for the arrest of one of the most wanted Genocide fugitives, Ildephonse Ndahimana.

The Ugandan State Minister for Regional Cooperation Isaac Musumba yesterday told the press that “Uganda would welcome any form of payment” for Monday’s arrest of Nizeyimana in Kampala.

The money paid under the United States Rewards for Justice Program to support the pursuit of criminals accountable for the most serious violations of international humanitarian law during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis, is paid to whoever leads to the arrest of a wanted fugitive.

Nizeyimana who was jointly arrested by the Ugandan Police and Interpol in a motel in a Kampala suburb after sneaking into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the second person to be arrested of the 13 top genocide fugitves who have $5m bounties on their heads.

A few months ago, Gregoire Ndahimana was arrested in the DRC but his extradition to the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) was delayed to almost a month-and the ICTR threatened to report DRC to the United Nations Security Council for the delay.

It later emerged that the DRC deliberately delayed the extradition supposed to be effected in 72 hours to negotiate the bounty payment.

Efforts to ascertain whether the payment was effected or not, were fruitless. But reports abound that the money was paid before Ndahimana was finally handed over to ICTR.

Positive move
Rwanda is happy with the US for this initiative which motivates countries to carryout arrests and consequently cash-in on the bounty.

According to the Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, Rwanda is never informed whether the payment was done or not as it is between the US Government, the ICTR and the particular states that carried out the arrest.

“I don’t know anything to do with the payment. All I can tell you is that we know this money motivates countries to apprehend genocide fugitives that could be hiding in those particular countries.” Ngoga “This is a positive project, we believe it is working.” Ngoga added

Several of the key perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi who have been indicted by the ICTR remain at large, and in an effort to capture them, the U.S re-launched its Rewards for Justice Program for ICTR fugitives.

The programme offers up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of ICTR indictees. However the payment process is so discreet and the names of the beneficiaries are kept a top secret.

Nizeyimana, is alongside other top genocide fugitives, including Felcien Kabuga, Augustin Bizimana, Fulgence Kayishema, Protais Mpiranya, Bernard Munyagishari, Pheneas Munyarugarama, Aloys Ndimbati, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, Charles Ryandikayo, Charles Sikubwabo and Jean Bosco Uwinkindi who have the bounty on their heads.

Ends

Courtesy of www.newtimes.co.rw

Comments

UGANDA marks 47 years of independence from British rule today with celebrations at Kololo airstrip.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:37:28 +0200

By Cyprian Musoke
and Steven Candia, Newvision

UGANDA marks 47 years of independence from British rule today with celebrations at Kololo airstrip.

An array of VIPs is expected to attend.
Among them Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir and Liberian President Sirleaf Johnson as well as ministers, MPs, civil servants, religious and traditional leaders and diplomats.

As in previous years, the opposition parties said they would not attend the celebrations, arguing that the event has become an “NRM affair”.

The theme for this year’s Independence Day celebrations is: “Unity, a key factor in protecting Uganda’s destiny and independence.”

The theme was chosen because of the recent divisions in the country, said the Minister for the Presidency, Beatrice Wabudeya.

Uganda has known eight presidents since the British Union Jack was lowered and the Ugandan flag hoisted, some of them lasting for only a couple of months.

The first post-colonial president was the Kabaka of Buganda, Sir Edward Muteesa II. He was ousted by Milton Obote, who in turn was overthrown by his army commander, Idi Amin, in 1971.

When Amin’s brutal dictatorship fell in 1979, Prof. Yusuf Lule and Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa had brief tenures.
Disputed elections were held in 1980 that made Obote bounce back. His second term lasted for five years. He was toppled by Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa in July 1985.

Lutwa’s junta was shortlived. It was swept away in January 1986 by Yoweri Museveni after his National Resistance Army waged a five-year guerrilla war.
For the last two decades, Uganda has seen relative stability and development, characterised by economic growth, increased revenues from taxes and a growing GDP.

Real GDP per capita has tripled in the last 20 years, according the UN Human Development Report, from $515 in 1987 to $1,454 in 2005.

Social indicators have also improved, although not fast enough for Uganda to reach its targets under the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Adult literacy has increased from 43% of the population in 1970 to 58% at the time the NRM took power and 74% today.

Under-five mortality went down from 224 per 1,000 births at independence to 195 in 1986. It has stagnated at around 135 since the beginning of this decade, below the 56 per 1,000 births target. The number of people living below the poverty line stood at 55% by the time Museveni took power. It went down to 31% in 2005 but has since gone up again to 37%. More efforts towards poverty alleviation are needed to reach the 2015 target of 28%.

Access to safe water saw the biggest jump. Only one-fifth of the population had access to a safe water source at the time of both independence and the NRM take-over. This went up 46% at the end of the 1990s to reach 64% this year, according to the 2009 World Health Report.

Life expectancy has improved from 43 years at independence to 52 years today. In the 1990s, however, it saw a sharp drop – to 41 years – as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Uganda’s population has grown five-fold in the last 47 years, and its urban population more than 10-fold.
There were only 6.5 million Ugandans at the time of independence, 341,000 of whom lived in urban centres.

Today, Uganda’s population is about 31 million, while people living in urban centres have reached almost four million. About half of Uganda’s population is under the age of 15.
The Police yesterday issued guidelines to ensure smooth traffic flow around the venue of the celebrations. Upper Kololo Terrace will be closed to traffic from 6:00am till the end of the function.

Guests with vehicles bearing red stickers will access the airstrip via Elgon Terrace and will park before the Heroes’ Corner. Invited guests with blue stickers will access the venue through Wampewo Avenue and park near the main entrance.

The public can access Kololo via Wampewo Avenue and park near the main entrance, while Wampewo Avenue will remain one-way from the roundabout to the airstrip.

Meanwhile, several party leaders have indicated that they would not attend. DP president Ssebaana Kizito said the celebrations had become an NRM affair.
“I will not attend because the aspirations we fought for at independence to get our own government have not been realised. Like Jomo Kenyatta used say: ‘It’s not yet Uhuru.”

FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu said his boss was out of the country. “But whenever we attend such functions, the President begins abusing us, yet he is the one who invited us.” Miria Obote said she would travel to Arua to celebrate the life of her late husband, Milton Obote.

Comments

Funny, PLEASE READ!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:12:31 +0200

Such stories happen in real life!

On the high way to Nairobi, a Ugandan Pastor met a team of policemen who, quite naturally, wanted 'something'(kidogo) from him, but since he wasn't prepared to play their games, they asked him to pull off and tender his papers. Having combed through everything without any offence to nail the 'stubborn' pastor, they asked him to open the bonnet of his car. A careful scrutiny of the engine number against what was on paper revealed that letter U was written in such a way that it could be mistaken for letter V. That was all the officer-in-charge needed to spring to action "stolen vehicle!! he yelled. Pastor sensing trouble, even when he knew he committed no offense, yelled back; I am priest not a thief, the officer replied: "Please, leave that pastor thing...in any case, if you are indeed a pastor, then you must have a Bible in your car, bring it. "The Pastor speedily brought out his Bible to proof his sanity" "Please read Matthew 5:25-26 to me". Incredulously, Pastor opened to the recommended passage and read: "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to a judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth; you will not get out until you have paid the last penny." The perplexed man of God "QUIETLY" made an "offering" of "JUST" Ksh100 to his newly found "preacher". The Officer collected his "kitu kidogo" and said to the priest end of service go in peace and argue no more.

Comments

Funny, PLEASE READ!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:10:35 +0200

Comments

malaria

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:36:16 +0200

Having stayed in South Sudan for one year and two months without sufering from Malaria is a great achievement. This was done by God not me, who am i to resist it anyways?

Spent last week with malaria, its not easy, malaria ; you have fever when it is so hot and you wonder what to do.

Anyway am now ok. Thank you God.

Davis

Comments

God Sleeps in Rwanda’ - memoir by Joseph Sebarenzi

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:46:07 +0200

‘God Sleeps in Rwanda’ - memoir by Joseph Sebarenzi
By Administrator, Rwanda News Agency www.rnanews.com
Sunday, 06 September 2009
Kigali: There's a saying in Rwanda: "God spends the day elsewhere, but he sleeps in Rwanda." It alludes to Rwanda's physical beauty, but also to the brutality that has sometimes haunted the country.

Both of those traits are captured in Joseph Sebarenzi's new memoir, God Sleeps in Rwanda. The book begins with him as a child, living near Lake Kivu in western Rwanda.

"On weekends, I would bring our cows [to the lake] to graze on its banks and drink from its waters," Sebarenzi writes. "While the cows rested, I would dive into the lake and feel its cool wash over me. I would turn over and float on my back, stare up at the vast expanse of blue sky spread above me and listen to the waves lap against the shore."

But even then, in the early '70s, violence marred the landscape. His family, ethnic Tutsis, had to hide from a Hutu mob that destroyed their home. After attending college in Burundi, Sebarenzi went back and forth between Rwanda and other countries. Each time, he was fleeing from violence, and each time, he felt compelled to return.

By 1994, Sebarenzi had found refuge in Canada. Thousands of miles away from his family in Rwanda, he watched the horrors of genocide unfold on the evening news. When his brother Emmanuel returned to their village after the violence had ended, Sebarenzi's worst fear was confirmed. His mother, father, seven of his siblings and several other relatives had been killed.

Less than a year later, he made the difficult decision to move back to Rwanda. The horrors had ended, but the country was in shambles. "It was a very difficult decision," Sebarenzi tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz. "But I felt that I had survived for a reason. I felt I had to go back to Rwanda and help with reconstruction."

He became a leading politician. Although he was reluctant at first to enter into politics, his rise in the post-war government was astronomical. By 1997, he was appointed speaker of parliament, making him the third most powerful man in the country.

Sebarenzi describes what it was like trying to lead in a country so severely shaken: "It was so hard, because people were still angry; there [was] revenge going on. We were under basically a military regime."

At the time, the country was largely controlled by Vice President Paul Kagame. In 1994, Kagame led the Rwandan Patriotic Front in its takeover of the government after the genocide. Now president of Rwanda, Kagame is regarded internationally as a reformer who has done valuable reconstruction work for the country.

But Sebarenzi has a very different view. He argues that Kagame is an autocrat who refuses to tolerate dissent in government or in the media. Although he says his political relationship with Kagame was amicable at first, it eventually deteriorated until Sebarenzi was pressured to resign as speaker, which he did.

"A few days after I resigned, I learned from many sources that there was a plan to kill me, and I decided to leave," he says. His book recounts how he hid in the bed of a truck filled with furniture to escape his bodyguards, who he suspected were Kagame's spies. He drove north until he reached the river at the border to Uganda and waded across to safety. There, he came under the protection of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and was allowed to move with his wife and children to the United States.

Since his exile, Sebarenzi has been unable to return to Rwanda. But he remains passionate about the politics and reconstruction of the country.

"If you look at Rwanda today, people live in peace with each other, but underneath, it's boiling. You cannot have reconciliation if you don't have justice on both sides," he says. "We need to come up with a formula that will make Hutu and Tutsi part of the system. That way, we can have a hope to have a lasting peace and reconciliation in Rwanda."

Chapter 1: The Drum Beat And We Were Saved

The most horrible and systematic massacre we have had occasion to witness since the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis. Bertrand Russell

I'm not a storyteller. In Rwanda, it's too dangerous to tell stories. There are thousands of stories to tellabout birth and life, and far too many stories about death. Stories that wrap around the hills and skip like stones across the abundant lakes and rivers. Stories that whisper through the banana and coffee plantations and eucalyptus groves. Stories that are carried on the heads of women walking barefoot to market, or swaddled on their backs with their children. Stories that run through the sweat of men as they cultivate the land, rhythmically turning the rich soil with their hoes. Stories that sing with voices raised at church.

But you don't tell stories. You listen. You listen to your parents. You listen to your teachers. You listen to the drumbeat that echoes from hilltop to hilltop before an official announcement is made. But above all else, you listen to your leaders. In the United States, a presidential address gets less attention than a football game. Unless there is a crisis, most people don't really care what the president has to say. In Rwanda, when the president speaks, everyone listens. In rural areas where radios are scarce, people gather at neighbors' houses to hear what he says. And you listen closely, for what he says could mean the difference between life and death. When you hear him, you don't form opinions. You nod your head in agreement.

So you listen. You don't tell stories. You don't need to. Everyone knows you. Everyone knows your family. Everyone knows if you are sick. Everyone knows if you need help. And they will help. They will take turns carrying you on a stretcher for the two-hour walk to the hospital. They will give you milk from their cow if yours is dry. They will share their cassava if you are hungry. They will share their beer, brewed from bananas, to celebrate a wedding. They will work side by side with you in your fields. They will give you shelter. But the very thread that knits Rwandans so closely together is the same one that can so quickly unravel the country.

I first learned what Hutu and Tutsi meant when I was not yet a teenager, sitting on the floor of our cooking house with six of my brothers and sisters while my mother prepared our evening meal of beans and cassava. The glow of the fire and the oil lamp cast long shadows on the walls. My father sang his evening hymns next door at the main house, his voice traveling the short distance between the two mud-and-brick buildings. We could hear our cows breathing quietly in the paddock in front of our house, where they were enclosed for the night. Outside, a blanket of stars spread from horizon to horizon.

It was March 1973 and this night was like any other, except it wasn't. Something was wrong. My mother and older siblings were unusually quiet. As my mother worked, she focused entirely on her chores, rarely looking up. The light in the cooking house was dim, so I couldn't see her face very well, but I could tell she was worried.

As my sister Beatrice and I joked with each other, my mother pointed a stern finger at us. "Keep quiet!" she snapped.

We stopped talking and looked at one another, wondering what we had done wrong. My mother was rarely strict with us. It was my father who was the disciplinarian of the family. For her to snap at us when we had done nothing wrong was unlike her. Our older brother and sisters kept their eyes down.

Then my mother looked at me, her eyes wide with warning. "Did you know that I spent nights hiding in the bush with you when you were a baby?"

This seemed ridiculous to me. We had a nice homeI couldn't imagine why we would sleep in the bush, where poisonous snakes hid in the tall grasses. "In the bush?" I asked. "Why?"

My mother looked down at her cooking and said simply, "Because if we stayed at home, we would have been killed."

I had never heard anything like this before. I was shocked. "Killed?" I asked. "Why would we be killed, Mama?"

My mother's voice became small. Her eyes did not meet mine. "Because we are Tutsi," she almost whispered, as if she wanted no one around to hear, not even herself.

"Because we are Tutsi?" I had heard the word before but didn't know what it meant, and could see no reason someone would want to kill us because of it. "Why?"

My mother said nothing.

"Who?" I asked. "Who would kill us?"

Again, my mother's voice was low. "Hutu."

"Who are Hutu?" This was another word I had heard, but I had no idea of its meaning.

My mother paused. "Abraham and his family are Hutu," she said.

This did nothing to clear my confusion. The Abrahams were close family friends. Before I was born, my father gave Abraham a cowa strong symbol of friendship in Rwanda. Cows in Rwanda were not used to work the land. They were not bred for meat or even milk (although we do drink it), but for beauty. And giving someone a cow as a gift was cause for great celebration. Abraham called my father Rutabeshya, meaning "truthful," in admiration of their friendship. My younger brother played with Abraham's grandchildren. I couldn't begin to understand why they would want to kill us.

"The Eliackims, the Nyakanas, and the Ngarambes are also Hutu," she said.

These were also good family friends. It didn't make any sense. "So the Abrahams and the Ngarambes want to kill us?" I asked.

Beatrice jumped in, "Oh, Mama, the Abrahams are very good, I don't think they would kill us."

"No, I don't mean that they will kill you," my mother said. "Not all Hutu are bad. When I hid with you in the bush, the Abrahams hid our things for us so they wouldn't be stolen. They're good people. But some Hutu may try to kill us because we are Tutsi."

I couldn't understand what she was saying. We had always lived peacefully with our Hutu neighbors. We shared drinks with them. We worked our fields together. We celebrated weddings and births together. Hutu would come to our aid and we would come to theirs. We felt welcome in each other's homes. What she was saying didn't make any sense. Again I asked, "Mama, why? Why would they want to kill us? Because we are Tutsi? What did we do?"

My mother took a slow, deep breath and waved her hand as if she was shooing a fly. "Oh, this child, asking so many questions. Eat your dinner and then go to bed."

With that, my mother stopped talking. She didn't tell me more about how she hid in the bush with me as a baby in the early 1960s, while tens of thousands of Tutsi were killed and hundreds of thousands were driven into exile. She didn't tell me how she watched as homes were burned and Tutsi neighbors were beaten. She didn't tell me how loved onesincluding my father's brotherfled with their families to neighboring Congo. She didn't tell me about Tutsi men, women, and children being killed with machetes. She didn't tell me that it was about to happen again; that word of violence was spreading through the country; that it was only a matter of time. She didn't tell me how afraid she was there in the cooking house, preparing the evening meal with her small children around her. She told me none of this. Perhaps she didn't need to. I would soon learn it all myself.

Excerpted from God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation by Joseph Sebarenzi. Copyright 2009 by Joseph Sebarenzi. Excerpted by permission of Atria. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Adapted from National Public Radio

Comments

New book tells Museveni’s role in Kagame rise to power

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:04:11 +0200

New book tells Museveni’s role in Kagame rise to power
By Sunday Vision
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Kampala, Uganda: EVERYTHING important in Rwanda happens on a hill, so it was logical for Paul Kagame’s mother to take him onto a hillside to be murdered.” This is the stunning opening sentence of the book A Thousand Hills, Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed it, written by American bestselling author Stephen Kinzer, a former New York Times journalist.

The just released book tells the dramatic story of Kagame, a wretched refugee in Uganda who shaped one of the most audacious covert operations in the history of guerrilla warfare and emerged as a strong leader who managed to rebuild his country from the ruins of genocide and devastation.

Drawing on extensive interviews with Kagame himself and with people who knew him at every stage of his life, Kinzer recounts what he describes as one of the great untold stories of modern revolution.

“It has recovered from civil war and genocide more fully than anyone imagined possible and is united, stable and at peace. Its leaders are boundlessly ambitious. Rwandans are bubbling over with a sense of unlimited possibility.” The author traces Kagame through his years as an angry student in Uganda and recounts his early fascination with revolutionaries like Che Guevara.

He describes how Kagame built a secret army, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), from his host county and took over the command of the scattered RPF after their initial defeat and the killing of Fred Rwigyema in 1990. He traces the four-year war Kagame waged in the Rwandan bush, a war that effectively stopped the genocide but led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees.

The book, extracts of which will be published by Sunday Vision, gives an interesting and hitherto little known insight in the role Uganda and President Yoweri Museveni played in the entire story.

For many Tutsi refugees who had fled to Uganda in the 1960s to escape killings by Hutu gangs, Museveni was to become ‘a combination of hero, protector, and role model’. “Museveni had already helped overthrow one Ugandan leader, Idi Amin. Pushed out of the new region and ablaze with ambition and revolutionary zeal, he was convinced he could overthrow another”, Kinzer writes.

The Ugandans in the National Resistance Army and the two Rwandans who joined them, Kagame and Rwigyema, shared the same goal: “to replace a detested regime with one of their own”.

“Both admired Museveni and… shared with him the same left-leaning nationalist views, distrust of the West, hatred of dictatorship and belief in the redemptive powers of popular warfare.”

The book describes how Museveni came under increasing pressure to get rid of the Rwandans in the NRM after he had taken power. It also recounts Museveni’s fury when he was told about the RPF’s attack on October 1, 1990, while he was attending a UN summit in New York.

“In the months before, they (Ugandans) had suspected that their Rwandan comrades were planning something,” Kinzer writes.

Only after it began, however, did they realise how fully Rwandans had penetrated the Ugandan army and used it for their own purposes. This realisation infuriated Museveni. He became even angrier when he realised how much weaponry defecting soldiers had stolen from his army.”

After the initial anger, however, Ugandan leaders began to see how an RPF victory might help them. “It would not only rid Uganda of a long-festering refugee crisis but also bring a friendly regime to power in Rwanda.”

They then quietly started supporting the RPF during its years at war. “They were natural allies. Senior RPF commanders had fought alongside President Museveni when he was a rebel and served in his army after he took power,” the book says.

“Like him, they were products of an Anglophone tradition, revolutionary passion, and the utopian ideal of African socialism.”

While the book gives detailed accounts of the RPF’s fight to power, it glosses over other events, such as Rwanda’s invasion and occupation of neighbouring Congo and the clashes with Ugandan forces in Kisangani, which left hundreds of people dead.

www.sundayvision.co.ug www.rnanews.com

Comments

KABALEGA NAMED NATIONAL HERO

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:26:14 +0200

KABALEGA NAMED NATIONAL HERO
Tuesday, 9th June, 2009

The President greeting the Bunyoro’s Omukama (king) and the Omugo (queen)

Kajura, Kasirivu Atwoki, Kasaija, Otema among 83 medal winners

BY BARBARA KAIJA AND ANNE MUGISA

OMUKAMA (King) Kabalega of Bunyoro was yesterday declared a national hero by President Yoweri Museveni and honoured with a three-gun salute for his nine-year resistance against the British colonialists.

Museveni and other dignitaries at the Heroes Day celebrations, who included
the chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, laid a wreath on Kabalega’s grave in the mausoleum at Mparo Hill, the burial place for the Bunyoro royalty.

Museveni said Kabalega’s heroic resistance against colonialism was broken by disunity among Africans after the colonialists pitted them against each other.

The British employed a divide-and-rule strategy which saw Africans fight Kabalega who was trying to fight colonial expansionism, he explained.
The NRM fought its war in the footsteps of Kabalega and Mwanga, he added, that is why they named two of their units after them.

Museveni praised Kabalega, calling him far-sighted because he rejected the offer by Sir Samuel Baker to transfer his kingdom to be under Khediv Ismail of Egypt.

A total of 83 veterans and participants of the NRA liberation war were honoured with medals for their “contribution to the political development of the country”.

Three types of medals were given out at the celebrations on Boma grounds in Hoima town: the Nalubale Medal, the Luweero Triangle Medal and the Damu (blood) Medal.

Among those awarded were public service minister Henry Kajura, Matayo Kyaligonza, now ambassador to Burundi, former minister Baguma Isoke, presidential adviser Kasirivu Atwoki and Matia Kasaija, the Minister of State for Internal Affairs.

Gen. Elly Tumwine, who read out the names, said others were being compiled for recognition. He asked people to submit the names of those they believe should be awarded to the committee, headed by Prof. Mondo Kagonyera.

In his address, Museveni said the celebrations were meant to demonstrate that it takes heroes to create impact in society.

He stressed that not only the people who fought to liberate the country from tyranny were heroes, but also the peasants who supported them.

“I congratulate you for removing the fascist dictatorships which used the gun to monopolise power over society. Uganda now is no longer a pariah state.”

He noted there were many other patriotic Ugandans, such as the late Dr. Matthew Lukwiya who succumbed to Ebola while treating patients.

“We never fought because we loved to fight, but we needed to escape from the death knell in which we were trapped. Fighting was a means of last resort,”
Museveni stressed.

He defended his patriotism campaign, arguing that the eight million primary school pupils need to be guided to love their country as a way of economic survival.

He scoffed at people who criticise the campaign, saying he was carrying out his constitutional duty.

“It is never too late to be patriotic because we all have a stake. Economic orientation should be regarded as a necessity for development,” Museveni said.

---------------------
LIST OF HEROES
---------------------
Award of Nalubale medel
1. Hon. Muganwa Kajura
2. Hon. Dr. Kasirivu Atwoki
3. Hon. Matia Kasaija
4. Hon Baguma Isoke
5. Mr. Ndahura Rogers
6. Mr. Byekwaso of MAsindi Kijunjubwa
7. Mr. Kaija of Kiryandongo
8. Hajji Yasin Doka of Singo Kiboga
9. Mr. Jemba Robinson of Busunju
10. Ndahura paul
11. Mr. Jjingo Lawrence of Busunju
12. Mr. Kandendereza of Kyankwanzi
13. Mr. Kalyebala Musa of Kunga Bwamuramira.

Award of Luwero Triangle Medal
1. Maj. Gen. Jim Owesigire
2. Brig. Pecos Kutesa
3. Brig. Charles Otema
4. Brig. Lucky Kidega
5. Brig. Burundi
6. Col. Moses Lukyamuzi
7. col. Geofrey Kakama
8. col. Dr. Ambrose Musunguzi
9. Col Sam Kavuma
10. Col. Dr. Grace Mugume
11. Col. Mark Kodil
12. Col. John Wasswa
13. Maj. Chalrles Barija
14. Col. JW Baryugaba
15. Col. Godfrey Golooba
16. Col. Moses Rwakitarate
17. Col. David Muhoozi
18. Col. Edward Amanya
19. Col. Appilo Kasitagowa
20. Col. Joseph B Musanyufu
21. Lt. Col. Gyagenda Kibirango
22. Lt. Col. Edward Ssevume
23. Lt. Col. John Mary Kaganda
24. Lt. Col. Charles Tusiime
25. Lt. Col. Phenehas Mugyenyi
26. Lt. Col Grace Agaba
27. Lt. Col. John Kaye
28. Maj. Jacob Asimwe
29. Major Godi Sambwa
30. Maj. Jorum Kagyezi
31. Maj. Francis Kashaka
32. Maj. Harry Kagonyera
33. Capt. Mauba Mulangira

Officers and men of UPDF that were awarded medals
1. Brig. Matayo Kyalingonza
2. Maj. James Lwasi
3. Maj. Nelson Mugerwa
4. Maj. Peter Awasi
5. Maj. Khalid Nassur Kamya
6. Maj. Kassim Muhairwe
7. Maj. Joseph Sungura
8. Maj. Stephern Musisi
9. Capt. Sam Nsubuga
10. Capt. Hassan Kaiso
11. Capt. Musoke Mabalire
12. Capt. Jonathan Obeti
13. Capt. Refael Daman
14. Capt. Esau Kaddu Kibirango
15. Lt. TB Waumi
16. WO1 Anyoli Asuman
17. WO2 Male Abubakar
18. WO2 Ssenoga Ssuliaman
19. WO2 Kasibante Lawrence
20. WO2 Habib Bin Kassim
21. WO2 Kisembo James
22. WO2 Ssemanda Deo
23. Wo2 Obua Aqurino
24. WO2 Katungi David
25. S/SGT Kiiza William
26. S/SGT Mulyanti David
27. S/SGT Mutika Edward
28. S/SGT Kiiza Joseph
29. S/SGT Kakoza John
30. S/SGT Aliganyira Charles
31. S/SGT Barigye Henry
32. SGT Tumusime Emmanuel
33. SGT Mugisha Severino
34. SGT Mugisha Steven
35. SGT Ssentega Jackson
36. SGT Kabaiza
37. CPL. Kamugisha Severino
38. L/CPL Musoke Steven

Source:Newvision.co.ug

Comments

Fifth Annual Kwita Izina/Gorilla Naming Ceremony

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:41:57 +0200

Fifth Annual Kwita Izina/Gorilla Naming Ceremony

Rwanda’s Tourism premier tourism event- Kwita Izina Ceremony (Gorilla Naming Ceremony) is set for June 20th 2009. In particular, this year’s event coincides with the United Nation’s declaration of 2009 as the “Year of the Gorilla”.

In Rwanda, every gorilla birth is a reason for celebration for the successful conservation efforts. It’s a never ending success story!. In honour of this event, Rwanda Development Gateway Centre (RDG@NUR) brings you details of the celebrations that will mark the birth of 15 gorillas. This event helps to raise awareness on the plight of this endangered species.

Rwanda invites and encourages the rest of the world to join the celebrations and honour gorillas as has been the case for the past four years. The venue is Kwita Izina Ground in Musanze district (former Ruhengeri). Invitations are available online.

Together, let’s keep the momentum and enthusiasm by everybody to protect the few remaining Mountain Gorilla’s in the world. Do not miss the thrill of Kwita Izina 2009. Be there!

You can also view Kwita Izina Concept Note.

Kwita Izina Portfolio 2009 is also available.

You are encouraged to invite your friends and colleagues to share this experience.
Do not hesitate to contact me for any assitance.

bradams01@gmail.com

Comments

Kanyeihamba: Court messed up ‘06 petition

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:22:31 +0200

Kanyeihamba: Court messed up ‘06 petition Emmanuel Gyezaho & Nelson Wesonga Kampala, Daily Monitor, www.dailymonitor.co.ug The Supreme Court mishandled Dr Kizza Besigye’s 2006 election petition challenging the re-election of President Yoweri Museveni, Justice George Wilson Kanyeihamba said on Saturday. In an exclusive interview with Daily Monitor, Justice Kanyeihamba, one of the judges on the seven-member panel, said his colleagues erred in upholding Mr Museveni’s election, even when they conceded that there were electoral irregularities like bribery and vote theft. This, he said, was illogical because once the Constitution was reported and proven violated, that rendered the election flawed and should have been nullified and repeated. “We were seven and the seven of us were unanimous; the election was not free or fair, or at least largely not free or fair; the Constitution was violated in a number of respects; the Presidential Elections Act, the Parliamentary Elections Act, the Electoral Commissions Act were all violated or ignored in one way or the other,” he said. “More important to that, our law and Constitution doesn’t say that if you break the Constitution in one area and it is not the whole Constitution, then that is okay. Once you say it has been violated then you are liable. Nobody measures how much you have violated it. For me, once you say that the system of elections in this country violated the Constitution and other laws, then it is flawed,” Justice Kanyeihamba said in a three-hour interview. The court, on a 4:3 verdict, dismissed Dr Besigye’s petition, saying the irregularities did not substantially affect the final outcome. Justice Kanyeihamba, a former Attorney General in Mr Museveni’s government, was one of the three judges that ruled in favour of Dr Besigye. Justice Kanyeihamba also faulted the conduct of the petition criticising the decision by the court to give detailed ruling more than eight months after the summary judgment was read on April 6, 2006. Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki on April 6, 2006 delivered the court’s summary ruling that on a 4:3 verdict dismissed Dr Besigye’s petition but roundly concurred that the February 23 poll was not free and fair because of massive irregularities. Justices William Tsekooko, Alfred Karokora, Joseph Mulenga, George Kanyeihamba, Bart Katureebe and the late Arthur Oder were the other members of the panel. In the April 6 2006 summary verdict Justice Odoki neither gave detailed reasons for the court’s ruling nor disclosed which judge ruled for or against the petition. The details were delivered almost 10 months later on January 31, 2007, for the first time for the public to know that Justices Odoki, Karokora, Mulenga and Katureebe dismissed the petition. Justices Kenyeihamba, Tsekooko and the Oder cancelled the election, but their orders were overpowered by the majority position. President Museveni was declared winner of the February 23, 2006 election with 59 per cent of the vote against Dr Besigye’s 37 per cent. DP’s John Ssebaana Kizito received 1.58 per cent of the vote, while UPC’s Miria Obote and independent Abed Bwanika scored below 1 per cent each. Dr Besigye, however, rejected the results and sought legal redress. In their ruling, all the judges unanimously ruled the poll was not held in compliance with the principles of the Constitution and other relevant laws. However, the court’s final decision to uphold the elections led to the petitioner and some legal commentators wondering as why the judges could uphold an election which they all concurred had not been held in accordance with the law. It’s a question that Justice Kanyeihamba’s answer in the Saturday interview raises fresh questions for his colleagues. “I think that once we all discovered that the election was on the whole not free or fair.... in my view there is not any other conclusion except to say that this election was defective therefore we must hold a new one,” Justice Kanyeihamba said.

Comments

title-6214087

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:22:16 +0200

Kanyeihamba: Court messed up ?06 petition Emmanuel Gyezaho & Nelson Wesonga Kampala The Supreme Court mishandled Dr Kizza Besigye?s 2006 election petition challenging the re-election of President Yoweri Museveni, Justice George Wilson Kanyeihamba said on Saturday. In an exclusive interview with Daily Monitor, Justice Kanyeihamba, one of the judges on the seven-member panel, said his colleagues erred in upholding Mr Museveni?s election, even when they conceded that there were electoral irregularities like bribery and vote theft. This, he said, was illogical because once the Constitution was reported and proven violated, that rendered the election flawed and should have been nullified and repeated. ?We were seven and the seven of us were unanimous; the election was not free or fair, or at least largely not free or fair; the Constitution was violated in a number of respects; the Presidential Elections Act, the Parliamentary Elections Act, the Electoral Commissions Act were all violated or ignored in one way or the other,? he said. ?More important to that, our law and Constitution doesn?t say that if you break the Constitution in one area and it is not the whole Constitution, then that is okay. Once you say it has been violated then you are liable. Nobody measures how much you have violated it. For me, once you say that the system of elections in this country violated the Constitution and other laws, then it is flawed,? Justice Kanyeihamba said in a three-hour interview. The court, on a 4:3 verdict, dismissed Dr Besigye?s petition, saying the irregularities did not substantially affect the final outcome. Justice Kanyeihamba, a former Attorney General in Mr Museveni?s government, was one of the three judges that ruled in favour of Dr Besigye. Justice Kanyeihamba also faulted the conduct of the petition criticising the decision by the court to give detailed ruling more than eight months after the summary judgment was read on April 6, 2006. Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki on April 6, 2006 delivered the court?s summary ruling that on a 4:3 verdict dismissed Dr Besigye?s petition but roundly concurred that the February 23 poll was not free and fair because of massive irregularities. Justices William Tsekooko, Alfred Karokora, Joseph Mulenga, George Kanyeihamba, Bart Katureebe and the late Arthur Oder were the other members of the panel. In the April 6 2006 summary verdict Justice Odoki neither gave detailed reasons for the court?s ruling nor disclosed which judge ruled for or against the petition. The details were delivered almost 10 months later on January 31, 2007, for the first time for the public to know that Justices Odoki, Karokora, Mulenga and Katureebe dismissed the petition. Justices Kenyeihamba, Tsekooko and the Oder cancelled the election, but their orders were overpowered by the majority position. President Museveni was declared winner of the February 23, 2006 election with 59 per cent of the vote against Dr Besigye?s 37 per cent. DP?s John Ssebaana Kizito received 1.58 per cent of the vote, while UPC?s Miria Obote and independent Abed Bwanika scored below 1 per cent each. Dr Besigye, however, rejected the results and sought legal redress. In their ruling, all the judges unanimously ruled the poll was not held in compliance with the principles of the Constitution and other relevant laws. However, the court?s final decision to uphold the elections led to the petitioner and some legal commentators wondering as why the judges could uphold an election which they all concurred had not been held in accordance with the law. It?s a question that Justice Kanyeihamba?s answer in the Saturday interview raises fresh questions for his colleagues. ?I think that once we all discovered that the election was on the whole not free or fair.... in my view there is not any other conclusion except to say that this election was defective therefore we must hold a new one,? Justice Kanyeihamba said.

Comments

Pope visits Jerusalem holy sites

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:07:30 +0200

Pope visits Jerusalem holy sites

Pope Benedict XVI has been visiting sites in Jerusalem holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians on the second day of his visit to the Holy Land.

He visited the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, becoming the first pontiff to see the site, and then the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest places.

He said Mass in the Josaphat Valley and is later to pray at the reputed site of Christ's Last Supper.

A row has broken out over the German-born Pope's time in the Hitler Youth.

A Vatican spokesman appeared to contradict the pope's own admission that he was once a member.

There has also been criticism from Israeli politicians and commentators about the Pope's comments on the Holocaust.

The Pope is meeting both Israeli and Palestinian leaders during his tour.

Israel has beefed up security for the trip in an operation named "White Robe", with tens of thousands of law-enforcement officers deployed and entire sections of Jerusalem shut down.

Sacred places

The Pope began the day's visits at the Dome of the Rock, located on the Temple Mount - a site sacred to all three monotheistic religions.

Katya Adler
Katya Adler, BBC News, Jerusalem

The Mass in the picturesque and historically charged Josaphat Valley is not well attended.

The 5,000 tickets for the Mass were sold out. Olive trees were temporarily removed to make room for the anticipated crowds of enthusiastic pilgrims. Yet few have actually turned up.

The adoration that followed Pope Benedict's predecessor during his visit to the Holy Land nine years ago seem to be conspicuously absent.

The Middle East is also a sadder and darker place.

John Paul came here in March of the millennium year - before the 11 September attacks, before the US-led invasion of Iraq, before the second Palestinian uprising and Israel's tougher controls on Palestinians.

Ahead of Pope Benedict's visit few Christians said they believed he could or would improve their lives much. Their absence here today, if for that reason, speaks volumes.

He removed his shoes according to Islamic custom when entering a holy site, and met the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Mohammad Hussein.

"Here the paths of the world's three great monotheistic religions meet, reminding us what they share in common," said the Pope.

The mufti called on the Pope to end Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians.

There was no live television coverage of the visit because of a dispute between Israeli and Palestinian broadcast companies, said the BBC's David Willey, who is travelling with the Pope.

Pope Benedict then moved to the nearby Western, so-called Wailing, Wall where he met Israel's chief rabbis.

The wall is part of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount, dating back to a time when a Jewish temple stood there.

He said the visit gave him the opportunity to reiterate the Catholic Church's commitment to "a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians and Jews".

The Pope placed a written prayer into a gap in the wall, before standing in silence with his head bowed.

His prayer asked the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" to send "peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family".

At the Mass in Josaphat Valley, he said the departure of many Christians in recent years was a "tragic reality".

"In the Holy Land there is room for everyone," he said to applause.

"I urge the authorities to respect, to support and to value the Christian presence here."

The pontiff will later visit the site reputed to be where Jesus took his Last Supper before his crucifixion and resurrection.

Hitler Youth controversy

Media coverage of the trip and debate in Israel have pointed up the fact that the German-born Pope was, like other German children, enrolled in the Hitler Youth during World War II.

POPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Monday Arrives in Israel, meets President Shimon Peres
Tuesday Visits the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall. Celebrates Holy Mass in Josaphat Valley
Wednesday Visits Bethlehem, visits refugees, meets Mahmoud Abbas
Thursday Mass in Nazareth, talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, meets Franciscans
Friday Meets Orthodox Christian leaders, departs

Itinerary: Israel and West Bank
Guide: Jerusalem's holy sites
Pope in the Mid East: The issues
In pictures: Pope in Jerusalem

The Speaker of Israel's parliament, Reuven Rivlin, described Pope Benedict as a "German who joined the Hitler Youth and... a person who joined Hitler's army".

Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said on Tuesday: "The Pope was never in the Hitler Youth, never, never, never."

His remark appeared to contradict the Pope's own words in his 1997 memoirs, Salt of the Earth.

"As a seminarian, I was registered in the HY [Hitler Youth]," he said then. "As soon as I was out of the seminary, I never went back."

The Rev Lombardi sought to make a distinction between the anti-aircraft auxiliary corps the Pope was enrolled in towards the end of the war and the Hitler Youth, which he described as a "corps of volunteers, fanatically, ideologically for the Nazis".
www.BBCNEWS.COM

Comments

Bashir denies Darfur crimes

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:02:01 +0200

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has denied that his armed forces have targeted civilians in Darfur, in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

"I challenge anybody to bring me evidence that proves the Sudanese armed forces attacked and killed citizens in Darfur," he told the BBC's HARDtalk.

In his first TV interview since being indicted on war crimes charges, he dismissed talk of crimes as propaganda.

Mr Bashir was indicted by the war crimes court on 4 March.

He has poured scorn on the International Criminal Court charges, which were the first issued by The Hague-based court against a sitting president.

In the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Mr Bashir told HARDtalk: "What has been reported to have happened in Darfur did not actually happen at all.

"What happened in Darfur was an insurgency. The state has the responsibility to fight the rebels."

He added: "We have never fought against our citizens, we have not killed our citizens."

The ICC has accused President Bashir of two counts of war crimes - intentionally directing attacks on civilians and pillage - and five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and torture.
FROM www.bbcnews.com

Comments

Rwanda bans BBC Radio program

Mon, 04 May 2009 16:16:38 +0200

Regional editors slam Kigali's move against BBC
By RNA Reporter
Monday, 04 May 2009
Kigali: The Eastern Africa Editors’ Forum has reacted angrily to the banning of BBC's Kinyarwanda broadcasts in Rwanda, terming it a dictatorial move that shows continued intolerance for divergent views in the region.

David Makali, the director of the Media Development Institute, told Contact FM in Rwanda, "Even if the government has a legitimate complaint on any issue regarding media coverage there is a way to go about it, you do not rush to switch off stations."

Makali's views were supported by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the coordinator of the Ugandan Editors’ Forum, who said, "Press freedom is not merely the existence of free speech but the free room for people to make mistakes", writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.

Both of them took issue with the fact that the government did not exhaust all options including the courts in pursuing their case before pulling off BBC off the air.

"Journalism in the region is facing a systematic attack by countries posing as modern day governments, but secretly sponsoring laws against press freedom, oppressive regulation mechanisms for a free media, outdated official secret's acts and discriminative criminal prosecution procedures and now a new method, switch off what you do not like without the chance for fair hearing..." Makali said.

The Rwandan government has since demanded "guarantees of responsible journalism" from the BBC.

"We have suspended all BBC programmes in Kinyarwanda because they had become a real poison with regards to the reconciliation of the Rwandan people," Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo was quoted as having told a media briefing in Kigali, Rwanda.

"We could no longer tolerate that," she said. "The Rwandan government shall protest strongly, until the BBC can give us guarantees of responsible journalism."

The dispute centres on interviews aired on a weekly programme, "Imvo n'Imvano," (The Heart of the Problem), which Mushikiwabo said were "liable" to undermine efforts at national unity and reconciliation.

During the programme, Radio Rwanda said, former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, who now lives in exile in Belgium, said that as a Hutu, he could never give in to Tutsi demands to apologize for the 1994 genocide.

The BBC's website Sunday said that the programme's editor denied there had been any bias and said that Kigali had declined an offer to include a government spokesman.

The editor, Ally Mugenzi, said the difficulties had arisen because of the interpretation which the government was putting on the genocide.

Adopted from Rwanda News Agency

Comments

UPDF officer tortured by his boss

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:30:51 +0200

UPDF officer tortured by his boss
Gerald Bareebe, Dily Monitor, Uganda

Kampala

“He hit me and broke my arm. He hit my head with an iron bar and burnt my buttocks using a red hot metal,” Mr Bosco Mubangizi, a 38-year-old private with the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) narrated the harrowing details of how he was tortured by one of his superiors.

Mr Mubangizi, attached to the Chieftaincy of Rehabilitation Centre in Mubende District, Central Uganda said that he was tortured on December 11, 2006 by Capt. Asaba, a Regimental Police (RP) Commander based in Mubende Barracks.

This comes barely three weeks after the Human Rights Watch accused the Ugandan Army of torturing suspects during interrogation.

To add to his misery, Mr Mubangizi – a married father of three has been ordered by the army to go back to Mubende and serve under the same man who tortured him.

“I am now a lame man, I can’t work to help my wife or my children. They are telling me to go back and serve under the same man who almost killed me. Now that he knows that I reported him, he will kill me if I go back,” a tearful Mubangizi said.

An internal investigation by the army, which was sparked off by a Uganda Human Rights Commission inquiry, confirmed that the Mubangizi, RA141781, was indeed tortured.

After learning about the incident, the UPDF Medical Board recommended in a December 5, 2008 sitting at the then army headquarters in Bombo that the victim be compensated to the tune of 25 per cent of his annual salary. A private in the UPDF earns Shs200,000 monthly. Mubangizi said he is yet to receive the money.

How he was tortured
The torture he was subjected to, according to Mr Mubangizi, happened on the very day he returned from a one-month leave. At the Mubende barracks quarter guard, he met the RP commander who asked him for ‘a manual target’. When he said that he did not understand the instruction, Capt. Asaba allegedly started beating him.

Mr Mubangizi says he did not know the meaning of a ‘manual target’ because the term – a reference to an Identification Card – was introduced in the barracks while he was on leave. But Capt. Asaba would have none of his plea.
A scar from Torture.

Mr Mubangizi says the next day; he was arrested and locked up in the barracks’ prison – where he spent nearly two months. He was only released on January 28, 2009 after the officers in charge of the prison saw that his body had started rotting.
With his body still wasting away, Mr Mubangizi says he met a Good Samaritan who carried him and dumped him at the regional offices of Uganda Human Rights Commission at Kibuye, a Kampala suburb where Ms Ida Nakiganda, the officer in charge rushed him to Kadic Hospital in Bukoto for treatment.

Dr Henry Kasozi, the Medical Director of Kadic Hospital, who examined Mr Mubangizi’s four month-old ulna fracture, says in an April 14, 2008 report that the fracture damaged his patient’s elbow, which now limits the free movement of his hand.

Army Responds
The UPDF Joint Chief of Staff, Brig. Robert Rusoke who could not explain why the army had not compensated the victim to-date, told Saturday Monitor on Tuesday that he will raise Mr Mubangizi’s case with the relevant authorities within UPDF.

Army spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye admitted that there are cases of torture amongst UPDF soldiers but added that the army has clearly set out punitive measures for soldiers who are found guilty of torturing others.
“We are going to investigate whoever did it and he should be punished. How can we allow torture when we even abolished corporal punishment within UPDF?”
Maj. Kulayigye added that Mr Mubangizi should be compensated as per the recommendations of the UPDF medical board. “If the medical board recommended that he be compensated, that is not debatable,” he said.

Comments

Hermaphrodite becomes boy

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:26:10 +0200

Hermaphrodite becomes boy

CHARLES Tabu, the 16-year-old who was born with two sexual organs, has been operated upon and turned into a boy.

Medics at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda (CoRSU) hospital in Kawuku on Entebbe Road removed Tabu’s breast, uterus and the female organ.

CoRSU administration director Matthias Widmaier-Maicher said last week’s operation was the first of the three that Tabu is to undergo to be fully turned into a male.

“He will undergo the second operation after six weeks and the date when the third operation would take place will be determined then,” he stated.

The hospital carries out plastic surgery on persons with disability.
Widmaier-Maicher said they would compute the cost later “but right now we are giving him treatment without any payment.” He said the boy was traumatised by his condition and needed counseling.

Tabu’s condition was highlighted in Bukedde a couple of months ago. Sources said it was less complicated to turn him into a male than into a female.

Comments

Girl aged 12 gives birth

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:24:18 +0200

Girl aged 12 gives birth

A GIRL aged 12 was being helped by social services staff yesterday after giving birth to a boy.

The mum — barely out of primary school — became pregnant following a one night stand with an older lad.

The pair were not in a relationship. The mum is white, from a broken home and lives in a deprived part of the South West. She was taken to hospital suffering stomach pains and feeling “under the weather”. She did not realise she was expecting.

A family friend said: “It was a shock.

“She had been feeling unwell for a while, fainting. We took her to hospital for tests, and she gave birth. The staff hadn’t even noticed she was pregnant. We were all furious at the nurses for failing to spot it.

“Luckily she is doing well, and so is the baby boy. We do know the father of the baby, and his family. They can’t help what their son did and we don’t blame his parents. I don’t think they’re a couple now, it was just a one off thing.

“It’s something they’re going to have to live with. Social Services will help, but they also need money too.” Family groups said it was another sign of Broken Britain. A spokesperson for the relationships charity Life said: “In Britain today we have children giving birth to children, it is sad.

“We need to empower young people to make wise choices about sex that leads to long term happiness.”

Britain’s youngest mum gave birth two months shy of her 12th birthday in 1996 near Edinburgh. Her boyfriend was charged with having sex with a minor.

The UK has the world’s highest pregnancy rate in under-16s apart from the US.

Adopted from The Sun

Comments

Wives of policemen sexually starved

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:58:21 +0200

Wives of policemen sexually starved
Thursday, 23rd April, 2009

MPs on the parliamentary committee probing Police conduct, promotion, training and welfare during a tour of Naguru Barracks yesterday

By Madinah Tebajjukira, Newvision, Uganda

SOME wives of Police officers at Naguru barracks yesterday complained to parliamentarians that they are sexually starved due to accommodation congestion.

The wives, who preferred anonymity, said they cannot make love in the presence of their children with whom they share single-roomed houses, commonly called ‘maama ingiya pole,/i>’.

An angry mother of four explained that she and her husband only have sex during the school holidays, when the children have gone to the village.

“Honourable members, you are all parents. But in situations like this, how do you make love when the children are almost under your bed?” she asked in Luganda.
“I am sexually starved. I am a human being like any other person, and I am not certain about the future of my marriage.”

The revelations came during a tour by MPs on the special parliamentary committee probing Police conduct, promotion, training and welfare.

The complaints about deprivation of sex were mainly raised in Naguru barracks, which has a population of over 15,000. During the impromptu tour, the MPs discovered that Naguru had some of the most congested and dilapidated barracks in the city.

Another housewife in her early 30s said she is in a marriage where she does not enjoy her conjugal rights. She told the MPs that she can only engage in sex with her husband quietly in order not to awaken the children.

“After failing to find a solution to the poor accommodation in the barracks for years, we resorted to performing sex very quietly, which makes it boring. How can you enjoy a meal when none of you is saying a word?” she asked.

Guided by Sgt Twinomujuni Odomaro, the MPs discovered that four constables share a unipot and sleep on mats without any mattress.

One of the constables told the MPs that when they want to make love with their girlfriends, they negotiate amongst themselves and allocate time to each other. Some constables who got married resorted to constructing their own mud-and-wattle houses in order to have privacy, he added.

The MPs found one constable in the barracks building his own house while two others were digging a pit-latrine.

“I am tired of sharing the kibati (unipot). I want to marry but I can’t marry in a shared unipot,” James Ekeram, a probation constable, told the MPs.

The MPs also found two families sharing one room which they had demarcated with curtains.
“Originally, there were three families here, but one family has relocated to a new hut they constructed,” Odomaro said.

Some houses in Naguru were so rundown that the roofs, made of iron sheets, were partly gone.

Odomaro explained that new unipots had been set up at the barracks to cater for the new constables who had completed the training in 2007 but they were not enough.

In Ntinda barracks, the next stop on the MPs’ tour, Police constables were found housed in a structure with walls made of iron sheets.

Corporal William Tumutungu, who has served in the force for 22 years, said it was impossible for the Government to fight corruption in the Police without improving their remuneration and welfare.

At Nsambya barracks, home to about 10,000 people, the MPs found the Police dogs better accommodated than the staff. The compound at the dog’s wing was partly tarmacked and partly covered with well-kept grass. The houses for the constables, in contrast, had sewage flowing and were packed one-roomed hovels.

The MPs received a hostile reception from the constables present, who accused them of criticising them while not doing anything to improve their plight.

“You are just looking at the way we handle you during arrests. But when you don’t feed your dog, what do you expect it to do?” one of them, Bosco Winyi, asked.

Another policeman heckled the visitors, saying their monthly salary was just enough to pay for the MPs’ breakfast. They complained that Parliament had not increased the Police budget to cater for new houses. Police constables, corporals and sergeants are paid between sh154,000 to sh200,000 a month.

After the tour, the MPs promised that they would highlight the problem of accommodation in their report to Parliament. Some were so shocked that they suggested seeking audience with President Museveni over the matter.

“We discovered two families in one room, one with four children and the other with nine children. This is serious and something urgent has to be done,” Peter Nyombi, the committee’s chairperson, told journalists.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said while the force gives priority to accommodation, it faces constraints of inadequate funding.

The number of Police officers in the country doubled in the last three years to handle the growing number of cases, from 18,000 to 37,000.

Capital expenditure for the Police force, however, has stagnated.

Comments

Britain is now a haven for Genocide suspects

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:27:13 +0200

Britain is now a haven for Genocide suspects

Kigali: Last week, on the day the world marked the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Britain officially became a safe haven for suspected mass murderers. This is the incomprehensible and inhumane message two senior judges have given the grieving survivors of the Rwandan genocide by freeing four genocide suspects Rwanda wanted to put on trial – effectively saying that alleged Rwandan mass murderers are welcome to live in Britain.

I know for sure that several Rwandan killers are hiding in this country. After the release of the four, they must be rubbing their hands in glee, assured of immunity from prosecution.

In their landmark High Court ruling, the judges decided the four Rwandans, two of whom had been living here under false identities until exposed by The Sunday Times, cannot be deported to Rwanda to be put on trial for mass murder.

They did not dispute the quality or quantity of prosecution evidence that they had committed heinous crimes in their country, for which they should be punished. But they said there was a “real risk” the four would not receive a fair trial in Rwanda. This would not matter if we could try them instead in our domestic courts, as Belgium, Switzerland and Canada have given themselves the legal power to do. But we can’t.

Britain approved the relevant genocide legislation far too late in the day, only in the early part of the new millennium. It was not made retroactive to 1994. So Rwandan genocide suspects can now go scot-free and British law has shown itself incapable of responding to one of the most monstrous crimes in recent history.

To cap it all, this shocking development happened on the very day genocide survivors were commemorating the start of the slaughter in which 800,000 people were hacked to death in the space of 100 days.

What a welcome signal we have given to these men. What a cruel blow for the traumatised relatives of the victims.

A blow too for all those from the Crown Prosecution Service, British diplomats at the embassy in Rwanda and Rwandan officials themselves who, over the past three years, invested an immense amount of time, energy, money and commitment to get Rwandan justice in line with British expectations for a fair trial for the four.

There is much Rwanda’s justice system can be criticised for. But these officials are convinced it did everything it could with its limited resources to prepare for a fair trial. So much so that the authorities there faced criticism for setting up a two-tier trial system for major genocide suspects; one for the four they were expecting to be sent back from Britain – entitled to representation by foreign lawyers and good detention facilities – and another for the rest.

How this legal farce was allowed to happen defies belief. This weekend, the four released men will be back with their families, perhaps living on benefits. They may sue for compensation. One is already a British citizen. The others will no doubt apply. They are here for good now, seemingly untouchable even though at least two of them violated every sort of immigration law to sneak into the country.

Survivors are sickened by the outcome. In 1994, Drocelle Kantetere’s parents and six siblings were massacred. She had long accused one of the four men, Charles Munyaneza, 50, a former Rwandan government official, of orchestrating their deaths and the murder of thousands of other civilians. Unknown to her, Munyaneza came to Britain in 1999, using a false name. In 2002 the Home Office approved his refugee status and granted him unlimited leave to stay.

In 2006 he was found by The Sunday Times, in Bedford, working as a cleaner. Another of the four to be freed last week, a former Rwandan mayor Emmanuel Nteziryayo, 55, also found by The Sunday Times, has been accused in Rwanda of complicity in the murder of more than 87,000 people.

Kantetere, 39, was looking forward to Munyaneza’s trial. She hoped Britain would offset some of the very negative decisions of the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda, which is due to close at the end of this year with its work incomplete.

Munyaneza’s new-found freedom has struck her like a dagger to the heart. “Munyaneza is the one who has everything now, but I have no one left in my family. I accuse Munyaneza of forcing me to be so alone, to try and get by in a world I find empty of meaning,” she said when he was discovered hiding in Britain.

Sorrowful words. And even more sorrowful now she realises her murdered loved ones are never going to have justice and British judges have instituted impunity for the crime of genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda News Agency

Comments

Rwandan genocide: Dead but not resting in peace

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:07:27 +0200

A visit to our dead in Uganda

L-R: A monument in Ggoolo, Mpigi District erected in memory of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Namirembe landing site where some of the bodies of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were recoverd.
BY IGNATIUS SSUUNA
Reports have been rife that remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi buried in Uganda are being disinterred for witchcraft purposes. IGNATIUS SSUUNA visited the sites and writes.

Silence welcomes you as you open the gate at Ggoolo, one of the sites at which thousands of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi are buried in Uganda. It’s so quiet you can’t even hear birds chirping.

At the height of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, tens of thousands of victims were thrown into River Nyabarongo, a tributary of Lake Victoria. Their bodies were washed away down the river and ended up in Uganda and probably beyond.

The bodies were later buried at six different sites in Uganda. The sites include Ggoolo, in Mpigi District, Labu, Namirembe, Malembu and Kasensero, all in Makasa District.

At the entrance of Ggoolo sits Clinton Okoye, the overseer of this site. There are five mass graves here and home to 955 remains.

The burial site here is well maintained. This land (3 acres) was donated by Muhammad Taban- owner of Big Ways Investment Limited. Taban employed Clinton Okoye to take care of the site.

“Taban is a generous man,” Okoye begins. Okoye says he was scared at first because he didn’t know why these people had been killed. But after reading about the genocide, he accepted the job. Nobody can enter here without permission. A guard’s house is being built near the site.

“I am not paid well. I only earn Shs 25,000 a month. But I am not complaining too much,” Okoye says.

Okoye explains one of the reasons why he is paid to guard the site is to make sure that the remains are kept intact. He says some people in Uganda still believe in witchcraft because they think they can become rich overnight by using human bones in exchange for blessings from witchdoctors.

“Everything here is cemented. Even if I don’t sleep at the site, nobody can exhume the bodies,” Okoye says. There are headstones at the mass graves on which words ‘victims of the Rwanda conflict’ are engraved.

“This was an error and we shall soon rectify it,” Okoye sombrely says.

Taban plans to improve the Ggoolo site to the level of Gisozi memorial site in Rwanda. “The government of Rwanda has already recognised our contribution. We are not demanding money from Rwanda.”

Lambu

There are nine graves here and the site houses 1718 bodies. However, the irony here is that though Ugandans living at the shores of Lake Victoria did a noble job of burying the dead during the Genocide, authorities in Kampala have reportedly refused Rwanda to exhume the bodies and accord them decent burial. As a result, the remains are in the bushes. Some graves are defaced and inaccessible.

At Lambu, a visitor can hardly tell whether mass graves do exist.

My guide John Lubowa, a resident of the area says nobody in the neighbourhood is paid to maintain the graves.

“Sometimes, residents who clear the bushes covering the graves need money. Nothing can be done without money,” says Lubowa. There are also signs that cows graze atop the graves.

Other sites

Remains of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi at Namirembe, Dimo and Malembo were supposed to have been transferred to Lambu last year.

The Rwandan embassy in Uganda built two mass graves at Lambu but Uganda blocked the move to transfer the remains.

At Kasensero landing site, 2827 bodies are buried there.

The Rwandan embassy here plans to cement the mass graves in Kasensero soon. Dimo is home to 2149 bodies while Malembo houses 1669 bones. Residents talked to say since the graves are not cemented and are in the bushes, the remains are not safe.

“Remains of human beings not kept well can be abused. It is very common here,” Linda Nalukwago, a resident of Lwalaaro in Mpigi District said.

A report compiled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Unity, Human Rights and the fight against Genocide recently visited Uganda to assess the situation of the remains buried there.

After the visit, lawmakers expressed concern over the reluctance by relevant organs to rebury the remains. They recommended the remains be accorded decent burial as a matter of urgency.

Ambassador speaks out

Rwanda’s ambassador to Ugandan Ignatius Kamali recently met officials from the Ugandan Foreign Affairs Ministry to discuss the possibility of exhuming the bodies from the bushes.

“We are still trying to convince Ugandan officials but we have not yet succeeded. They are giving three reasons why we should not exhume the dead,” Kamali reveals.

One reason why the bodies should not be exhumed is that they could cause health problems to the people living in the area.

The Ugandan government says it needs to get clearance from the Ministry of Health before Rwanda is allowed to exhume the bodies. But a source from the Ministry of Health in Uganda says this is not the first time bodies are to be exhumed.

“Many bodies get exhumed. Some bodies of those died in the bush war in Luwero have been exhumed,” says the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ugandan leaders also asked Rwanda to give them time to establish the owner of the land on which the bodies will be buried. “They say the issue concerning land in Uganda is sensitive. When we met leaders here, they raised this issue,” Kamali said.

Ugandan leaders are of the view that the graves be cemented in their respective locations.

There is also argument that exhuming the remains is against the Ugandan culture. Let’s hope that soon a consensus will be reached to give our dear departed a decent burial.
Adopted from The Newtimes, Rwanda, www.newtimes.co.rw

Ends

Comments

Obasanjo, Mkapa pay tribute to Rwandans

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:53:51 +0200

Obasanjo, Mkapa pay tribute to Rwandans

BY EDMUND KAGIRE, Newtimes, Rwanda
Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on President Paul Kagame at Urugwiro to show their support to Rwandans in commemorating the 1994 Genocide.

“We always touch base with President Paul Kagame to discuss several issues facing the region but on this particular occasion we are here to join Rwandans and show our support. This is a special day for Rwanda” Obasanjo told Journalists after the short visit.

The former leaders also said that this particular time that has left a dark spot in Rwanda’s History should not only be for Rwandans to remember or Africa but the whole world and the human race.

The two Statesmen have also been actively involved together with Rwanda to resolve the conflict in Eastern Democratic of Congo (DRC) where remnants of the Ex-FAR/Interahamwe who carried out the atrocities in 1994, now known as the Democrtaic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are camped.

Comments

Museveni and Ugandan Judiciary

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:33:43 +0200

President Yoweri Museveni with his renown critic Justice George Kanyeihamba during the opening of the East Africa Law Society conference and annual general meeting in 2006.
Justice Kanyeihamba questions Museveni’s vision on patriotism
By Isaac Imaka

Kampala

Justice Prof. G.W.Kanyeihamba—Justice of the Supreme Court on Tuesday blasted President Yoweri Museveni on patriotism saying that the president is preaching a virtue, whose meaning he does not fully understand.

Kanyeihamba also accused the president of looking for people’s devotion to the person of the president instead of the nation.

“Patriotism is a devotion and love for one’s country and not allegiance to an individual. If someone is going everywhere preaching patriotism; patriotism for whom if he tells MPs to place their parties before the nation,” Kanyeihamba said during a public lecture at Makerere University on constitutional amendments in Uganda’s constitution.

The President is on nationwide education drive trying to teach Ugandans how to practice patriotism in a hope that this might curtail the increasing cases of corruption and bad governance.

Prof. Kanyeihamba said that while addressing Members of Parliament sometime ago, he advised them to put the state first, their constituency next and lastly the party to which they are affiliated to, an argument that the president did not buy.

“President Museveni strongly opposed my argument and he convened another meeting and told the MPs that they should place their party as the first priority and not the country,” Kanyeihamba said.

He also noted that Uganda has never been well governed, and accused the present leadership and MPs of poor leadership, bad governance, and ignoring the rule of law, something that has exacerbated corruption and underdevelopment in the country.

“The leadership and the mode of governance of today not only haunt Uganda but it is very bad. The current leadership and rulers appear more comfortable and wallowing in the same evils of the past. They look at how to accumulate wealth for themselves other than the nation,” he said

He added: “MPs who are supposed to champion the rule of democracy have instead hesitated to fight bad governance and are indulging in aggravated corruption.”

The government of Uganda has for long been trying to fight bad governance and corruption in the country but the fight has always hit a dead end because of the unscrupulous legislators who instated of fighting corruption indulge in the act.

The Professor said that although the president is trying to teach patriotism to fight corruption and bad governance, the country already has laws to fight corruption and bad governance and it only lacks good will from those who indulge in dubious activities and at the same time try to show the people that they care yet they do not.

“Corruption and bad governance has not only become a danger to society but they have been accepted as a way of life,” he said.

“What Uganda lacks to fight corruption and bad governance is not patriotism, a new law, or a court, but the political will from the people concerned.”

Full version of a paper he presented at Makerere University on April 7.

Related articles
Justice Kanyeihamba questions Museveni’s vision on patriotism

Comments

Women must take control over their sexual rights

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:59:56 +0200

Women must take control over their sexual rights
Rose Gawaya

I would like to reflect on an article that appeared in a local tabloid a few weeks ago, alleging that Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire’s marriage had hit the rocks. And I am putting this far more decently than it was reported.

The gist of the story was that the minister had caught wind of her husband’s infidelity and cut their sexual ties, something which broke up the marriage. The Minister’s fear of Aids was more than just hinted upon in the story. My problem, however, is that the story was twisted in a way that takes the focus off the problem – the relationship between gender, HIV/Aids and culture generally; and specifically power relations in marriage and unfaithfulness as the most important conduit of Aids.

The story was instead and unfortunately a catalogue of unhealthy and unholy insinuations about their sex life. In between the lines are very uncharitable innuendos about an otherwise honourable senior citizen, indicating that she should have stayed and faced the music.

Little mention is made of the dangers she faced in such a relationship – the emotional torture that women suffer when their spouses are unfaithful, the disillusionment at the broken promises and the reality that Aids could have been shipped into the marital bed – hardly a fitting reward for a woman who has been stable, faithful and true over many years of marriage.

We may never know what actually happened, but if we are to limit ourselves to what is in the public domain, then we have a huge problem on our hands. We are in a society that expected the minister to literally die in silence. If it is true that Minister Bitamazire ended her marriage due to the fear of HIV infection, then she ought to have been applauded by women – and the media.

Having multiple sexual partners is one of the leading causes of HIV infection. Marriage --for long one of the bastions against HIV infection-- is now reported to have lost that immunity, one of the reasons the HIV prevalence rate is now threatening to hit double figures.

Gender inequality and unequal power relations between women and men are drivers of the HIV/Aids epidemic. Women are more infected and affected by HIV and Aids than men. While it seems okay for men to philander around, it is unthinkable if women return this favour. Women are expected to be submissive in bed even when in grave danger. And in most cases, women have no choice in the matter because they lack financial independence.

Evidence suggests that gender norms strongly influence sexual behaviours and HIV risk (UNAIDS, 2008). In addition, there are reports that HIV infection is high among married women. In Asia and the Pacific, for example, there is evidence to suggest that women’s vulnerability to HIV, most of whom are married or in monogamous relations, stems from severe gender inequality prevailing in the region (UNDP, 2008).

Applying a rights based approach to HIV prevention and mitigation, cannot be realised by governments if women do not exercise their rights to take control over their sexuality. All human beings have the right to control their sexual and reproductive rights. They make personal decisions regarding when, how and with whom they have sex.

Sexual rights refers to human rights associated with physical and mental integrity, including the right to safe sex, the right to choose an intimate or life partner and the right to sexual information and services. Unfortunately, women’s ability to take control over their sexual and reproductive rights is hindered by negative cultural attitudes and beliefs, poverty, limited access to information about sexual health information and services, conflict and other factors.

Women constitute the majority of those infected and affected by HIV and Aids and lack of control over their sexual and reproductive rights is one of the major drivers of the HIV/Aids epidemic.

Lastly, the media should play a more meaningful role by challenging the negative stereotypes about women.

rosegawaya@yahoo.com

FROM, Daily Monitor, Uganda

Comments

U.S. says it failed to stop Rwanda Genocide

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:55:42 +0200

U.S. says it failed to stop Rwanda Genocide
By Chistian
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
New York: The United States ambassador to the U.N., during a emotional ceremony here marking the 1994 Rwandan genocide, said that the U.S. government had failed to prevent the mass killings that began 15 years ago on Tuesday.

"Rwanda did not suffer from 'ancient hatreds' between Hutu killers and Tutsi victims," Ambassador Susan Rice said. "It suffered from modern demagogues, from ... those who were willing to kill in the warped name of ethnic difference, from those who saw division and death as a path to power."

Ms. Rice added, "it suffered from an international community, international institutions, and individual governments -- including my own -- that failed to act in the face of a vast, unfolding evil."

On the night of April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down as it was landing at the airport of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. As the U.N.'s war crimes tribunal on Rwanda later established, militia for the majority Hutu ethnic group the next day put into motion a detailed plan to exterminate the minority Tutsis.

The U.N. says as many as 800,000 Tutsis, along with some moderate Hutus, were slaughtered in just three months with guns and machetes. On the National Security Council at the White House at the time of the genocide, Ms. Rice's position was director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping. In 1997, she got a brief on Africa at State as assistant secretary for African Affairs. She said she visited Rwanda in December 1994, six months after the genocide ended.

"I'll never forget the horror of walking through a churchyard and schoolyard where one of the massacres had occurred. ... The decomposing bodies of those who had been so cruelly murdered still lay strewn around what should have been a place of peace," Ms. Rice said.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton traveled to Rwanda and apologized for Washington's failure to act. Analysts say that after the U.S. military humiliation in Somalia in 1992, the Clinton administration was hesitant to intervene again in an African conflict.

In Rwanda on Tuesday, Rwandan President Paul Kagame accused the international communityfor failing to stop the killings of being "cowards" who "abandoned" the Rwandan people.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon declined to comment on Mr. Kagame's charge. But he told reporters, "I express my resolve as secretary-general to do all in my power to not repeat this kind of human tragedy." Ms. Rice said that the world "must develop a collective will to respond when tragedies occur and we must work together to prevent conflict before an ember becomes a blaze."

Why the US didn't intervene

The Clinton administration and Congress watched the unfolding events in Rwanda in April 1994 in a kind of stupefied horror.

The US had just pulled American troops out of a disastrous peacekeeping mission in Somalia – later made famous in the book "Black Hawk Down" – the year before. It had vowed never to return to a conflict it couldn't understand, between clans and tribes it didn't know, in a country where the US had no national interests.

From embassies and hotels in Kigali, diplomats and humanitarian workers gave daily tolls of the dead, mainly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus who had called for tribal peace. The information came in real time, and many experts say that the US and the Western world in general failed to respond.

'We knew before, during, and after'

"During World War II, much of the full horror of the Holocaust was known after the fact. But in Rwanda, we knew before, during, and after," says Ted Dagne, a researcher at the Congressional Research Service in Washington, who has traveled to Rwanda on fact-finding missions. "We knew, but we didn't want to respond."

In an official letter written as late as June 19, 1994, the then-UN-Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali showed exasperation at the numbers of peacekeepers that member nations were willing to provide.

"It is evident that, with the failure of member states to promptly provide the resources necessary for the implementation of its expanded mandate, UNAMIR (the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda) may not be in a position, for about three months, to fully undertake the tasks entrusted to it," Mr. Boutros-Ghali wrote. Within a month of the writing of this letter, the genocide ended, as Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front took full effective control of Rwanda.

US support for a rapid-action force

Mr. Dagne, a Congressional aide at the time, says that if the Clinton administration had called for a rapid-action force to stop the killings in Rwanda, Congress would have supported him. Letters from bipartisan panels of Congress back this up.

"We are writing to express our strong support for an active United States role in helping to resolve the crisis in Rwanda," wrote Rep. Bob Torricelli (D) of New Jersey, in a letter of April 20, 1994, signed by Republicans and Democrats alike. "Given the fact that approximately 20,000 people have died thus far in the tragic conflict, it is important that the United States endeavor to end the bloodshed and to bring the parties to the negotiating table."

But time and again in that spring and summer, President Clinton replied with more pleas for the government and the rebels to stop the violence themselves, and suggested that the underarmed, overstretched UN peacekeeping mission on the ground was the right group to lead the way.

"On April 22 ... the White House issued a strong public statement calling for the Rwandan Army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front to do everything in their power to end the violence immediately," President Clinton wrote on May 25, 1994, to Rep. Harry Johnston (D) of Florida. "This followed an earlier statement by me calling for a cease-fire and the cessation of the killings."

With Congress looking toward the president, and the White House looking toward the UN, nothing was done, and the genocide ran its course.

"At the end of an administration, they write a report, and Rwanda was at the top of the failures list for the Clinton administration, so this is something that they acknowledge themselves," says Dagne.

If there is a lesson learned from Rwanda, Dagne says, it is that the international community needs to avoid giving the impression that it is willing or capable of rescuing civilians in a conflict. "It's important to build the capacity of people to do the job themselves [of protecting themselves]," Dagne says. "We must not give the expectation that people will be saved."

Adapted from the Christian Science Monitor online magazine

Comments

Kagame blasts UN over genocide

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:48:22 +0200

Kagame blasts UN over genocide
Tuesday, 7th April, 2009

By Raymond Baguma and Agencies, New Vision

PRESIDENT Paul Kagame of Rwanda has slammed the cowardice of the international community that “abandoned” his people during the 1994 genocide.

Commemorating 15 years after the genocide, Kagame addressed nearly 20,000 people gathered at the Nyanza site in Kigali, a scene where some 5,000 people were slaughtered.

The massacre came four days after a deadly attack on Belgian UN peacekeepers that led the troops to withdraw – which Kagame said made the outside world “guilty”.

“We are not like those who abandoned people they had come to protect. They left them to be murdered. Aren’t they guilty?” Kagame said of those who commanded the UN presence.

“I think it is also cowardice. They left even before any shot was fired. We are not cowards. They (the international community) are part of that history and the root causes of the genocide,” Kagame added.

President Yoweri Museveni in a message hailed Rwanda for rising above the tragedy and focusing on reconciliation and development. Uganda, he said, would continue to stand with Rwanda. He said the genocide was one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of mankind.

Kagame placed a wreath at the hill site in Nyanza and lit a torch in memory of the one million victims, mainly minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu, killed across the small central African country by extremist Hutu militia during the 100-day slaughter.

Kagame also led a symbolic burial of a victim’s remains as children sung songs of hope.

“As we remember, life must go on. We must continue to build a better future,” said Kagame. He said Rwanda had made “significant and tremendous progress”.

“Our future, no one can decide it for us,” he added.

It was Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel group, backed by Uganda, which ended the genocide after it took over power.

Rwandans living in Uganda converged at Ggolo in Mpigi district in honour of the dead.

Often, the victims’ bodies were dumped in rivers Kagera and Nyabarongo, which flow into Lake Victoria in Uganda. The bodies ended up on lake shores in Rakai, Masaka and Mpigi districts. Locals retrieved and buried them in six mass graves at Namirembe, Malembo, Dimo, Lambu, Kasensero and Ggolo in Mpigi.

The graveyard in Ggolo was offered by local entrepreneur Thoban Mahmood of Four-ways Group of Companies. A monument with chambers to enable viewing of the remains is to be built.

State minister for foreign affairs Henry Okello Oryem presided over the Ggolo service. Diplomats from Norway, France, Cuba, Belgium and Tanzania attended.

Oryem said the burial sites will provide an eternal shared history for the two countries and determination to ensure that genocide never happens in the region again.

Ignatius Kamali Karegesa, Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda, said the remains in Namirembe, Malembo and Dimo will be exhumed and reburied in Lambu, Kasensero and Ggolo beginning next week. This will reduce the burial sites in Uganda to three from six.

Karegesa honoured Godfrey Kasumba and George William Wasswa, residents of Ggolo who helped retrieve rotten bodies from the lake. “Without gloves, or masks, they served humanity,” he said.

Comments

South Sudan Life

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:26:24 +0200

Please send it to your friends too.
Some people are doing very badly in life. They deserve to be helped.
Check: www.freetocharities.org.uk/sosubili

Comments

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:22:11 +0200

Sudan Tribune
Saturday, April 04, 2009 Edition.

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"
Saturday 4 April 2009 06:10. Printer-Friendly version Comments...

April 2, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Southern Sudanese political leaders denounced the arrest warrant for the President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir saying it was politically motivated and "orchestrated by outsiders."

Some 64 southern Sudanese political leaders and figure met in Kenana, on the eastern bank of the White Nile, 250km south of Sudan’s capital, to discuss the ICC decision and to review the political situation in the south.

Chaired Gissimalla Aldallah Rassas, Former President of the High Executive Council for Southern Sudan, the two day meeting was also attended by Presidential Advisor Bona Malwal, former foreign minister Lam Akol, among others.

"President Al-Bashir, is our head of state, accountable only to us, the people of Sudan and no to any other body anywhere in the world. Sudan is not a member of the ICC and the ICC move against our President is clearly orchestrated by outsiders, to subject Sudan to their whims."

The statement further reaffirmed the rejection of the ICC move and described it as "part of new international order" aiming to control the developing countries.

The meeting also argued that President Al-Bashir signed three peace agreements in the country in southern eastern and western parts of sudan. "An attempt to remove him from power at this juncture, by whatever means, including through the ICC indictment efforts, is an attempt to derail all the functioning Sudanese peace agreements."

The southern leaders urged Darfur rebels to negotiate a political settlement for the conflict and pledged to support Al-Bashir as long as he remains committed to the signed peace deals.

"To President Al Bashir, we wish to assure him that as long as he upholds the principle of search for peace, for all the people of Sudan and as long as he continue to implement the peace agreements that he has already signed into law for the good of all the people of Sudan no ICC will remove him from power."

The judges of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued on March 4 an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president on seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Sudan refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC saying it has not ratified the treaty establishing the court. Currently there are two ICC arrest warrants pending for Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.

(ST)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related subjects :
Politics :

Sudan delays general elections to Feb 2008
Brazil president declines seat next to Sudan’s Bashir in Qatar
Arab-South America summit refuse to back Sudan’s Bashir on ICC warrant

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment on this article...
12 Comments
What South is called Kenana???
4 April 2009 06:55, by Jayo
Those so-called South Sudan leaders do not represent anyone in the South.We have 10 states in the South,why then did they have to hold two day meeting near Khartoum if they have anything to do with the South???

Those traitors and Arab-shoe leekers will remain in the North when we vote to for independent.Why do they meet only when Bashir was to be arrested?Did they ever meet to discuss any affairs of the South??I don’t have any trust in them.

True Southerners leaders discuss our well-being in Juba,Wau,Yei,Torit,Malakal,Bentiu,Bor,Yambio,Rumbek and Aweil

Reply to this comment

What South is called Kenana??? 4 April 2009 07:09, by John Costa
They are not even honored among their people? They only knew their interest.When they were name ministers, governs, and mayors, the where to conform to Mundukoro military commanders in their own town. during the Civil War, they spent most of the time in Khartoum, they sent their children to Europe while millions of their country men and women are being raped, kill, torture, they have done nothing, but puppets. Farewell for their time!

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"
4 April 2009 07:10, by Mathiang
This is very disturbing report for our fellow southern sudanese to be taking Bashir side. Lam and Bona Mawual, each of them has always worked for his own self interest, so for them to claimed southern sudanese voice is just nothing, but Bashir propaganda. Sudan problem is not just the name arab, but it is Bashir. we, southern sudanese should always ask ourselves first, when did Bashir became our Friend ? CPA came as a result of our long struggle against Bashir ideologies. One successful ideology of Bashir is using sudanese against each other. For Southern Sudan rightnow, we should keep our nose out of Bashir Icc problem. Icc is not fighting against sudanese, but only against Bashir, so let Bashir dance with his own music.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 07:58, by Martin
I think this article is politically motivated or created by an enemy of peace to confuse the unified south sudanese. The article has no writer name on top or under it. And those mentioned politicians are just hyenas and do not represent the south at all. Lam and Malual are so disperate to get leadership positions in the south but they are doing it in a bad way. Yes, Malual, Lam, and others who are natives of Sthe outh Sudan have a right to join the NCP in belief but should not have a divided hearts between the SPLM and NCP parties. Bottom line, Malual and Lam are short-sighted politicians because they chose money first before their people interests.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 08:27, by pol d
Good job Southern we all come from one mother and,one father. let supports our country South.

So Lam and Bona look how people of Great SouthSudan need you,please!please! stick in South at one,don’t sell your land and your people

Al Bashir shoud deal with ICC, and his Northen,because the are supporter tribes in South like it,or not

GOD Bless SouthSudan and in his people.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"
4 April 2009 08:10, by Ben-Fu
Don’t you know that Bashir has paid a team that he select especially to rule Southern Sudan in Khartoum? Wake up people, Southern leaders are divided and will soon be too late to know that they have fails their duties to unite and lead Southerners with pride. Well they are crying out after criminal Bashir and they don’t care who die in Darfur or in any part of Sudan. Bashir is the corrupted King. All African leaders defend him with their souls.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"
4 April 2009 10:51, by Joseph
Politicians,

Play your games, but one thing you should acknowledge if this CPA collapses the Southern Sudan shall be independent country and shall be recognizes by the world.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 12:13, by uncorrupt_dinka
Wicked Wicked Bashir,

Do you think the ICC is going to exonerate you because some retarded southern sudanese who sold their souls to the Devil are willing to go to hell with you. Stop wasting money, grab your IBRIK and go to Hague without a fight is your best option.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders"
4 April 2009 11:48, by tayeb M. Alhassan
FINALLY WE COME TO FIGHT TOGETHER ONE HAND FOR OUR COUNTRY SUDAN. Let traitors and ICC fans drink from the Read Sea

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 12:30, by Makeethy
Alhassan, Those calling themselves "Southern Politicians" are nothing but mere puppets of Elbashir. None of them have ever seen the distruction that has been going on in the south, and other marginalized areas. Leave Elbashir alone.

It seem like Elbashir had forgotten an Arabic term that say "yom alek, wa yom le akhuk". It was his time back then but now, it is a time of those who had endured pain under his torture. Elbashir will never stay in power for ever. He will one day be an ordinary man; a situation for which he will easilly be captured.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 14:07, by Rem Minyiel Kulangdit
To those who are calling themseves southern sudan politicians, time is upon you now with your father bashir to face it roughtly in the Hugae or somewhere else.you where just rally for money and you seen south were been in war all these years, why don’t you leave us alone in peace in the south, time will tell who are you exactly to sudan? i know all of you have muslim mark,some of you are carry names of christainty but not real christian you are wasted your days.my understanding bashir will be taken to court very soon is not above the law.By use threats on south and Durfur by arab is bigs lair against the south is over.these time it is not new things to go for war, it was some things we experience in it already.why do n’t take your money and kep silent, to me you are not politicians of southern sudan, you are just politicians by filled your stomach only.

Reply to this comment

South Sudan politicians say ICC "orchestrated by outsiders" 4 April 2009 14:53, by tayeb M. Alhassan
Dear Makeethy

I don’t know about your personal case with Albasheer but I tell you, don’t get disappointed or frustrated with the situation now. It will be alright very soon!!!

You can’t put 65 of your best politicians in one hand and sling them at a time as good for nothing pack. You have to look behind the reasons and you may find good excuses for those gentlemen meeting in Kenana now to decide for you whether in an independent South or a South in a unified secular Sudan.

Tune down boy!!

Adopted from Sudan Tribune

SudanTribune powered :
Search
Google powered :

The following ads are provided by Google. SudanTribune has no authority on it.

Comments