AFP
5 March 2010
By Emmanuel Goujon
Twenty-five African states agreed Friday to step up efforts to regulate mercenary activity on the continent amid an explosion of private security companies on the continent.
The nations decided at the end of a two-day meeting with a UN working group in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to propose regulations at the September meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, participants said.
"Clearly a consensus has emerged, a willingness of the participating states to regulate more the activities of the PMSCs (private military and security companies)," one delegate told AFP.
Jose Luis Gomez del Prado, from the UN committee on mercenaries, told the meeting the largely U.S.- and British-based industry, worth many billions of dollars a year, had boomed in African and across the world.
"With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have seen this embryonic industry explode. There is a new dimension with the piracy in Somalia," he said.
Private security "multinationals", 70-80 per cent of which were based in the United States or Britain, were recruiting around the world, he said, adding there was an "osmosis" between these groups and typical mercenaries.
"This market represents between 20 and 100 billion dollars a year," Del Prado said, adding that these guns for hire posed a "great danger" to fragile governments.
In Africa there was "resentment towards private armies mainly because of the involvement of mercenaries in regime change in a number of African countries," said African Union security expert Norman Lambo.
In one example, British-led mercenaries led a foiled coup in 2004 against the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
"It is unfortunate that of late some groups have decided to move their mercenary activities to hide them under private security activities," he told the meeting.
Nine African states are among 32 countries that have ratified a 1989 UN Convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries.
The Organization of African Unity, predecessor of the African Union, adopted in 1977 a convention on the elimination of mercenaries which was in turn adopted by 30 African countries.
However there were a number of loopholes in the document and it needed to be strengthened, del Prado said.
The head of the UN group, Shaista Shameem, said the current regulations were "largely inadequate".
"Africa is also becoming an important market for the security industry as well as a supplier of personnel for the industry."
"This new phenomenon is largely unregulated and has led to a situation which has impacted negatively on human rights," she said, adding that these groups were "rarely held accountable" of they committed abuses.
06 March, 2010
Ethiopia: Open Impartial Inquiry Into Opposition Candidate’s Murder.
Human Rights Watch
5 March 2010
Press Release
The Ethiopian government should urgently initiate an independent investigation into the murder of an opposition candidate for parliament and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
Aregawi Gebreyohannes, the victim, was a candidate for the Arena-Tigray opposition party for the May 23, 2010, elections. He was stabbed to death by five men at his home in Shire, in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, on the evening of March 1, press reports and witnesses said.
"This attack demands an urgent, credible, and independent investigation given Ethiopia's highly charged pre-election environment," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Getting to the truth of this incident will help build confidence in the electoral process."
Opposition officials contend that the attack was politically motivated and followed months of intimidation and harassment of Aregawi and other opposition candidates. The government told international journalists that the killing was a personal dispute, not political, and that Aregawi had tried to break up a fight in his restaurant. The government also said that one of the men who attacked Aregawi has been taken into custody. Credible sources told Human Rights Watch that the others have been released.
The Arena-Tigray party is a member of the largest opposition coalition, known as the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD, or Medrek). The leader of Arena-Tigray, Gebru Asrat, told Voice of America radio that the killing of Aregawi and the beating of another Arena-Tigray candidate, Ayelew Beyene, by armed men on March 1 were part of a campaign of intimidation by the ruling party.
Background
The May 23 elections will be the first parliamentary elections in Ethiopia since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in bloodshed. Up to 200 people were killed by government security forces responding to street protests in June and November 2005. Tens of thousands of people were arrested in the course of the political crisis over disputed election results, including dozens of opposition leaders, journalists, and several civil society activists.
Since 2005, Ethiopia's human rights situation has worsened, marked by a harsh intolerance for independent civil society activity, criticism of government actions, or opposition political activity. Government critics continue to be subjected to harassment, arrest, and even torture. Repressive new legislation passed in 2009 makes most forms of independent human rights activity impossible and provides an overbroad definition of terrorism that could be applied to acts of peaceful protest or to media reporting on security-related topics.
Opposition parties contend that government officials regularly harass, intimidate, and assault opposition supporters to repress political dissent. The government routinely denies the allegations. A prominent opposition leader, Birtukan Midekssa, is serving a life sentence after the government revoked a pardon it issued for alleged acts of treason connected to post-election protests in 2005. UN experts said in 2009 that her detention was arbitrary.
5 March 2010
Press Release
The Ethiopian government should urgently initiate an independent investigation into the murder of an opposition candidate for parliament and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
Aregawi Gebreyohannes, the victim, was a candidate for the Arena-Tigray opposition party for the May 23, 2010, elections. He was stabbed to death by five men at his home in Shire, in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, on the evening of March 1, press reports and witnesses said.
"This attack demands an urgent, credible, and independent investigation given Ethiopia's highly charged pre-election environment," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Getting to the truth of this incident will help build confidence in the electoral process."
Opposition officials contend that the attack was politically motivated and followed months of intimidation and harassment of Aregawi and other opposition candidates. The government told international journalists that the killing was a personal dispute, not political, and that Aregawi had tried to break up a fight in his restaurant. The government also said that one of the men who attacked Aregawi has been taken into custody. Credible sources told Human Rights Watch that the others have been released.
The Arena-Tigray party is a member of the largest opposition coalition, known as the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD, or Medrek). The leader of Arena-Tigray, Gebru Asrat, told Voice of America radio that the killing of Aregawi and the beating of another Arena-Tigray candidate, Ayelew Beyene, by armed men on March 1 were part of a campaign of intimidation by the ruling party.
Background
The May 23 elections will be the first parliamentary elections in Ethiopia since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in bloodshed. Up to 200 people were killed by government security forces responding to street protests in June and November 2005. Tens of thousands of people were arrested in the course of the political crisis over disputed election results, including dozens of opposition leaders, journalists, and several civil society activists.
Since 2005, Ethiopia's human rights situation has worsened, marked by a harsh intolerance for independent civil society activity, criticism of government actions, or opposition political activity. Government critics continue to be subjected to harassment, arrest, and even torture. Repressive new legislation passed in 2009 makes most forms of independent human rights activity impossible and provides an overbroad definition of terrorism that could be applied to acts of peaceful protest or to media reporting on security-related topics.
Opposition parties contend that government officials regularly harass, intimidate, and assault opposition supporters to repress political dissent. The government routinely denies the allegations. A prominent opposition leader, Birtukan Midekssa, is serving a life sentence after the government revoked a pardon it issued for alleged acts of treason connected to post-election protests in 2005. UN experts said in 2009 that her detention was arbitrary.
Ghana: Battle over Supremacy in Jubilee oil Field.
The Chronicle
Stephen Odoi-Larbi
5 March 2010
The brouhaha surrounding the Government of Ghana's stand to block the estimated $4 billion sale of a 23.5% stake in the huge Jubilee Field, following months of talks between potential buyer Exxon Mobil Corp, and the stake's owner, Kosmos Energy LLC, witnessed a different twist in Parliament yesterday.
Former Attorney-General (A-G) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, and Minister of Trade & Industry, Hannah Tetteh, engaged in a heated debate as to whether the stand taken by the government of Ghana was justifiable or not, considering the current position of the country.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, contributing to the debate of the message of President Mills' State of the Nation Address, expressed concern over how the investment world was looking at the Ghana, considering its recent discovery of oil and gas.
According to him, the way and manner in which the government of Ghana was handling things in the oil and gas industry was awful, a situation he said, could further drive potential investors away from investing in the country.
He was particularly worried about the President's pronouncement in his State of the Nation Address that all was well. "Indeed, since this government took over, the cost of doing business in Ghana has become higher. I must say that when the President says everything is well, I feel sad," he noted, to the admiration of the Minority members in Parliament, who cheered him up with the "hear, hear" slogan.
Hon. Owusu-Ankomah read an article dated February 17th, 2010, and published by the Wall Street Journal titled, "Why Africa is poor" to buttress his argument, highlighting on how the government's recent decision on a stake in Jubilee Field was derailing the confidence of investors in the country.
"President Obama headlined his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa last July, with a stop in Ghana. Speaking to Parliament in Accra, Mr. Obama praised the country's growth and its example that "development depends on good governance."
Eight months later, Ghana's government is turning the nation into a cautionary tale for foreign investors.
Exhibit A is the case of Kosmos Energy, a U.S. company based in Texas, which has lately seen capricious government meddling in a deal to sell a $4 billion stake in a Ghanaian oil field to ExxonMobil Corp.
Ghanaian Energy Minister Joe Oteng-Adjei suggested in a letter to Exxon, reviewed by Journal reporter Will Connors, that the government would "support the strategic intent and efforts of [Ghana National Petroleum] to acquire Kosmos's Ghana assets at a fair market value," he quoted the Wall Street Journal as saying.
But, the Minister of Trade & Industry, Madam Hannah Tetteh, listening to the former A-G's submission with rapt attention, quickly got to her feet to bring him to order, since according to her, he (Papa Owusu-Ankomah) was misleading the House.
Her intervention attracted lots of heckling from both sides (Minority and Majority) of the House. Those on the Minority demanded she sit down, whilst those on the Majority side, cheered her on to bring the Papa Owusu-Ankomah to order.
"Sit down, sit down, you don't have anything to say," demanded some members on the Minority side.
"Teach him, he doesn't know what he is saying," responded those on the Majority side.
Calm-looking Hannah Tetteh, in her reaction, said "Madam Speaker, I want to inform some of the members of the Minority on the other side of the House that I was a Member of Parliament before them, and so I can teach them, they don't know enough (sic) to teach me."
According to her, Papa Owusu-Ankomah was misleading the House, since he was quoting from an article "which at the end of the day, is nothing more than a statement of opinion, and therefore cannot be considered as a statement of fact."
According to her, the government had not repudiated any contract which it had entered into with Kosmos Energy.
She said the issue affecting Kosmos was whether or not it was in a position to sell its interest in the manner in which it purported to do, without the consent of the Minister responsible for Energy.
Just as she was about to continue, the Minority resorted to their heckling style with the view to intimidating her, but she was the least perturbed by their actions, and continued to address the Chair (Madam Speaker).
"Madam Speaker, by the rules of the House, I address Madam Speaker when I raise a point of Order, not to the members of the House," she noted in her response. Earlier, Papa Owusu-Ankomah had criticised the government for its decision to venture into iron and steel industry as part of her flagship project, considering the huge amount of money involved.
Stephen Odoi-Larbi
5 March 2010
The brouhaha surrounding the Government of Ghana's stand to block the estimated $4 billion sale of a 23.5% stake in the huge Jubilee Field, following months of talks between potential buyer Exxon Mobil Corp, and the stake's owner, Kosmos Energy LLC, witnessed a different twist in Parliament yesterday.
Former Attorney-General (A-G) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, and Minister of Trade & Industry, Hannah Tetteh, engaged in a heated debate as to whether the stand taken by the government of Ghana was justifiable or not, considering the current position of the country.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, contributing to the debate of the message of President Mills' State of the Nation Address, expressed concern over how the investment world was looking at the Ghana, considering its recent discovery of oil and gas.
According to him, the way and manner in which the government of Ghana was handling things in the oil and gas industry was awful, a situation he said, could further drive potential investors away from investing in the country.
He was particularly worried about the President's pronouncement in his State of the Nation Address that all was well. "Indeed, since this government took over, the cost of doing business in Ghana has become higher. I must say that when the President says everything is well, I feel sad," he noted, to the admiration of the Minority members in Parliament, who cheered him up with the "hear, hear" slogan.
Hon. Owusu-Ankomah read an article dated February 17th, 2010, and published by the Wall Street Journal titled, "Why Africa is poor" to buttress his argument, highlighting on how the government's recent decision on a stake in Jubilee Field was derailing the confidence of investors in the country.
"President Obama headlined his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa last July, with a stop in Ghana. Speaking to Parliament in Accra, Mr. Obama praised the country's growth and its example that "development depends on good governance."
Eight months later, Ghana's government is turning the nation into a cautionary tale for foreign investors.
Exhibit A is the case of Kosmos Energy, a U.S. company based in Texas, which has lately seen capricious government meddling in a deal to sell a $4 billion stake in a Ghanaian oil field to ExxonMobil Corp.
Ghanaian Energy Minister Joe Oteng-Adjei suggested in a letter to Exxon, reviewed by Journal reporter Will Connors, that the government would "support the strategic intent and efforts of [Ghana National Petroleum] to acquire Kosmos's Ghana assets at a fair market value," he quoted the Wall Street Journal as saying.
But, the Minister of Trade & Industry, Madam Hannah Tetteh, listening to the former A-G's submission with rapt attention, quickly got to her feet to bring him to order, since according to her, he (Papa Owusu-Ankomah) was misleading the House.
Her intervention attracted lots of heckling from both sides (Minority and Majority) of the House. Those on the Minority demanded she sit down, whilst those on the Majority side, cheered her on to bring the Papa Owusu-Ankomah to order.
"Sit down, sit down, you don't have anything to say," demanded some members on the Minority side.
"Teach him, he doesn't know what he is saying," responded those on the Majority side.
Calm-looking Hannah Tetteh, in her reaction, said "Madam Speaker, I want to inform some of the members of the Minority on the other side of the House that I was a Member of Parliament before them, and so I can teach them, they don't know enough (sic) to teach me."
According to her, Papa Owusu-Ankomah was misleading the House, since he was quoting from an article "which at the end of the day, is nothing more than a statement of opinion, and therefore cannot be considered as a statement of fact."
According to her, the government had not repudiated any contract which it had entered into with Kosmos Energy.
She said the issue affecting Kosmos was whether or not it was in a position to sell its interest in the manner in which it purported to do, without the consent of the Minister responsible for Energy.
Just as she was about to continue, the Minority resorted to their heckling style with the view to intimidating her, but she was the least perturbed by their actions, and continued to address the Chair (Madam Speaker).
"Madam Speaker, by the rules of the House, I address Madam Speaker when I raise a point of Order, not to the members of the House," she noted in her response. Earlier, Papa Owusu-Ankomah had criticised the government for its decision to venture into iron and steel industry as part of her flagship project, considering the huge amount of money involved.
Ivory Coast 'Battles' Ghana over Oil field boundaries.
The Chronicle
5 March 2010
Even before Ghana goes partying over its latest discovery of oil in deep waters offshore in the Western Region, La Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana's Western neighbour, is said to be laying claims to portions of the oil field.
Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, explained in a telephone interview with The Chronicle yesterday, that Ghana's boundary with Ivory Coast had not been clearly demarcated, but both countries have since shared and respected a ' median line' which has served as a boundary between the two countries. But, this long shared and respected boundary changed when Ivory Coast, in its recent correspondence with the government of Ghana, indicated that it no longer respected the existing "median line" dividing the two countries, and subsequently served the United Nations with a similar correspondence.
Collins Dauda says the development could have serious international and diplomatic repercussions, if not handled with tact.The Minister was of the opinion that the claim by Ivory Coast was baseless, as the claim by Ivory Coast was not in line with certain acceptable internationally standards of determining maritime boundaries.
Collins Dauda disclosed that last year, Ghana appealed to the United Nations to extend its maritime boundary by 200 nautical miles, and as a precondition, the country was directed to negotiate boundaries with its neighbours, he disclosed.
He said the government was in the process of fast-tracking the establishment of a National Boundary Commission, to negotiate the country's maritime boundaries with Ivory Coast, adding that the bill for the institution of the Commission had since been sent to Parliament, under a certificate of urgency.
"A National Boundaries Commission will be put in place that would engage our neighbours in La Cote d'Ivoire, with a view of negotiating our maritime boundary between ourselves and our brothers in Ivory Coast," the Minister indicated in an earlier interview on Joy FM.
Issue, and could have far reaching consequences, if the media especially, does not exercise circumspection in its reportage. AO Lukoil, Russia's second-biggest oil producer, and closely-held Vanco Energy Company, made yet another significant find of oil and gas deposits in deep waters in the Western Region.
The partners, together with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, drilled a well at the Dzata field off the Cape Three Points deep-water block in the Gulf of Guinea. The Dzata 1 well, drilled to a depth of about 4,500 meters (14,500 feet), tapped a 94-meter-thick hydrocarbon column. The new discovery puts Ghana in the limelight, as it is set to become one of Africa's newest oil exporters later this year, when production begins at the Jubilee Field, which has potential resources of as many as 1.8 billion barrels, according to Tullow Oil Plc, its operator.
5 March 2010
Even before Ghana goes partying over its latest discovery of oil in deep waters offshore in the Western Region, La Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana's Western neighbour, is said to be laying claims to portions of the oil field.
Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, explained in a telephone interview with The Chronicle yesterday, that Ghana's boundary with Ivory Coast had not been clearly demarcated, but both countries have since shared and respected a ' median line' which has served as a boundary between the two countries. But, this long shared and respected boundary changed when Ivory Coast, in its recent correspondence with the government of Ghana, indicated that it no longer respected the existing "median line" dividing the two countries, and subsequently served the United Nations with a similar correspondence.
Collins Dauda says the development could have serious international and diplomatic repercussions, if not handled with tact.The Minister was of the opinion that the claim by Ivory Coast was baseless, as the claim by Ivory Coast was not in line with certain acceptable internationally standards of determining maritime boundaries.
Collins Dauda disclosed that last year, Ghana appealed to the United Nations to extend its maritime boundary by 200 nautical miles, and as a precondition, the country was directed to negotiate boundaries with its neighbours, he disclosed.
He said the government was in the process of fast-tracking the establishment of a National Boundary Commission, to negotiate the country's maritime boundaries with Ivory Coast, adding that the bill for the institution of the Commission had since been sent to Parliament, under a certificate of urgency.
"A National Boundaries Commission will be put in place that would engage our neighbours in La Cote d'Ivoire, with a view of negotiating our maritime boundary between ourselves and our brothers in Ivory Coast," the Minister indicated in an earlier interview on Joy FM.
Issue, and could have far reaching consequences, if the media especially, does not exercise circumspection in its reportage. AO Lukoil, Russia's second-biggest oil producer, and closely-held Vanco Energy Company, made yet another significant find of oil and gas deposits in deep waters in the Western Region.
The partners, together with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, drilled a well at the Dzata field off the Cape Three Points deep-water block in the Gulf of Guinea. The Dzata 1 well, drilled to a depth of about 4,500 meters (14,500 feet), tapped a 94-meter-thick hydrocarbon column. The new discovery puts Ghana in the limelight, as it is set to become one of Africa's newest oil exporters later this year, when production begins at the Jubilee Field, which has potential resources of as many as 1.8 billion barrels, according to Tullow Oil Plc, its operator.
Rwanda refuses to respond to Gen. Nyamwasa.
Daily Monitor
6 March 2010
By Richard Wanambwa & Gerald Bareebe
Reacting to the General’s comments in an interview he gave to Voice of America from his South African exile, the country’s High Commissioner here, Mr Frank Mugambagye, told Saturday Monitor on Friday that, “We better stick to what the government has said. The President (Paul Kagame) gave a statement and the minister [for foreign affairs, Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo] has done the same. We cannot respond to everything Kayumba is saying”.
Mr. Mugambagye’s response came hours after police in Kigali confirmed they were investigating Thursday night’s bomb blasts that left 16 people injured. Two simultaneous grenade attacks were reported; the first taking place in Kimironko close to the taxi park, while the other occurred at Kinamba on the way to Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre during heavy rain.
“We are still investigating the case, details will be released later,” Rwanda Police Spokesman Eric Kayiranga was quoted by the paper yesterday. The Kimironko attack injured 12 people who were rushed to Kibagabaga Hospital while the Kinamba attack left four with minor injuries.
Thursday’s attacks come barely two weeks after a similar incident left two people dead and many injured in Kigali. It also came at a time when President Paul Kagame’s hold onto power in Kigali is coming under the spotlight with the latest reports of internal strife spreading across the region.
“A security incident will happen anywhere in this world, even in developed modern systems and countries where they have resources and capabilities,” Pres. Kagame was quoted by the state newspaper, Rwanda Times, on Thursday.
6 March 2010
By Richard Wanambwa & Gerald Bareebe
Reacting to the General’s comments in an interview he gave to Voice of America from his South African exile, the country’s High Commissioner here, Mr Frank Mugambagye, told Saturday Monitor on Friday that, “We better stick to what the government has said. The President (Paul Kagame) gave a statement and the minister [for foreign affairs, Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo] has done the same. We cannot respond to everything Kayumba is saying”.
Mr. Mugambagye’s response came hours after police in Kigali confirmed they were investigating Thursday night’s bomb blasts that left 16 people injured. Two simultaneous grenade attacks were reported; the first taking place in Kimironko close to the taxi park, while the other occurred at Kinamba on the way to Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre during heavy rain.
“We are still investigating the case, details will be released later,” Rwanda Police Spokesman Eric Kayiranga was quoted by the paper yesterday. The Kimironko attack injured 12 people who were rushed to Kibagabaga Hospital while the Kinamba attack left four with minor injuries.
Thursday’s attacks come barely two weeks after a similar incident left two people dead and many injured in Kigali. It also came at a time when President Paul Kagame’s hold onto power in Kigali is coming under the spotlight with the latest reports of internal strife spreading across the region.
“A security incident will happen anywhere in this world, even in developed modern systems and countries where they have resources and capabilities,” Pres. Kagame was quoted by the state newspaper, Rwanda Times, on Thursday.
Deo Mushayidi arrested in Burundi, extradited to Rwanda.
The New Times
6 March 2010
By Gashegu Muramira
Editor's Note: He is being blamed for the recent grenade attacks in Kigali. Mr. Mushayidi is the latest in a long string of individuals accused of being a "mastermind" behind the attacks. Since the departure of General Nyamwasa, the External branch of the DMI has been fully mobilized and activated or deployed in countries across Africa and in Europe to track down designated "dissidents" of the state while pressure from the Rwandan government is being placed on foreign dignitaries to arrest and extradict Rwandans opposed to the regime who are alleged to be guilty of various crimes. Several such immigration hearings are due to be held very soon in the United States, while France took actions immediately following President Sarkozy's recent 3-hour visit to Rwanda. Mr. Mushayidi is currently being held at Remera for questioning. If deemed an "enemy of the state" (very Stalin-like), he will be moved to the underground prison site at the Kami Camp North of Kigali and East of the Deutche Welle antennas.
The former president of the Rwanda Journalists Association, Deo Mushayidi has been arrested on charges of terrorism and causing state insecurity.
The Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, claimed last evening that Mushayidi is part of a wider network that includes renegade military officers, Lt Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa and Patrick Karegyeya.
“He has been shuttling between various countries in the region and our security forces have been monitoring his movements.
He was arrested following cooperation by law enforcement organs of our neighboring country, Burundi,” Ngoga said.
Mushayidi has since been extradited to Rwanda to face a court of law.
“He is now in the hands of our national police, we have a lot of evidence about his involvement and about the whole network,” Ngoga said.
“The rest are detail that we will keep for investigative purposes.”
The Prosecutor General revealed that at the time of his arrest, Mushayidi was not staying in Belgium as it had been claimed.
“In recent months he had been living in the region”.
6 March 2010
By Gashegu Muramira
Editor's Note: He is being blamed for the recent grenade attacks in Kigali. Mr. Mushayidi is the latest in a long string of individuals accused of being a "mastermind" behind the attacks. Since the departure of General Nyamwasa, the External branch of the DMI has been fully mobilized and activated or deployed in countries across Africa and in Europe to track down designated "dissidents" of the state while pressure from the Rwandan government is being placed on foreign dignitaries to arrest and extradict Rwandans opposed to the regime who are alleged to be guilty of various crimes. Several such immigration hearings are due to be held very soon in the United States, while France took actions immediately following President Sarkozy's recent 3-hour visit to Rwanda. Mr. Mushayidi is currently being held at Remera for questioning. If deemed an "enemy of the state" (very Stalin-like), he will be moved to the underground prison site at the Kami Camp North of Kigali and East of the Deutche Welle antennas.
The former president of the Rwanda Journalists Association, Deo Mushayidi has been arrested on charges of terrorism and causing state insecurity.
The Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, claimed last evening that Mushayidi is part of a wider network that includes renegade military officers, Lt Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa and Patrick Karegyeya.
“He has been shuttling between various countries in the region and our security forces have been monitoring his movements.
He was arrested following cooperation by law enforcement organs of our neighboring country, Burundi,” Ngoga said.
Mushayidi has since been extradited to Rwanda to face a court of law.
“He is now in the hands of our national police, we have a lot of evidence about his involvement and about the whole network,” Ngoga said.
“The rest are detail that we will keep for investigative purposes.”
The Prosecutor General revealed that at the time of his arrest, Mushayidi was not staying in Belgium as it had been claimed.
“In recent months he had been living in the region”.
05 March, 2010
CNOOC, Total Submit Uganda Oil Proposals - Sources.
by Nicholas Bariyo
Dow Jones Newswires
3/5/2010
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=88858
France-based Total SA and China's Cnooc Ltd. this week presented their final development proposals for three Ugandan oil blocks to Uganda's government, and a government decision on the plans is expected before the end of March, people familiar with the process told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.
A government official said that Total was the first to make a presentation to the government on Tuesday this week, and this was followed by Cnooc on Wednesday. U.K.-based Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) has nominated the two companies as potential partners for developing three Lake Albert oil blocks where more than 1 billion barrels of oil have been discovered.
Tullow is awaiting government approval to purchase a 50% stake in two blocks that are currently owned by U.K.-based Heritage Oil PLC (HOIL.LN). If successful, Tullow -- which already owns the remaining 50% stake in the two blocks, and all of a third, neighboring block -- would have full ownership of all three blocks, but has said it will bring in one or more partners to develop the assets.
A decision to allow Tullow to take over Heritage's interests in two Ugandan blocks is subject to the "agreeable" development proposals of Tullow's potential partners, according to Kalisa Kabagambe, the permanent secretary at the ministry of energy and minerals development. The Ugandan government has insisted that any deal must be in the interests of the country.
"The meetings between government and the companies are now over, but there are a lot of legal documents to be signed," the government official said Friday. Total could not comment immediately, while Tullow and Cnooc declined to comment. Cnooc Ltd. is the Hong Kong-listed unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp.
Tullow, Cnooc and Total are now expected to sign sales and purchase agreements, as well as a cooperation agreement, with each other. The agreements will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development, as well as the attorney general, before a final approval, the official added.
Last month, the Ugandan government invited Cnooc and Total to make individual presentations on their development proposals.
Kabagambe last month told lawmakers sitting on Uganda's Natural Resources Committee that the approval for the partners to join the licenses shall be made only upon confirmation that the partnership addresses the country's interests. Government wants the three oil companies to operate one block each in order to avoid a monopoly. According to government, at least $8 billion is required for the development of the country's oil sector in the next 10 years.
Cnooc and Total have both expressed interest in building a refinery in Uganda, and an export pipeline to the East African coast.
Dow Jones Newswires
3/5/2010
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=88858
France-based Total SA and China's Cnooc Ltd. this week presented their final development proposals for three Ugandan oil blocks to Uganda's government, and a government decision on the plans is expected before the end of March, people familiar with the process told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.
A government official said that Total was the first to make a presentation to the government on Tuesday this week, and this was followed by Cnooc on Wednesday. U.K.-based Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) has nominated the two companies as potential partners for developing three Lake Albert oil blocks where more than 1 billion barrels of oil have been discovered.
Tullow is awaiting government approval to purchase a 50% stake in two blocks that are currently owned by U.K.-based Heritage Oil PLC (HOIL.LN). If successful, Tullow -- which already owns the remaining 50% stake in the two blocks, and all of a third, neighboring block -- would have full ownership of all three blocks, but has said it will bring in one or more partners to develop the assets.
A decision to allow Tullow to take over Heritage's interests in two Ugandan blocks is subject to the "agreeable" development proposals of Tullow's potential partners, according to Kalisa Kabagambe, the permanent secretary at the ministry of energy and minerals development. The Ugandan government has insisted that any deal must be in the interests of the country.
"The meetings between government and the companies are now over, but there are a lot of legal documents to be signed," the government official said Friday. Total could not comment immediately, while Tullow and Cnooc declined to comment. Cnooc Ltd. is the Hong Kong-listed unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp.
Tullow, Cnooc and Total are now expected to sign sales and purchase agreements, as well as a cooperation agreement, with each other. The agreements will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development, as well as the attorney general, before a final approval, the official added.
Last month, the Ugandan government invited Cnooc and Total to make individual presentations on their development proposals.
Kabagambe last month told lawmakers sitting on Uganda's Natural Resources Committee that the approval for the partners to join the licenses shall be made only upon confirmation that the partnership addresses the country's interests. Government wants the three oil companies to operate one block each in order to avoid a monopoly. According to government, at least $8 billion is required for the development of the country's oil sector in the next 10 years.
Cnooc and Total have both expressed interest in building a refinery in Uganda, and an export pipeline to the East African coast.
Chad Gets New PM.
IOL News
5 March 2010
A former oil minister in Chad, Emmanuel Nadingar, was named prime minister Friday, after Youssouf Saleh Abbas tendered his resignation to the president, a presidential statement said.
After holding the strategic oil portfolio, Nadingar was minister for decentralisation in the government headed by Saleh Abbas, who took office in May 2008.
Nadingar comes from Bebidja in the southwest of the central African country.
The speed of Nadingar's appointment was a surprise, though several observers said that they had been expecting Saleh Abbas's resignation for several weeks, in the absence of government activity.
No cabinet meetings have been held since December and political differences became apparent between President Idriss Deby Itno and his prime minister, a former opposition figure who later sided with the regime.
Several ministers in Saleh Abbas's government have been accused of embezzlement in a scandal related to the purchase of school textbooks.
State television reported that Saleh Abbas had tendered his resignation and that Deby had accepted it in a brief report that gave no reason why the prime minister stepped down.
5 March 2010
A former oil minister in Chad, Emmanuel Nadingar, was named prime minister Friday, after Youssouf Saleh Abbas tendered his resignation to the president, a presidential statement said.
After holding the strategic oil portfolio, Nadingar was minister for decentralisation in the government headed by Saleh Abbas, who took office in May 2008.
Nadingar comes from Bebidja in the southwest of the central African country.
The speed of Nadingar's appointment was a surprise, though several observers said that they had been expecting Saleh Abbas's resignation for several weeks, in the absence of government activity.
No cabinet meetings have been held since December and political differences became apparent between President Idriss Deby Itno and his prime minister, a former opposition figure who later sided with the regime.
Several ministers in Saleh Abbas's government have been accused of embezzlement in a scandal related to the purchase of school textbooks.
State television reported that Saleh Abbas had tendered his resignation and that Deby had accepted it in a brief report that gave no reason why the prime minister stepped down.
Gen. Nyamwasa tracked to SA.
SAPA
5 March 2010
South African authorities say a Rwandan general accused of crimes in Rwanda is currently located in South Africa.
The spokesman for a special crime-fighting unit called the Hawks says Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa arrived in South Africa on February 27.
The Rwandan government has accused him of involvement in three February 19 grenade attacks in Rwanda's capital. The attacks in central Kigali killed one person and injured 30.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi says South Africa has not arrested him because they do not have an extradition treaty with Rwanda. Gen. Nyamwasa's arrest and extradition will require a formal request from Rwanda's attorney general, which would then need to be signed by South African President Jacob Zuma personally.
5 March 2010
South African authorities say a Rwandan general accused of crimes in Rwanda is currently located in South Africa.
The spokesman for a special crime-fighting unit called the Hawks says Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa arrived in South Africa on February 27.
The Rwandan government has accused him of involvement in three February 19 grenade attacks in Rwanda's capital. The attacks in central Kigali killed one person and injured 30.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi says South Africa has not arrested him because they do not have an extradition treaty with Rwanda. Gen. Nyamwasa's arrest and extradition will require a formal request from Rwanda's attorney general, which would then need to be signed by South African President Jacob Zuma personally.
SWAPO Wins Elections.
Mail & Guardian
5 March 2010
By Josh Grobler
Hopes by nine Namibian opposition parties to force an annulment of last year's November election -- which they said had been marred with systematic regularities -- were dashed on Thursday when the High Court threw their case out for filing it 90 minutes after the deadline had passed on January 4.
The struggling opposition was dealt a further blow by the court when it was also awarded costs against them -- expected to run into millions of rands.
On December 24, the loose coalition nominally led by Swapo breakaway party the Rally for Democracy won the first round in the election battle when they obtained a court order to inspect certain election materials.
What they found gave them enough reason to think the elections -- which put President Hifikepunye Pohamba back in office for a second term -- were flawed enough to have the results nullified and a new election called.
In terms of the Election Act, they had 10 days to file an application for annulment after the first legal victory. But the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) only granted access to certain materials on the December 28, leaving them only the New Year's Eve long weekend to prepare their case.
The opposition hoped evidence presented in about 200 affidavits and technical analyses compiled to show why it was improbable -- if not impossible -- to hold elections with a highly inflated voters' roll (the ECN claimed to have registered 98% of all eligible voters) would sway the Bench.
The court heard two days of argument, including six hours of testimony, from the opposition's Advocate Reinhardt Tötemeyer on dozens of irregularities discovered during their limited audit of the election materials. But the court ended up basing their judgement on the main technical objection, which was raised by the ECN's Advocate Vincent Maleka that the opposition's application for annulment was filed 90 minutes late and therefore was not properly before the court.
Court rules require that applications be filed no later than 3pm of any working day, but the application was only lodged with the registrar at 4.30pm on January 4.
Sources in the opposition team said the delay was because of the huge volume of documents that had to be printed and copied to the various involved parties, with the record running to over 1 600 pages.
Judge Collins Parker, with Judge President Petrus Damaseb concurring, ruled that no "exceptional circumstances" were proven by the opposition in the court that could justify the Registrar of the High Court relaxing this rule in accepting the filing.
Damaseb also dismissed pleas for extenuating circumstances, saying the opposition's lawyers never made any attempt to approach the court for condonation in this respect.
The verdict was met with stunned silence from opposition members in court -- and scenes of jubilation outside as Swapo supporters, watching the event broadcast live, took over Windhoek's main streets in a belated election victory parade.
RDP president Hidipo Hamutenya, in remarks to the local press on Friday, described the verdict as "a joke" which could have a serious effect on future elections in Namibia. They were still considering their options, he said.
Technically, they could still appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court, but with the swearing-in of the new Cabinet Ministers due in three weeks' time on March 21, they now will have to accept the election results that gave Swapo 75% of the vote.
5 March 2010
By Josh Grobler
Hopes by nine Namibian opposition parties to force an annulment of last year's November election -- which they said had been marred with systematic regularities -- were dashed on Thursday when the High Court threw their case out for filing it 90 minutes after the deadline had passed on January 4.
The struggling opposition was dealt a further blow by the court when it was also awarded costs against them -- expected to run into millions of rands.
On December 24, the loose coalition nominally led by Swapo breakaway party the Rally for Democracy won the first round in the election battle when they obtained a court order to inspect certain election materials.
What they found gave them enough reason to think the elections -- which put President Hifikepunye Pohamba back in office for a second term -- were flawed enough to have the results nullified and a new election called.
In terms of the Election Act, they had 10 days to file an application for annulment after the first legal victory. But the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) only granted access to certain materials on the December 28, leaving them only the New Year's Eve long weekend to prepare their case.
The opposition hoped evidence presented in about 200 affidavits and technical analyses compiled to show why it was improbable -- if not impossible -- to hold elections with a highly inflated voters' roll (the ECN claimed to have registered 98% of all eligible voters) would sway the Bench.
The court heard two days of argument, including six hours of testimony, from the opposition's Advocate Reinhardt Tötemeyer on dozens of irregularities discovered during their limited audit of the election materials. But the court ended up basing their judgement on the main technical objection, which was raised by the ECN's Advocate Vincent Maleka that the opposition's application for annulment was filed 90 minutes late and therefore was not properly before the court.
Court rules require that applications be filed no later than 3pm of any working day, but the application was only lodged with the registrar at 4.30pm on January 4.
Sources in the opposition team said the delay was because of the huge volume of documents that had to be printed and copied to the various involved parties, with the record running to over 1 600 pages.
Judge Collins Parker, with Judge President Petrus Damaseb concurring, ruled that no "exceptional circumstances" were proven by the opposition in the court that could justify the Registrar of the High Court relaxing this rule in accepting the filing.
Damaseb also dismissed pleas for extenuating circumstances, saying the opposition's lawyers never made any attempt to approach the court for condonation in this respect.
The verdict was met with stunned silence from opposition members in court -- and scenes of jubilation outside as Swapo supporters, watching the event broadcast live, took over Windhoek's main streets in a belated election victory parade.
RDP president Hidipo Hamutenya, in remarks to the local press on Friday, described the verdict as "a joke" which could have a serious effect on future elections in Namibia. They were still considering their options, he said.
Technically, they could still appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court, but with the swearing-in of the new Cabinet Ministers due in three weeks' time on March 21, they now will have to accept the election results that gave Swapo 75% of the vote.
UPDATE ON JOSEPH NTAWANGUNDI’S CASE.
FDU/UDF-Inkingi
Press Release
Since the arrest of Joseph Ntawangundi on 05th February 2010 and the subsequent incommunicado detention, UDF-INKINGI is conducting its own investigation. At this stage, troubling details about his curriculum vitae raise a certain amount of questions on the information he volunteered before his arrest. This has resulted in regrettable errors in our press release dated 05th February 2010.
Therefore, we dissociate ourselves explicitly from the earlier records of his occupational environment and call on serious investigations. His lawyer is still trying in vain to obtain a copy of the infamous 2007 in absentia trial papers. Until proven otherwise, Mr. Joseph Ntawangundi must be presumed innocent. We call on the Rwandan government to ensure that he is granted a fair, prompt, and public trial.
Done in Kigali, 4 March 2010,
Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
Chairperson, UDF-INKINGI
Press Release
Since the arrest of Joseph Ntawangundi on 05th February 2010 and the subsequent incommunicado detention, UDF-INKINGI is conducting its own investigation. At this stage, troubling details about his curriculum vitae raise a certain amount of questions on the information he volunteered before his arrest. This has resulted in regrettable errors in our press release dated 05th February 2010.
Therefore, we dissociate ourselves explicitly from the earlier records of his occupational environment and call on serious investigations. His lawyer is still trying in vain to obtain a copy of the infamous 2007 in absentia trial papers. Until proven otherwise, Mr. Joseph Ntawangundi must be presumed innocent. We call on the Rwandan government to ensure that he is granted a fair, prompt, and public trial.
Done in Kigali, 4 March 2010,
Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
Chairperson, UDF-INKINGI
Rwanda, Uganda agree to execute JPC resolutions.
The New Times
5 March 2010
By Eric Kabeera
Editor's Note: This was the meeting that the Kayumba Nyamwasa issue was at front and center stage, despite its glaring omission of mention in this article.
The just concluded 8th Joint Permanent Commission meeting between Rwanda and Uganda has agreed to implement resolutions on matters of mutual interest.
During the meeting, the two countries agreed to launch the One Border Stop Centre and to let the Gatuna border post operate 24 hours effective next month to ease the movement of people and goods.
It also agreed to enhance cooperation in security and to harmonise work permits in line with the East African Community Protocol.
Closing the two-day meeting, Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, commended the meeting’s resolutions and said that they would help to propel mutual understanding between the two countries.
“I have no doubt that the renewed energy that has characterized this JPC will guide us and continue to be our working mode in the coming years,” she told The New Times.
“From here we go back with greater commitment and a desire to make sure that what we have agreed will indeed be translated into solid action. I wish to reiterate the commitment of the government of Rwanda to this agreement,” Mushikiwabo said.
“We shall hold JPC on a very regular basis but also with regular monitoring as the only way to make sure we keep moving forward to enforce a mechanism that is official.”
Mushikiwabo also paid a courtesy call on Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, to whom she expressed her appreciation for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to her and her delegation by the government and the people of Uganda.
5 March 2010
By Eric Kabeera
Editor's Note: This was the meeting that the Kayumba Nyamwasa issue was at front and center stage, despite its glaring omission of mention in this article.
The just concluded 8th Joint Permanent Commission meeting between Rwanda and Uganda has agreed to implement resolutions on matters of mutual interest.
During the meeting, the two countries agreed to launch the One Border Stop Centre and to let the Gatuna border post operate 24 hours effective next month to ease the movement of people and goods.
It also agreed to enhance cooperation in security and to harmonise work permits in line with the East African Community Protocol.
Closing the two-day meeting, Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, commended the meeting’s resolutions and said that they would help to propel mutual understanding between the two countries.
“I have no doubt that the renewed energy that has characterized this JPC will guide us and continue to be our working mode in the coming years,” she told The New Times.
“From here we go back with greater commitment and a desire to make sure that what we have agreed will indeed be translated into solid action. I wish to reiterate the commitment of the government of Rwanda to this agreement,” Mushikiwabo said.
“We shall hold JPC on a very regular basis but also with regular monitoring as the only way to make sure we keep moving forward to enforce a mechanism that is official.”
Mushikiwabo also paid a courtesy call on Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, to whom she expressed her appreciation for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to her and her delegation by the government and the people of Uganda.
Ngarambe says RPF has the right to summon officials abitrarily.
The New Times
5 March 2010
By Gashegu Muramira
The Secretary General of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), François Ngarambe, yesterday claimed the ruling party had the right to summon any public official to account for their mistakes.
Ngarambe was referring to allegations by exiled former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, who claimed to have fled because the RPF had interrogated him and wanted to force him to confess to crimes he never committed.
“Why should he question my asking him to give a report to RPF on duties he was assigned to by the nation? His assignment as Rwanda’s Ambassador to India was political and not military,” Ngarambe told a press conference at his offices.
“But you know, some people seeking refuge sometimes tend to concoct sensational reasons”.
Ngarambe explained that by summoning Kayumba, he wasn’t interfering with the work of security and judicial organs, but that he only asked him to put into writing the mistakes he admitted to have committed.
“It is the RPF that made Kayumba an Ambassador, it is the RPF that made it possible for him to become a General,” Ngarambe pointed out.
The Secretary General revealed that it is the RPF Congress that would choose its candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections set for August.
“We will announce our candidate in May,” he said.
5 March 2010
By Gashegu Muramira
The Secretary General of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), François Ngarambe, yesterday claimed the ruling party had the right to summon any public official to account for their mistakes.
Ngarambe was referring to allegations by exiled former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, who claimed to have fled because the RPF had interrogated him and wanted to force him to confess to crimes he never committed.
“Why should he question my asking him to give a report to RPF on duties he was assigned to by the nation? His assignment as Rwanda’s Ambassador to India was political and not military,” Ngarambe told a press conference at his offices.
“But you know, some people seeking refuge sometimes tend to concoct sensational reasons”.
Ngarambe explained that by summoning Kayumba, he wasn’t interfering with the work of security and judicial organs, but that he only asked him to put into writing the mistakes he admitted to have committed.
“It is the RPF that made Kayumba an Ambassador, it is the RPF that made it possible for him to become a General,” Ngarambe pointed out.
The Secretary General revealed that it is the RPF Congress that would choose its candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections set for August.
“We will announce our candidate in May,” he said.
Quick Update-Rwandan political situation: 4 March 2010
At about 7:30 PM Kigali time, a grenade went off at the Hotel Leprintemps, located about 100 meters from the president of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's office. Another attack occurred at Kinamba on the way to Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre. In all, 16 are reported wounded as of this writing.
UPDF to recruit 3800.
Daily Monitor
5 March 2010
By Risdel Kasasira
The army is preparing to recruit at least 3,850 officer cadets and general recruits in 2010, the defence and army spokesperson said on Thursday.
The recruitment exercise which will also targets professionals like engineers and doctors who are insufficient in the UPDF, has skicked off with nation-wide meetings with all district leaders.
Lt. Col Felix Kulayigye told Daily Monitor that they are targeting 900 professionals and 350 officer cadets in the exercise.
The recruitment will start on March 15 after one week of mobilisation by various UPDF teams in all regions.
“The exercise will be transparent and we want to make this public so that there are no complaints of individuals bringing in their own people. The meetings started today (Thursday) and the next batch (of meeting) will be on March 9,” he said.
With this figure which is a third of the total soldiers passed-out last year, the army will have recruited at least 13,000 soldiers in two years.
According to the programme, Brig. Fred Mugisha will head the exercise in Bunyoro, Brig. Lucky Kidega in Ankole and Rukiga while Brig. Silver Kayemba will be Kampala at district headquarters.
The third division commander, Brig. Patrick Kankiriho will be in Karamoja, while Brig. Otema will head West Nile and West Acholi regions.
Col. Kulayigye said the minimum academic qualification for cadets and professionals is a diploma while recruits, is Uganda Certification of Education or senior four.
5 March 2010
By Risdel Kasasira
The army is preparing to recruit at least 3,850 officer cadets and general recruits in 2010, the defence and army spokesperson said on Thursday.
The recruitment exercise which will also targets professionals like engineers and doctors who are insufficient in the UPDF, has skicked off with nation-wide meetings with all district leaders.
Lt. Col Felix Kulayigye told Daily Monitor that they are targeting 900 professionals and 350 officer cadets in the exercise.
The recruitment will start on March 15 after one week of mobilisation by various UPDF teams in all regions.
“The exercise will be transparent and we want to make this public so that there are no complaints of individuals bringing in their own people. The meetings started today (Thursday) and the next batch (of meeting) will be on March 9,” he said.
With this figure which is a third of the total soldiers passed-out last year, the army will have recruited at least 13,000 soldiers in two years.
According to the programme, Brig. Fred Mugisha will head the exercise in Bunyoro, Brig. Lucky Kidega in Ankole and Rukiga while Brig. Silver Kayemba will be Kampala at district headquarters.
The third division commander, Brig. Patrick Kankiriho will be in Karamoja, while Brig. Otema will head West Nile and West Acholi regions.
Col. Kulayigye said the minimum academic qualification for cadets and professionals is a diploma while recruits, is Uganda Certification of Education or senior four.
Friends aided Nyamwasa's escape alleges Rwandan Foreign Minister.
Daily Monitor
5 March 2010
By Gerald Bareeba
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, told journalists in Kampala that the fugitive general was helped by his friends living in Uganda in their individual capacities, and that there is no information linking the Ugandan government with the general’s escape.
Kampala
Kigali on Thursday moved to mend its diplomatic relationship with Kampala, saying it has now established that Uganda did not assist Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa's escape.
The General is wanted in Kigali to answer for unspecified criminal charges.
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, told journalists in Kampala that the fugitive general was helped by his friends living in Uganda in their individual capacities, and that there is no information linking the Ugandan government with the general’s escape.
“The moment we realized that he left Kigali, we got in touch with authorities in Kampala and the fact that he did not spend a night here is a sign that Uganda is not a safe haven for Rwandan fugitives,” Ms Mushikiwabo said, “I would like to state that Uganda did not play any role.”
Ms. Mushikiwabo, who was speaking after meeting with President Museveni over the matter, added, “Yes, I talked about this with the President and the agreement was that since Gen. Kayumba lived in Uganda and has many friends in this country, it was easy for him to escape.”
About the man
Before his escape last Friday, after an annual retreat of diplomats in Kigali, the general was the country’s ambassador to India and previously served as the first commander of the President Paul Kagame-led Rwanda Patriotic Front, after the 1994 genocide.
Gen. Nyamwasa’s was the highlight of discussions at a Joint Permanent Commission meeting between the two governments in Kampala yesterday.
Ms. Mushikiwabo said Rwanda was working on documents containing the crimes that Gen. Nyamwasa allegedly committed and that it would present them to the South African government to demand for his extradition.
5 March 2010
By Gerald Bareeba
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, told journalists in Kampala that the fugitive general was helped by his friends living in Uganda in their individual capacities, and that there is no information linking the Ugandan government with the general’s escape.
Kampala
Kigali on Thursday moved to mend its diplomatic relationship with Kampala, saying it has now established that Uganda did not assist Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa's escape.
The General is wanted in Kigali to answer for unspecified criminal charges.
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, told journalists in Kampala that the fugitive general was helped by his friends living in Uganda in their individual capacities, and that there is no information linking the Ugandan government with the general’s escape.
“The moment we realized that he left Kigali, we got in touch with authorities in Kampala and the fact that he did not spend a night here is a sign that Uganda is not a safe haven for Rwandan fugitives,” Ms Mushikiwabo said, “I would like to state that Uganda did not play any role.”
Ms. Mushikiwabo, who was speaking after meeting with President Museveni over the matter, added, “Yes, I talked about this with the President and the agreement was that since Gen. Kayumba lived in Uganda and has many friends in this country, it was easy for him to escape.”
About the man
Before his escape last Friday, after an annual retreat of diplomats in Kigali, the general was the country’s ambassador to India and previously served as the first commander of the President Paul Kagame-led Rwanda Patriotic Front, after the 1994 genocide.
Gen. Nyamwasa’s was the highlight of discussions at a Joint Permanent Commission meeting between the two governments in Kampala yesterday.
Ms. Mushikiwabo said Rwanda was working on documents containing the crimes that Gen. Nyamwasa allegedly committed and that it would present them to the South African government to demand for his extradition.
04 March, 2010
Calculated confusion on Kigali grenade incidents.
FDU/UDF-Inkingi
Press Release
After the former Ambassador, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa, fled the country on the 25th of February 2010, the Rwandan government's Public Prosecutor, Martin Ngoga, was quoted by the media on 3rd March 2010, claiming the General is a wanted fugitive for serious criminal charges. The Prosecutor blames Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa and Colonel Patrick Karegeya of ordering the grenade attacks that shook Kigali on the 19th of February 2010.
However, immediately after the attacks, government statements blamed ex-Interahamwe militiamen and they quickly confirmed the arrest of two suspects who allegedly pleaded guilty to the crimes. Now, Rwandan authorities accuse both exiled RDF senior officers of involvement in security incidents reported in other parts of the country. In the past, these incidents were already attributed to other different groups.
What should we understand from this confusion? If, in this context, the insecurity in the country is a result of the RDF or the regime’s internal wranglers, the government should put priority in the guarantee of a fair trial to all those arrested for these same incidents.
We have learned the family of General Nyamwasa is being detained under house arrest in India. Given that criminal responsibility is individual, the Rwandan government should settle all legal issues with the suspect only and let his family go free.
Done in Brussels, 3rd March 2010
For the FDU/UDF-Inkingi Coordinating Committee,
Nkiko Nsengimana
Press Release
After the former Ambassador, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa, fled the country on the 25th of February 2010, the Rwandan government's Public Prosecutor, Martin Ngoga, was quoted by the media on 3rd March 2010, claiming the General is a wanted fugitive for serious criminal charges. The Prosecutor blames Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa and Colonel Patrick Karegeya of ordering the grenade attacks that shook Kigali on the 19th of February 2010.
However, immediately after the attacks, government statements blamed ex-Interahamwe militiamen and they quickly confirmed the arrest of two suspects who allegedly pleaded guilty to the crimes. Now, Rwandan authorities accuse both exiled RDF senior officers of involvement in security incidents reported in other parts of the country. In the past, these incidents were already attributed to other different groups.
What should we understand from this confusion? If, in this context, the insecurity in the country is a result of the RDF or the regime’s internal wranglers, the government should put priority in the guarantee of a fair trial to all those arrested for these same incidents.
We have learned the family of General Nyamwasa is being detained under house arrest in India. Given that criminal responsibility is individual, the Rwandan government should settle all legal issues with the suspect only and let his family go free.
Done in Brussels, 3rd March 2010
For the FDU/UDF-Inkingi Coordinating Committee,
Nkiko Nsengimana
US INTENDS TO CONSTRUCT MILITARY TRAINING CENTER IN BATKEN.
Eurasia Net
4 March 2010
By
The United States intends to build an anti-terror training center in the southern Kyrgyz province of Batken. The exact location of the facility, which is projected to cost $500,000, has not yet been determined.
The move is likely to be perceived by the Kremlin as further American encroachment into what has traditionally been Moscow’s sphere of influence, analysts say.
"The Office of Military Cooperation, which is funding the project, [says] that work will soon begin. Work hasn’t started yet," a spokeswoman for the US Embassy said. "The facility ? will be turned over to the Kyrgyz upon completion." The planned $500,000 price tag would seem to indicate that the training center would be relatively small in size.
A spokesman for the Kyrgyz Ministry of Defense confirmed the project is under discussion. "There were talks about it with the US embassy, but no papers are signed on it yet. It is not finally decided," the Defense Ministry representative said on March 4.
The United States has already spent millions of dollars on upgrading and constructing training centers for Kyrgyz security forces.
Speaking at the opening of a $9-million Special Forces Training Compound for Kyrgyzstan’s elite Scorpion Battalion in Tokmok last October, Ambassador Tatiana Gfoeller revealed that "brand new, modern military equipment - trucks, tactical gear, ambulances, night sights, body armor, and much more - are arriving in Kyrgyzstan daily and being distributed to Kyrgyzstan’s armed forces."
"Our cooperation extends to [. . .] providing training to security forces and helping to build border-posts on isolated and porous borders," the envoy added, while acknowledging that the Scorpion Battalion has received "extensive training from US forces."
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has identified Kyrgyzstan’s borders as "the biggest threat" to national security, and a possible site of "terrorist insurgency."
As a result, the Kyrgyz administration is keen to see a proposed Russian base also open in southern Kyrgyzstan. Any such facility would be built under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and operate as a "training center," reportedly for the group’s newly created rapid reaction force.
Russian leaders reportedly want to open the base near Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s southern capital. But Kyrgyz officials are widely believed to want the CSTO base situated in Batken Province, not far from the Uzbek border. Uzbekistan has refused to participate in the CSTO’s rapid reaction force and has warned that the proposed "training center" could stoke tension in the region.
Moscow maintains the facility would be purely defensive. "Kyrgyzstan said it needed assistance, that there must be an object to provide special services and armed forces in case of large-scale attacks by gangs," said CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha in August 2009.
Analysts say the opening of a US-funded training center in Batken would be widely interpreted as dealing a blow to Russia’s geopolitical position in Central Asia.
"Batken is a very fragile place, and I think building such a facility there is part of US strategy and directed toward securing [the Pentagon’s] place in the region," said Bishkek-based political analyst Mars Sariev. "I think the second phase of the process, after building and equipping the facility with American equipment, will be putting in American instructors to prepare our military or Special Forces."
"This will, of course, affect the Russians. Russia doesn’t much like the prospect of strengthening US-Kyrgyz relations," Sariev continued.
Andrei Grozin, director of the Central Asia Department at the CIS Institute in Moscow, said an American-funded training center, even if it was officially handed over to Kyrgyzstan, would be viewed dimly by the Kremlin. "Having both a Russian base and anti-terror training center built by Americans [in Batken] says a lot about Kyrgyzstan’s multi-vector politics," Grozin commented.
"For Russia, it’s a geopolitical statement, it’s about putting the Russian flag in the area," Grozin added, referring to the planned construction of a CSTO base in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Both representatives of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Defense and Russian diplomats in Bishkek would neither confirm nor deny that the CSTO rapid reaction force’s base would be located in Batken. They would say only that the matter was still being negotiated. "All deals are decided in Moscow," a spokesman for the Russian Military Attache’s office insisted.
4 March 2010
By
The United States intends to build an anti-terror training center in the southern Kyrgyz province of Batken. The exact location of the facility, which is projected to cost $500,000, has not yet been determined.
The move is likely to be perceived by the Kremlin as further American encroachment into what has traditionally been Moscow’s sphere of influence, analysts say.
"The Office of Military Cooperation, which is funding the project, [says] that work will soon begin. Work hasn’t started yet," a spokeswoman for the US Embassy said. "The facility ? will be turned over to the Kyrgyz upon completion." The planned $500,000 price tag would seem to indicate that the training center would be relatively small in size.
A spokesman for the Kyrgyz Ministry of Defense confirmed the project is under discussion. "There were talks about it with the US embassy, but no papers are signed on it yet. It is not finally decided," the Defense Ministry representative said on March 4.
The United States has already spent millions of dollars on upgrading and constructing training centers for Kyrgyz security forces.
Speaking at the opening of a $9-million Special Forces Training Compound for Kyrgyzstan’s elite Scorpion Battalion in Tokmok last October, Ambassador Tatiana Gfoeller revealed that "brand new, modern military equipment - trucks, tactical gear, ambulances, night sights, body armor, and much more - are arriving in Kyrgyzstan daily and being distributed to Kyrgyzstan’s armed forces."
"Our cooperation extends to [. . .] providing training to security forces and helping to build border-posts on isolated and porous borders," the envoy added, while acknowledging that the Scorpion Battalion has received "extensive training from US forces."
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has identified Kyrgyzstan’s borders as "the biggest threat" to national security, and a possible site of "terrorist insurgency."
As a result, the Kyrgyz administration is keen to see a proposed Russian base also open in southern Kyrgyzstan. Any such facility would be built under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and operate as a "training center," reportedly for the group’s newly created rapid reaction force.
Russian leaders reportedly want to open the base near Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s southern capital. But Kyrgyz officials are widely believed to want the CSTO base situated in Batken Province, not far from the Uzbek border. Uzbekistan has refused to participate in the CSTO’s rapid reaction force and has warned that the proposed "training center" could stoke tension in the region.
Moscow maintains the facility would be purely defensive. "Kyrgyzstan said it needed assistance, that there must be an object to provide special services and armed forces in case of large-scale attacks by gangs," said CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha in August 2009.
Analysts say the opening of a US-funded training center in Batken would be widely interpreted as dealing a blow to Russia’s geopolitical position in Central Asia.
"Batken is a very fragile place, and I think building such a facility there is part of US strategy and directed toward securing [the Pentagon’s] place in the region," said Bishkek-based political analyst Mars Sariev. "I think the second phase of the process, after building and equipping the facility with American equipment, will be putting in American instructors to prepare our military or Special Forces."
"This will, of course, affect the Russians. Russia doesn’t much like the prospect of strengthening US-Kyrgyz relations," Sariev continued.
Andrei Grozin, director of the Central Asia Department at the CIS Institute in Moscow, said an American-funded training center, even if it was officially handed over to Kyrgyzstan, would be viewed dimly by the Kremlin. "Having both a Russian base and anti-terror training center built by Americans [in Batken] says a lot about Kyrgyzstan’s multi-vector politics," Grozin commented.
"For Russia, it’s a geopolitical statement, it’s about putting the Russian flag in the area," Grozin added, referring to the planned construction of a CSTO base in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Both representatives of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Defense and Russian diplomats in Bishkek would neither confirm nor deny that the CSTO rapid reaction force’s base would be located in Batken. They would say only that the matter was still being negotiated. "All deals are decided in Moscow," a spokesman for the Russian Military Attache’s office insisted.
Post-Escape Interview with General Kayumba Nyamwasa.
Upfront Africa-Voice of America
3 March 2010
By Jackson Muneza M'vunganyi
Amidst the fracas surrounding Rwanda's former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, and his sudden decision to seek asylum in South Africa, much is being said about his alleged role in the recent grenade attacks in Kigali and an speculation of an attempt at a coup d'etat. I wanted to get to the bottom of this; who better to give his side of the story than the man himself. Below is an interview with Gen. Kayumba. We discuss, among many issues, his wife's house arrest in India and President Kagame's recent press conference in which he says that Gen. Kayumba fled from justice, etc.
3 March 2010
By Jackson Muneza M'vunganyi
Amidst the fracas surrounding Rwanda's former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, and his sudden decision to seek asylum in South Africa, much is being said about his alleged role in the recent grenade attacks in Kigali and an speculation of an attempt at a coup d'etat. I wanted to get to the bottom of this; who better to give his side of the story than the man himself. Below is an interview with Gen. Kayumba. We discuss, among many issues, his wife's house arrest in India and President Kagame's recent press conference in which he says that Gen. Kayumba fled from justice, etc.
Tensions Ahead of Burundian Elections.
IRIN
4 March 2010
As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country's democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.
"The situation is explosive," Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Human and Prisoner Rights (APRODH), told IRIN.
"Demobilised people [former members of now defunct armed groups] have become uncontrollable," he said.
"Youths from the [ruling] CNDD-FDD party cause many problems in the country. But in reaction, the [opposition] FRODEBU youth has become very active. Judging by their name, Intakangwa, which means 'those who cannot be frightened', they are prepared to respond to any provocation," said Mbonimpa.
Elections for councillors in Burundi's 117 communes take place on 21 May. There is a presidential election on 28 June, a legislative poll on 23 July, and senators will be elected on 28 July. In September, Burundians will vote for heads of 2,639 "collines", the country's smallest administrative units.
"People are killed in their houses for unknown reasons," according to François Bizimana, spokesman for the CNDD opposition party.
"When we organize meetings, the Imbonerakure break them up and beat our supporters," he said, referring to the ruling party's youth arm, whose name means "those with foresight".
"Some of our supporters are arrested. How can people come to meetings under such conditions? How can people vote for our programme if we have no chance to explain it?" he asked.
"They used to sing war songs to intimidate our members, but they have now passed from threats to acts, killing our supporters here and there," alleged Jean-Bosco Havyarimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, one of several rebel groups turned political parties.
Destabilizing factor
Party youth wings are a "major destabilizing factor" in Burundi, Gertrude Kazoviyo, deputy president of the Observatory of Government Action, warned while presenting the annual report of the Forum of Civil Society Organizations in late February.
Alexis Sinduhije, leader of another opposition party, the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, who spent several months in jail in late 2008 and early 2009 for insulting President Pierre Nkurunziza, accused "agents of the national intelligence service" of killing two student members of his party in February 2010.
"I do not know if an arrest warrant has been issued, but they have not been prosecuted," he told IRIN.
Ruling party chairman Onesime Nduwimana dismissed the idea that politics or the elections were linked to recent killings in Burundi. Cases of one kind of manslaughter or another feature in newspapers on an almost daily basis. According to APRODH, in 2009 there were 411 killings in Burundi, a country of some eight million inhabitants.
"We have a history of conflicts of every kind, conflict over land… People can kill each other because of what they have gone through during the civil war. But there is a tendency to use some facts for political ends," he said.
For Salathiere Muntunutwiwe, a political analyst and university lecturer, the prevailing climate imperils the whole electoral process.
"In the absence of the free exercise of political competition, people will not have the right to choose whoever they want. Coupled with the opposition parties' mistrust of the government's ability to organize free and fair elections, this could lead to the rejection of the election results," he said.
Isolated cases
But as far as the ruling party chairman was concerned, by and large the situation was under control. "There are isolated cases in provinces where the administration is weak and not well organized, like Kirundo [in the north], or zones like Kinama, in the capital. However, those behind such acts are punished accordingly," Nduwimana said.
"Compared with the situation of the 1960s and in 1993 the situation is more favourable. Today there is no ethnic or regional mistrust among Burundians, there is no situation of war as it was in 1993," he added.
While discounting the likelihood of a return to full-scale war, Sinduhije, the once-jailed opposition leader, believes the instability is a deliberate ploy by the ruling party "to have its term extended or to force people to vote for it".
A view echoed by FRODEBU's chairman, Leonce Ngendakumana, who in late February accused elements of the police and army of "intimidating the population to force them to vote for the ruling party".
Police neutrality questioned
The partisan nature of some in the security forces is in part due to the fact that many were drawn from former rebel groups integrated into state machinery after signing peace accords.
"In spite of the training, some elements of the national security forces have not yet [internalized] that they have to remain neutral during the electoral process," explained Kazoviyo of the Observatory of Government Action.
In a February report on Burundi, Ensuring credible elections, the International Crisis Group also noted that "the police have remained passive or become accomplices to the ruling party abuses".
"There are thus legitimate fears they could become politicized, similar to the national intelligence service, which is already trying to destabilize the opposition," ICG warned, calling for neighbouring countries to provide a regional force to help train their Burundian counterparts and to support election security and monitoring.
Grievances over living conditions among the lower ranks are yet another cause for concern, after protests led to some arrests and sackings.
"There is serious mistrust between junior officers and commanders. A delegation of junior officers came and told me that if their claims were not met before the elections, the polling stations would be burned," Mbonimpa, the human rights activist, told IRIN.
4 March 2010
As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country's democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.
"The situation is explosive," Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Human and Prisoner Rights (APRODH), told IRIN.
"Demobilised people [former members of now defunct armed groups] have become uncontrollable," he said.
"Youths from the [ruling] CNDD-FDD party cause many problems in the country. But in reaction, the [opposition] FRODEBU youth has become very active. Judging by their name, Intakangwa, which means 'those who cannot be frightened', they are prepared to respond to any provocation," said Mbonimpa.
Elections for councillors in Burundi's 117 communes take place on 21 May. There is a presidential election on 28 June, a legislative poll on 23 July, and senators will be elected on 28 July. In September, Burundians will vote for heads of 2,639 "collines", the country's smallest administrative units.
"People are killed in their houses for unknown reasons," according to François Bizimana, spokesman for the CNDD opposition party.
"When we organize meetings, the Imbonerakure break them up and beat our supporters," he said, referring to the ruling party's youth arm, whose name means "those with foresight".
"Some of our supporters are arrested. How can people come to meetings under such conditions? How can people vote for our programme if we have no chance to explain it?" he asked.
"They used to sing war songs to intimidate our members, but they have now passed from threats to acts, killing our supporters here and there," alleged Jean-Bosco Havyarimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, one of several rebel groups turned political parties.
Destabilizing factor
Party youth wings are a "major destabilizing factor" in Burundi, Gertrude Kazoviyo, deputy president of the Observatory of Government Action, warned while presenting the annual report of the Forum of Civil Society Organizations in late February.
Alexis Sinduhije, leader of another opposition party, the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, who spent several months in jail in late 2008 and early 2009 for insulting President Pierre Nkurunziza, accused "agents of the national intelligence service" of killing two student members of his party in February 2010.
"I do not know if an arrest warrant has been issued, but they have not been prosecuted," he told IRIN.
Ruling party chairman Onesime Nduwimana dismissed the idea that politics or the elections were linked to recent killings in Burundi. Cases of one kind of manslaughter or another feature in newspapers on an almost daily basis. According to APRODH, in 2009 there were 411 killings in Burundi, a country of some eight million inhabitants.
"We have a history of conflicts of every kind, conflict over land… People can kill each other because of what they have gone through during the civil war. But there is a tendency to use some facts for political ends," he said.
For Salathiere Muntunutwiwe, a political analyst and university lecturer, the prevailing climate imperils the whole electoral process.
"In the absence of the free exercise of political competition, people will not have the right to choose whoever they want. Coupled with the opposition parties' mistrust of the government's ability to organize free and fair elections, this could lead to the rejection of the election results," he said.
Isolated cases
But as far as the ruling party chairman was concerned, by and large the situation was under control. "There are isolated cases in provinces where the administration is weak and not well organized, like Kirundo [in the north], or zones like Kinama, in the capital. However, those behind such acts are punished accordingly," Nduwimana said.
"Compared with the situation of the 1960s and in 1993 the situation is more favourable. Today there is no ethnic or regional mistrust among Burundians, there is no situation of war as it was in 1993," he added.
While discounting the likelihood of a return to full-scale war, Sinduhije, the once-jailed opposition leader, believes the instability is a deliberate ploy by the ruling party "to have its term extended or to force people to vote for it".
A view echoed by FRODEBU's chairman, Leonce Ngendakumana, who in late February accused elements of the police and army of "intimidating the population to force them to vote for the ruling party".
Police neutrality questioned
The partisan nature of some in the security forces is in part due to the fact that many were drawn from former rebel groups integrated into state machinery after signing peace accords.
"In spite of the training, some elements of the national security forces have not yet [internalized] that they have to remain neutral during the electoral process," explained Kazoviyo of the Observatory of Government Action.
In a February report on Burundi, Ensuring credible elections, the International Crisis Group also noted that "the police have remained passive or become accomplices to the ruling party abuses".
"There are thus legitimate fears they could become politicized, similar to the national intelligence service, which is already trying to destabilize the opposition," ICG warned, calling for neighbouring countries to provide a regional force to help train their Burundian counterparts and to support election security and monitoring.
Grievances over living conditions among the lower ranks are yet another cause for concern, after protests led to some arrests and sackings.
"There is serious mistrust between junior officers and commanders. A delegation of junior officers came and told me that if their claims were not met before the elections, the polling stations would be burned," Mbonimpa, the human rights activist, told IRIN.
Toyota proposes Kenya-Juba oil pipeline bypassing Port Sudan.
Sudan Tribune
4 March 2010
Toyota Tshusho Corporation has proposed to Kenyan officials to construct a 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) pipeline to transport crude oil from the landlocked South Sudan capital city to Lamu, a port on the Indian Ocean.
If constructed, the pipeline would provide an alternative to the country’s only current oil exporting point, Port Sudan, potentially having major economic and political implications on the whole of Sudan.
The idea was presented before in 2006 by Kenya Pipeline Corporation officials to Southern Sudan government officials. They said that Kenya’s regional position would give Southern Sudan unparalleled advantage in lead-time and sealing important business deals.
About 75 per cent of Sudan’s proven reserves of 6.3bn barrels are in the south but the pipeline that carries the oil to export terminals and refineries runs through the north. The south needs Khartoum’s co-operation to sell its oil; the north needs revenues from its neighbor’s resources.
An executive director of the Japanese company, in a presentation distributed to reporters today in Nairobi, disclosed that the pipeline would have a capacity of 450,000 barrels per day. It would cost $1.5 billion to construct. After 20 years under Toyota ownership, it would be handed over to the Kenyan and South Sudanese governments.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited Japan last month; Kenya is said to support the proposal. Other stakeholders include China, which wants to develop a port and infrastructure at Lamu on the Kenyan coast.
The semi-autonomous South Sudan will hold a referendum on the question of independence in 2011. The proposed pipeline would vastly reduce the need for post-referendum economic and political cooperation between the South’s ruling party and their erstwhile foes in the North.
The separation of Sudan into a two states will deny the North billions of dollars in revenue generating from vast oilfields in the south of the country. Currently the North and the South are splitting the proceeds of crude in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005.
Last month a senior GoSS official said that the South may continue to share oil proceeds with the North for a limited time following secession to prevent an economic collapse there.
Mr. Hattori said that the pipeline construction would be financed by Japan Bank for International Co-operation, if the bank agrees. This was reported by a Financial Times reporter who attended a briefing with Toyota officials in the office of the Kenyan prime minister.
“We haven’t studied in detail, but a partnership with other investors, governments, foreign companies is of course one of the options,” Mr. Hattori was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “Maybe to collaborate with a Chinese company would be one of the options.”
It does not appear that Toyota has formalized any agreement with Southern Sudanese officials. But the ruling party of the South, which has some strongly separatist elements, might embrace this as an opportunity to reduce pipeline fees that will have to be paid to the Khartoum government under the present arrangement.
Toyota Tshusho is the trading company of Toyota Motor Group, the Japan-based business conglomerate that is one of the world’s largest. Tsusho’s vision to increase the non-automotive share of its operating revenue balance, according to its website. The trading company has an office in Nairobi and may make additional acquisitions in the energy sector in Kenya.
4 March 2010
Toyota Tshusho Corporation has proposed to Kenyan officials to construct a 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) pipeline to transport crude oil from the landlocked South Sudan capital city to Lamu, a port on the Indian Ocean.
If constructed, the pipeline would provide an alternative to the country’s only current oil exporting point, Port Sudan, potentially having major economic and political implications on the whole of Sudan.
The idea was presented before in 2006 by Kenya Pipeline Corporation officials to Southern Sudan government officials. They said that Kenya’s regional position would give Southern Sudan unparalleled advantage in lead-time and sealing important business deals.
About 75 per cent of Sudan’s proven reserves of 6.3bn barrels are in the south but the pipeline that carries the oil to export terminals and refineries runs through the north. The south needs Khartoum’s co-operation to sell its oil; the north needs revenues from its neighbor’s resources.
An executive director of the Japanese company, in a presentation distributed to reporters today in Nairobi, disclosed that the pipeline would have a capacity of 450,000 barrels per day. It would cost $1.5 billion to construct. After 20 years under Toyota ownership, it would be handed over to the Kenyan and South Sudanese governments.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited Japan last month; Kenya is said to support the proposal. Other stakeholders include China, which wants to develop a port and infrastructure at Lamu on the Kenyan coast.
The semi-autonomous South Sudan will hold a referendum on the question of independence in 2011. The proposed pipeline would vastly reduce the need for post-referendum economic and political cooperation between the South’s ruling party and their erstwhile foes in the North.
The separation of Sudan into a two states will deny the North billions of dollars in revenue generating from vast oilfields in the south of the country. Currently the North and the South are splitting the proceeds of crude in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005.
Last month a senior GoSS official said that the South may continue to share oil proceeds with the North for a limited time following secession to prevent an economic collapse there.
Mr. Hattori said that the pipeline construction would be financed by Japan Bank for International Co-operation, if the bank agrees. This was reported by a Financial Times reporter who attended a briefing with Toyota officials in the office of the Kenyan prime minister.
“We haven’t studied in detail, but a partnership with other investors, governments, foreign companies is of course one of the options,” Mr. Hattori was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “Maybe to collaborate with a Chinese company would be one of the options.”
It does not appear that Toyota has formalized any agreement with Southern Sudanese officials. But the ruling party of the South, which has some strongly separatist elements, might embrace this as an opportunity to reduce pipeline fees that will have to be paid to the Khartoum government under the present arrangement.
Toyota Tshusho is the trading company of Toyota Motor Group, the Japan-based business conglomerate that is one of the world’s largest. Tsusho’s vision to increase the non-automotive share of its operating revenue balance, according to its website. The trading company has an office in Nairobi and may make additional acquisitions in the energy sector in Kenya.
The "East African" newspaper under fire over Ingabire.
Rwandan News Agency
3 March 2010
The Kenya-based ‘The East African’ newspaper came under scrutiny on Wednesday with President Paul Kagame describing as “insulting” and “offensive” over an interview it had with opposition politician Ms. Ingabire Victoire. He named the reporters who conducted the interview for the regional weekly as Mr. Charles Kazooba and Esther Nakazzi. President Kagame said he wondered why Rwanda is covered by “Ugandan journalists in Uganda…based in Uganda”.
“For me that suggested [that] we are probably less East-African…or the intention was to make Rwanda less East-African” he said, in reference to the five-member East African Community block.
In the lengthy interview published in the weekly’s February 15-20 issue, Ms. Ingabire heavily criticized the government – with most of her comments directed at President Kagame himself and the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party.
Mr. Kagame told the Wednesday press conference that the story seemed to portray Rwandan society as a country where people are “tight-lipped”, and Ingabire as their “savoir”. The interview also was interpreted by some to say that Rwanda was a kingdom with Pres. Kagame at the helm.
In a seemingly irritated tone, coupled with occasional laughter, Mr. Kagame said the “worst of it…probably something that is equally offensive. Why is it that people would cover Rwanda by Ugandan journalists in Uganda, based in Uganda?”
As the President spoke, the Nation Media correspondent in Kigali, Mr. David Kezio, interjected by distancing himself from the interview. He claimed it was conducted by the Kampala bureau and “probably by email”. Mr. Kezio also said he would check with “my superiors Your Excellency”.
“You tell them that in my own right also…and when I say this you understand it,” said the President, adding, “…in my own right I thought it was offensive”. He added: “But under freedom of expression, we can take that…but we can also express ourselves”.
The President did not say how that will happen.
The Nation Media Group, parent company of The East African, is already in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and is now working on entering the Rwanda market. The media group has several newspapers, radio stations, and Nation TV.
Previously, government has had issues with the Daily Monitor, a daily newspaper in Uganda – also part of the Nation Media Group. One reporter, Mr. Robert Mukombozi, was declared persona non grata in 2007. President Kagame at some point personally complained that Mr. Mukombozi had misquoted him.
Meanwhile, the spat with the Nation Media Group’s paper also comes after it was announced recently that they invited President Kagame to the Pan African Media Conference scheduled for March 18 – 19 in Nairobi. The major conference will also coincide with Nation Media Group's 50th anniversary.
According to the Group, President Kagame, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, as well as Joaquim Alberto Chissano, the former Mozambique leader, and John Agyekum Kufuor, former Ghanaian President, have all confirmed their attendance already.
3 March 2010
The Kenya-based ‘The East African’ newspaper came under scrutiny on Wednesday with President Paul Kagame describing as “insulting” and “offensive” over an interview it had with opposition politician Ms. Ingabire Victoire. He named the reporters who conducted the interview for the regional weekly as Mr. Charles Kazooba and Esther Nakazzi. President Kagame said he wondered why Rwanda is covered by “Ugandan journalists in Uganda…based in Uganda”.
“For me that suggested [that] we are probably less East-African…or the intention was to make Rwanda less East-African” he said, in reference to the five-member East African Community block.
In the lengthy interview published in the weekly’s February 15-20 issue, Ms. Ingabire heavily criticized the government – with most of her comments directed at President Kagame himself and the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party.
Mr. Kagame told the Wednesday press conference that the story seemed to portray Rwandan society as a country where people are “tight-lipped”, and Ingabire as their “savoir”. The interview also was interpreted by some to say that Rwanda was a kingdom with Pres. Kagame at the helm.
In a seemingly irritated tone, coupled with occasional laughter, Mr. Kagame said the “worst of it…probably something that is equally offensive. Why is it that people would cover Rwanda by Ugandan journalists in Uganda, based in Uganda?”
As the President spoke, the Nation Media correspondent in Kigali, Mr. David Kezio, interjected by distancing himself from the interview. He claimed it was conducted by the Kampala bureau and “probably by email”. Mr. Kezio also said he would check with “my superiors Your Excellency”.
“You tell them that in my own right also…and when I say this you understand it,” said the President, adding, “…in my own right I thought it was offensive”. He added: “But under freedom of expression, we can take that…but we can also express ourselves”.
The President did not say how that will happen.
The Nation Media Group, parent company of The East African, is already in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and is now working on entering the Rwanda market. The media group has several newspapers, radio stations, and Nation TV.
Previously, government has had issues with the Daily Monitor, a daily newspaper in Uganda – also part of the Nation Media Group. One reporter, Mr. Robert Mukombozi, was declared persona non grata in 2007. President Kagame at some point personally complained that Mr. Mukombozi had misquoted him.
Meanwhile, the spat with the Nation Media Group’s paper also comes after it was announced recently that they invited President Kagame to the Pan African Media Conference scheduled for March 18 – 19 in Nairobi. The major conference will also coincide with Nation Media Group's 50th anniversary.
According to the Group, President Kagame, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, as well as Joaquim Alberto Chissano, the former Mozambique leader, and John Agyekum Kufuor, former Ghanaian President, have all confirmed their attendance already.
US renews rights to Kyrgyz base.
Daily Times
4 March 2010
The United States has reached an agreement with Kyrgyzstan to renew rights to an airbase seen as vital for the US-led war effort in nearby Afghanistan, a senior US envoy said on Tuesday.
Richard Holbrooke, the US pointman on Afghanistan and Pakistan, toured four Central Asian nations last month in a bid to ensure their support for President Barack Obama’s campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Holbrooke said that the United States would soon renew an agreement to use the Manas airbase, where he said 35,000 US troops were transiting each month on their way in and out of Afghanistan.
“We will renew the arrangements on (the base) in the next few weeks, and I wanted to launch that process,” Holbrooke told reporters on his return to Washington.
“We’re very grateful to the Kyrgyz government for that support,” he said.
Kyrgyzstan last year briefly ordered the closure of the US base near its capital Bishkek, in what was widely seen as a power play by Russia that had offered a generous aid package for the former Soviet republic.
But Kyrgyzstan eventually changed its mind after the United States agreed to pay it 60 million dollars a year to lease the airbase — more than three times the price since taking over the base after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It was the first trip to Central Asia by Holbrooke since he assumed his position after Obama took office in January 2009.
Along with Kyrgyzstan, Holbrooke visited Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He said he had also planned to go to Turkmenistan but could not due to a logistical problem.
In Tajikistan, Holbrooke said he spoke with President Emomali Rakhmon about starting a project to provide water to parched areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The United States has stepped up cooperation with the central Asian republics since the September 11, 2001 attacks but its relations sometimes been uneasy due to concerns about their leaders and human rights records in the region.
Holbrooke visited Tajikistan just before legislative elections that strengthened Rakhmon’s grip on power but which the United States and European observers said were marred by major fraud.
4 March 2010
The United States has reached an agreement with Kyrgyzstan to renew rights to an airbase seen as vital for the US-led war effort in nearby Afghanistan, a senior US envoy said on Tuesday.
Richard Holbrooke, the US pointman on Afghanistan and Pakistan, toured four Central Asian nations last month in a bid to ensure their support for President Barack Obama’s campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Holbrooke said that the United States would soon renew an agreement to use the Manas airbase, where he said 35,000 US troops were transiting each month on their way in and out of Afghanistan.
“We will renew the arrangements on (the base) in the next few weeks, and I wanted to launch that process,” Holbrooke told reporters on his return to Washington.
“We’re very grateful to the Kyrgyz government for that support,” he said.
Kyrgyzstan last year briefly ordered the closure of the US base near its capital Bishkek, in what was widely seen as a power play by Russia that had offered a generous aid package for the former Soviet republic.
But Kyrgyzstan eventually changed its mind after the United States agreed to pay it 60 million dollars a year to lease the airbase — more than three times the price since taking over the base after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It was the first trip to Central Asia by Holbrooke since he assumed his position after Obama took office in January 2009.
Along with Kyrgyzstan, Holbrooke visited Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He said he had also planned to go to Turkmenistan but could not due to a logistical problem.
In Tajikistan, Holbrooke said he spoke with President Emomali Rakhmon about starting a project to provide water to parched areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The United States has stepped up cooperation with the central Asian republics since the September 11, 2001 attacks but its relations sometimes been uneasy due to concerns about their leaders and human rights records in the region.
Holbrooke visited Tajikistan just before legislative elections that strengthened Rakhmon’s grip on power but which the United States and European observers said were marred by major fraud.
Tanks arrive in Miranshah amidst speculation of an operation in the hornet's nest of N. Waziristan.
Daily Times
4 March 2010
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: A tense calm prevailed in North Waziristan’s headquarters of Miranshah on Wednesday after “the arrival of eight tanks and [army] reinforcements”, sparking fear among locals that the army was preparing to launch an offensive against the Taliban.
Locals claimed the reinforcements were sent in on Tuesday – a day after clashes between the Taliban and security forces – and said the eight tanks had arrived “in a show of force ahead of the operation”.
While Miranshah Bazaar was open on Wednesday, activity on the streets had dropped considerably – partly because of rain and mainly because of security concerns, shopkeepers told Daily Times over the phone. The bazaar was completely shuttered on Tuesday because of a curfew imposed by the authorities, after the killing of two FC troops by suspected Taliban triggered clashes in the middle of Miranshah Bazaar
on Monday.
Pamphlets: On Tuesday, locals said the military also distributed pamphlets branding the Taliban “agents of Israel and India”, to win the hearts and minds of tribespersons “ahead of a military operation to deny TTP members safe havens”.
The Taliban responded within hours by distributing pamphlets of their own. The exchange sparked fear among civilians that “both sides are looking for excuses to mount clashes”. “These pamphlets, we believe, will not auger well for us ... both sides look set to overrun the other... we have never seen this before,” locals told Daily Times over the phone. “What we don’t want is the operation to start in the summers... the temperatures are too high to live in Bannu and other cities,” they said.
Over the last two weeks, the military has set up another post in Kajhori, an entry point to North Waziristan, checking identity cards of all those arriving or leaving. Similar checking is also underway in Bakhakhel, just outside Bannu. Soldiers at two other checkpoints disallow outsiders from entering or exiting North Waziristan through those routes.
Meanwhile, sources in Khar said soldiers were seen on Wednesday moving out of Bajaur Agency for possible deployment somewhere in Waziristan.
4 March 2010
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: A tense calm prevailed in North Waziristan’s headquarters of Miranshah on Wednesday after “the arrival of eight tanks and [army] reinforcements”, sparking fear among locals that the army was preparing to launch an offensive against the Taliban.
Locals claimed the reinforcements were sent in on Tuesday – a day after clashes between the Taliban and security forces – and said the eight tanks had arrived “in a show of force ahead of the operation”.
While Miranshah Bazaar was open on Wednesday, activity on the streets had dropped considerably – partly because of rain and mainly because of security concerns, shopkeepers told Daily Times over the phone. The bazaar was completely shuttered on Tuesday because of a curfew imposed by the authorities, after the killing of two FC troops by suspected Taliban triggered clashes in the middle of Miranshah Bazaar
on Monday.
Pamphlets: On Tuesday, locals said the military also distributed pamphlets branding the Taliban “agents of Israel and India”, to win the hearts and minds of tribespersons “ahead of a military operation to deny TTP members safe havens”.
The Taliban responded within hours by distributing pamphlets of their own. The exchange sparked fear among civilians that “both sides are looking for excuses to mount clashes”. “These pamphlets, we believe, will not auger well for us ... both sides look set to overrun the other... we have never seen this before,” locals told Daily Times over the phone. “What we don’t want is the operation to start in the summers... the temperatures are too high to live in Bannu and other cities,” they said.
Over the last two weeks, the military has set up another post in Kajhori, an entry point to North Waziristan, checking identity cards of all those arriving or leaving. Similar checking is also underway in Bakhakhel, just outside Bannu. Soldiers at two other checkpoints disallow outsiders from entering or exiting North Waziristan through those routes.
Meanwhile, sources in Khar said soldiers were seen on Wednesday moving out of Bajaur Agency for possible deployment somewhere in Waziristan.
Kagame Orders Arrest of Journalists Over Nyamwasa Links.
256 News
4 March 2010
By Godwin Agaba
Editor's Update (8:12 P.M. Kigali time): Numerous sources in Rwanda have confirmed that Mr. Agaba in NOT in Rwandan custody and is in a safe place for now.
256 News reporter in Kigali, Rwanda, Mr. Godwin Agaba, has gone missing this evening. Mr. Agaba has not been available through all his known contacts after making a call to Kampala earlier in the morning when he filed his last report.
He was due to attend a press conference by President Paul Kagame on the Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa saga. It is not clear whether Mr. Agaba attended the press conference or what happened soon after but during the briefing, President Kagame said some journalists were being investigated over alleged links to the general and Col. Karegyeya.
Mr. Agaba was the first journalist the world over to report that Lt. Gen. Nyamwasa was in South Africa yesterday.
A short while ago, the 256 News team received a communication that Mr. Agaba might have been arrested on Pres. Kagame’s orders.
4 March 2010
By Godwin Agaba
Editor's Update (8:12 P.M. Kigali time): Numerous sources in Rwanda have confirmed that Mr. Agaba in NOT in Rwandan custody and is in a safe place for now.
256 News reporter in Kigali, Rwanda, Mr. Godwin Agaba, has gone missing this evening. Mr. Agaba has not been available through all his known contacts after making a call to Kampala earlier in the morning when he filed his last report.
He was due to attend a press conference by President Paul Kagame on the Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa saga. It is not clear whether Mr. Agaba attended the press conference or what happened soon after but during the briefing, President Kagame said some journalists were being investigated over alleged links to the general and Col. Karegyeya.
Mr. Agaba was the first journalist the world over to report that Lt. Gen. Nyamwasa was in South Africa yesterday.
A short while ago, the 256 News team received a communication that Mr. Agaba might have been arrested on Pres. Kagame’s orders.
03 March, 2010
SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT FRIGHTENING EVENTS HAPPENING TO THE RWANDAN REFUGEE COMMUNITY IN MALAWI.
From: The Rwandan Refugee Community in Malawi
To: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Protection Department,
Geneva, Switzerland
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are compelled to write this to seek your assistance in regards to what is happening to us without anyone, including those responsible for our problems, raising an eyebrow and protesting openly against it.
We are under pressure from serious events and we are of the opinion that a forced repatriation is subtly being undertaken by the authorities. Indeed, an unprecedented police manhunt is taking place countrywide wherever Rwandan refugees are found in the country. There are clears signs that prior to and during the operations currently underway, known Rwandan operatives in Malawi are highly involved. One of the convincing examples is the different lists being used. The odds are that, unlike during previous police checks, this time refugees are taken immediately to a detention centre without being given any opportunity to explain their whereabouts.
The most frightening development is the creation of additional police posts in all corners of Dzaleka Refugee camp. We are of the opinion that this deployment of additional police forces is unnecessary if there are no sinister motives involved in the process.
We are very worried that the next step will be an unlawful forced repatriation to Rwanda . Should this be what is being planned, we would like to warn everybody about the ill-timed repatriation of Rwandan refugees. This is not the proper time. When appropriate time comes, Rwandan refugees will not need to be pushed. They will ask to be given an opportunity to go back.
The following are the main reasons why the return to Rwanda is premature and dangerously catastrophic:
1. Absence of a genuine national reconciliation program and authorities in Rwanda trying to avoid it by all means for political reasons.
2. The deeply biased judiciary system, especially the traditional courts called gacaca which are being used by the regime to prosecute refugees that fled the country. The newly introduced and vague law on “genocide ideology," which is now addressed by gacaca courts, is the main weapon the regime is using to eliminate or silence dissenting views.
3. More Rwandese are fleeing the country since the recent defections of two Rwandan Ambassadors (Netherlands and India) in recent weeks. The unprecedented psychological/physical harassment and ill treatment of opposition party leaders and members in preparation for the next elections has raised tensions considerably.
We are of the opinion that the best way to address the Rwandan refugee problem is to assist the Rwandan government in accepting an all-inclusive dialogue with Rwandans of all backgrounds.
In light of the above facts, we come to you with this SOS message and thank you in advance for your prompt positive action.
For the Rwandan Refugee community:
K. Banyiyenzako Nathan, Representative.
To: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Protection Department,
Geneva, Switzerland
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are compelled to write this to seek your assistance in regards to what is happening to us without anyone, including those responsible for our problems, raising an eyebrow and protesting openly against it.
We are under pressure from serious events and we are of the opinion that a forced repatriation is subtly being undertaken by the authorities. Indeed, an unprecedented police manhunt is taking place countrywide wherever Rwandan refugees are found in the country. There are clears signs that prior to and during the operations currently underway, known Rwandan operatives in Malawi are highly involved. One of the convincing examples is the different lists being used. The odds are that, unlike during previous police checks, this time refugees are taken immediately to a detention centre without being given any opportunity to explain their whereabouts.
The most frightening development is the creation of additional police posts in all corners of Dzaleka Refugee camp. We are of the opinion that this deployment of additional police forces is unnecessary if there are no sinister motives involved in the process.
We are very worried that the next step will be an unlawful forced repatriation to Rwanda . Should this be what is being planned, we would like to warn everybody about the ill-timed repatriation of Rwandan refugees. This is not the proper time. When appropriate time comes, Rwandan refugees will not need to be pushed. They will ask to be given an opportunity to go back.
The following are the main reasons why the return to Rwanda is premature and dangerously catastrophic:
1. Absence of a genuine national reconciliation program and authorities in Rwanda trying to avoid it by all means for political reasons.
2. The deeply biased judiciary system, especially the traditional courts called gacaca which are being used by the regime to prosecute refugees that fled the country. The newly introduced and vague law on “genocide ideology," which is now addressed by gacaca courts, is the main weapon the regime is using to eliminate or silence dissenting views.
3. More Rwandese are fleeing the country since the recent defections of two Rwandan Ambassadors (Netherlands and India) in recent weeks. The unprecedented psychological/physical harassment and ill treatment of opposition party leaders and members in preparation for the next elections has raised tensions considerably.
We are of the opinion that the best way to address the Rwandan refugee problem is to assist the Rwandan government in accepting an all-inclusive dialogue with Rwandans of all backgrounds.
In light of the above facts, we come to you with this SOS message and thank you in advance for your prompt positive action.
For the Rwandan Refugee community:
K. Banyiyenzako Nathan, Representative.
Australian Cleared over E. Timor Assassination Attempt.
AFP
3 March 2010
By Matt Crook
An East Timor court on Wednesday cleared an Australian woman of the attempted assassination of the president and prime minister in a 2008 attack, but jailed more than 20 rebel gunmen.
"Today is the most important day of my life. I have rightfully regained my freedom," Angelita Pires, 43, said outside the court after judges dismissed the prosecutors' argument that she was a key player in the plot.
"I'd like to say that I have learnt that liberty is one of the most important things an individual can possess," added Pires, who had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Pires, an East Timor-born Australian, had been tried for seven months together with 27 ex-soldiers over the February 2008 gun assault on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
She was charged on several counts including that she was an "indirect author" of the plot to kill Ramos-Horta. Prosecutors stated that she had persuaded her lover, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, to mount the attack.
Pires, who spent several months in the mountains with Reinado before the attacks, used to work in a supermarket in Australia but returned to East Timor in 1999 and worked for a time as an interpreter for the UN Serious Crimes Unit.
Of the other defendants, 23 were sentenced to jail terms ranging from nine to 16 years. The remaining four were acquitted.
Gunmen had shot at Ramos-Horta outside his Dili home, leaving him grievously wounded, and also fired on the car of Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Reinado was shot dead by the president's guards during the attack and his followers subsequently surrendered.
The death of the charismatic Reinado, coupled with public distress over Ramos-Horta's brush with death, helped bring an end to the rebellion.
Pires, who was in Dili at the time of the attack, was arrested six days later.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso had said Pires was pivotal to the plot as she made several trips to the northern Australian city of Darwin to raise funds for the rebels.
But Pires's Australian lawyer Jon Tippett argued that the prosecutors had no evidence to support the claim. Outside the court, he expressed his relief at her acquittal.
"It's been a real emotional roller-coaster, literally, and as a barrister what you do is you throw your heart and soul into a case and you hope that will be enough," he said.
Tippett said he thought most of the defendants were foot-soldiers and not ringleaders of any anti-government conspiracy.
"I think it's unfortunate that they received such heavy sentences, and that will, to some extent, affect any celebrations we have," he said.
The assassination attempts had raised fears of a resumption of violence, coming two years after the desertion of 600 soldiers led by Reinado triggered street fighting that killed some 40 people and forced 100,000 from their homes.
The soldiers had complained of regional discrimination over promotions in the state, which has an east-east ethnic divide. The rebels on trial included some of the deserters.
Ramos-Horta, who was shot three times and went into a coma, was airlifted to Darwin for emergency treatment. He returned home after two months of treatment.
The world community had voiced outrage over the attack on Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate who for decades had campaigned abroad for East Timor's independence. Gusmao had led guerrilla resistance to Indonesia's rule.
An East Timor court on Wednesday cleared an Australian woman of the attempted assassination of the president and prime minister in a 2008 attack, but jailed more than 20 rebel gunmen.
"Today is the most important day of my life. I have rightfully regained my freedom," Angelita Pires, 43, said outside the court after judges dismissed the prosecutors' argument that she was a key player in the plot.
"I'd like to say that I have learnt that liberty is one of the most important things an individual can possess," added Pires, who had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Pires, an East Timor-born Australian, had been tried for seven months together with 27 ex-soldiers over the February 2008 gun assault on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
She was charged on several counts including that she was an "indirect author" of the plot to kill Ramos-Horta. Prosecutors stated that she had persuaded her lover, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, to mount the attack.
Pires, who spent several months in the mountains with Reinado before the attacks, used to work in a supermarket in Australia but returned to East Timor in 1999 and worked for a time as an interpreter for the UN Serious Crimes Unit.
Of the other defendants, 23 were sentenced to jail terms ranging from nine to 16 years. The remaining four were acquitted.
Gunmen had shot at Ramos-Horta outside his Dili home, leaving him grievously wounded, and also fired on the car of Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Reinado was shot dead by the president's guards during the attack and his followers subsequently surrendered.
The death of the charismatic Reinado, coupled with public distress over Ramos-Horta's brush with death, helped bring an end to the rebellion.
Pires, who was in Dili at the time of the attack, was arrested six days later.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso had said Pires was pivotal to the plot as she made several trips to the northern Australian city of Darwin to raise funds for the rebels.
But Pires's Australian lawyer Jon Tippett argued that the prosecutors had no evidence to support the claim. Outside the court, he expressed his relief at her acquittal.
"It's been a real emotional roller-coaster, literally, and as a barrister what you do is you throw your heart and soul into a case and you hope that will be enough," he said.
Tippett said he thought most of the defendants were foot-soldiers and not ringleaders of any anti-government conspiracy.
"I think it's unfortunate that they received such heavy sentences, and that will, to some extent, affect any celebrations we have," he said.
The assassination attempts had raised fears of a resumption of violence, coming two years after the desertion of 600 soldiers led by Reinado triggered street fighting that killed some 40 people and forced 100,000 from their homes.
The soldiers had complained of regional discrimination over promotions in the state, which has an east-east ethnic divide. The rebels on trial included some of the deserters.
Ramos-Horta, who was shot three times and went into a coma, was airlifted to Darwin for emergency treatment. He returned home after two months of treatment.
The world community had voiced outrage over the attack on Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate who for decades had campaigned abroad for East Timor's independence. Gusmao had led guerrilla resistance to Indonesia's authoritarian rule.
3 March 2010
By Matt Crook
An East Timor court on Wednesday cleared an Australian woman of the attempted assassination of the president and prime minister in a 2008 attack, but jailed more than 20 rebel gunmen.
"Today is the most important day of my life. I have rightfully regained my freedom," Angelita Pires, 43, said outside the court after judges dismissed the prosecutors' argument that she was a key player in the plot.
"I'd like to say that I have learnt that liberty is one of the most important things an individual can possess," added Pires, who had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Pires, an East Timor-born Australian, had been tried for seven months together with 27 ex-soldiers over the February 2008 gun assault on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
She was charged on several counts including that she was an "indirect author" of the plot to kill Ramos-Horta. Prosecutors stated that she had persuaded her lover, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, to mount the attack.
Pires, who spent several months in the mountains with Reinado before the attacks, used to work in a supermarket in Australia but returned to East Timor in 1999 and worked for a time as an interpreter for the UN Serious Crimes Unit.
Of the other defendants, 23 were sentenced to jail terms ranging from nine to 16 years. The remaining four were acquitted.
Gunmen had shot at Ramos-Horta outside his Dili home, leaving him grievously wounded, and also fired on the car of Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Reinado was shot dead by the president's guards during the attack and his followers subsequently surrendered.
The death of the charismatic Reinado, coupled with public distress over Ramos-Horta's brush with death, helped bring an end to the rebellion.
Pires, who was in Dili at the time of the attack, was arrested six days later.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso had said Pires was pivotal to the plot as she made several trips to the northern Australian city of Darwin to raise funds for the rebels.
But Pires's Australian lawyer Jon Tippett argued that the prosecutors had no evidence to support the claim. Outside the court, he expressed his relief at her acquittal.
"It's been a real emotional roller-coaster, literally, and as a barrister what you do is you throw your heart and soul into a case and you hope that will be enough," he said.
Tippett said he thought most of the defendants were foot-soldiers and not ringleaders of any anti-government conspiracy.
"I think it's unfortunate that they received such heavy sentences, and that will, to some extent, affect any celebrations we have," he said.
The assassination attempts had raised fears of a resumption of violence, coming two years after the desertion of 600 soldiers led by Reinado triggered street fighting that killed some 40 people and forced 100,000 from their homes.
The soldiers had complained of regional discrimination over promotions in the state, which has an east-east ethnic divide. The rebels on trial included some of the deserters.
Ramos-Horta, who was shot three times and went into a coma, was airlifted to Darwin for emergency treatment. He returned home after two months of treatment.
The world community had voiced outrage over the attack on Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate who for decades had campaigned abroad for East Timor's independence. Gusmao had led guerrilla resistance to Indonesia's rule.
An East Timor court on Wednesday cleared an Australian woman of the attempted assassination of the president and prime minister in a 2008 attack, but jailed more than 20 rebel gunmen.
"Today is the most important day of my life. I have rightfully regained my freedom," Angelita Pires, 43, said outside the court after judges dismissed the prosecutors' argument that she was a key player in the plot.
"I'd like to say that I have learnt that liberty is one of the most important things an individual can possess," added Pires, who had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Pires, an East Timor-born Australian, had been tried for seven months together with 27 ex-soldiers over the February 2008 gun assault on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
She was charged on several counts including that she was an "indirect author" of the plot to kill Ramos-Horta. Prosecutors stated that she had persuaded her lover, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, to mount the attack.
Pires, who spent several months in the mountains with Reinado before the attacks, used to work in a supermarket in Australia but returned to East Timor in 1999 and worked for a time as an interpreter for the UN Serious Crimes Unit.
Of the other defendants, 23 were sentenced to jail terms ranging from nine to 16 years. The remaining four were acquitted.
Gunmen had shot at Ramos-Horta outside his Dili home, leaving him grievously wounded, and also fired on the car of Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Reinado was shot dead by the president's guards during the attack and his followers subsequently surrendered.
The death of the charismatic Reinado, coupled with public distress over Ramos-Horta's brush with death, helped bring an end to the rebellion.
Pires, who was in Dili at the time of the attack, was arrested six days later.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso had said Pires was pivotal to the plot as she made several trips to the northern Australian city of Darwin to raise funds for the rebels.
But Pires's Australian lawyer Jon Tippett argued that the prosecutors had no evidence to support the claim. Outside the court, he expressed his relief at her acquittal.
"It's been a real emotional roller-coaster, literally, and as a barrister what you do is you throw your heart and soul into a case and you hope that will be enough," he said.
Tippett said he thought most of the defendants were foot-soldiers and not ringleaders of any anti-government conspiracy.
"I think it's unfortunate that they received such heavy sentences, and that will, to some extent, affect any celebrations we have," he said.
The assassination attempts had raised fears of a resumption of violence, coming two years after the desertion of 600 soldiers led by Reinado triggered street fighting that killed some 40 people and forced 100,000 from their homes.
The soldiers had complained of regional discrimination over promotions in the state, which has an east-east ethnic divide. The rebels on trial included some of the deserters.
Ramos-Horta, who was shot three times and went into a coma, was airlifted to Darwin for emergency treatment. He returned home after two months of treatment.
The world community had voiced outrage over the attack on Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate who for decades had campaigned abroad for East Timor's independence. Gusmao had led guerrilla resistance to Indonesia's authoritarian rule.
State Department Interference Seen in Blackwater Inquiry.
New York Times
2 March 2010
By James Risen
An official at the United States Embassy in Iraq has told federal prosecutors that he believes that State Department officials sought to block any serious investigation of the 2007 shooting episode in which Blackwater Worldwide security guards were accused of murdering 17 Iraqi civilians, according to court testimony made public on Tuesday.
David Farrington, a State Department security agent in the American Embassy at the time of the shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, told prosecutors that some of his colleagues were handling evidence in a way they hoped would help the Blackwater guards avoid punishment for a crime that drew headlines and raised tensions between American and Iraqi officials.
The description of Mr. Farrington’s account came in closed-door testimony last October from Kenneth Kohl, the lead prosecutor in the case against the Blackwater guards.
“I talked to David Farrington, who was concerned, who expressed concern about the integrity of the work being done by his fellow officers,” Mr. Kohl recalled. He said that Mr. Farrington had said he was in meetings where diplomatic security agents said that after they had gone to the scene and picked up casings and other evidence, “They said we’ve got enough to get these guys off now.”
Mr. Farrington, who also testified in a closed-door pretrial hearing in the Nisour Square shooting case, declined to comment. His own testimony has not yet been unsealed by the court.
Blackwater became a multimillion-dollar contractor as the United States escalated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing protection for State Department officials and covert work for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The company, dominated by former American officials, has been described by critics as being too close to the intelligence and diplomatic agencies for which it worked.
The New York Times has reported that the Justice Department was investigating allegations that Blackwater had tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining their security business after the deadly shooting.
In December, a federal judge dismissed the criminal charges against five former Blackwater guards in the Nisour Square shooting, and criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the case, chiding prosecutors for trying to use statements from defendants who had been offered immunity and testimony from witnesses tainted by news media leaks.
The documents made public on Tuesday show that before the December dismissal, prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents working on the Nisour Square case took the stand in October to argue that they had plenty of untainted evidence. In a closed-door hearing, they also contended that they had evidence that, in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, there had been a concerted effort to make the case go away, both by Blackwater and by at least some embassy officials.
In fact, prosecutors were told that the embassy had never conducted any significant investigation of any of the numerous shooting episodes in Iraq involving Blackwater before the Nisour Square case, according to the documents.
In his October testimony, Mr. Kohl described how the Justice Department had “serious concerns” about obstruction of justice in the case. He also said prosecutors briefed Kenneth Wainstein, then an assistant attorney general, on evidence of obstruction by Blackwater management.
Mr. Kohl disclosed that prosecutors had discovered that five Blackwater guards who were on the convoy involved in the Nisour Square shootings reported to Blackwater management what they had seen. One guard, he said, described it as “murder in cold blood.” Mr. Kohl said that Blackwater management never reported these statements by the guards to the State Department.
He said that prosecutors informed senior Justice Department officials as early as 2007 that they were investigating whether Blackwater managers “manipulated” the official statements made by the guards to the State Department.
But he testified that prosecutors also had evidence of embassy officials thwarting the inquiry. In addition to the testimony of Mr. Farrington, Mr. Kohl said that United States military officials had told prosecutors that they witnessed State Department investigators “badgering” Iraqi witnesses.
He also testified that diplomatic security agents, who conducted the embassy’s initial investigation before the F.B.I. and Justice Department began a criminal inquiry, left out important facts from their report relating to a witness’s account.
Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, defended the department’s handling of the Nisour Square case. He said: “Seventeen people died in broad daylight. We took the case seriously from the outset. We invited the F.B.I. to join the investigation, and more than two years later, we continue to pursue the case and seek justice.”
Officials from Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Kohl described what he believed was “an undercurrent of obstruction in this case.”
He said that a Blackwater official had told him that the whole criminal investigation could have been avoided if the State Department had given Blackwater officials more time to prepare the official statements by the guards involved in the shooting.
“He said, do you know why this all happened, why we’re here?” Mr. Kohl recalled. “Because the State Department didn’t give us enough time to work on these statements with these guys. We only had a couple hours, and we needed to get these over to the embassy.”
The dismissal of the criminal case against the guards for Blackwater in the Nisour Square shooting prompted bitter protests by Iraqis against the United States, and it led the Iraqi government to threaten to bring a lawsuit of its own in the case.
The Justice Department has now appealed the dismissal. Blackwater has settled one series of civil lawsuits brought by victims of the Nisour Square shooting, but another lawsuit brought by another group of victims is still pending.
2 March 2010
By James Risen
An official at the United States Embassy in Iraq has told federal prosecutors that he believes that State Department officials sought to block any serious investigation of the 2007 shooting episode in which Blackwater Worldwide security guards were accused of murdering 17 Iraqi civilians, according to court testimony made public on Tuesday.
David Farrington, a State Department security agent in the American Embassy at the time of the shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, told prosecutors that some of his colleagues were handling evidence in a way they hoped would help the Blackwater guards avoid punishment for a crime that drew headlines and raised tensions between American and Iraqi officials.
The description of Mr. Farrington’s account came in closed-door testimony last October from Kenneth Kohl, the lead prosecutor in the case against the Blackwater guards.
“I talked to David Farrington, who was concerned, who expressed concern about the integrity of the work being done by his fellow officers,” Mr. Kohl recalled. He said that Mr. Farrington had said he was in meetings where diplomatic security agents said that after they had gone to the scene and picked up casings and other evidence, “They said we’ve got enough to get these guys off now.”
Mr. Farrington, who also testified in a closed-door pretrial hearing in the Nisour Square shooting case, declined to comment. His own testimony has not yet been unsealed by the court.
Blackwater became a multimillion-dollar contractor as the United States escalated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing protection for State Department officials and covert work for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The company, dominated by former American officials, has been described by critics as being too close to the intelligence and diplomatic agencies for which it worked.
The New York Times has reported that the Justice Department was investigating allegations that Blackwater had tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining their security business after the deadly shooting.
In December, a federal judge dismissed the criminal charges against five former Blackwater guards in the Nisour Square shooting, and criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the case, chiding prosecutors for trying to use statements from defendants who had been offered immunity and testimony from witnesses tainted by news media leaks.
The documents made public on Tuesday show that before the December dismissal, prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents working on the Nisour Square case took the stand in October to argue that they had plenty of untainted evidence. In a closed-door hearing, they also contended that they had evidence that, in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, there had been a concerted effort to make the case go away, both by Blackwater and by at least some embassy officials.
In fact, prosecutors were told that the embassy had never conducted any significant investigation of any of the numerous shooting episodes in Iraq involving Blackwater before the Nisour Square case, according to the documents.
In his October testimony, Mr. Kohl described how the Justice Department had “serious concerns” about obstruction of justice in the case. He also said prosecutors briefed Kenneth Wainstein, then an assistant attorney general, on evidence of obstruction by Blackwater management.
Mr. Kohl disclosed that prosecutors had discovered that five Blackwater guards who were on the convoy involved in the Nisour Square shootings reported to Blackwater management what they had seen. One guard, he said, described it as “murder in cold blood.” Mr. Kohl said that Blackwater management never reported these statements by the guards to the State Department.
He said that prosecutors informed senior Justice Department officials as early as 2007 that they were investigating whether Blackwater managers “manipulated” the official statements made by the guards to the State Department.
But he testified that prosecutors also had evidence of embassy officials thwarting the inquiry. In addition to the testimony of Mr. Farrington, Mr. Kohl said that United States military officials had told prosecutors that they witnessed State Department investigators “badgering” Iraqi witnesses.
He also testified that diplomatic security agents, who conducted the embassy’s initial investigation before the F.B.I. and Justice Department began a criminal inquiry, left out important facts from their report relating to a witness’s account.
Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, defended the department’s handling of the Nisour Square case. He said: “Seventeen people died in broad daylight. We took the case seriously from the outset. We invited the F.B.I. to join the investigation, and more than two years later, we continue to pursue the case and seek justice.”
Officials from Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Kohl described what he believed was “an undercurrent of obstruction in this case.”
He said that a Blackwater official had told him that the whole criminal investigation could have been avoided if the State Department had given Blackwater officials more time to prepare the official statements by the guards involved in the shooting.
“He said, do you know why this all happened, why we’re here?” Mr. Kohl recalled. “Because the State Department didn’t give us enough time to work on these statements with these guys. We only had a couple hours, and we needed to get these over to the embassy.”
The dismissal of the criminal case against the guards for Blackwater in the Nisour Square shooting prompted bitter protests by Iraqis against the United States, and it led the Iraqi government to threaten to bring a lawsuit of its own in the case.
The Justice Department has now appealed the dismissal. Blackwater has settled one series of civil lawsuits brought by victims of the Nisour Square shooting, but another lawsuit brought by another group of victims is still pending.
Gen. Nyamwasa‘s Family Held in India.
256 News
3 March 2010
By Godwin Agaba
Mrs. Rosette Nyamwasa, the wife of Rwandan General Kayumba Nyamwasa, and their children are barricaded in the Ambassador’s residence in India, according to BBC Great Lakes web site-Kinyarwanda service.
According to the report, the children are unable to go to school while Mrs. Kayumba cannot leave the house either. The embassy's security guards reportedly told her that the gate keys were at the Rwandan embassy in India. It is not yet clear why the family is under siege. She has since reported her situation to the India Foreign Affairs Minister.
Back home in Rwanda, the government is alleging that Lt. Gen. Kayumba
Nyamwasa is suspected to have been behind the latest spate of
grenade attacks in Kigali. But many people 256news.com spoke to in Kigali believe that these are silly and spurious charges born out of blind malice for the general.
According to other source, Kayumba had been tricked into confessing
several misdemeanors against the ruling RPF. These included suspected
alliance with a nascent opposition political party and often-voiced
coup attempts.
Many are still wondering how he could possibly escape if he was under 24
four hour surveillance, but Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa found a way to escape.
The last person to talk to Gen. Kayumba was newly appointed Ambassador
to UK, Ernest Rwamucyo, who was taken in by police for questioning
and later released “but fired soon after" according to reliable sources.
Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister and government
spokesperson, did not answer repeated phone calls from 256news.com.
Meanwhile, President Paul Kagame is holding a press conference in Kigali to shed more light on the Kayumba Nyamwasa saga which many say is exposing his government terribly.
Pres. Kagame and Gen. Nyamwasa fought the 1990-94 Rwandan war together.
3 March 2010
By Godwin Agaba
Mrs. Rosette Nyamwasa, the wife of Rwandan General Kayumba Nyamwasa, and their children are barricaded in the Ambassador’s residence in India, according to BBC Great Lakes web site-Kinyarwanda service.
According to the report, the children are unable to go to school while Mrs. Kayumba cannot leave the house either. The embassy's security guards reportedly told her that the gate keys were at the Rwandan embassy in India. It is not yet clear why the family is under siege. She has since reported her situation to the India Foreign Affairs Minister.
Back home in Rwanda, the government is alleging that Lt. Gen. Kayumba
Nyamwasa is suspected to have been behind the latest spate of
grenade attacks in Kigali. But many people 256news.com spoke to in Kigali believe that these are silly and spurious charges born out of blind malice for the general.
According to other source, Kayumba had been tricked into confessing
several misdemeanors against the ruling RPF. These included suspected
alliance with a nascent opposition political party and often-voiced
coup attempts.
Many are still wondering how he could possibly escape if he was under 24
four hour surveillance, but Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa found a way to escape.
The last person to talk to Gen. Kayumba was newly appointed Ambassador
to UK, Ernest Rwamucyo, who was taken in by police for questioning
and later released “but fired soon after" according to reliable sources.
Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister and government
spokesperson, did not answer repeated phone calls from 256news.com.
Meanwhile, President Paul Kagame is holding a press conference in Kigali to shed more light on the Kayumba Nyamwasa saga which many say is exposing his government terribly.
Pres. Kagame and Gen. Nyamwasa fought the 1990-94 Rwandan war together.
Kagame attacks his security apparatus over Gen. Nyamwasa escape.
Rwandan News Agency
3 March 2010
President Paul Kagame hinted on Wednesday that the way the
security apparatus handled the fugitive General Faustin Kayumba
Nyamwasa could have contributed to his fleeing, a criticism likely to
lead to some heads rolling RNA reports. The exiled journalist Mr.
Charles Kabonero also came under the President's verbal attacks.
Gen. Kayumba was summoned by security officials on Thursday night –
a day before he fled the country over serious criminal charges, the
President revealed. However, the officials who handled his case may
have been influenced by “family relations”, according to Mr. Kagame.
“In Rwandan society, there are still so much family relations and
friendship,” said Mr. Kagame. “They even gave him the time to go and think about the accusations so that they can start from there the next day.”
He claimed: “…there was overwhelming evidence backing the charges that he was not able to respond to some. If those interrogating him had followed this lead, he could not have left.”
Mr. Kagame claimed Gen. Kayumba could have fled the country because his plans had
been revealed to him by security officials who indicated that they were aware of whatever he was allegedly planning.
“Never” a coup in Rwanda, “not like Niger,” President Kagame said.
The President also dismissed suggestions that General Kayumba and Col.
Karegeya were close to him. “Those were not my colleagues. Am above
these people and what they stand for,” he said.
“Kayumba, Karegeya…NO,” the President said. “I don’t drink with them, I never did.”
“It will be an insult to me to reduce myself to their level,” he added in
gestures which indicated he was becoming angry with the whole situation.
Responding to another question that there have been rumours of a coup plot in which Gen. Kayumba and Col. Karegeya have been named, President Kagame said “never”, “nobody can”, describing such a suggestion as “wishful thinking” for anybody to imagine that happening in Rwanda.
“Maybe in Habyarimana’s period or before…,” he added spreading his hands in vigorous gestures.
The
President also said Rwanda is “not like Niger where soldiers” do
whatever they link with the country. He said Rwanda has established
solid institutions for the last 16 years that cannot be possible for
coup.
Regional dimension
He said
people “should sleep and wake up” without any worries. “Don’t waste
your time. Go to bars and drink you will wake up to find Rwanda is
still going on.”
The President said his responsibility is
ensuring stability. “If you are tired, you go out and leave us in our
country,” he said. Mr. Kagame also revealed that Col. Karegeya has been
“transacting” his activities in the region, adding that the exiled
former head of the External Security Organisation (ESO) has been moving
from one country to another in this region.
He said government
is employing all mechanisms available “including extradition” with the
countries concerned, but did not name any to have the two officers face
justice. The President said just like Rwanda would not want to have
destabilizing forces in neighbouring countries, Rwanda considers the
same principle.
UMUSESO also came under the spotlight in the President’s press conference. In the first reaction to allegations which arose several years ago suggesting that exiled publisher Mr. Charles Kabonero was in contact with exiled ex-RPA officer Joshua Abdul Ruzibiza, allegedly with plans to cause chaos in Kigali, Mr. Kagame charachteristically did not mince any words.
Mr. Kagame said some journalists also have some cases to answer for in relation to Gen. Kayumba and Col. Karegeya. “There are those who found Karegeya in South Africa to speak to him. There are even those who went there but have not returned,” he claimed, referencing Mr. Kabonero, who is alleged to be in South Africa seeking asylum in North America or Europe.
Without categorically naming Mr. Kabonero, the President alleged there were some journalists who were found with documents detailing a plan to cause state insecurity. “…which I think is still being investigated,” he revealed.
When three grenades exploded in Kigali two weeks ago and another in Huye
district a week before, Police Spokesman Superintendent Eric Kayiranga
quickly said investigations showed that Rwandan FDLR rebels were behind them.
The link has not been raised again. On Tuesday, the National Prosecuting
Authority suddenly claimed that Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa and Col. Patrick Karegeya
were behind the grenade attacks. On Wednesday, President Kagame said the
link between these two scenarios might be possible.
Without being categorical, the President said the security apparatus is looking
at all leads, including the possibility that the ex-officers could be
working with some rebel group.
3 March 2010
President Paul Kagame hinted on Wednesday that the way the
security apparatus handled the fugitive General Faustin Kayumba
Nyamwasa could have contributed to his fleeing, a criticism likely to
lead to some heads rolling RNA reports. The exiled journalist Mr.
Charles Kabonero also came under the President's verbal attacks.
Gen. Kayumba was summoned by security officials on Thursday night –
a day before he fled the country over serious criminal charges, the
President revealed. However, the officials who handled his case may
have been influenced by “family relations”, according to Mr. Kagame.
“In Rwandan society, there are still so much family relations and
friendship,” said Mr. Kagame. “They even gave him the time to go and think about the accusations so that they can start from there the next day.”
He claimed: “…there was overwhelming evidence backing the charges that he was not able to respond to some. If those interrogating him had followed this lead, he could not have left.”
Mr. Kagame claimed Gen. Kayumba could have fled the country because his plans had
been revealed to him by security officials who indicated that they were aware of whatever he was allegedly planning.
“Never” a coup in Rwanda, “not like Niger,” President Kagame said.
The President also dismissed suggestions that General Kayumba and Col.
Karegeya were close to him. “Those were not my colleagues. Am above
these people and what they stand for,” he said.
“Kayumba, Karegeya…NO,” the President said. “I don’t drink with them, I never did.”
“It will be an insult to me to reduce myself to their level,” he added in
gestures which indicated he was becoming angry with the whole situation.
Responding to another question that there have been rumours of a coup plot in which Gen. Kayumba and Col. Karegeya have been named, President Kagame said “never”, “nobody can”, describing such a suggestion as “wishful thinking” for anybody to imagine that happening in Rwanda.
“Maybe in Habyarimana’s period or before…,” he added spreading his hands in vigorous gestures.
The
President also said Rwanda is “not like Niger where soldiers” do
whatever they link with the country. He said Rwanda has established
solid institutions for the last 16 years that cannot be possible for
coup.
Regional dimension
He said
people “should sleep and wake up” without any worries. “Don’t waste
your time. Go to bars and drink you will wake up to find Rwanda is
still going on.”
The President said his responsibility is
ensuring stability. “If you are tired, you go out and leave us in our
country,” he said. Mr. Kagame also revealed that Col. Karegeya has been
“transacting” his activities in the region, adding that the exiled
former head of the External Security Organisation (ESO) has been moving
from one country to another in this region.
He said government
is employing all mechanisms available “including extradition” with the
countries concerned, but did not name any to have the two officers face
justice. The President said just like Rwanda would not want to have
destabilizing forces in neighbouring countries, Rwanda considers the
same principle.
UMUSESO also came under the spotlight in the President’s press conference. In the first reaction to allegations which arose several years ago suggesting that exiled publisher Mr. Charles Kabonero was in contact with exiled ex-RPA officer Joshua Abdul Ruzibiza, allegedly with plans to cause chaos in Kigali, Mr. Kagame charachteristically did not mince any words.
Mr. Kagame said some journalists also have some cases to answer for in relation to Gen. Kayumba and Col. Karegeya. “There are those who found Karegeya in South Africa to speak to him. There are even those who went there but have not returned,” he claimed, referencing Mr. Kabonero, who is alleged to be in South Africa seeking asylum in North America or Europe.
Without categorically naming Mr. Kabonero, the President alleged there were some journalists who were found with documents detailing a plan to cause state insecurity. “…which I think is still being investigated,” he revealed.
When three grenades exploded in Kigali two weeks ago and another in Huye
district a week before, Police Spokesman Superintendent Eric Kayiranga
quickly said investigations showed that Rwandan FDLR rebels were behind them.
The link has not been raised again. On Tuesday, the National Prosecuting
Authority suddenly claimed that Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa and Col. Patrick Karegeya
were behind the grenade attacks. On Wednesday, President Kagame said the
link between these two scenarios might be possible.
Without being categorical, the President said the security apparatus is looking
at all leads, including the possibility that the ex-officers could be
working with some rebel group.
Envoy to Netherlands resigns, Kagame “surprised."
Rwandan News Agency
3 March 2010
Rwanda’s ambassador to The Netherlands, Mr. Jean-Pierre Bizimana, sent an
e-mail to President Paul Kagame tendering his resignation – making
accusations the President now claims are laughable, RNA reports.
Mr. Bizimana, according to President Kagame, wrote a resignation
e-mail which was received by his Principal Private Secretary, Mr. Gatare
Francis, before the annual ambassadors’ retreat last week. Mr. Bizimana
did not turn up at the retreat.
In the email, the envoy claimed his job had been made “difficult” by his
subordinate, the Second Counselor, a female, at the embassy. At a press
conference Wednesday, President Kagame simply laughed at the issue.
“I find it very strange that an ambassador is failed [in his job] by a
junior officer,” he said amid laughter from the audience. The President
said Mr. Bizimana could have waited to get to Kigali for the
ambassadors’ retreat to raise the issue with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, “later alone myself”.
RNA has now established that the junior official alleged to have triggered the Ambassador’s going is Ms. Enid Mbabazi, the Second Counselor. Interestingly, the names and photos of the two supposed conflicting individuals are still on the website of the embassy.
Ambassador Bizimana is alleged to have had prior encounters with the President but did not reveal his problems. Mr. Kagame said he finds the situation “strange” that a diplomat resigns in such a manner.
There had been unproven media reports that Mr. Bizimana was linked to the embattled opposition politician Ms Ingabire Victoire – prompting discomfort in Kigali with his presence in its embassy, which is found in one of the country’s key partners.
Ms. Ingabire, head of the yet-to-be-registered United Democratic Forces
Inkingi, has lived in the Netherlands for the last 16 years before her
return on January 16. Local media claimed that Mr. Bizimana helped Ms.
Ingabire, her family and party colleagues to get passports without
authorization from Kigali.
However, President Kagame described all this as “mere speculation”, arguing that what stands out is what was communicated to him by Mr. Bizimana.
Reports also suggest that the envoy was forced out of his job by
authorities in Kigali and is now seeking asylum in Ireland. Rwanda has
signed a prisoner exchange agreement with Ireland, and also has a
temporary extradition treaty with Great Britain.
On Thursday, when French President Nicholas Sarkozy was in Rwanda for the
three-hour visit, opposition critics including Ms. Ingabire, Green
Party leader Mr. Frank Habineza and Mr. Ntaganda Bernard of PS
Imberakuri, released an open letter to the French leader.
They criticized Mr. Sarkozy’s decision to visit Rwanda, a country with a
government, they argued, that is a dictatorship. The trio demanded that Mr.
Sarkozy put President Kagame to task over the lack of political space and
freedom of speech. Several other issues were raised.
During the high-level visit of former US President George W. Bush in 2008,
another similar letter from local media surfaced. This time, President Kagame did not waste any moment when the issue was up at the press briefing Wednesday.
“This shows the level at which those doing the writing are. What we do here
or what has been done for the last 16 years is not to please the
President of another country, whether big or small. We do everything
for the wellbeing of Rwandans,” he said.
“We also do whatever we work on as a gesture of goodwill to have good relations with other countries, but not to please those headmasters they report us to
because we are not their students,” he added.
3 March 2010
Rwanda’s ambassador to The Netherlands, Mr. Jean-Pierre Bizimana, sent an
e-mail to President Paul Kagame tendering his resignation – making
accusations the President now claims are laughable, RNA reports.
Mr. Bizimana, according to President Kagame, wrote a resignation
e-mail which was received by his Principal Private Secretary, Mr. Gatare
Francis, before the annual ambassadors’ retreat last week. Mr. Bizimana
did not turn up at the retreat.
In the email, the envoy claimed his job had been made “difficult” by his
subordinate, the Second Counselor, a female, at the embassy. At a press
conference Wednesday, President Kagame simply laughed at the issue.
“I find it very strange that an ambassador is failed [in his job] by a
junior officer,” he said amid laughter from the audience. The President
said Mr. Bizimana could have waited to get to Kigali for the
ambassadors’ retreat to raise the issue with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, “later alone myself”.
RNA has now established that the junior official alleged to have triggered the Ambassador’s going is Ms. Enid Mbabazi, the Second Counselor. Interestingly, the names and photos of the two supposed conflicting individuals are still on the website of the embassy.
Ambassador Bizimana is alleged to have had prior encounters with the President but did not reveal his problems. Mr. Kagame said he finds the situation “strange” that a diplomat resigns in such a manner.
There had been unproven media reports that Mr. Bizimana was linked to the embattled opposition politician Ms Ingabire Victoire – prompting discomfort in Kigali with his presence in its embassy, which is found in one of the country’s key partners.
Ms. Ingabire, head of the yet-to-be-registered United Democratic Forces
Inkingi, has lived in the Netherlands for the last 16 years before her
return on January 16. Local media claimed that Mr. Bizimana helped Ms.
Ingabire, her family and party colleagues to get passports without
authorization from Kigali.
However, President Kagame described all this as “mere speculation”, arguing that what stands out is what was communicated to him by Mr. Bizimana.
Reports also suggest that the envoy was forced out of his job by
authorities in Kigali and is now seeking asylum in Ireland. Rwanda has
signed a prisoner exchange agreement with Ireland, and also has a
temporary extradition treaty with Great Britain.
On Thursday, when French President Nicholas Sarkozy was in Rwanda for the
three-hour visit, opposition critics including Ms. Ingabire, Green
Party leader Mr. Frank Habineza and Mr. Ntaganda Bernard of PS
Imberakuri, released an open letter to the French leader.
They criticized Mr. Sarkozy’s decision to visit Rwanda, a country with a
government, they argued, that is a dictatorship. The trio demanded that Mr.
Sarkozy put President Kagame to task over the lack of political space and
freedom of speech. Several other issues were raised.
During the high-level visit of former US President George W. Bush in 2008,
another similar letter from local media surfaced. This time, President Kagame did not waste any moment when the issue was up at the press briefing Wednesday.
“This shows the level at which those doing the writing are. What we do here
or what has been done for the last 16 years is not to please the
President of another country, whether big or small. We do everything
for the wellbeing of Rwandans,” he said.
“We also do whatever we work on as a gesture of goodwill to have good relations with other countries, but not to please those headmasters they report us to
because we are not their students,” he added.
Rwanda's history becomes a tool for repression.
The Globe and Mail
By Geoffrey York
March 03, 2010
The symbolism was incendiary. In front of mass graves where an alleged 250,000 genocide victims are buried, a Rwandan politician dared to speak of the Hutus who were killed in those same terrible months in 1994.
Perhaps more astonishingly, Victoire Ingabire was not imprisoned for her taboo comments – not so far, at least, although the police have interrogated her three times and accused her of the crime of spreading “divisionism.”
Her challenge is posing an uncomfortable dilemma for the minority Tutsi-led government that dominates Rwanda. Sixteen years after the genocide, can the authorities tolerate a political candidate who appeals openly to the Hutus who still comprise 85 per cent of Rwanda's population?
How long can the government use the genocide as a justification for strict controls on the political system? And who decides the official history of the genocide?
The woman at the centre of the storm is an unlikely politician: a cheerful 41-year-old emigrant who has worked as an accountant at a U.S. company in the Netherlands for the past decade.
She wears a frilly-strapped dress and giggles merrily when she is asked about the barrage of wild attacks on her in Rwanda's state-controlled media.
But she is backed by many of the Hutus who fled to Europe and North America during the Rwandan wars of the 1990s. She clearly has money and resources. She rents a large house in one of Kigali's most exclusive neighbourhoods, where she has a Land Cruiser parked in the driveway.
Ms. Ingabire's decision to return to Kigali this year has sent shock waves through Rwandan politics. In a country where ethnic divisions are officially never discussed, she has dared to raise Hutu grievances – especially the killing of thousands of Hutus in 1994 and 1995, which she describes as a “crime against humanity.”
It's a potent appeal. Many Hutus feel excluded from power, excluded from the best jobs and schools, and afraid to speak out. It was to them that Ms. Ingabire was deliberately appealing when she returned to Rwanda in January – after 16 years in exile – and made her controversial comments at the genocide memorial.
Ms. Ingabire has carefully couched her appeal in diplomatic language. She condemns the genocide, calling for reconciliation and dialogue. She denounces “extremists” on all sides. She urges the authorities to bring all criminals to justice, regardless of ethnicity. She pledges to work for a peaceful country, united in mutual respect.
Yet merely by talking of Hutu victims, she has triggered a firestorm of reaction. She and her assistant were assaulted by a gang of young men in a government office. Her assistant, who was badly beaten, has been jailed for “genocide” crimes. She is facing a police investigation for her alleged “genocide ideology.” And even the country's powerful President, Paul Kagame, has warned that “the law will catch up with her” – a clear threat that she will be arrested.
At the heart of the battle between Ms. Ingabire and Mr. Kagame is a stark disagreement about Rwanda's identity. The President argues that any talk of ethnicity must be suppressed because Rwanda is still in a fragile post-genocide period, where hatred and violence could rise again. His opponent sees this as an excuse for repression, leading only to resentment and bitterness among those who cannot speak out.
It is unclear whether the government will permit Ms. Ingabire to challenge Mr. Kagame in the presidential election in August. The President won the last election with an official margin of 95 per cent, and he has brooked no real opposition since 1994.
So far, Ms. Ingabire has been denied permission to gather the 200 signatures that she needs to register her political party. She is routinely subjected to fierce attacks in the pages of Rwanda's only daily newspaper, the state-connected New Times, which refuses to publish her responses to the attacks.
“I don't know why the government is so afraid of me,” she says. “They watch me and follow me all the time. I know anything can happen to me – they can arrest me, they can kill me.”
The managing director of the New Times, Mr. Joseph Bideri, confirmed that the newspaper refuses to give any “space” to Ms. Ingabire's responses. He wrote a personal letter to her on Jan. 22, vowing she would never get a “platform” in the newspaper because she is a “genocide denier.”
In an interview, however, Mr. Bideri was unable to provide any evidence that Ms. Ingabire denies the genocide. In fact, in her public speeches and in a lengthy interview with The Globe and Mail, she repeatedly acknowledged and condemned the 1994 genocide. She draws a distinction between the slaughter of the Tutsis – which she calls a genocide – and the killings of many Hutus, which she describes as a “crime against humanity.”
Although she emigrated to the Netherlands shortly before the genocide began, Ms. Ingabire's own family suffered in the genocide. Her brother was killed in 1994 because he was mistaken for a Tutsi.
“When people talk about the pain they feel, they need to understand that everybody feels pain,” she says. “We have to understand the pain of others. When I condemn the genocide, I'm also thinking of my brother. Not all Hutus are killers, and not all Tutsis are victims.”
International human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized the Rwandan government for attacking and harassing opposition leaders such as Ms. Ingabire. Amnesty says the Rwandan law on “genocide ideology” is so vague and ambiguous that the authorities can use it to suppress dissent.
There is strong evidence to support Ms. Ingabire's allegations of war crimes against Hutus. For example, a United Nations investigator in 1994 estimated that 25,000 to 45,000 civilians, primarily Hutus, were killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front – the army of Mr. Kagame, now the governing party. Many other civilians, including thousands of Hutu refugees, were killed in further attacks in later years. Only a small handful of RPF members have been prosecuted for the Hutu deaths, which remain a taboo subject in Rwanda.
Ms. Ingabire says she doesn't know how many Tutsis died in 1994, how many Hutus died, or even whether the number of Tutsi victims was larger than the number of Hutu victims. Some observers say she is leaving the impression of an equivalency between the two sides, despite claimed historical evidence that the Tutsi victims were far more numerous and were the only ones subjected to a deliberate campaign of attempted extermination.
But even the Rwandan government has struggled with how to write the history of the genocide. At the memorial where an alleged 250,000 victims are buried, a guide says it commemorates only the Tutsi victims of the genocide. Yet he distributes an audio guide that calls it a memorial to the “Tutsi and moderate Hutu peoples” who were killed.
Didas Gasana, editor of a weekly newspaper whose staff is often harassed and threatened by the authorities for its independent views, says the government needs to provide justice and truth to the Hutu victims. “There needs to be debate and justice and openness,” he says. “It's a part of history that can't be denied.”
Mr. Gasana is himself a Tutsi. And despite the official view that ethnicity has disappeared, he says he is often told privately by government officials that he should not write such critical articles – because he is a Tutsi.
By Geoffrey York
March 03, 2010
The symbolism was incendiary. In front of mass graves where an alleged 250,000 genocide victims are buried, a Rwandan politician dared to speak of the Hutus who were killed in those same terrible months in 1994.
Perhaps more astonishingly, Victoire Ingabire was not imprisoned for her taboo comments – not so far, at least, although the police have interrogated her three times and accused her of the crime of spreading “divisionism.”
Her challenge is posing an uncomfortable dilemma for the minority Tutsi-led government that dominates Rwanda. Sixteen years after the genocide, can the authorities tolerate a political candidate who appeals openly to the Hutus who still comprise 85 per cent of Rwanda's population?
How long can the government use the genocide as a justification for strict controls on the political system? And who decides the official history of the genocide?
The woman at the centre of the storm is an unlikely politician: a cheerful 41-year-old emigrant who has worked as an accountant at a U.S. company in the Netherlands for the past decade.
She wears a frilly-strapped dress and giggles merrily when she is asked about the barrage of wild attacks on her in Rwanda's state-controlled media.
But she is backed by many of the Hutus who fled to Europe and North America during the Rwandan wars of the 1990s. She clearly has money and resources. She rents a large house in one of Kigali's most exclusive neighbourhoods, where she has a Land Cruiser parked in the driveway.
Ms. Ingabire's decision to return to Kigali this year has sent shock waves through Rwandan politics. In a country where ethnic divisions are officially never discussed, she has dared to raise Hutu grievances – especially the killing of thousands of Hutus in 1994 and 1995, which she describes as a “crime against humanity.”
It's a potent appeal. Many Hutus feel excluded from power, excluded from the best jobs and schools, and afraid to speak out. It was to them that Ms. Ingabire was deliberately appealing when she returned to Rwanda in January – after 16 years in exile – and made her controversial comments at the genocide memorial.
Ms. Ingabire has carefully couched her appeal in diplomatic language. She condemns the genocide, calling for reconciliation and dialogue. She denounces “extremists” on all sides. She urges the authorities to bring all criminals to justice, regardless of ethnicity. She pledges to work for a peaceful country, united in mutual respect.
Yet merely by talking of Hutu victims, she has triggered a firestorm of reaction. She and her assistant were assaulted by a gang of young men in a government office. Her assistant, who was badly beaten, has been jailed for “genocide” crimes. She is facing a police investigation for her alleged “genocide ideology.” And even the country's powerful President, Paul Kagame, has warned that “the law will catch up with her” – a clear threat that she will be arrested.
At the heart of the battle between Ms. Ingabire and Mr. Kagame is a stark disagreement about Rwanda's identity. The President argues that any talk of ethnicity must be suppressed because Rwanda is still in a fragile post-genocide period, where hatred and violence could rise again. His opponent sees this as an excuse for repression, leading only to resentment and bitterness among those who cannot speak out.
It is unclear whether the government will permit Ms. Ingabire to challenge Mr. Kagame in the presidential election in August. The President won the last election with an official margin of 95 per cent, and he has brooked no real opposition since 1994.
So far, Ms. Ingabire has been denied permission to gather the 200 signatures that she needs to register her political party. She is routinely subjected to fierce attacks in the pages of Rwanda's only daily newspaper, the state-connected New Times, which refuses to publish her responses to the attacks.
“I don't know why the government is so afraid of me,” she says. “They watch me and follow me all the time. I know anything can happen to me – they can arrest me, they can kill me.”
The managing director of the New Times, Mr. Joseph Bideri, confirmed that the newspaper refuses to give any “space” to Ms. Ingabire's responses. He wrote a personal letter to her on Jan. 22, vowing she would never get a “platform” in the newspaper because she is a “genocide denier.”
In an interview, however, Mr. Bideri was unable to provide any evidence that Ms. Ingabire denies the genocide. In fact, in her public speeches and in a lengthy interview with The Globe and Mail, she repeatedly acknowledged and condemned the 1994 genocide. She draws a distinction between the slaughter of the Tutsis – which she calls a genocide – and the killings of many Hutus, which she describes as a “crime against humanity.”
Although she emigrated to the Netherlands shortly before the genocide began, Ms. Ingabire's own family suffered in the genocide. Her brother was killed in 1994 because he was mistaken for a Tutsi.
“When people talk about the pain they feel, they need to understand that everybody feels pain,” she says. “We have to understand the pain of others. When I condemn the genocide, I'm also thinking of my brother. Not all Hutus are killers, and not all Tutsis are victims.”
International human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized the Rwandan government for attacking and harassing opposition leaders such as Ms. Ingabire. Amnesty says the Rwandan law on “genocide ideology” is so vague and ambiguous that the authorities can use it to suppress dissent.
There is strong evidence to support Ms. Ingabire's allegations of war crimes against Hutus. For example, a United Nations investigator in 1994 estimated that 25,000 to 45,000 civilians, primarily Hutus, were killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front – the army of Mr. Kagame, now the governing party. Many other civilians, including thousands of Hutu refugees, were killed in further attacks in later years. Only a small handful of RPF members have been prosecuted for the Hutu deaths, which remain a taboo subject in Rwanda.
Ms. Ingabire says she doesn't know how many Tutsis died in 1994, how many Hutus died, or even whether the number of Tutsi victims was larger than the number of Hutu victims. Some observers say she is leaving the impression of an equivalency between the two sides, despite claimed historical evidence that the Tutsi victims were far more numerous and were the only ones subjected to a deliberate campaign of attempted extermination.
But even the Rwandan government has struggled with how to write the history of the genocide. At the memorial where an alleged 250,000 victims are buried, a guide says it commemorates only the Tutsi victims of the genocide. Yet he distributes an audio guide that calls it a memorial to the “Tutsi and moderate Hutu peoples” who were killed.
Didas Gasana, editor of a weekly newspaper whose staff is often harassed and threatened by the authorities for its independent views, says the government needs to provide justice and truth to the Hutu victims. “There needs to be debate and justice and openness,” he says. “It's a part of history that can't be denied.”
Mr. Gasana is himself a Tutsi. And despite the official view that ethnicity has disappeared, he says he is often told privately by government officials that he should not write such critical articles – because he is a Tutsi.
Total to Invest 20 billion in Nigeria.
Daily Champion
3 March 2010
By Sopuruchi Onwuka
Editor's Note: This is a big move related to Russia's inroads into Nigeria's energy sector and also the Trans-Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline.
Lagos — France's multinational oil giant, Total, has declared its readiness to invest over N20 billion in Nigeria's natural gas and deepwater exploration.
The news comes as global deepwater facility construction giant, Nexen, declared that it would complete works on Total's floating production, storage and offloading vessel before the end of the year.
Presidency sources stated that Total's head of exploration and production, Yves-Louis Darricarrere, made the pledge while on a visit to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.
According to the statement from the president's office, the French company said it was ready to spend $20 billion in Nigeria.
According to the statement, Mr. Darricarrere, had informed the acting president of the planned investment during a meeting in Abuja.
"Dr Jonathan said the proposed investment is an affirmation of the positive business environment in the Niger Delta brought about by the amnesty program," the statement read.
Total's head of African exploration and production said in an interview with foreign media sources that the French oil major saw more opportunities to develop its business in the country but gave no details
In its Q4 results Nexen reported that the development of the Usan field was progressing well with first production expected in 2012.
The development includes a FPSO with the ability to process 180,000 bpd and store up to two million barrels of oil.
The company's 2009 capital investment in Nigeria focused on fabrication of the FPSO hull and topside facilities, subsea equipment, development drilling, and completion of detailed engineering and procurement.
Nexen said in 2010 it expects to complete fabrication of the FPSO hull and most of the topsides.
In addition, the company will continue fabrication of subsea components, development drilling and well completion activities.
Nexen has a 20 percent interest in exploration and development on this block and Total E&P Nigeria is the operator.
The company also participated in a discovery on OPL 223 with the Owowo South B-1 well. The Owowo South B-1 well was drilled in a water depth of 670 meters and is located 20 km northeast of the Usan field.
The well reached a total depth of 2,227 meters and discovered several oil bearing reservoirs containing light oil according to logs and other analysis. Nexen has an 18 percent interest in the discovery.
3 March 2010
By Sopuruchi Onwuka
Editor's Note: This is a big move related to Russia's inroads into Nigeria's energy sector and also the Trans-Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline.
Lagos — France's multinational oil giant, Total, has declared its readiness to invest over N20 billion in Nigeria's natural gas and deepwater exploration.
The news comes as global deepwater facility construction giant, Nexen, declared that it would complete works on Total's floating production, storage and offloading vessel before the end of the year.
Presidency sources stated that Total's head of exploration and production, Yves-Louis Darricarrere, made the pledge while on a visit to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.
According to the statement from the president's office, the French company said it was ready to spend $20 billion in Nigeria.
According to the statement, Mr. Darricarrere, had informed the acting president of the planned investment during a meeting in Abuja.
"Dr Jonathan said the proposed investment is an affirmation of the positive business environment in the Niger Delta brought about by the amnesty program," the statement read.
Total's head of African exploration and production said in an interview with foreign media sources that the French oil major saw more opportunities to develop its business in the country but gave no details
In its Q4 results Nexen reported that the development of the Usan field was progressing well with first production expected in 2012.
The development includes a FPSO with the ability to process 180,000 bpd and store up to two million barrels of oil.
The company's 2009 capital investment in Nigeria focused on fabrication of the FPSO hull and topside facilities, subsea equipment, development drilling, and completion of detailed engineering and procurement.
Nexen said in 2010 it expects to complete fabrication of the FPSO hull and most of the topsides.
In addition, the company will continue fabrication of subsea components, development drilling and well completion activities.
Nexen has a 20 percent interest in exploration and development on this block and Total E&P Nigeria is the operator.
The company also participated in a discovery on OPL 223 with the Owowo South B-1 well. The Owowo South B-1 well was drilled in a water depth of 670 meters and is located 20 km northeast of the Usan field.
The well reached a total depth of 2,227 meters and discovered several oil bearing reservoirs containing light oil according to logs and other analysis. Nexen has an 18 percent interest in the discovery.
02 March, 2010
Rwandan Government links Gen. Nyamwasa to exiled Col. Karegeya.
Rwandan News Agency
2 February 2010
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of ex-army chief Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa took another twist Tuesday when the Rwandan government suddenly blamed him for the recent grenade attacks in Kigali, which killed 3 people and injured dozens, RNA reports.
Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga told an impromptu press conference that Lt. Gen. Nyamwasa has been in “constant contact” with Col. Patrick Karegeya – a former head of intelligence. The two have now linked up in South Africa, Ngoga said, reading from a prepared statement.
No questions were allowed at the press briefing, with Mr. Ngoga claiming that the prosecution was setting the record straight to stop "unfounded rumours" being published by the media.
“Security and judicial officials have evidence indicating that Lt. Gen. Kayumba and another officer who fled before called Col. Patrick Karegeya, working together, have planned and started implementing acts aimed at creating state insecurity,” Ngoga said.
“Among these acts includes hurling grenades in Kigali city and other places,” Ngoga added.
The country’s top prosecuting authority said Col. Karegeya has not been interrogated on the accusations because he has not been around. “Gen. Kayumba was interrogated once, but fled before he could respond to the second summons,” Ngoga told listening reporters, in a mixture of English and Kinyarwanda.
Announcing the sudden fleeing of Gen. Kayumba on Friday evening, the Foreign Affairs Ministry statement did not say the charges on which he is being pursued. The government claimed the General was in Uganda, but it emerged on Tuesday that he only used Uganda as transit route – heading to Kenya, where he flew to South Africa on Sunday.
Mr. Ngoga confirmed that Gen. Kayumba was indeed in South Africa, affirming that he had linked up with Col. Karegeya. A combination of judicial, security and diplomatic efforts are underway to have the two men extradited to Rwanda to face justice, according to Ngoga.
Col. Karegeya was the head of the External Service Organisation (ESO) before he fell to the wrong side of the law in 2005. The following year saw him battling insubordination and desertion charges which resulted in him being stripped of his rank and he was jailed for about two years.
In November 2007, it emerged that Col Karegeya had fled the country, but there has not been any information about his whereabouts.
When three grenades exploded in Kigali two weeks ago, the Police claimed Rwandan rebels in eastern DR Congo – the FDLR, were behind the blasts. Three people are already in detention over the blasts – and they have apparently confessed. The accusations ended there.
Meanwhile, information available to RNA claims that on Monday, another grenade was found at the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) headquarters in Kacyiru before it exploded. The MINALOC office is located in the same area with several other ministries and government departments. A few meters away are the US Embassy and the Office of the President.
2 February 2010
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of ex-army chief Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa took another twist Tuesday when the Rwandan government suddenly blamed him for the recent grenade attacks in Kigali, which killed 3 people and injured dozens, RNA reports.
Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga told an impromptu press conference that Lt. Gen. Nyamwasa has been in “constant contact” with Col. Patrick Karegeya – a former head of intelligence. The two have now linked up in South Africa, Ngoga said, reading from a prepared statement.
No questions were allowed at the press briefing, with Mr. Ngoga claiming that the prosecution was setting the record straight to stop "unfounded rumours" being published by the media.
“Security and judicial officials have evidence indicating that Lt. Gen. Kayumba and another officer who fled before called Col. Patrick Karegeya, working together, have planned and started implementing acts aimed at creating state insecurity,” Ngoga said.
“Among these acts includes hurling grenades in Kigali city and other places,” Ngoga added.
The country’s top prosecuting authority said Col. Karegeya has not been interrogated on the accusations because he has not been around. “Gen. Kayumba was interrogated once, but fled before he could respond to the second summons,” Ngoga told listening reporters, in a mixture of English and Kinyarwanda.
Announcing the sudden fleeing of Gen. Kayumba on Friday evening, the Foreign Affairs Ministry statement did not say the charges on which he is being pursued. The government claimed the General was in Uganda, but it emerged on Tuesday that he only used Uganda as transit route – heading to Kenya, where he flew to South Africa on Sunday.
Mr. Ngoga confirmed that Gen. Kayumba was indeed in South Africa, affirming that he had linked up with Col. Karegeya. A combination of judicial, security and diplomatic efforts are underway to have the two men extradited to Rwanda to face justice, according to Ngoga.
Col. Karegeya was the head of the External Service Organisation (ESO) before he fell to the wrong side of the law in 2005. The following year saw him battling insubordination and desertion charges which resulted in him being stripped of his rank and he was jailed for about two years.
In November 2007, it emerged that Col Karegeya had fled the country, but there has not been any information about his whereabouts.
When three grenades exploded in Kigali two weeks ago, the Police claimed Rwandan rebels in eastern DR Congo – the FDLR, were behind the blasts. Three people are already in detention over the blasts – and they have apparently confessed. The accusations ended there.
Meanwhile, information available to RNA claims that on Monday, another grenade was found at the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) headquarters in Kacyiru before it exploded. The MINALOC office is located in the same area with several other ministries and government departments. A few meters away are the US Embassy and the Office of the President.
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