[African leaders on Saturday met for talks on security issues as fresh violence in Mali has sparked what rights groups say is the Sahel region’s worst human rights crisis in 20 years.]
BURUNDI :
RWANDA :
Rwanda humanitarian to speak at UNI
Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012 /wcfcourier.com
.CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The University of Northern Iowa will host Carl Wilkens, the only American to remain in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide at 7 p.m. Thursday in 109 Curris Business Building.
He will present “The Power of Stories and Service to End Genocide,” which discusses his experiences during the genocide and his subsequent work toward peace and understanding.
Wilkens was featured in PBS Frontline’s “Ghosts of Rwanda” and “The Few Who Stayed: Defying Genocide,” an American Radio Works documentary which aired on National Public Radio.
“Ghosts of Rwanda” will also be shown at 6:30 p.m, Tuesday in 28 Curris Business Building.
These events are co-sponsored by the UNI Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education and UNI-STAND and are free and open to the public.
Rwanda: Country to Seek English Teachers From EAC Region
By Frank Kanyesigye/The New Times/18 February 2012
The Government has decided to recruit English language teachers from the East African Community region instead of single-sourcing them exclusively from Kenya as earlier planned.
According to the State minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education Dr. Mathias Harebamungu, the government had, through the Rwanda Education Board (REB), decided to recruit from the EAC countries to strengthen regional integration.
The drive to recruit the 4,000 teachers was announced in October last year as part of the government’s efforts to improve the use of English in the education system. However, by February 2012 the initiative had stalled due to the decision to expand the recruitment to include other EAC member countries.
Apart from Burundi where French is widely used in schools and official transactions, the rest of the region; Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya use English in education and official business.
“We are going to recruit 250 teachers at the initial stage but the process will continue. We wrote to the embassies of Kenya and Uganda to help us in the recruitment process,” he told The New Times.
The teachers are being recruited to train their Rwandan counterparts how to improve their proficiency in English, both spoken and written.
The ministry intends to send at least one teacher to every school (both primary and secondary) across the country. Each will be responsible for training teachers in the English subject.
This is part of the implementation of the government policy of using English as the language of instruction at all levels of education in the country.
So far, there are over 200 English teachers from Uganda working in the country.
Rose Muchiri, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, said the Rwandan Ministry of Education and REB were in touch with Kenya Teachers’ Service Commission to expedite the process.
“You will, however, have to talk to the Ministry of Education for more details. For us we are the facilitators of the recruitment process,” she said.
Her Ugandan counterpart, Richard Kabonero, said: “It’s a welcome idea, especially regarding the protocol of free movement of services and people, but I haven’t received any communication to that effect”.
The policy to change the language of instruction in the education system was initiated in 2008 and its implementation started in the 2009 academic year.
The reason behind the move was explained by the government, as being the general global trend, where English is becoming a dominant language of business to the detriment of French.
Rwanda has also joined the Commonwealth Club, largely made up of former colonies of the British Empire.
The use of the English language also makes it easier for Rwandans to compete for employment and education opportunities with the rest of both the EAC and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern African (COMESA). It also has French and Kinyarwanda as the official languages. French is now taught as one of the subjects in classes.
Rwanda: Over 20,000 Circumcised Since October
By Maria Kaitesi/The New Times/18 February 2012
As Rwanda endeavours to reach its goal of having 50 percent men clinically circumcised by June 2013, as part of HIV prevention efforts, over 20,000 men have been circumcised since the campaign began in October 2010.
The free male circumcision programme has a target to have two million men circumcised by 2013.
According to the Coordinator of the National Circumcision Programme, Dr. Jennifer Mbabazi, they were derailed by the preparatory process but hope to hit the target by June 2013.
“We started with the training of at least two medical personnel in each District hospital who will be in charge of circumcision. We also carried training of trainers at the national level to train other medical personnel,” she said.
The training would benefit all health facilities, including private clinics.
Mbabazi added that they are also sensitising the public through Community Health Workers and the media to change the mindset of those with misconceptions and poor mindsets about circumcision.
It has been scientifically proven that a circumcised man has up to 60 percent chances of not contracting HIV during sexual intercourse.
Medical kits are provided to the health facilities for the circumcision exercise, therefore making the exercise free of charge at every centre, according to Mbabazi.
Currently, the programme is using circumcision surgery, which is the only method approved by World Health Organisation (WHO). However, Mbabazi is hopeful that WHO approves the PrePex system.
The PrePex system that was invented by a team of Rwandan physicians, works through a special elastic mechanism that fits closely around an inner ring, trapping the foreskin, which dries up and is removed after a week.
According to the Director of Kibagabaga Hospital, Dr. Christian Ntizimira, they carry out circumcision only on weekends but the turn up is enormous.
“We circumcised 500 people between November, last year and January 2012. We have 1,200 people on the waiting list yet we can only attend to at least 80 people per weekend,” Ntizimira disclosed.
The number of people in need of circumcision has grown compared to the previous years, and many demand for the expansion of the service through the Kibagabaga hospital suggestion box, he says.
Dr. Ntizimira said that plans are underway to decentralise the programme to health centres since the demand for circumcision is growing immensely.
Kibagabaga has a team of two medical doctors, seven nurses and four other staff members who assist in the whole process.
The Clinical Director of Rwanda Military Hospital, Dr. Jean Pierre Bitega, reiterated that demand for circumcision has grown ever since the campaign kicked off.
“We carry out circumcision on appointment, but lately, we get so many appointments and are even planning a mass circumcision campaign, two weeks from now,”Bitega added.
He said they mostly handle emergency cases but confirmed that the circumcision programme is actually going on flawlessly at.
RDC CONGO:
L’UE accusée d’ingérence par un ministre congolais
(belga) /19/02/12
Le ministre congolais de la Communication et des Médias, Lambert Mende Omalanga, a accusé l’Union européenne de s’ingérer dans les affaires intérieures de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) après que la délégation de l’UE à Kinshasa eut publié une déclaration regrettant l’interdiction de la “marche des chrétiens” de jeudi, a rapporté ce week-end la presse kinoise.
“Nous sommes un État de même impérium que leurs États. Nous sommes indépendants depuis 1960 et nous n’avons pas de leçons à recevoir d’eux”, a indiqué vendredi M. Mende, qui est également porte-parole du gouvernement.
Dans une déclaration publiée vendredi à Kinshasa, la délégation de l’UE a affirmé regretter l’interdiction de la marche qui devait se dérouler le 16 février, et la décision des autorités de couper les signaux de cinq chaînes de télévision et de radio.
L’UE déplore les incidents survenus lors de l’intervention des forces de l’ordre, dit la déclaration, rejoignant dans sa teneur celles faites par la Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en RDC (Monusco) et la Belgique, par la voix du chef de sa diplomatie, Didier Reynders.
La Monusco s’est déclarée “préoccupée par les restrictions aux libertés fondamentales” et a “exhorté” les autorités congolaises à “respecter la liberté de réunion et d’expression, ainsi que le droit à l’intégrité physique et à la liberté et sécurité de la personne, conformément à la Constitution et aux engagements internationaux de la RDC”.
M. Reynders avait pour sa part déploré vendredi “l’emploi excessif de la force” par certaines bandes armées ainsi que par les forces de l’ordre dans des paroisses de Kinshasa, à l’occasion de la “Marche des Chrétiens” de jeudi.
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Lire suite du document : bur20022012.doc
