[L’ONU pointe du doigt le Rwanda, affirmant dans un rapport confidentiel que des Rwandais ont été recrutés et formés dans leur pays pour renforcer des mutins ex-rebelles que l’armée congolaise combat depuis début mai dans la province du Nord-Kivu (est de la RDCongo), accusations aussitôt démenties par Kigali.]
BURUNDI :
Burundi : Le secteur agricole financé par l’U.E
Patrice Garner /www.afrique7.com/ 28/05/2012
Dans le cadre de l’amélioration du rendement de la production agricole au Burundi, le Programme global pour l’agriculture et la sécurité alimentaire (GAFSP), une instance de l’Union européenne, vient d’accorder au gouvernement burundais un don de 30 millions de dollars. Ce don aura pour objectif principal le financement du Programme national d’investissement agricole (PNIA), lequel programme a été conçu pour l’accroissement durable de la production agricole. Une aubaine pour la ministre burundaise de l’Agriculture et de l’Elevage, Odette Kayitesi, qui pourra améliorer et apporter plus de répondant au secteur agricole qui nous le savons bien reste un atout indispensable aux pays en voie de développement dans leur processus d’émergence. L’implication des autorités burundaise dans cette opération reste fort appréciable car cela dénote de l’intérêt et de la volonté de faire de l’agriculture l’un des piliers de développement du pays qui dispose de bien de potentiels dans ce domaine. En effet ce don de GAFSP fait suite à la requête du gouvernement du Burundi pour financer l’agriculture et la sécurité alimentaire dans les régions naturelles de l’Imbo (Ouest) et du Moso (Sud-Est). Cette requête concernaient essentiellement l’irrigation des grands périmètres régionaux, l’intensification agricole, la protection des bassins versants et l’appui aux organisations des producteurs agricoles.
L’agriculture burundaise qui représente une grande part dans l’économie nationale, souffre toujours du manque d’accompagnement et de mécanisation industrielle. Plusieurs actions ont donc été mises en place dans le cadre de ce don du GAFSP, et pour s’assurer du bon déroulement de l’ensemble des opérations, le Fonds international pour le développement agricole (FIDA), institution spécialisée du système des Nations Unies, aura la charge de superviseur.
RWANDA :
Rwandan man pleads not guilty in Ottawa war crimes trial
CBC News/Posted: May 28, 2012
A former schoolteacher accused of participating in the mass genocide in Rwanda pleaded not guilty as his war crimes trial began Monday.
Jacques Mungwarere, 39, is the second Rwandan to be prosecuted under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which was introduced in 2000 and allows for prosecution no matter where or when an alleged war crime may have been committed.
Mungwaware, arrested in 2009 in Windsor, Ont., has opted for a trial by judge only.
He sat behind his legal team in court, listening as prosecutors laid out their case to a judge at an Ottawa courtroom Monday.
The prosecution said it would call upon several witnesses who claim they saw Mungwawere take part in an attack on a hospital where Tutsis had sought shelter.
Genocide expert called as first witness
The trial opened with testimony from professor Timothy Paul Longman, who lived in Rwanda before 1994 and spent years studying its ethnic and political divisions.
He explained the historic divide between Rwanda’s minority Tutsi population and the majority Hutu people and how those differences became more entrenched during the era of European colonialism.
Longman, who also served in the country with Human Rights Watch after the genocide, spoke about the court system set up in Rwanda in the years following the genocide to try people accused of taking part in the killings
Defence lawyer Marc Nerenberg asked Longman whether some of those charged with crimes were victims of false accusations.
Longman told court that has happened, but added that there have been cases where people making false claims have themselves ended up in jail.
Massacres at churches, hospital
Rwandan officials allege Mungwarere led or participated in mass killings of civilians, including notorious massacres in two churches and a hospital in Kibuye.
In all, nearly 800,000 members of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority and moderates from the Hutu majority were killed during a 100-day period of the Rwandan genocide.
The first person prosecuted under the act is Desire Munyaneza, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.
RDC CONGO:
Combats dans l’est de la RDC: l’ONU pointe du doigt le Rwanda, Kigali nie en bloc
Afp / 28 Mai 2012
L’ONU pointe du doigt le Rwanda, affirmant dans un rapport confidentiel que des Rwandais ont été recrutés et formés dans leur pays pour renforcer des mutins ex-rebelles que l’armée congolaise combat depuis début mai dans la province du Nord-Kivu (est de la RDCongo), accusations aussitôt démenties par Kigali.
Dans ce document que s’est procuré la BBC, l’ONU affirme avoir “conduit des entretiens avec 11 combattants qui ont abandonné leurs positions dans les forêts montagneuses de la frontière entre la RDC et le Rwanda” et qui sont décrits comme “des citoyens rwandais recrutés au Rwanda sous prétexte de rejoindre l’armée nationale, y compris un mineur”.
Ces déserteurs, poursuit le document, “ont dit qu’ils ont été recrutés dans un village appelé Mundede, qu’ils ont reçu un entraînement au maniement des armes et qu’ils ont été envoyés en RDC pour rejoindre le M23”, a déclaré à la BBC Hiroute Guebre-Selassie, chef du bureau de la Mission de l’ONU (Monusco) à Goma, la capitale provinciale.
Le M23 (Mouvement du 23 mars) est composé de membres de l’ex-rébellion tutsi-congolaise du Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), que le Rwanda avait démenti soutenir du temps de sa dissidence, et intégrée dans l’armée en 2009 après des accords de paix avec Kinshasa.
Le M23 revendique la pleine application de ces accords, notamment en ce qui concerne leur intégration. Ils dénoncent notamment des problèmes de salaires, de nourriture, d’obtention de grades et de fonctions.
Kigali, a rejetté en bloc les accusations de l’ONU, qualifiant d'”échec” la mission de la Monusco qui, créée en 1999 sous le nom Monuc (Mission de l’ONU en RDC), est l’une des missions les plus importantes et anciennes des Nations unies dans le monde.
“Ce sont des rumeurs totalement fausses et dangereuses”, a déclaré dans un communiqué la ministre rwandaise des Affaires étrangères, Louise Mushikiwabo. “Depuis le départ le Rwanda a toujours soutenu que l’instabilité actuelle dans l’est de la RD Congo est une affaire qui relève du gouvernement congolais et de l’armée congolaise”, a-t-elle dit.
“L’intérêt national du Rwanda est de contenir le conflit et d’établir des profondes relations pacifiques avec ses voisins. La communauté internationale continue de négliger les vrais problèmes causés par cette instabilité pour ne s’intéresser qu’aux symptômes et non aux racines profondes de ce qui cause les souffrances dans notre région”, a poursuivi Mme Mushikiwabo.
La mission de l’ONU en RDC, a-t-elle dit, “coûte des milliards de dollars, représente un quart du budget de l’ONU pour les missions de maintien de la paix dans le monde, et cela a été un échec depuis le premier jour”.
– L’ONU “incapable” –
La ministre a conclu en affirmant que l’ONU était finalement “incapable” de protéger les civils dans l’est de la RD Congo, le plus grand pays africain.
Selon le rapport de l’ONU, “certains combattants ont affirmé avoir été recrutés dès février”, indique la BBC. Les affrontements entre les Forces armées congolaises (FARDC) et le M23, créé le 6 mai, sont concentrés dans le territoire de Rutshuru, au nord de Goma, et plus précisément dans une zone circonscrite près de la frontière avec le Rwanda et l’Ouganda.
“Quinze mutins se sont rendus jusqu’à aujourd’hui, dont sept Rwandais. Ils ont témoigné que le Rwanda leur donnait des renforts. On le disait depuis bien avant: le Rwanda les appuie en munitions, armes lourdes et même en troupes”, a déclaré à l’AFP un colonel participant aux combats.
Face à son impuissance à mater la mutinerie, le Premier ministre congolais Augustin Matata Ponyo avait sous-entendu mercredi que les ex-CNDP avaient une “base arrière dans un pays voisin”.
Il avait appelé la communauté internationale à pousser “tous les Etats concernés à éviter” de soutenir les “groupes négatifs”, alors que Kinshasa et Kigali prévoient une collaboration plus étroite pour les neutraliser.
La RD Congo regorge de richesses naturelles (cassitérite, coltan, diamants, or, cuivre, cobalt, zinc, manganèse), principalement dans le nord-est et dans le sud-est du pays, mais les deux-tiers des 66 millions de Congolais vivent avec 1,25 dollar par jour, et l’espérance de vie est d’à peine 50 ans.
Ces richesses ont exacerbé les convoitises des pays voisins de la RDC, notamment le Rwanda et l’Ouganda, qui ont occupé des provinces dans l’est du pays entre 1996 et 2002.
Des groupes armés ont ensuite proliféré dans l’est de la RDC après le départ progressif des troupes étrangères -rwandaises et ougandaises- après des accords de paix. L’exploitation illégale des ressources s’est poursuivie notamment via des réseaux structurés et par guérillas interposées, un pillage qui représente une manne pour le trafic d’armes dans la région.
UGANDA :
Uganda: Airtel Harmonizes Rates in Africa
28 May 2012 /East African Business Week (Kampala) /allafrica.com
Kampala, Uganda — Airtel Uganda last week announced new harmonized calling rates to all African destinations, cutting costs for Ugandans who communicate across the continent.
Airtel customers can now call any destination in Africa for 10/- per second. Calls within East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC) and calls to Nigeria and South Africa will cost 6/- per second.
Previously, customers were paying between 450/- to 1500/- per minute to call many of the African destinations, making these new Airtel ratesthe best available.
Commenting on the new rates, Mr. Somasekhar Managing Director, Airtel Uganda, said: “We believe the time for Africa is now and, as such, Airtel is committed to connecting the continent and breaking any cross-border communication barriers. Africa has experienced rapid economic growth over the last decade and this offer will allow Ugandans to capitalize on this growth. The lower rates will allow Ugandans to talk more and the increased communication will play a role in promoting trade and commerce across Africa.”
The importance of connecting the Ugandan population to the rest of the continent is recognized by both corporate and the government. Speaking at the launch event, Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda, Minister of ICT in Uganda explained that the reality of closing the communication divide in Africa is only going to be made possible when we respond to the growing need for people to communicate by providing innovative and advanced ICT solutions that make mobile telephony and other communication available and affordable.
He added that the launch of Airtel’s One Africa Rate, which envisages a uniform charge for all calls made to African countries from an Airtel number, will bring Africa together.
Airtel has been at the forefront of driving innovation across Africa at the local scene and at international level through the One Network profile that allows customers to communicate at local rates when they travel to at least 17 countries in Africa
TANZANIA:
Tanzania: Country Hailed for Reducing Infant Mortality
By Abdulwakil Saiboko /Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)/ 29 May 2012
TANZANIA has been hailed for achieving a significant decline in child mortality, specifically infant and under-five deaths which stands at 26 newborn out of 1,000 live births.
The Tujikomboe Group Founder and Organization Advisor, Mr Shamsi Mhina, said on Monday that the move was crucial towards achieving the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA).
“Government should put more effort in reducing child mortality, so that by the year 2015 infant mortality should be less than 15 babies out of 1,000 as per MGD-4 and MKUKUTA,” he said.
He, however, noted that it was unfortunate to note that for the past eight years, there has not been a significant decrease in maternal mortality.
“Maternal mortality decreased by only 21 per cent from 578/100,000 in year 2004/2005 to 454/100,000 in 2011/2012 as per the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey,” he noted.
Mr Mhina further said that the same statistics show that currently, one pregnant woman dies every hour due to pregnancy related complications, adding that pregnancy should not lead to deaths as it is not a disease.
“The health expenditure per capita as per the World Health Organization (WHO) standard is supposed to stand at 40 per cent while Tanzania actually provides less than 16 per cent,” he noted.
Mr Mhina also wondered as to why the government had continued to allocate only 3.3 per cent of the total Ministry of Health and Social Welfare budget on maternal, newborn and child health.
“Tanzania needs to increase its health expenditure per capita by about 300 per cent this financial year (2012/2013) in order to improve maternal, new born and child health,” he said.
The increase, he said, will enable the government meet its previous commitments of training medical staff from 5,000 to 10,000, provide in house trainings to midwives and providing free health care services to mothers and children.
Other activities which will be made possible by the increase will include ensuring emergency obstetric and newborn services are available and strengthening referral and communication systems such as radio call and ambulances to almost all health facilities.
KENYA:
Witness in Kenya blast blames bearded man
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press /29052012
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An explosion ripped through a building full of small shops in downtown Nairobi, injuring at least 33 people, including a woman who blamed the blast on a “bearded man” who left behind a bag shortly before the detonation.
Police officials first indicated that Monday’s explosion could have been caused by some sort of electrical malfunction but the prime minister said it was deliberate. Al-Shabab — an Islamist militant group from Somalia — has threatened to carry out such an attack.
“This is a heinous act,” Prime Minister Raila Odinga said while visiting the scene of the blast. “They want to scare us. But we will not be scared.”
The explosion sent dark smoke billowing out of a one-story building on Moi Avenue, named after Kenya’s second president. The blast peeled back the front corner of the building’s aluminum roof, shattered windows in the building and scattered shoes, clothes and other wares on the ground. A high-rise building with a glass exterior next door was largely untouched.
Speaking to The Associated Press from a Nairobi hospital bed, Irene Wachira said a bearded man came to a nearby stall three times and acted as if he were interested in buying something. Wachira said the third time he came with a bag that he left behind. The blast occurred shortly afterward, she said.
Wachira, a vendor in the building, described the man as “Arabic-looking” because of his relatively light skin. A doctor told AP that another person wounded in the blast said a Somali-looking man left behind the bag. The doctor said he could not be quoted by name.
Police officials who first responded hesitated to blame terrorism, given the lack of shrapnel. Kenya Power ruled out an electrical fault as the cause. The national electricity agency said the building had no ground-mounted transformer that would explode and determined that all electrical connections to the building that would blow in a short circuit remained intact.
The police later released a statement saying that the cause of the explosion had not yet been established. Police are investigating the possibility that an improvised explosive device caused the blast, though the police said it was unlikely a conventional bomb had been used.
After the explosion, bloodied people received medical care on the street as authorities tried to usher hundreds of people away. The scene was played out just a few blocks from where the U.S. Embassy had been destroyed by a truck bomb in 1998. Al-Qaida’s near-simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224 people.
Odinga said security would be improved downtown and that the Somali militants, who are linked to al-Qaida, “want to scare investors. They want to scare tourists.”
“We condemn the terrorists and tell them their days are numbered,” said Odinga, who is expected to run for president in next year’s election.
Al-Shabab threaten to carry out large-scale attacks here followed Kenya’s decision last October to send troops into Somalia to pursue the Islamist militants. Kenya said back then that it was sending in the troops as a response to kidnappings on Kenyan soil last year blamed on al-Shabab. The kidnappings caused tourism in Kenya to plummet, especially around the coastal resort of Lamu.
Since October, a series of grenade attacks has rocked Kenya. The latest happened Saturday night in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border. Six people were injured in two simultaneous grenades blasts, officials said.
The police said at least 33 people were wounded in Monday’s explosion, including five with serious injuries such as burns, fractures and deep lacerations. None of the victims suffered shrapnel wounds, said Thomas Mutie, the acting chief executive at Kenyatta National Hospital.
ANGOLA:
Angola: Maternal Death Rate Reduces
28 May 2012 /AngolaPress
Luanda — The maternal mortality rate in Angola reduced from 610 to 450 fot each 100.000 born-alive infant, according to the current joint estimation of UN and World Bank released this year.
This was said on Monday by the Vice-minister of Health, Evelize Frestas, during the opening ceremony of the seminar on the main causes of maternal mortality in Angola, aimed to celebrate the International Action of Women Health, being marked this Monday.
According to her, in Angola, due to the armed conflict and the destruction of health services, the figures of maternal deaths achieved 1.400 for each 100.000 born-alive infant.
In 2010, thanks to the commitment of the Angolan government in providing well-being to the population, it was recorded a reduction of 610 for each 100.000 born-alive infant.
According to Evelize Frestas, until 2015 the maternal mortality must be reduced from 250 to 400, which means that it is needed to guarantee in a sustainable way technical and financial capacity of the efforts towards to the women health.
WHO considers acceptable the rate of 20 maternal deaths for each 100.000 born-alive infant.
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Lire suite du document : bur29052012.doc
