This is a a wonderful experience, work at the UN and live in the town centre, at the bust stand of Ilboru, in case any one familiar with this place ever reads this post.
So every morning i get to see the best of both worlds in terms of social classes. In the mornings and evenngs, the walk to my place takes roughly 15 minutes, which makes it 30 minutes of walking daily.
On the way, i get to see the lower social class of Arusha trudging thier way to oil the local economy, this economy mostly revolves around the weatherand pysical geography of Arusha which has ensured Arusha is a touristic haven.
The locals make curios and art crafts ewhich are sold in a myriad of places here. From roadside simple stands to glossy supermarkets in the city centre or on the raodsides leading to the three national parks.
In my neighbourhood, its a poor man's version of urban aprtmments, the place used to be a sort of shpping centre, so the apartments were biult in the shape of many shops in EAC.
The apartment has got just one little bedroom a little under 3 by 2 metres, a tenat here is required to pay one year's advance in rental charges.
I have paid my dues, but the land lord, just like anyone aroubd here has a special way of treating anyone that is connected or working for the UN.
Almost tow months after paying my dues, the house doesnot have windows, neithert has he installed a door.
So the bitter coldness of Arusha these days feasts on me and my bedcover, bought from the lower ends of good old Nyabugogo cannot do any service.
Its a kibazo to work at the UN in these circumstances.
I was promised to have my windows installed today, i wait...............
To be continued
Tuesday 24 June 2008
Sunday 22 June 2008
Change of guards in France and Rwanda bring mixed fortunes
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
As it happens the European Championship has caught the fire expected of any big tournament, France and Italy embarrassed by the Dutch and then the Romanians, had the humiliation of facing off to determine who progresses to the quarterfinals.
The latest match between the two giants was extra ordinary in more ways than one an ordinary match by any measure. At the final whistle, Italy had qualified their legitimacy to the world crown and erased any doubts among the French that that the world cup final was cheated by Metarazi's craze that saw legendary Zinedine Zidane sent off at the climax.
That aside, earlier in the week, Amavubi also had reminded us of the glorious days of Tunisia 2004. W
ith Amavubi beating Morocco by a 3.1 score line, they did not not only increase hope in Rwanda’s qualification for 2010, they also added another giant in a long line of causalities. The new generation of Rwandan players will need the momentum as the Amavubi seek qualifications for the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola and the World Cup in South Africa in the same year. T
hat performance will revive the sporting fortunes of a football mad majority of the Rwandan population. That generation with the emerging talent of midfielder Haruna@@@ @@@could be sparked to greater fortunes in the region.......
Rwanda's defeat of Morocco and Italy's lesson to France made for a wonderful sporting week, as i write Rwanda have returned at least momentarilly the passion that saw a Jimmy Gatete inspired generation which earned the respect of the region's footballing hierarchy, and emphisized Rwanda's seriousness in the East African region.
Of much interest to Ferwafa now and the entire sports fraternity is keeping Rwanda at top spot of the group, It has been a long time since Rwanda was on top of anything sport…… However, the national coach will need more techiniques to motivate the players as other giants accross the continent lost to lesser opponents. Beating Morocco was not that special after all Ghana lost to 'mere' Gabon and champions Egypt were humbled by Malawi.
So as Rwanda's fortunes are in youthful rejuvination, the aspirations of world finalists are in dilema. Last Tuesday, Italy took the entire French national team to the ultimate contest of pride.
Both teams having been used to fighting it out for the ultimate glory on the biggest stage-the 2006 world cup final and the finale of Euro 2000, they are not familiar with battling to avoid the scrap heap in the group stages of a competition that were amongst the favourites to win.
Their clash on tuesday was meant to win the struggle for pride following the events of Germany 2006 and the small matter of getting into the quaterfinals of Euro 2008. Add to that mix the little fact that a hot Holland had scored a humbling seven goals against the now wobbly French and Italians and you have already seen your Hollywood thriller contest in a football match. Italy certainly won the battle against France but definetaly not the war as obtuaries for the aging squad have also sarted flowing in the media.
In the final analysis, the defeat to France exposes the inability of France to do anything without the command of Zidane and shows the weaknesses of legendary premiership talisman Thiery Henry.
Before the retirement of Zidane, it was an open secret that Henry was very jealous of the respect and attention accorded to Zidane, as a result, there was a mini war for influence on the team by the two, it was a consipiracy that was hidden to the media. With Zidane gone, Henry's credential's as a leader, an important team player is now displayed for even the crudest of Arsenal fans to see. Enjoy Euro 2008!
ENDS
Please give this to Kasule and ask hm to send which is hi rightful email address, because all the ones on the New Times website are sending back the article Peace.
For Kasule,
Owayyyeeeeee
What the fuck is up with you emails?
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
As it happens the European Championship has caught the fire expected of any big tournament, France and Italy embarrassed by the Dutch and then the Romanians, had the humiliation of facing off to determine who progresses to the quarterfinals.
The latest match between the two giants was extra ordinary in more ways than one an ordinary match by any measure. At the final whistle, Italy had qualified their legitimacy to the world crown and erased any doubts among the French that that the world cup final was cheated by Metarazi's craze that saw legendary Zinedine Zidane sent off at the climax.
That aside, earlier in the week, Amavubi also had reminded us of the glorious days of Tunisia 2004. W
ith Amavubi beating Morocco by a 3.1 score line, they did not not only increase hope in Rwanda’s qualification for 2010, they also added another giant in a long line of causalities. The new generation of Rwandan players will need the momentum as the Amavubi seek qualifications for the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola and the World Cup in South Africa in the same year. T
hat performance will revive the sporting fortunes of a football mad majority of the Rwandan population. That generation with the emerging talent of midfielder Haruna@@@ @@@could be sparked to greater fortunes in the region.......
Rwanda's defeat of Morocco and Italy's lesson to France made for a wonderful sporting week, as i write Rwanda have returned at least momentarilly the passion that saw a Jimmy Gatete inspired generation which earned the respect of the region's footballing hierarchy, and emphisized Rwanda's seriousness in the East African region.
Of much interest to Ferwafa now and the entire sports fraternity is keeping Rwanda at top spot of the group, It has been a long time since Rwanda was on top of anything sport…… However, the national coach will need more techiniques to motivate the players as other giants accross the continent lost to lesser opponents. Beating Morocco was not that special after all Ghana lost to 'mere' Gabon and champions Egypt were humbled by Malawi.
So as Rwanda's fortunes are in youthful rejuvination, the aspirations of world finalists are in dilema. Last Tuesday, Italy took the entire French national team to the ultimate contest of pride.
Both teams having been used to fighting it out for the ultimate glory on the biggest stage-the 2006 world cup final and the finale of Euro 2000, they are not familiar with battling to avoid the scrap heap in the group stages of a competition that were amongst the favourites to win.
Their clash on tuesday was meant to win the struggle for pride following the events of Germany 2006 and the small matter of getting into the quaterfinals of Euro 2008. Add to that mix the little fact that a hot Holland had scored a humbling seven goals against the now wobbly French and Italians and you have already seen your Hollywood thriller contest in a football match. Italy certainly won the battle against France but definetaly not the war as obtuaries for the aging squad have also sarted flowing in the media.
In the final analysis, the defeat to France exposes the inability of France to do anything without the command of Zidane and shows the weaknesses of legendary premiership talisman Thiery Henry.
Before the retirement of Zidane, it was an open secret that Henry was very jealous of the respect and attention accorded to Zidane, as a result, there was a mini war for influence on the team by the two, it was a consipiracy that was hidden to the media. With Zidane gone, Henry's credential's as a leader, an important team player is now displayed for even the crudest of Arsenal fans to see. Enjoy Euro 2008!
ENDS
Please give this to Kasule and ask hm to send which is hi rightful email address, because all the ones on the New Times website are sending back the article Peace.
For Kasule,
Owayyyeeeeee
What the fuck is up with you emails?
Kagame calls for more action from Africa on Zimbabwe political debacle
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
President Paul Kagame is the first African leader that has come up openly to discuss the issue of Zimbabwe in mainstream media.
Addressing journalists on wednesday in his monthly press conference, Kagame said the Zimbabweans themselves, primarily Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai should be seen to be solving their own problems before appealling for help or publicity outside.
According to reports in the same wee, the Zimbabweans are learning the hard way as far as Tsvangarai's party the Movement for Democratic Change is concerned. Last week, its secretary general Tendai Biti was held by police authorities and faces charges of treason.
Meanwhile the second of the presidential elections on 28th June remains a lesson to be learnt in future crisis management courses. As the two big politicians campaign for the run off the presidential elections, a big number of supporters of Morgan Tsvangarai have reportedly been killed.
Back to Kagame's press conference, the president retariated his disdain for the charges of first a French and later Spanish courts whose judges indicted 40 leaders of the Rwanda Patriotic front as having had a hand in the 1994 Genocide.
The charges have been dismissed by both governments.
However in a related development, Bruguiliere and Fernando Merrelles and indictments were considered in a judgement at the ICTR concerning the transfer of a genocide suspect to stand trial in Rwanda.
Kagame said the European indictments were another way in which developed countries made their poor counterparts as play fields of moral, political, social and economical games. A
nother institution has played itself into the moral authority drama in the past as the Catholic Church whose Archibishop Thadee Ntihinyurwa came forward to give his take on the four Rwanda Defence officers that were arrested by the Millitary Tribunal for thier alleged role in the 1994 Genocide.
The clergyman, perhaps out of professonal fellowship with the victims of the detained soldiers said the Rwandan legal system would not competently try the soldiers, calling foe them to be transferred to the ICTR.
Commenting on the issue Kagame said that church was responsible as an institution in the commission of the genocide and is clergy should be the last people to 'throw stones at the glass house in which they stay' as one anonymous writer put it.
Another Rwandan church that needs a new public relations clean up is the Seventh day Adventist. This time God's men running the coffers have failed to differiantiate between that which belongs to 'God' or 'Ceasar'.
The national treasurer of the Church's activities, Abel Habiyambere is under scrutiny for misplacing millions of Francs, at one point dealing with a criminal in detention at Kigali 1930.
In a complex nature of the world, the Rwanda Defense Force had four of its officers in the recently for crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide.
Last week, on the other hand, General James Kabarebe, the commander of the army was in meetings with his DR Congolese counterpart Gen Dieudonnée Kayembe and the UN monitoring force in Eastern DR Congo, Monuc to continue the process of resolving the issue of active Interahamwe still murdering people in Eastern DR Congo.
Monuc forces have been accused in the past for indulging in a gold-weapons trade with the bandits who are held largely responssible for implementing the Rwandan Genocide.
The Tripartite Joint Plus Commission has been devising means for the past few years to solve the issue of Eastern DR Congo.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
President Paul Kagame is the first African leader that has come up openly to discuss the issue of Zimbabwe in mainstream media.
Addressing journalists on wednesday in his monthly press conference, Kagame said the Zimbabweans themselves, primarily Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai should be seen to be solving their own problems before appealling for help or publicity outside.
According to reports in the same wee, the Zimbabweans are learning the hard way as far as Tsvangarai's party the Movement for Democratic Change is concerned. Last week, its secretary general Tendai Biti was held by police authorities and faces charges of treason.
Meanwhile the second of the presidential elections on 28th June remains a lesson to be learnt in future crisis management courses. As the two big politicians campaign for the run off the presidential elections, a big number of supporters of Morgan Tsvangarai have reportedly been killed.
Back to Kagame's press conference, the president retariated his disdain for the charges of first a French and later Spanish courts whose judges indicted 40 leaders of the Rwanda Patriotic front as having had a hand in the 1994 Genocide.
The charges have been dismissed by both governments.
However in a related development, Bruguiliere and Fernando Merrelles and indictments were considered in a judgement at the ICTR concerning the transfer of a genocide suspect to stand trial in Rwanda.
Kagame said the European indictments were another way in which developed countries made their poor counterparts as play fields of moral, political, social and economical games. A
nother institution has played itself into the moral authority drama in the past as the Catholic Church whose Archibishop Thadee Ntihinyurwa came forward to give his take on the four Rwanda Defence officers that were arrested by the Millitary Tribunal for thier alleged role in the 1994 Genocide.
The clergyman, perhaps out of professonal fellowship with the victims of the detained soldiers said the Rwandan legal system would not competently try the soldiers, calling foe them to be transferred to the ICTR.
Commenting on the issue Kagame said that church was responsible as an institution in the commission of the genocide and is clergy should be the last people to 'throw stones at the glass house in which they stay' as one anonymous writer put it.
Another Rwandan church that needs a new public relations clean up is the Seventh day Adventist. This time God's men running the coffers have failed to differiantiate between that which belongs to 'God' or 'Ceasar'.
The national treasurer of the Church's activities, Abel Habiyambere is under scrutiny for misplacing millions of Francs, at one point dealing with a criminal in detention at Kigali 1930.
In a complex nature of the world, the Rwanda Defense Force had four of its officers in the recently for crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide.
Last week, on the other hand, General James Kabarebe, the commander of the army was in meetings with his DR Congolese counterpart Gen Dieudonnée Kayembe and the UN monitoring force in Eastern DR Congo, Monuc to continue the process of resolving the issue of active Interahamwe still murdering people in Eastern DR Congo.
Monuc forces have been accused in the past for indulging in a gold-weapons trade with the bandits who are held largely responssible for implementing the Rwandan Genocide.
The Tripartite Joint Plus Commission has been devising means for the past few years to solve the issue of Eastern DR Congo.
EAC Budget
Legislators express concern over consultancy costs as EAC budget negotiations
continue
BY GEORGE KAGAME
ARUSHA
Representatives to the East African Legislative assembly have criticized the amount of money the East African Secretariat based in Arusha spends on consultancy and capacity building work.
Lydia Wanyote, the Ugandan representative to the EALA said the consultancy work at the EAC secretariat cost 43 percent of the total funds allocated to the office specifically in political programmes is spent on consultants, yet there were experts employed there on a permanent basis.
She was on Wednesday participating in the East African Legislative Assembly debate of the EAC financial budget for 2008/9 that was passed by the EAC Council of Ministers on 17 June in Arusha.
The EAC budget comes only days after member states in the regional political and economical block passed there respective national budgets on 16 June. The total budgetary expense passed by the ministers was estimated at USD 40,499,095.
Presenting the EAC budget to a full house on 17th June, attended by ministers and legislators from all member countries of the East African Community namely Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanzania, Eriya Kategaya Uganda's minister and Chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers said this year the EAC budget would focus on strengthening the capacity of the regional political block into a more active organization.
Kategeya said the expenditures of the block is estimated to total to USD 40,499,095 with the expenses split to take care of capacity building at the Arusha based secretariat.
Re-branding of the entire EAC talk so that common folks in all member countries can understand what it is about. He said the budget would also fund fast tracking of Rwanda and Burundi's integration into the community.
Rwanda and Burundi joined the EAC in July 2007. He added that the activities of the EAC secretariat will cost a whopping USD 23,639,774, with the secretariat taking USD 7,348,643 Presenting the budget, Kategaya had earlier said the community faced a challenge of relying too much on donor support to run the activities while some partner states were reluctant to pay their obligatory membership fee.
Rwanda, according to Kategaya had expressed commitment to pay its dues before the end of this financial year.
He added that the issue of travel and conference facilities expenses causes trouble in the effective running the community affairs saying that legislators on committees, negotiators often travel among member countries to hold sessions. The EAC parliament is host roundly by the five member countries and the next session will resume in Kigali with Rwanda hosting the EAC presidential summit in July 2008. The budget also caters for on going feasibility studies concerning the EAC Railways Master Plan, this year USD 200,000 will be spent t undertake research activities in the railway line that connects Kigali, Dar Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala, and Bujumbura.
In the outskirts of Nairobi construction works for the EAC railway is underway, while early this month, President Paul Kagame while speaking at the Leon H Sullivan summit in Arusha said Rwanda and Tanzania were already in advanced negotiations for a railway line linking Kigali to Dar Salaam. It also seeks to create an industrial and investment development strategy study to implement a harmonious industrial and investment policy in all the member states of the EAC.
The budget also caters for a regional homogenous tourism and wild management policy, this policy seeks to market and promote East Africa as a single tourist destination.
Rwandan Minister of the East African Community and the newly elected representatives to the assembly are attending the negotiations but The New Times was not able to get a comment from her by press time.
EALA members reacted variably on the budget passed by the EAC ministers with Lydia Wanyote from Uganda saying; "there's need for reforms at boarder customs posts as one way to utilize the agricultural advantage of the EAC, this will reduce the increasing food prices because East Africans can trade easily if conditions at customs posts like installing freezers and coolers were put in place."
President Paul Kagame has on several occasions called for similar reforms at boarder points as East Africa seeks to achieve growth. Wanyote said the EAC uniform customs policy would be in place by 2010,
In a related development, the East African Community has stepped up measures to increase investment on Lake Victoria so as the lake, which serves in the excess of 100 million in the region can have sustainable development for local communities.
Reacting to the EAC budget, Lydia Wanyote said the fund is important for the long term preservation of the lake. T
he fund known as the Lake Victoria Basin Commission replaces the older Lake Victoria Management Programme and will cost USD 246 million, the project will be funded by The World Bank and many other donors. Rwanda so far is the only the country in the region that has began work on the project.
ENDS
Hello gentlemen,
continue
BY GEORGE KAGAME
ARUSHA
Representatives to the East African Legislative assembly have criticized the amount of money the East African Secretariat based in Arusha spends on consultancy and capacity building work.
Lydia Wanyote, the Ugandan representative to the EALA said the consultancy work at the EAC secretariat cost 43 percent of the total funds allocated to the office specifically in political programmes is spent on consultants, yet there were experts employed there on a permanent basis.
She was on Wednesday participating in the East African Legislative Assembly debate of the EAC financial budget for 2008/9 that was passed by the EAC Council of Ministers on 17 June in Arusha.
The EAC budget comes only days after member states in the regional political and economical block passed there respective national budgets on 16 June. The total budgetary expense passed by the ministers was estimated at USD 40,499,095.
Presenting the EAC budget to a full house on 17th June, attended by ministers and legislators from all member countries of the East African Community namely Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanzania, Eriya Kategaya Uganda's minister and Chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers said this year the EAC budget would focus on strengthening the capacity of the regional political block into a more active organization.
Kategeya said the expenditures of the block is estimated to total to USD 40,499,095 with the expenses split to take care of capacity building at the Arusha based secretariat.
Re-branding of the entire EAC talk so that common folks in all member countries can understand what it is about. He said the budget would also fund fast tracking of Rwanda and Burundi's integration into the community.
Rwanda and Burundi joined the EAC in July 2007. He added that the activities of the EAC secretariat will cost a whopping USD 23,639,774, with the secretariat taking USD 7,348,643 Presenting the budget, Kategaya had earlier said the community faced a challenge of relying too much on donor support to run the activities while some partner states were reluctant to pay their obligatory membership fee.
Rwanda, according to Kategaya had expressed commitment to pay its dues before the end of this financial year.
He added that the issue of travel and conference facilities expenses causes trouble in the effective running the community affairs saying that legislators on committees, negotiators often travel among member countries to hold sessions. The EAC parliament is host roundly by the five member countries and the next session will resume in Kigali with Rwanda hosting the EAC presidential summit in July 2008. The budget also caters for on going feasibility studies concerning the EAC Railways Master Plan, this year USD 200,000 will be spent t undertake research activities in the railway line that connects Kigali, Dar Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala, and Bujumbura.
In the outskirts of Nairobi construction works for the EAC railway is underway, while early this month, President Paul Kagame while speaking at the Leon H Sullivan summit in Arusha said Rwanda and Tanzania were already in advanced negotiations for a railway line linking Kigali to Dar Salaam. It also seeks to create an industrial and investment development strategy study to implement a harmonious industrial and investment policy in all the member states of the EAC.
The budget also caters for a regional homogenous tourism and wild management policy, this policy seeks to market and promote East Africa as a single tourist destination.
Rwandan Minister of the East African Community and the newly elected representatives to the assembly are attending the negotiations but The New Times was not able to get a comment from her by press time.
EALA members reacted variably on the budget passed by the EAC ministers with Lydia Wanyote from Uganda saying; "there's need for reforms at boarder customs posts as one way to utilize the agricultural advantage of the EAC, this will reduce the increasing food prices because East Africans can trade easily if conditions at customs posts like installing freezers and coolers were put in place."
President Paul Kagame has on several occasions called for similar reforms at boarder points as East Africa seeks to achieve growth. Wanyote said the EAC uniform customs policy would be in place by 2010,
In a related development, the East African Community has stepped up measures to increase investment on Lake Victoria so as the lake, which serves in the excess of 100 million in the region can have sustainable development for local communities.
Reacting to the EAC budget, Lydia Wanyote said the fund is important for the long term preservation of the lake. T
he fund known as the Lake Victoria Basin Commission replaces the older Lake Victoria Management Programme and will cost USD 246 million, the project will be funded by The World Bank and many other donors. Rwanda so far is the only the country in the region that has began work on the project.
ENDS
Hello gentlemen,
East African Standby Brigade
The road to the East African Standby force is riddled with 'potholes'
BY GEORGE KAGAME
NAIROBI
The road leading toward the suburb of Karen in up market Nairobi city resembles any you have seen in an African city.
It is small, patchy and the large potholes are filled with muddy water that can get little vehicles stuck on occasions.
On both sides of the road after the large Nakumatt store there’s limited space for pedestrians. There are also few pedestrians these parts of Nairobi. However the cars driving towards this largely expatriate suburb are made for such rough terrains, mostly, they are four wheel drive SUVs and the passengers inside these vehicles are almost exclusively white.
Karen could easily be described as the Malibu or French Riviera of Nairobi where the rich and famous in Kenya reside, for good measure, the Kenyan Vice president and the powerful prime minister also live in this leafy suburb. Karen is also the venue for the planning element and operational headquarters of the (EAsbrig) East African Standby Brigade, many white land rovers and Ford vehicles are embellished with British Army insignia.
There are several senior British army officers residing in Karen too, they work in the nearby East African Standby Brigade offices which were donated to the EAsbrig and were only recently opened by British Ambassador to Kenya Adam Cook. The British government is the leading donor to the EAsbrig, a peace keeping force that is being developed among a grouping of 11 African nations from Egypt to Madagascar.
The EASbrig is a proposed peace keeping force for a widened East African block and is part of a larger proposed African Union Force that is being developed and promoted by African leaders as a rapid reactionary to respond to crisis situations on the continent with a homogeneous and harmonious regional organisational and administrative structure.
The EAsbrig initiative followed from recent reforms in the management of African affairs which began with the formation of the Africa Union to replace the old OAU, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), all of which centred on strengthening African collective international capacity to guarantee each other's political stability and respect for democracy and human rights, and to promote economic development.
The African Union standby force is being built across all regional blocks on the African Continent, the East African region, which has grouped 13 thirteen nations is being largely funded by the British Government.
The approved budget for the initial establishment and activities of the Brigade is $2.5 million but todate only a handful of member countries have paid their annual obligatory fee.
The British government early in June donated 120 million shillings (about 1.95 million U.S. dollars) for the construction of the headquarters of the peace force in Nairobi to help deal with conflicts and disasters on the continent. However such contributions are viewed by experts as having ultra motives instead of fastening the progress the EAsbrig.
The EAsbrig according to official documents is supposed to be ready by 2010, however two years to that deadline, the Nairobi Planning centre of the force known as Planelem, is still on the drawing board, with just a couple of conferences organized tto discuss conflict and peace in Africa as some of its meager achievements.
In its formation, the force drew up a set of 6 scenarios in which they can react in case of any danger. These scenarios include observer missions, preventing genocide. The seriousness of the scenario determines the speed of intervention, with genocide needing 14 days in which the force can react.
The British army has sent a strong group of senior army officers whom along with senior military experts from Rwanda, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, and Uganda are devising plans for a regional standby army by 2010, the British training programme to the EAsbrig expires in 2015. Command of the brigade rotates annually in alphabetical order among the member states of Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
However, observers are quick to point out that the East African force will not create regional millitary block while the political block, the East African Community is still dogged with disagreements and suspicion among member states. They point out that the investment of the British in the force has wider implications than the force itself.
An independent expert observer of East African defense programmes however says the western governments especially the British are willing to spend on the EAsbrig because they have many interests in the region; these interests are far from helping create a peace keeping force for East Africa.
"The British have many of their people residing permanently in Kenya, and in light of the issues have happened in Zimbabwe, they don’t want the same in Kenya." the expert speaking strictly on terms of confidentiality says. He adds that even the US has specific security interests on the Indian ocean with a strong millitary presence on the East African coast, "most of the interests themselves are competing with those of the member states of EAsbrig, which itslef as its own complicated strings."
Marco Jowell, the regional research officer of the International Peace Training Centre in Nairobi which is part of the British army assistance programme to the EAsbrig says that the challenges of the force are not just the interests of Britain or the US; “the East African force faces among its challenges the fact that there are many diverse members with varying security, political and economic interests. Member countries that belong to the EAC, IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Peace and Development) create a situation where there's no regional economic community to harmonize the interests and threats of the region. If that were the case, the block would coordinate the activities of EAsbrig like ECPWAS is doing in West Africa."
The Economic Community of West African States-ECOWAS has been instrumental in solving regional crises in West Africa, especially the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Jowell adds that even the ECOWAS has a lead nation in Nigeria which can easily mobilize her smaller neighbours but the EAC does not have such a nation willing to fully embrace her neighbours, or even promote the idea.
The issue of membership is a thorny as countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi for example have, perhaps as the governments find measures to solve the problem of being land lockedness have joined COMESA, EAC and PTA and for Rwanda and Burundi CEPGEL.
The EAsbrig ideally is supposed to be made up of 3000 troops; with each country among the 13 members contributing funds to sustain the force and troops which are stationed in their country and are always on standby should there be need for them.
However, to date, only Rwanda has contributed a standby force. Two senior Rwandan army officers, Colonels Muzungu and Claude Bizimana are also part of the senior administrative circle of EAsbrig in Nairobi and Ethiopia respectively.
The independent expert that if the dream of the East African Standby Force; "it is more viable if the different regional blocks organised themselves according to their shared geographical and political proximity, if that were to happen, we would not have differences and differing interests for example, the interests of North Africa, Horn Africa, and the rest of Africa are different and sometimes competitive."
These differences cannot be understated according to the expert, he says that the issue of communication itself is a problem that need solution; "Sudanese and Egyptians would rather be identified with Arabic Africa because simply of the lingustic issues, while the Horn of Africa also has a its own different lingua franca that is different from the rest of the members."
It can be argued here that Sudan and Egypt are in the EAsbrig just for their interests in River Nile and nothing else. Jowell adds that the inter state rivalries among member countries need to be stopped as such suspcisions pause a serious threat to the establishment of the standby force; he syas for example, that it hard to get the Ethiopians and Eriterians, he says some member countries also want to play the role of 'big brother' with their neighbours but does not any such country.
However that the role of the British army is not just limited to assisting with the set of EAsbrig; "the international peace support group is a multufaceted organisation that will help techinical assistance to police, army and civil society organisations, we organise international peace an security conferences to discuss regional concerns where security experts exchange important information that is very useful in the prevention and detection of conflict."
However, the shaky nature of the force is very clear, experts have come out to state that with the economical block of the EAC itself full of intrigue, the millitary grouping will also remain inffective, just another piece of paperwork for ducumentation officials in Western Europe and African bureacrats. First, only recently Mauritius and Tanzania withdrew their membership to join the SADC Standby Brigade.
A source with the force says that the Kenyan violence was already in the hands of the UN and so there was no need for deploying the EAsbrig force.
The success of the Easbrig will be judged on whether it can and will respond to situations of armed conflict and on the extent to which the presence regional peacekeeping forces will manage the strategic and operational challenges required to resolve complex multidimensional peace support or enforcement operations.
NOTES;
The East African Standby Force is being promoted along th ideals of the UN permanent peace brigade known as the SHIRBRIG or Standby High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG), headquatered in Denemark.
The SHIRBRIG was a result of the UN’s failure to react in time to avoid the genocides of Rwanda in 1994 and Srebrenica in 1995. The specific objectives of the EAbrigade are:
(1) conduct and observe peacekeeping missions,
(2) intervene in member states when their internal security is gravely threatened, (3) conduct preventive deployments where such security threats loom in the horizon, (4) conduct post-conflict peace-building operations, including disarming and demobilising warring militias, (5) provide humanitarian assistance in conflict and disaster areas, and (6) perform such other functions as the Peace and Security Council may authorise.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
NAIROBI
The road leading toward the suburb of Karen in up market Nairobi city resembles any you have seen in an African city.
It is small, patchy and the large potholes are filled with muddy water that can get little vehicles stuck on occasions.
On both sides of the road after the large Nakumatt store there’s limited space for pedestrians. There are also few pedestrians these parts of Nairobi. However the cars driving towards this largely expatriate suburb are made for such rough terrains, mostly, they are four wheel drive SUVs and the passengers inside these vehicles are almost exclusively white.
Karen could easily be described as the Malibu or French Riviera of Nairobi where the rich and famous in Kenya reside, for good measure, the Kenyan Vice president and the powerful prime minister also live in this leafy suburb. Karen is also the venue for the planning element and operational headquarters of the (EAsbrig) East African Standby Brigade, many white land rovers and Ford vehicles are embellished with British Army insignia.
There are several senior British army officers residing in Karen too, they work in the nearby East African Standby Brigade offices which were donated to the EAsbrig and were only recently opened by British Ambassador to Kenya Adam Cook. The British government is the leading donor to the EAsbrig, a peace keeping force that is being developed among a grouping of 11 African nations from Egypt to Madagascar.
The EASbrig is a proposed peace keeping force for a widened East African block and is part of a larger proposed African Union Force that is being developed and promoted by African leaders as a rapid reactionary to respond to crisis situations on the continent with a homogeneous and harmonious regional organisational and administrative structure.
The EAsbrig initiative followed from recent reforms in the management of African affairs which began with the formation of the Africa Union to replace the old OAU, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), all of which centred on strengthening African collective international capacity to guarantee each other's political stability and respect for democracy and human rights, and to promote economic development.
The African Union standby force is being built across all regional blocks on the African Continent, the East African region, which has grouped 13 thirteen nations is being largely funded by the British Government.
The approved budget for the initial establishment and activities of the Brigade is $2.5 million but todate only a handful of member countries have paid their annual obligatory fee.
The British government early in June donated 120 million shillings (about 1.95 million U.S. dollars) for the construction of the headquarters of the peace force in Nairobi to help deal with conflicts and disasters on the continent. However such contributions are viewed by experts as having ultra motives instead of fastening the progress the EAsbrig.
The EAsbrig according to official documents is supposed to be ready by 2010, however two years to that deadline, the Nairobi Planning centre of the force known as Planelem, is still on the drawing board, with just a couple of conferences organized tto discuss conflict and peace in Africa as some of its meager achievements.
In its formation, the force drew up a set of 6 scenarios in which they can react in case of any danger. These scenarios include observer missions, preventing genocide. The seriousness of the scenario determines the speed of intervention, with genocide needing 14 days in which the force can react.
The British army has sent a strong group of senior army officers whom along with senior military experts from Rwanda, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, and Uganda are devising plans for a regional standby army by 2010, the British training programme to the EAsbrig expires in 2015. Command of the brigade rotates annually in alphabetical order among the member states of Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
However, observers are quick to point out that the East African force will not create regional millitary block while the political block, the East African Community is still dogged with disagreements and suspicion among member states. They point out that the investment of the British in the force has wider implications than the force itself.
An independent expert observer of East African defense programmes however says the western governments especially the British are willing to spend on the EAsbrig because they have many interests in the region; these interests are far from helping create a peace keeping force for East Africa.
"The British have many of their people residing permanently in Kenya, and in light of the issues have happened in Zimbabwe, they don’t want the same in Kenya." the expert speaking strictly on terms of confidentiality says. He adds that even the US has specific security interests on the Indian ocean with a strong millitary presence on the East African coast, "most of the interests themselves are competing with those of the member states of EAsbrig, which itslef as its own complicated strings."
Marco Jowell, the regional research officer of the International Peace Training Centre in Nairobi which is part of the British army assistance programme to the EAsbrig says that the challenges of the force are not just the interests of Britain or the US; “the East African force faces among its challenges the fact that there are many diverse members with varying security, political and economic interests. Member countries that belong to the EAC, IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Peace and Development) create a situation where there's no regional economic community to harmonize the interests and threats of the region. If that were the case, the block would coordinate the activities of EAsbrig like ECPWAS is doing in West Africa."
The Economic Community of West African States-ECOWAS has been instrumental in solving regional crises in West Africa, especially the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Jowell adds that even the ECOWAS has a lead nation in Nigeria which can easily mobilize her smaller neighbours but the EAC does not have such a nation willing to fully embrace her neighbours, or even promote the idea.
The issue of membership is a thorny as countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi for example have, perhaps as the governments find measures to solve the problem of being land lockedness have joined COMESA, EAC and PTA and for Rwanda and Burundi CEPGEL.
The EAsbrig ideally is supposed to be made up of 3000 troops; with each country among the 13 members contributing funds to sustain the force and troops which are stationed in their country and are always on standby should there be need for them.
However, to date, only Rwanda has contributed a standby force. Two senior Rwandan army officers, Colonels Muzungu and Claude Bizimana are also part of the senior administrative circle of EAsbrig in Nairobi and Ethiopia respectively.
The independent expert that if the dream of the East African Standby Force; "it is more viable if the different regional blocks organised themselves according to their shared geographical and political proximity, if that were to happen, we would not have differences and differing interests for example, the interests of North Africa, Horn Africa, and the rest of Africa are different and sometimes competitive."
These differences cannot be understated according to the expert, he says that the issue of communication itself is a problem that need solution; "Sudanese and Egyptians would rather be identified with Arabic Africa because simply of the lingustic issues, while the Horn of Africa also has a its own different lingua franca that is different from the rest of the members."
It can be argued here that Sudan and Egypt are in the EAsbrig just for their interests in River Nile and nothing else. Jowell adds that the inter state rivalries among member countries need to be stopped as such suspcisions pause a serious threat to the establishment of the standby force; he syas for example, that it hard to get the Ethiopians and Eriterians, he says some member countries also want to play the role of 'big brother' with their neighbours but does not any such country.
However that the role of the British army is not just limited to assisting with the set of EAsbrig; "the international peace support group is a multufaceted organisation that will help techinical assistance to police, army and civil society organisations, we organise international peace an security conferences to discuss regional concerns where security experts exchange important information that is very useful in the prevention and detection of conflict."
However, the shaky nature of the force is very clear, experts have come out to state that with the economical block of the EAC itself full of intrigue, the millitary grouping will also remain inffective, just another piece of paperwork for ducumentation officials in Western Europe and African bureacrats. First, only recently Mauritius and Tanzania withdrew their membership to join the SADC Standby Brigade.
A source with the force says that the Kenyan violence was already in the hands of the UN and so there was no need for deploying the EAsbrig force.
The success of the Easbrig will be judged on whether it can and will respond to situations of armed conflict and on the extent to which the presence regional peacekeeping forces will manage the strategic and operational challenges required to resolve complex multidimensional peace support or enforcement operations.
NOTES;
The East African Standby Force is being promoted along th ideals of the UN permanent peace brigade known as the SHIRBRIG or Standby High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG), headquatered in Denemark.
The SHIRBRIG was a result of the UN’s failure to react in time to avoid the genocides of Rwanda in 1994 and Srebrenica in 1995. The specific objectives of the EAbrigade are:
(1) conduct and observe peacekeeping missions,
(2) intervene in member states when their internal security is gravely threatened, (3) conduct preventive deployments where such security threats loom in the horizon, (4) conduct post-conflict peace-building operations, including disarming and demobilising warring militias, (5) provide humanitarian assistance in conflict and disaster areas, and (6) perform such other functions as the Peace and Security Council may authorise.
Arusha 4
The library is a place of solace and opportunity to some
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
As part of its mission, the ICTR runs a fairly well equipped and managed modern library with internet connection and variety of regional internal newspapers or news magazines.
The lawyers, judges, interns and administrators have access to borrowing books; unfortunately that privilege is not extended to others outside the UN realm. Students from Tanzanian universities and visiting interns also use the library.
The library however provides other valuable privileges for common folks, today, fr example like so many days since I reached Arusha, I get to hang out with one of Rwanda’s former ministers that was standing for trial at the ICTR and was acquitted.
That does not mean that we go for drinks or watch movies, however the genial ex minister reports to the library everyday, checks his email, reads a couple of things on Google, flirts with the library lady managers and leaves for lunch to return later and carry on the same activities in no particular order.
The ex Minister Rob Mutama (not his real name) was brought to Arusha in 1996 after his arrest in Cameroon, he was charged for genocide related crimes, stood for trial and the ICTR acquitted him of charges in 2004.
The ICTR since that judgment in 2004 and the appeal in 2006 is still locating another country in which to resettle the minister.
The ICTR’s office of the Registrar and the UN High Commission for Refugees is still locating which country to take him to. This search has taken from 2004, when the minister was released to date.
During the period waiting for the UN to get him new nationality he lives in one suburb in Arusha. If he is not at his house we hang out in the library and share a few jokes once in a while, (as I write this he is chatting away with another dark coloured man who also reports in the library everyday as a visitor, we have waved hands too.)
For journalists, if its not a courtroom, the choices for places to hang out are very limited, it’s either library, press room or your house, so when the chambers are free the library is the only option.
Today there’s a man that is appearing as a prosecution witness in the case against another minister in the Habyarimana regime The witness today was asked if he ever met the ex minister in question, he answered back in very cold clear terms.
"The Minister came to our road block and recognized one of us never had a gun.
He slapped him in the face and had the poor guy arrested. The Minster then told us that our enemies were actually the.............. I killed many people and I have apologized for that." And that is the only time I want to be a lawyer!
Back in the library, a certain Rwandan lady walks in, I gesture in her direction to get her attention she does not bother.
It is strange here, the closed group fellowships people from the same country have when they are in foreign places is distant in Arusha. Here the corporate Rwandan community is just that corporate! With a few exceptions there is little interaction between people here, be they from the same country or otherwise, everyone is dressed in business class suits and as a way of greeting, they make comical facial expressions to each other and maybe a nod of the head.
You even never get to meet the beautifully endowed girl/woman who sits in the office next door. It is hard finding three people for example talking about Rwanda whipping Morocco by the magical score line of 3.1.
In the lift, which is just about among the rare places where you get in close contact with someone, it’s a mini nightmare, you are stuck with this guy, or chick in one little box for close to two minutes, doing nothing but stealthily trying to look at each other. Sometimes, I hang out in the lifts so I can meet someone strange on a particular day.
It is not surprising that there is no room for people to exchange unnecessary niceties or pleasantries. Here life moves faster. People are always on the move, a Belgian former army colonel will be in town for three days to testify, as a Canadian lawyer is here only for two days to provide expert blah blah. \
Add a Senegalese student that is here doing research for only two weeks and you have a community of constant strangers, outside on the streets, on a good day, there are more tourists on the pavements than locals in the town city centre.
People who are on the run always never have time for Friday movies or drinks! Like American journalist Josh Kron wrote in The New Times recently; "After only seven months, you are already a veteran." With such background for a workplace, the library is a temple for many lonely people working for the ICTR, which is the only way we end up hanging out with ex minister.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
As part of its mission, the ICTR runs a fairly well equipped and managed modern library with internet connection and variety of regional internal newspapers or news magazines.
The lawyers, judges, interns and administrators have access to borrowing books; unfortunately that privilege is not extended to others outside the UN realm. Students from Tanzanian universities and visiting interns also use the library.
The library however provides other valuable privileges for common folks, today, fr example like so many days since I reached Arusha, I get to hang out with one of Rwanda’s former ministers that was standing for trial at the ICTR and was acquitted.
That does not mean that we go for drinks or watch movies, however the genial ex minister reports to the library everyday, checks his email, reads a couple of things on Google, flirts with the library lady managers and leaves for lunch to return later and carry on the same activities in no particular order.
The ex Minister Rob Mutama (not his real name) was brought to Arusha in 1996 after his arrest in Cameroon, he was charged for genocide related crimes, stood for trial and the ICTR acquitted him of charges in 2004.
The ICTR since that judgment in 2004 and the appeal in 2006 is still locating another country in which to resettle the minister.
The ICTR’s office of the Registrar and the UN High Commission for Refugees is still locating which country to take him to. This search has taken from 2004, when the minister was released to date.
During the period waiting for the UN to get him new nationality he lives in one suburb in Arusha. If he is not at his house we hang out in the library and share a few jokes once in a while, (as I write this he is chatting away with another dark coloured man who also reports in the library everyday as a visitor, we have waved hands too.)
For journalists, if its not a courtroom, the choices for places to hang out are very limited, it’s either library, press room or your house, so when the chambers are free the library is the only option.
Today there’s a man that is appearing as a prosecution witness in the case against another minister in the Habyarimana regime The witness today was asked if he ever met the ex minister in question, he answered back in very cold clear terms.
"The Minister came to our road block and recognized one of us never had a gun.
He slapped him in the face and had the poor guy arrested. The Minster then told us that our enemies were actually the.............. I killed many people and I have apologized for that." And that is the only time I want to be a lawyer!
Back in the library, a certain Rwandan lady walks in, I gesture in her direction to get her attention she does not bother.
It is strange here, the closed group fellowships people from the same country have when they are in foreign places is distant in Arusha. Here the corporate Rwandan community is just that corporate! With a few exceptions there is little interaction between people here, be they from the same country or otherwise, everyone is dressed in business class suits and as a way of greeting, they make comical facial expressions to each other and maybe a nod of the head.
You even never get to meet the beautifully endowed girl/woman who sits in the office next door. It is hard finding three people for example talking about Rwanda whipping Morocco by the magical score line of 3.1.
In the lift, which is just about among the rare places where you get in close contact with someone, it’s a mini nightmare, you are stuck with this guy, or chick in one little box for close to two minutes, doing nothing but stealthily trying to look at each other. Sometimes, I hang out in the lifts so I can meet someone strange on a particular day.
It is not surprising that there is no room for people to exchange unnecessary niceties or pleasantries. Here life moves faster. People are always on the move, a Belgian former army colonel will be in town for three days to testify, as a Canadian lawyer is here only for two days to provide expert blah blah. \
Add a Senegalese student that is here doing research for only two weeks and you have a community of constant strangers, outside on the streets, on a good day, there are more tourists on the pavements than locals in the town city centre.
People who are on the run always never have time for Friday movies or drinks! Like American journalist Josh Kron wrote in The New Times recently; "After only seven months, you are already a veteran." With such background for a workplace, the library is a temple for many lonely people working for the ICTR, which is the only way we end up hanging out with ex minister.
Arusha 3
Street smart lawyers and complicated big wigs in ICTR's corridors
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
The turns and twists at the ICTR sometimes can almost be compared to Steven Spielberg's Hollywood blockbusters.
A typical day at the court, (and by typical I mean you report to office and head straight to the courtrooms where lawyers and judges juggle away in intellectual language).
In many of these arguments, you need an eagle's eye to pick a story, so as it goes the public galleries many times are filled with tourists.
The court is one of the packages that Arusha's leisure industry and myriad travel agencies, visiting the court is high on the special itinerary for tourists in Arusha.
The public galleries of the courtrooms sometimes resemble tour centre, filled with many tourists and their travel garb.
On such days when the lawyers decide to spend the entire working day arguing, a journalist has no story, I call them 'nightmare days.'
However, this routine can be broken anytime with no ceremony, because most of the court's activities don’t take place inside the courtrooms, today as I was pacing around the corridors snooping around for a possible idea, a story appears from no where.
This was about time when panic and depression was high, I was wondering what my editors back in Kigali were thinking in regard to my usefulness to the editorial team, I could imagine them nodding their heads in agreement about a possible replacement during the proverbial Monday morning meetings.
At the ICTR such days are many when you are in the above state of mind, little wonder the nearby huge supermarket is largely filled with liquor and other alcoholic drinks.
From heaven God sends a story, today it was about a smart legal executive for a powerful Kenyan petroleum distribution and marketing firm whose image is violated by alleged business links between the firm and Genocide suspect Felicien Kabugaa who is reportedly hiding in Kenya.
During our first meeting the lawyer was reluctant to tell me his presence at the ICTR, so as fate would have it we have a dinner meeting tonight which i intend not to honour.
Before meeting another street smart lawyer, I was reading through another judgment for this week where once again the ICTR big wigs once again showed their disapproval of the quality and incompetence of their counterparts in Rwanda by turning down another request to transfer Gaspard Kanyarukiga who is charged with four counts of acts against humanity.
The judges are not happy with Rwanda's judicial system but they have oiled their words in such a way that they happy with Rwanda's continuing judicial reforms since 2003. The ICTR has been facilitating the training and capacity building of Rwanda's judiciary.
However, in their earlier judgment in the case involving Yusuf Munyakazi where they also refused to transfer the accused to Rwanda, the judges showed sympathy towards Fernando Merreles and Bruguiliere for their indictments to some leaders within the RPF.
The decision left me wondering why the ICTR judges showed sympathy towards Bruguliere and Merelles and instead dismissed the competence of Rwandan legal experts.
A contrast? Yes, one would argue, but it is important to note here that the issue of transferring cases is a very complex one, for example the issue involves the role of France in the genocide.
For the record, in the case of France for example, almost all the suspects that have critical information regarding the role of France in Rwanda 1994 have been facilitated in one way or another to have their cases tried elsewhere, the judges, it has been said, have used the data from institutions such as Human Rights Watch among others to come to the conclusion that Rwanda's judicial system is not competent enough to try their fellow Rwandans in a fair and open manner.
If the judiciary in Rwanda is under pressure as the judges alleged last week, the ICTR is also under some pressure from powers like France.
The transfers also have a direct bearing in another more important aspect of the ICTR, the completion strategy. The same court also allowed the transfer of suspects to France earlier, however, the past two weeks the court turned down requests to transfer of suspects to Rwanda, in these particular cases there was insider politics at play and I don’t have a legal mind!
These reports and judge verdicts have put the entire Gacaca system into question, Gacaca has been described as the best possible arrangement for justice in Rwanda in light of 1994. One guy argued the other day during the lunch break that 'Rwandans are the best placed people to give lectures on human rights and justice, not white collared people in dark suits.'
So the court once again refused to transfer two 'small fish' in Munyakazi and Kanyarukiga to Rwanda and allowed France to try the 'bigger fish' which ought to be swimming in the waters of Arusha Detention facilities.
Whenever, the government of Rwanda responds to such decisions such as the refusal to transfer of cases to Rwanda, defense lawyers record everything that Martin Ngoga and Karugarama say, the sound bites form these two legal experts in Kigali sometimes provide amusement during court proceedings.
Spiced with the necessary legal jargon even the simplest and casual statement is made to look very huge and monstrous by the lawyers.
To be continued.........
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha
The turns and twists at the ICTR sometimes can almost be compared to Steven Spielberg's Hollywood blockbusters.
A typical day at the court, (and by typical I mean you report to office and head straight to the courtrooms where lawyers and judges juggle away in intellectual language).
In many of these arguments, you need an eagle's eye to pick a story, so as it goes the public galleries many times are filled with tourists.
The court is one of the packages that Arusha's leisure industry and myriad travel agencies, visiting the court is high on the special itinerary for tourists in Arusha.
The public galleries of the courtrooms sometimes resemble tour centre, filled with many tourists and their travel garb.
On such days when the lawyers decide to spend the entire working day arguing, a journalist has no story, I call them 'nightmare days.'
However, this routine can be broken anytime with no ceremony, because most of the court's activities don’t take place inside the courtrooms, today as I was pacing around the corridors snooping around for a possible idea, a story appears from no where.
This was about time when panic and depression was high, I was wondering what my editors back in Kigali were thinking in regard to my usefulness to the editorial team, I could imagine them nodding their heads in agreement about a possible replacement during the proverbial Monday morning meetings.
At the ICTR such days are many when you are in the above state of mind, little wonder the nearby huge supermarket is largely filled with liquor and other alcoholic drinks.
From heaven God sends a story, today it was about a smart legal executive for a powerful Kenyan petroleum distribution and marketing firm whose image is violated by alleged business links between the firm and Genocide suspect Felicien Kabugaa who is reportedly hiding in Kenya.
During our first meeting the lawyer was reluctant to tell me his presence at the ICTR, so as fate would have it we have a dinner meeting tonight which i intend not to honour.
Before meeting another street smart lawyer, I was reading through another judgment for this week where once again the ICTR big wigs once again showed their disapproval of the quality and incompetence of their counterparts in Rwanda by turning down another request to transfer Gaspard Kanyarukiga who is charged with four counts of acts against humanity.
The judges are not happy with Rwanda's judicial system but they have oiled their words in such a way that they happy with Rwanda's continuing judicial reforms since 2003. The ICTR has been facilitating the training and capacity building of Rwanda's judiciary.
However, in their earlier judgment in the case involving Yusuf Munyakazi where they also refused to transfer the accused to Rwanda, the judges showed sympathy towards Fernando Merreles and Bruguiliere for their indictments to some leaders within the RPF.
The decision left me wondering why the ICTR judges showed sympathy towards Bruguliere and Merelles and instead dismissed the competence of Rwandan legal experts.
A contrast? Yes, one would argue, but it is important to note here that the issue of transferring cases is a very complex one, for example the issue involves the role of France in the genocide.
For the record, in the case of France for example, almost all the suspects that have critical information regarding the role of France in Rwanda 1994 have been facilitated in one way or another to have their cases tried elsewhere, the judges, it has been said, have used the data from institutions such as Human Rights Watch among others to come to the conclusion that Rwanda's judicial system is not competent enough to try their fellow Rwandans in a fair and open manner.
If the judiciary in Rwanda is under pressure as the judges alleged last week, the ICTR is also under some pressure from powers like France.
The transfers also have a direct bearing in another more important aspect of the ICTR, the completion strategy. The same court also allowed the transfer of suspects to France earlier, however, the past two weeks the court turned down requests to transfer of suspects to Rwanda, in these particular cases there was insider politics at play and I don’t have a legal mind!
These reports and judge verdicts have put the entire Gacaca system into question, Gacaca has been described as the best possible arrangement for justice in Rwanda in light of 1994. One guy argued the other day during the lunch break that 'Rwandans are the best placed people to give lectures on human rights and justice, not white collared people in dark suits.'
So the court once again refused to transfer two 'small fish' in Munyakazi and Kanyarukiga to Rwanda and allowed France to try the 'bigger fish' which ought to be swimming in the waters of Arusha Detention facilities.
Whenever, the government of Rwanda responds to such decisions such as the refusal to transfer of cases to Rwanda, defense lawyers record everything that Martin Ngoga and Karugarama say, the sound bites form these two legal experts in Kigali sometimes provide amusement during court proceedings.
Spiced with the necessary legal jargon even the simplest and casual statement is made to look very huge and monstrous by the lawyers.
To be continued.........
Gollira Baptisms
Musanze communities benefit from gorilla baptism ceremonies
BY GEORGE KAGAME
ARUSHA
The gorilla ‘baptism’ ceremonies dubbed as the Kwita Izina last week were a break from tradition of past editions where very powerful and influential persons were invited.
This time, Nigerian pop musicians P. Square were invited as the main attraction of the ceremonies which are a big occasion on Kigali’s very limited social calendar.
The last ceremonies were graced by Hollywood star of ‘Star Wars’ fame Natalie Portman and environmental conservationist Jack Hanna.
In a related development the national office of tourism has invested back in the communities surrounding the sanctuaries of the gorillas around the district of Musanze in Western Rwanda.
ORTPN has built several social amenities in the areas including a community centre, classroom block, health centre, and water tanks.
While the baby gorillas and their neighbours will be happy, legal executives in the country will be disturbed to learn the latest from the UN court trying Rwanda’s genocide suspects in Arusha.
Rwanda’s judicial sector has been busy the entire week defending its capacity to be a competent system strong enough to try suspects accused for their role in implementing the 1994 Genocide in the country.
Last week the Arusha based International Criminal Tribunal passed another judgment turning down the second request to transfer suspects to face trial procedures in Rwanda, the judges in both decisions alleged they were not convinced with the general competence of Rwanda’s legal system.
Martin Ngoga the Prosecutor General had to fly to the New York based Security Council to make his point that Rwanda indeed has developed mechanisms to try suspects in Rwanda. In response, the prosecutor general of the ICTR Hassan Jallow has appealed the tow cases involving Yususf Munyakazi and Gaspard Kanyarukiga.
Also, in a press conference on Thursday at the ICTR premises Hassan Jallow the General prosecutor expressed his doubts about the cooperation of the Kenyan govermnet in efforts to arrest the most wanted person of the tribunal Felicien Kabuga in connection with his funding of the genocide militias in 1994.
In a related development, some experts at the court have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Rwanda on many occasions has been called to testify only in the capacity of ‘Friend of the Court’. Yet it is the country with the deepest interest in the ICTR!
The government also arrested four senior army officer accused of murdering priests at the Catholic Disocese of Kabgyayi during the liberation struggle of 1994, the four officers, it was reported carried out the revenge killings after they found all their relatives who had sought refuge at the huge diocese murdered during the 1994 Genocide.
The ICTR Prosecutor said that his office will give the government all the necessary support during trial procedures for the army officers.
The court will however have to stretch its legal arms much further than that as reports in the week indicated that another fugitive, the former head of Juvenal Habyarimana’s presidential security Protais Mpiranya who according to the UK broadsheet The Sunday Times, is hiding in Zimbabwe. Thouh he is the subject of an arrest warrant from them, the ICTR could comment on the Mpiranya reports in Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party however have more pressing issues to deal with right now instead of tracking down Rwandan fugitives.
The Zimbabwean government has continued in its determination to throw all their reputation to the dogs.
The March presidential elections in that country have ensured that there’s a sustained period of uncertainty through out Zimbabwe.
Morgan Tvangarai, the man who stood against Mugabe and ‘won’ tested that uncertainty on Thursday and he was arrested twice the same day.
The secretary general of his party, the Movement for Democratic Change is currently in detention facing treason charges.
Yet Mugabe is not the only opposition politician that faced the cruel hand of fate last week, two Kenyan ministers died after their plane crashed midair over the Maasai Game Reserve due to bad weather.
The dead ministers are Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Assistant Home Affairs Minister Lorna Laboso both belonged to Raila Odinga’ Orange Democratice Movement that is in coalition with Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity in governing Kenya.
The highly publicized visit to Rwanda of former UN Human Rights boss Sadako Ogata could not be complete with some history in Rwanda’s tertiary education sector.
The National University of Rwanda, which opened its doors in 1963, awarded its maiden honorary degree to Ogata for her work in helping with emergency relief programmes for Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide at a time when she was still at the helm of the UNHCR.
Ogata was awarded an honorary degree in Laws.
Influential South Korean evangelical church members from the Myung Sung Presbyterian Church have committed to use their wealthy members to help fund water provision, support to agriculture, establishing technical and vocational training as well as educational exchanges between the church’s network of universities and the people of Rwanda.
This is after a delegation from the church premises in Seoul visited President Paul Kagame while touring the country.
Sports fans across the country have been happy the entire week with the beginning of the 2008 edition of the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.
Many of the players on display in the tournament are household names inRwanda. So far the only surprise of the tournament apart from the absence of England is the defeat to Germany by Croatia.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
ARUSHA
The gorilla ‘baptism’ ceremonies dubbed as the Kwita Izina last week were a break from tradition of past editions where very powerful and influential persons were invited.
This time, Nigerian pop musicians P. Square were invited as the main attraction of the ceremonies which are a big occasion on Kigali’s very limited social calendar.
The last ceremonies were graced by Hollywood star of ‘Star Wars’ fame Natalie Portman and environmental conservationist Jack Hanna.
In a related development the national office of tourism has invested back in the communities surrounding the sanctuaries of the gorillas around the district of Musanze in Western Rwanda.
ORTPN has built several social amenities in the areas including a community centre, classroom block, health centre, and water tanks.
While the baby gorillas and their neighbours will be happy, legal executives in the country will be disturbed to learn the latest from the UN court trying Rwanda’s genocide suspects in Arusha.
Rwanda’s judicial sector has been busy the entire week defending its capacity to be a competent system strong enough to try suspects accused for their role in implementing the 1994 Genocide in the country.
Last week the Arusha based International Criminal Tribunal passed another judgment turning down the second request to transfer suspects to face trial procedures in Rwanda, the judges in both decisions alleged they were not convinced with the general competence of Rwanda’s legal system.
Martin Ngoga the Prosecutor General had to fly to the New York based Security Council to make his point that Rwanda indeed has developed mechanisms to try suspects in Rwanda. In response, the prosecutor general of the ICTR Hassan Jallow has appealed the tow cases involving Yususf Munyakazi and Gaspard Kanyarukiga.
Also, in a press conference on Thursday at the ICTR premises Hassan Jallow the General prosecutor expressed his doubts about the cooperation of the Kenyan govermnet in efforts to arrest the most wanted person of the tribunal Felicien Kabuga in connection with his funding of the genocide militias in 1994.
In a related development, some experts at the court have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Rwanda on many occasions has been called to testify only in the capacity of ‘Friend of the Court’. Yet it is the country with the deepest interest in the ICTR!
The government also arrested four senior army officer accused of murdering priests at the Catholic Disocese of Kabgyayi during the liberation struggle of 1994, the four officers, it was reported carried out the revenge killings after they found all their relatives who had sought refuge at the huge diocese murdered during the 1994 Genocide.
The ICTR Prosecutor said that his office will give the government all the necessary support during trial procedures for the army officers.
The court will however have to stretch its legal arms much further than that as reports in the week indicated that another fugitive, the former head of Juvenal Habyarimana’s presidential security Protais Mpiranya who according to the UK broadsheet The Sunday Times, is hiding in Zimbabwe. Thouh he is the subject of an arrest warrant from them, the ICTR could comment on the Mpiranya reports in Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party however have more pressing issues to deal with right now instead of tracking down Rwandan fugitives.
The Zimbabwean government has continued in its determination to throw all their reputation to the dogs.
The March presidential elections in that country have ensured that there’s a sustained period of uncertainty through out Zimbabwe.
Morgan Tvangarai, the man who stood against Mugabe and ‘won’ tested that uncertainty on Thursday and he was arrested twice the same day.
The secretary general of his party, the Movement for Democratic Change is currently in detention facing treason charges.
Yet Mugabe is not the only opposition politician that faced the cruel hand of fate last week, two Kenyan ministers died after their plane crashed midair over the Maasai Game Reserve due to bad weather.
The dead ministers are Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Assistant Home Affairs Minister Lorna Laboso both belonged to Raila Odinga’ Orange Democratice Movement that is in coalition with Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity in governing Kenya.
The highly publicized visit to Rwanda of former UN Human Rights boss Sadako Ogata could not be complete with some history in Rwanda’s tertiary education sector.
The National University of Rwanda, which opened its doors in 1963, awarded its maiden honorary degree to Ogata for her work in helping with emergency relief programmes for Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide at a time when she was still at the helm of the UNHCR.
Ogata was awarded an honorary degree in Laws.
Influential South Korean evangelical church members from the Myung Sung Presbyterian Church have committed to use their wealthy members to help fund water provision, support to agriculture, establishing technical and vocational training as well as educational exchanges between the church’s network of universities and the people of Rwanda.
This is after a delegation from the church premises in Seoul visited President Paul Kagame while touring the country.
Sports fans across the country have been happy the entire week with the beginning of the 2008 edition of the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.
Many of the players on display in the tournament are household names inRwanda. So far the only surprise of the tournament apart from the absence of England is the defeat to Germany by Croatia.
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