US delegation in Arusha

US delegation at Sullivan summit pays courtesy call to ICTR

By GEORGE KAGAME
ARUSHA

The US delegation attending the ongoing 8th edition of the Leon H Sullivan summit in Arusha today paid a courtesy call to the offices of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The US team at the summit is comprised of influential US politicians, business leaders and civil rights leaders including Ambassador Andrew Young former US representative at the UN, Jendayi Frazer the secretary of state for African affairs in state department, Dirk Kempthorne US secretary of the Interior and John Simon Executive vice president of f the Washington based Overseas private investment.
The entourage held discussions with Evarard O’Donnell he deputy registrar of the ICTR.

Addressing the press in his office today Roland Amoussouga the Spokesperson of the Tribunal said the US delegation visited the office of the Registrar to acquaint themselves with trial proceedings; “they were given an overview of the achievements and challenges of the tribunal.”

The closed meeting between the registrar and the US delegation lasted for one and half hours and according to Amoussouga involved extensive exchanges about the work of the tribunal, its contribution to the Rwandan community, the East African Community and the world.

The Leon H Sullivan summit is a biennial summit that is hosted by an African country; the five-day summit in Arusha will focus on investment and development opportunities in Africa, especially in the sectors of tourism and infrastructure.
The Rwandan delegation at the summit was comprised of ORTPN director Rosette Rugambwa , REMA boss @@@@@ Muka@@@


Opening the summit, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete described the Arusha summit as a platform on which Africans on the continent and Africans and people of African origin in the Diaspora were to discuss issues of mutual interests.


Inaugurated in 1991, the Leon Sullivan Summit has been focusing on poverty elimination through development in various fields. All the previous seven summits were held in west and south African countries of Cote d'Ivoire (1991), Gabon (1993), Senegal (1995), Zimbabwe (1997), Ghana (1999) and Nigeria (2003 and 2006).

Leon H Sullivan was African-American cleric international humanitarian. He preached positive messages encouraging commitments and resources of the African Diaspora and friends of Africa to promote positive change in the world. He also championed self-help, social responsibility, economic empowerment, and human rights.

Bosnian leader calls for dialogue among muslims

Bosnian leader calls for dialogue among Muslims across the world

BY GEORGE KAGAME
Arusha


The President of Bosnia Herzegovina Haris Silajdzic has challenged Muslims all over the world to engage in serious dialogue with followers of other faiths and civilizations as the only way of stopping global misunderstanding about the religion.

Silajdzic who was addressing the 19th session of the World Muslim Call society said “dialogue was also the only means in which radicalism among some Islamic communities would be stopped.”

The message was carried by the Mufti of Rwanda Sheik Saleh Habimana who represented Rwanda at the session that took place in Sarajevo the Bosnian capital from 27th to 1 June.

In an email correspondence Habimana who returned to Rwanda yesterday (Monday) after attending the meeting said the Bosnian leader was briefed about the issues and events leading up to the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.
Habimana said he was part of an African delegation which was headed by Dr. Muhamed Ahmed Sheriff, the general secretary general of the World Islamic Call Society.


In a closed door meeting with the Bosnian leader, Sheriff explained about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and related it to the Srebrenica Massacre, also known as Srebrenica Genocide took place in July 1995 exactly a year after the Rwanda Genocide.

An estimated 10000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in a single day by the Serbian soldiers under the command of General Ratko Mladic during the Bosnian war. Bosnian has since acquired independence from Serbia and Montenegro and is currently negotiating its accession to the EU.

Sheriff also presented Rwanda’s achievement to the conference since the 1994 Genocide saying that the; “ Rwanda people had overcome the fear and death and Kigali currently is bustle of activity of commercial life and a model city for security and hygiene in the Sub Saharan region.” He added that the clear visionary leadership of President Paul Kagame had ensured stability and reconciliation among the people of Rwanda.

The Mufti of Bosnia agreed to send 5 survivors of the Srebrenica Massacre who will participate in commemoration events ending the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide in July organized by the Rwandan Muslim Association. This will also be marking 12 years since the Srebrenica genocide.

Formed in 1972, the World Islamic Call Society is an international organization based in Libya that unites Muslim across the globe in finding lasting solutions to community problems. The society also seeks to support Islamic societies in identifying Islamic civilization and culture in the world.

I've loved these days Billy Joel

I've Loved These Days
Billy Joel

Now we take our time... so nonchalant,
And spend our nights so bon vivant.
We dress our days in silken robes,
The money comes, the money goes...
We know it's all a passing phase.

We light our lamps for atmosphere,
And hang our hopes on chandeliers.
We're going wrong, we're gaining weight,
We're sleeping long and far too late.
And so it's time to change our ways...
But I've loved these days.

Now as we indulge in things refined,
We hide our hearts from harder times.
A string of pearls, a foreign car...
Oh, we can only go so far... on caviar and Cabernet.

We drown our doubts in dry champagne,
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine.
I don't know why I even care...
We get so high and get nowhere.
We'll have to change our jaded ways...
But I've loved these days.

So before we end (and then begin)-
We'll drink a toast to how it's been...
A few more hours to be complete,
A few more nights on satin sheets,
A few more times that I can say...
I've loved these days.

Been Through the storm By Stevie Wonder

Been Through the Storm

Busta Rhymes & Stevie Wonder

[Chorus: Stevie Wonder] Been through the storm, through the cold and rain Everything's still the same Can't control how I feel
Sometimes it's hard to keep it real
You see the luxuries in life, with the fortune and fame Like them Cadillacs with sunroofs mayne
So many ways to make a dollar Huh, sometimes
I think about my father You see my poppa was broke, and my momma was young
Tryin to blend in with them city folk
Every day landlord knockin down my do'
Wonderin where my next blessing is comin from


[Busta Rhymes] My momma and poppa, moved to the U.S. as Jamaicans
Struggled to get visas and green cards through immigration
Though my pop was po', stayed away from crime and malice
Hard living gave him hard hands and callous
As a young'n, peep how much they loved each other's space His hard hands rubbin against the pretty skin of my mother's face
Dig for treasure 'til his hands looked like hands of a junkie
So coarse, slap a mule and take the life from a donkey On the other hand, mommy was the type to work two jobs
Never enough money, that's why I got your whole crew robbed Got older, developed ways of grippin the steel
Barely home for me to see her, or get a good cooked meal
Seek refuge in the alleged land of the free, lookin Blendin in with city folk, down in Flatbush Brooklyn

Feel a little of my pain, follow and sing to it
Homey I seen it all, if you ain't knowin I been through it In other words I [Chorus]

[Busta Rhymes]
Got little older, late teens, me and my crew would huddle
On the corner late nights, plottin to escape struggle
Nights got cold and still would hustle in the same place
In front of Pancho Delis, now the freeze up on a nigga face 1987 Reaganomics ever curious to visit other cities, out of town kick was serious

Guayanese jeans bounce, put whatever slinger on Whatever slinger came back, quickly brought me right along Nigga ran away from home

Doin different wild shit, just to put a pair of Filas on,
'Didas on Wreck is all for the good, gettin into shit
Like we innocent, actin older than should
Walk around broke in the hood, watchin all the rich niggaz
These younger thugs who try to choke and try to get niggaz
Thinkin 'bout my mom and pop, while I'm monopolizin
To hell with just gettin by and economizin
It's kinda hard bein humble in the belly of struggle
Doin things that probably get you in trouble
That's why we stay up on the block, gettin money while we keepin it safe
In front of churchgoers keepin the faith
Mom and pop be worryin for they son
Despite they struggle and their honest livin look and see just what
I become A scavenger, in brute pursuit to be happy, another young'n that's wildin Across the line until somebody tryin to cap me - ohhhh shit {*gunfire*}

[Outro: Stevie Wonder - singer slower with more ad libs]

I been through the storm Through the cold and rain Everything's still the same Can't control how I feel Sometimes it's hard to keep it real Woooooooooooooo-whoahhhhhhhhhhhhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

New York Staeof Mind By Stevie Wonder

New York State Of Mind

Billy Joel

Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach
Or to Hollywood
But I'm taking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River Line
I'm in a New York state of mind

I've seen all the movie stars
In their fancy cars and their limousines
Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens
But I know what I'm needing
And I don't want to waste more time
I'm in a New York state of mind

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind

I'm just taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line
'Cause I'm in a New York state of mind

MTN CENTRE

Welcome to Rwanda's mini Planet Cafe at MTN CENTRE

BY GEORGE KAGAME

It's one in the morning in the once dull but now busy Nyarutarama suburb. The nightlife at the MTN Centre and the area's near-permanent non-stop party is just getting into full swing. The barman at the counter is mixing a cocktail but he is doing it with such finesse that would make the Russians wish he was born in Stalingrad.

Reggeaton music echoes from one bar where Kigali’s new twenty-and thirty-something residents drink Mutzig beer and Uganda Waragi from the bottle.

Crossover, a mixture of new school rap and techno music belts out of Bose speakers in an adjacent corridor; where almost identical-looking customers in black leather jeans and jackets with hoods do the same. This is the famous MTN Centre.

MTN Centre is one of the most amazing architectural sights in Rwanda and the Virunga Pub inside the building is just as cozy as the centre.

Kigali’s leading corporate class wannabes hangout at the MTN Centre as one of several attempts to escape the ‘lower class folk’, the class with smelly armpits, poor French or English accents and an even poorer sense of fashionable attires.

There’s never any need for theme programmes or Gahunda so to speak at Virunga Pub; since MTN Centre is always happening every weekend. All the patrons and students especially from the nearby up market schools have to do is dress up in the flashiest of attires and head towards Nyarutarama.
Here your typical drink on the weekend is more than the golden stuff in the glass; it’s a carnival; the girls gyrate their bodies like they don’t have bones in them and the boys dance with such vigour that you could not be wrong to think all the patrons here are members in one of Kigali’s myriad troupes.

I arrived at MTN centre after attending midnight prayers at the nearby Christian Life Assembly church. Standing in the parking lot, I noticed that more teenagers came in on foot and in groups-at the hour of one o’clock the parking lot was fully occupied and I wondered who was driving the vehicles, when most clients were walking.

The majority of the men (boys) at Virunga Pub are simply clad in overflowing jeans and extra large t-shirts; there are a few who are in G-Unit outfits complete with bling that is slinging around their necks; it makes them resemble the famous slaves during the Atlantic trade years and their chains in early 1850s.

The girls, however, seem to be a lot more fashion-conscious. Leggings, dress tops, hot pants, revealing and body-hugging tops, shorts, transparent and inviting short dresses and boots are what most of them were wearing. The hairstyles were quite as exotic as the make up on their faces.

From the way the boys and girls pose while smoking and how they avoid other people looking directly at them I can tell that they just began the habit.
Many of the people around the two bars inside MTN Centre are dancing in groups of single sexes — very few groups are mixed up.

From where I am seated at the Virunga pub, I can see a group of girls whose outfits and dance moves are unmistakably from MTV. They dance in a similar manner to the now popular Brick and Lace and there is another circle of boys standing next to them and watching in awe. Behind me, another girl has found her friends and the shrieks of joy lose all the words that she is saying.

The make up on the girls’ faces and squeaks suggest that they invested a lot of time in watching Nigerian movies; while the boys are testimony to the new Kigali. A Kigali of designer clothing, exotic languages and even more exotic music and dance.

Food prices, Rwanda corner

Rwandans advised to check private sector through consumer activism

BY GEORGE KAGAME

The Minster of Local government has asked Rwandans to be active consumers who can have their views addressed by the private sector instead of relying on government to set out all the policies in the country.

Protais Musoni was Friday a press conference at his ministry headquarters in Kacyiru and was responding to a question about increasing food prices in Rwanda and the fact that agricultural produce is sold at much cheaper prices in districts not so far away from Kigali like Msanze while in Kigali city food prices are exorbitant.
Musoni said a kilogram of irish potatoes in Musanze cost as low as Frw 60 while the same quantity could be as high Frw 150 -200.

Musoni said some policies like price regulations in food prices are no longer independent and are very complex for a country to adopt today, “if you set prices for foodstuffs like Egypt does for wheat, you invite the attention of IMF and World Bank to question your commitment to a free market economy, the risks can be as bad as reducing aid,” said Musoni.

The Egyptian funds the importing of wheat and prices for bread in that country are very low because taxes are subsidized. Bread is the staple food of Egypt.
Many businessmen in Rwanda mention high taxes charges and transport cost as the reason why prices of many commodities are very high making the cost of living in Rwanda higher than that of neighbouring countries like Uganda, Kenya and Goma in Eastern DR Congo.
Prices of agricultural produce are high in Kigali because of high fuel costs to transport foodstuffs from rich agricultural areas like Musanze Kigali businessmen say.

Musoni said government had abolished tax charges on agricultural products in the country; however he said the increase of food prices was because of increasing fuel prices.

He called upon Rwandans to be more active in determining the standards of the commodities they consume; “Rwandans should be more active consumers. They should question the sellers (of services and goods) instead of relying on government to make all the decisions.”


Increasing food prices have been the cause of political violence and death in and will present future concerns like war according to UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon who wrote recently wrote in an international newspaper article that...@@@@@@@@@@@@@....................

Last week another senior UN official said.........................................