Africa leaders in Belgium for EU meet

Vice President Edward Ssekandi (L) bids farewell to President Museveni at Entebbe airport on Tuesday before the President set off to Brussels, Belgium to attend the 4th EU-Africa summit .

BRUSSELS.
With helicopters circling overhead, snipers on rooftops, sirens baring through the streets, and military police manning fortifications, European and African leaders kicked off a two-day summit here seeking to renew a valuable relationship under threat from new suitors.

A stronger show of force was underway thousands of miles away in the Central African Republic where the European Union launched a military operation to end the political instability in the country that the UN warns threatens to spiral into religious extremism and potential violence.

Details of the size of the EU force deployed to CAR were not immediately available but officials in Brussels said it had a short-term mandate with a view to handing over to a peacekeeping force from the African Union or the UN.

“The launch of this operation demonstrates the EU’s determination to take full part in international efforts to restore stability and security in Bangui and right across the Central African Republic,” Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy and security in-charge, said.

The military operation in CAR is only the latest in a growing list of EU interventions in Africa, following a French-led intervention in Mali, counter-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa and the NATO-led attacks in Libya that dislodged Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The attack on Gaddafi, who had hosted the last EU-Africa summit only a year before his death, sparked renewed claims of African nationalism and calls for “African solutions to African problems”. However, such solutions have been slow in coming and, the EU has grown increasingly more visible in its military engagements, although Brussels is keen to present its activities as partnerships with the African Union.

The EU has contributed more than Euros 1.2 billion to peace-building efforts across the continent through the Africa Peace Facility since 2004 and sees gunboat and helicopter diplomacy as key to maintaining close relations.

Amidst growing interest in Africa from China, America and other emerging economies, the EU has put on a charm offensive, seeking to overcome its colonial legacy and emerge as Africa’s “partner”, perhaps the most popular word in the bureaucratic corridors in Brussels.

“There are things on which Europe needs Africa,” Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said Wednesday during the opening of the summit, pointing to climate change and migration.

Manuel Barroso, his counterpart from the European Commission, was more saccharine, speaking of “a partnership based on mutual respect, a partnership of equals”, but tough discussions lie ahead.

Migration – in particular the EU’s treatment of illegal migrants seeking economic refuge on the continent – has emerged as a potential sore point, with Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, and Human Rights Watch calling for more humane treatment of those who undertake the often perilous pilgrimages from poverty.

Access to markets for trade also remains controversial. The EU has set October as the deadline for a deal on the controversial Economic Partnerships Agreement between it and Africa but civil society activists, who turned out in the spring sunshine in Brussels to demonstrate outside the summit venue, show that agreement and consensus are yet to be achieved.

Trade between the two continents grew by 46 per cent between 2007 and 2012 and the EU remains a key import and export partner. However, Africa continues to export raw materials while importing manufactured goods as well as food from Europe.
“Opening up markets to the EU will not help us if we are still exporting stones and importing cars,” an African diplomat in Brussels said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak on behalf of his country. “We have to figure out how to manufacture goods and export finished products before we can talk about being partners with anybody.”

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan: “We expect that at the end of this summit, the relationship between EU and Africa will be enhanced and become stronger and stronger in terms of our economic development and also in terms of our commitment to maintain peace and human security in Africa.

Five shot dead as bandits ambush Turkana village

Lokoriman Kalale, a police reservist, was shot when bandits raided Kakong village in Turkana South district last month. In last Friday’s attack, two reservists were killed when raiders ambushed Kaptir and Kapelbok villages in Turkana South.

Five people, including two police reservists, were killed on Friday evening by bandits in Turkana South.

Four others were injured and taken to Kaptir dispensary and then transferred to Lodwar District Hospital.

According to a police reservist who took part in a three-hour stand-off at a grazing field between Kaptir and Kapelbok villages, there were about 200 bandits.

“Pupils from Kapelbok primary school who were on their way home in Lomopus village informed us at 3 pm that they had seen armed attackers,” said the reservist who declined to be named.

And addressing journalists at Kaptir village, Katilu county assembly member James Abei said only four bodies had been brought home.

“The fifth body is still in the battle field,” said Mr Abei.

He said such raids are common in Turkana South because police reservists were disarmed after an administration police man was killed at Nakwamoru.

A sobre mood engulfed the two villages as residents discussed the sad event in hushed tones.

Mrs Losinyon Ekidor said she has now lost her entire family to bandits.

“I lost my husband and a son last year to bandits. I buried them and now I have lost my remaining son Paulo Ekidor and my animals,” said Ms Ekidor as a group of youth dug a grave for her son, just next to her husband’s grave.

Katilu Ward Administrator Simon Koloi said the bandits took three firearms, two belonging to the reservists.

At a public baraza attended by Turkana South police chief Kipsang Changach, women who looked shaken, told the government to relocate them once they finish buying their husbands and sons. Residents also urged the government to recruit and arm reservists.

Meanwhile, calm has returned to Barpello in Tiaty in Baringo County following Friday’s killing of a General Service Unit officer by suspected Pokot raiders.

Two other officers were injured during a two-hour shootout which saw the officers held hostage for hours until a Kenya Wildlife Service helicopter airlifted them.

The officers were part of a joint police force that was on its way to Marigat after recovering animals that had been stolen from Kapindasum in Baringo South on Thursday night.

Baringo County Commissioner Benard Leparmarai and Baringo County Police Commandant Hassan Barua said the two officers are in a stable condition.

“The officers repulsed the raiders and were coming back with the animals when they were ambushed by a group who sprayed them with bullets killing one of the officers,” Mr Leparmarai told reporters at Kabarnet District Hospital.

“It is clear that many herders still possess firearms. We will not rest until guns in the wrong hands are re-possessed. This attack will not cower our soldiers,” he said.

Baringo South MP Grace Kipchoim, whose constituency has suffered most of the attacks, accused fellow leaders.

Speaking to the Sunday Nation, she criticised Tiaty MP Asman Kamama for failing to attend a security meeting at Chepkalacha GSU camp recently attended by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku and Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo.

Kagame renews charge that France took part in Rwanda genocide

President Paul Kagame. He has once again accused France of "participating" in the 1994 genocide in an interview to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass killings. 

PARIS, Saturday

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has once again accused France of "participating" in the 1994 genocide in an interview to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass killings.

Speaking to the weekly Jeune Afrique, Kagame denounced the "direct role of Belgium and France in the political preparation for the genocide".

He also accused French soldiers who took part in a military humanitarian mission in the south of the former Belgian colony of being both accomplices and "actors" in the bloodbath.

The interview was to be published Sunday as Rwanda prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocities that claimed at least 800,000 lives, mainly of minority Tutsis.

Paris has repeatedly denied the accusations and insisted that French forces had striven to protect civilians.

Kagame's FPR rebels overthrew the Hutu-led government, and his party still controls the government, but many of those accused of the worst crimes of the war escaped, allegedly under the cover of a French military mission.

In 2008, a report by Rwanda's MUCYO commission of inquiry concluded that France had trained the militias that carried out killings and French troops had taken part in massacres. It accused 13 politicians and 20 officers by name.

"Twenty years later, the only thing you can say against them (the French) in their eyes is they didn't do enough to save lives during the genocide," Kagame told Jeune Afrique.

"That's a fact, but it hides the main point: the direct role of Belgium and France in the political preparation of the genocide and the participation of the latter in its very execution," Kagame said.

Kagame's assertions come as relations between Kigali and Paris -- which were completely frozen from 2006 to 2009 -- have improved, notably since France last month, in a landmark ruling, sentenced former Rwandan army captain Pascal Simbikangwa to 25 years in prison for his role in the massacres.

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira will be on hand in Kigali on Monday at events marking the sombre anniversary.

Bigombe in CAR as Kony hunt rages

Mbarara-Ntungamo-Kabale highway seen from Ntungamo Town. The road has proved to be a death trap for many road users despite being in good condition. 

Kampala.
Uganda’s Minister of State for Water Betty Bigombe and Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Achana II flew to Obbo in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday and apologised to the population for the atrocities the LRA rebels committed against the local population.

“We regret Kony’s action in the neighbouring countries and we call for cooperation in ending these atrocities,” Rwot Achana II said, adding: “There is no difference on what he was doing in northern Uganda and what he is doing to you here; we are hoping that he comes to his senses and he stops it with immediate effect.”

In a related development, a top US military commander on Thursday tasked a purported LRA peace emissary to provide a recent photo of Joseph Kony or persuade the warlord to telephone him as proof that the self-declared envoy is not a masquerader.

A one Okello Mission, who identifies himself as “LRA’s special peace envoy”, has been sending out emails to the African Union, the United Nations, the US government and media houses announcing the group’s intention to end the conflict peacefully.

Col Kevin Leahy, who commands the US Special Operation troops carrying out the counter-LRA offensive in CAR, replied in an email: “The United States will not entertain your proposal unless you demonstrate proof that you are representing Kony. Your letters alone are not sufficient.”
On Tuesday, Ms Bigombe who initiated the first peace talks with Kony in 1993, said the rebel leader does not listen to counsel to “stop his ruthless activities”.

The Obbo meeting followed Kony’s reported request for dialogue, days after the United States government deployed hundreds of additional Special Forces and specialised aircraft to accelerate the Washington-funded counter-LRA offensive to capture or eliminate the indicted LRA commanders.
Kony’s whereabouts remain unknown, but regional military officers say LRA is diminished.

The AU team is using both military engagement and come-home messages broadcast on local radio stations and leaflets to encourage defections among the rebels, he said.

About Kony’s lord resistance army
Rebellion. Kony began his rebellion in 1987, ostensibly to install a government run on the Biblical 10 commandments, but his forces have built notoriety for mass killings, rape and abductions in northern Uganda and the neighbouring DR Congo.

Off to CAR. In 2009, the LRA fled to CAR, following the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces offensive that smoked them out of their new bases in eastern DR Congo. They have since committed atrocities against civilians in CAR.

Police detonate bomb found near Eastleigh

An officer from Bomb Disposal Unit checks an Improvised Explosive Device that was found buried by the road side at Mlango Kubwa, Nairobi on April 01, 2014

Bomb disposal experts have detonated a bomb that had been buried in the ground outside a residential area at Mlango Kubwa near Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate.

Police had earlier cleared traffic and pedestrians along Juja road over suspicion there were explosive materials near the place.

The police said there were three men at the site who fled when they saw security officers on patrol. The officers then checked and found wires protruding from the ground.

A loud bang could be heard as the bomb went off. Experts were still checking whether there are more explosives.

The section of Juja Road remained closed to traffic and the public, police said, even as curious onlookers milled around the scene.
 The bomb was found near Eastleigh estate where six people were killed.
Police launched a security operation and arrested over 600 people

Rwandans grapple with reconciliation

                                                                                Rwanda's President Paul Kagame.

The scene outside Frederic Kazigwemo's home is a typical rural Rwandan scene: a cow chews under a rickety shelter, cassava dries in the sun, women weave baskets and children play.

But in Rwanda, where 20 years ago a genocide claimed over 800,000 lives, the difference is that Kazigwemo murdered his neighbours -- relatives of his wife's weaving partner and next-door neighbour in a "reconciliation village", where free housing comes at the price of forgiveness.

"It was hard living here at the beginning, as this woman's husband helped to kill my family," says Cecile Mukagasana, as she sits on a porch tying colourful string around grass to make coiled baskets for curious tourists.

Before 1994, different groups in Rwanda lived relatively peacefully together for much of the time and intermarriages were not uncommon.

But then "the government was teaching the Hutu that the Tutsis were colonising them again, so we must kill them and take their property," Kazigwemo said.

"They gave us guns and trained us to go and kill," he added, although his mob "used machetes and spears" to slaughter seven people.

"We didn't feel guilty. We were proud of it as the government was wanting us to do this, so we did it again."

In the second attack, Kazigwemo's gang -- among them "people who were sharp at killing" -- hacked two of Cecile's relatives to death.

Kazigwemo is one of around two million people tried over 10 years by the traditional "gacaca" court system, set up in the wake of the genocide as traditional courts were overloaded.

He had his sentence reduced after admitting to the killings and apologising for them.

"Before I apologised I didn't have peace in my heart, sometimes when I was standing somewhere, I would see the faces of those I killed in my eyes," he said. "Now I don't see them anymore."

But Dieudonne Gahizi-Ganza, the founder of Best Hope Rwanda that offers counselling to victims of rape, their children, and those of the killers, says that the gacaca trials aren't enough.

"Gacaca did a lot to bring about justice and also handle the cases of perpetrators, but we also need reconciliation," he said.

"After the genocide, we had more than 300,000 orphans and 500,000 widows," says Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana, Executive Secretary of the government's Peace and Reconciliation Commission.

"To recover, for them, it is not so easy", he said.

For Vestine Mukandahiro, who lives in one of the many mud-baked lanes lined by banana trees on the outskirts of Kigali, reconciling with a daughter born of rape took years.

Aged 13, Vestine decided that she couldn't kill herself or the baby, but "after she was born, I thought I couldn't be with my own daughter as I'd look at her face and she'd remind me of the rape," she said.

Vestine fled the family home as attackers hacked her entire family minus her two- and four-year old youngest siblings to death, only to stumble across her rapist in a field.

She said people treated her "like a prostitute" bringing "the child of a curse" into the community.

Reconciliation programmes focusing on grassroots and group counselling have lifted such widespread or overt stigma, but the double-edged sword of speaking out is that those born years after the genocide have been forced to relive it.

"Trauma cases -- it's something that can be transmitted from one generation to the next", said Gahizi-Ganza.

As the country prepares to mark 20 years since the start of the 100-day massacre on April 7, a cloud of fear and sadness still hangs over Rwanda, and a certain stoicism prevails at all times.

Questions of ethnicity are no longer allowed or included on identity cards.

The horrors of 1994 can now only be referred to as The Genocide Against The Tutsi -- a term that ignores the massacre of moderate Hutus and obscures a far from bloodless advance to power by rebel forces led by Rwanda's now President Paul Kagame.

"We don't talk about ethnicity. We only talk about our past," said 19-year old Yvette.

The only leisure activities Yvette can list are after-school clubs warning against AIDS and drugs and the "Never Again Club", where she and her peers dissect the genocide.

Yvette wants to grow up to be a role model in the community, to show that she can be useful and to avoid more friction.

"With my generation, we must make a big effort to make sure that what happened never happens again," she said.

I'm ready for Gay fight - Museveni

Religious leaders give President Museveni a gift in Kampala yesterday to congratulate him for signing the anti-gays Bill into law. 

KAMPALA.

President Museveni yesterday told a rally of supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Act that he endorsed the law to reaffirm Uganda’s sovereignty. The President said he did not approve of agitation by foreign powers against the new law.

Mr Museveni said the West have a wrong justification of homosexuality. He explained that besides the Bible being against the act, even long ago among African cultures homosexuals were referred to as ekifiire (walking dead).

“I want to thank honourable (David) Bahati and his group. I didn’t pay attention because I was involved in other sectors and little did I know it was a big issue. However, when big countries started giving us orders, I don’t like orders, especially from outside and I don’t know why these people became preachers for others?” Mr Museveni stated.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act is a brain-child of Ndorwa West MP David Bahati. He drafted a private members Bill which he presented to Parliament and it got overwhelming support. The gist of the Bill is the protection of, especially young children from homosexuality. The donor countries have since been up in arms, with some cutting aid.

The President stressed that homosexuality was unhealthy and people who indulge in it could get sexually transmitted diseases.
“I came to learn that homosexuality was unhealthy and this is because they go to a wrong address. Sexual organs of a human being are highly specialised,” he said.

Mr Museveni added that he delayed to sign the Bill because he wanted to be convinced that homosexuality was not genetic but due behavioural influence.
The President said he was going to meet religious leaders today to discuss the issue of establishing the Aids fund to cater for the 1.5 million people living with HIV/Aids since some donors are threatening to cut fund.

Earlier, speaker after speaker praised Mr Museveni for signing the Bill.
Other notable figures that the religious leaders described as saviours of African culture included MP Bahati who they said took a bold stand amidst intimidation from the West to introduce the Bill.

Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga was praised for taking a firm stand to have the debate on the Bill.
Church of Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali said it was an historic occasion that saw the country united for purpose. Mufti Ramadhan Mubajje praised Museveni, saying he redeemed Uganda.

The representative of the Evangelical Movement, Pator Simon Peter Emwau, said the courage Mr Museveni took in signing the Bill is a reflection of what he took in 1970s and 1980s when decided to fight bad leadership.