Category Archives: Africa
South Sudan union of private schools rejects new tuition fees structure issued by government
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South Sudan’s general education ministry issued an order stopping private schools from increasing school fees this year. The deputy minister for general education told reporters in Juba on Thursday his ministry has received several complaints from parents across the country accusing private schools of charging exorbitant tuition fees and some schools demanding the fees be paid in dollars. A union representing private schools said it will not abide by the ministerial order.
COVID Vaccination Ignores Truckers as EAC Explores Common Health Pass
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Truck drivers are complaining about being left out as key populations when the Ministry of Health was considering priority groups for immunization against COVID-19.
Byron Kinene, the chairperson of the Regional Lorry Drivers and Transport Association (RLDTA) says that while truckers were considered high risk groups in the early days of the pandemic, having recorded the highest number of positives, accessing vaccination services has been difficult.
How Uganda May End Up Paying Billions to DR Congo – Experts Report
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Uganda could end up paying billions of Shillings to the Democratic Republic of Congo as compensation for occupation of its territories during the 1997 to 2003 war if the Hague based International Court of Justice (ICJ) decides to adopt compensation figures recommended by its experts.
Four ICJ-appointed experts have recommended that Uganda pays USD 215 million for infrastructure and property damage, general looting and specifically looting of minerals.
DR Congo declares end of new Ebola virus outbreak
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By Africanews and AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo officially declared the end of the twelfth epidemic of the Ebola virus on Monday.
It comes three months after a resurgence in the east of the country in the North Kivu province.
Ugandan trucker beaten to coma, 6 Kenyans Kidnapped in South Sudan
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A Ugandan truck driver identified as Vincent Mulika, alias Kamanda is battling for his life after he was allegedly beaten to comma by the military and immigrations officials in South Sudan.
Mulika was reportedly beaten on Wednesday in Nesitu, along Nimule-South Sudan highway., while transporting cargo to Juba board his truck registration number UAJ 174T. He is now admitted to Juba Referral Hospital.
He becomes the latest Ugandan truck driver to fall victim to the attacks along the Nimule-Juba highway which are mainly targeting foreign cargo drivers from the neighbouring East African Community block plying the route. The highway is a lifeline for South Sudan, which imports almost everything, and for people travelling to Uganda.
Murderers of South Sudan general spoke arabic- Uganda police
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The murderers of Brigadier Gen, Abraham Wani Yoane Bondo, the former Deputy Governor of Yei River State in South Sudan spoke Arabic and some languages commonly used in South Sudan, preliminary investigations by the Uganda Police Force have revealed. Gen. Bondo was was stabbed at his residence in Nansana Wakiso District on Tuesday last week and was pronounced dead at International Hospital Kampala-IHK two days later.
A team of detectives from Nansana police station visited his residence where they established that the assailants raided Gen. Bondo’s residence around 10:00 pm on Tuesday night. Eyewitnesses told the detectives that the assailants they heard assailants speaking fluent Arabic and other languages commonly used in South Sudan.
Mfumukeko’s troubled reign as EAC sec general
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The immediate former Secretary-General of the East African Community, Ambassador Libérat Mfumukeko hopes that he will be remembered as a man who steered the development of several infrastructure projects in the region and removal of ‘many’ non-trade barriers in the integration process.
“From 2016 to 2021 under my tenure, the community has recorded significant achievements in implementing the four pillars of the integration process. Under the Customs Union, the EAC Single Customs Union has been consolidated and many non-tariff barriers have been resolved,” he says.
The diplomat from Burundi, who had served as Deputy SG for Finance and Admiration handed over to Kenyan businessman and former EAC Legislative Assembly Representative, Peter Mathuki. Mfumkeko also served as an advisor to Burundi’s former president Pierre Nkurunziza as well as Director-General of Burundi’s energy and water utility, REGIDESO.
URA Impounds Over 30 Kenyan Trucks along Busia Boarder
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The Uganda Revenue Authority-URA officers have impounded over 30 Kenyan registered trucks for smuggling goods at Busia Boarder.
The trucks were impounded while crossing at the porous points in the two villages of Sofia and Marachi in Eastern division of Busia municipality. Most of the trucks were fully loaded with bags of maize.
Dunkan Kakonge, the URA manager in-charge of Eastern region says that the trucks were seen crossing into neighboring Kenya with undeclared goods meant to be cleared at Busia one stop boarder post before they proceed.
Oil Pipeline; Compensation of PAPs May Cost Up to UGX 65Bn
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Compensation for persons affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project may cost up to 65 billion shillings.
The estimate has been given by Robert Kasande, the permanent secretary ministry of energy and mineral development hours after the approval of the Resettlement Action Plan-RAP for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
The approved RAP is specific to the Uganda section of the project and paves way for the implementation of the land acquisition and resettlement process which involves completing the acquisition of land and securing the rights to the land, including payment of compensation and resettlement of affected households.
South Sudan Rebel leader “assassinated” in Uganda
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The leadership of South Sudan National Movement for Change/Army (SSNMC/A), one of the armed oppositions and member of South Sudan Opposition Alliance, confirmed that its Chief of Staff, General Abraham Wana Yoane has succumbed to injuries of an attack they believe was an organized assassination plan.
The leadership of SSNMC/A, which is led by the former governor of Western Equatoria State, Hon. Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, condemned the alleged assassination of its chief of Staff in neighboring Uganda.
Rebels match on capital Djamena
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Following the battlefield death of President Idriss Deby, threatening to bring more disruption to a country vital to international efforts to combat Islamist militants in Africa.
Schools and some businesses were open in N’Djamena on Wednesday but many people had opted to stay home and the streets were quiet,witness said.
Authorities imposed a nightly curfew and closed land and air borders after Deby’s death was announced. A 14-day period of national mourning is being observed.
DRC asks Uganda to pay US$322M for war reparation
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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has asked Uganda to pay U$322 million for damages caused by its troops during the Congo invasion between 1997 and 2003.
The figure is a drop in the ocean of the US$10 billion that DRC had demanded from Uganda in 2005 when it won the case it had filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The Hague-based International Court of Justice reopened the case with submissions from DRC. Speaking through an English translator, Jean-Paul Segeobe, one of the many lawyers who made submissions on behalf of Congo said that the country is demanding US$322 million from Uganda. He argued that DRC has met the threshold required for wartime reparation.
Understanding Rwanda’s foreign policy – Andrew M Mwenda
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This is a second instalment of my three-part review of Michela Wrong’s book, Do Not Disturb, about the murder of Patrick Karegyeya. Many readers of part one missed the core of my argument. I did not seek to argue that the government of Rwanda under the leadership of President Paul Kagame does not hunt to kill its enemies abroad. I only meant to illustrate that Wrong did not do basic journalistic work of trying to look at different hypotheses and then showing why she believed the one she went with. The core of my argument was that if Kigali has assassinated anyone abroad, that is because of a rational foreign policy, not because of some violent psychopathy of Kagame as a person the way Wrong presented it.
