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South Sudan IDPs reject redeployment of Kenyan forces

By
Agencies
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Kenyan Preisednt Uhuru Kenyatta meets with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the just-concluded AU Summit in Addis Ababa.

South Sudanese internally displaced persons (IDPs) have opposed the re-deployment of the Kenyan peacekeepers in the young nation, accusing the East African nation of involvement of fueling clashes in the capital, Juba in July last year.

In a petition addressed to the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, the IDP urged the word body to reconsider its recent decision to re-deploy Kenyan soldiers in the country.

“We, the internally displaced South Sudanese in the protection of civilian camps across the country, have been following with great dismay and concern over the political developments again our country since July’s assassination attempt on the life of Dr. [Riek] Machar the then 1st vice president and SPLM/A-IO in Juba one,” it read.

Former Kenyan UNMISS Commander Lt Gen Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki.

The displaced persons, in their statement, raised concerns over the head of the U.N peacekeepers, a Kenyan, who they accused of allegedly failing to protect civilians when South Sudan army clashed with the armed opposition forces on 8 July, 2016.

“We strongly believe that you will strive to bring peace to our broken society and deliver us from the brutal dictator`s administration and leadership. We also want to underline here that Kenyan government is acting brutally towards our citizens in Kenya by abducting them and deporting them to the enemies in Juba to be inhumanely tortured and most of the times killed by the regime`s notorious security agents,” further stated the IDPs’ petition to the U.N.

The internally displaced persons also expressed dismayed over renewed conflicts, that has turned ethnic in the country and urged the world body to do what it could to protect vulnerable civilians.

The group further called on the new Secretary General of the U.N pressure the warring parties into renegotiating the 2015 peace deal.

Reacting to the recent national dialogue initiative declared by President Salva Kiir, the IDPs are less optimistic about the process bringing an end to the ongoing hostilities in Africa’s newest nation.

According to the group, only an inclusive national dialogue, which is achieved after all the guns have been put silent, will ensure peace.

 

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Nokia to re-launch ‘world’s most reliable phone’ Nokia 3310

By
Agencies
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JAPAN - FEBRUARY 15: Launched on the 1st September 2000, the Nokia 3310 featured advanced messaging, personalisation with Xpress-on covers and screensavers, vibra feature, time management functions, voice dialling, picture messaging, predictive text input and games. It also introduced ?mobile chat? using the Nokia Friends-Talk service, which allows users to have conversations using SMS (Short Message Service). This is a globally accepted wireless service that enables the transmission of messages between mobile users and external systems such as e-mail, paging, and voice-mail. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Nokia will re-launch the 3310 series, perhaps the most-loved and resilient mobile phone in history.

The phone, originally released in 2000 and in many ways beginning the modern age of mobile telephony, will be sold as a way of getting lots of battery life in a nearly indestructible body.

The new incarnation of the old 3310 will be sold for just €59, and so likely be pitched as a reliable second phone to people who fondly remember it the first time around. It will be revealed at Mobile World Congress later this month, according to leaker Evan Blass who first revealed the details.

It’s still possible to buy the 3310 on Amazon, though only through its marketplace and not directly from the company itself. The Amazon listing describes a range of features, including a clock, calculator, the ability to store up to ten reminders and four games: Snake II, Pairs II, Space Impact, and Bantumi.

Nokia struggled to bring its brand into the smartphone era and ended up being sold to Microsoft. But since then it has targeted success by making new versions of old phones, including the Nokia 215, which costs $29 and lasts for 29 days.

Phones made under the Nokia brand are now sold by HMD Global, a Finnish company that bought the rights to the name. HMD will reveal other new mobiles – the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 – at the same MWC event.

 

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Valentine’s Day: Cedric Babu ‘slips’ on wifey cheating claims

By
Badru Kasadah
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CONFESSED TO CHEATING? City socialite and sports personality Cedric Babu

City socialite and sports personality Cedric Babu Ndilima has finally come out on his relationship with disc spinner, DJ Karo, real names Carol Kisukye.

Cedric Babu’s  wife Allison Gallagher, while on right is Babu with Karo

And true to his wife’s fears, Babu has confirmed his relationship with Karo. Taking advantage of Valentine’s Day, a day when lovers celebrate romance and love, Babu has poured out his heart for Karo.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you but especially to this beautiful lady Karo,” he captioned her photo which he shared on Instagram.

She wasted no time in responding to Babu, “Happy Valentine’s Day too my special friend”.
The romantic exchanges come just weeks after Babu’s wife and mother of his three children, Allison Gallagher, came out complaining over Karo having an affair with her husband.

According to the smitten Gallagher, she has also tried to speak to Karo over the issue but says the latter has refused to pick up her calls.

“When a woman destroys another woman’s family, is it a lot to ask for her to pick up her phone? God fearing DJ Karo, feminist, Uganda next generation leader sleeps with married men. #values. Thank you Carol for empowering women through sports and thank you for sleeping with my husband.”

At the time neither Babu nor Karo spoke out on the allegations until today.

Apart from being a DJ, Caro is Babu’s employee and a feminist as well. Cedric Babu is a son to former minister, Francis Babu, who lost in the recent EALA elections.

 

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Pilgrimage site to be developed at Archbishop Luwum’s birthplace

By
Hussein Musisi
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REMEMBERING ARCHBISHOP LUWUM: State Minister for Ethics and Integrity Fr. Simon Lokodo and the CoU Provincial Secretary Rev Canon Amos Magezi address the media today.

The government has promised to develop a pilgrimage site at the burial place of Janan Luwum, the Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga Zaire who was murdered by Idi Amin in February 1977.

Addressing the media at a function held in remembrance of Archbishop Luwum, the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity Rev Fr Simon Lokodo said the government will also improve on the deceased prelate’s tomb, erect a monument and improve on his small church in Mucwini, Kitgum district. “There will also be a prayer arena, more prayer points, a museum and schools,” the Minister added.

Fr. Simon Lokodo at the media briefing at Media Centre

He lauded the good relations between the church and the state which, he said, “keeps on complementing itself through socio-economic activities like building schools hospitals and extending more services to the people.”

Last year the government gazetted February 16 as a national day in commemoration of the life of Archbishop Luwum, who was also declared a saint by the Anglican Church.

And, according to Fr. Lokodo, the government will this year spend Shs200million on the commemoration of the late Archbishop’s 40th anniversary since he was murdered in 1977.

Church of Uganda (CoU) Provincial Secretary Reverend Canon Amos Magezi. All photos/Hussein Musisi

Meanwhile, the Church of Uganda (CoU) Provincial Secretary Reverend Canon Amos Magezi, said the Anglican Church had published a book about the life of Archbishop Luwum, and that the Church House that is currently under construction, will be named after the fallen prelate.

“We thank the government for developing religious tourism sites like Namugongo and now the Mucwini master plan is under way. This will further promote the spirit of worship,” Rev Magezi added.

 

 

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Financial meltdown bites as Quality Supermarket closes Ntinda branch

By
Badru Kasadah
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CLOSED: Quality Supermaket Ntinda branch

It is not only city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia whose financial services businesses have been affected by the lengthy meltdown in Uganda mostly ocassioned by external factors, business sources have observed.

The closed Quality Supermarket branch in Ntinda. All Photos/Badru Kasadha

Just yesterday, the second biggest supermarket chain in Kampala East, Quality Supermarket, was forced to close its Ntinda branch and its managers said they would now centralize all operations at their Naalya branch.

Sources close to the owners said the relocation would help the supermarket owners cut costs on rent since they were moving to their own building. In a related development, the Ntinda branch has reportedly been employing over 60 workers, most of who now say they are not sure of their jobs following the ‘integration’.

“The other supermarket in Naalya also had its workers, so what is going to happen to us?” one employee was overheard saying yesterday, as they shipped out merchandise.

Meanwhile, a source has told EagleOnline that several businesses including banks are struggling with the meltdown for among other reasons, the failure by South Sudan government and individual businessmen to pay their Ugandan creditors millions of dollars accrued from supplies.

“Sudhir’s Crane Bank was a victim of such financial anomalies that have dogged the business sector in Uganda for about three years since the civil war in South Sudan; so many businessmen doing cross-border trade with South Sudan borrowed money from the banks and most failed to pay the loans; so what would you expect?” the source asked.

Last year the Bank of Uganda took over management of Sudhir Ruparelia’s Crane Bank and about two weeks ago boarded it off to DFCU amid claims that the latter would only pay for the acquisition after a ‘forensic audit’.

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We don’t need Parliamentary approval to deploy in Equatorial Guinea-UPDF

By
Francisco Adongo
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DENIED RAID ON KAYIHURA's HOUSES: UPDF spokesperson Brig. Richard Karemire

Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces has spoken out about the secret deployment of soldiers to Equatorial Guinea, saying the mission is a mere training which isn’t categorized as a peace keeping mission.

Acknowledging its presence in the West African country, the UPDF spokesperson Brigadier Richard Karemire said the Ugandan force had gained the necessary credentials to train other forces.

“UPDF professionalism has been upheld and now we are being considered as trainers and this is because last year, the British army chose only UPDF in Africa for training and indeed they came and trained and so after that help, we are also training others,” Brig. Karemire, told EagleOnline.

He stressed: “It is not a peace keeping mission and it didn’t need a Parliamentary approval; it is legal and in line with the two armies that signed the agreement.”

According to military sources, the UPDF was secretly deployed with at least 200 soldiers in Equatorial Guinea. Further, the military sources said, the troops were deployed in batches to protect Africa’s longest serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The first UPDF batch reportedly left early this year with their weapons and according to military sources, they are commanded by Lt. Col. Wycleff Keita who returned from Somalia last year. He was working as the commander of the Ugandan troops guarding UN installations in Somalia.

It’s not clear under what arrangement UPDF deployed because according to the Uganda Constitution of 1995, deployment of soldiers outside the country must be approved by Parliament.

This is the fourth time UPDF is being deployed outside Uganda without parliamentary approval with the last deployments being in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, South Sudan and now Equatorial Guinea.

 

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10 killed in DRC clashes

By
Agencies
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RENEWED CLASHES: Militia loyal to deceased chief Kamwina Nsapu (in yellow) brandish their weapons in show of loyalty.

At least 11 people were killed in central Democratic Republic of Congo in clashes between the army and a militia loyal to a traditional chief killed in fighting with police last year, a local activist said.

Monday’s violence occurred near Tshimbulu, the town where the army killed more than 60 militia members in fighting last Friday, Jean Rene Tshimanga, president of the Civil Society of Kasai-Central province, said.

“This morning, we learned again that (the militia) attacked the men in uniform (who) repelled them,” Tshimanga said. He did not know how many of the dead were militia members and how many army soldiers.

Neither provincial nor military officials could be immediately reached for comment.

Similar clashes in recent months have killed hundreds and uprooted tens of thousands. The militia’s leader, Kamwina Nsapu, was killed by police last August after having vowed to rid the province of all state security forces.

Analysts say militia violence in Congo, a tinderbox of conflicts linked to land, ethnicity and mineral resources, has been exacerbated by President Joseph Kabila’s failure to step down when his constitutional mandate expired in December.

On Saturday, the Congo’s UN peacekeeping mission said Kamwina Nsapu had committed violent atrocities and used child soldiers and it also criticised the army for what it said was a disproportionate use of force against the militia fighters, who are typically only lightly armed.

 

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Kamuli’s Musumba wins in appeals court

By
Francisco Adongo
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FDC strong woman Salaam Musumba

The Court of Appeal has upheld the nullification of Hajati Rehema Watongola as the Woman Member of Parliament for Kamuli.

Ms Watongola of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) was dragged to the Court of Appeal by Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Vice President for Eastern Uganda Salaam Musumba, who disputed the former’s requisite academic qualifications to be MP.

Musumba, a former Kamuli district Chairperson, who won the protracted court battles, will now have to wait for the bye-election to know whether the women of Kamuli still have trust in her.

A perennial politician, Ms Musumba and her husband Isaac Isanga Musumba have been involved with politics in the greater Busoga region for over 20 years.

 

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Moroto Woman MP Logiel dead

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
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BODY ARRIVES TOMORROW: Deceased Moroto Woman MP Annie Logiel

The Moroto Woman Member of Parliament Annie Logiel has passed on.

The news of Ms Logiel’s sudden death in Denmark trickled in early today, with family members saying the cause of death is still unknown.

Ms Logiel has been the Vice Chairperson of the Parliamentary Health Committee, and arrangements for her burial will be communicated in due course, Parliament Director of Communication Chris Obore, has said.

Ms Logiel becomes the fourth senior personality in Uganda to die abroad since the Minister of Internal Affairs General Robert Aronda Nyakairima passed on in September 2015. Gen. Aronda, who was also a former Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), died in Dubai while on his way from South Korea where he had gone for official duties.

Others who have died while on duty abroad include Ambassador Najuna Njuneki, who died in Sweden in September 2016, and Dr Michael Odong, an assistant Commissioner in charge of Agro-chemicals in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, who died at the Schiphol Airport in The Netherlands in October 2016.

 

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UPDF deploys secretly in Equatorial Guinea

By
Francisco Adongo
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Lt. Col. Wycleff Keita, who led the mission.

KAMPALA: The Ugandan army has secretly deployed at least 200 soldiers in the West African State of Equatorial Guinea.

According to military sources, the troops were deployed in batches to protect African’s longest serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The first batch left early this year with their weapons. According to military sources, they are commanded by Lt. Col. Wycleff Keita who returned from Somalia last year. He was working as the commander of the Ugandan troops guarding UN installations in Somalia.

EagleOnline could not get response from the army because the phone number of the army spokesperson, Brig Richard Karemire was off.

It’s not clear under what arrangement UPDF deployed. According to the Ugandan Constitution of 1995, deployment of soldiers outside the country must be approved by parliament.

 

Commander- In -Chief, Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ordered the secret deployment

 

This deployment is likely cause a clash between Parliament and the President who has sent the soldiers without parliamentary approval.

President Nguema’s son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is the First Vice President and Minister of Defence. He is seen as a likely successor of the father.

President Museveni and Nguema have been so close. According to military sources, President Nguema requested his Ugandan counterpart to offer him security because Guinean national army is ill-equipped and poorly trained.

Equatorial Guinea has also offered refuge to the Gambian President Yahaya Jammeh.

 

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