News from the countries of the East African Community
I promised a news round up from the countries of the East African Community, so here it is, a couple of days late.
A survey of citizens of countries of the East African Community reports that harassment at border posts is one of the chief obstacles to economic integration.
Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda are expected to be among the countries benefiting from US $336 million to battle malaria.
The Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has given out this money to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ethiopia to purchase more than 50 million long-lasting insecticide treated nets in the next few months.
Kenya poll violence suspects are expected to be tried by the International Criminal Court.
Kenya will be the first country to have its nationals go through the pre-trial chamber process at the International Criminal Court.
This means the country will be offering the Netherlands-based ICC, which was constituted in March 2003, the opportunity to prove its independence, demonstrate to the rest of the world its ability to move forward without a state referral, particularly where the court may often be most needed, like when state officials are implicated in serious crimes.
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The Kenyan government recently declined to refer the post-2007 election cases to the ICC, forcing its chief prosecutor, Louis Moreno-Ocampo, to for the first time invoke his powers under Article 15 of the Rome Statute to move on his own motion, or proprio motu powers, to open investigations.
I find the wording of this article a bit odd. It starts out sounding as if it’s praising Kenya’s trust in the ICC, and yet, further down in the article, it appears that the story is in fact that the ICC is forcing Kenya’s hand, and it’s not yet clear how far Kenya will cooperate with the ICC.
Meanwhile, there seems to be some sort of effort to evaluate the emergency preparedness of Kenyan cities, as I see one article on the quality of Eldoret’s fire fighting and another reporting that Kisumu is enhancing its emergency preparedness.
Joseph Kony’s mother died last week at the age of 86. Kony, as you may recall, is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a notorious guerilla group that has plagued Uganda and several neighboring countries for many years. His mother, Norah Oting had made a recent effort to get her son to abandon his two decades war. She is described as a disappointed mother who
led a quiet life as a housewife in Gulu for many years until she was cast into the public eye when her son launched a long, bloody rebellion in Northern Uganda.
Ms Oting was a very religious woman, who believed her son to be tormented by evil spirits.
In a 2003 interview with the Gulu-based Lifeline Ministries, she said Kony was possessed with demons that made him act irrationally and forced him into the bush. She said she believed the only way he would abandon his rebellion was by prayer and through peace talks.
Joseph Kony is one of several indictments discussed in an interview with ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo (others being Sudan’s President Omer el Beshir and Congolese former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba).
In Uganda, how do you respond again to the argument that the warrant against Joseph Kony is undermining attempts to negotiate with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)?
What peace? Kony was abducting children in the Central African Republic and talking about peace. Kony killed Vincent Otti because he was involved in the peace process. So what peace are you talking about? Kony is using the same trick. When he’s weak, he calls for peace. Kony uses the peace process to get money, weapons, food, to strengthen and then to attack again. That’s what he has done five times and wants to do again.
Kony has to be arrested and we have to mobilise efforts to arrest him because Kony has forcibly displaced more than 200,000 people. Kony is very dangerous….
Women’s rights activists have praised Uganda for passing a long awaited domestic violence bill.
The Uganda AIDS commission is revamping its HIV information campaign.
The term high-risk sex – previously defined as sex with an irregular partner – is to be redefined as sex with anyone whose HIV status is not known. As such, the term “most at-risk populations” will no longer refer to specific groups such as sex workers, fishing communities and men who have sex with men, but to all members of the population engaging in risky sex.
Campaigns aimed at ending cross-generational sex will be abandoned in favour of generic warnings about engaging in risky sex because of fears that young people may believe that sex within their own generation is risk-free. Officials have also said factors such as alcohol abuse, which predispose people to risky sexual behaviour, must be tackled alongside HIV prevention….
Tanzania shows an economic slump of 2.8% due to the world economic crisis; an editorial argues that this slump is reversible.
The state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) plans to market petroleum products to stabilize prices and compete with the private sector.
Rwanda has entered a groundbreaking biofuel agreement with US and UK companies.
Rick Warren (who happens to preach in my own back yard, almost literally) took part in a prayer breakfast with a cross-section of Rwandan leaders.
The long-awaited Burundi Revenue Authority will start operations in January, 2010.
By establishing a tax administration body, Burundi will join Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, the other four East African Community (EAC) partner states that operate national revenue bodies. Burundi still collects tax revenue under a customs department in the Ministry of Finance.