[Rwanda said on Wednesday a French investigation that reportedly cleared President Paul Kagame of sparking the 1994 Rwandan genocide would help repair relations between the two countries and could boost trade]

BURUNDI :

Actualité Afrique : Intempéries au Burundi : plus de 300 maisons détruites en province Cibitoke par une pluie torrentielle
Plus de 300 maisons ont été détruites mercredi après-midi par une pluie torrentielle en commune Buganda dans la province Cibitoke (Ouest du Burundi), a rapporté jeudi matin la radio Isanganiro.

Plus de 160 maisons en tôles et 240 en paille, précise-t-on, ont été démolies par une pluie torrentielle qui s’est abattue sur le secteur Ndava. Les champs de culture ont été sérieusement aussi endommagés.

La population victime de ces intempéries demande de l’aide d’ urgence. Au cours de la semaine écoulée, une pluie diluvienne avait détruit 150 maisons dans la commune urbaine de Kanyosha en Mairie de Bujumbura.  Casafree.com le 12/1/2012

RWANDA :

Rwanda: French genocide report could boost trade
Thu Jan 12, 2012   By By Graham Holliday

KIGALI (Reuters) – Rwanda said on Wednesday a French investigation that reportedly cleared President Paul Kagame of sparking the 1994 Rwandan genocide would help repair relations between the two countries and could boost trade. 
Rwanda cut diplomatic links with France in 2006 when a French judge said Kagame, then a Tutsi rebel leader, had ordered the downing of a plane carrying Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana – the act that triggered the country’s 100-day massacre.
A second investigation, led by two French judges, this week found the shots that hit the plane could not have come from a Kagame’s camp, lawyers linked to the probe told journalists in France on Tuesday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told Reuters Rwandan lawyers in France had relayed the findings of the report to Kigali.
“This a big issue in this country. Certainly, in terms of public perception the fact that there was a French judge who messed up. And now, there is another French judge who is working in a professional manner,” Mushikiwabo said in an interview.
“This is a small part of the repair that has to be done on the relationship, but it certainly helps.”
After Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, Hutu extremists slaughtered Tutsis and moderate Hutus in some of the fastest mass killings ever perpetrated.
Kagame’s Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front seized power in the aftermath of the genocide Paris began to normalise its relations with Rwanda after President Nicolas Sarkozy came to power in 2007.
Mushikiwabo said there might now be a chance to strengthen trade links further with France, but did not give details of other ways relations might improve.
“Whenever countries create an environment that has no tension, it’s good for business. I think individual businesses would feel more comfortable coming to Rwanda and that is something we did discuss at length during the President’s visit (to France) last September,” she said.
Rwanda released its own report into the plane crash in 2010, concluding that an extremist Hutu battalion had carried out the attack.
While relations with France have improved, Kagame has faced criticism for his government’s human right record from other Western powers.
In a speech in Kigali late last year, Washington’s Ambassador to the U.N. Sudan Rice accused the government of harassing its people and curbing press freedom.
Mushikiwabo said Rice’s comments were unhelpful. “Criticism which is subjective, out of the blue, is something we should live without,” she said.

TANZANIA:

Tanzania: SUMA JKT Reduces Tractor Prices

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)  Abdulwakil Saiboko11 January 2012 /
THE National Service Commercial Wing (SUMA-JKT) has reduced prices of tractors by between 15 and 36 per cent, the Project Manager, Colonel Felix Samillan, said in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
The announcement by Col. Samillan comes a day after the ‘Daily News’ published a story on prohibitive prices of tractors and other farm machinery to farmers, a factor that negates the spirit of the government’s Kilimo Kwanza initiative.
“We would like to let farmers know that our prices have gone down by between 15 and 36 per cent. The decrease has taken into consideration the government’s initiative of Kilimo Kwanza (agriculture first) that is aimed at boosting agricultural production,” he said.
Without going into details on factors that led to reduction of prices, Col Samillan noted that the company was expecting huge orders from various institutions and farmers across the country. With the new prices, tractors formerly sold at 25m/- have gone down up to16m/-, bringing hope to many farmers to acquire them.
Col Samillan yesterday handed over a tractor to Mr Hamza Mafita who hails from Kondoa District shortly after he purchased it on cash at 16m/-. Mr Mafita who also introduced himself as the Kondoa Urban Councillor, noted that it was his seventh time to buy a tractor from the company.
“This is the seventh tractor I am buying from SUMA-JKT. I earlier bought six others for the co-operative union. This one is my own and what I can say is that the tractors are of good quality,” he said.
Col Samillan called on farmers to organise themselves through co-operative unions and Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) so that they can easily get access to tractors on loans. The SUMA-JKT Executive Director, Col Ayoub Mwakang’ata noted that the 2012 would be a prosperous year for farmers, urging them to respond positively to reduced prices of tractors.
“We expect that the farming coming season will witness bumper harvest, farmers will be able to export their produces without causing food insecurity if they will respond positively on our move to review prices,” he said.
The project was launched in 2010 to supplement the government’s efforts to boost the agricultural sector by selling tractors at reduced prices which had almost stalled as the targeted poor farmers were unable to raise funds to buy the machines.
Before the prices were reviewed the tractors were selling at between 25m/- and 45m/-.
The government also ordered all the district councils to purchase at least 50 tractors each and sell them to farmers in their localities to boost agricultural sector.
The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Investments and Empowerment, Dr Mary Nagu, recently promised to meet with her counterpart at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives on the matter.
“It is true the tractors are expensive due to their size and quality but despite that fact, we will meet to see to it that they are sold to the intended consumers at affordable prices” she said.

RDC CONGO:

RD Congo-UE: Joseph Kabila rassuré

Joseph Kabila rassuré de la poursuite de la coopération entre le pays et l’UE – Le représentant de l’Union européenne en République démocratique du Congo a fait ses adieux jeudi dernier au chef de l’Etat Joseph Kabila. Il a affirmé que la coopération entre la RDC et l’UE va se poursuivre comme par le passé.

La coopération entre la République démocratique du Congo et l’Union européenne va se poursuivre, comme par le passé. Cette assurance est de l’ambassadeur Richard Zink, représentant de l’Union européenne en RDC. Il l’a faite au président de la République, Joseph Kabila, lors d’un entretien d’adieu au Palais de la Nation. Richard Zink est fin mandat, après avoir passé quatre ans en RDC.

Le représentant de l’UE, cité par l’ACP, a confirmé la continuité de la coopération avec le gouvernement congolais à l’occasion de la discussion portant sur le nouveau programme, dans la mesure où l’actuel programme prend déjà fin. La discussion entre les deux personnalités sur cette coopération permettra à chaque partenaire de tirer les leçons du passé et d’identifier les priorités. Cela concerne notamment la bonne gouvernance, les infrastructures et la santé.

Par ailleurs, l’ambassadeur Zink a révélé avoir évoqué avec le chef de l’Etat, des questions en rapport avec la paix en RDC d’une part, dans la région et en Afrique d’autre part, sans oublier aussi la nécessité de renforcer la coopération et les contacts à haut niveau entre la RD Congo et l’Union européenne.

Il a affirmé avoir rappelé au président de la République que pour le développement de tout pays, il faut l’intervention des secteurs privés, grâce aux investissements tant des Congolais que des étrangers.

Pour Richard Zink, le prochain Parlement de la RDC doit jouer pleinement et véritablement son rôle en donnant de nouvelles orientations et en approuvant des lois après les débats publics.

Certains analystes politiques trouvent que les assurances de l’ambassadeur Zink concernant la poursuite de la coopération entre la RDC et l’UE est de nature à dissiper le malentendu entre les deux partenaires. On rappelle que l’UE, dont la coopération avec la RDC date de longtemps dans les domaines variés, avait menacé de réévaluer sa coopération avec notre pays et ce, au vu des irrégularités ayant marqué le déroulement de l’élection présidentielle du 28 novembre 2011. Celle-ci avait permis de proclamer Joseph Kabila élu pour un nouveau mandat de cinq ans à la tête de la RDC.

Stephane Etinga /  Le Potentiel/09/01/2012

KENYA:

Al Shabaab attack Kenyan police camp, kill 7
By Noor Ali   ISIOLO, Kenya | Thu Jan 12, 2012  /  (Reuters) – Somali Islamist rebels stormed a remote police camp in northeastern Kenya, killing seven people and kidnapping three, the militants and Kenyan officials said on Thursday.
Scores of rebel fighters threw grenades and other explosives as they raided the police camp on Wednesday evening in Gerille, a town 7 km (4 miles) from the porous frontier with Somalia, Regional Commissioner Wenslas Ongayo said.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said in a statement there were about 100 suspected al Shabaab attackers and two officials and a member of the public had been abducted.
Kenya has tried to beef up security along the border since it sent troops into the anarchic Horn of Africa country in October to crush the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents.
Al Shabaab said it carried out the raid to avenge the “aggressive Kenyan invasion”.
“Taken by surprise and unable to respond effectively to the attack, seven Kenyan administration police and government officials were immediately killed while others were taken prisoner,” the militants said in an emailed statement.
Kenyan security forces were scouring the border area amid fears the hostages had been hauled across the border. Residents in the Somali town of Haggar said they had seen two Kenyan policemen and another man in the hands of al Shabaab fighters.
Kiraithe said the gunmen had seized firearms, ammunition and a vehicle from the police post. He said six people including two administration police officers, had been killed.
A local councilor and an education official said a primary school teacher had also been killed in the crossfire.
Wednesday night’s attack highlights the difficulties Kenya faces in securing the frontier, days after Britain warned Islamist militants were in the final stages of preparing an attack on sites in Kenya frequented by expatriates and tourists.
Kenyan forces initially moved swiftly on rebel strongholds but their advance on targets such as the port city of Kismayu, the nerve-centre of al Shabaab’s operations in southern Somalia, has since stalled, first hampered by rains and now by an apparent lack of strategy.
Kenya’s military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir also handed the militants a propaganda coup after tweeting four photos he said were of a Kenyan al Shabaab member being stoned to death on Tuesday by the rebels in Kismayu over a difference of opinion.
The photos turned out to be of a Somali man accused of adultery being executed by Hizbul Islam, another Islamist group that has since merged with al Shabaab. The photos were taken in 2009 near Mogadishu by a major international news agency.
“I take responsibility for the photographs,” Chirchir told Reuters, adding al Shabaab had still executed a Kenyan in Kismayu on Tuesday and two more executions were expected.
Al Shabaab denied on Twitter it had executed anyone in Kismayu. “A simple Google search would have save them such an embarrassment,” the rebels tweeted.
In another blow to the Kenyan campaign, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday Kenyan security forces have raped, beaten and arbitrarily detained Somali refugees and Kenyan citizens in northeastern Kenya.
The rights group said there had been a series of crackdowns since Kenya launched its incursion in October in a region that has also suffered a string of roadside bomb and grenade attacks by suspected Somali gunmen.
“Kenya’s security forces are rightly concerned about attacks by suspected al-Shabaab members, and should be doing more, not less, to identify the attackers,” said Daniel Bakele, director of Africa Human Rights Watch.
“But beating, raping, and humiliating innocent Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees accomplishes nothing,” he said.
Army spokesman Chirchir told Reuters he would not comment until authorities investigate the accusations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday it had suspended food distribution to 1.1 million people in central and southern Somalia after Islamist militants blocked deliveries in parts of the famine-hit country.
(Additional reporting by Daud Yussuf in Garissa and Jacob Kuehn, Sahra Abdi and Richard Lough in Nairobi; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by David Clarke)

UGANDA:

Uganda removes power subsidies, inflation a worry

By Elias Biryabarema   KAMPALA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – The Ugandan government on Thursday abolished electricity subsidies paid to power generators to cushion consumers, a move that will see tariffs rise by an average of 42 percent.
Consumers and analysts said it was likely to stoke further public anger over the high cost of living and possibly lead to an escalation of a strike by traders over a spike in interest rates.
Traders and shopkeepers in the Ugandan capital Kampala closed on their businesses on Wednesday for a three-day strike to try to press commercial banks to stop raising interest rates.
“To be sure I can’t think of a worse policy miscalculation by this government,” said Dickens Kamugisha, executive director of African Centre for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), which conducts research and advocacy on electricity sector.
“The move is both ill-timed, because already the public is angry over high interest rates and imprudent because it will make electricity fall beyond the affordability of even more people.”
Energy minister Irene Muloni said the money freed will be used to expand generation capacity in east Africa’s third largest economy.
“Government has spent a total of 1.53 trillion Ugandan shillings ($623.22 million) since 2005 on subsidies to the electricity sub-sector,” Muloni said.
“This level of subsidy is not sustainable. Government has therefore decided to eliminate subsidies to the electricity subsector.”
Muloni did not say how much the government would save by lifting the subsidies.
Oil-producing Nigeria is at present grappling with a countrywide strike that has entered its fourth day after the government cut fuel subsidies.
Uganda was also last year rattled by a series of opposition-led, violent demonstrations over the soaring cost of living caused by a sharp surge in inflation which hit an 18-year high of 30.4 percent year-on-year in October before slowing in November.
A senior leader of the organisation championing the traders’ strike, Kampala City Traders Association, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters the government’s tariff hike would worsen their distress.
“Instead of giving us good news they’re so bold to even provoke us the more by telling us we now have to pay more for electricity, hopefully they’re prepared for street action that will result,” the leader said.
The government started subsidising electricity consumers after procuring emergency thermal generators to curb a sudden power supply crisis.
At the time electricity production had plummeted after drought reduced the amount of water in the country’s main hydro generation plant at Jinja, in eastern Uganda.
“The money freed from the subsidies will be used to finance the implementation of the other critical government programmes…for example construction of the 600MW Karuma hydropower project,” Muloni said.
She said the new tariffs will start on January 15. ($1 = 2455.0000 Ugandan shillings) (Editing by George Obulutsa)

ANGOLA:

L’Angola compte lancer les ventes de gaz à l’exportation en février
(AFP) –12/01/2012
LUANDA — L’Angola, second producteur pétrolier d’Afrique sub-saharienne, compte lancer la vente de gaz sur le marché mondial en février, a indiqué jeudi le directeur de production du ministère angolais des Pétroles, Alcides Santos à l’AFP.
“L’Angola produit déjà le pétrole. Maintenant, il va produire et vendre son gaz sur le marché mondial. C’est une ressource du sous-sol que nous n’arrivons pas à écouler par manque de débouchés au niveau national”, a-t-il expliqué.
L’Angola estime avoir une capacité de vente de 5,2 millions de tonnes de gaz naturel liquéfié par an pendant 25 à 30 ans, et le principal marché visé est celui des Etats-Unis.
Plusieurs groupes pétroliers sont parties prenantes au projet “Angola LNG”, lancé en 2007 pour valoriser les réserves de gaz d’Angola et qui a coûté 10 milliards de dollars d’investissement.
Il s’agit de la compagnie nationale pétrolière publique Sonangol (22,8%), du groupe américain Chevron (36,4%), de la société britannique BP (13,6%), du géant pétrolier français Total (13,6%) et du groupe italien ENI (13,6%).
Le projet a impliqué la construction de sept navires méthaniers pour le transport du gaz et qui ont été commandés à des chantiers navals de Corée de Sud.
Le gaz est issu de champs situés à proximité de la ville de Soyo, situé au nord, à la frontière avec la République démocratique du Congo (RDC).

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