Kenya

Members of disbanded DCI unit revealed

A total of 21 detectives who served under a recently disbanded unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have been summoned to the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) headquarters in Nairobi.

The officers who had been attached to the Special Services Unit (SSU), whose ranks range from corporal to Inspector of Police, have been asked to report unarmed to the IAU headquarters at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Towers in Upper Hill, Nairobi County, on Friday, October 21, 2022.

(Source: Nation)

Tanzania

Speaker challenges women MPs to make differences

National Assembly Speaker Tulia Ackson stated that while Commonwealth countries are keen to increase the number of women in parliaments, the focus should also be on having female legislators, who would make meaningful contributions and differences.

“It’s not the question of just having more women in the parliament but we need women who are capable of making a difference and make their contributions more meaningful, while in the House,” Dr Tulia argued. She made the remarks on Thursday when officiating the regional sensitisation workshop in Dar es Salaam for Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP).

The workshop, which brought together women MPs from Commonwealth member states in the region, is aimed at discussing challenges and coming up with a way forward to increase the number of women in the legislature.

“The focus should now be on how women can have meaningful participation, we must show the difference. It’s how we impact the society, it’s not the matter of how we appear,” she challenged women lawmakers. Despite gains, women continue to be underrepresented in the Commonwealth countries, with Dr Tulia arguing that there was still a long way to go in achieving gender parity in parliament.

(Source: Daily News)

Uganda

Opposition, NRM clash  over Museveni 2026 bid

The push for President Museveni’s seventh elective term in office has sparked off a rumbling battle of words between ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party leaders and Opposition politicians who are now accusing the architects of “Jajja Omalako Tova Ku Main” mantra of diverting Ugandans from important issues in the country.

The NRM secretariat, however, said the endorsement of President Museveni as the ruling party’s 2026 ideal candidate, was not their official position.

The debate over Mr. Museveni’s tacit 2026 bid started on Wednesday after a section of party leaders led by Ms. Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye, the architect and coordinator of Bazukkulu (grandchildren), declared Mr. Museveni as their ideal 2026 presidential candidate and advised other party members harboring similar ambitions to “lie low like an envelope”.

(Source: Monitor)

Rwanda

Veteran French journalist pins Kabuga on Genocide

Felicien Kabuga and other shareholders started RTLM radio with an aim of perpetrating hate among Rwandans and creating confusion with view to scuttle the Arusha Peace Accord signed in 1993 between the then government of Rwanda and RPF-Inkotanyi.

This was said by an expert witness who on Wednesday, October 19, appeared before the judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) during the trial of Kabuga, who faces crimes of Genocide against the Tutsi.

The witness, French veteran journalist Jean-Francois Dupaquier, had appeared before the UN-backed court to testify about the role of RTLM in fuelling hate and promoting extremism in the lead to and during the Genocide in 1994. RTLM was a privately own radio station that was a key mouthpiece of the genocidaires.

(Source: New Times)

Ethiopia

Ethiopians stage demonstration in front of European Commission

Ethiopians stage a demonstration in front of the European Commission today. On the occasion of the European Council leaders’ session, the Ethiopian diaspora community and friends of Ethiopia in Belgium and from various European countries staged a rally in Brussels today in front of the EU, protesting undue external pressures against Ethiopia.

Demonstrators urged the European Union not to be partial in its handling of the conflict in northern Ethiopia at a rally held in front of the European Commission’s headquarters.

Demonstrators have carried various messages that express their sentiments such as “EU didn’t condemn but deny TPLF’s barbaric act that destroy thousands of hospitals, health facilities and basic health care services in Amhara and Afar”, “No More favoritism” and “Joseph Borrell, don’t forget that African loins live in the jungle. Remember Adwa”.

(Source: ena)

Sudan

Sudan army accuses SPLM-N of shelling West Kordofan

On October 13, the SPLM-N allegedly launched numerous mortars during an indiscriminate shelling from their base in Jebel Tarin, north of the Lagawa locality where the inter-communal clashes took place. In a statement from an SAF spokesperson yesterday, he said the shelling campaign targeted the main market in Lagawa, which was the epicentre of the infighting. He considered the shelling to be a clear violation of the ceasefire adhered to in the region since October 16, 2019.

In a statement by Jaber Kamandan Koumi, the official spokesman for SPLM-N, he vigorously denied the accusations of shelling Lagawa. Koumi added that the accusations were a “desperate attempt to distort the image of the popular movement” and accused the SAF and RSF of “fabricating and engineering the conflict in Lagwa”.

The SPLM-N statement went on to renew its appeal to the warring factions in Lagawa to “implement wisdom and give priority to the voice of reason in order to prevent bloodshed”. As well as the SAF and RSF, Khaled Jili the governor of West Kordofan state, also accused the SPLM-N of shelling the city. Jili told Radio Dabanga’s Voice of the States program that the SPLM’s denial of this accusation was completely false, adding that the government monitored an infiltration from an SPLM-N group who were seen “carrying weapons”.

The governor stated that the situation is now relatively calm, and his security committee sat down with the civil administrations on both sides “for the purpose of reconciliation among them”.

(Source: Radio Dabanga)