Two dead, over 30 injured in Nyabugogo grenade blast

Theos Badege, RNP Spokesperson

Two people died on the spot while several others sustained injuries in a grenade blast yesterday evening in Kigali.

The incident took place at Ubumwe Village, Kabahizi Cell in Gitega Sector of Nyarugenge District at about 6:50pm near Nyabugogo abattoir better known as “marathon,” at about 6:50 pm.

According to police, two people were seriously injured, while 30 others sustained minor injuries. There was quick intervention of security organs and medical services shortly after the explosion, police said in the statement.

“The injured were immediately evacuated to the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) and Kacyiru Police Hospital (KPH), where they are under intensive care,” it added.

One in custody

Police said it had arrested one person in connection with the blast as investigations continue.  By press time the blast scene had been cordoned-off to allow security organs to gather more evidence.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Theos Badege, the Rwanda National Police Spokesperson urged the public to remain calm and to cooperate with security organs to ensure that whoever is behind the blast is brought to book.

“Rwanda National Police stands with the bereaved families and works round the clock to bring to justice all those responsible for this criminal act like it has been the case in the past,” he said.

In March, this year,   a similar incident happened when a hand grenade exploded near Kimironko market in Kigali, killing one person and seriously injuring six others

Women Parliamentarians Forum celebrates achievements

Women have played a great role in building the nation, through empowering their communities, the Prime Minister, Pierre Damien Habumuremyi has said. The Prime Minister made the remarks yesterday during celebrations by the Rwanda Women Parliamentarians Forum to mark achievements for the 2008 – 2013 parliamentary term. Habumuremyi urged the women legislators not to relent on their efforts and to focus on empowering young girls to be responsible leaders in the future. Held under the theme ‘Women in Decision Making Positions, more insight for Sustainable Development’, the event took place at the Parliamentary Buildings in Kimihurura. Saturday Times

WFP boss commends Rwanda’s Rural Development initiatives

Ms Cousin during one of the upcountry visits

Head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Ertharin Cousin has commended the Rwanda’s rural development initiatives that have improved the lives of Rwandans by making sure no one goes hungry.

 The comments came following her visit to various projects funded by WFP including Rukozo, Nothern Province where she visited the Watershed Management Project. Cousin was in Rwanda for a three day visit.

The Watershed Management Project is working to control soil erosion and creating cultivable land terraces.

She also visited a cooperative that specializes in growing maize and beans in Kirehe District, Eastern Province.

“When speaking with small-scale farmers and rural families, I could see very clearly the difference that rural development initiatives have made in helping people improve their lives.

 I met one woman farmer who started with nearly nothing, and now has become so successful that she’s been able to build her family a new house, and put her children though school,” narrated Cousin.

“The progress that is being made on development in Rwanda illustrates the importance of close and effective partnerships between UN agencies, communities and governments in helping people lift themselves out of poverty,” she said

The WFP chief also visited Girinka (One Cow Per Poor Family) beneficiaries to see how giving cows to the poorest families have helped fight malnutrition especially among children, have provided opportunities to earn income, as well as increased fertility of farm land.

WFP provided 300 cows in support of Girinka in January 2011 and a further five cows were donated this month during Cousin’s visit.

WFP also partners with the Rwandan government on various development programs including feeding primary school children, fighting acute malnutrition, linking farmers to markets, as well as providing support for the Rwanda’s food security analyses.

Ngoma: PM urges religious leaders to participate in Poverty reduction programs

The Prime Minister Dr. Damien Habumuremyi wants the religious  leaders to do all they can to support their followers to get into projects for poverty eradication and attain self reliance.

The prime minister said this during the ceremony of inaugurating the Episcopal of Kibungo Catholic Diocese on the 20^th.July 2013. He appealed to religious leaders to participate in the social and economical development of their followers.

He called upon the religious leaders to create programs that support the youth to develop themselves. “The youth need vision and values both religious and Rwandan, you should play a role in ensuring the youths are safe and reliant” the PM told religious leaders.

In the speech by the Christian that represented fellow believers during the inauguration of the Episcopal, he said Christians in all parishes of Kibungo Catholic Diocese are working towards self reliance through creating projects to help many.

“Though believers still have limitations, we are working on projects together as a team. The priests and believers have new goals with vision to develop people for example we are almost done eradicating fibro-cement on our houses.”

Dr. Damien Habumuremyi also appreciated the collaboration between religious leaders including Catholic Church and the government of Rwanda in promoting Rwandans in education and health among other things.

Up to today, the Catholic Church has many primary, secondary schools, seminaries and Hospitals as well as financial institutions among many things in Kibungo Catholic Diocese not to say in all of Rwanda.

Mushikiwabo reiterates Rwanda’s efforts to end Congo conflict

Foreign Affairs Minister: Louise Mushikiwabo

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo has reiterated Rwanda’s backing for the UN peace process designed to end decades of conflict and instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Addressing a UN Security Council debate chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Minister Mushikiwabo said that time for the practical action that will bring peace to the Eastern DRC.
“The Framework of Hope, along with regional peace efforts, offers a realistic path to lasting peace and security. There has been more than enough grandstanding by unaccountable actors who seek profit and publicity from the region’s misery,” said Mushikiwabo.
While endorsing Secretary Kerry’s Presidential Statement on the Great Lakes Regional Framework, Mushikiwabo said that Rwanda would have liked to see more support of regional initiatives such as the peace talks at Kampala sponsored by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
“Rwanda’s future prospects are inextricably tied to the outcomes of the peace process,” Mushikiwabo told international diplomats and senior government officials who converged on the UN’s New York headquarters for Secretary Kerry’s inaugural appearance as Security Council President.
“Let me put it in the clearest possible terms: in order to secure long-term peace and prosperity for Rwanda into the future, we need a peaceful and prosperous DRC.
As long as conditions persist that allow more than thirty rebel groups to roam Eastern DRC with impunity — or as long as men and boys see nothing in their futures beyond crime, violence and conflict — such a transformation will remain beyond reach.”
Mushikiwabo outlined ways Rwanda has begun implementing recommendations contained in the Peace and Security Framework conceived by UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and overseen by Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson.
These include; Disarmament of M23 fighters who have crossed into Rwanda as a result of infighting in March this year, as well as reporting sanctioned high ranking officers.
Rwanda has also cooperated with UN agencies to accommodate roughly 70,000 Congolese nationals who have sought refuge in Rwanda as a result of instability in the Kivus.
There have been efforts to support to the deployment of the Intervention Brigade to allow MONUSCO to carry out its Protection of Civilians responsibility.
There have also been efforts to boost regional cooperation through enhanced economic integration and tackling the exploitation of natural resources, including the seizure of 8.4 tons of smuggled minerals which are being to DRC authorities.

Mushikiwabo urged all parties to adhere to the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework, saying that after nearly two decades of armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Catching up with Male Circumcision Advocate Chief Mumena

STAFF BLOG

Photo: Melody Wilson/International Reporting Project

As the influential leader of Zambia's Kaonde people, Chief Jonathan Eshiloni Mumena's decision to undergo male circumcision was nothing short of a public health practitioner's dream. Since undergoing the procedure two years ago at the age of 47 and breaking with tribal custom, Chief Mumena not only kicked off a vibrant discussion about circumcision's role in HIV prevention, but he got men - by the thousands - to act.

AllAfrica first spoke to Chief Mumena last July at the International Aids Society Conference in Washington, DC. We checked in with him again to learn how he is continuing to spread his message and what challenges lie ahead. 

You've been traveling around Africa to get people to understand the benefits of HIV transmission. How has that been going?

So far, so good. I realized that there was something we needed to scale up - the uptake of male circumcision and create demand as a way of finding a solution to the HIV/Aids pandemic and to discover that HIV/AIDS is across all cultures and therefore cultures are trying to find a lasting solution. We still do not have a cure so we need to take practical steps, and one of those practical steps is male circumcision.

Is there a particular country or region that needs the most work to progress regarding male circumcision?

East Africa and southern Africa - these two regions need a lot of help, a lot of scaling up. They have a lot of work to do because they are the epicenter of the HIV/Aids pandemic. So this being an epicenter, we need to find means and ways and perhaps think outside the box to see how best we can bring about innovations to respond to the pandemic.

You took a bold step as a leader being one of the first in your community to do get circumcised. How do you find other traditional leaders respond when you discuss this?

After I took the step that I did, then I realized many others wanted to find a way of resolving this issue. As I went public about the issue, and remember that I am from a non-circumcising tribe, and therefore there were issues on how best we were going to do that [go public], especially because I was a traditional leader. I'm a custodian of custom and culture and therefore male circumcision not being one of our practices means that you're challenging the powers that be, challenging the history, challenging who we are as a people.

But after going public about it, one thing I realize is that every culture today is threatened by HIV and Aids. And therefore, it is necessary that we as leaders, even those from the non-circumcising [tribes], must be able to look at this and find a practical solution.

And male circumcision is one such practice. As a result of that, I've been talking to the village communities, the men and women, and also to the traditional leaders from other cultures that are non-circumcising and even from those who are circumcising so they can be able to share their secret. In Zambian regions like northwestern province and eastern province, which have circumcising tribes, you will also discover that the prevalence rate is very low. Perhaps we can suggest that male circumcision - where it has been practiced whether traditionally or otherwise - has been helping to reduce the incidence of HIV/Aids.

I've been talking to many others and thankfully I think that we've been scoring a lot of successes and many other chiefs are coming on board and influencing communities. Others have gone public about it, others are doing it quietly, but you see that the impact is there. Not only in the traditional areas. We've reached the people in the urban setting by radio and TV programs and adverts and taking the discussion there and also making sure that people phone in on the [national] toll-free line 990 to be able to ask their questions. So I think that whether it's at the traditional level or in the urban setup, the message is running like wildfire.

You did got circumcised in 2011 and said that August has become "male circumcision month" in Zambia. Have you been surprised at how quickly that has caught on?

I must say I was shocked because I didn't know the response was going to be so good and so big. I didn't realize that so many people - they may not talk about it publicly - have actually been trying to find solutions.

So when I went on TV with the help of Society for Family Health, we carried out these interviews and adverts. In August 2012 when we thought we were targeting about 30,000 people nationwide [to get circumcised], by the end of August 2012, we were already at 37,000. So by popular demand, we had to extend the period into September 2012. By the end of September, we were already at 68,000. And it has been like that since then. Every day we have people queuing up.

I think what I look forward to is a situation where the male circumcision services are provided every day and everywhere, just like we do for under fives and antenatal. I think we need to reach a stage where male circumcision services are provided that way. Notwithstanding, I am aware that we have challenges with personnel, human resources and facilities. I look forward to a moment when anybody can walk to a health centre any time and be able to say, 'I demand to be circumcised', and they should be given that opportunity.

And at the same time, just as much as we have HIV/Aids corners, we also need a reproductive health corner, which looks at reproductive health, motherhood, male circumcision, information for cancers, cervical cancer, voluntary counseling and testing so that we are the one-stop-shop for all these programs. I think above all, when we look male circumcision, we have mostly the policy in Zambia where one goes through surgery but I think there's a need to scale up most of these other services, so that we can also provide it through the PrePex http://www.prepex.com/and other tools that are coming on the market.

This is going to help us as we fight the stigma, but one can use the PrePex for instance and still go about their business. They don't need a service provider. So where we have challenges with health providers, gadgets like the PrePex could ensure that the men could go ahead and do it on their own.

So I think that the future looks very bright. And I can see that once this becomes part and parcel of our culture, I'm looking forward to the day when we'll say bye to HIV/Aids.

Sisi Calls On Egyptians to Protest Friday, Mandate the Army to Confront Violence

Supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi clash with riot police (file photo).

Egypt's Army Chief and Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Egyptians to protest on Friday to mandate the army to confront violence and terrorism, in a televised speech on Wednesday.

He stressed that the army will do what it deems as necessary for such a confrontation, adding, "That does not mean that I am advocating for violence."

Sisi added that there will be no retreat on the roadmap, which was put forth by the army following its ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3, for political transition.