𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏

𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄 213
🇸 🇺 🇳 🇩 🇦 🇾
𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 19, 2023
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🇺🇬 49 UPDF officers graduate from Makerere University with Bachelors in Defence Studies 
📌A total of 49 Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers were among the 13,221 that graduated at Makerere University this week. The soldiers were awarded a Bachelors Degree in Defence Studies (BDSK) from Uganda Military Academy (UMA) – Kabamba, an affiliate of Makerere University (MUK). On behalf of the Chief of Defence Forces Gen Wilson Mbadi, the Chief Political Commissar Maj Gen Henry Masiko commended the President and Commander in Chief of the UPDF H.E Gen Yoweri Museveni for spearheading the path to professionalism in the forces. Speaking at the same luncheon held at Ndere Center in Kisasi, Kampala, the Chief of Personnel and Administration, Brig Gen Eugene Ssebugwawo noted that graduates were initially carefully selected based on age, performance and discipline, among others.

🇺🇬 President Museveni calls for increased funding for AU Development Agency
📌President Yoweri Museveni has called for increased funding of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA), noting that the agency will help Africa achieve Strategic Security. He was speaking during a virtual meeting of the 40th session of AUDA ahead of the 42nd ordinary session of the executive council and the 36th ordinary session of the African Union Assembly in Ethiopia.
“This Agency should be funded because it plays a big role in Africa like giving African countries technical advice on crucial issues, co-ordinating the implementation of some of the selected crucial regional projects,” he said.

🇺🇬 Hoima residents want Deputy RDC’s transferred over eviction of 20,000 people
📌The Hoima Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Michael Kyakashari has been accused of directing the eviction of over 20,000 people from three villages of Lunga, Kapapi, and Lwenyana in Kigorobya County sitting on five square miles. According to Steven Tashobya, one of the victims, they were evicted during the lockdown. He says that when the RDC and the DPC held a district security committee meeting and said they had no powers to evict, they were transferred and new ones brought in but the deputy RDC who was  siding with the landep encroachers was not transferred.

🇺🇬 17 year-old girl reported dead, found alive in Apac Hospital mortuary
📌A 17 year-old girl who was reported to have been killed by a mob was found alive in a mortuary at Apac General Hospital. Marion Adoch, a resident of Matimia Ward in Arocha Division, Apac Municipality was found breathing as doctors prepared to conduct a postmortem on her. North Kyoga Police Spokesperson Patrick Okema explained that the victim was on Thursday beaten by a mob for allegedly stealing bananas. She was immediately moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) and is under close monitoring.

🇺🇬 Police Sniffer dog tracks down suspected killers of two UPDF soldiers in Karenga
📌The UPDF in Karenga District, Karamoja subregion is holding four suspects over the gruesome murder of two UPDF officers on the night of February 8, 2023. According to Lt Col Oketa, the area UPDF commander, gunmen attacked and killed two UPDF soldiers and took an AK-47 rifle but abandoned a PK machine gun. He said a sniffer dog led them to a small hut belonging to one Hillary Logwe where Police found Logwe and another person and also recovered a basin with blood from the crime scene.

🇺🇬 Amb.Walusimbi hails President Museveni for initiative to skill Kampala youths
📌The Senior Presidential Advisor on Diaspora Affairs, Amb. Abbey Walusimbi, has saluted President Museveni for setting up the Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl and Boy Child (PISGBC) project that has helped skill youths in Kampala. He was speaking during a function at Mutundwe Skilling Centre where the trainees showcased different vocational skills gained during their six months of free training. Walusimbi applauded the President for his efforts to empower youths unlike other leaders bent on misleading them.

🇺🇬 Investment Authority in partnership to support farmers add value to produce
📌Uganda Investment Authority has partnered with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to support smallholder farmers add value to their agricultural produce for sale to earn an income. While signing the partnership through the Letter of Intent between AGRA on Friday,  Robert Mukiza, the Director General of the UIA explained that through the smallholder partnership, farmers will be trained on how to maintain standards for both regional and international markets, as well as processing facilities, among others.

🇺🇬 Uganda Human Rights Commission awards Shs67M to torture victims
📌The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) tribunal has awarded Shs67 Million in compensation to seven victims of brutality in the Acholi and Lango sub-regions. The tribunal announced the award during a session held at the commission’s regional offices in Gulu City. UHRC Chairperson Mariam Wangadya, who presided over the four-member tribunal, noted that they found substantial evidence of rights violations against the complainants. The tribunal awarded Shs35 Million in compensation to the family of Thereza Adong.
“The respondent is ordered to pay the estate of Adong Tereza a sum of Shs 35 million as general damages for the violation of Adong Tereza’s right to life,” she ruled.

🇺🇬 KAMULI: Two arrested over ritual sacrifice of four year-old boy
📌Police in Kamuli District are holding Balat Buluuba and Fred Balikoowa as persons of interest in the suspected ritual murder of Alvin Butanakya, a four-year-old boy whose mutilated body was discovered in a sugarcane plantation, four days after he went missing in Naikesa Village, Kisozi Town Council. Micheal Kasadha, the Busoga North Police Spokesperson explained that a sniffer dog led Police to a shrine owned by the two suspects.

🇺🇬 KITGUM: Eight arrested over aggravated robbery
📌Security in Kitgum District has arrested eight over an aggravated robbery in which a bodaboda rider was shot at, his fingers injured, while another rider was murdered and his motorcycle taken. Kitgum Resident District Commissioner, Jimmy Ssegawa Ebil said they arrested eight suspects from Palabek Nyimur sub-county in Lamwo District on February 18, 2023, at about 7:00 PM. He said they recovered a motorcycle belonging to Omara from the eight suspects and are in process of tracing for the guns the suspects used to shoot Omara and Alfred Can Amita Otika.

𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒
🌍 🌍 🌍

🌍 DRC’s Tshisekedi seeks Rwanda reprimand over backing M23 rebels
📌President Felix Tshisekedi went to the African Union Summit seeking censure of the M23 rebel group and its supporters for fomenting insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He has been lobbying for a stronger decision by the African Union to have the M23 rebels and their backers reprimanded, while also insisting that the full deployment of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) prioritise combat in the rebel-held areas. DRC wants any full deployment to mean combat against armed groups attacking government forces in the restive region. He also wants the continental body to reprimand Rwanda for its alleged role in fuelling the conflict, a rare thing at the African Union, which prefers dialogue on the issue.

🌍 DRC: Goma women demonstrate against M23 rebels
📌Hundreds of displaced women in Goma have called for the departure of the rebel group M23 and an end to the violence in Eastern Congo. The women said they’re suffering from hunger and their children have been unable to attend school. The demonstration took place while the East African Heads of State were meeting in Addis Ababa at a special summit to discuss the security issue in eastern DRC.

🌍 European Union seeks more trade deals with Kenya
📌The European Union has opened trade talks with Kenya to tap opportunities in agriculture, green energy, infrastructure and technology. According to Martijn Boelen, EU trade counsellor and regional trade adviser, the forthcoming EU-Kenya Business Forum dubbed “Trade and Investment Opportunities in Kenya” will focus on trade opportunities.

🌍 President Ruto calls on World Bank, IMF to reflect on Africa’s aspirations 
📌Kenyan President William Ruto has criticised the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in their dealings calling for the two organisations to be more reflective of Africanization in their aspects and for Africa to be seen as a legitimate stakeholder. Ruto thumped the two institutions for their approach to Africa, despite their power to transform the continent. He called for the IMF and World Bank to become institutions that can better reflect Africanization in their aspects.

🌍 Kenya wins Health Award At African Union Summit 
📌Kenya has been awarded for having the best RMNCAH (Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent health) scorecard tool in the inaugural African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Joyce Kafanabo Awards for Excellence and Innovation. During the award ceremony held at the 36th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kenya was praised for its significant progress in the digitisation of national health programmes to improve health services and outcomes.
“Kenya has decentralised their RMNCAH scorecard down to county-level and shares the scorecard with key country partners at national, county, and health facility levels,” read part of a communique to newsrooms.

🌍 Kenya becomes first African State to sign AACC Statute 
📌Kenya has become the first African State to sign the African Audiovisual and Cinema Commission (AACC) statute. The signing ceremony which took place on the margins of the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, comes hot on the heels of Kenya signing a host country agreement between Kenya and African Union (AU). The agreement paves the way for the operationalization of a temporary secretariat of the African Audiovisual and Cinema Commission (AACC) to be based in Nairobi.

🌍 Sheikhs call for Muslim unity in East Africa
📌Sheikh Alhad Musa Salum, Chairman of the Inter-Religious Peace Committee of Tanzania has called on Muslims in East Africa to unite and foster regional development. Sheikh Salum called for unity, solidarity, peace and religious tolerance, to help build stability and progress in the region. He said Muslim unity is needed for the region to make political and social-economic strides. He spoke at the Royal Court Hotel in Mombasa, at an inaugural meeting organised by Kenya Muslims National Advisory Council (KEMNAC) held to discuss the unity of the Muslim community in the region.

🌍 KENYA: Luo Council of Elders Chairman dies
📌Long serving chairman of the Luo Council of Elders (Ker) Willis Opiyo Otondi is dead. The 98-year-old tribal chief, popularly known as Ker, passed on at the end of this week at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu where he was admitted. Otondi who is the ninth chairman at the Luo Council of Elders hails from Nyahera in Kisumu West Sub-County and has been at the helm of the traditional Luo leadership for over a decade. He was on the forefront in rallying the Luo people to foster peaceful coexistence with other communities and at one time led the council of elders to trace their roots in South Sudan where they were hosted by President Salva Kiir during a tour that lasted eleven days.

🌍 TANZANIA: Mineral markets make 7.2 Trillion turnover
📌Over 7.2 Trillion has been earned through the sale of different minerals since the establishment of minerals markets three years ago in Tanzania. This was revealed in Dar es Salaam recently by the Minister for Minerals, Dr. Doto Biteko, during a meeting with stakeholders in the mining sector.

🌍 Burundi in campaign to woo back refugees in Tanzania 
📌The Burundian Government has started campaigns to lure refugees living in Tanzania to return home in bid to convince the international community that the country is safer. Most of the refugees who have been staying in Tanzania fled the country in 2015 due to violence, after then President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a controversial third term. The administration of President Evariste Ndayishimiye says Burundi is waiting for those who fled to return home and help with reconstruction work.
“We call on those who are still in the refugee camps to come back home and work towards building the country,” said Nestor Bimenyimana, Director General of Repatriation and Reintegration at Burundi Ministry of Internal affairs.

🌍 Retired soldiers commit to help fight Al-Shabaab in Garissa
📌Garissa County Commissioner (CC), Boaz Cherutich, has said the Government will support individuals willing to help in fighting terrorism in the region. The CC together with the Count Security Committee, promised to support a Kenya Defense Forces Association in line with reorganising their roles in the development of the County and also help in gathering intelligence from residents.
“We are committed to ensure that we support them so that they continue serving their community wherever they are, but above all they have committed themselves that they are going to support the government in securing our country,” Cherutich said.

🌍 Israel delegates ejected from AU closed-door meeting
📌Israel’s bid to join the African Union as an Observer State on Saturday began on a wrong footing after security agents ejected members of its delegation for entering a closed-door meeting without proper accreditation. The African Union later indicated the delegation hadn’t been accredited to the meeting and were asked to leave “on protocol reasons”.
“They were expelled from the African Union conference hall in Addis Ababa, where Israel participated as an observer, on Saturday morning,” reported the Jerusalem Post.

🌍 TUNISIA: Workers protest against President Saied over cost of living
📌The most powerful trade union in Tunisia has staged rallies in a number of cities in protest against President Kais Saied. Thousands of members of the UGTT union denounced the soaring cost of living and the recent arrests of prominent anti-government figures, including a top union official.

🌍 TUNISIA: European Trade Union Head expelled for taking part in protests against President Kais Saied
📌Tunisia has expelled the head of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Saturday after she took part in an anti-government protest organised by the country’s UGTT union, one of Tunisia’s leading political forces. Tunisian President Kais Saied declared the ETUC’s Esther Lynch “persona non grata” and said the Irish citizen must leave the country within 24 hours.