𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏

𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄 214
𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 20, 2023
🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬

🇺🇬 UPDF hands over 34 Congolese abductees to DR Congo
📌The Uganda Peoples Defense Forces has handed over 34 ADF war abductees to the DRC Government. Presiding over the handover at the Mountain Division headquarters at Muhoti barracks in Fort Portal, the Commander of Land Forces Lt. Gen. Kayanja Muhanga said the victims had been abducted by the ADF during fighting against a combined force of UPDF and FARDC months ago.

🇺🇬 UPDF to introduce doctorate degree in Defence and Security Studies
📌The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) says the National Defence College is planning to introduce doctorate degree programmes for army officers as part of the professionalisation of the army. While officiating at the luncheon for the inaugural cohort of 49 officers who graduated last week from Makerere University with Bachelor’s Degree of Defence and Security Studies, Maj Gen Henry Matsiko, the UPDF Chief Political Commissar, said officers who complete the master’s programme in the course would be eligible to pursue the doctorate degree.

🇺🇬 New Deputy Force Commander ATMIS assumes office 
📌The newly appointed Deputy Force Commander (DFC) in charge of Support and Logistics for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), Major General Peter Kimani Muteti has assumed office. He assumed duty replacing Maj. Gen. Gerbi Regassa Kebede, who concluded his tour of duty late last year, having served from 2021, first under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and later, ATMIS.

🇺🇬 M23 reject new Amnesty report on killings and rape 
📌The M23 rebel group has rejected a report from a recent investigation by Amnesty International released on Friday that the group killed at least twenty men and raped scores of women and girls in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In a press statement, M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka describes the allegation of rape as premeditated and a deliberate way to hide the truth about Kishishe.

🇺🇬 Ugandan Muslim schools raise $10,000 for earthquake victims in Turkey
📌Some Muslim founded schools in Uganda have contributed $10,000 to the victims of the February 6 twin earthquakes in Turkey. A Muslim student leader in eastern Uganda, Salim Mubekete explained that they donated the money to show solidarity with the Turkish people and the Muslim community at large who have contributed a lot towards the construction of mosques at their schools and in the region.

🇺🇬 Training medics will reduce mortality rate – experts
📌The training of health workers and medical students using technology-enhanced simulation in obstetrics will reduce the maternal mortality rates in the eastern region. Dr Assen Kamwesigye, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, said simulation training models will empower health workers with life-saving skills.
“It will give the health workers an opportunity to replicate actual events on how to handle and respond to emergencies involving women in labour,” she said.

🇺🇬 TORORO: Police rescues 13 students trafficked by Pastor
📌Police in Tororo District has rescued 13 victims suspected to be trafficked by a yet to be identified pastor on disguise of offering them free education. The 12 boys and one girl were lured by this Pastor from Kaabong District  to Tororo where they were allegedly going to pursue their education. According to one of the students, the pastor got them a room where they could wait for him in Juba, Western division. This left the landlady suspicious and immediately called the LCIII Chairperson of western division, Al-Jamal Mayandi.

🇺🇬 SOROTI CITY: 8 Farmer groups receive multi-purpose hand operated tractors
📌Farmers hailing from the Peri-urban areas of Soroti city have been equipped with eight walking hand operated tractors to boost food production in the Peri-urban areas of the city. The fourteen horse power multi functioning walking tractors were delivered to the eight groups from peri urban areas of Opiyai, Aloet, Achetgwen, Otatai, and Madera through the office of the Member of Parliament for Soroti city East Hon Edmund Herbert Ariko.

🇺🇬 KOLE: Residents embark on  door-to-door tree planting campaign
📌Residents of Kole district have embarked on a door-to-door campaign to lobby every member of the village to incorporate tree planting, in their farming activities to mitigate the effects of climate change.

🇺🇬 MASINDI: Police arrests truck driver after distributing fake Shs50,000 notes 
📌Police in Masindi District has arrested a truck driver belonging to TipTop bread in Kabango Town Council for distributing counterfeit notes. This happened after a tip off by retail residents. Kabago Police post has confirmed the arrest of the truck driver who was intercepted in Kabango Town selling bread to customers.

𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒
🌍 🌍 🌍

🌍 Only Kenya has deployed troops to DRC – President Ruto 
📌President William Ruto has said that Kenya is the only country that has deployed its military to the Democratic Republic of Congo to combat the M23 rebels in the Eastern part of the country.  According to Ruto, the other five member states of the East African Community (EAC); including Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan are yet to deploy their armies to DR Congo.

🌍 KENYA: UK tea companies hit with women abuse claims
📌Two UK tea manufacturers on Monday faced accusations of sexual abuse on tea plantations in Kenya, according to an undercover investigation. The report focused on a Kenyan plantation that at the time was owned by UK household goods giant Unilever, and another one that remains owned by the tea group James Finlay & Co.
“More than 70 women on Kenyan tea farms, owned for years by two British companies, told the BBC they had been sexually abused by their supervisors,” the broadcaster said on its website.

🌍 KENYA: VP criticised for calling Kenya a company that will benefit those who voted them
📌Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been criticised for describing the country as a shareholding company that will first benefit those who voted in the Government. Mr Gachagua defended recent government appointments saying those who backed him and President William Ruto deserved to “reap first”. But Kenyans have criticised his remarks saying the Government should serve all Kenyans regardless of who they voted for.

🌍 NIGERIA: Commonwealth observers call for peaceful elections 
📌The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Nigeria, Thabo Mbeki, has urged the country’s political parties, candidates and their supporters to play their part in ensuring peaceful, transparent and credible elections come Saturday, February, 25. The former President of South Africa made his statement at a press conference in Abuja, following the arrival of Commonwealth observers in Nigeria on February 18.

🌍 SOUTH AFRICA: Floodgates opened as heavy rains continue
📌Officials in South Africa have said they are continuing to monitor communities experiencing flooding, following weeks of heavy rains. The rains have been brought on by the global La Niña weather phenomenon, which occurs in the Pacific Ocean. Over the weekend in Gauteng province, officials opened several floodgates to ease pressure from the Vaal Dam, one of the largest in the province.

🌍 President Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Kyiv
📌President Biden has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on what is the US President’s first visit to the country since Russian troops invaded on February 24, 2022. Biden and Zelenskyy walked over and together laid a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance for the fallen heroes of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Biden promised increased arms deliveries for Ukraine and vowed Washington’s “unflagging commitment” in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity.