East Africa - Informer East Africa News

Details: East Africa; 28 September 2021; 444

A 14-year-old juvenile who had been abducted from her parents home in Nyeri county on August 25, 2021, has been rescued by detectives from her captor.

The minor was rescued at Mto wa Mbu town in Tanzania, 514-kilometers away from her parents’ home and a main suspect arrested.

Before her disappearance, the suspect worked at an establishment near the minor’s home.

It is not clear if a ransom had been demanded for her to be released.

The school going child was on her mid term break, when the unfortunate incident happened, police and the parents said.

On the fateful night, she had stepped out of their house to answer a call of nature at 2 am, only for her parents to wake up in the morning and find their daughter missing.

The parents immediately reported at Gatitu police post but due to the gravity of the matter, Nyeri DCI boss John Gacheru, took over the investigations and escalated his file to headquarters for specialised action.

In a meticulously planned rescue mission led by DCI’s elite Special Service Unit and Tanzania’s regional crime office based in Arusha, the suspect was finally cornered on Sunday morning at 2am, within Engarika area and the girl rescued.

Tears flowed freely from the minor’s relatives and friends, as she was reunited with her distraught kin who have known no peace since her disappearance.

DCI George Kinoti said he appreciates the immediate action taken by Interpol, in facilitating his detectives and police officers from Mto wa Mbu in Tanzania, in ensuring that the class eight pupil is rescued and the suspect finally brought to justice.

The suspect is currently cooling his heels at Mto wa Mbu police cells, Arusha, Tanzania.

Incidents of kidnapping have been on the rise in a trend with ransom being demanded.

Police are calling for vetting of those employed at various levels and demand of identification documents to enable tracing. - CYRUS OMBATI, The Star

Details: East Africa; 27 September 2021; 487

President of the republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta VOANEWS.COM

President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed disappointment and anger at Central Kenya leaders.

According to his close allies, the President has had a change of heart and allowed the region's electorate to make their own decisions as opposed to his prior stance to rely on their leaders to chat the electorate's future.

The President's change of heart, according to his allies led by Nyeri Town Member of Parliament, Ngunjiri Wambugu, was informed by the electorates' opposition of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that was aimed at uniting the country and ensuring more resources to the counties.

Nyeri Town Member of Parliament Ngunjiri Wambugu addresses members of the public during a consultative Building Bridges Initiatives (BBI) meeting at the ACK St. Peters Hall in Nyeri on Wednesday, February 26, 2020.

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The Nyeri Town MP, on Sunday, September 26, stated that the President felt betrayed by his own people.

"He feels betrayed and frustrated by the very people he believes he wanted to assist by preparing a better future for," noted the vocal legislator, who is also a defender of the President.

"We were with the President somewhere and he said that he finds it hard to forgive some people because the route that they took us through led to the fall of BBI."

The MP said that the Head of State was not happy since his efforts to bring together opposition leaders including Raila Odinga (ODM), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) and Gideon Moi (KANU) through the BBI were badly affected.

"The President's focus is more on development and building his legacy. Ukienda kumwambia hiyo mambo ya siasa ya mlima, mtakosana (If you go to him with the politics of Mt Kenya, you will not be welcome)," as source close to the President told a local daily.

This comes even as eleven Members of Parliament from the larger Mt Kenya counties including Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Murang'a, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Nyandarua, Laikipia, Nairobi and Nakuru committed to back Deputy President William Ruto's presidential bid.

"We have resolved to canvass the agenda of the people we represent on the platform of UDA, a political party we have formed together with other Kenyans from across the nation in a political movement that currently has the support of millions of Kenyans, MCAs, Governors and more than 150 MP's from all corners of the country," the MPs' stated.

A Section of Leaders From Mount Kenya Who Declared Support For DP Ruto's Presidential Bid at the Aberdares Cottage on Saturday, September 4. FACEBOOK Kenyans.co.ke

Details: East Africa; 26 September 2021; 462

A Boeing 737 plane while flying in the sky

FILE

A Kenyan plane, Boeing 787-8, destined for Amsterdam, Netherlands experienced a malfunction on Monday, September 20, while flying over Germany.

The mishap resulted in Germany releasing two fighter jets to investigate the incident.

Reports indicated that an abnormal sound made by the plane stirred local authorities in Frankfurt.

This prompted the German Airforce to dispatch the two jets to intervene and find out the cause of the sound.

An aeroplane mid-air

The Aviation Herald, which keeps track of aviation mishaps, indicated that the Dreamliner had lost communication with Air Traffic Control (ATC) - hours after leaving Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

This was affirmed by a statement released on Saturday, September 25, which affirmed that the plane temporarily lost its connection with the ATC but eventually re-established communication and landed on schedule in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

"The air traffic control in these jurisdictions are conducting investigations on the incident to determine the cause and take corrective action.

"We would like to assure our customers that their safety and our crew is our highest priority," the airline responsible for the plane announced in a statement.

The incident was attributed to a number of factors such as poor reception or missed frequency change.

"The incident is not uncommon in aviation, as aircraft may occasionally lose contact with ATC for a variety of reasons, power failure when flying in a zone with poor reception or a missed frequency change," read the statement.

Recently, a plane with 167 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing in Addis Ababa after taking off from Moi International Airport, Mombasa County.

A plane at a runaway (COURTESY) fight

Reports indicated that one of the plane's engines began to give false readings, hence leading to the emergency landing. Fortunately, another plane was sent to pick the passengers in Ethiopia and proceeded to their destination in Poland. By Brian Kimani, Kenyans.co.ke

Details: East Africa; 27 September 2021; 397

Theoneste Bagosora, the Rwandan military leader dubbed the “Colonel of the Apocalypse”, has died in Mali where he was serving a life sentence for his role in the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 people — mostly Tutsis.

Bagosora’s death, aged 80, was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday that read “R.I.P. Papa”. It was confirmed on Sunday.

“Theoneste Bagosora died in a hospital in Mali yesterday (Saturday) late morning,” said Abubacarr Tambadou, registrar for the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, which oversees prosecution of those responsible for the genocide.

Bagosora was jailed in 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, though his sentence was reduced to 35 years on appeal in 2011.

In April 1994, Colonel Bagasora was the most senior official under the minister of defence — and with a reported grudge against the then president Juvenal Habyarimana after being passed over for promotion to general.

French military intelligence concluded Bagasora was one of the prime sponsors behind the April 6 assassination of both president Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira — both Hutus — as well as the Rwandan army chief of staff.

Their Falcon plane was shot down when preparing to land in the Rwandan capital Kigali, an event many blamed on Tutsi rebels and which triggered the massacres.

“The assassination of moderate opposition ministers and Tutsis less than half an hour after the explosion of the presidential Falcon would confirm the high degree of preparation of this operation,” according to the intelligence memo from September 1994, revealed in 2019.

– Most senior officer –

A few days later, the foreign minister and Hutu moderate was killed by soldiers. Bagasora and Boniface Ngurinzira had clashed constantly during 1993 peace talks in Tanzania.

Bagasora accused Ngurinzira of making too many concessions to the rebels and, on his return to Rwanda, reportedly said he was heading home “to prepare the Apocalypse” — something he denied in court hearings.

Bagasora denied any direct role in the genocide, though he was seen as part of a Hutu extremist faction in the country.

With the defence minister also out of the country on a mission, Bagasora was the most senior military official from April 6-9, the first days of the genocide — when extremists rounded on the Tutsi majority, Hutu moderates and those from mixed lineages in an orgy of bloodletting that shocked the world.

The appeal court in 2011 found that while there was no evidence he ordered the massacres, Bagasora knew they were planned and did nothing to stop them, even though he was in a position to do so.

Bagosora was serving his sentence in Koulikoro prison in Mali, but had been transferred to a clinic in the capital Bamako, an official in the Malian prison administration told AFP.

An official at the institution where he was admitted said he died of “heart failure”, without giving further details.

Bagosora had in April been refused an application for early release because of the “extremely high gravity (of his) crimes”. - AFP/Digital Journal

Details: East Africa; 26 September 2021; 443

Former Rwandan army colonel Theoneste Bagosora in Arusha on December 18, 2008. [Reuters]

A former Rwandan army colonel who was accused of masterminding the slaughter of 800,000 people during the 1994 genocide has died in prison in Mali, Malian officials said on Saturday.

Theoneste Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the then International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). His sentence had been reduced from life in prison.

“It is confirmed. He was over 80 years old, he was seriously ill, with heart troubles. He was hospitalised several times and had three surgeries. He died today in a clinic,” a source in Mali’s prison administration who sought anonymity told Reuters.

A second source at Bamako’s Court of Appeal confirmed the death.

Prosecutors accused Bagosora, then cabinet director in the defence ministry, of taking control of military and political affairs in the central African country after President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994.

The Tanzania-based tribunal accused Bagosora of being in charge of the troops and Interahamwe Hutu militia who killed some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days.

Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, head of United Nations peacekeepers during the genocide, described Bagosora as the “kingpin” behind the killings and said the former colonel had threatened to kill him. Standard/Reuters