Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with visiting President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Zhao Leji met with visiting President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo here on Friday.
Zhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that China and the DRC enjoy profound traditional friendship and fruitful cooperation.
"China is ready to work with the DRC to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, consolidate political mutual trust, advance practical cooperation, strengthen coordination in international affairs, and push bilateral relations to a higher level," he said.
Zhao said that the NPC of China is willing to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with the DRC parliament and jointly promote the building of democratic politics suited to national conditions.
For his part, Tshisekedi said that the DRC side attaches great importance to developing relations with China and is willing to further deepen cooperation with China in various fields to improve the well-being of the two peoples.
A man has died after he was crushed by a train in Athi River, Machakos County.
Mavoko chief Nzau Komo said the man was pronounced dead while being rushed to Machakos Level 5 hospital minutes after the incident.
The tragedy occurred in Tusky’s area within Athi River town on Friday.
The incident happened near the Athi River railway bridge at around 1.00 pm.
Komo said the man was walking along the Meter Gauge Railway when the incident happened.
He said the man lost his legs in the incident only to die moments later.
“The deceased is a well-known resident of Athi River town. He works at a local company within the town a few metres of the Nairobi – Namanga road,” Komo told the Star at his office premises in Athi River town on Friday.
The body was moved to Machakos Level 5 Hospital mortuary.
An eyewitness said the train didn’t stop after it ran over the deceased.
“The man sustained serious injuries. We were shocked that the train that was headed to Nairobi didn’t stop. It was a hit-and-run case,” the eyewitness said.
Other sources revealed that the scene was cleared by officers from the Kenya Railways police unit.
Komo told residents to be careful while using not only the rail track but also roads in the Athi River subcounty to avoid unnecessary deaths due to accidents that could be avoided. - GEORGE OWITI, The Star
Tanzanias President Samia Suluhu (L) claps as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni unveils the Kikagati-Murongo Hydropower Plant in Isingiro District, Uganda on May 25, 2023. PHOTO | IKULU YA TANZANIA
Summary
Museveni said the project should have started in 2005 but the two countries could not agree on how the electricity would be shared.
He said the two countries had failed to utilise the potential of River Kagera for a long time.
Suluhu was optimistic that the project will improve the historical relations and the bi-lateral trade between the two countries.
President Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu yesterday commissioned the 14-Megawatt Kikagate-Murongo Hydro power project that is expected to bolster development between the two countries.
The $100m power project was constructed by the Berkeley Energy company under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the two sister countries.
While commissioning the project that was powered on in Isingiro District yesterday, Museveni tasked African leaders and technocrats to stop being self-centred, saying this sabotages progression of the continent.
“Political and bureaucratic classes of Africa must wake up or be overtaken by the determined people who want development. The potential for development is there but most times these people are in arguments,” he said.
Kikagati-Murongo is located along the Kagera River at the border of Uganda and Tanzania.
The project that started in 2017 will benefit 60,000 homes in the two countries as Berkeley collects tariffs for the next 20 years before handing over the facility for further management by the two governments.
Museveni said the project should have started in 2005 but the two countries could not agree on how the electricity would be shared among themselves.
He further said electricity helps in steering development across the East Africa region, but people get selfish when they start arguing on who takes what share of electricity.
“I’m not part of this argument of who takes more power; if Tanzania needs the power more, they can take it because they will not take it free. What is the problem? So, if they wanted two megawatts originally and now, they want four, I will grant them. If they want all 16 megawatts, they can as well take it but they will to pay.” he said.
Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan commissioned the Kikagati-Murongo Hydropower Plant in Isingiro District on May 25, 2023. The 14 Megawatts cross-border dam is located on the Kagera River, the largest tributary of Lake Victoria, which serves as the natural border between Tanzania and Uganda.
Museveni said the two countries had failed to utilise the potential of River Kagera for a long time yet there were opportunities to be exploited to develop the two countries, which attracted the government of Rwanda in a similar project.
This is one of the first cross-border huge infrastructural projects between Uganda and Tanzania.
“It’s good that we’re beginning to utilise the potential of the Kagera River,” Museveni said, adding: “The 11 miles downstream from the location is Nshungezi where there are 38 megawatts to benefit Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.”
“It’s a big honour to have President Samia Suluhu Hassan come here for the first time in this area. You have been to other parts of Uganda, but never here. We are very lucky, and I welcome you here,” he added.
The plant will sell its power to the national grid and consumers will pay $8.5 cents per kilowatt hour for the electricity generated. The cost, according to Museveni, is too high if it’s to serve the intended purpose and implored the developers to make it cheaper for people.
“This price of 8.5 cents per unit is not a Christian idea because we’re insisting that power especially for manufacturing should be about 5 cents,” Museveni said, mentioning dams such as Karuma and Isimba where the production cost is 4.8 cents per unit and Bujagaali which started at 13 cents and has now come to 8.3 cents per unit.
In her remarks, President Suluhu was optimistic that the project will improve the historical relations and the bi-lateral trade between the two countries.
“I’m always happy to note that our historical fraternal relations continue to improve day by day and of course, there is wider room to further make improvements of our relationship and cooperation particularly in areas of trade and investment as well as cultural and social engagements,” she said.
She also applauded Mr Museveni’s vision of kick-starting the construction of a hydro power dam in Isingiro, which on completion, will contribute to the economic growth of the two countries.
“I must say that the power generated here shall improve a lot of things. It is going to improve trade and investment in this region. It’s going to improve transportation of people and goods, social services, sound health services, contemporary teaching modalities are going to be done here, because power is here,” he said.
She said her government is committed to strengthening and deepening brotherly friendship and cooperation with Uganda. The East African
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - There are 241 bodies found so far of followers of a Kenyan sect, buried in mass graves in the Shakahola forest, in eastern Kenya, on a ranch in Kilifi county, near the city of Malindi (see Fides, 3/5/2023).
Autopsies of the first 129 bodies show that most of the victims died of starvation, having followed instructions to fast to death "in order to meet Jesus" by "Pastor" Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of the Good News International Church".
Some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated, according to the coroner. So far, the police have arrested 39 people, including "pastor" Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, and have rescued 91 members of the sect found still alive in the forest.
Most of the followers are Kenyans, from the western, northern and eastern parts of the country and from some parts of the coast, but there are also citizens of other African countries, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki told the “Ad hoc Committee on the Proliferation of Religious Organizations”.
An assessment that is far from definitive if one takes into account that experts on the spot have discovered new mass graves. However, the excavations were suspended due to logistical problems at the time of the autopsy of the bodies of the 129 exhumed victims.
The Minister reported other disconcerting details, stating that "the Shakahola massacre is a well organized, well planned and perfectly executed crime." Among the 91 followers who have been rescued and hospitalized, some - says the minister - "refuse to eat", while one hospitalized patient has died. In addition, cult leader Mackenzie had recruited a team of beaters to kill those who took too long to die or changed their minds.
The minister added that Mackenzie and his team of assassins watched the starvation of the fans from a special facility where they could eat abundantly. The Kenyan press has reported that a detailed menu reserved for Mackenzie has been found, showing how he feasted on copious meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Minister has also reported that there is evidence of sexual abuse of some of the children found dead. There is still a suspicion, advanced by a criminal police report but denied by Kindiki (see Fides 5/10/2023), that organs were extracted from some of the bodies found in the forest pits, not so much for transplants as for "magic rites". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides
Nigeria’s new government, which will be sworn in on 29 May, must ensure that Shell’s planned sale of its operations in the Niger Delta, does not lead to a further deterioration in human rights in a region blighted by decades of oil pollution.
Amnesty International has documented grievous and enduring human rights abuses resulting from oil contamination in the area, where Shell has operated since the 1950s. Amnesty International is concerned that the proposed sale will deny people already harmed access to adequate remedy, and potentially expose many more to future abuses.
A new report issued today, Tainted Sale?, recommends a series of safeguards and actions to help protect the rights of people potentially affected by Shell’s planned disposal of its onshore oil interests in the Niger Delta, reportedly for about US$3 billion.
Mark Dummett, Amnesty International’s Head of Business and Human Rights, said: “For decades spills have damaged the health and livelihoods of many of the Niger Delta’s inhabitants. Shell should not be allowed to wash its hands of the problems and leave.Shell has earned billions of dollars from this business and it must make sure that its withdrawal does not have negative human rights and environmental consequences.
“By exercising appropriate oversight of Shell’s sale, Nigeria’s incoming administration has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its determination to uphold and protect the human rights of its citizens, including their rights to an adequate standard of living, clean water, and health. We are also calling for effective remedy for people whose rights have long been abused.
“We urge the new government, under President Bola Tinubu, to ensure Shell’s sale does not end or limit the company’s liabilities. As a condition of sale, it should require Shell to provide a full assessment of all existing pollution in the delta, ensure it has provided satisfactory remediation for any damage, and that local inhabitants’ concerns about the sale process are fully appraised and addressed.
“The government should consider requiring Shell to act as a guarantor to ensure any purchaser is capable of making good and remediating damage caused by any future spills and that any buyer is committed totransparency, environmental compliance, consultations with communities, and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
“Of course, rather than finding buyers and wringing the last drops of oil from a region so long blighted by the industry, the better option would be remedying the harms caused, and phasing out production.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts that without accelerating the phasing out of fossil fuels worldwide, global temperatures will rise by more than an agreed limit of 1.5C versus pre-industrial levels. After decades of exploitation, retiring production in the Niger Delta would be a step in the right direction.”
A long record of environmental damage and abuses
For more than 20 years Amnesty International and partner organizations have conducted research in the Niger Delta. It has demonstrated that Shell’s operations have come at the cost of the human rights of people living there.
Hundreds of spills a year from poorly maintained pipelines and wells, along with inadequate clean-up practices, have led to widespread oil contamination, including of groundwater and drinking water sources, agricultural land and fisheries, and damaged the health and livelihoods of many inhabitants.
The impact of the pollution can be devastating. In 2019, an academic study, found that oil spills occurring within 10km of a mother’s place of residence in the Niger Delta doubled neonatal mortality rates and impaired the health of surviving children.
Mark Dummett said: “Shell must take its own steps to ensure effective remedy for people whose human rights have been impaired by this devastating pollution, and that its divestment plan does not worsen the plight of the Niger Delta’s inhabitants.”
“International standards, under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, are clear that Shell has a responsibility to conduct a human rights due diligence process on its decision to transfer assets. This responsibility is independent of any steps Nigeria’s government will take.”
Shell disputes allegations that it has acted irresponsibly in the Niger Delta, and says it complies with regulations. It has previously pointed to improvements that it says it has made in recent years in response to preventing and cleaning oil spills, investments in infrastructure, oil anti-theft measures, and increased transparency in its reporting of spills.
Shell is not uniquely responsible for the devastating oil pollution that blights the Niger Delta. There are other actors, including the federal and state authorities. They too have an obligation to ensure that Shell’s divestment does not lead to further human rights harms.
Background
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited - Joint Venture (SPDC JV) is one of Nigeria’s largest oil producers.
Shell was the majority owner of this business for many years, but its main shareholder is now the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which holds 55%. The rest is owned by subsidiaries of international oil companies. Shell, through its wholly-owned subsidiary the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited owns 30%, the French company Total has 10%, and the Italian company Eni 5%.
Importantly, through SPDC, Shell is the operator for the SPDC JV, which means it operates and maintains the wells, pipelines and other facilities needed to produce and transport the oil. The partners fund the operations and maintenance in proportion to their share in the joint venture.
During the past decade, the SPDC JV has sold much of its business, including oilfields, to several much smaller Nigerian-owned companies.
Shell now intends to sell both its stake in SPDC JV and its operating subsidiary in a deal involving its staff, facilities and infrastructure. This includes 263 producing oil wells, 56 producing gas wells and a network of 3,173km of pipelines.
Following an election on 25 February, the inauguration of Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, 71, of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, is due to take place on Monday. Amnesty International
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