GOMA, 13 JUNE 2023 – At least 46 civilians, including 23 children, were killed in an attack on a camp for displaced people in Ituri province in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between Sunday night and Monday morning.
In response, Cecilia Thiam, Save the Children’s Humanitarian Director in the DRC, said:
“We are appalled and devastated by the senseless attack on a displacement camp in northeastern DRC, which claimed the lives of at least 23 children. Survivors have reported seeing bodies strewn across the camp. Child survivors, who escaped in the middle of the night in terror, will have seen things that no child should have to see. Some may have witnessed their parents, friends, and peers being killed.
“This incident is a grave reminder that children continue to bear the brunt of the conflict in northeastern DRC, with horrific violations being committed against them. Children are being killed, sexually assaulted, abducted, and forcibly recruited for use by armed groups. For the children who witnessed or were injured in this incident, their suffering may last for years.
“All parties to the conflict must ensure children are never targets – and the perpetrators of this violence must be held to account and brought to justice. Impunity for child rights violations feed into the narrative that these crimes are acceptable and can create cycles of violence.
“As the number of people injured and children separated due to these attacks continues to grow, Save the Children is calling on donors to immediately release additional funds to help survivors with urgent medical care, cooking supplies for those whose shelters were burned, and support for family tracing and reunification activities for children separated from their caregivers in the chaos.”
Over 26.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the DRC – or about one in every four people - including 14.2 million children. Conflict has been raging in parts of the country for nearly three decades, with children paying the heaviest price.
Save the Children has been present in Ituri Province – one of the country’s most impacted by conflict – since 1998 and runs a range of life-saving programs including in nutrition, hygiene and child protection. Save the Children also runs primary health care through mobile clinics and an advanced health care approach to displaced people in Lala since the last attack on the site in January 2023. Save The Children
Dar es Salaam. Experts have cautioned about the upcoming signing of contracts under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Tanzania and Dubai after Parliament approved the disputed pact yesterday.
Members of Parliament debated and approved a resolution approving the agreement, which will provide a framework for other specific contracts in port-related projects.
The agreement on economic and social cooperation to expand and improve Tanzania ports also gives the UAE-based DP World an exclusive right to discuss with the government of Tanzania about operating and developing some port projects.
According to the economists, the next step is the one that needs more attention because the agreements will kick-start the implementation of the deal that was struck in October last year.
The Parliament approved the resolution allowing the government to take on other procedures, including the concession agreement, before the commencement of a new cooperation chapter between the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and DP World, a multinational logistics company based in Dubai.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, the executive director of an economic research think tank, Repoa, Dr Donald Mmari, said that the concerns of Tanzanians were given a chance to be heard and that it was important that the citizens were always given priority and listened to.
“The biggest area to increase attention is the signing of economic agreements for the implementation of specific projects in the port of Dar es Salaam. This should be done with great attention to the interests of our country,” said Dr Mmari.
The agreement created an uproar among members of the public, who demanded more explanations about the contract, which they termed vague.
An independent commentator, Mr Buberwa Kaiza, claimed that the adoption of the resolution made it directly recognised internationally, and thus it required great attention towards the next steps.
“The next venture can be greatly affected by this resolution that has been passed. If anything happens that we didn’t expect or weren’t aware of, we will not be able to take any action as a country until they consent to the actions being taken against them. Otherwise, it will not be possible,” he said.
“Small contracts cannot affect this big one, so more attention is needed given that the contracts may not be sent to Parliament for discussion,” he noted.
Chadema’s vice chairman, Tundu Lissu, described the contract as one of “the most dubious to be signed by the government since independence.”
“It is a contract that places itself above the laws and international contracts signed by Tanzania,” he told The Citizen’s sister newspaper, Mwananchi.
“It is the contract that cannot be revoked or terminated even after Tanzania has invalidated diplomatic relations with the UAE, when it has entered into a war or under any other circumstance,” he added.
Furthermore, he said the contract gives an important part of Tanzania’s land to another country and its economic institutions for an unspecified period of time.
Regarding the agreement, the parliamentary committee made recommendations, including that all the contracts that will follow in implementing the terms of the arrangement should be productive, and protect the broad interests of the country of Tanzania and its people.
On the Infrastructure Development Committee, Mr Moshi Kakoso said the agreement should accommodate views from important stakeholders in the sector in order to improve implementation scope.
“The committee insists that the validity of agreements and implementations to be signed should mention a specific execution time frame for projects for the broad interests of the country,” he said.
“The contracts should direct the partners to evaluate the implementation of investment projects and terminate the agreement amidst failure to honour the agreement,” he added when reading the committee’s recommendations. By Jacob Musenda, The Citizen
John Okulo, the new KCB Group director for corporate banking. PHOTO | COURTESY | KCB
Mr Okulo, a seasoned banker with 24 years of experience, joins KCB from NCBA bank, where he was serving in a similar position.
“We are excited to have John to spearhead the continued growth of our corporate banking franchise as we seek to catalyse the country’s growth agenda,” said Annastacia Kimtai, managing director at KCB Bank Kenya.
Mr Okulo is replacing Esther Masese Waititu, who had held this position since 2021 but joined Safaricom in February 2023 as the chief financial services officer.
Read: Safaricom shakes up top management
Ms Waititu’s exit from KCB triggered a talent war that has seen the lender headhunt Mr Okulo, who has been at CBA, since July 2011, before its merger with NIC to form NCBA in 2019.
Mr Okulo previously worked as a chief commercial officer at Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), managing director at NC Bank Uganda and head of corporate and investment banking at Stanbic Bank Uganda, among other roles.
He holds a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Gdansk, Poland and several global and local certifications.
Mr Okulo started his banking career in 1997 as a Standard Chartered Bank Kenya management trainee.
He now joins KCB’s corporate banking division, which offers a suite of financial products and services targeted at mid-to-large-sized corporates and public sector entities.
KCB re-organised its corporate banking into sectoral lines of manufacturing, industrials, infrastructure and energy, financial services, and the public sector to drive technical and financial leadership.
Read: KCB Group picks insider as first CEO of Kenya unit
Last year, the KCB Group corporate banking unit more than doubled its net profit from Sh8.7 billion to Sh17.9 billion to overtake retail banking as the second top profit-earner for the lender.
The net profit from corporate banking accounted for 43.8 percent of the Sh40.8 billion net earnings generated by KCB Group in the financial year ended December 2022.
Net earnings from retail banking slowed from Sh15.6 billion to Sh13.35 as net earnings from treasury rose 52 percent to Sh31.2 billion. By Patrick Alushula, Business Daily
MOGADISHU, Somalia
At least 19 members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group were killed on Sunday in a joint operation led by Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in the country’s Lower Shabelle region, officials said.
The operation, which took place in Bula-Mohamed-Abdalla village on the outskirts Awdheegle, was conducted with the support of some of Somalia’s international partners working with the country on the security front, according Ahmed Abdiwahid, a security official in the region who spoke by phone to Anadolu.
Awdheegle is a strategic agricultural town located 84 kilometers (52 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu.
Vehicles and weapons belonging to al-Shabaab were also destroyed in the operation, according to the security official.
Lower Shabelle saw one of the deadliest attacks by al-Shabaab on a base of the African Union Transition Mission forces late last month.
Fifty-four soldiers from Uganda serving under the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia were killed during the attack in the town of Bulo Marer, some 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of Mogadishu.
The Somali National Army (SNA) has been battling the terrorists since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a “total war” on them following his reelection in May last year.
Since then, the army has liberated large swathes of territories from al-Shabaab in the country’s south and central provinces, including the strategic coastal town of Harardhere, which had been under the group’s control for more than a decade.
On Friday, the terrorist group launched a deadly attack on the Pearl Beach Hotel and Restaurant in Mogadishu, a popular beachside establishment frequented by government officials, marking the fourth major attack by the group in the country in less than two weeks.
Al-Shabaab has been fighting the Somali government and the African Union mission in the country since 2007.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with the main threats from the al-Shabaab and the Daesh/ISIS terrorist groups. Anadolu Agency
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