People displaced by the fighting between M23 rebels and FARDC government forces gather North of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Nov. 25, 2022.
A LEAKED report from United Nations experts has accused Rwanda of carrying out military operations against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwanda has long denied accusations from Kinshasa that it has had direct involvement in the conflict in the DRC or that it has provided support for the M23 rebels.
But UN experts said that there was “substantial evidence” of direct Rwandan army intervention and that it had supplied weapons, ammunition and uniforms to the rebels.
The M23 militia group has captured swaths of territory in the DRC’s eastern region since it re-emerged again late last year.
Although Rwanda has repeatedly denied that it supports the rebels, the United States and France, along with other Western countries, have agreed with the DRC’s assessment.
According to the report by UN experts, Rwanda’s military intervened to reinforce the M23 as well as to combat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who carried out the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda provided troop reinforcements to the M23 “for specific operations, in particular when these were aimed at seizing strategic towns and areas,” the report said.
According to the report, Rwandan troops also led joint attacks with M23 fighters against Congolese positions in May.
The 236-page document for the UN security council is expected to be published soon.
The M23 first came to international prominence when it captured the eastern Congolese city of Goma in 2012 before being driven out and going to ground the following year.
But the rebels re-emerged in late 2021 after they claimed the DRC had ignored a promise to integrate them into the country’s army.
The M23 has since captured swathes of territory in eastern North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda.
The UN Refugee Agency said earlier this year that more than 5.6 million people have been displaced in the DRC. Morning Star
Jounalist Laban Cliff Onserio. He was arrested by anti-terror police on Sunday at Nairobi's Holy Family Basilica over stun grenade drama.
Standard Media Group’s Chief of Staff Laban Cliff Onserio will spend his Christmas in custody after the anti-terror court in Kahawa allowed investigators to hold him for three more days to complete investigations. Onserio was arrested last Sunday at the Holy Family Basilica church parking lot for posing a grenade.
The Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) had sought to detain Onserio for 10 days to gather reports from various government agencies that are helping analyse his phones and the grenade that was seized from him on Sunday.
Senior Resident Magistrate Oscar Wanyaga however ordered that he be released earlier in the event that the probe is completed before December 30.
“If there is no evidence, there is no need to keep the suspect up to December 30th. The law says the moment you realise there is no evidence, you release. The moment you find evidence, you charge,” Mr Wanyaga said.
“The guiding principle in our criminal justice system is that an accused person or a respondent, in this case, is presumed innocent until proven guilty. In this case, the respondent has even not been charged whereas the prosecution has gone to lengths to show how serious the charges are, there is no indication as to the respondent being a flight risk,” the magistrate said.
The court noted that while it is clear from the complexity of the matter and the steps taken by the investigators as explained in the Investigating Officer’s supporting affidavit that there’s need for the police to complete the investigations, it is yet to be told whether the grenade is an explosive device or the nature of destruction that the device can cause.
"The court appreciates that there is no dispute as at this stage that he was found with a flash-bang grenade. This however does not mean that the prosecution has a blank cheque to keep the respondent in custody," he added.
The Magistrate said the court is convinced that in the next few days there should be a form of conclusive report or in-depth report that will advise the prosecution, police and the court as to the nature of charges and nature of exhibits that were recovered from the respondent.
“I am therefore not convinced that there is a justification for 10 days. Consequently, and in the interest of justice and public safety and the weight of this matter, I am going to grant this application but with a modification, I will grant the police up to December 29 to complete their investigations,” the magistrate ordered.
Laban is therefore expected back in the dock on December 30 for plea taking or release depending on the outcome of the probe.
The journalist was arrested on Sunday after he was found in possession of a flash bang grenade and a pocket phone at the Holy Family Basilica’s parking lot which he threatened to detonate following an altercation with some revelers.
Police are investigating whether the GA-25 pocket phone and two I-phones recovered have any terrorism links.
ATPU has written to the Communications Authority of Kenya seeking information about the registration, ownership and frequency allocated to the GA-25 pocket phone that Laban was found with on Sunday.
The unit is also seeking assistance from the Kenya Wildlife Service, Administration Police, Kenya Prisons Service, National Youth Service, Kenya Police Service, Kenya Forest Service, and the Kenya Military Police to establish if the pocket phone is a property of the government.
Laban’s lawyer Mr Ishmael Nyaribo defended his client saying the pocket phone has no connection to criminal activities and that it is readily available on Amazon.
“Mr Onserio has never slept in any police station before or gotten involved in any crime. We plead with this court to find that there are no compelling reasons to continue holding Laban,” he told the court.
The prosecution also said the phones are currently being analysed at the ATPU ICT laboratories whose outcome will help establish evidence against him or exonerate the respondent.
A report from the Bomb Disposal Unit which was handed over the grenade for assessment and detonation will also be presented in court as part of the evidence.
He was first presented in court on December 19 when detectives were granted three days to complete their investigations. By Mary Wambui , NMG
Civil servants in South Sudan’s Lakes State have complained about high commodity prices and low salaries as Christmas approaches.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, several civil servants said they were unable to buy food items and clothes for their families to celebrate the yuletide.
John Kockedhie, a civil servant in Rumbek, said: "We are currently receiving our November salary, but it cannot buy even 10 kg of maize flour in the Rumbek market. My salary is 5,300 SSP, and 10 kg of maize flour is sold in the market at 6,500 SSP. There is nothing to afford with this salary to celebrate Christmas.”
He said salaries of civil servants should be increased so that they can meet family needs.
"But each member of the executive and legislature received 400,000 SSP. These people will celebrate Christmas and New Year. But for us, nothing to celebrate except peaceful coexistence and security,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wol Ater, a civil servant in Yirol East County, said: “The community here in Yirol East County have received two months amount of money from World Food Program. So WFP could not manage to bring them food, but they have been given money based on the family size.”
He said the amount of money distributed by WFP to the community is more than the government civil servants' salary, which he said cannot buy food in the market.
For his part, the acting minister of information in Lakes State, William Koji Kirjok, said that the payment of civil servants salaries is ongoing, and every civil servant receives a November salary ahead of Charismas.
The official appreciated the government for releasing the salaries of civil servants on time.
South Sudan has been experiencing inconsistent and rampant inflation. - Radio Tamazuj
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja speaking during Jamuhuri Festival on Monday, December 12, 2022. TWITTER SAKAJA
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja maintained his stand over the closure of night clubs in residential estates within the city.
In a statement dated Saturday, December 24, the governor explained that there was a need to create order within the county given the numerous complaints that had been raised by residents over noise pollution.
However, he did not indicate whether he would seek audience with the lawmakers and Pubs, Entertainment and Restaurant Association of Kenya (PERAK) over the same.
Armed police officers at the Nairobi CBD on Sunday, November 27.
THE STANDARD
"There will be sanity in our neighbourhoods. There is no turning back from that," read the statement in part.
Sakaja's response also got a boost after a section of MCA's led by Kileleshwa representative, Robert Alai, supported the closure of the night clubs.
"It was sneaked in but know that we won't give up," he stated.
In a report by the County Assembly, the lawmakers had directed the police and the county askaris popularly known as Kanjos not to effect the governor's orders.
The MCAs noted that several businesses had struggled with the directive including the ones that were compliant.
Commissioner Irene Masit (left) with her lawyer Donald Kipkorir during the tribunal hearings yesterday. PD/William Oeri
The tribunal investigating the conduct of a serving IEBC commissioner and three of her former colleagues was yesterday told how they frantically pushed the Commission chairperson Wafula Chebukati to order a repeat presidential election.
Testifying before the tribunal chaired by Justice Aggrey Muchelule, IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marjan Hussein Marjan revealed how the four commissioners exerted pressure on Chebukati to moderate the results of the presidential election so that none of the candidates attains the requisite 50 percent plus one vote to be declared the outright winner.
The four commissioners, led by then Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi urged the IEBC chair to proceed to declare a repeat election on grounds that none of the four presidential candidates led by Kenya Kwanza’s William Ruto, Azimio la Umoja candidate Raila Odinga, Roots Party candidate George Wajackoyah and Agano Party’s David Mwaure Waihiga, had attained the 50 percent plus one vote threshold.
Marjan said that he was surprised when the four commissioners went to hold a presser at the Nairobi Serena Hotel.
“I was surprised with the statement that they made because we worked with them so closely to the last point and there was nothing wrong. Our crossing point came when they went and said the opposite,” said Marjan.
The tribunal heard that the problem with the commissioners began when they tried to influence the moderation of the results so that the country would go back for rerun.
Last standing
According to Marjan, the Cherera four wanted a rerun to give Azimio la Umoja a chance since the margin between President William Ruto and Raila Odinga was too small.
“The difference between William Ruto who was leading and Raila Odinga was around 253,000… the four commissiniors argued that the difference was too small and we should give the parties a chance to go for a rerun.., they wanted the results moderated but the chairman refused saying the law does not allow him to do so,” said Marjan.
Marjan further noted that Masit who is the last of four left standing was actually present all through at the National Tallying Centre. Three of the commissioners have since resigned. They include Cherera, Wanderi and Nyang’aya.
Besides Muchelule, members of the tribunal comprise Carolyne Daudi, the Vice-Chairperson, Linda Kiome, Mathew Nyabena and retired Colonel Saeed Khamis.
A representative from Serena who also testified in the tribunal confirmed that Masit was among the four IEBC officials who went to the Serena hotel and addressed a press conference.
Anthony Chege Kamau told the tribunal that one Edwin Okwe walked into the hotel’s reception area on 15 August, booked and paid for the ground to be used for a press conference.
A representative of Yaya apartments, Simon Ngila also testified before the tribunal that the four commissioners stayed at their apartments from August 15 and checked out on August 19.
“The person who made the booking for the said apartment is Edwin Okwe who is a repeat client... he has stayed with us before.. he just made a random booking for three days and we got him space,” explained Ngila.
According to the Accommodation Manager at the said apartments, the four commissioners were not willing to have their records written down and their security team said they would sort it out the next day.
“We provided our registration documents which were signed by their security personnel,” Angila told the tribunal.
A clip showing Masit walking into the lifts of the said apartment from the basement was played before the tribunal.
The manager revealed that former Cabinet Secretary and Jubilee party Secretary General Raphael Tuju, was among the visitors who visited the four commissioners at the said Apartments on August 16. By Bernice Mbugua, People Daily
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