East Africa

Details: East Africa; 06 August 2021; 828

More Boko Haram/ Islamic State West African Province terrorists are surrendering to the troops of Operations Hadin Kai in Borno State, the Nigerian Army has said.

In a statement by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the Army said the troops sustained air and artillery bombardments on the enclaves of the terrorists in Sambisa Forest and its environs was responsible for this.

According to him, 56 terrorists and their families laid down their arms, adding that 18 male fighters of the terrorist groups along with their families including 18 adult females and 19 children on Wednesday surrendered to the troops.

The statement was titled, ‘Operation Hadin Kai: Again more terrorists surrender as troops escalate operations across North East theatre’.

It read, “More Boko Haram / ISWAP terrorists are surrendering as troops of Operations HADIN KAI , conducting Counter terrorism and counter Insurgency operations in north east Nigeria escalate ground and air offensive operations against the terrorists.

“Sustained air and artillery bombardments on the enclaves of the terrorists in Sambisa forest and its environs have continued to yield positive results as 56 terrorists and their families laid down their arms abandoning the groups and their illicit course. Recently, the terrorist groups have suffered enormous setbacks and recorded several casualties as a result of ferocious offensives by gallant troops of OPHK.

“Eighteen male fighters of the terrorist groups on Wednesday 4 August 2021, came out to surrender to troops with their arms and ammunition, along with their families including 18 adult females and 19 children from Chingori and other surrounding villages around the Sambisa forest.

“The arms recovered from the surrendered terrorists include, 5 AK 47 rifles, 1 foreign AK 47 rifle with telescopic sight, 1 Fabrique Nationale rifle, 8 AK 47 rifle magazines, 1 FN rifle magazine, 1 Bandolier, 3 rounds of 7.62mm (special) ammunition and the sum of Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred naira (#7,700.00) only.

“Similarly, a Boko Haram fighter from Abuja Asamau Village in Sambisa Forest also surrendered to own troops of with his AK 47 rifle, 2 magazines, 1 Magazine holder, 1 round of 7.62mm special and the sum of N5,000:00

“It will be recalled that in less than 2 weeks, over 100 BHTs/ISWAP terrorists and their families have succumbed to ferocious offensive operations of Nigerian troops by laying down their arms and giving up the fight as their enclaves are being bombarded by the combined efforts of the Air component and ground troops of Operation HADIN KAI.

“The Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya has lauded the troops for their effort and charged them to remain dedicated and committed in the fight, until the terrorists are completely decimated.” Business Hallmark

Details: East Africa; 06 August 2021; 887

Gen Yoweri Museveni. Photo via The Observer

President Museveni has today retired 14 Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) generals and 590 other officers.

The most senior by rank of those retired is Gen Ivan Koreta. The 65-year-old four-star Koreta joined armed forces in 1981 when Museveni and group picked up guns to fight Dr Milton Obote’s government.

Koreta trained as a soldier in Mozambique as a member of Front for National Salvation which was then a rebel group formed to topple off the leadership of President Idi Amin after accusing him of being a dictator.

While fighting Dr Obote’s government, Museveni and the group formed a rebel group christened National Resistance Army (NRA) where Koreta was the battalion commander. After capturing power in 1986, Koreta’s group was in charge of providing security along the Kampala-Gulu highway.

When NRA transformed into UPDF, Koreta held various positions that show him rise through the ranks. In his over 40 years’ military career, Koreta served as First Division commander, deputy director of Internal Security Organisation (ISO), the first commandant of senior command and Staff College at Kimaka, chairman General Court Martial and deputy chief of defence forces.

The second-highest-ranking retired UPDF generals include three stars generals; Lt Gen Pecos Onesmus Kuteesa and Lt Gen Jim Beesigye Owoyesigyire. Kuteesa’s military service stretches way back to 1976 when he became a member of FRONASA which was another group formed to fight Amin.

Kuteesa joined FRONASA after completing S.6 and was trained at Munduli military academy in Tanzania. After Amin was overthrown, Kuteesa was deployed to command Nakasongola military schools which he later deserted to join the NRA of Museveni to fight Obote's government. Kuteesa once served as Museveni’s ADC and a member of parliament representing the army.

Kuteesa was in 1994 voted to a member of the Constituent Assembly representing Kabula and the group was responsible for the establishment of the current Uganda Constitution 1995 even though it has severally been amended.

Beesigye Owoyesigyire was commander of AMISOM a peacekeeping force in Somalia. Owoyesigyire also joined the armed forces in 1979 and his 42 years’ career has seen him serve in key military positions such as commander Air Force between 2005 and 2012, he had earlier served as a division commander for field artillery and was served as chairperson of a committee that shows the establishment of National Defence College, in addition, to represent army in parliament between 2011 and 2016.

The retirees also include two-star Generals, Maj Gen Christopher Kazoora Murema, Maj Gen Moses Wadimba Ssentongo, Maj Gen Robert Rusoke and Maj Gen Innocent George Oula. Rusoke is the current overall supervisor of the Covid-19 joint security task force.

The one-star generals who have also been retired include Brig Gen Moses Kigongo, Brig Gen Jacob Asiimwe, Brig Gen Moses Shaban Lukyamuzi, Brig Gen Muhammed Abiriga, Brig Gen John Araali Kasaija and Brig Gen Frank Kanyarutokye.

However, former Inspector General of Police, Gen Edward Kale Kayihura, Gen David Sejusa who had earlier been rumoured to be on the list were not included. It is not clear whether the two applied for retirement or not. - URN/The Observer

Details: East Africa; 05 August 2021; 794

FILE PHOTO: A worker holds coffee berries as they to sundry at the Bradegate coffee factory in Karatina near Nyeri, Kenya June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Monicah MwangiREUTERS

NYERI, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan butcher David Mwangi likes to start his day with a mocha or a cappuccino at a newly opened coffee shop in his area - the first such outlet in a farming town where a sweet, milky cup of tea is the way most people start the day.

The small coffee chain - which has six outlets in central Kenya - was founded last year by Joshua Kariuki, who returned home to Nyeri town after 15 years as an aid worker, including in South Sudan.

He hopes Kilele will add profit and value for local farmers as it relies on them for the supply of raw coffee.

"We want to have a coffee drinking culture at the local level," Kariuki said.

A booming domestic market could nurture a new generation of farmers in a flagging industry, said Matthew Harrison, an Amsterdam-based buyer at specialty coffee sourcing company Trabocca.

Kenya's coffee production peaked at 129,000 tonnes three decades ago but has dropped to around 40,000 tonnes due to poor management, global price swings and climate change.

Now the East African country accounts for just 1% of the global crop, but its high-quality arabica beans are sought after by roasters for blending with other varieties.

Demand at home for the beans is rising, as newly minted members of the urban middle class and even those in the countryside develop a taste for specialty coffee.

Kenyans consume just 5% of total output, compared with neighbouring Ethiopia, where domestic consumption accounts for nearly half of production, thanks to a strong coffee drinking culture.

But the local consumption in Kenya has tripled to 1,500 metric tonnes per year in the past decade, figures from the global business data portal, Statista, showed.

That benefits farmers like Thuo Mathenge, who closed his medical business in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to return to his village a decade ago. He now processes beans from his sprawling coffee farm at the base of Mount Kenya and sells the product in his retail outlets.

Mathenge attributed the rise in Kenyan coffee culture to the growing knowledge of the beverage's potential benefits, including triggering alertness and boosting energy.

He produces more than 50 tonnes of coffee a year, and the proportion of the coffee he sells locally has doubled to 60% from 30% seven years ago. The rest goes to the United States, Britain and Belgium.

His organically grown, processed coffee fetches 2,000 shillings ($18.49) a kilo, compared with the less than 100 shillings that most small-scale farmers in the area get for their raw coffee abroad, thanks to the fact that he does not use chemicals in growing.

"Coffee is gold," he said, adding that he is planting more coffee trees on a separate 20 acre piece of land.

Details: East Africa; 05 August 2021; 823

The Ugandan government has finally broken its silence over Deputy President William Ruto’s aborted trip to the country on Monday.

In a statement issued Thursday, the President Yoweri Museveni-led government denies claims of interfering in Kenyan affairs following concerns that the DP had planned to fly to Uganda without informing his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“Our foreign policy is very clear that we don’t interfere in the internal affairs of any country what so ever. We have no authority; we have no power over Kenyan government. They have their own reasons why the prevented HE Ruto from coming to Uganda and that should be channeled to the Kenyan High Commission,” the Ugandan government said in a statement by Okello Oryem, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Kampala also says it had not made protocol arrangements to receive the DP.

Dr Ruto was blocked from flying to Uganda in what would have been his second trip to the neighbouring country in less than a month. Kenyan Immigration officials had said there was no clearance for the trip.

His office, however, insists the DP’s was a planned private visit, for which he did not require any clearance.

But on matters protocol, Ugandan says there were no plans to receive the DP. Mr Oryem, however, did not clarify whether this was because Dr Ruto was planning a private visit or because they were not informed about the trip at all.

“I was not informed by the chief of protocol being requested by the Kenyan High Commission in Uganda to provide protocol services to the deputy President,” he said.

The statement by Uganda comes after the Raila Odinga-led ODM party, which described the DP’s troubles as a “sympathy-seeking circus”, questioned the Dr Ruto's links to Mr Museveni and his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

In the statement, ODM questioned DP Ruto’s plan to borrow lessons from NRM, including using its top strategists in the 2022 election.

ODM MPs chide DP Ruto over aborted Uganda trip

According to ODM, Dr Ruto is wrong to want to follow in the footsteps of a party with a bad record on democracy, protection of civil society places, good governance, freedom of the press and human rights abuses among others.

“While we do not wish to interfere with internal political arrangements in other countries, we equally want to state that we do not need to borrow from other countries political habits whose end result can only lead to chaos and backwardness of our country,” ODM said in a statement read by National Assembly minority whip Junet Mohamed. Source: Daily Nation

Details: East Africa; 04 August 2021; 819

Photo Courtesy DT

Jacob Zuma's case will be heard in open court, after Judge Piet Koen appears to have been persuaded by the former president's team. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

The former president will have his in-person hearing next week and get to see advocate Billy Downer face-to-face when his lawyers argue for the prosecutor’s removal from the case.

On Wednesday morning the Pietermaritzburg High Court issued a directive that the hearing will be heard in open court – something Zuma’s legal team has spent the last month motivating for.

In their latest submissions to the court, filed on Monday, Zuma’s lawyers said the court’s proposal to have the hearing of Zuma’s special plea application in his Arms Deal corruption trial heard virtually was a violation of the former president’s right to a fair trial.

“To do so would be unconstitutional and illegal, irrespective of the situation in a particular case, a particular date or the particular circumstance which may or may not prevail on 9 August 2021,” his lawyer said in a short two-page submission to the court.

The National Prosecuting Authority was adamant that the hearing could go ahead virtually because no evidence was expected to be led.

“A virtual hearing of oral argument of the special plea on 10 August is possible and will be satisfactory in every respect. The parties and their legal representatives and the public (through the broadcasting of the live feed) will be able to observe the proceedings,” the NPA argued.

However, Judge Piet Koen appears to have been persuaded by the Zuma team, revoking his earlier directive of 15 July that the case should be heard virtually.

In a court order dated 4 August, Koen said the hearing will be conducted “in open court at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg”.

“The currently applicable Disaster Management (Covid) regulations, particularly those regarding the wearing of face masks, maintaining social distance and the restrictions on the numbers of attendees at indoor venues, must at all times be adhered to strictly,” he said.

Indications are that security services will be preparing for crowds to attend the Zuma hearing, as the NPA indicated in its court papers.

“As to an in-person hearing, the security services have advised the NPA that if an in-person hearing were to take place on 10 August they will take all reasonable steps to ensure that it happens peacefully. They have not given any assurance they will succeed,” the NPA wrote.

“Supporters of the first accused are presently being mobilised on social media to gather in their numbers in Pietermaritzburg on 10 August.”

The NPA also raises concerns about rising Covid-19 numbers in KwaZulu-Natal: “There is no good reason not to opt for a virtual hearing of the oral arguments on 10 August and to assume the risks attendant on an in-person hearing.”

The court has set aside three days to hear Zuma’s special plea in which he wants Downer to be removed as prosecutor, alleging bias.

Zuma’s team argues that the prosecutor should be removed from the case due to political influence in the prosecution dating back to the origins of the case more than a decade ago. DM

Dianne Hawker is a news editor at Newzroom Afrika and has been a legal journalist for more than 15 years. Source: Defend Truth

Page 659 of 740

East Africa

56 Boko Haram terrorists, families surrender to Nigerian soldiers

Museveni retires 14 UPDF Generals, 590 others

Kenya's growing taste for specialty coffee seen spurring output

Ugandan government breaks silence on aborted DP Ruto trip

Jacob Zuma gets his day in court as judge orders physical hearing

The former president will have his in-person hearing next week and get to see advocate Billy Downer face-to-face when his lawyers argue for the prosecutor’s removal from the case.

About IEA Media Ltd

Our Offices

Latest News

Blow to Adani as Hig...

Turkiye bombs 32 PKK...

President Kiir brief...

IMF warns of crisis...

Big Reach

Very Flexible

Quality News

Banner & Video Ads