• On March 8, the 26 students were evacuated from Sumy through the humanitarian corridor to Poltava.
• On Wednesday, they left Poltava and were driven to Lviv on the Ukraine border with Poland.
Tanzania Telecommunication Corporation and Huawei have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the deployment of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fixed wireless 4G services, as well as the rollout and expansion of fixed and mobile networks in rural locations.
The state-owned operator’s Director General Waziri Kindamba said the partnership is aimed at enabling both parties to work together in various areas of improvement, a step that would help the telco build capacity at a time when the country is undergoing a digital transformation.
‘I can say that this cooperation with Huawei Technologies has come in a very right time, as it will in a large extent contribute in the digitalisation of our country. Our goal is to ensure that every person is connected with speedy and quality internet services,’ he said. Source: Comms Update
• On March 8, the 26 students were evacuated from Sumy through the humanitarian corridor to Poltava.
• On Wednesday, they left Poltava and were driven to Lviv on the Ukraine border with Poland.
Freeman Mbowe spent eight months in detention on terrorism charges, which were dropped before his release on 4 March
The release of Tanzania’s opposition leader Freeman Mbowe is a step in the right direction which must be followed by concrete and effective measures to ensure full respect for human rights including the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression, Amnesty International said today.
Freeman Mbowe spent eight months in detention on terrorism charges, which were dropped before his release on 4 March. Amnesty International is calling on Tanzanian authorities to immediately stop weaponizing the law to target opposition and critical voices, and to make a number of reforms including addressing the misuse of the provisions of non bailable offences under the Criminal Procedure Act to hold people in prison for unreasonable periods of time, on the grounds that further investigations are pending.
Following his release, Mbowe met with President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the State House in Dar es Salaam, where they pledged to join hands to “build the nation, through trust and mutual respect built on the foundations of justice”.
Freeman Mbowe was arbitrarily arrested and detained on politically motivated charges, amid a crackdown targeting Tanzania’s opposition
“Freeman Mbowe was arbitrarily arrested and detained on politically motivated charges, amid a crackdown targeting Tanzania’s opposition. His release brings an end to eight months of injustice and must signal the end of attempts by Tanzanian authorities to crush political opposition and peaceful dissent,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“We now call on President Hassan to honor the pledge she made last week, and ensure that the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly of everyone, including the political opposition, will be respected, protected, and promoted going forward.
“This means putting an end to the arbitrary arrest and harassment of politicians and their supporters. All those detained solely for expressing peaceful dissent and denied bail across the country must be released immediately.”
The High Court Division of Corruption and Economic Sabotage Offences ordered the release of Freeman Mbowe and three of his co-accused, Halfan Bwire Hassan, Adam Hassan Kasekwa and Mohammed Abdillahi Ling'wenya, after the Director of Public Prosecution dropped terrorism charges against all of them.
The prosecution did not explain the reason for its decision to drop the charges.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.
Photo Courtesy
The UK has added Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich to its list of sanctioned individuals as part of its efforts to "isolate" Russian President Vladimir Putin -- throwing the sale of the London club into doubt.
In a statement Thursday, the UK government said it was adding seven further oligarchs and politicians -- including Abramovich -- to its list of sanctioned individuals.
Abramovich announced this month he plans to sell Chelsea, as it is "in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club's sponsors and partners." This came after he declared he gave "stewardship" of the club over to trustees of the club's charitable foundation
But the new sanctions will see his assets frozen and will prohibit "transactions with UK individuals and businesses," the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement Thursday. The billionaire will also face a travel ban forbidding him to enter the UK.
The sanctions also heavily affect Chelsea. The club is to be issued a "special licence" that will allow matches to be played, "staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches," according to UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries. The measures mean that no further tickets will be allowed to be sold by the club and only season ticket holders and/or tickets already sold will be allowed to attend matches.
British Member of Parliament Chris Bryant had previously called for Abramovich to lose ownership of Chelsea after seeing a leaked 2019 UK government document that said Abramovich was of interest due to his "links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices," the MP said in a Twitter post.
The UK is "absolutely determined" to sanction Russian oligarchs, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said this month, adding that the UK was working through "a further list" of oligarchs to sanction.
"There is nowhere for any of Putin's cronies to hide," Truss continued. Source: People Daily
By JULIUS MBALUTO
Kenya’s Deputy President has said that he will accept election results whichever way it goes. Speaking in London at Chatham House, he urged all his competitors in Kenya’s election to be conducted in August this year to also accept the outcome of the election.
Ruto was answering a question from a Kenyan who wanted to know whether he will be willing to accept results if he lost the election. He started his speech by sharing his bottom- up economic model.
In his speech, he alleged that the opposition want to bring back an imperial President because they want power. He said they wanted the President to have power over the Judiciary by appointing an entity called Ombudsman that seeks to supervise the Judiciary.
He said they wanted to change the constitution and take the country back to how it was before the new constitution. Ruto advocated for what he called institutionalizing accountability. He said that the country was worse off because there was no opposition and no oversight. He said if he was elected, he would ensure Judiciary was independent by funding it.
He said the police service also need to be financially independent so that they can execute their mandate with professionalism without being controlled by the executive. Answering a question about his power sharing with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto told those attending that he never appointed any Ministers, but President Uhuru Kenyatta did.
Deputy President William Ruto speaking at Chatham House in London.
Our first term, I played my role. I had many responsibilities which I discharged with distinction for example, the building of the SGR and 10,000 km of tarmac.
“To demonstrate our success, we were elected by twice the margin which we were elected in 2013. Unfortunately, in our second term because of the political dynamics that came in to play the President told me that he wanted to do things differently and that he didn’t want what had become normal and known as UhuruRuto, he wanted a ‘Uhuru’.
“I had a candid discussion with him and when he told me what he wanted, to run his legacy alone as the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya, I was fine with that. Executive Order Number 1 came into force establishing a different arrangement in government and I had no quarrel with it because that is what the President wanted. “
Ruto said that the people who were given the responsibility for the big 4 agenda failed it. Housing plan never took off, the universal coverage never took off and Agricultural transformation never happened and then we embraced the BBI which went up in smoke because it was unconstitutional.
Ruto said if elected, he would do things differently, there should be clear distinction between the opposition and the government so that there is an oversight of the government.
Dennis Otingo of Azimio La Umoja UK asked the Deputy President his thoughts about the Handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. Ruto said that the handshake was a conspiracy, and it wasn’t genuine.
He said the handshake ended Jubilee, Nasa and the Big 4 Agenda. Answering a different question, he said he was the biggest loser for the disintegration of Jubilee party as he had invested a lot in it. He said if elected he will focus on increasing the numbers of women into leadership.
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