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Transport at the Uganda-Rwanda border along the Kabale-Katuna road was on Saturday morning paralyzed after a fuel tanker burst into flames after failing to negotiate a corner.

The accident occurred at Nyakasharara village in Kicumbi parish, Kamuganguzi sub-county, Kabale district. According to eyewitnesses, the fuel tanker was heading to Kigali, Rwanda from Mombasa, Kenya.

They say that the driver, who could have failed to control the vehicle, came hooting endlessly while driving at a very high speed.       

After the driver failed to negotiate a sharp corner at Nyakasharara, the vehicle rolled and immediately burst into flames, burning beyond recognition. They however say that the driver and turnboy managed to get out unhurt and fled. - URN/The Observer

Around 70% of Derna’s infrastructure damaged by floods, according to Libyan officials

TRIPOLI, Libya

East Libya-based government plans to hold an international conference for rebuilding the city of Derna following this month’s deathly floods.

“We invite the international community to participate in an international conference on Oct. 10 to rebuild Derna and other areas affected by Storm Daniel,” Osama Hamad, head of the eastern government, said in a statement.

Mediterranean storm Daniel struck eastern Libya on Sept. 10, leading to floods in several cities, including Benghazi, Bayda, Al Marj, Soussa, and Derna, resulting in massive destruction to infrastructure and a significant loss of life.

Derna was hardest hit by the deadly flooding, causing the city’s dams to burst, washing away homes and people.

According to UN figures, nearly 4,000 were killed and over 8,000 others still missing following the flood disaster.

The conference “aims to present modern and rapid visions for the reconstruction of Derna and other affected cities, including the rebuilding of roads and dams,” Hamad said.

"The conference comes in response to the calls of the people of Derna and other affected cities,” he added.

On Monday, hundreds of Derna residents demonstrated to demand accountability after floods wreaked havoc in the city.

According to Libyan officials, around 70% of Derna’s infrastructure was damaged by the catastrophic floods. *Writing by Ikram Kouachi, Anadolu

New-look DCI Headquarters. [Samson Wire, Standard.]

Nine suspected linked to mysterious dissapearance of Sh160 million belonging to the National Intelligence Services Sacco have been arrested.

The suspects some senior employees of the Sacco in question were arrested on Friday by the Directorate of Ciminal Investigation detectives.

Those arrested are Amos Kipchumba the Sacco's internal auditor, loans manager Violet Wali, accountant Caren Langat, system analysts Hamisi Zaunga and Miriam Nthenya and Moses Ntoinya an NIS officer.

 

Others are Nicodemus Osiemo, Eric Rono from Sure-step Systems, and Tony Wabomba a former employee of the Sacco Society.

The DCI on its Twitter said the nine, all employees of Njiwa Sacco were rounded up following comprehensive joint investigations, conducted by detectives and officials from the spy agency. 

The directorate said the suspects will be arraigned in court on Monday, September 25, 2023 to answer to their crimes.

It said its detectives are on the trail of three other suspects who have since gone into hiding.

“The agencies involved in the investigation of this high level fraud shall continue to investigate and expose corrupt individuals and networks, while taking concrete steps to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public entities,” read part of the statement. By Esther Nyambura, The Standard

 
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) has seen Western banks pull out of financing the project over environmental concerns. Photo: Handout
 

China steps in to save Uganda oil pipeline as Western lenders back out over environmental concerns

  • A new pipeline is planned to transport crude oil from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast
  • Several major Western banks have pulled out of investing in the project due to pressure from environmental groups 
Chinese lenders will provide more than half of the US$3 billion debt that Uganda requires to build a crude oil pipeline after financiers from the West backed out following strong opposition from environmental groups.
 
According to Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the East African nation expects to finalise talks with the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank) by next month to finance the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
 
Irene Bateebe, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said Sinosure, the Chinese state-owned provider of export credit insurance, is working with Eximbank to provide funding for the pipeline, which “is the largest portion – above 50 per cent of the debt”.

“We are at the tail-end of the discussions [with Chinese lenders] for financial close. We are confident that by the end of October of this year, we will close the debt component and we would have mobilised most of the funding for the project,” Bateebe said on Friday. 

Uganda needs about US$5 billion for the pipeline running from Lake Albert’s oilfields to a storage and loading terminal in the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Financing is set at a 60:40 debt-to-equity ratio, meaning US$3 billion will be secured as debt with the remaining US$2 billion to be financed by shareholders through equity contributions.

TotalEnergies controls a 62 per cent interest in the pipeline; the Uganda National Oil Company holds 15 per cent; Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation has 15 per cent; leaving 8 per cent for Chinese oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

 

The 1,443km (896-mile) pipeline would transport crude oil from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields in northwest Uganda to Tanga in Tanzania on the Indian Ocean where the oil would then be sold onwards to world markets. 

Besides the Chinese lenders, Bateebe said Uganda expects to get some funding from Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank and some African banks, including the African Export-Import Bank.

Bateebe said initially many Western-backed lenders had expressed interest in financing the pipeline but pulled out due to strong opposition from environmental and human rights groups who have said the oilfields and pipeline threaten the region’s fragile ecosystem and the livelihoods of thousands of people. Further, environmentalists say Uganda is going against the global push for energy transition away from fossil fuels. By Jevans Nyabiage, South China Morning Post

A depiction of a slavery emancipation festival in Barbados. An Anglican charity has committed to paying reparations to the country - Print Collector/Hulton Archive© Provided by The Telegraph

Church of England charity has offered £7 million in slavery reparations, prompting Barbados to criticise the “unilateral” decision of how much compensation should be paid.

Earlier this month the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) committed £7 million as a “reparations project” for its ownership of the Codrington Estate, once the site of one of Barbados’ largest sugar plantations. 

The Anglican mission agency, then known as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, profited from slave labour on the Codrington Estate between 1710 and 1838, while operating as the Church of England’s primary mission agency in North and Central America.

The announcement of the £7 million fund – worth 18 million Barbadian dollars – to be spent in Barbados over the next 10 to 15 years was hailed as by the USPG as making amends for “its disgraceful links to the slave trade”.

The fund aims to work with descendants of people who were enslaved in community development, historical research, memorialisation and family research.

However, representatives from the Barbadian government’s national task force on reparations have criticised the payments on the grounds that the USPG did not negotiate the terms nor the amount with them.

The move comes after The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that Caribbean nations are to formally demand slavery reparations from the Royal Family, Lloyds of London and the Church of England for their role in the slave trade and plantation system.

The Most Rev Justin Welby, in his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, serves as the president of the USPG, which is UK-based and retains funding and governance links with the Church of England.

Responding to the USPG’s £7 million fund, David Comissiong, deputy chairman of the national task force on reparations, said that compensation should not be determined by the same organisations who benefited from slavery.

He said: “We need to point out to the Church of England and all similar institutions that reparations are not about them unilaterally determining what compensation they are prepared to make. Reparations do not work like that.” 

Trevor Prescod, a Barbados MP and special envoy to the prime minister on reparations, also criticised the donation, saying: “The Church believes that it can do whatever it wants to do, without any respect to the agencies that the government has set up.”

Mr Prescod, who also leads the national task force and is part of the Caricom reparations commission, added: “They did not pass money into the hands of any state agency. We have no authority to see if they will execute the project.

“They can’t exclude the government from the planning… We have to protect the interests of our people.”

 
Trevor Prescod is a Barbados MP and special envoy to the Prime Minister on reparations - Alamy Stock Photo/Imago
Trevor Prescod is a Barbados MP and special envoy to the Prime Minister on reparations - Alamy Stock Photo/Imago© Provided by The Telegraph

USPG ‘ashamed’ of links to slavery/Photo Courtesy 

Meanwhile, Duncan Dormor, the general secretary of USPG, has said: “USPG is deeply ashamed of our past links to slavery. 

“We recognise that it is not simply enough to repent in thought and word, but we must take action, action, working in partnership with Codrington where the descendants of enslaved persons are still deeply impacted by the generational trauma that came from the Codrington plantations.”

A spokesman for the USPG said: “The project has been developed in close partnership with the Codrington Trust in Barbados, who own and manage the estates. Indeed, the programme proposals have come entirely from the Codrington Trust.

“As an organisation, we are seeking to take responsibility for our actions in the past through this programme of reparative activity. We will continue to be guided by our partnership with the Codrington Trust around the approach to reparations in Barbados.”

Barbados has emerged as a leader in the Caribbean’s pursuit of compensation for crimes committed during the colonial era.

The capital city, Bridgetown, was host to a meeting of African union and Caribbean community nations in July, at which an “intercontinental campaign” was launched to demand compensation for slavery from European former colonial powers.

The country, which removed Elizabeth II as head of state two years ago to become a republic, has been making reparations claims against Britain and individual British citizens. Story by Gabriella Swerling, Eric Williams, The Telegraph

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