Ugandan Police Have Arrested A Man Following The Gruesome Discovery Of 17 Human Skulls Last Month In A Shrine Located West Of The Capital, Kampala. The remains, which were found on July 28 in the town of Mpigi, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Kampala, included three children’s skulls, according to police reports.
Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke confirmed on Tuesday that the suspect, Lujja Bbosa Tabula, was apprehended on August 19 by the police crime intelligence squad after receiving a tip-off. “Tabula was wanted in connection with the human skulls that were found at his residence in Mpigi recently,” Rusoke stated. He added that Tabula is currently in custody and will face court proceedings once investigations are completed, although a specific court date has not yet been set.
The circumstances surrounding the skulls’ presence at the site remain unclear. The remains were discovered in an underground chamber on a steep hill, buried in four metal boxes at a depth of about two meters (seven feet). Local media reports suggest that the location had been a gathering place for worship by some residents.
Also Read: Gunmen Attack Ebonyi Police Station, Five Killed In addition to this case, Tabula is also wanted by police in connection with the murder of Daniel Bbosa, a prominent traditional leader and entrepreneur from the Baganda community. Bbosa was reportedly killed by hired gunmen in Kampala as he returned home from work in February of this year. Tabula had been on the run prior to the discovery of the skulls. By Kelvin Felix, Report Afrique
Dutch woman survivor was found and is being treated for minor injuries, while rescuers search for Dutch man and Zimbabwean pilot, says top official
Rescue efforts have intensified after a privately owned plane with two Dutch nationals on board crashed into the waters of Lake Malawi on Tuesday afternoon.
The aircraft belonging to a Zimbabwean company, Nyasa Express, also had a Zimbabwean pilot. A Dutch female passenger was rescued by a group of fishermen and is currently in hospital being treated for minor injuries.
Moses Kunkuyu, Malawi’s minister of information and digitization, told Anadolu on Wednesday that the government has intensified efforts to locate the two missing persons – a Dutch passenger and the Zimbabwean pilot.
“We are very optimistic that at the end of Wednesday, we should be able to succeed in our efforts,” he said.
The C2110 aircraft had taken off from the lakeshore district of Nkhotakota en route to eastern Malawi and crashed 45 minutes before landing.
“Rescue efforts are getting there to push the plane ashore. It’s currently spotted underwater close to the shore,” Kunkuyu said.
On June 10, an aircraft crash killed Saulosi Klaus Chilima, Malawi’s vice president, and eight others. Investigations are underway to establish the cause of the crash. By Jamal Jamal, Anadolu Agency
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Julieta Valls Noyes will travel to Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal from August 19-27, 2024.
In Abidjan, Assistant Secretary Noyes will meet with senior government and international organization officials, including the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank. She will discuss Côte d'Ivoire's progress toward eradicating statelessness and successful facilitation of voluntary returns of previously displaced Ivoirians.
The Assistant Secretary will also visit refugees from Burkina Faso living alongside Ivoirians, a testament to the country's generous support to vulnerable people fleeing conflict. Finally, Assistant Secretary Noyes will explore opportunities to promote private sector investment in durable solutions, in alignment with the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability.
In Dakar, the Assistant Secretary will meet with senior government officials and regional international organization partners about Senegal's exemplary role hosting and integrating almost 19,000 refugees locally. Their integration efforts since welcoming displaced people to southern Senegal's Casamance region in 1990, from ensuring access to documentation to inclusion in national social service programs, have led to a more stable and secure country for vulnerable populations.
(Bloomberg) -- Kenyan tax authorities can keep collecting a raft of taxes introduced last year pending the hearing of a consolidated petition at the Supreme Court.
The East African nation’s top court issued a conservatory order suspending a ruling by an appeal court on July 31 that said the set of taxes known as the Finance Act 2023 was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court said it would listen to consolidated appeals on Sept. 10 and 11.
Last year, Kenya enacted the taxes that included doubling value-added tax on fuel, higher excise duties on fees charged for money-transfer services and a hike in the rate for the top salary-tax band to 35% from 30%.
“Public interest tilts in favor of granting conservatory and stay orders” to maintain stability in the budget and appropriation process pending the determination of the appeal, according to all seven Supreme Court judges including Chief Justice Martha Koome.
Enactment of that tax law triggered 11 petitions in the High Court, mostly challenging constitutionality of the legislative process and some of the provisions. The government was forced into abandoning a separate tax law that sought to introduce yet more measures that lead to deadly street protests.
Quashing the levies introduced last year slashes government revenue by about 214 billion shillings ($1.66 billion), according to Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo. That would mean revising the budget to cut expenditure, he said in court filings.
Since taking office almost two years ago, President William Ruto has aggressively pushed to increase domestic revenue in line with an International Monetary Fund financing program.
This fiscal year, the National Treasury seeks to raise record revenue but had to scale back spending plans by 3% after protests that led to the death of at least 61 people.
Two ratings agencies have downgraded Kenya, citing the uncertainty surrounding its ability to diversify revenue streams. Further delays could also cause a mountain of unpaid liabilities to contractors, suppliers and pension funds to balloon.
Annulling taxes adds “another degree of uncertainty to revenue expectations” and may lead to a wider budget deficit, according to BancTrust & Co. Investment Bank. Kenya’s financing gap is seen at 5.8% of gross domestic product this fiscal year due to implementation risk on the proposed spending cuts, it said in a research note. ByDavid Herbling and Eric Ombok, BNN/Bloomberg
This week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the mpox clade I outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The United States government supports those declarations. The United States will continue to work closely with African governments, Africa CDC and WHO to ensure an effective response to the current outbreak and to protect the health and lives of people of the region.
In 2022, the world experienced a global outbreak of clade II mpox, which led to more than 95,000 cases across 115 non-endemic countries. Clade I mpox tends to cause a higher number of severe infections and have a higher mortality rate than clade II mpox. The evidence for clade I mpox clinical outcomes is based primarily on data from endemic countries, particularly DRC. We expect it would cause lower morbidity and mortality in the United States than in the DRC.
DRC is currently experiencing the largest number of annual suspect cases ever recorded and the disease has now been identified in several neighboring countries where mpox (clade I or clade II) has not been found in the past.
U.S. Government Partnership on the Mpox Response
The United States Government has been closely monitoring the spread of clade I mpox in the DRC and neighboring countries since 2023, and we have been working closely with the Government of DRC, as well as regional and global health partners to reduce the impact of this outbreak and safeguard public health. U.S. government support for the mpox response also builds on our robust, longstanding health partnerships with DRC and throughout Africa, which have helped combat infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria for over 20 years. In fiscal year 2023, the United States allocated more than $2.65 billion in bilateral health funding in Central and Eastern Africa. This response also builds on a longstanding partnership on global health security - PDF between DRC and the United States.
In addition to ongoing health support, in the last few months the United States has provided an additional $17 million USD to support clade I mpox preparedness and response efforts in Central and Eastern Africa. The funding has enabled stronger surveillance, risk communication, and community engagement, as well as needed laboratory supplies and diagnostics, clinical services, and vaccine planning.
Vaccination will be a critical element of the response to this outbreak. To support this effort, the United States is donating 50,000 doses of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved JYNNEOS vaccine to DRC. The United States is working with other countries, WHO, and international partners to encourage donations that support vaccine efforts and address challenges to vaccine delivery.
Mpox Preparedness for the United States
The risk to the general public in the United States from clade I mpox circulating in the DRC is very low, and there are no known cases in the United States at this time. Due to efforts over the last nine months, the United States is well prepared to rapidly detect, contain, and manage clade I cases should they be identified domestically. The United States has a robust surveillance system in place, including through clinical testing and wastewater analysis. We continue to encourage those at high risk to get vaccinated with the JYNNEOS mpox vaccine, which has been demonstrated to be safe and highly effective at preventing severe disease from mpox. Those who have already had clade II mpox or are fully vaccinated against mpox are expected to be protected against severe illness from clade I mpox.
CDC has issued an updated Health Alert Network advisory urging clinicians to consider clade I mpox in people who have been in DRC or neighboring countries in the previous 21 days; clinicians are also asked to submit specimens for clade-specific testing for these patients if they have symptoms consistent with mpox. Given the geographic spread of clade I mpox, the U.S. CDC issued an updated Travel Health Notice on Aug. 7, 2024, recommending travellers to DRC and neighbouring countries practice enhanced precautions.
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