GENERAL NEWS

Ban hails UN Member States' agreement on 'people's agenda' to end poverty, promote sustainability

NEWS STORY

Source: UN News Centre

2 August 2015 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has praised UN Member States for reaching agreement on the draft outcome document that will constitute the new sustainable development agenda, which will be formally adopted by world leaders in New York this September.

“Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” encompasses a universal, transformative and integrated agenda that heralds an historic turning point for our world. This agreement results from a truly open, inclusive and transparent process,” the UN chief said in a statement issued this evening.

Concluding a negotiating process that has spanned more than two years with the unprecedented participation of civil society, the 193 Member States agreed to an ambitious agenda that features 17 new sustainable development goals that aim, by 2030, to eradicate extreme poverty, promote prosperity and people's well-being, while protecting the environment.

“This is the People's Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind. It seeks to ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at the core. The integrated, interlinked and indivisible 17 Sustainable Development Goals are the people's goals and demonstrate the scale, universality and ambition of this new Agenda”, stated Mr. Ban.

More than 150 world leaders are expected to attend the Sustainable Development Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York, from 25 to 27 September, to formally adopt the outcome document agreed this weekend. “I look forward to joining Heads of States and Government, civil society, faith and business leaders, and peoples around the world for the adoption of this new agenda in the historic Summit in New York, » added the UN chief.

The new sustainable development agenda builds on the success of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which helped more than 700 million people to escape poverty over the past 15 years and aimed at an array of issues that included hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation by 2015.

The broader sustainability agenda go much further, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people. “We are resolved to free the human race within this generation from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet for the present and for future generations,” states the text.

“We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind,” the Member States continue.

Highlighting poverty eradication as the overarching goal of the new development agenda, the outcome document fully integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development and calls for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income.

The 17 sustainable goals and 169 targets aim at tackling key systemic barriers to sustainable development, such as inequality, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, inadequate infrastructure and lack of decent jobs. The environmental dimension of sustainable development is covered in the goals on oceans and marine resources and on ecosystems and biodiversity, bringing core issues into the goal and target framework.

Member States stressed that the desired transformations will require a departure from “business as usual” and that intensified international cooperation on many fronts will be required. The agenda calls for a revitalized, global partnership for sustainable development, including for multi-stakeholder partnerships, as well as for increased capacity building and better data and statistics to measure sustainable development.

Providing an effective follow-up and review architecture, the agenda will include a Technology Facilitation Mechanism to support the new goals, based on multi-stakeholder collaboration between Member States, civil society, business, the scientific community, and the UN system of agencies. Agreed at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which took place last July in Addis-Ababa, the Mechanism will have an inter-agency task team, a forum on science, technology and innovation, and an online platform for collaboration.

The successful outcome of the Addis Conference gave important positive momentum to the last stretch of negotiations on the sustainable development agenda. It is expected that the consensus reached on the outcome document will provide momentum for the negotiations on a new binding climate change treaty to culminate at the Climate Change Conference in Paris, from 30 November to 11 December 2015.

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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

UN concerned over human trafficking in DR Congo

NEWS STORY

Source: Xinhua

Kinshasa, 31 July 2015 - The United Nations Mission for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have expressed concern over rising cases of human trafficking in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

In a statement issued on Thursday during celebrations to mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons that is always celebrated on July 30, the two organizations noted that DR Congo had become a destination or probably a transit point of people trafficked for forced labour or sexual slavery.

MONUSCO and IOM noted that armed groups and uncontrolled soldiers in eastern DR Congo were the key perpetrators of incidents linked to human trafficking witnessed across the country.

"A significant number of men and boys working as unlicensed small scale miners have been exploited by businessmen in unacceptable slavery situations," the statement added.

MONUSCO and IOM reiterated the need for a collective fight against this phenomenon and urged all stakeholders to take appropriate measures aimed at identifying and punishing those who commit these acts.

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RWANDA

Rwanda opposition back new plan to lift presidential term limits

NEWS STORY

Source: Xinhua

Kigali, 2 August 2015 - Rwanda’s opposition politicians have declared support for amendment to the Constitution allowing President Paul Kagame to run for a third term in office which has been backed by the country’s lawmakers.

Rwandan lawmakers who have been consulting citizens on the amendment of the Constitution, met opposition politicians under a consultative meeting in Kigali.

Nine out of 11 recognized political parties declared their support for constitutional amendment to lift the seven-year limit of the presidential term.

Yet the Democratic Green Party made a stand against the move, while the PS-Imberakuri Party remained indecisive.

Supporters have declared that Kagame deserves to lead the country after 2017 and the Constitution should not be a stumbling block.

"We need Article 101 to be amended because in a democratic society people have powers to choose leaders of their own choice," said Sheikh Musa Fazil Harelimana, Minister of Internal Security.

Francois Ngarambe, secretary general of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front, said political parties have responsibility to respect the voice of the approximately four million Rwandans who have petitioned parliament calling for scrapping of term limits.

However, Dr. Frank Habineza, head of the Democratic Green Party, maintained that the Constitution should not be amended so as to facilitate peaceful transfer of power.

"We petitioned Parliament against the change of Article 101 of the Constitution because we believe Rwanda deserves sustainable peace and security only guaranteed by peaceful transfer of power," Habineza said.

A change of the constitution will now be put to a referendum.

Former FDLR fighter wants Kagame in power

NEWS STORY

Source: Rwanda Eye (http://rwandaeye.com/featured/6863/former-fdlr-fighter-wants-kagame-in-p...)

30 July 2015 - Corporal Innocent Maniragena is a former rebel fighter with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) whose aim of joining the rebel movement was to oust the Rwandan president Paul Kagame.

This earlier idea according to Corporal Innocent Maniragena, a resident of Kabatwa sector, in Ngando village, Nyabihu district has changed.

Just like many former rebels fighters who have returned from Congo, the former anti-Kagame fighter now says that he wants Kagame to stay in power because of the peace he has enjoyed in Rwanda since his repatriation.

“I used to be a rebel with the FDLR and you know how times have changed since then in the former Gisenyi and Ruhengeri provinces where we came in fighting him (Kagame) and had camps in areas of Nyamutera among others” Maniragena said.

Maniragena also confessed that in the war of bullets with Rwandan government soldiers, his group was defeated, and at some time they had to retreat back to the bushes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), though the aim was to remove Kagame from power.

“We came fighting this government and we used to call them cockroaches (inyenzi)” a common derogatory word we used several times” he said

Today, Maniragena agrees that the rebels failed to attain their goal because of the peace that exists in Rwanda and states that it is very reason why he is grateful for president Kagame who had mercy for people like him.

With an emotional tone in his voice the former rebel fight explains that during his arrest, just like others, they though that they would killed or imprisoned, but instead they were put under an integration and a six months skills development program.

After his graduation, the former rebel says he is grateful that he is now employed as a reserve force, and runs his milling business which grinds about 10 tons of grains a day and with this he says that this has made him a successful person in the Kabatwa community since he owns a house.

For this reason, just like many demobilized and repatriated rebels, Corporal Maniragena says the constitution should be amended to give Kagame more years in power since he has given peace which is a pillar of Rwanda’s development.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda in its French Acronym) is the primary remnant Rwandan Hutu rebel group which committed genocide against the Tutsi and has been fighting the Rwandan government from the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since 2000.

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BURUNDI

African Union Urges Calm in Burundi after General Assassinated

NEWS STORY

Source: Bloomberg

By Felix Njini

3 August 2015 - The African Union appealed for calm in Burundi after unidentified attackers killed an adviser to President Pierre Nkurunziza.

General Adolphe Nshimirimana, the former head of intelligence in Burundi, died Sunday when a group of unidentified men attacked him in the capital, Bujumbura. The incident is likely to further destabilize the East African nation, African Union Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement posted the organization’s website.

Dlamini-Zuma called on Burundians to “exercise utmost restraint, not be provoked and to refrain from any acts of retaliation that would only further escalate and complicate the already bad situation.”

Gunmen in uniform kill ally of Burundi President Nkurunziza

NEWS STORY

Source: Reuters

By Drazen Jorgic

2 August 2015 - Gunmen wearing military uniforms shot dead a former Burundian security chief and close ally of President Pierre Nkurunziza on Sunday, the presidency said, heightening tensions after a disputed presidential poll.

Nkurunziza called for calm after the attack, which the United States and European Union condemned. But late on Sunday, bursts of sporadic gunfire could be heard in northern Bujumbura.

General Adolphe Nshimirimana, who was in charge of the president's personal security at the time of his death, was killed in a car alongside three of his bodyguards in the Kamenge district of the capital Bujumbura, witnesses said.

They said the four attackers in military fatigues sprayed the car with bullets and drove off shortly after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT). "Two had machine guns and two others rocket launchers. They came in military lorry and returned back in the same car," said a taxi driver named Paul.

Pictures on social media showed a black bullet-riddled SUV with its front tyres flattened and side windows shot out.

Nkurunziza said security forces need to be strengthened to prevent future killings and pleaded with Burundians "not to fall in trap of revenge".

"We ask every Burundian, in hills and the capital, to stay united," Nkurunziza told state radio, vowing the killers would be brought before to justice.

Burundi has been in chaos since late April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office, a move that his opponents and Western powers said violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005.

Months of protests and a coup attempt were quelled, but the capital and some areas in the countryside have been rocked by sporadic violence and killings.

Nshimirimana, who was also a former chief of staff in Burundian army, was seen as part of Nkurunziza's inner circle. Opponents say he was one of key men behind the crackdown on protesters and thwarting of the coup.

"I have lost a brother, a companion in the struggle. The sad reality is that General Adolphe Nshimirimana is no longer with this world," Willy Nyamitwe, the presidency's communications chief, said in a message posted on Twitter.

Some of the army generals behind the attempted coup have vowed to lead a rebellion to oust Nkurunziza, who won the July 21 presidential poll after the opposition boycotted the elections.

African leaders fear the violence could split the country down ethnic lines and lead to another ci