European Parliament: Uganda, arrest of parliamentarians from the opposition – European Parliament Resolution of 13 September 2018 on Uganda, arrest of Parliamentarians from the oppostion (13.09.2018)

CICR – Burundi: une aide d’urgence pour des families burundaises recemment expulsees du Rwanda (13.09.2018)

In defense of Bobi Wine: Museveni wouldn’t have had a career if wasn’t for his foreign backers!

Now, that I have read the rubbish from Gerald Banghazi on the Nile Post called ‘Bobi Wine has jumped in bed with foreigners to destabilize Uganda’, which was published today on the 7th September 2018. This is in clear defense of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The National Resistance Movement wouldn’t exists if there wasn’t for foreign support and donations. The NRM and President Museveni wouldn’t have a career without foreigners and foreign intervention in Uganda.

That is why I write today, because this is foolish, the attacks on Bobi Wine aka Robert Kyagulanyi because he get medical treatment in the United States, get a foreign attorney Robert Amsterdam and is savvy enough to get international media on the hook. It is not like Bobi Wine has state apparatus behind him or any foreign powers giving him donations that matters.

That is why I have to say something, because President Museveni and the NRA wouldn’t have the position they we’re in. If there wasn’t for friendly foreigners, even before the NRA, Museveni was a part of a coalition, whose main subsidiary and monetary support from President Julius Nyerere and the United Republic of Tanzania. After the fall of Idi Amin and the Obote II government. The Bush War until 1986, in the that time, the 27 guns got lots of military support from Muammar Al-Gadaffi and Libya. Even if Museveni claims to have done it with nothing and alone, that is not true, if it wasn’t for the guns of Gadaffi he couldn’t have lasted in the Bush.

Now, in more present time, if he didn’t military equipment, ammunition and training from the United States. The Uganda People’s Defense Force and the others Security Organizations in the Republic. The government wouldn’t run if there wasn’t foreign donations to the budget. Neither, if there wasn’t foreign loans and grants. The Ugandan government have for ages been addicted to Direct State Aid and the Multi-National Organizations donating to the state. Therefore, as it seen, the NRM and Museveni couldn’t last for long without the support from abroad.

Museveni wouldn’t be so relaxed about things and loans, if it wasn’t for the Western Powers writing off loans in the 1990s. This was done to help the Republic to not be hurt by old loans and build up a tax-base. However, he has instead raised new loans and creating new problems, as the state are still addicted to the loans and donations, not creating a healthy economy. That is why the need for the foreign support.

Because Museveni knows this, but The World Bank Database, where you scope this “Net official development assistance and official aid received (current US$) – Net official development assistance and official aid received (current US$)”, in 1986 Uganda got $ 191,560,000. While it grew steady in the 90s before it sky-rocketed, in 2002 it got $ 732,980,000, since 2006 to 2016 the Republic got every year over $ 1.6bn in development assistance and official aid. So, when the NRM attacks Bobi Wine for having foreign attorney. Just ask the NRM apologists to shut-up and listen.

Museveni wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t for foreigners and their support of him. Their fate in him and the deals he made with them. To take down Amin, Obote and the rest. Without foreigners he wouldn’t have the thrown today. With all the foreign donations, his folks should be silent. Maybe, they would like a return on their investment as well and not just barely scratching as illicit totalitarian dictatorship, who misuse their power and oppress the public with the worst sort of treatment.

That is why the sort of articles from the press in defense of the state and trying to deflect the reality. Has to be fact-checked and dismantle it. Peace.

Opinion: No one is financing the Bobi Wine Riots, Mr. President!

Well, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, your claiming the ones going to the street is financed to destroy the economy of the Republic. They don’t need to go to the street for doing so, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the ways your running the country. Your destroying the economy perfectly well, as the OTT Tax isn’t giving the added revenue as expected. Therefore, you should carry your words with a little more worry. Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine and his independents are not financing people to go the streets. They are already tired of you and your kind. The Bush-war entitlement. That is why I will show the connection with Gadaffi and how he used to sponsor you with guns and ammunition during the bush-war.

Greetings again. Yesterday while talking about the Security forces and the Bobi Wine group, I made reference to financiers of rioters who hope to damage the economy of Uganda which is, finally, taking off by developing fast” (Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, 24.08.2018).

So, President Museveni might be forgetful, as he is blaming others for what he did himself. People like me doesn’t forget, but he does. Museveni wouldn’t been able to win a prolonged war on his empty stomach and empty words. He needed support, as he claimed to have little connections with others. But there are proof that he got massive support from Muamar Gaddafi.

Idi Amin’s former Minister of Finance, Brig. Moses Ali, along with an economist, Dr. Suleiman Kiggundu, Ugandan Muslim clerics Shiekh Ali Kulumba and Shiekh Obeid Kamulegeya, and a businessman called Habib Hassan Kagimu are the men who introduced Yoweri Museveni, the leader of a news fighting group the National Resistance Army (NRA), to Gaddafi in 1981 and so started the Libyan sponsorship of the NRA guerrillas” (…)”Libya then started air dropping heavy field guns and rocket launchers into the NRA camps in Luwero Triangle in central Uganda in 1982, greatly boosting the NRA guerrillas and making possible their victory in Jan. 1986” (…)”Brig Ali was in jail in Kampala when Gaddafi first visited Uganda led by Museveni in 1987. Ali had to be taken out of jail after Gaddafi asked about his whereabouts” (…)”In the early days of the new NRM government, several officers and men of the new national army, the National Resistance Army (NRA) were sent to Libya for military training” (Dispatch, 2011).

With this in mind, maybe, just maybe, someone like Museveni should be more careful with his words. He remembers back when he got the supplies and the needed boost from Libya to able to gain power. Of late his army wouldn’t been supplied or even have the weapons they carry, if the United States didn’t boast him. Therefore, he should be a little more careful with his words. Musveni are claiming unfound and unproven words.

He is just putting up empty allegations on Bobi Wine and the rioters, the demonstrators and the people who are using their civic duty, as they are tired of Museveni and his tyranny. He should understand that, as his entitled ass, is thinking they all are his pawns. Like all the lackeys in the cabinet and such. Museveni, your rhetoric and use words are only using it words. As you have been putting and name-calling the supporters. Calling pseudo-intellectuals, fascists and terrorists. Therefore, now claiming they are sponsored is just mere spin.

I don’t know what is going through his mind. But someone who has sponsored all his life, who has been a donor-darling and gotten direct state aid to dwindle that all away without much results. Should be careful with his words. Instead, he is blaming the rioters for being paid and planning this to hurt the economy. However, the economy is destroyed by him and his henchmen. They don’t need help to do that. They do that without help of the peasants. Peasants are dwelling in the streets awaiting the next opportunity anyway. Not like the President is opening the door or creating a better state of affairs. He is just eating himself. Peace.

Reference:

Dispatch.co.ug – ‘Uganda’s long complicated relationship with Gaddafi’ (07.04.2011) Link: http://www.dispatch.ug/ugandas-long-complicated-relatioship-with-gaddafi/1745/

Does the US Gov. care how their Security Aid is used on the civilians in Kampala?

Since 2012 the United States have donated Security Aid to the Republic of Uganda in the total amount of $291,096,088, in 2018 alone they have donated $80,665,000. These numbers are taken from the Security Assistance Monitor. So, these are legit numbers. This is giant numbers, as the republic are parts of peacekeeping missions in AMISOM and in Central African Republic. However, some of these funds are used locally and on training of soldiers, which could be part of the Special Force Command as we speak.

What does the United States of America and the US Ambassador Deborah R. Malac feel about that? Are they proud that their military ally and for life President is working to become their modern day Mobutu. Which they also supported for decades, until he became a sore thumb and they had to overthrow him. Like they did with his predecessor together with Belgians in the than Zaire.

Will the United States stop their relationship and their military support of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) and the Special Force Command, as they are used to attack civilians, as they are in on the streets to torment the public.

I wonder if they have any sort of plan now, as their “aid” is now really hurting people, the training from American Military and the certainly the arms-trade are now used directly at civilians. It is not used to fight the wars the Americans don’t want to participate directly themselves. Now, it is used to actually kill innocent civilians and used to prolong Museveni’s tyranny. Is that what the US ideal in East Africa is about?

Will the United States be responsible for their cultivation of Museveni and for all the weapons, the training and the direct military support of the republic.

We can wonder if they are proud that the helped trained soldiers are used to silence the media, silence the voice of the people and to prolong the dictatorship. That should make the Washington D.C. so proud, that their funds are directly a life-line for the President for life.

The Ugandan republic is sovereign and should be able to determine their own political trouble on their own. But when we know that the US is participating at these levels with security funding. They should take responsibility and man-up. Suspend their security aid and step away. Until someone who is suitable and actually elected by the people is running the Republic. Right now, its one man forcing his rule on the people with the arms traded with the US. That should be a worry the USA, even with their history of interfering and securing their men in power. Peace.

Ebola Vaccination Begins in North Kivu (10.08.2018)

Work has begun to prepare ring vaccination in the Mangina health area, 30km from the town of Beni.

BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (Republic of the), August 10, 2018 –  The Ministry of Public Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo today announced the launch of Ebola vaccinations for high risk populations in North Kivu province.

The vaccinations have begun just one week after the announcement of a second outbreak of Ebola this year in the country. A total of 44 cases have been reported so far, of which 17 have been confirmed.

Work has begun to prepare ring vaccination in the Mangina health area, 30km from the town of Beni.

The provincial health minister and the provincial coordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunization were the first to be vaccinated. They were followed by first line health workers from the Mangina health centre, who had been in contact with people who were confirmed cases of Ebola.

“Vaccines are an important tool in the fight against Ebola. This is why it has been a priority to move them rapidly into place to begin protecting our health workers and the affected population,” said Dr Oly Ilunga, Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A total of 3,220 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine are currently available in the country, while supplementary doses have been requested. While the vaccine goes through the licensing process, an agreement between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Merck, the developer of the vaccine, ensures that additional investigational doses of the vaccine are available.

“The Democratic Republic of the Congo has once again demonstrated strong leadership in its early response to this outbreak,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “Ebola is aggressive. We must respond more aggressively. Beginning the vaccination so quickly is a key early step.”

WHO has provided logistical support for the establishment of the cold chain and sent supplies needed for the vaccinations, in addition to supporting the negotiation of protocols with the manufacturer and national authorities, and supporting the deployment of vaccination experts from Guinea to work alongside national staff, who began the vaccination.

“We are proud of the regional solidarity demonstrated by the vaccination efforts, and confident that the strong capacity of the African region will once again be demonstrated during the response to this outbreak,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Specialist Red Cross Ebola team arrives in North Kivu (08.08.2018)

This outbreak is the second to strike Democratic Republic of Congo in recent months and comes just one week after the Ministry of Health declared the end of a separate Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 8, 2018 – A team of Red Cross experts has arrived in the town of Beni, close to the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).

The 19-person multidisciplinary team is made up of volunteers and staff from the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It includes a nine-person safe and dignified burials unit, water and sanitation experts, and a community engagement specialist. Some of the members were deployed directly to Beni from the most recent Ebola response in Equateur Province.

Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, IFRC’s Regional Director for Africa said: “The Ebola virus is most infectious in the moments after death. The safe handling of people suspected to have died from Ebola is crucial to halting its spread. However, for this approach to work, it needs to be attuned to local cultural beliefs and norms. This involves engaging with communities in a way that builds trust. This crucial process will be a focus of the Red Cross teams.”

Local Red Cross volunteers are critical to curbing the spread of Ebola and will be supported by the specialist Red Cross team to carry out their work safely. This includes training and supervision for safe and dignified burials in Beni and Mangina as well as community outreach about Ebola in both health zones. The team will also improve water and sanitation systems in Beni prisons and help local hospitals and health facilities with infection prevention control measures as needed.

“We are deeply concerned that people in northern North Kivu have already been affected by years of armed conflict and an Ebola outbreak could be devastating to already vulnerable communities,” said Nicolas Lambert, the ICRC’s Deputy Head of Delegation in DR Congo and its Ebola response team leader.

North Kivu has been affected by armed conflict for two decades. In the past two years, humanitarian organizations have not be able to safely access some parts of the province. The ICRC has worked in Beni since 2008 and has supported internally displaced people in Mangina since 2015. Mangina hosts thousands of people who fled clashes in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, many of whom live with and rely on residents.

This outbreak is the second to strike DR Congo in recent months and comes just one week after the Ministry of Health declared the end of a separate Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province.

Dambisa Moyo on democracy, China’s economic model and foreign aid (03.08.2018)

On reforming democracy, the international economist argued that citizens should have to take a test in order to vote.

DOHA, QATAR, August 3, 2018 – The bestselling author goes Head to Head with Mehdi Hasan at the Oxford Union:

  • Argues that it is “mad, it’s crazy” not to see major problems in Western democracy today, asserting that today’s rise in populism; “has its roots in economics.”
  • Says short-sighted policies coming from the West have created “more impoverished people” around the world and “fed into issues of political instability.”
  • Asked if Goldman Sachs had a role for the 2008 financial crisis, asserts that her former employer had “no special responsibility” for what took place.
  • On reforming democracy, proposes that all citizens should take a test to ensure a “good knowledge of what exactly they are voting on.”
  • Whilst discussing aid in Africa, Moyo asserts that aid is a “corrosive force” to African democracy because countries cannot hold their governments accountable “if actually Oxfam is going to solve the healthcare problem,” or “somebody else is going to solve education.”

In a far-reaching interview with Al Jazeera (AlJazeera.com) English’s Head to Head, Dambisa Moyo argued that there are major problems with Western democracy today.

“The notion that democracy is not a problem is mad, it’s crazy,” Moyo said.

Discussing why she believed liberal democracy was “under siege,” Moyo asserted that today’s populism “has its roots in economics”, describing how “real wages have come down…over the past 30 years, social mobility has declined” and “income inequality has widened.”

She blamed short-termist Western policies, such as farm subsidies in the US and Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy, for locking “out the goods that are produced in places like Africa and South America” which has led to “more impoverished people” and “fed into issues of political instability.”

A former Goldman Sachs banker, Moyo was asked whether the company had a particular role for the 2008 financial crisis, she said that it had “no special responsibility” for what took place and that “we all have to take responsibility”.

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5.1bn in fines in January 2016, following an investigation by the US Department of Justice for its role in the crisis.

On reforming democracy, the international economist argued that citizens should have to take a test in order to vote and that people must have a “good knowledge of what exactly we’re voting on” before being allowed to vote.

When she remarked how voter participation was at all-time low, presenter Mehdi Hasan responded by asking “so the idea is then you make it harder for them to vote by putting a test in front of them?”

In her new book; Edge of Chaos, Why Democracy is Failing to Deliver Economic Growth – and how to fix it, Dr Moyo proposes a system of weighted voting where some individuals have more voting power than others.

When defending her proposal, which presenter Mehdi Hasan suggested was elitist and would actually “help populism”, Moyo asserted that her idea was “based on participation, not on education” and that a degree of weighted voting already existed around the world.

Speaking about China and its economic model, Moyo commented how “over 300 million people have been moved out of poverty in 30 years” and that the West should be careful not to “point fingers” when commenting on the country’s democratic record which was on its own particular “path”.

Addressing a question on the benefits of China’s economic model, Moyo noted how Chinese politicians “don’t need to seduce today’s voter in order to remain in political office” in comparison to the US, where there is a “mismatch between long-term economic challenges and short-termism in the political system.”

Economist Dambisa Moyo first made waves with her book Dead Aid, which argued that rather than alleviating poverty in Africa, aid was actually preserving it. Asked whether she believed aid had had any beneficial effects, the economist described its “corrosive nature” on “democracy on the African continent.”

“We do want to be able to hold our governments accountable but we can’t do that if actually Oxfam is going to solve the health care problem, somebody else is going to solve education, how are we able to hold our governments accountable from a public policy stance if they are not the ones who are delivering these outcomes?”

The best-selling author argued that whilst she accepted that there have been “significant wins” across Africa, “the notion that those are because of aid…is wrong.”

Moyo pointed out that China has played a hugely significant role on the continent: “We’ve had China come in, there’s been significant investment…we’re able to trade with the Chinese, for better or for worse.”

Mehdi Hasan was joined in the discussion by a panel of experts: Ann Pettifor, economist and Author of The Production of Money; Jason Hickel, anthropologist at the University of London and author of The Divide: A brief Guide to global inequality and its solutions; and Jamie Whyte, research director at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

The interview is part of a brand new series of Head to Head, Mehdi Hasan’s hard-hitting discussion show on Al Jazeera English. Other guests were former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, former Trump campaign National Security Director J.D. Gordon, and feminist Germaine Greer.

Is it time to rethink Democracy? with Dambisa Moyo will be broadcast on Friday August 3rd at 20:00 GMT, and will be repeated on August 4th at 12.00 GMT, August 5th at 01.00 GMT and August 6th at 06.00 GMT.

South Sudan: UNMISS – PoC Update (01.08.2018)

World Vision Statement Regarding our Past Engagement with Islamic Relief Agency in Sudan (31.07.2018)

World Vision has robust controls and screening processes in place and condemns any diversion of aid funding and strongly condemn any act of terrorism or support for those activities.

RANDBURG, South Africa, July 31, 2018 – World Vision’s work in Sudan is focused on improving the lives of the most vulnerable children. In 2017, our programs reached approximately 674,000 vulnerable people, 70 percent of these were children and women.  The work sub-granted to IRA in 2014 was a very small percentage of our significant program expenditures in Sudan, less than 1% of our total at that time.

In March 2014, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) approved World Vision’s grant proposal that clearly listed Islamic Relief Agency (IRA) as a proposed sub-grantee. At the time of selection, there was no indication that IRA had any possible ties to an alleged terrorist-supporting organisation.

There are several Islamic Relief organisations operating around the world which are not blocked, and when we searched the blocked parties lists for “Islamic Relief” in “Sudan,” the searches produced no results.  That is still true today on the website of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

In May 2014, when WV applied to renew its registration with OFAC as a charity working in Sudan, it identified IRA as a sub-grantee in its application. OFAC approved the renewal in August 2014 without any comments or questions about IRA.

In November 2014, we informed OFAC and USAID that we had concerns about IRA in Sudan possibly being related to certain other organisations with “Islamic Relief” in their names, designated by the US government as organisations allegedly supporting terrorism.  Because of these concerns, we suspended further grant implementation by IRA pending clarification from OFAC.

In January 2015, OFAC responded that IRA in Sudan “appears to be the same entity” as the one on OFAC’s blocked parties list. The sub-grant by then had expired, it was not renewed, and we discontinued any future collaboration with IRA.  At this time, OFAC authorised us to pay IRA $125,000 for the humanitarian work that was verified to have already been completed under the grant.  The payment made to IRA was not a diversion of funds but payment for programming services of confirmed quality.

World Vision took its compliance obligations seriously, but respectfully asked permission to pay IRA money owing for legitimate humanitarian work (salaries, humanitarian aid and supplies for beneficiaries, travel etc.) already incurred. World Vision explained failure to do so could have exposed it to potential legal liability for breach of contract, resulted in the very real chance of Government expulsion from Sudan and as a consequence, the loss of a lifeline for tens of thousands of children and their families.

World Vision has robust controls and screening processes in place and condemns any diversion of aid funding and strongly condemn any act of terrorism or support for those activities.

We have no evidence that any of our funds have been used for anything other than urgent humanitarian work.