African Great Lakes Observer

  RDC: l'ONU salue les redditions des FDLR Jeune Afrique - 13 hours ago 31/05/2014 à 11:05 Par AFP       Des rebelles hutu rwandais dans la fôret de Panga près de Goma en RDC, le 6 février 2006.© AFP La Mission de l'ONU en République démocratique du Congo a encouragé un processus de redditions de combattants hutu rwandais des FDLR commencé vendredi dans l'est du pays mais a souligné que seul le temps pourrait déterminer le sérieux de l'initiative. Réfugiés dans l'est de la RDC depuis 1994, les rebelles des Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) sont accusés d'avoir participé au génocide des Tutsi, qui a fait au moins 800.000 morts selon l'ONU. Vendredi, 105 hommes se sont rendus avec 100 armes à Kateku, localité agricole à environ 220 kilomètres au nord de Goma, la capitale de la province du Nord-Kivu. "Pour la première journée, c'est un bon dé...

  CANADA'S REFUSAL TO ALLOW UGANDAN LGBT ACTIVISTS INTO THE COUNTRY SPEAKS TO A WIDER HYPOCRISY By Muna Mire May 29 2014 A contingent of Ugandan LGBT activists were recently denied visitor visas to attend World Pride 2014, which will be held in Toronto this summer. The move comes as a surprise given the Canadian government's strong, condemnatory stance on Uganda's repressive regime criminalizing homosexuality. The contingent of activists comprised of ten men and women who are all currently risking their lives in the fight for LGBT rights on the ground in Uganda—were invited to a human rights conference at the University of Toronto taking place June 25-27. Just one member of the contingent, keynote speaker Dr. Frank Mugisha, a highly prominent advocate and a 2014 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, is able to come to Canada on a multiple-entry visa he had been issued for previous travels. Bre...

  "But in response Membe hit back when responding to MPs' views, accusing the shadow minister of acting on behalf of a foreign country." Tanzania Foreign Minister. Voilà la triste réalité de la politique contemporaine aux Grands Lacs Africains. On est rendu à "acheter" l'opposition pour qu'elle pose des questions embarrassantes au parlement! Mais comme c'est souvent le cas quand on use ses culottes sur les bancs de l'opposition, le chien aboie et la caravane passe... Sibomana Jean Bosco. Rwanda Top Stories Congo unveils tender for exploitation of methane gas on Lake Kivu Reuters 20:24 30-May-14 The nation must take charge of its destiny Times LIVE 23:50 30-May-14 Dar, Kigali face off over Congo conflict... again The East African 15:07 31-May-14 Tanzania-Rwanda relations may worsen - MPs ippmedia.com 07:18 31-May-14 Rwanda National Congress goe...

  Rwanda National Congress goes for new faces in party elections  The East African, 3 hours ago By Joint Report The EastAfrican Posted Saturday, May 31 2014 at 14:51 IN SUMMARY Party announced that it will not participate in the 2017 presidential elections. Save for Dr Theogene Rudasingwa, a former director of Cabinet in President Paul Kagame's office, the opposition group said former officials will serve the party in other capacities. Observers say omission of two former senior state officials who still cause unease in Kigali could be a calculated move to remove "most wanted men" from the party's leadership. The Rwanda National Congress, an exiled opposition group operating from Washington, last week held elections that injected fresh blood into the party's leadership. However, the party announced that it will not participate in the 2017 presidential elections because it wan...

  Kigali, Dar face off again over DRC conflict   Diplomatic tensions between Tanzania and Rwanda appeared set to escalate as the two countries once again traded accusation over the latter's alleged backing of rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. TEA Graphic The East African, 4 hours ago By JOINT REPORT The EastAfrican Posted Saturday, May 31 2014 at 14:51 IN SUMMARY This is not the first time the countries are trading barbs. Tension was initially sparked off by President Jakaya Kikwete's suggestion that the Rwandan government should hold peace talks with the FDLR rebel group to end violence in the eastern DRC. Sources say the soured relations between the two vitiates the atmosphere required to promote the integration process during Heads of State Summit needed to sign off on key protocols. Diplomatic tensions between Tanzania and Rwanda appeared set to escalate as the two c...

  Rwandan rebels begin to surrender, but demand talks with Kigali Photo: A militant from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) squats near a pile of weapons after their surrender in Kateku, a small town in eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), May 30, 2014. (Reuters) - Rwandan rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo began what they claimed was the first step in disarming their fighters on Friday, but warned that continuing the process would depend on the government in Kigali agreeing to talks. Kigali needs to come to the table now. I agree with the Kigali line that you do not negotiate with terrorists and that is the only possible way to describe the FDLR. This partial surrender however changes the dynamics somewhat and if Rwanda is serious about cleaning this mess up now is the time to compromise. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) ...

  Tanzania-Rwanda relations may worsen - MPs IPPmedia - 12 hours ago BY POLYCARP MACHIRA 31st May 2014 Photo: Ezekiel Wenje A war of words between Tanzania and Rwanda may soon resurface as the parliament was this week dragged into discussing tension between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Relations between Tanzania and Rwanda took a plunge in May 2013 following President Jakaya Kikwete's appeal to Rwanda to engage FDRL rebels in talks. Media reported that Kikwete's suggestion at a meeting of the Great Lakes countries, which met on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, did not go down well with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Rwandan government links the FDLR with the 1994 genocide, in which over 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed. M23, which dominated the North Kivu Province since the end of the Second Congo War in 2003 b...

  The pain of being a homosexual in Rwanda. The East African, 2 hours ago By Gilbert Mwijuke Special Correspondent Posted Saturday, May 31 2014 at 11:01 Life has been a real struggle for Umutesi*, a Kigali-based lesbian in her mid-30s. The dreadlocked woman has been insulted, castigated and discriminated against for her sexual orientation since she was a teenager. When she was 14, Ms Umutesi's parents deliberately married her off in an effort to alter her sexuality. The marriage, of course, did not work, and it was obvious to her then that her sexual orientation would never fit in the "straight people" box. And her life, she says, has since been a torment that she has had to endure with astonishing patience. "I am glad the man I was forced to marry did not infect me with HIV. I think I would be dead by now," she told lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGB...