Rwanda Official Admits Legal Violations in ‘Hotel Rwanda’ Case

A video, aired by Al Jazeera English, shows that the attorney general intercepted legal materials from Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed in the movie “Hotel Rwanda” and is accused of terrorism.

Paul Rusesabagina in court in Kigali this month.Credit...Simon Wohlfahrt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rwanda’s attorney general inadvertently revealed that he had intercepted privileged and confidential legal materials in the ongoing terrorism case against Paul Rusesabagina, the prominent dissident whose efforts to save more than 1,200 people during the country’s genocide was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda.”

In a video interview published by Al Jazeera English, Johnston Busingye, who is both justice minister and attorney general, rejected accusations that authorities had confiscated Mr. Rusesabagina’s papers or trampled on attorney-client privilege.

But in an hour-and-half-long preparation video that his public relations team accidentally sent to the media outlet, Mr. Busingye contradicted himself, saying that the prison authorities had intercepted correspondence between Mr. Rusesabagina and his lawyers and children, some of which included escape plans.

Mr. Busingye also discussed with the team how to respond to questions about whether the Rwandan government had paid for the flight that in August brought Mr. Rusesabagina to Kigali, where he was arrested on charges including murder, armed robbery and being a member of a terrorist organization.

The latest revelations came just hours after a Rwandan court on Friday ruled that it had jurisdiction to try Mr. Rusesabagina — a Belgian citizen and permanent resident of the United States. It also came as the trial faces widespread condemnation from entities including rights groups, members of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament.

The latest disclosures, his lawyers say, also cloud the prospects of Mr. Rusesabagina’s getting a fair hearing, given that his international lawyers have not been permitted into Kigali to represent him and prison officials continue to confiscate his case files. Mr. Rusesabagina, a former hotelier, has told his lawyers that he is afraid to die of a stroke in prison, and his family members have said they remain concerned about his deteriorating health.

During the interview with Al Jazeera, Mr. Busingye denied that Mr. Rusesabagina’s communication with his lawyers had been intercepted. But “if that has happened, it will be raised in the courts and the courts will address it fairly,” he told the Al Jazeera interviewer, Marc Lamont Hill, on the “UpFront” show.

 

Johnston Busingye, Rwanda’s justice minister and attorney general, rejected accusations that the authorities had confiscated Mr. Rusesabagina’s papers.Credit...Cyril Ndegeya for The New York Times

In another clip aired by Al Jazeera, Mr. Busingye is seen receiving advice on how to respond to queries about who paid for the private jet that brought Mr. Rusesabagina to Kigali. In the video, the public relations consultant can be heard warning the minister to be “cautious” because the interviewer was “looking for something they can put out in a news release about the interview — looking for nuggets of hard stuff.”

When Mr. Hill from Al Jazeera queried him about who had paid for the jet, Mr. Busingye said the Rwandan government had done so.

Ever since Mr. Rusesabagina was presented to the press handcuffed in Kigali on Aug. 31, questions have swirled about how he ended up there.

He left his home in San Antonio, Texas, and arrived in Dubai on an Emirates flight from Chicago on the evening of Aug. 27. He then checked into the Ibis Hotel in Dubai, according to a document from the United Arab Emirates mission in Geneva, and five hours later boarded a private jet that he believed was headed to Burundi, where he planned to speak to churches at the invitation of a local pastor.

The next day, the plane, operated by the Greece-based charter firm GainJet, landed in Kigali, where he was arrested, bound and interrogated.

The Rwandan authorities have, including in interviews with The New York Times, previously confirmed that they had leased the charter service for government operations, but never explicitly confirmed having hired the exact flight that brought Mr. Rusesabagina to Kigali.

In December, Mr. Rusesabagina and his family sued GainJet over its role in the episode.

After his arrest, President Paul Kagame — whose government had been trying to apprehend the 66-year-old Mr. Rusesabagina for years — dubbed the operation “flawless” and said that it was not a kidnapping.

As for Mr. Rusesabagina’s escape plans, his daughter Carine Kanimba said she had received WhatsApp and Twitter messages since November of a person claiming to be one of her father’s prison guards. The messages, both audio and written and reviewed by The Times, described Mr. Rusesabagina’s routine and suggested ways of helping him escape.

“I never responded,” Ms. Kanimba said in a telephone interview. “My fear was that I would respond and that they would use that against my father.”

In December, the family also shared the material with the F.B.I., the U.S. State Department, and the Belgian foreign ministry.

On Friday, the Rwandan authorities doubled down on their position, calling the arrest “legal and proper.” In a statement, the Justice Ministry said that Mr. Busingye had become aware of a “possible violation” in December with regards to privileged documents, and that he had instructed that they be returned to Mr. Rusesabagina.

Kate Gibson, Mr. Rusesabagina’s lead counsel, contested the statement, saying that his papers “continue to be routinely and systematically confiscated, including his privileged and confidential materials.” Ms. Gibson is one of three lawyers awaiting permission to represent the former hotelier in Kigali.

As late as this past week, she said, Mr. Rusesabagina was denied from going to his cell with his documents.

“We now see from the Al Jazeera preparation video that the content of privileged and confidential legal documents are making their way to the highest levels,” she said in an email. “The right to confidential communication is at the heart of legal representation. Without it, it is impossible to consider proceedings fair.”

 

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In Burkina Faso ‘Doctors are paying for supplies': inside a stretched Burkina Faso Covid ward

In a country where pneumonia, malaria and TB are much bigger killers, doctors say ‘resource-intensive’ Covid-19 is diverting precious resources

 

A Covid patient is transferred from Tengandogo University hospital's ICU. Photograph: Amanda Coakley

When stocks of medical equipment in the general ward of Tengandogo University hospital in Ouagadougou ran low as resources flowed to the coronavirus unit, medical staff bought the essentials themselves.

Blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors and oximeters were needed. Even the ink in the printers had to be replaced.

The hospital closed to non-Covid patients during Burkina Faso’s first wave in March but reopened in July to treat the numerous other illnesses that affect the population of approximately 20 million people. Without any emergency budget for resources, doctors faced a challenge.

“The pandemic has had a big impact on resources, especially things like oxygen that are needed for coronavirus treatment,” Dr Lassina Séré, a senior practitioner, told the Guardian. “In terms of equipment, some things that the hospital used to be able to pay for are no longer covered by the budget because it’s all been used on Covid, so what the doctors have done is start initiatives to buy what’s needed ourselves.”

Tengandogo is one of Burkina Faso’s leading health institutions. A sprawling blush pink complex, it’s eerily quiet. There is no buzz of machines or the drone of a hospital intercom. It’s a private facility that treats the country’s most critical patients, but since March it has treated people with coronavirus without charge.

Before the pandemic this landlocked country had a shortage of specialist staff, especially in rural areas where the quality of care is considerably lower. Poor salaries coupled with growing insecurity in the north and east due to militant violence have led many young professionals to leave, and deterred others from coming. In Tengandogo, the staff are overworked, and when some have had to self-isolate, it has been a struggle.

 

A small clinic in Gampela village on the outskirts of Ouagadougou. Photograph: Sam Mednick/AP

“We had to create a new Covid area in the hospital. We couldn’t hire new personnel, so we had to take from the regular staff, which means there are shortages on the other services,” says Dr Moussa Kabré, head of the general ward. The slight 41-year-old is exhausted, and says recent months have been among the most challenging of his career.

Respiratory diseases such as pneumonia are the leading cause of death in Burkina Faso. Dr Christian Jules Wenl Minoungou, head of respiratory medicine at Tengandogo, has struggled to access resources. One patient under his care, 23-year-old Philomon, has been in the general ward for two months with an undisclosed respiratory disease. His body has wasted away and speaking has become uncomfortable. On the floor next to him sits his tired mother, Delphin. “My only hope is for my son to get better and recover,” she says.

“There are only 30 lung specialists in this country,” says Minoungou. “Pneumonia is the first cause of death here and if you don’t act quickly the situation deteriorates. We need more resources to deal with it. People are always coming in from the countryside in an advanced condition because they are unable to get care there.”

The director of Tengandogo, Ferdinand Tiendrébéogo, agrees: “When you look at the figures, coronavirus is not a priority. It’s very small compared to, say, malaria. That said, you do need to keep an eye on Covid because you never know what can happen with it, but overall it’s been a very resource-intensive disease for this hospital.”

Crossing the threshold into the ICU at Tengandogo, the quiet is replaced by the steady beat of heart monitors. A handful of nurses care for four Covid patients and the 12 other patients who are at the other end of the ward. Some of the staff are in full PPE, others wear only mask and gloves. In the corner by the door is a pile of discarded garments.

Head ICU nurse Ally Ouattara. Photograph: Amanda Coakley

 

Ally Ouattara, the unit’s head nurse, is six hours into his shift. The smile behind his mask reaches his eyes and he stands out in brightly patterned scrubs. He carefully recounts the details of each of his Covid patients. Two men in their 60s with underlying health conditions. A middle-aged woman with a history of TB. The fourth, Ismail, 50, is being moved to the recovery ward after eight days. It’s a moment of celebration for the staff in a ward where the Covid survival rate is 50%.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 11,847 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Burkina Faso and 139 deaths. The true figure is thought to be higher as testing is limited to about 2,000 rapid tests a day.

Track and trace is nonexistent and daily life for millions of people continues as normal despite some earlier restrictions. Since late November the Burkinabé have seen a second wave that led to a spike in admissions and renewed fears that hospitals could be overrun. Dr Brice Wilfried, the director of Corus, Burkina Faso’s health emergencies organisation, says the second spike is in decline, after a fall in cases over the past two weeks.

 

Getting the Covid message across in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Photograph: Legnan Koula/EPA

Dr Jerry-Jonas Mbasha, health cluster coordinator for the World Health Organization in Burkina Faso, says: “We need to understand the fragility of the health system here before Covid-19 and what’s happened over the last year is a significant amount of extra stress. There already was a strategy to identify specific respiratory diseases across the country and what we did to ensure that continued to function was integrate Covid testing into that structure and that’s been quite effective.”

For Séré, Covid is more of an economic problem than a health emergency. “It’s changed our access to resources and the attention it’s getting here is disproportionate compared to the impact,” he says.

Like his colleagues, he believes that quality care has to continue for all patients even if it means financing it from their own pockets.

 

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ZIMBABWE: Unvaccinated Citizens To Be Barred From Public Spaces

President Emmerson Mnangagwa

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned Zimbabweans to get vaccinated against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic or they will soon be barred from all public spaces.

Zimbabwe rolled out the national immunisation programme last week after receiving a donation of 200 000 Sinopharm doses from China.

Speaking in Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland North province Thursday, Mnangagwa said his government was expecting to purchase another 1,8 million doses from China before warning citizens avoiding inoculation that they would be barred from all public spaces.

Mnangagwa is yet to receive the vaccination.

A person who has been vaccinated is issued with a “Covid-19 Vaccination Card”.

“Don’t forget your Covid-19 Vaccination Card for the second dose. Make sure you keep this record card in your wallet. Keep it in a safe place,” the card reads in part.

Mnangagwa’s Thursday chilling warning was confirmed by his spokesperson George Charamba.

“Cde ED Mnangagwa, today (Thursday) broke his silence on whether or not (to take) the Covid-19 vaccination remains voluntary forever,” Charamba said after Mnangagwa’s speech.

“Those wishing to abstain from the vaccination programme are free to do, for as long as they accept the onerous trade-off: namely that they may have to be barred from public spaces, including accessing offices, shops, or riding mass transits like ZUPCO.”

Charamba added: “The leadership has and continues to demonstrate safety of the country’s chosen vaccines by being the first ones to have the vaccines administered on them, added the President, revealing he is set to be vaccinated in the second batch of the vaccine which is expected in the country in the next week or two.

“So, too, will his Cabinet ministers. So, asked the President, who are you to resist the vaccination programme thus imperiling the general public, including yourself and your family? The President invited Vice President (Constantino Chiwenga) up as proof that the Sinopharm vaccine was indeed safe.

“Many medical staff, themselves the core frontline in the fight against Covid-19, have been vaccinated under the programme which is wholly government funded and is meant to get Zimbabwe back to normalcy.”

Mnangagwa said there were companies who had approached government with proposals to import Covid-19 vaccines and sell them for a profit, but they had been turned away.

“If any company buys vaccines, they must be distributed freely. The Ministry of Health supported by (Finance Minister Mthuli) Ncube also bought two sets yesterday (Wednesday), 600 000 doses which will come during the first two weeks of March and another 1,2 million doses.”

Chiwenga was the first official to get injected when the vaccination programme was rolled out in Harare last week.

However, some Zimbabweans have raised concerns on being vaccinated with Sinopharm vaccine when the World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to approve it while there many other approved inoculations from other countries.

In response to these dissenting voices, Charamba retorted: “Go to those countries for those vaccines; here we decide! Period. And to govern is to decide. You don’t dictate to us!”

 

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ETHIOPIA: Eritrean troops’ massacre of hundreds of Axum civilians is a crime against humanity

Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray state systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of Axum on 28-29 November 2020, opening fire in the streets and conducting house-to-house raids in a massacre that may amount to a crime against humanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

Amnesty International spoke to 41 survivors and witnesses – including in-person interviews with recently arrived refugees in eastern Sudan and phone interviews with people in Axum – as well as 20 others with knowledge of the events. They consistently described extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and widespread looting after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops led an offensive to take control of the city amid the conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in mid-November.

Satellite imagery analysis by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab corroborates reports of indiscriminate shelling and mass looting, as well as identifies signs of new mass burials near two of the city’s churches.

“The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes in their offensive to take control of Axum. Above and beyond that, Eritrean troops went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to constitute crimes against humanity,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa.

This atrocity ranks among the worst documented so far in this conflict. Besides the soaring death toll, Axum’s residents were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials. 

Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa

“This atrocity ranks among the worst documented so far in this conflict. Besides the soaring death toll, Axum’s residents were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials.”

The mass killings came just before the annual celebration at Axum Tsion Mariam, a major Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival on 30 November, compounding the trauma by casting a pall over an annual event that typically draws many pilgrims and tourists to the sacred city.

Large-scale military offensive

 

 

Overview image of damage & debris around the city of Axum, in Ethiopia's Tigray region, following an offensive by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in November 2020. Image: Google © 2021 Maxar Technologies

On 19 November 2020, Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces took control of Axum in a large-scale offensive, killing and displacing civilians with indiscriminate shelling and shooting.

In the nine days that followed, the Eritrean military engaged in widespread looting of civilian property and extrajudicial executions.

Witnesses could easily identify the Eritrean forces. They drove vehicles with Eritrean license plates, wore distinctive camouflage and footwear used by the Eritrean army and spoke Arabic or a dialect of Tigrinya not spoken in Ethiopia. Some bore the ritual facial scars of the Ben Amir, an ethnic group absent from Ethiopia. Finally, some of the soldiers made no secret of their identity; they openly told residents they were Eritrean.

‘All we could see were dead bodies and people crying’

According to witnesses, the Eritrean troops unleashed the worst of the violence on 28-29 November. The onslaught came directly after a small band of pro-TPLF militiamen attacked the soldiers’ base on Mai Koho mountain on the morning of 28 November. The militiamen were armed with rifles and supported by residents brandishing improvised weapons, including sticks, knives and stones.

Sustained gunfire can be heard ringing out across the city in a video recorded early that day from several locations at the bottom of the mountain.

A 22-year-old man who wanted to bring food to the militia told Amnesty International: “The Eritrean soldiers were trained but the young residents didn’t even know how to shoot… a lot of the [local] fighters started running away and dropped their weapons. The Eritrean soldiers came into the city and started killing randomly.”

Survivors and witnesses said Eritrean forces deliberately and wantonly shot at civilians from about 4pm onwards on 28 November.

According to residents, the victims carried no weapons and many were running away from the soldiers when they were shot. One man who hid in an unfinished building said he saw a group of six Eritrean soldiers kill a neighbour with a vehicle-mounted heavy machine-gun on the street near the Mana Hotel: “He was standing. I think he was confused. They were probably around 10 metres from him. They shot him in the head.”

I saw a lot of people dead on the street. Even my uncle’s family. Six of his family members were killed. So many people were killed. 

21-year-old male resident of Axum

A 21-year-old male resident said: “I saw a lot of people dead on the street. Even my uncle’s family. Six of his family members were killed. So many people were killed.”

The killings left Axum’s streets and cobblestone plazas strewn with bodies. One man who had run out of the city returned at night after the shooting stopped. “All we could see on the streets were dead bodies and people crying,” he said.

On 29 November, Eritrean soldiers shot at anyone who tried to move the bodies of those killed.

The soldiers also continued to carry out house-to-house raids, hunting down and killing adult men, as well as some teenage boys and a smaller number of women. One man said he watched through his window and saw six men killed in the street outside his house on 29 November. He said the soldiers lined them up and shot from behind, using a light-machine gun to kill several at a time with a single bullet.

Interviewees named scores of people they knew who were killed, and Amnesty International has collected the names of more than 240 of the victims. The organization has been unable to independently verify the overall death toll, but consistent witness testimonies and corroborating evidence make it plausible that hundreds of residents were killed.

Burying the dead

Most of the burials took place on 30 November, but the process of collecting and burying the bodies lasted several days.

Many residents said they volunteered to move the bodies on carts, in batches of five to 10 at a time; one said he transported 45 bodies. Residents estimate that several hundred people were buried in the aftermath of the massacre, and they attended funerals at several churches where scores were buried. Hundreds were buried at the largest funeral, held at the complex that includes the Arba’etu Ensessa church and the Axum Tsion St Mariam Church.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab geolocated a video showing people carrying a dead man on a stretcher in Da’Ero Ela Plaza (14.129918, 38.717113), towards Arba’etu Ensessa church. High-resolution satellite imagery from 13 December shows disturbed earth consistent with recent graves around the Arba’etu Ensessa and the Abune Aregawi churches.

Intimidation and looting

In the days following the burials, the Eritrean army rounded up hundreds of residents in different parts of the city. They beat some of the men, threatening them with a new round of revenge killings if they resisted.

Axum residents witnessed a surge in the Eritrean army’s looting during this period, targeting stores, public buildings including a hospital, and private homes. Luxury goods and vehicles were widely looted, as well as medication, furniture, household items, food, and drink.

International humanitarian law (the laws of war) prohibits deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and pillage (looting). Violations of these rules constitute war crimes. Unlawful killings that form part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population are crimes against humanity.

“As a matter of urgency, there must be a UN-led investigation into the grave violations in Axum. Those suspected of responsibility for war crimes or crimes against humanity must be prosecuted in fair trials and victims and their families must receive full reparation,” said Deprose Muchena.“We repeat our call on the Ethiopian government to grant full and unimpeded access across Tigray for humanitarian, human rights, and media organizations.”

 

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NIGERIA: Gunmen killed 36 in attacks in northern Nigeria

Armed bandits killed people, burn down houses in villages of Kaduna and Katsina states.

 

Gunmen killed 36 people in two attacks in northern Nigeria on Wednesday, a day after fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades amid worsening security in Africa’s most populous nation, officials and residents said.

The series of attacks by armed bandits occurred over the past 60 hours with 18 people killed each in villages of Kaduna and Katsina states and several others injured.

The assailants burned down houses, displacing the villagers.

In a statement quoted by the Daily Post website, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan said the attacks in that state followed an air operation by security forces in which “several armed bandits” were killed.

 

Hundreds of people have been killed in northern Nigeria by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings.

The attacks have added to security challenges in Nigeria, which is struggling to contain insurgencies in the northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states.

The latest attack comes less than a month after President Muhammadu Buhari replaced his longstanding military chiefs amid the worsening violence, with the armed forces fighting to reclaim other northeastern towns overrun by fighters.

Last week, unidentified gunmen killed a student in an attack on a boarding school in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state and kidnapped 42 people, including 27 students.

 

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Kenya to Receive First Batch of Covid-19 Vaccines Next Week

Residents queue for a Covid-19 test in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 26. Photographer: Luis Tato/Bloomberg

Kenya will receive its initial batch of Covid-19 vaccines in the first week on March, according to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office.

Health-care workers and frontline personnel, including security officers, teachers, vulnerable persons and those in the hospitality sector, will be the first priority for inoculation, the presidency said in a statement following a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The East African nation expects to vaccinate 16 million of its approximately 53 million people by June next year, Health Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said earlier this month.

 

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South Africa has found 4,000 Covid-19 re-infections

About 4,000 cases of re-infection with Covid-19 have been found in South Africa, Barry Schoub, the chair of the country’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, said.

“This is probably to a large extent due to the variant” of the virus that was first identified in the country, he said on a webinar on Wednesday.

The mutation, known by scientists as B.1.351, was identified in the country last last year and has become the dominant strain in the nation.

With over 1.5 million known coronavirus infections and almost 50,000 deaths, South Africa has been the hardest hit country on the continent.

On Thursday the South African government will release the results of a study into the transmissibility of the variant, whether it can cause re-infection and whether it causes more severe disease.

 

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Ethiopia tells Sudan to pull back from borders before talks

The ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Dina Mufti, said in his weekly press conference that Ethiopia does not wish to enter into a conflict with Sudan. (File/AFP)

Ethiopia called on Sudan to pull back its army troops on Tuesday from the borders before any dialogue could begin amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

The ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Dina Mufti, said in his weekly press conference that Ethiopia does not wish to enter into a conflict with Sudan.

“Our position on the border crisis with Sudan is clear and has not changed,” Mufti said in his press conference as sited by Al Arabiya, stating that Sudanese army must return to its former position prior to November 2020 to begin dialogue.  

The spokesperson reiterated accusations of “a third party” involvement the crisis.

“Sudan’s exploitation of Ethiopia's preoccupation with the law enforcement process in Tigray, and its violation of our borders, confirms the involvement of a third party pushing the military component in Sudan to enter into conflict with Ethiopia to implement its own agenda,” he said.

An armed conflict erupted on Nov. 4, 2020 in the Tigray region of Ethiopia between the Tigray Regional Government and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces.

 

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Uganda Opposition Leader Bobi Wine Accuses Court of Bias, Withdraws Election Petition

Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, speaks at a press conference in Kampala, Feb. 22, 2021.

KAMPALA - Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, better known by his stage name Bobi Wine, says he will withdraw his petition at the Supreme Court challenging January's re-election of President Yoweri Museveni. Wine alleged bias in the court toward Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, and said his side was not being allowed to present evidence of fraud in the vote.

In announcing his decision Monday, Wine said authorities had blocked his attempt to present a case, citing the police lockdown of his party’s offices, and the military denying access to his lawyers and officials of his National Unity Platform party.

He also accused the Supreme Court of rejecting as many as 200 affidavits.

A patrol car of the Ugandan police is seen stationed outside the compound of opposition leader Bobi WIne on Jan. 20, 2021.

Wine said this is a sign the judiciary does not intend to serve justice in the matter and they would not participate in what he called mockery to justice.

“The Supreme Court said, we could only submit, in this our petition, for 30 minutes. Now, that was clear, one, the Supreme Court did not want this matter to attract so much attention. So, for that matter, for the reasons we’ve given above, we have decided to withdraw from their court. The courts are not independent; it’s clear that these people are working for Mr. Museveni,” he said.

Through his lawyers, Wine filed the petition February 1st seeking to nullify the election that saw President Museveni win a sixth term with 58 percent of the votes.

They also asked the court to ensure that Museveni can never run again in an election, accusing him of orchestrating violence, using soldiers to pre-tick ballots and invade polling stations.

Jameson Karemani, the court registrar, said the court is not bothered by Wine’s allegations of favoritism.

He said once the court receives the application to withdraw the petition, judges will decide on the matter, but it will be conditional.

“Conditional in the sense that, you filed a petition and served it on other parties, the parties had to go out of their way to prepare themselves for your petition. Now you have withdrawn it; they have incurred costs. So, the condition may be for you to be asked to pay the costs,” said Karemani.

Last week, President Museveni, the electoral commission and the attorney general, filed a total of 185 affidavits in response to the 53 grounds raised by NUP lawyers.

Oscar Kihika, Museveni’s lawyer, said officials will wait for Wine’s application.

“He’s made the announcement; we have heard it. What for us we do as the legal team on the other side is to wait for the application to be filed and served on us as required by the law,” said the lawyer.

Wine said the matter will now be presented before what he calls the people’s court, meaning the court of public opinion.

 

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Zimbabwe official faces trial for embezzling COVID funds

Separately, last year health minister was sacked for fraud in purchase of COVID-19 material

 

A senior health official in Zimbabwe was arraigned on Monday before a court for misappropriating funds to fight coronavirus.

Portia Manangazira, the director of epidemiology and disease control, faced four counts of criminal abuse of office when she appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Bianca Makwande.

The government funds allegedly looted by Manangazira, together with the fuel, were said to be part of the $796,675 disbursed by the Health Ministry for the training of 800 health workers nationwide amid the rollout of a national vaccination program. Manangazira is expected to apply for bail.

Last year, then-Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was dismissed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa after being implicated in a $60 million scandal involving the purchase of COVID-19 material.

A landlocked country in southern Africa, Zimbabwe has so far recorded 35,796 COVID-19 cases and 1,436 deaths, with recoveries exceeding 32,000.

Last week, it launched its vaccination drive by inoculating healthcare workers in the first phase.

Over 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China are being used in the first phase of the campaign, which is mainly targeting people over 60, front-line government workers, and vulnerable groups.

 

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South Africa’s Teraco eyes data centres in Nigeria and Kenya

Banks are finding it harder to justify the cost of an in-house data centre. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Teraco Data Environments, Africa’s largest data centre provider, is considering expanding to Nigeria and Kenya, CEO Jan Hnizdo tells The Africa Report.

The company could create data centres of between 1MW and 4MW in those countries, Hnizdo says from Johannesburg. Nigeria and Kenya have the liberalised telecoms sectors that data centres need, he adds.

Growing numbers of African internet users make it harder to serve the continent’s needs via offshore data centres in Europe or the US. Local capacity means faster connections speeds, and Africa’s data centre market is set to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 12% to reach $3bn in 2025, according to Turner & Townsend.

Growth in the provision of undersea cables for Africa has meant increased use of public clouds from providers such as Amazon and Huawei, says Hnizdo.

That in turn means that African companies such as banks are finding it harder to justify having an in-house data centre, he argues.

Covid-19 has accelerated the trend towards outsourcing data centres.

In December, the US International Development Finance Corporation invested $300m to fund the expansion of Liquid Telecom’s data centres in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana and Morocco.

Private-equity investor Actis plans to invest $250m into African data centres over three years. It started in March 2020 by buying control of Rack Centre in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the African governments that requires data to be hosted locally for key sectors.

Education benefits

According to the Africa Data Centres Association and Xalam Analytics, more than 30 facilities have come online in Africa since 2016, doubling the region’s capacity. But that capacity is unevenly distributed, their study shows.

More than two-thirds of Africa’s capacity was in South Africa in 2020, and only a third of Africa’s 80 cities with a population of more than 1 million have their own data centre, the study says.

According to the Balancing Act consultancy, there are 15 African countries with economies and population sizes to justify data centre and cloud services ecosystems.

Boston-based private-equity firm Berkshire Partners bought a majority stake in Teraco in 2019.

This month, Teraco secured R2.5bn ($168m) in loans from lenders led by South African bank Absa for the construction of a 38MW hyperscale data centre in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg.

This will be Africa’s largest data centre.

South Africa’s liberalised telecoms sector has enabled it to become a strategic location for cloud providers, says Hnizdo.

“The rest of Africa is slowly starting to catch up,” but connectivity in many countries is still too expensive, he says.

Telecoms liberalisation can have a “huge” positive impact of populations, adds Hnizdo. Online education in African can be a “massive beneficiary”.

African students will gain access to the world’s best schools and African universities will be able to draw students from anywhere, he says.  “It’s not a question of Western versus African education. Cheap connectivity is the key.”

 

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Kenya to hold referendum after BBI Bill gets 24-county approval

A supporter of the BBI Bill outside the Nyeri County Assembly on February 23, 2021. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NMG

Kenyans will vote in a referendum to amend the Constitution as early as June this year after the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill Tuesday surpassed the constitutional  24 county assemblies' approval threshold.

And while the Bill still needs to be tabled in both the National Assembly and the Senate, the referendum is as good as confirmed since the decision of the bicameral Parliament—whether endorsing or rejecting the document—does not change the counties' endorsement.

On Tuesday, Kakamega, Narok, Mombasa, Murang’a, Makueni, Kitui, Bungoma, Taita Taveta, Nyeri, Machakos, Tharaka Nithi and Lamu joined the list of counties that voted in favour of the Bill.

With 10 more county assemblies debating the Bill this afternoon, the number is expected to rise even higher. 

The 12 regional Houses join Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Busia, Vihiga, Trans Nzoia, Nairobi, Kisii, West Pokot, Kajiado, Laikipia and Samburu that had already given their nod for the process that seeks to change Kenya’s governance system and increase funds to the counties.

The BBI secretariat is already planning for the next phase, chief among them countrywide tours to sell the referendum message.

“From March 1, we are rolling out countrywide tours to take BBI to the people. With all the signs that the assemblies will pass the document by a big number, we will be rolling out grand plans to tell to the people what is in the document and counter any propaganda out there,” National Assembly minority whip Junet Mohamed, who is also the BBI secretariat co-chairman, told the Nation. 

The Constitution stipulates that a proposed amendment to supreme law shall be enacted by a referendum, if the changes relate the structure of government, Parliament, among others.

“We wish to emphasise that we are within the timelines we had communicated earlier, and we are on course to hold the referendum by June 2021. We are confident of obtaining approvals from at least 35 county assemblies, way above the constitutional threshold of 24 counties,” BBI secretariat co-chairman Dennis Waweru told journalists.

Parliament

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has already said that the BBI Bill will take as short as three weeks, meaning the House will be done with it by end of March.

Since the two Houses will not have an opportunity to alter anything in the document, it is expected that the Senate will take the same amount of time.

Once the two Houses make their decision, the Speakers will communicate to the President.

On receipt, the President will send his message to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to hold a referendum.

The commission has 90 days within which to hold a referendum on receipt of the President’s message.

 

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Hutu rebels accuse DRC, Rwanda over Italian's killing

Congolese and UN forces secured the scene of the attack ALEXIS HUGUET AFP

Rwandan Hutu rebels Tuesday denied allegations they were behind the killing of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and instead accused the armies of the DRC and Rwanda.

Luca Attanasio died of his wounds on Monday after a World Food Programme convoy came under fire near the eastern city of Goma while he was on a field trip, according to a senior diplomatic source in Kinshasa and the WFP.

The Italian government confirmed the death and said an Italian policeman, Vittorio Iacovacci, and a driver it did not identify, had also died.

The DRC interior ministry blamed the killings on "members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)," a Rwandan Hutu rebel group that has plagued the region for more than a quarter of a century.

But the FDLR rejected the allegation, in a statement received by AFP on Tuesday.

It said the ambassador's convoy was attacked near the Rwandan border, "not far from a position of the FARDC (DR Congo armed forces) and Rwandan soldiers...

"The responsibility for this despicable killing is to be found in the ranks of these two armies and their sponsors who have forged an unnatural alliance to perpetuate the pillaging of eastern DRC", it said.

The FDLR denied "being involved in the attack" and called on Kinshasa and UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO to "shed light" on the killings "instead of resorting to hasty accusations."

The DRC and Rwanda authorities have not reported the presence of any regular Rwandan troops in the DRC.

An expert at the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), a US monitor, told AFP: "The FDLR are near the place where the attack took place. It's in the realm of possibility that the Rwandan rebels are responsible for this attack."

Attanasio, 43, had been representing Italy in Kinshasa since 2017, first as head of mission, and then as ambassador from October 2019.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella confirmed what he called a "cowardly attack."

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a statement urging the DRC to swiftly investigate a "heinous targeting" of a UN mission.

Scores of militias roam the DRC's four eastern provinces, many of them a legacy of wars in the 1990s that sucked in countries around central-southern Africa and claimed millions of lives.

Monday's attack occurred in thickly forested, mountainous terrain north of the North Kivu capital of Goma, in Nyiaragongo Territory -- one of the most dangerous parts of the country.

Some of the group's founders were involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide during which the Hutu majority slaughtered 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.

The group is opposed to the current Rwandan government, but has not launched any large-scale offensive in Rwanda since 2001.

 

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NIGERIA: Insurgency and visa-on-arrival policy

Members of the Lassa vigilante group, in Borno state. Photo credit: Center on Conflict and Development

Boko Haram, ISIS, bandits, kidnapping, yahoo-yahoo boys did not come to Nigeria because of the implementation of visa on arrival policy.

The Nigerian government in March 2020 suspended its visa on arrival policy over fears of further spread of coronavirus. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha made the announcement at a media briefing on Wednesday, March 20, 2020.

Visa on arrival is not a bad policy in itself, but the concern is whether the country has developed the right capacity to implement it without undermining Nigeria’s national security and assets. It is unfair to place the emergence of Boko Haram on the implementation of the visa on arrival policy.

Nigeria’s visa policy was first presented by President Buhari on February 4 2020, at the Council chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The policy, according to Buhari, was announced to attract innovation, specialised skills and knowledge from abroad to complement local capacity in Nigeria. “The new visa policy provides an avenue to achieve African integration by the introduction of visas on arrival for short visits to Nigeria for holders of passports of African Union (AU) countries.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, recently gave an unfair assessment by calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately proscribe the Miyetti Allah groups existing in the country as was done to IPOB as the first step to ending the raging herdsmen crisis in the country. The association also urged the federal government to review its open visa or visa arrival policy as it had allowed armed herders from West African countries easy access into the country.

There is no link between visa on arrival policy and the emergence of Boko Haram. Visa on arrival policy started in 2020 and Mohammed Yusuf founded the sect that became known as Boko Haram in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern state of Borno. He established a religious complex and school that attracted poor Muslim families from across Nigeria and neighbouring countries. ... Yusuf’s arrest elevated him to hero status.
 
The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 was intended to attract innovation, specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally available ones. NVP 2020 is a global visa system that will boost internal security because there is biometrics linked to online applications for each applicant. Chances of criminals beating the system are negligible. Biometrics is to be conducted at the port of entry which is a major boost to Nigeria’s national security. The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 has security identity number which is like the national identification number, or national insurance number which helps to boost internal security which is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other governmentally-related functions.

I wish to throw more light on the issue of visa on arrival as many people are not aware and usually get embarrassed about it. One cannot acquire a visa on arrival without a letter of approval from the delegation of national security in the country of your origin. So you need somebody to do this at least one or two weeks before your arrival. The Visa on Arrival policy will not compromise the country’s security, that this government together with the relevant stakeholders such as the Office of the National Security (ONS), International Police Organization (INTERPOL), and the Immigration Department will profile visitors to make sure that they do not have a questionable character before entering the country.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, has said that the visa policy took into consideration the specific needs of foreigners who would want to visit the country, without compromising the security of the country. The minister said the policy had followed a process that considered the security, economy and territorial integrity of the country, and would only be issued after due diligence with other security components of the country. “Especially, the new visa policy will be helpful to diaspora Nigerians by birth who can now use other passports to visit the country because some countries do not allow dual citizenship,’’ he added.

In a technical presentation, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, said the service had already put in place a technological hub, called the Migrants Information and Data Analysis (MIDAS), to ensure strict compliance with the conditions for the issuance of the visa. Babandede assured that issues of corruption or bribery will be controlled by the automated system while allaying fears of possible infiltration of the economy by criminals and terrorists.

He said the new policy has 79 categories, which include health, education, tourism etc, pointing out that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Interpol also made inputs into the system, and would be carried along in the processing before approvals. The policy as not being a bad policy said they are concerned about the intelligence level of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, to track those coming in with wrong intentions.

President Muhammadu Buhari last year in Abuja explained that the new Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 aims at attracting innovation, specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement local capacity. The President said, “The implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 will support the attainment of a globally competitive economy for Nigeria by building on the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council.’’

With the official launch of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2020 by President Buhari, here are some salient points to note:

• A greater part of 2019 was devoted to conceiving and enunciating the policy, with retreats, conferences and engagements with stakeholders by the Nigeria Immigration Service. These held in August, October, and December, in Lagos, Benin, and Abuja, respectively. It was, therefore, not a hasty decision.
• Visa on Arrival to be issued only at airports, not at land borders.
• There are three categories of visas: short visit, temporary, and permanent residence.
• From the previous six, there are now 79 classes of visa.
• There is Visa for Diaspora Nigerians by birth, with dual citizenship.
• Visa on Arrival is only for short visits, and there is little chance that visitors will come in to take jobs which should have been for Nigerians.
• The system is automated. No cash transaction, so the chances of corruption are reduced.
• NVP is part of a wider reform ‘NIS Border Strategy, 2019-2023.’
• It holds immense economic benefits for the country. 

As President Buhari said; “The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 is intended to attract innovation, specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally available ones...it will support the attainment of a globally competitive economy for Nigeria by building on the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council. The policy is expected to improve the business environment, attract Foreign Direct Investment and boost tourism without compromising national security

 

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Rwanda Opposition Figure Killed in South Africa

South African authorities said that for now they were treating the case as a robbery, but the political allies of the man who was shot, Seif Bamporiki, had their suspicions of an assassination.

Seif Bamporiki, right, a Rwandan opposition figure living in exile, was killed in Cape Town on Sunday. “He was the kind of human being who understood the kind of struggle we are in,” said Serge Ndayizeye, left.Credit...Serge Ndayizeye

A Rwandan opposition figure was shot and killed in South Africa on Sunday in what the police said was most likely a robbery but that political allies said resembled earlier assassinations of government critics.

Seif Bamporiki was shot in Cape Town sometime after 4 p.m. while making a delivery, his political party, the Rwanda National Congress, said in a statement.

Accompanied by a friend, Mr. Bamporiki, a 49-year-old Rwandan exile, arrived in Nyanga township to hand over a bed from his store to a client when two men approached his truck and one of them shot him, the party said. The men took him out the vehicle and fled with it along with some belongings, the South African police said.

Mr. Bamporiki’s friend, another Rwandan, was reported to have escaped unharmed.

On Monday, the police said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing and had yet to apprehend any suspects. “We have reason to believe that the motive for the murder was robbery,” Col. Andrè Traut, the provincial commander for media communication for the Western Cape province, said in a statement.

But the Rwanda National Congress, an opposition group in exile formed by former members of President Paul Kagame’s inner circle, said the killing was reminiscent of past cases in which critics of President Kagame were lured to “a compromising and insecure environment” and then murdered.

“While investigations are going on to determine the exact circumstances of Mr. Bamporiki’ s assassination, the incident resembles assassinations that happened before, where the victims were lured by people they knew; but who fatally betrayed them to death,” Etienne Mutabazi, the R.N.C. spokesman, said in a statement.

Human rights groups have often accused the Kagame government of reaching beyond Rwandan borders to target opponents, including through spyware attacks, kidnapping and assassination.

Mr. Kagame, who officially became president in 2000, but has held power in Rwanda since 1994, has denied these allegations,

In 2014, a former Rwandan intelligence chief, Patrick Karegeya, was found dead in a hotel room in Johannesburg after he went to meet a friend; he had been strangled.

 

In 2010, another member of the R.N.C., a former army chief named Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, was shot and wounded in Johannesburg.

The killings of Rwandan dissidents in South Africa had led to diplomatic strains between the two countries, including the expulsion of diplomats, before a thaw in relations under the current South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Lunga Ngqengelele, a spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said that South Africa and Rwanda continue to enjoy “good working relations.”

Of Mr. Bamporiki’s killing, Mr. Ngqengelele said, “We are being led by the police, and so far they have not indicated that this is a political killing.”

Beyond South Africa, Rwandan government critics have also been targeted elsewhere. In Kenya, a former minister was shot dead in 1998 months after he said he was afraid for his life. In Belgium, a former government official’s mangled body was found floating in a canal in 2005.

And last August, after an elaborate ruse that Mr. Kagame called “flawless,” Paul Rusesabagina, a government critic who was credited for saving 1,268 lives during the Rwandan genocide, was arrested and charged with terrorism. That case has drawn worldwide condemnation.

In the case of Mr. Bamporiki, the man who ostensibly lured him to his death had been calling him consistently for a week, insistent that he wanted to buy a bed from his shop, Mr. Mutabazi, the R.N.C. spokesman, said on Monday. Mr. Bamporiki was at a party conference in Johannesburg at the time, but did not suspect anything untoward, Mr. Mutabazi said.

“Bamporiki was the kind of peaceful man who could not believe that one would plan to kill him,” he said.

Mr. Bamporiki, who was among a group of Rwandans who sued their government over the invalidation of their passports and won, was a permanent resident in South Africa at the time of his death.

Mr. Bamporiki had only just returned to Cape Town on Sunday morning when the supposed customer, a South African, called him again. he set off to deliver the bed, just over a mile from his shop.

Nyanga, the township where the murder took place, has some of the highest murder rates in South Africa. Wary of the neighborhood, Mr. Bamporiki parked his delivery truck in a position where he could quickly leave if there was trouble. But he was not prepared for the two men who sneaked up on him, Mr. Mutabazi said.

On Monday, those who knew Mr. Bamporiki said they would miss his rousing speeches and his activism.

“I have been crying since yesterday when I got the news,” Serge Ndayizeye, who manages the party’s official radio station, said from Washington, D.C. “He was the kind of human being who understood the kind of struggle we are in.”

 

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Zimbabwe's Alleged Use of COVID as Excuse to Stifle Dissent Draws UN Concern

FILE - Police arrest a health worker during a protest against economic hardship and poor working conditions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Harare, Zimbabwe, July 6, 2020.

HARARE, ZIMABABWE - The United Nations Human Rights Office says it is “concerned” by a new Human Rights Watch report that says Zimbabwe’s government is using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association.   

Marta Hurtado, spokeswoman of the U.N. Human Rights Office, said the agency is encouraging President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to grievances, while ensuring that people’s rights and freedoms are protected in accordance with Zimbabwe’s human rights obligations. 

“We are indeed concerned at allegations that suggest that the Zimbabwean authorities may be using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association," Hurtado said. "Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights. An example of intimidation is the repeated arbitrary arrest and detention of three members of the main opposition party for taking part in a protest.”

That is an apparent reference to three female opposition activists who were arrested in May for protesting the Zimbabwe government’s failure to provide payouts during a lockdown to contain the coronavirus. They now face two more charges - all related to breaking lockdown regulations. 

On Thursday, HRW released a report chronicling how 23 African governments are using the COVID-19 pandemic to clamp down on freedom of the media and of assembly.  

On Friday, Cecillia Chimbiri - one of the three female opposition activists mentioned in the HRW report - welcomed the U.N. Human Rights Office’s statement on Zimbabwe. She maintains the trio’s innocence and wants Zimbabwe government look after its citizens during lockdowns.    

“The demo was simply to say: people are hungry, what are you doing as the government of Zimbabwe, people are unemployed, Zimbabweans live hand to mouth? We are law-abiding citizens," she told media. " Speaking against the government doesn’t make us unpatriotic. We love our country that’s why we are speaking against any injustices and any inequalities that are existing. We did not commit any crime. We are not criminals. They are trying to tarnish our images, this is what this government is doing, to clampdown voices, to make sure they continue doing that (abuses).”

On Wednesday, Elasto Mugwadi, the head of the government-affiliated Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, confirmed to media that his organization had received complaints of abuses raised in the HRW report. He said the complaints included “robust approach in enforcement by the police” and “generally excessive enforcement.” 

Mugwadi said the commission was investigating the complaints of abuses during the lockdown by the Zimbabwe government to contain coronavirus. 

“While recognizing the government’s efforts to contain the pandemic, it is important to remind the authorities that any restrictions should be necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and enforced humanely without resorting to unnecessary or excessive force," Hurtado said. 

The HRW report, Covid-19 Triggers Wave of Free Speech Abuse, said the rights group was concerned about introduction of Zimbabwe’s Public Health Order Act in March, which threatened up to 20 years in prison for fake news on public health matters. 

 

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World Food Programme (WFP) cuts refugees' food rations in Rwanda as funding declines

Today, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced it would reduce food assistance to refugees in Rwanda by a dramatic 60 percent, as of March 2021. Some 135,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees in camps in Rwanda rely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic food needs each month.

“This is a desperate situation and, without an immediate response from donors, we simply have no choice but to reduce our assistance to the refugees,” said WFP Country Director Edith Heines. “While WFP appreciates the support received so far, we are urgently appealing to donors to quickly come to the aid of the refugees and provide additional funding so that we can return to full rations and avoid any prolonged negative impacts.”

WFP provides refugees with a monthly cash transfer to buy food in local markets.  Each person receives RWF 7,600 (US$ 7.72) under a full ration allocation, which provides the basic foods to meet minimum nutrition requirements for that person.

WFP requires US$9 million to avert ration reductions from March through June 2021, and US$20.6 million to continue full assistance to refugees throughout 2021. If no new funding is received, deeper reductions will be necessary in the coming months.

Despite the reductions, WFP will maintain full rations of targeted nutrition support to refugees identified as particularly vulnerable, such as children under two years, schoolchildren, and pregnant and nursing mothers, as well as people living with HIV and tuberculosis patients under treatment. A total of 51,000 refugees including 37,000 schoolchildren are being assisted.

This comes at a time when many refugees have been particularly hard hit by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.  WFP data from June and November 2020 noted an increased reliance on external aid among refugees since the onset of the pandemic.

Ration reductions are likely to cause widespread food insecurity and potentially lead to increased tensions within the refugee community.  In late 2017 through mid-2018, WFP was forced to reduce rations by twenty-five percent due to funding shortfalls. A WFP survey in 2018 found that as a result the percentage of refugee families with poor household eating habits doubled.

In 2021, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and WFP are jointly moving towards needs-based humanitarian assistance instead of the current blanket assistance for refugees.  This exercise will further allow scarce donor resources to be prioritized for the most vulnerable.  The strategy will also strive to create more access to livelihood opportunities for refugees.

“This new approach will allow us to prioritise funding and focus on those refugees who need our help the most,” said Heines.  “But in order for it to be successful, the refugee operation must be fully supported at this critical stage to ensure we have the support of the refugee community as we transition to this new way of programming.”

The Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) outlines a commitment of the international community to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the refugees to ease the burden on Rwanda. Additional support is needed to support the host government and its goodwill and to not undermine developmental gains.

 

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