Besigye House Arrest Reaches 40th Day

It has been 40 days since Ugandan police placed presidential candidate Kizza Besigye of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change under house arrest following that country’s February 18 presidential election.

The Ugandan Electoral Commission announced that the election had been won by the 30 year incumbent President Yoweri Museveni with 60 percent of the vote to Besigye's 35 percent. However, the results have been challenged in court by one of the other losing candidates. Besigye says he has not been able to launch a challenge because he has been under house arrest.

Ugandan police spokesperson Fred Enanga told VOA earlier this month that Besigye is being held under section 24 of the Police Act which empowers the police to carry out what they call “preventive arrest and detention” of anyone whose unrestrictive movement the police may deem a threat to public order.

The police have also restricted visitors to and from Besigye’s house.

On Easter Monday, police intercepted two mini-busses carrying a group of 72 people, including two Anglican Church Clerics from Besigye's home district of Rukungiri.

Besigye said the group had come to conduct prayers with him since he had been prevented by police from attending Easter Sunday services.

“Members of the All Saints Church which is my local church, have chosen to come and celebrate Easter Monday with me because I normally attend Easter service at their church and when they knew I could not go to any church, they decided to come and have a communion service with me. And so there were more than 70 members of our church who came this morning. They were detained about two or three miles (four kilometers) before reaching my home,” he said.

The police were not immediately available to respond to the Easter Monday incident, but police spokesman Fred Enanga explained to VOA earlier this month the police do not want troublemakers to visit Besigye.

“We have enabled several visitors to his place. Then there are actually those ones where we have information that their visit is not helpful to the situation we are trying to bring under control where there actually are more persons with inciteful messages and so on. Sometimes we do allow, sometimes we don’t based on the intelligence we have on the ground, on the intentions and motivations of those who are actually going to visit him,” Enanga said.

Besigye say the police have no constitutional basis to detain him in his own house or to stop anyone from visiting him. He again said the police detention of him in his own house is illegal.

“As I have said before, the police action is completely illegal; it has no basis at all in law because my home is not a place of detention. If they chose to detain whether for preventive purposes as they claim or any other reason, they should detain me in a place designated for detaining people, not my home,” Besigye said.

He also said if the police suspect that he has in any way broken the law, then the law requires that they bring him before a magistrate of the court of law.

“They cannot be the accusers; they cannot be the investigators and the judges. They must put me before people who will investigate their claims. I have never been presented to any court of law. It is now 40 days since I was detained. This is absolutely illegal,” Besigye said.

Besigye has also asked the courts to declare the siege of his house illegal and has requested damages to be awarded for the inconvenience and mental anguish it has cost him.

He said the delay in hearing his case is one more example of how Uganda is gradually turning into a kind of failed state, and also how the courts have been compromised.

Police spokesman Enanga said the police will respect whatever decision is made by the court regarding Besigye’s fate.

Ethiopia Boeing Aircraft Turned Into Restaurant

Ethiopian Airlines-owned property - a Boeing 737 aircraft - has been sold and turned into a hotel and restaurant business here.

Guttama Gutta, the owner of the new aircraft hotel, told The Reporter that he invested some 30 million birr for the purchasing, refurbishing and decoration of the aircraft, which is now located in the town of Burayu, some 15 km west of the capital.

Guttama said that he made the investment in the hope of creating a type of recreational center in Burayu. The construction and installation of the aircraft, and having it ready for catering services, took two years, Guttama said.

When asked why he wanted to set up an aircraft restaurant in the town, he explained that his intention was to upgrade his previous business and by doing so the aircraft business came up. The engineless aircraft is said to provide both indoor and outdoor service where the Boeing 737 aircraft will host 60 individuals at a time for food and drinks.

Guttama added that the restaurant will provide services for weddings, birthdays and meetings.

In addition to selling the old aircraft, Ethiopian, according to Guttama, has provided decorative items and paintings. The new restaurant will officially be inaugurated today and will begin operations next week.

Ethiopian currently operates more than 67 aircraft out of which 20 are B373. Recently, Ethiopian agreed to purchase an additional 20 B737 MAX from Boeing for its growing operations worldwide.

Niger: Honour Roll - Child Brides Return to School

Niamey — When Fati was 12-years old, her father removed her from school in Niamey and sent her to Nigeria to marry a 40-year-old man. A year later, she was hospitalized with injuries inflicted by her new husband.

It took several months before she was well enough for discharge, and while she was still in the hospital recovering, her husband divorced her. By that time, she was the mother of a small boy.

Aichatou had to leave school at age 15 after she was forced to marry a 30-year-old man. At age 16, shortly after giving birth to her first child, she was widowed.

Finding themselves newly single, new mothers and not yet 18, both Fati and Aichatou went to live with family in the Talladjé area of Niamey, where they spent their days caring for their babies and doing housework - with few prospects for the future, other than more of the same.

Then two years ago, a knock on their doors changed both their lives.

An outreach worker was going door to door to spread the word about the UNFPA-supported Safe Space programme Illimin, which had recently launched in their area, and to find girls ages 10 to 19 who were not enrolled in school to ask if they would like to join the programme.

Fati and Aichatou both said yes.

"By attending the Safe Space programme Illimin, I found the motivation to return to school," says Fati, unable to suppress a large smile. "It helped me to gain confidence in myself. It has also re-awakened my lifelong dream to study and have a career. A dream that was shattered by my father."

The price of denying girls an education

Fati's and Aichatou's stories of forced marriage are common in Niger - which, at 75 percent, has the world's highest rate of child marriageand, at 10 percent, one of its lowest rates of girls enrolled in secondary school. This landlocked nation of 20 million is also one of the world's poorest countries, and in 2014, ranked 188 out of 188 countries in theUN's Human Development Index.

Investing in adolescent girls' education and empowerment could prove key to strengthening the labour force and sparking economic growth in Niger - and in lower-income countries around the world. However, child brides and adolescent mothers are much less likely to attend school than other girls, meaning before countries can tap into the transformative potential of the 600 million adolescent girls on the planet today, they must reduce rates of both.

Illimin means "knowledge for dignity" in Hausa, a common language in Niger, and the Safe Space programme Illimin was designed to combat both early marriage and pregnancy by educating and empowering adolescent girls to facilitate this change themselves.

"It is at the Safe Space that my dream to go to school came back to me," says Aichatou. "In this program, I was welcomed, re-motivated and guided towards resuming my studies."

Back to school

In secure spaces chosen in consultation with communities, Safe Space staff educates girls about sexual and reproductive health, self-esteem, their rights, money management, public speaking and literacy. In 2014 and 2015, over 10,000 girls completed the program.

Today, Safe Spaces have opened around the country, and 16,000 girls are scheduled to graduate this August alone. The programme plans to double that number for the class of 2017.

So far, at least 56 students have refused to marry men before age 18, despite pressure from their families, and credit the Safe Space with giving them the skills and confidence to negotiate the postponement. And many girls who were forced to drop out of school early are returning to class.

Fati and Aichatou were part of the inaugural 2014 class. Today, they are enrolled in eleventh grade at a second chance secondary school for students who previously dropped out - and are ranked near the top of their class.

Six days a week, they rise early to complete their homework and housework, then leave their sons with family, so they can spend the afternoon at school.

"These girls work well and are very involved in their education. I am sure they will succeed," says Ibrahim Hassane, their French teacher.

After graduation, both girls plan to continue their studies. Fati hopes enrol at the National School of Administration and Magistracy, and Aichatou dreams of becoming a journalist. Fati has also begun to campaign nationally - and internationally - to end child marriage, and has spoken at conferences in Zambia and Paris.

"I salute the determination of Fati and Aichatou," said Monique Clesca, the UNFPA representative in Niger. "It is the Fatis and Aichatous of Niger who will help the country achieve its demographic dividend, because they have education and will participate fully in the life of their country. Ultimately, that's the result of empowering girls."

East Africa Launches New E-Passport

The new digitalised and machine-readable East African passport replaces the old travel document which was restricted to Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi only. East African will begin using new EAC electronic passports from January next year after Heads of State from the member countries launched the international travel document at a Summit held in Arusha, Tanzania, yesterday.

The toughest place to be a girl

Niger is the toughest country to be a girl. "In too many countries being born poor and female means a life sentence of inequality, oppression and poverty - and in too many cases also a death sentence.

In Niger a woman has a one in 20 chance in her lifetime of dying while giving birth.

In an index compiled by ONE of the 20 hardest countries to be a girl, Niger is followed by Somalia, Mali, Central African Republic, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Chad and Comoros.

Globally, half a billion women cannot read, 62 million girls are denied an education and 155 countries still have laws that discriminate against women.

South Africa: No Ministers Appointed By Guptas - Zuma

The Gupta family has not appointed any minister to the Cabinet, President Jacob Zuma told Parliament on Thursday.

"I appoint ministers here," a confident Zuma said in the National Assembly, in response to a question from DA leader Mmusi Maimane on who was involved in the decision to remove Nhlanhla Nene from the finance ministry.

Zuma said opposition party leaders should ask the Gupta family, as he had no involvement in them issuing job offers.

The president's relationship with the Guptas has been in the spotlight over the past week, with various high-profile members saying they had been offered Cabinet jobs by the family.

On Wednesday, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas admitted he had been offered a job by the Guptas and had rejected it.

Zuma said the only job he had ever offered Jonas was the deputy ministry and nothing else.

The president was not required to consult anyone before removing a minister or deputy minister, Zuma said on Thursday.

Sithole Killers Sentenced to Between 10 and 17 Years Behind Bars

The men convicted of killing Mozambican vendor Emmanuel Sithole will spend between 10 and 17 years in jail.

The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court handed down sentencing on Monday morning, sending the first accused to prison for 17 years while his co-accused was jailed for 10 years.

The magistrate referred to the photographs taken by the Sunday Times shortly before he died, saying it forced South Africans to watch him die, as he lay pleading for his life in the mud.

Sifundo Mzimela and Mthinta Bhengu were found guilty of the murder on April 18.

Sithole was killed during a wave of xenophobic violence that swept through the country in April 2015.

Dog lost at sea surfaces alive one month on

Los Angeles - The US Navy was surprised this week to find a dog alive and well on an island off California a month after falling off its owner's boat.

Luna, a German shepherd with piercing blue eyes, went overboard in early February while its owner was fishing about a mile off San Clemente island, which is about 127km from the mainland.

Its owner asked Naval Base Coronado for help in finding the dog, but it was given up for dead after a search lasting several days.

"Fast forward to yesterday," the navy said on the base's Facebook page. "Luna showed up near staff at San Clemente Island - a little thinner, but none the worse for wear."

Luna was turned over to a friend of the owner for safekeeping until he returns from a trip, it said.

Authorities Confirm Device On Air France Plane Was a Bomb - Report

The Kenya Airports Authority said on Sunday that it had found a bomb on the Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that made an emergency landing in Mombasa, Sky News tweeted.

Meanwhile, DPA reported that Kenyan police were interrogating some passengers from the flight.

Two of the passengers were suspected of carrying a suspicious device into the plane's lavatory, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery told the press at a conference at Mombasa airport.

Four passengers are reportedly of interest to the authorities. It is not clear if they have been taken into custody.

Source: News24

Bomb Scare Forces Airliner to Land in Kenya

An Air France passenger jet flying from Mauritius to France was forced to land in Mombasa after a flight attendant found a package in an aircraft toilet which looked like a bomb.

Husband Demands Refund of N486,000 Wedding Expenses From Wife

A 40-year-old businessman, Modibo Surajo, on Tuesday pleaded with a Grade 1 Area Court, Gudu, Abuja, to compel his wife, Mariam to refund N486, 000 expenses he incurred during their wedding.

Surajo told the court that he had to make the demand because his wife had refused to stay in her matrimonial home.

The petitioner, a resident of Durumi in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accused his wife of frequently leaving their matrimonial home since they got married in 2011.

He said his marriage to the respondent produced a son but the respondent recently fled to Kaduna State to stay with her Uncle, Ismaila Alhiru.

According to him, the respondent has never stayed for three whole months in his house without running away since they got married.

He said the respondent insisted that he should get another apartment for her and should divorce his first wife before she could stay married to him, which he said, he would not do.

"You can get married to a woman from the city and she would stay with her husband in the village peacefully, so if she is no longer interested in the marriage I want her to refund N140, 000 which I spent on the wedding.

"She should also refund the N20,000 I paid as her dowry, I gave her friends N25,000, gave her a gift of N20,000, transportation to Niger Republic and also from Kaduna to Abuja at N120, 000.

"I hired two cars at N16,000, Asoebi at N75, 000, I sent two people to her at N30, 000 and gave her father N150, 000 which is a total of N486, 000, I want her to refund all these money," he said.

In her response, Mariam said she did not ask Surajo to divorce his wife, but only asked him to get another apartment for her as the petitioner's wife made the matrimonial home unbearable.

"I did not tell the plaintiff that I am no longer interested in our marriage, I left the house because his wife disturbs me with trouble and I do not know anybody in Abuja that was why I went to Kaduna State where my uncle resides.

"It is left for the petitioner to choose between getting an apartment for me or me not returning to the house as I am suffering," she said.

The Presiding judge, Alhaji Imam Isah, adjourned the case till April 7 for further hearing.

warrior tombs found in massive 4,200 year old necropolis near Bethlehem

Inside the warrior tombs were discovered three bronze daggers and an axe. A fine specimen of an almost intact male skeleton was also found, dating back around 4,000 years.

Ngorongoro crater

Welcome to Tanzania.
You can visit NGORONGORO CRATER. 
You can be a tourist in Tanzania and am proud to be "MTANZANIA"

East Africa: Raila's Daughter Apologises Over Olduvai Remarks

A few days after Tanzanians started an online petition to compel Raila Odinga's daughter to apologise for erroneously saying that the Olduvai Gorge, a site in Tanzania that holds evidence of the earliest existence of mankind, is in Kenya, she has finally apologised for the misinformation.

Rosemary Odinga made the statement while addressing one of the sessions of the International Young Leaders Assembly (IYLA), in the USA, last year.

However, Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), Public Relations officer, Mr Geodfrey Tengeneza said, they were aware of the apology made by Ms Odinga though the board was not ready to talk more about the matter.

Mr Tengeneza said TTB would like to applaud the reaction made by Tanzanians and non-Tanzanians within and outside Tanzania, who through this incident were able to stand up as 'one voice' and tell the world that Olduvai Gorge is in Tanzania.

The Olduvai Gorge, a site in Tanzania that holds evidence of the earliest existence of mankind.