Friday 4 October 2013

[wanabidii] US sanctions Rwanda, others over child soldiers

 
 
----------------------------------FYI----------------------------
 
 
 
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
 
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

US sanctions Rwanda, others over child soldiers

Friday October 4th 2013
5 hours ago
(Blank Headline Received)
.
View gallery
Congolese M23 rebels hold their weapons as they celebrate repelling an attack by another rebel group, …
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States moved to block U.S. military aid to Rwanda because of its support for the M23 Congolese rebel group believed to use child soldiers, the State Department said on Thursday.
The sanctions also apply to the Central African Republic, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria, according to the U.S. State Department. It was unclear whether those nations receive U.S. military assistance.
"Our goal is to work with countries who have been listed to ensure that any involvement in child soldiers - any involvement in the recruitment of child soldiers - stop," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Rwanda was sanctioned because of its "support for the M23, a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children" and to threaten the stability of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
M23 is a Tutsi-dominated rebellion of former Congolese soldiers that began taking parts of eastern Congo last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal.
Rwanda will not receive U.S. International Military Education and Training funds, which help train foreign militaries, nor will it get U.S. Foreign Military Financing, which funds the sale of U.S. military materiel and services, Harf said.
Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita, spokesman for the Rwanda Defense Forces, said his country should not be held responsible for events outside its control.
"It is surprising that Rwanda would be liable for matters that are neither on its territory, nor in its practices," he said. "As a long term partner of the Rwanda Defense Forces, the United States has ample evidence that our forces have never tolerated the use of children in combat."
"Rwanda's commitment to a sustainable solution that seeks to bring an end to the DRC conflict and its consequences, including the use of child soldiers, remains unchanged," he added.
"The collaboration between the Government of Rwanda and the United States remains strong, particularly in the field of peacekeeping, and Rwanda will continue to hold its forces to the highest standards of professionalism and discipline," he added.
Harf, the State Department spokeswoman, said she was not aware of Syria receiving any U.S. military assistance. She also said she did not believe Syria or Myanmar receive such aid and would check on whether or not Sudan did.
Three other countries whose militaries are known to recruit and use child soldiers, however, received waivers from the U.S. sanctions - Chad, South Sudan and Yemen, another State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia received partial waivers, the official said, adding that the Obama administration has decided such exemptions "would be in the national interest of the United States."
By law, the U.S. State Department must keep track of nations whose governments recruit and use children as soldiers as part of its annual report on human trafficking. The 10 countries affected by Thursday's actions were all cited in the State Department's latest findings, issued in June.
Those countries can be denied some types of U.S. funds for military assistance unless the White House grants a waiver. The 2008 law also allows U.S. officials to block licenses needed for those nations to buy military equipment.
It was not immediately clear how much U.S. funding would be blocked because of Thursday's action.
Rwanda was not granted a waiver because of its role backing the M23 rebels in nearby Democratic Republic of Congo, Thomas-Greenfield, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, said in an online forum with reporters broadcast on the State Department website.
U.N. investigators and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of sponsoring the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.
"Any support of those rebel groups is seen as contributing to conflict in the region," Thomas-Greenfield told reporters, adding that U.S. officials will continue to discuss the issue with the Rwandan government.
The United States will still support peacekeeping efforts in Rwanda, the other official added.
 
 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
Rioters in Mombasa burn church as they protest murder of Muslim cleric
Updated Friday, October 4th 2013 at 14:57 GMT +3
Mombasa residents at the scene where Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo and three others were murdered Thursday evening (Photo: Odit)
By David Ochami
MOMBASA, KENYA: Protestors on Friday engaged armed police in running battles in Mombasa following killing of a Muslim cleric, and three others.
The rioting youths in Majengo area set a church on fire.
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of armed police were deployed across islamist strongholds in Majengo and Kisauni as authorities anticipated riots from slain Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo's militant supporters.
Tension which has been building up since Thursday's blood end of Sheikh Rogo and his three friends was expected to reach boiling point at the afternoon Friday prayers in areas like Majengo especially at Musa Mosque where the slain preacher delivered controversial ceremonies.
Reports show that Sheikh Ibrahim delivered a lecture at the mosque at about 8.00pm on Thursday before embarking on his last journey to meet his end in a drive by shooting near the Butterfly Pavillion afew minutes before 10.00pm long the Mombasa-Malindi road.
Unconfirmed reports indicate the four were buried in the early hours of Friday at the same cemetery where slain radical islamist Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohamed was buried on August 27 last year.
It is not clear whether the two Rogos are related.
Reports indicate the four victims were buried in a single grave at the Tudor Muslim Cemetery and accorded the rites of martyrs.
Supporters have identified the other victims as Abu Rumaysa Omar and others identified only as Issa and Shebe Gaddafi.
Salim Aboud who was with them escaped unscathed but with brief facial injuries after playing dead among the slumped corpses inside a bullet ridden car.
Militant islamist Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi who was among the first people to reach the scene of crime declared Thursady's events as "an assassination" claiming state agents slew the four muslims "in retaliation" for the terrorist carnage at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi last month.
Makaburi who is facing terrorist charges and was an ally of slain islamist Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohamed claimed Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo was the target of Thursday's shooting because of his past links to the former Rogo who was killed on August 27 last year.
And Makaburi denounced the Kenya government and muslims collaborating with it following the Westgate massacre and in light of Thursday's events.
He further warned that muslims are now justified to disobey Kenyan laws "because we cannot sit back and be slaughtered or see our sheikhs killed everyday."
As they descended on the scene where the four were killed militant supporters of the slain preacher swore to avenge the killing.
According to Kisauni OCPD Julius Wanjohi who covers Bamburi where the killings took place, the four were killed when a "vehicle with unknown occupants sped past the car which was carrying Sheikh Ibrahim and four others and slowed a few metres from the vehicle."
The OCPD says the occupants of the unknown car opened fire on the right side of the approaching car carrying Sheikh Ibrahim.
Wanjohi further says Sheikh Ibrahim and three others were killed "on the spot and the vehicle sped away" apparently towards Bamburi.
According to the OCPD Sheikh Ibrahim's car was heading towards Mtwapa where he is believed to live.
 
 
 
Court maintains that Kenya as a State party to the Rome Statute has an obligation to enforce arrest warrant
 
Updated Thursday, October 3rd 2013 at 23:22 GMT +3
By FELIX OLICK
at The Hague
 
The International Criminal Court has insisted that the government has to arrest journalist Walter Barasa and hand him over to The Hague as instructed.
This comes just a day after Attorney General Githu Muigai pointed to a long-drawn procedure to enforce the arrest warrant.
In what is likely to be a major showdown with the Kenyan authorities, the court maintained that Kenya, as a State party to the Rome Statute, has an obligation to co-operate with the ICC, including the enforcement of the arrest warrant.
"The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Walter Barasa, and notified to the Kenyan authorities the arrest warrant and the request for his arrest and surrender to the ICC," said ICC Spokeman Fadi El-Abdalla.
"Kenya, as a State party to the Rome Statute, has the obligation to co-operate with the ICC, including the implementation of the arrest warrant and his surrender to the ICC," he told The Standard in an interview.
This came even as Barasa's lawyer, Nick Kaufman, an Israeli, came to Kenya to meet his client over the looming arrest.
wait-and-see strategy
In an exclusive interview with The Standard, the lawyer, who practises in Jerusalem, sided with the AG, saying his remarks were "absolutely correct."
He said they would adopt a wait-and-see strategy to appraise themselves of what the Kenya Government intend to do.
"What the Attorney General has said is absolutely correct," he told The Standard via e-mail.
He added: "I will be taking instructions from Mr Barasa in the coming days. We will first of all appraise ourselves of how the Kenyan authorities intend to act with respect to the demand made of them by the International Criminal Court. I should add that no submissions have yet been made in court on behalf of Mr Barasa. We still await the Kenyan authorities' decision with respect to how they propose to deal with the demand from The Hague."
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------
 
 
 

Kenyan activists backing ICC under attack: HRW

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta attends an African Union Summit in Abuja on July 16, 2013
.
View gallery
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta attends an African Union Summit in Abuja on July 16, 2013 (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)
AFP
51 minutes ago
Nairobi (AFP) - Activists viewed as supporting international crimes against humanity trials of Kenya's leaders are facing growing attacks, Human Rights Watch said Friday, calling on the government to stem such intimidation.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in Kenya's 2007-2008 post-election violence.
"During recent months, there have been growing reports of harassment, attacks, and threats toward human rights activists and people thought to be witnesses for the prosecution in the ICC cases," HRW said, calling the attacks "part of an overall climate of hostility in Kenya toward the ICC process".
The trial of Ruto, along with radio boss Joshua Arap Sang, began in The Hague-based ICC on September 10.
Kenyatta's trial is set to start on November 12.
"The government should make clear that it won't tolerate intimidation and violence against those who speak their minds," the New York-based rights group added in a statement.
On October 2, the ICC unsealed an arrest warrant against a Kenyan journalist, Walter Barasa, on witness tampering charges.
Barasa is alleged to be acting on the basis of a "criminal scheme devised by a circle of officials within the Kenyan administration," according to an ICC statement.
Police last month said a gang had threatened to torch the home of prominent activist Maina Kiai, the former head of the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, after false reports on blogs claimed he had testified at the ICC against Kenyatta.
Websites have also "outed" purported ICC witnesses, in one case prompting death threats against a person falsely said to be witness.
Unconnected to the ICC, two human rights activists have been killed in the past two months by unknown attackers, HRW added.
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 

Church of satan now opens in Nairobi

Updated 7 hrs 7 mins ago
Photo: Courtesy
By Nyambega Gisesa
In their church, you are forbidden from stating the name of Jesus Christ, and treating your visitors with kindness if they annoy you.
Instead, the church advocates for treating annoying guests "cruelly and without mercy" and promotes an "eye for an eye" morality.
The sins in this church are not things like coveting your neighbour's wife or committing adultery (the church okays you to make sexual advances if you are given the mating signal) except being stupid, pretentious or self-centred.
The members believe in magic and do not worship—nor believe in—the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan but its adherents see themselves as truth-seekers, adversaries and sceptics of the religious world around them.
For them, "It's indifferent. There's no God, there's no devil. No one cares!"
Welcome to the Church of Satan, a religion that is now facing a new challenge in Kenya – an exceptionally high ratio of scam artistes conning people who willingly want to join the church where prayers start with "Hail Satan."
"I have wanted to join the church but I have been asked to give an amount of money that I cannot only afford over a long period of time," Papre, a Kenyan who wants to join the church told The Nairobian. "I have already paid Sh4,000 and I am only left with Sh4,000 to pay."
Papre is one of the many Nairobians, who are investing to join the Church of Satan, founded on April 30, 1966 by Magus Anthony Szandor LaVey with the aim of being "openly dedicated to the acceptance of man's true nature—that of a carnal beast, living in a cosmos that is indifferent to our existence."
LaVey was an American author, occultist, and musician.
He was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997 after which his position was passed on to his common law wife, Blanche Barton.
Since his death, the church has grown around the world with a branch in Nairobi at a location that is not exactly known to the public because of the high level of confidentiality exhibited.
Membership is strictly private, making it difficult for The Nairobian to establish the number of the members of the church of Satan in Kenya. The head office in New York did not reply to our request for information about the membership and activities of the church in Kenya.
Members of the Church of Satan are strictly forbidden from "outing" other members who have chosen to remain underground. All memberships are processed only through the New York office
There are two basic degrees of membership in the Church of Satan – "active" and "registered" – whereby every member, upon induction, begins as an active member and becomes registered if they are invited to do so by church leadership.
The church believes one can be a Satanist without being a member of their organisation.
Although the church does not solicit for memberships, one can pay membership fees of two hundred dollars. A registration form is downloaded online and strictly sent through postal mail.
Upon payment of the registration fees, you are given an embossed crimson card declaring you a member of the Church of Satan.
When the members meet, they have to produce the cards for identification.
However, a rising number of people willing to join the church are posing the new challenge of protecting them from scam artistes especially in Africa.
Recently, the church came up with measures for those willing to be members with rules that now require a sort of screening before recruitment.
Kenyans willing to join the Church of Satan like other residents of countries in Africa are advised against trying to register with the church unless they have first been in contact through email and gained pre-approval.
Kenya is one of the countries in Africa where unscrupulous residents are attempting to get money from the government on behalf of the Church of Satan, its websites claims.
It however does not explain the link between the government and the scam.
There are individuals who are not happy that they are asked to give a lot of money before they can join the church.
"Why are you asking people to pay money to join? According to the 'Gospel of Satan', that's wrong. Satan is rich and he doesn't need anything," one of the members asks.
Papre told The Nairobian that this is the third time that he is paying to join the church after two unsuccessful bids. "I have been conned twice but I am not giving up," he said.
So as to increase openness, members of the church have now opened a Facebook page, the Church of Satan Kenya through which willing members are contacted through the phone number 07XX 666 666 (the two digits omitted by this paper), which interestingly makes use of the numbers 666, the mark of the beast in the Bible.
In the Facebook page, one of the members quips: "There is no God but yourself and Satan is your friend."
The recruitment for membership of the church has some questions that can tickle your mind. The church asks if you are satisfied with your sexual life, you are ideal physically attractive sex partner, how many years you could like to live, the kind of car that you could like to drive, questions that largely touch on material well-being.
"I play rugby. I want to join because I want to be successful in life," Weslay, a 23-year-old told us.
Members of the church carry red cards that they use to identify themselves as members and things like "group hugs" are forbidden.
Satanism holds individualism as one of their values simply stating: "we don't expect all of our members to agree on everything, or even to 'get along' with each other."
A fundamental "house rule" for the church is that "those who affiliate are not required to like, appreciate, or praise one another—which should be expected with an association of wildly diverse individuals. However, they must refrain from publicly attacking or antagonising each other."
"To us, Satan is the symbol that best suits the nature of we who are carnal by birth—people who feel no battles raging between our thoughts and feelings, we who do not embrace the concept of a soul imprisoned in a body. He represents pride, liberty, and individualism—qualities often defined as evil by those who worship external deities, who feel there is a war between their minds and emotions," the website of the church reads.
The church is guided by nine satanic statements that are a sort of the '10 commandments'.
The nine satanic statements outline what 'Satan' represents in the Church of Satan. They state that Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence, vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams, undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit, kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates, vengeance instead of turning the other cheek and responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires.
According to the Satanic statements, Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development", has become the most vicious animal of all. He represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification, and is the best friend the church has ever had, managing to keep it in business all these years.
According to teaching in the Church of Satan, "satanic sins" are stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies, counterproductive pride and lack of aesthetics.
 
 

0 comments:

Post a Comment