Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been shot after the military police opened fire to disperse protesters in the capital, Kampala. Ugandan police fired teargas to disperse a crowd that gathered after an opposition leader was prevented from taking part in a second round of protests over rising fuel and food prices on Thursday (April 14). Opposition leader Kizza Besigye, President Yoweri Museveni’s closest rival in February elections, was stopped by military police from taking part in the protest. Teargas was fired to disperse a crowd that formed a ring around him in a Kampala suburb as police tried to arrest him.
Police had already detained Besigye on Monday (April 11) as he prepared to join another protest over rising food and fuel prices. After a few hours of cat-and-mouse chases with protesters, police stopped firing teargas and three of their vehicles escorted a crowd of more than 1,000 towards the city centre, with Besigye in the middle. But the protesters were then dispersed by military police, firing live bullets. Prices have been rising in the east African country after drought hurt food production in many parts of Uganda and higher fuel prices have increased transport costs, pushing up food prices further in urban areas. After Monday’s attempted protest, Besigye was charged with inciting unrest and released on bail. More updates coming!
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been shot after the military police opened fire to disperse protesters in the capital, Kampala. Ugandan police fired teargas to disperse a crowd that gathered after an opposition leader was prevented from taking part in a second round of protests over rising fuel and food prices on Thursday (April 14). Opposition leader Kizza Besigye, President Yoweri Museveni’s closest rival in February elections, was stopped by military police from taking part in the protest. Teargas was fired to disperse a crowd that formed a ring around him in a Kampala suburb as police tried to arrest him.
Police had already detained Besigye on Monday (April 11) as he prepared to join another protest over rising food and fuel prices. After a few hours of cat-and-mouse chases with protesters, police stopped firing teargas and three of their vehicles escorted a crowd of more than 1,000 towards the city centre, with Besigye in the middle. But the protesters were then dispersed by military police, firing live bullets. Prices have been rising in the east African country after drought hurt food production in many parts of Uganda and higher fuel prices have increased transport costs, pushing up food prices further in urban areas. After Monday’s attempted protest, Besigye was charged with inciting unrest and released on bail. More updates coming!
Ugandan police fired teargas canisters to disperse opposition supporters after their leaders are arrested in a protest against rising food and fuel prices. Ugandan police detained two main opposition leaders on Monday as they prepared to march in protest over rising food and fuel prices in the east African country. Civil society and opposition parties were planning to hold a “Walk to Work” protest when the police detained Kizza Besigye, who was General Museveni who closest rival in February elections. Uganda’s strongman General Museveni won with 68 percent of the vote and has been in power for 25 years. Dr. Besigye was walking to work near his home in Kampala in support of civil society who had called on leaders to join them in their protest. “If am not committing an offence, do not violate rights, let me go about my business. Go to do what I want to do the way I want to do it, that is my right, you have very clear choices and you can use them, you have the power, I do not have power, I am an ordinary person,” .
Another opposition leader, Norbert Mao, was detained after a brief standoff with the police in a Kampala suburb. Security forces used teargas to disperse a crowd that had gathered. Before Besigye was bundled into a police vehicle, he said authorities should not be worried by a small minority that may not be happy with them. “We have just gone through an election in which the regime claims to have got 70% of the votes, so why would they be worried about this small minority of people that may not be happy with them and many of them wishing to go to work the way that I am doing, why would they be fearing? I think the fear to me is a demonstration that they have lost the legitimacy to govern and therefore they must govern by might, by violation of other people’s rights,” Besigye said. Besigye was the presidential candidate for the Inter-Party Cooperation, a coalition of five parties that fielded a joint candidate against Museveni. Mao was candidate for the Democratic Party, which is not part of the opposition coalition.
Police had warned that “Walk to Work” peaceful protests against the rising fuel prices and cost of living in the country were illegal, saying the opposition intended to cause “violence and destruction”. Besigye and other opposition leaders have repeatedly warned Uganda is ripe for an Egypt-style uprising, though analysts question public appetite for unrest. Besigye unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court after losing the 2001 and 2006 elections. While judges agreed there had been vote rigging and violence against the opposition, they said it had not changed the overall result.
Ugandan police fired teargas canisters to disperse opposition supporters after their leaders are arrested in a protest against rising food and fuel prices. Ugandan police detained two main opposition leaders on Monday as they prepared to march in protest over rising food and fuel prices in the east African country. Civil society and opposition parties were planning to hold a “Walk to Work” protest when the police detained Kizza Besigye, who was General Museveni who closest rival in February elections. Uganda’s strongman General Museveni won with 68 percent of the vote and has been in power for 25 years. Dr. Besigye was walking to work near his home in Kampala in support of civil society who had called on leaders to join them in their protest. “If am not committing an offence, do not violate rights, let me go about my business. Go to do what I want to do the way I want to do it, that is my right, you have very clear choices and you can use them, you have the power, I do not have power, I am an ordinary person,” .
Another opposition leader, Norbert Mao, was detained after a brief standoff with the police in a Kampala suburb. Security forces used teargas to disperse a crowd that had gathered. Before Besigye was bundled into a police vehicle, he said authorities should not be worried by a small minority that may not be happy with them. “We have just gone through an election in which the regime claims to have got 70% of the votes, so why would they be worried about this small minority of people that may not be happy with them and many of them wishing to go to work the way that I am doing, why would they be fearing? I think the fear to me is a demonstration that they have lost the legitimacy to govern and therefore they must govern by might, by violation of other people’s rights,” Besigye said. Besigye was the presidential candidate for the Inter-Party Cooperation, a coalition of five parties that fielded a joint candidate against Museveni. Mao was candidate for the Democratic Party, which is not part of the opposition coalition.
Police had warned that “Walk to Work” peaceful protests against the rising fuel prices and cost of living in the country were illegal, saying the opposition intended to cause “violence and destruction”. Besigye and other opposition leaders have repeatedly warned Uganda is ripe for an Egypt-style uprising, though analysts question public appetite for unrest. Besigye unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court after losing the 2001 and 2006 elections. While judges agreed there had been vote rigging and violence against the opposition, they said it had not changed the overall result.
Thousands of Ivorian refugees are taking refugee in neighboring countries, as fighting intensifies between forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential rivals Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara in the world’s top cocoa-growing nation. United Nations-certified results show Alassane Ouattara won the November 28 presidential election. Forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara are battling to forcefully remove incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down. More than three months of post-election turmoil has killed more than 1,000 people in Ivory Coast and rekindled the country’s 2002 civil war. Hundreds of thousands Ivorian refugees have taken refuge in neighboring countries, prompting Liberia to set up refugee centers in collaboration with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Brownie Samukai, the Liberian Minister of Defense, says the international community has a stake in assuring that people in Ivory Coast get help in this conflict. “They deserve the attention of the international community and that attention will protect the investment that you have made in Liberia, and that attention will make sure that those women are okay, those civilians who are suffering the brunt in Ivory Coast can be protected. Liberia supports the stand that the ECOWAS has taken and we believe that it is in our best interest that international community also come and support ECOWAS to urge the UN to take the appropriate step as a desire in order to bring peace.” According to the UN, as many as one million people have fled the conflict to neighboring countries. Aid agencies across the region are appealing to the international community to increase donations to help the refugees. Many of those arriving in Liberia and other countries have very little with them:
“We arrived in Lome, and we have no accommodation. There is no accommodation and we do not know where to sleep, we cannot fully integrate, it’s difficult for us here in Lome.” “It’s ok for us men, but for women who now have to sleep outside, and who don’t have a roof over their heads, it’s really pitiful, really pathetic. We as Ivorian refugees, we didn’t ask for this to happen to our country. It may be that our country is going through another chapter in its history, but what is happening to our country is horrible.” In Togo, the situation is similar. Refugee assistance official Moise Inaddjo says the country has been trying to provide the basic necessities for the refugees. “When they arrive to the national coordination of assistance for refugees, we try to calm them, we try to listen to them and many are traumatized. We must first help them out the trauma and then we register them as refugees. When we register them, we realise that there are many cases, and that many of them have nothing to eat for example”. Armed militiamen loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo are patrolling streets in Abidjan in a standoff with forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara. Dressed in army fatigues or civilian clothing, the militiamen are on the streets or on boats. Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Ouattara soldiers are gathered on the outskirts of Abidjan, waiting to launch what they say will be a final assault to unseat Laurent Gbagbo.
Thousands of Ivorian refugees are taking refugee in neighboring countries, as fighting intensifies between forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential rivals Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara in the world’s top cocoa-growing nation. United Nations-certified results show Alassane Ouattara won the November 28 presidential election. Forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara are battling to forcefully remove incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down. More than three months of post-election turmoil has killed more than 1,000 people in Ivory Coast and rekindled the country’s 2002 civil war. Hundreds of thousands Ivorian refugees have taken refuge in neighboring countries, prompting Liberia to set up refugee centers in collaboration with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Brownie Samukai, the Liberian Minister of Defense, says the international community has a stake in assuring that people in Ivory Coast get help in this conflict. “They deserve the attention of the international community and that attention will protect the investment that you have made in Liberia, and that attention will make sure that those women are okay, those civilians who are suffering the brunt in Ivory Coast can be protected. Liberia supports the stand that the ECOWAS has taken and we believe that it is in our best interest that international community also come and support ECOWAS to urge the UN to take the appropriate step as a desire in order to bring peace.” According to the UN, as many as one million people have fled the conflict to neighboring countries. Aid agencies across the region are appealing to the international community to increase donations to help the refugees. Many of those arriving in Liberia and other countries have very little with them:
“We arrived in Lome, and we have no accommodation. There is no accommodation and we do not know where to sleep, we cannot fully integrate, it’s difficult for us here in Lome.” “It’s ok for us men, but for women who now have to sleep outside, and who don’t have a roof over their heads, it’s really pitiful, really pathetic. We as Ivorian refugees, we didn’t ask for this to happen to our country. It may be that our country is going through another chapter in its history, but what is happening to our country is horrible.” In Togo, the situation is similar. Refugee assistance official Moise Inaddjo says the country has been trying to provide the basic necessities for the refugees. “When they arrive to the national coordination of assistance for refugees, we try to calm them, we try to listen to them and many are traumatized. We must first help them out the trauma and then we register them as refugees. When we register them, we realise that there are many cases, and that many of them have nothing to eat for example”. Armed militiamen loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo are patrolling streets in Abidjan in a standoff with forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara. Dressed in army fatigues or civilian clothing, the militiamen are on the streets or on boats. Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Ouattara soldiers are gathered on the outskirts of Abidjan, waiting to launch what they say will be a final assault to unseat Laurent Gbagbo.
Tens of thousands of Ivorians continue to flee to Liberia. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 million people in Ivory Coast have left the country because of the fighting there. The mass exodus of refugees from Ivory Coast is straining food supplies and resources in Liberia. An estimated 1 million people have fled the capital Abidjan and neighboring towns. Aid agencies say more than 90,000 people have crossed into Liberia. The crisis comes as the world’s gaze has been fixed on uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, and international appeals for urgent aid have gone largely unanswered. Chaloka Beyani is a Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, and the U.N.’s Special Rapportuer on the human rights of internally displaced persons. “The magnitude of displacement is huge and i think that picture is changing almost on a daily basis but the estimates indicate that at least you have around 400 thousand people displaced with the country and a lot more outside the country. The partner of displacement seems to be urban based at the moment and so far UNHCR have presence in the country in an attempt to provide assistance to those who need it as a result of displacement.”
November’s disputed presidential election in Ivory Coast has pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war, with Laurent Gbagbo rejecting results showing rival Alassane Ouattara won. Hundreds have already died in street clashes between the two sides. An outbreak of fighting in western Ivory Coast between pro-Gbagbo forces and rebels who back Mr. Ouattara has contributed to a huge spike in people fleeing over the border. “I was on my way to school with my friend. We were walking and the shooting began. We fled. We left our guardian at home, my friend’s mother. We could not go back, so we fled into the bush. We then fled towards the border and we slept in the bush.” Despite the best efforts of humanitarian agencies, the rapid movement of people has put a huge strain on sanitation and water and the situation has been declared critical in some places. “This mass displacement in Abidjan and elsewhere is fueled by fears of all-out war. This week we have panic in Abidjan as thousands of youth have responded to calls to civilians to join the ranks of forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo.” Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf warns the crisis risks destabilizing the West African region. She says Ivory Coast is “already at war” and calls on the international community to take greater action to stop the violence from spreading to neighboring countries. Conflicts triggering huge movements of refugees in the region have occurred before, as happened during Liberia’s civil war of 1989-2003. But most observers thought late last year that Ivory Coast was less of a concern than Guinea, which ultimately managed to make it through a similar tense election period.
Tens of thousands of Ivorians continue to flee to Liberia. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 million people in Ivory Coast have left the country because of the fighting there. The mass exodus of refugees from Ivory Coast is straining food supplies and resources in Liberia. An estimated 1 million people have fled the capital Abidjan and neighboring towns. Aid agencies say more than 90,000 people have crossed into Liberia. The crisis comes as the world’s gaze has been fixed on uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, and international appeals for urgent aid have gone largely unanswered. Chaloka Beyani is a Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, and the U.N.’s Special Rapportuer on the human rights of internally displaced persons. “The magnitude of displacement is huge and i think that picture is changing almost on a daily basis but the estimates indicate that at least you have around 400 thousand people displaced with the country and a lot more outside the country. The partner of displacement seems to be urban based at the moment and so far UNHCR have presence in the country in an attempt to provide assistance to those who need it as a result of displacement.”
November’s disputed presidential election in Ivory Coast has pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war, with Laurent Gbagbo rejecting results showing rival Alassane Ouattara won. Hundreds have already died in street clashes between the two sides. An outbreak of fighting in western Ivory Coast between pro-Gbagbo forces and rebels who back Mr. Ouattara has contributed to a huge spike in people fleeing over the border. “I was on my way to school with my friend. We were walking and the shooting began. We fled. We left our guardian at home, my friend’s mother. We could not go back, so we fled into the bush. We then fled towards the border and we slept in the bush.” Despite the best efforts of humanitarian agencies, the rapid movement of people has put a huge strain on sanitation and water and the situation has been declared critical in some places. “This mass displacement in Abidjan and elsewhere is fueled by fears of all-out war. This week we have panic in Abidjan as thousands of youth have responded to calls to civilians to join the ranks of forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo.” Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf warns the crisis risks destabilizing the West African region. She says Ivory Coast is “already at war” and calls on the international community to take greater action to stop the violence from spreading to neighboring countries. Conflicts triggering huge movements of refugees in the region have occurred before, as happened during Liberia’s civil war of 1989-2003. But most observers thought late last year that Ivory Coast was less of a concern than Guinea, which ultimately managed to make it through a similar tense election period.
As some Africans become increasingly affluent, they may find that managing their money wisely is a challenging task. To get some answers, I talked about money management with Juanita Kilasara, author “Taking Control of Your Money,” a guide for young professionals.
As some Africans become increasingly affluent, they may find that managing their money wisely is a challenging task. To get some answers, I talked about money management with Juanita Kilasara, author “Taking Control of Your Money,” a guide for young professionals.
Ndiho Media,LLC. 