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By Paul Ndiho, Washington D.C.
October 27, 2010

Uganda’s electoral commission on Monday and Tuesday cleared eight candidates to run in next February’s presidential poll, including long-serving leader General Yoweri Museveni. The international community and Uganda’s opposition have criticized the Ugandan government for keeping in place an electoral commission that has allegedly failed to organize free and fair elections.
Security is very tight in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, as the parties launch their presidential campaigns. The nominations kicked off the official campaign period, a season that can be characterized by excitement, or marred by harassment of the opposition. Uganda’s President General Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East African Nation for over two decades, is running for the fourth time as the candidate of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“Now that we have got Uganda out of so many problems and we are heading to the dry land having crossed a big ocean of problems, how can it be that any other group can be entrusted with this duty of concluding the emancipation and transformation of Uganda? That is why I told them and they all agreed unanimously that it must be the NRM.”
The election, which pits Mr. Museveni against his closest rival, Kizza Besigye, in the third face-off between the two, is seen as a test of democracy in a country about to start producing oil. Dr. Kizza Besigye is the leader of Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC), a coalition of four parties. President Museveni defeated Besigye in elections in 2001 and 2006 that were marred by accusations of widespread fraud. Besigye used the nomination ceremony to criticize Uganda’s last two elections, promising to fight corruption and to invest in agriculture.
“We believe that one can win an election even with a biased electoral commission. It’s far more difficult but it is not unattainable and it is what we are going to rally the entire population to do and if the unfairness continues and if the violation of our rights continue under their watch, we are going to be prepared to confront it, we do not believe to have our rights by permission, we believe to have them by right.”

Eight candidates have been cleared to run against General Museveni, but analysts say only Besigye has an outside chance of beating Museveni. The poll will be closely watched by the West for signs of repression.
Earlier this month, a United Nations report accused Mr. Museveni’s troops of committing massive human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993 and 2003. Uganda reacted angrily to the report and said the accusations were unfounded and that the report should not be taken seriously.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=international/2010/10/19/ia.uganda.comedy.bk.d.cnn
Herbert Ssegujja is a Ugandan local comedian who has made a name by perfectly mimicking President Yoweri Museveni.

By Paul Ndiho, Washington D.C.
October 21, 2010
A United Nations study released recently recommends diversification of African economies, to reduce reliance on natural resources and encourage growth in sectors such as telecommunications, agriculture and tourism.
At a news conference in New York for the U.N.’s report, Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calls on governments and media to help change a negative perception of African economies.
“In the most of the OECD countries the picture on Africa is still that this is a continent disintegrated, lagging behind and that there are not enough private investments coming from those countries, the OECD countries to Africa. And I can only call to the press, to the governments, to change this picture urgently. Africa will become an important player in the future without any doubt.”

The U.N. study also calls for recognition of the increasingly
important contribution of Africa to global economic growth.
Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), stresses the importance of south-south cooperation, or, emerging nations bypassing trade with rich northern nations.
“This south-south cooperation – because it can be called south-south cooperation – is both in the interest of – because at the end of the day is a question of interest – in both the interest of the emerging economies and the interest of the African continent. And I can assure you that question of interests are absolutely key and essential.”
Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Adviser on Africa Cheick Sidi Diarra, notes that good relations with China and India can spark further investment in Africa.
“The relations between emerging countries like China and India give more room to maneuver to African continent in their negotiation with traditional donors in their policies to attract foreign direct investment in order to ease the conditions and to take more benefit out of this foreign direct investment. Because the competition for natural resources is something that is real and it will be even much stake in the future.”
Some countries such as Gabon are diversifying their economy amid declining oil production. Gabon depended on timber and manganese until oil was discovered offshore in the early 1970s. But the country’s oil output has been declining for years, and Gabon is attempting to renew itself by developing an economic trade zone to attract investment and spur growth.

By Paul Ndiho
October 7, 2010

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last week released a 550-page report listing more than 600 of the most serious violations of human committed by both state and non-state actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In the late 90s and early 2000s I was a reporter embedded with both Ugandan and Rwandan troops in Eastern Congo and I recorded some of the killings that took place. Please be advised that some video is very graphic and viewer discretion is advised.
After interviewing more than 1200 witnesses, analyzing more than 1500 documents, over the course of two years, the United Nations released a report last Friday, detailing massive human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993 and 2003.The report said, tens of thousands of people were killed, and numerous others were raped, mutilated or otherwise victimized during the decade of War.
“The mapping of the events that occurred during that 10 year period are significant because the consequences are still evident today. Because these crimes have never been addressed justice has not been delivered but there has been impunity and lawlessness so very many rebel groups have cropped up who continue to take the law into their own hands and rape and pillage. Most recent example is the rapes that occurred in eastern DRC in August over which my office and the joint Human Rights office issued a report a few days ago.”
Seven Africa countries are named in the report but Rwanda and Uganda are singled out for committing mass killings, rapes and possible genocide of Hutus as they pursued them into the Congo. Rwanda reacted angrily to the report and said that they reserve right to review U.N. relations. Rwanda’s foreign Affairs minister.
“In fact the eventual pull out of our troops will not be only thing we will do, if Rwanda was ever to find in this report that there are accusations of deliberate killings by our troops who are keeping peace all over the world, we intend to take a serious actions starting by disengagement with UN.”

Impetus for the probe came after UN peacekeepers in the DRC discovered three mass graves in the country’s Northern Kivu province in 2005. The report also examined in detail various options for truth and reconciliation, as well as for bringing those responsible for serious crimes to justice. Jonathan Elliott, Africa Advocacy director, Human Rights watch says ending a climate of near-total impunity and bringing Justice to the victims is very critical.
“There is great evidence that impunity creates more violence. If you look at sexual violence for example it’s a major problem now in eastern Congo and probably worse now than way back in the 1990’s…. if the international community prosecutes those responsible for sexual violence perhaps the next generation or next commander might have think twice about committing those crimes.”
From 1998 – 2001, I was embedded on and off with the Ugandan and Rwandan forces in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. But nothing prepared me for the violence I witnessed there in 2000 and 2001. One morning I was caught in the middle of the Lendu militia attacks against the Hema in Nyakunde, south of Bunia. A village that is also mentioned in the U.N report where hundreds of people were killed and thousands were driven from their homes.
What started as a land dispute between two normally peaceful groups grew into a larger clash when foreign forces entered the region. Some forces sided with
the Hema, and this favoritism caused a backlash from the Lendu, leading to the widespread killing.
“Crimes against women, children, the elderly or against ethnic groups it’s a horrific story in some ways the findings weren’t a surprise because there been previous studies on what happened in the 1990s there was a U.N report in 1997 which eluded to some of the crimes we see described now in the report.”
A cloud of heavy smoke covered the village. The stench from the burning bodies was unbearable. That same night, the Lendu militia also invaded Nyekunde hospital, where hundreds of people were hiding and cut them into pieces. Scores of other nearby villages were burned to the ground. I saw several mass graves where a hundreds of people were being buried, and the Hema was armed with bow and arrows, ready to defend their village.
It was this kind of carnage against Hutu refugees and other unarmed civilian populations in the Congo for which the UN had tried to investigate notably in 1997 and 1998, but these investigations were repeatedly blocked by the Congolese government, then headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, father of the current president. Despite those efforts, information about massacres, rapes, and other abuses against Rwandan refugees and Congolese citizens in the late 1990s was published at the time by the UN and by human rights organizations. However, no action was taken to hold those responsible to account.

By Paul Ndiho
September 29, 2010

The U.S. has the world’s largest international student population, with approximately 660,000 students. Paul Ndiho recently sat down with one African student who has chosen to pursue his higher education and life experiences in Washington D.C.
Max Jordan Nguemeni, is a first year Civil Engineering international student at Howard University in Washington D.C. He arrived here nearly 18 months ago from the West African Nation of Cameroon.

“I picked Civil Engineering as my major. Coming to the United States, you know, we have more opportunities here after college or grad school. If I ever want to go back – to Cameroon I think I have somehow more chances to be successful.”
Many colleges and Universities offer international students great opportunities for learning and enrichment. For Jordan choosing Howard University was not an extensive and exhausting process.
“I applied here, because my uncle, who I used to live with … but I live on campus now
Went to Howard for grad school, he did Mechanical Engineering and his wife went here for law school.”
Even though there are many cultures in America, there is still an “American culture” that may be quite different from your own. While much of American culture is exported through television, film, and consumer products, but there are some aspects that you do not encounter until you actually live in the US.
“People have this thing called personal space. I had never heard of personal space before… You don’t have to stand too close to people… “
In an age of globalization, the presence of foreign students is being perceived by universities around the world as an effective instrument in the diversification of their campuses. With their exposure to international students, domestic students are strengthening their knowledge of global issues and being better prepared to live and work in a global community. The exposure is also helping students to better understand each other and overcome negative attitudes toward other peoples and cultures.
“They make fun of us because of our accents maybe it’s a joke maybe it’s no not understanding other peoples accents sometimes they speak very fast for me to understand them too.”
However, Jordan says he enjoys living on campus life because the students and the professors are nice but jokes that there is no diversity.
“Everybody is black. Or almost everybody is black.
Because of the prohibitive cost of going college in America, there are certain scholarships programs that he cannot afford. He say these extra programs would beneficial to him helping people in his home country.
“To an African Society Civil engineering is very applicable, we need roads, we need bridges, we need buildings, we need better transportation systems, and we need to take care of the environment. And where I’m from the environment isn’t taken care of… so those are some areas where I can apply my degree.”
When asked about what he thought are about joining politics in Cameroon and playing a role in building his country. Jordan flatly rejects the idea saying politicians in his home country are greedy and don’t want to work for the advancement of the community but rather themselves.
“We need organization, we need to manage time, and we need to manage people and to learn how to manage money and improve service delivery for the communities.
Approximately 40 percent of all the international students at Howard University are from Africa. The New York based Institute of International Education says number of foreign students attending American colleges reached an all-time high of 671, 616 during the 2008-2009 academic year, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.