The decision by the US to approve an investment deal with Rwanda, the first with an African country since 1998, is seen as a political victory for President Paul Kagame, who has been busy cutting fresh deals with powerful nations.
On Monday, the US Senate approved the United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) initiated by former US president George W. Bush and President Kagame in 2008.
The deal, announced after President Kagame visited the US, came days after the Rwandan leader visited France, the first such trip by a Rwandan head of state since the genocide, as he sought to build diplomatic, economic and commercial ties.
While details on all the deals President Kagame inked during the visits remain scanty, analysts said the leader was keen to marshal new international friends to help build the economy as the world slowly slides into another painful economic recession.
A BIT is a treaty of law between the US and another nation meant to promote trade between the two states by providing legal protections for both countries — including transparency in governance and neutral arbitration.
It establishes rules that protect the rights of US investors abroad and provide market access for future US investment. While Kagame’s visit to France was met with protests by pockets of the Rwandan diaspora who felt France should avoid legitimising the Rwandan regime, commentators read more to it.
“For Kagame and Rwanda, a future without animosity from France, a country that for better or worse is one of the wealthiest and most influential in the world, cannot be bad for business broadly defined,” said Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Social Research, Makerere University.
“As for the Rwanda government, a constant preoccupation is how to free itself of the domination made possible by unprincipled relationships with big powers. Rwandans leave no one in doubt about wanting to decide how to run their country themselves.”
Ordinarily, BITs also help advance US strategic interests by requiring adoption of market-based economic policies. In exchange, a country signing a BIT with the US is likely to gain greater investments — and the jobs that come with them — than would have been gained had the treaty not been in place.
Only five other sub-Saharan nations have established BITs with the US: Cameroon, the two Congos, Mozambique and Senegal.
Washington is currently exploring such arrangements with Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius and Nigeria and, collectively, with the member states of the East African Community.
The Obama administration regards the Rwandan leader as a force for stability and economic progress in Central and East Africa. Endorsement of the BIT underscores Washington’s willingness to do business with Kagame’s Rwanda.
But the Kagame regime also has critics in the US. Human-rights groups charge that Kagame has sought to silence domestic opponents by brutal means and has generally acted more like an autocrat than a democratic leader.
Opposition groups came out in force in Paris in September to condemn Kagame in similar terms.
He had come to France for only the second time since the 1994 genocide in order to hold talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The trip was viewed as an effort to repair diplomatic relations between the two countries and to encourage French investment in Rwanda.
Ties were snapped in 1996 when a French judge implicated Kagame in the downing of a plane two years earlier that was carrying the then-president of Rwanda, a Hutu. A genocidal rampage against the country’s Tutsi minority then erupted, leading in turn to a insurgent attack by Tutsi forces led by Kagame.
French leaders, on their part, had been incensed by Kagame’s accusations that France was complicit in the genocide that took the lives of some 800,000 Tutsi as well as Hutu who opposed the onslaught.
Last month, Energy and Minerals Minister William Ngeleja said in a presentation to parliament that the government was seeking loans from China to finance construction of the pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam.
The Guardian on Sunday newspaper reported $300 million of the loan will be used to construct processing plants at Mnazi Bay, and that Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo and Ngeleja were expected to fly to Beijing next week to sign the loan agreement.
“This is a must project for the future of this country … we have secured financing from the Chinese and the agreement will be signed next week,” Ngeleja was quoted saying.
“Some people have been misleading the public by saying the Chinese own this project, but the truth is it’s government owned … The Chinese are financiers and the project will boost gas supply as well as reducing or ending the power supply problem in the country.”
Tanzania’s chronic energy shortages have resulted in rolling power outages, undermining economic growth in the country.
The Tanzanian government said it plans to shift its focus to investment in thermal plants fuelled by natural gas and coal in attempts at weaning itself off weather-dependent hydropower, which accounts for 55 percent of the country’s energy sources. (Reuters)
Nairobi–Cisco last week announced a series of safety and security innovations powered by a comprehensive Medianet architecture. Together these innovations support the evolution of Cisco’s strategy towards a solutions-oriented services-led approach that will enable Cisco customers and large security integrators to build highly scalable network-based security systems that better protect people, property and critical infrastructure.
Cisco underscored its continued commitment to open standards by demonstrating video support for ONVIF-compliant cameras. The company is also for the first time extending its Medianet Services Interface software to certified video surveillance partners to automate and streamline the way in which Cisco networks recognize, configure and monitor the service levels for third party IP cameras.
As part of Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities initiative, Cisco is also introducing new communications interoperability solutions and enhancements. Real-time communication is critical in times of emergency. Currently in many cases, firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and public safety professionals communicate on different radio frequencies and with different systems, creating barriers to providing a coordinated and efficient response during crises.
Shahab Meshki, Cisco GM, East Africa said: “Today’s announcements represent key steps we are taking as we evolve our safety and security strategy to a more solutions-oriented, services-led approach. We envisage a greater role for our large security integration partners as we focus on projects with our clients that will take advantage of the Medianet architecture. The security business is converging on IP and open standards, and Cisco is continuing to collaborate with the industry to underpin this evolution.”
Johann Putter, corporate manager, Information Services, Africa Middle East, at Aurecon in South Africa said: “With a network of offices across 23 countries, Aurecon required a scalable, comprehensive access control and video surveillance solution that would enable our mobile employees to be productive with authorized privileges regardless of their office location. The Cisco Physical Access Control and Video Surveillance solutions we selected allow the management of building security to be done through a single, centralized interface, while ensuring the protection of our intellectual property and our employees’ ability to collaborate effectively. We aim to extend the solution to additional offices worldwide.”
A French woman seized in northern Kenya was taken to Somalia by her captors after a sea battle to rescue her failed, Kenyan government officials said.
Gunmen snatched the woman early Saturday from her holiday home in Manda Island, close to where a Briton was abducted and her husband killed last month.
They were "10 heavily armed Somali bandits suspected to be al-Shabaab operatives" from Ras Kamboni, across the border in Somalia, Kenyan security minister George Saitoti said in a statement.
Security forces pursued the men as they raced in a high-speed boat toward the border, but despite the Kenya navy injuring several abductors in a shoot-out, they managed to reach Ras Kamboni, according to Saitoti.
Are Somali pirates shifting tactics?
UK man killed, wife kidnapped in Kenya
"In the meantime, every effort is being made to rescue the victim," he said.
Andrew Mwangura, a piracy expert and editor of Somalia Report, said his sources in Somalia told him the French hostage has been taken deeper into the country.
She was taken to a town in the north, Mwangura said, which makes her rescue more complicated in an area run by the al-Shabaab.
French authorities are not releasing the woman's name, said Eric Bosc, a spokesman for the French Foreign Affairs Ministry.
She is in her 60s and lives in Kenya about six months a year, and French authorities are doing everything they can to free her, the spokesman said.
Kenyan officials and an acquaintance said the woman uses a wheelchair and is not in good health.
It is the second kidnapping near the popular tourist town of Lamu in a month. Gunmen fatally shot a British man and kidnapped his wife, Judith Tebbutt, from a safari lodge near the town last month.
David Tebbutt was killed in the attack when he resisted, according to Kenyan police.
The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued revised travel advice to its citizens traveling near the Somali border.
"We advise against all but essential travel to coastal areas within 150 km of the Somali border, following two attacks by armed gangs in small boats against beach resorts in the Lamu area on 11 September and 1 October 2011," the statement said.
Its previous advice cautioned against travel within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of the border.
Security analysts have said Judith Tebbutt is being held by pirates in a remote corner of Somalia. British government officials have asked journalists not to reveal her exact location to avoid abduction attempts from rival gangs.
The French embassy in Nairobi urged "extreme caution" for people visiting Lamu and the surrounding area.
Manda Island is made up of luxury homes and some small hotels. It is directly across a narrow channel from Shella Beach, one of the most popular -- and long considered safest -- tourist spots in Kenya, on Lamu Island. The channel runs straight from the open ocean.
It is off-season in the area, an is frequented by Europeans and other expatriates living in Kenya.
Hadija Ernst, a resident of the area and editor of the local magazine Chonju, said the abductions have put local residents and tourists on edge.
"The people are actually leaving, the tourists that are here are leaving because of the reports that we're getting," she said.
Ernst, who knows the kidnapped woman, said she is a "kind and gentle person."
"She's very interested in Swahili culture, the culture of the island here," she said.
Security in the area should have been improved following the first kidnapping, Ernst said. She has not seen any signs of increased security in the area and worries that the tourist economy in the area will suffer.
"So we are all very concerned and we want to see the government take this matter very seriously," she said.
Saitoti called the abduction a serious violation of Kenya's territorial integrity.
Uganda isn't known for being a big player on the baseball field, but one man is hoping for a home run with his documentary about the sport.
An American filmmaker has made what he describes as 'a love letter to the game sent from a place you'd least expect.'
Jay Shapiro hopes that his snap shot of youth baseball in the East African country will raise the profile of the sport in a part of the world where he says it means so much to its players.
"I'm constantly dissatisfied with the way people react to Africa and the third world in general, and that sort of became my goal to shift the way people think about Africa," Shapiro explained.
"What better way to shift the way Americans think about Africa better than baseball, the game they love and I love, too," he continued.
Uganda's Little League dreams His documentary, called Opposite Field, focuses on Uganda's Little League Baseball network. A sport that may still be in its fledgling stages but is growing bigger by the day.
Shapiro explains that he ended up in Uganda when he was doing commercial work for Major League Baseball. It was there that he met a man from Staten Island, called Richard Stanley, who was passionate about bringing the sport to Uganda.
"He showed me this stack of Polaroid pictures basically of a swamp in the middle of nowhere and he told me he's going to build this beautiful baseball facility," he said.
It was a project that Richard Stanley began working on in 2002. Shapiro says that thanks to his hard work there are now two baseball fields in Uganda.
But Shapiro says what really shocked him when he went to visit the fields was the kids.
"I was expecting to see some really basic baseball, kids just picking up a ball for the first time and learning how to throw or swing the bat, but that's not what I saw," he said. "They were really good, they knew how to play."
These kids just play, they don't even have a field to play on or a ball, they'll make a ball out of plastic bag that they singe and just throw it.
Jay Shapiro, documentary maker
Jay Shapiro, documentary maker
Around 15,000 children are signed up to the league now but with about 700 gloves between them more funding is desperately needed.
However, Shapiro says that it's the lack of money that produces such impressive players in Uganda.
"These kids just play, they don't even have a field to play on or a ball, they'll make a ball out of plastic bag that they singe and just throw it," Shapiro said.
"That's why they are so good; they play for the right reasons. If they play because they love it, they'll win," he said.
The team Shapiro filmed did win.
He followed a group of 11 and 12-year-old boys from the ghettos of Kampala, who became the first African team to ever qualify for the Little League World Series.
Uganda youth baseball team denied U.S. visas over age discrepancies
The team was due to play in the tournament in Williamsport, Pennsylvania but issues with their visas meant they couldn't enter America.
"As everyone knows, documentation is a problem, not just for Uganda and not just baseball, but 1 billion kids in the world don't have documentation for who they are or how old they are," Shapiro said.
...its baseball where there shouldn't be baseball so you have to love it to make it grow.
Jay Shapiro, documentary maker
Jay Shapiro, documentary maker
Birth certificates are not routinely given out in Uganda and many people do not know the day they were born.
In order to travel a certificate and passport is needed, but it's a costly process. A statement on the Little League's website says that if the problems can not be ironed out, Little League Baseball and Softball in Africa will only be for the wealthy.
Shapiro hopes his film will address some of the challenges facing the sport in Uganda so it can continue to grow.
"It is baseball at its purest form, its baseball for the love of it, its baseball...where there shouldn't be baseball so you have to love it to make it grow."
The filmmaker says that it's this love of baseball that joins kids together against a backdrop of personal tragedy.
One boy that features in the documentary is Ivan, who lives in an equipment shed with up to 8 people.
Shapiro says that despite the daily hardships he faces, he is an incredible baseball player.
"He does a lot of things you can't teach, he has a natural hand-eye coordination, you just see, his story could end up somewhere special," he said.
"He strikes you as this shy, timid, quiet boy but when he gets on the field, he's the leader, he's the loudest one out there, holding huddles for the team, but he's the man, and I love watching that."
