KAMPALA, 7 September 2010 (IRIN) – An online database of people separated from relatives by conflict or natural disasters can now be accessed by mobile phone, thanks to a joint venture between the UN, an NGO and two private sector companies. Refugees United has entries for some 4,500 people seeking missing friends and family members, and this grows by hundreds every week, as we reach out to refugees in camps and urban areas, according to managing director Christopher Mikkelsen. Now that the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson, and service provider MTN have teamed up with Refugees United,... Continue Reading
By Nangayi Guyson in Uganda – Kigali -(AFP)-President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Monday hit back at his international critics, using his inauguration for a second term to insist that Africa needed no lessons from the wider world. Speaking to a crowd of around 40 000 people in Kigali’s main stadium , Kagame said “western powers “criticise the good things we do and try to hold us responsible for the bad things they do”. “Africans are capable of forging their own destiny; we don’t need the lessons that we’re always being given,” he said, hitting back at a barrage of... Continue Reading
By Mark Oloo in Nairobi – Seven Somali nationals have been jailed in Kenya over piracy in the Indian Ocean. The offenders will spend five years in prison following a judgement delivered by chief magistrate Rosemelle Mutoka in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa. Their sentencing is in line with an agreement Kenya entered with the international community to prosecute cases of piracy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Eden. The seven had been arrested and charged with attacking German Ship, MV Spessart in the Indian Ocean in March, this year. Today’s judgement was made as the suspects’... Continue Reading
By Nkosinathi Biko – On behalf of the Steve Biko Foundation I’d like to welcome you all today on what we truly believe is a significant and auspicious occasion – both for the Foundation and the African continent. The Steve Biko Foundation is honoured to be hosting Professor Alice Walker on her first visit to South Africa. Of course, Professor Walker needs no introduction, especially to those who consider her book “The Color Purple” to be a modern classic that continues to resonate with readers worldwide close to 30 years after it was first published. Alongside that Pulitzer Prize winning... Continue Reading
By Own Correspondents – Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has congratulated Mr. Juliano Hanse (21 years old) from the Eastern Cape on winning the International Driver of the Year Competition held in Austria from 2 to 5 September 2010. Hanse was part of a 16-member South African team that represented the country. “We wish to congratulate Mr. Juliano Hanse for doing South Africa proud by winning the Novice Rigid under 22 years category at the 2010 International Driver of the Year Competition. For the first time since the inception of this competition, South Africa has produced a world champion in this... Continue Reading
