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 Shout-Africa Correspondent – It was the worst violence in Mozambique since 2008. Mozambique police kept a close watch over the capital Maputo on Saturday after three days of riots over food and fuel price hikes that left ten people dead. No new cases of unrest had been reported since last night, when three police officers were injured in clashes with demonstrators, police officials said. “Three police were injured when protesters threw stones at them. When we tried to stop them some people threw stones and other objects at police,” said police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo. Ten people were killed and... Continue Reading
BY NANGAYI GUYSON IN KAMPALA UGANDA – Kinshasa -At least over 70 people on boat have been reported after a riverboat capsized in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend, an official said. The Sunday , the Equateur Province spokesperson Ebale Engumba said a boat carrying more than 100 estimated passengers hit a rock early on Saturday in northwest DRC and only 15 people survived. On the another side , a boat also in Kasai Occidental Province left 200 people feared dead after the overloaded boat caught fire on Saturday evening. The boats are often in poor repair... Continue Reading
By Guyson Nanagayi (SOURCE- AP) – Nairobi – African Union peacekeepers on Friday said they have established nine new bases in Somalia’s capital over the last several months. The deputy head of the AU commission on Somalia says the peacekeepers have established nine new bases over the past five months. This comes after days of bloody clashes in Mogadishu that left many people dead . Wafula Wamunyinyi says the bases have helped secure a key road linking government buildings with Mogadishu’s port and airport. The area has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days and Wamunyinyi estimated around... Continue Reading
