A prominent Radio journalist has been shot dead in Mogadishu, Somalia by Islamist gunmen, the first reporter to be killed in that country this year. - Sheikh Nur Abkey, who worked for the state-run Radio Mogadishu, was killed in the capital's Wardhigley neighbourhood while he was on his way home late on Tuesday. One of his colleagues reported: "Al Shabaab men have killed Sheikh Nur Abkey ... after they killed him, they called Abdirahman Yusuf, the editor of Radio Mogadishu, and told him that they killed him," Ever since the UN-backed government has tried to quell a three-year insurgency waged by Islamist groups, including al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab,Mogadishu has been a …

- By Raphie Kampala UGANDA-A new law to regulate use and management of recently-discovered petroleum resources in Uganda will among others create a powerful minister for oil. A first look at the upcoming “Petroleum (Exploration, Development, Production and Value Addition) [Bill], 2010) shows that the minister will control licences issued to oil operators and determine financial obligations owing to government. Besides broad powers prescribed under the proposed law- the minister will oversee the regulator of the oil sector as well as operations of the national oil company, which the law if passed, will create. At the core of the power of such a minister is his oversight of the P…

- By Raphie Kampala Kenya-Flight KQ 507 crashed on the night of May 4, 2007, shortly after take off.This has followed an investigation into the crash says that the pilot and co-pilot made a number of errors and failed to observe standard operating procedures on taking off in bad weather from Douala airport, Cameroon. Using auto-pilot The plane started its journey in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and made a stopover at Douala, enroute to Nairobi. The report also partly attributes the crash to bad weather and a manufacturing defect in the Boeing 737-800 that caused the plane to pitch to the right. That could easily have been corrected by a pilot familiar with the problem, but the reports says t…

- By Raphie Kampala KENYA-The ministry of health in Kenya has for the first time used the vaccine for prostate cancer — one of the major tumours affecting middle-aged and elderly Kenyan men — could be in the market within weeks. The vaccine, Provenge, which could get approval by the US Federal Drug Agency before the end of this month, has been shown in human trials to prolong life. Trials showed that although most men given the vaccine lived just four and a half months longer, some gained an extra two to three years of life. The disease affects about 1,000 men in Kenya annually and is the most deadly cancer for men after oral tumours. The cancer is estimated to kill 850…

- By Raphie Kampala MALAWI-It could sound strange, but Malawi’s national track and field team has arrived in Nairobi for the 17th African Senior Athletics Championship,Three months ahead of time! And the team elegantly disembarked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Monday in high spirits, having beaten over 50 other nations in checking in, ready for the championship that is due to start on July 28 and end on August 1. However, they were not pampered with goodies synonymous with entourages arriving for such high magnitude events. There were no high level officials from Athletics Kenya to welcome the advance contingent of five athletes and two officials and neither w…

- By Ryekolal Kampala CAIRO-Despite the fact that Egypt lies in arid, officials have long angered fellow Nile Basin countries by clinging to colonial-era water treaties giving it rights to the lion’s share of water flowing down the world’s longest river. Nations which are desperate for development are hoping to break with the past, threatening to shut regional heavyweight Egypt out of a new pact and potentially deepening an already bitter struggle for water resources across this parched region. “This is a crisis in Egypt’s relations with Nile Basin countries,” said Gamal Soltan, head of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. The feud…

- By Ryekolal kampala KENYA-It has been noted that the Pilot error was the probable cause for the crash of a Kenya Airways jet in Cameroon in May 2007 which killed all 114 people on board, a technical investigation has found. The Boeing 737-800 airliner plunged into a mangrove swamp on a stormy night minutes after taking off from Douala, the west African nation's largest city, en route to Nairobi. "The airplane crashed after loss of control by the crew as a result of spatial disorientation ... after a long slow roll during which no instrument scanning was done, and in the absence of external visual references in a dark night," said the report released by the Cameroonian…

- By raphie Kampala The world’s most expensive cow can buy the 42 Kenyan Cabinet members two Volkswagen Passats each and leave enough pocket change for fuelling the cars. In a deal done last year but closed recently, Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy, the cow which sold for about Sh90 million came with another Sh249 million worth of pre-signed contracts. According to clippings posted on the website of the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute last month, Missy is long and leggy with perfectly shaped teats for efficient milking. It has a big chest that indicates a healthy heart. The Amboni Farm in Mt Kenya and which produces between 40 and 50 litres of milk a day,…

- UGANDA-37 people have died of a strange disease on Hamma Island in Bugiri District since last month. Mr Amuza Nagheje, the LC I chairman of Hamma Island says that victims complain of head ache and body weakness before passing on. He identified some of the dead as Charles Ouma Odede, David Akunja, Onyingi, Aloo Ayiko, Vicent Sandemu, David Masaba, Ruth Nelima, Lillian Nywanso Brain Kyobika, and George Bagaga among others. Mr Nagheje said some sick people have taken to Port Victoria Hospital and Obondo Hospital in Kenya. He said most people die because of lack of medical attention since the island lacks medical workers. He added: A nursing assistant who has been operating Hamm…

- By raphie Ryekolal Kampala Kampala-At least 200 survivors of the Bududa landslides have said they will not leave Bulucheke displaced persons camp for Sironko District as suggested by the government. The locals stated in an April 15 petition to the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, copied to President Museveni that they would rather die in the camp than relocate to an area that is dry. The government had proposed that the survivors be re-located to Bunambutye Bunambutye Town Council. The survivors argued that they prefer to be relocated to Buganda because Sironko is an unfavourable place for agriculture, which is their main economic activity. “Sir, you better take us to pla…

- By Ryekolal Raphie Kampala Kenya-Fugitive oil businessman Yagnesh Devani, who has been on the run since December 2008, is in Nairobi, a senior Immigration official revealed on Friday night. But there were conflicting reports regarding the identity of the man of Asian origin who was arrested in dramatic circumstances at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s runway aboard a Saudi Arabia airlines plane on Friday afternoon. Mr Devani, chairman of Triton Petroleum Company Limited, disappeared from Kenya in the wake of a scandal in which fuel worth Sh7.6 billion was illegally released into the market. Immigration officers acting on a tip off from their counterparts in India a…

Emotions ran high as elders from the Alego Kogelo clan in Karachuonyo received Mama Sara Obama, grandmother of US President Barack Obama, when she returned to the area. Amidst tight security, Mama Sara Obama's arrival at the home of the former chairman of Kogelo East Africa, Richard Odiwa Matara, who was being buried, threw the ceremony in disarray. - Veteran South Nyanza politician Akech Chieng, who was addressing mourners, had to cut short his speech as mourners jostled to have a glimpse of the US President’s grandmother as she emerged from a car with tinted windows. Mama Sara caught her aides unawares when she sprung from her seat next to Chairman of Communications Commiss…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA. NAIROBI-Kenya Airways has scheduled a flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi Tuesday in a move that is likely to bring some hope to stranded passengers. KQ’s marketing and corporate affairs manager Dick Omondi told the Nation this morning the flight will depart for the Kenyan capital at 5 p.m. local time. There would be other updates throughout Tuesday as the airline monitors the situation, he said. The horticulture industry remained upbeat about the situation and is awaiting the result of the first export for five days on Monday. Martin Air, Cargolux and Air France took 300 tonnes of flowers and vegetables to the south of Spain, raising hope…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA KENYA-More than 10 people have died of cholera in Narok South District in the past month. Health officials said four people died at Naroosura health centre, another four died at Narok District Hospital and two at Tenwek Mission Hospital in neighbouring Bomet District. The nursing officer in charge at Naroosura, Gabriel Tongoyo said more than 50 other patients had been treated and discharged.“We are overstretched and I have only six staffers to cover the expansive division bordering the Maasai Mara,” he said. However, Narok South district health officer Gilbert Toroitich said that although all symptoms pointed to cholera, the disease coul…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA It has been noted in Uganda and Kenya that there is some contaminated waragi ( read waraji) had just killed 30 people or there about in Uganda when Nairobi woke up to news of alcohol-related deaths, and several people getting blinded as a result of some other contamination brew. Africa is sometimes condenscendingly dismissed as 'a drinking continent.' Mostly, however, the people behind the adulterated drinks are driven by an appetite for quick cash. This is poisoning a culture where traditional brews were rarely considered lethal. This mostly male-adult pastime came in handy while pouring libations to appease the gods, and ancestors too. I…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAHIE KAMPALA UGANDA MALAWI-Billed as the 'mother of all weddings' in Malawi, the country’s President Bingu wa Mutharika, 76, will on Saturday take matrimonial vows with his fiancée, Ms Calista Chapola Chimombo , 51, at Civo stadium in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe. President Mutharika got engaged to the former Tourism and Wildlife minister on February 14 (Valentine’s Day) this year ending months-long speculation since they started being seen together last year. Ms Calista Chapola Chimombo served in President Mutharika’s first cabinet in 2004 and is a prominent member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The President's first wif…

- JOHANNESBURG, A shadow has fallen over Zambia’s long history of generously hosting refugees from troubled countries since 36 foreigners were deported to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. But the government says it is only trying to ensure security and order in camps that still shelter some 57,000 people. “We are hoping that (deportations) will stop,” said James Lynch, country representative for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Zambia. The organisation communicated its alarm at the expulsions to the Zambian authorities on April 13. Lynch told IRIN the deportees were from Meheba camp in the northwest, where a protracted demonstration by refugees over alleged…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA Kampala-The US Senate has passed a resolution imploring Ugandan Members of Parliament to withdraw a private member’s Bill that would impose death on gay people. But will the resolution influence Ugandan MPs currently considering the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009? Speaker Edward Ssekandi said yesterday that the resolution, passed Tuesday night, will not force Parliament to give in to western pressure and withdraw Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s controversial Bill. He continued to say that, "There was no possibility of Parliament, “totally rejecting” the proposed law". “Those against the Bill are entitled to the…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA UGANDA-Correspondence of massive loss of life due to landslid,the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has delivered equipment that would be used in retrieving bodies of people who were buried by the Bududa landslides last month. About 350 bodies are suspected to be buried almost two months since the tragedy struck. Earlier efforts by the army to retrieve the bodies failed due to lack of equipment. A MONUC helicopter delivered the equipment on Wednesday. According to Brig. Timothy Sabiiti, who led the team of about five UN affiliated MONUC forces, a tractor, a water pump and flood lights are among the equipment that were airl…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA . The Somali soldiers who have been undergoing military training in Bihanga Barracks, Ibanda District, were on Tuesday passed out by their President. The President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, Sheik Sherif Ahamed, thanked the government of Uganda for giving instructions and training the soldiers. He said he was grateful for the continued support Uganda was giving Somalia in an effort to gain peace and stability. Against insecurity Army and Defence spokesperson Felix Kulaigye said at a press conference in Mbarara District that the 627 soldiers were passed out after nine months of training. They will become part of Somalia n…

- Kampala The International Criminal Court has said the warrant of arrest issued against the Lord's Resistance Army's second in command, Vincent Otti still stands despite reports of his death. "Until the judges publicly announce to us that Otti is dead, the official position of the court is that he is alive until proven otherwise," the ICC field outreach coordinator in Kampala Maria Mabinty Kamara told reporters today that the investigations to establish whether Otti is indeed dead or alive are still ongoing. Otti who was deupty to Joseph Kony, the rebel leader is reported to have been killed in November 2007 is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes agains…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA Nigeria’s ailing president Umaru Yar’Adua is among several dignitaries that the Maiduguri High Court in north-east of the country has indicted for extra-judicial killing. Local media reports said presiding judge Justice Mohammed Mustapha, delivered the judgement this week against Yar’Ardua in his capacity as Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria’s army which was involved in the violence. The court also indicted the Borno State government and the Nigerian police for the judicial killing last July of Alhaji Baa Fagu, father in-law of the former leader of the Boko Haram, an Islamic sect and fined them 100 million naira, or about $665,00…

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA SENEGAL-DAKAR,Barefoot children in tattered clothes scramble through the streets of Dakar, tapping on car windows and shadowing market-goers in the hopes of a few coins or a cup of rice. The sight of young people begging is not uncommon in a country struggling with deep-rooted poverty, but in the West African state of Senegal there is a twist. These children are students in the nation’s traditional Koranic school system being forced by teachers to panhandle on pain of severe beatings, according to an investigation by global advocacy group Human Rights Watch released on Thursday. “There are at least 50,000 children just in urban reside…

Kenya Airways cancelled flights to Europe due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland that saw clouds of ash drift to European airspace. "Kenya Airways regrets to inform its passengers, customers, the travel trade and the public that due to the unforeseen act of nature; volcanic eruption in Iceland, the airline has now cancelled its flights to and from London and Amsterdam until further notice," a statement said. - "Kenya Airways regrets to inform its passengers, customers, the travel trade and the public that due to the unforeseen act of nature; volcanic eruption in Iceland, the airline has now cancelled its flights to and from London and Amsterdam until further notice," said …

- BY RYEKOLAL RAPHIE KAMPALA UGANDA Norway has advised Rwandans to stop accusing the international community of having failed to end the 1994 genocide and instead focus on working to ensure it never happens again. Bjorg Leite, the Norwegian Ambassador to Uganda, told the media that “I think it is not good to continue pointing fingers. What is needed at this moment is to find a way of working together to ensure that we never see another genocide not only in Rwanda but also in the other parts of the world,” She was responding to remarks made by Alfred Rudodo of the Rwandan NGO, Ibuka, an association of survivors of the genocide, who accused the international community of no…