African News: Trade Wars between Uganda and Rwanda Escalates

Trade wars between Uganda and Rwanda have escalated with no hope of coming to an end soon as traders count losses in millions of dollars.

Rwanda has blamed the government of Uganda for ‘supporting’ rebels who are opposed to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Uganda has termed the allegations as false, baseless and vowed to take ‘stern’ action.

Last week, the government of Rwanda closed its borders at Gatuma – Katuna preventing cargo trucks from Uganda from entering Rwanda. Rwanda has also blocked any citizen from Uganda from crossing over to Rwanda.

Kigali says Uganda is supporting Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) with an aim of unseating President Paul Kagame.

Rwanda says that it has documented more than 190 cases of arrests, torture, and harassments of its nationals. Rwanda also says that Uganda has deported more than 986 Rwanda nationals from Kampala.

Over the past week, more than 100 cargo trucks from Kenya and Uganda have been stranded at the border with some drivers complaining of harassment from the authorities at the border.

The war is set to affect other neighbors such as Kenya since some of the cargo trucks blocked at the border are from Kenya. Kenya is yet to issue a statement on the standstill.

Burundi Shuts Down UN Office on Rights

Burundi has forced the United Nations to shut its local human rights office after 23 years, the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in a statement on Tuesday, expressing “deep regret”.

Bachelet said Burundi’s government had declared that it had made sufficient progress in human rights so that the existence of the UN office was no longer justified.

For more than two years, the “UN human rights staff were severely hampered in their ability to look into allegations of violations” because of the lack of cooperation, Bachelet said.

Her office said however that it continued to receive allegations of serious rights violations in the country, including killings, enforced disappearances, and threats.

Source: Reuters

The US Extends Sanctions on Zimbabwe

US President Donald Trump on Monday extended by one-year sanctions against Zimbabwe saying that the new government’s policies continue to pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to US foreign policy.

The renewal comes despite calls by African leaders, including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the sanctions to be lifted to give the country a chance to recover from its economic crisis.

“The actions and policies of these persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States,” Trump said in a notice announcing the extension, adding: “I am continuing for (one) year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288.”

Source: Reuters

Thousands of Students Take to the Streets in Algeria

Thousands of Algerian students marched on Tuesday in protest at ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s determination to stand for re-election, brushing aside his pledge not to serve a full fifth term.

Following mass demonstrations, the veteran leader promised that if he wins the April poll he will organize a “national conference” to set a date for further elections which he would not contest.

But his pledge, made in a letter read out late Sunday on state television, has been angrily dismissed as an insult by Algerians wary of his two-decade-old rule.

President Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and is rarely seen in public.

Source: AFP