African Millionaire Returns World Entrepreneurship Award In Protest Comment Now Follow Comments Ashish J. Thakkar, a 32 year-old Ugandan-born multi-millionaire entrepreneur, said on Wednesday he is returning a high profile entrepreneurship award to the World Entrepreneurship Forum to protest what he called the organizers’ efforts to whitewash and discredit the achievements of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Last November, Thakkar, who is the founder of the Mara Group, a Pan-African conglomerate … [Read more...]
Paul Farmer’s Graph of the Year: Rwanda’s plummeting child mortality rate
via Paul Farmer’s Graph of the Year: Rwanda’s plummeting child mortality rate. Time has its "Person of the Year." Amazon has its books of the year. Pretty Much Amazing has its mixtapes of the year. Buzzfeed has its insane-stories-from-Florida of the year. And Wonkblog, of course, has its graphs of the year. For 2013, we asked some of the year's most interesting, important and influential thinkers to name their favorite graph of the year — and why they chose it. Here's medical anthropologist … [Read more...]
Halving Hunger: What Can Burundi and Rwanda Tell Us About Aid, Politics and Health?
by Lauren Harrison via AidData 3.0. With the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals fast approaching, the 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October affords a prime opportunity to evaluate progress to date related to hunger alleviation and health outcomes. Comparing the GHI performance of African countries with aid flows per capita and political commitments to hunger and nutrition suggests that politics may … [Read more...]
Ex-Spice Girl Mel B’s festive break with President Paul Kagame
via Mirror Online. Scary Spice Mel is friends with the 56-year-old’s grown up children Ivan and Ange, who asked her to their family palace in East Africa. The mum-of-three said: “Christmas is different every year. Last year we were in Australia and it was lovely but this year we’ve decided to go to Rwanda. We’ve got this amazing trip planned and we’re staying with the president, Paul Kagame." … [Read more...]
U.N. Mission to Deploy Surveillance Drones in Congo
via WSJ.com KAMPALA Uganda---The United Nations peace keeping mission in Congo is set to deploy unarmed surveillance drones along the country's troubled eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda, in a step to restore order in the resource-rich region. … [Read more...]
‘Landscapes approach’ to restoration in Rwanda reaps benefits
[slideshow gallery_id="4"] WARSAW, Poland (21 November 2013) — Rwanda has made major strides in repairing degraded lands and restoring agricultural productivity, correcting “huge mistakes” in land management that were made in the past, the country’s top agricultural official said. Africa’s most densely populated country is highly dependent on agriculture — 80 percent of the population relies on farming for its livelihood, said Agnes Kalibata, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture. Speaking … [Read more...]
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s “disturbed” to learn Rwandan peacekeeper killed in ambush
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon New York, 24 November 2013 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Darfur The Secretary-General was deeply disturbed to learn of another attack today by unidentified armed assailants on a convoy of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) near Kabkabiya, North Darfur, in which one Rwandan peacekeeper was killed. The Secretary-General expresses his sincere condolences to the family of the fallen … [Read more...]
Rwanda declines to take EAC chair – Monitor
Rwanda declines to take EAC chair - National - monitor.co.ug. KAMPALA- A planned East African Community summit in Kampala, due next weekend, has been thrown into confusion after Rwanda reportedly said it is “not interested” in taking up the rotational chair of the regional bloc. Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo confirmed late on Friday that a crowded domestic schedule, with landmark political observances in 2014, prompted discussions to have another country hold the … [Read more...]
Rwanda shares on Twitter – Twiplomacy
Rwandan political leaders have embraced the power of Twitter to converse directly with their constituents and their fans around the world. President Paul Kagame is an avid user of the micro-blogging service, frequently holding impromptu Twitter chats with his followers and anyone who wants to engage with him. “Yes I answer questions from followers....!” Rwandan president Paul Kagame is the second most conversational world leader on Twitter. 88% of all his tweets are @replies to his … [Read more...]
Obstacles to return in eastern DRC – IRIN
[slideshow gallery_id="2"] NYAKABANDE (UGANDA), 18 November 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people are starting to return to their homes in the two territories of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) previously occupied by the M23 rebels. But for many more Congolese uprooted by conflict a homecoming is still a distant prospect. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on 6 November a “progressive return or a wish to return” … [Read more...]