Day: July 26, 2021

GABORONE – Botswana sent 296 troops to Mozambique Monday to join soldiers from other Southern African Development Community, or SADC, countries. The SADC troops are being deployed for the first time to quell a deadly Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi saw off the troops at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in the capital Monday morning.
Masisi, who is the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security, said the deployment is part of the region’s effort to promote stability in member nation Mozambique.
“Today, we witness yet another milestone in our set out objectives of propelling the peace agenda through our region in following through on the SADC mandate aimed at facilitating the peaceful conditions in the northern part of the Republic of Mozambique in Cabo Delgado, in particular,” he said.
Masisi warns the troops to brace for an unconventional war in Cabo Delgado.
“I am alive to the fact that you will be facing a deceptive enemy which is likely to use asymmetric warfare, unconventional and underhand war tactics against yourself and the population you will be protecting. As professionals, you stand for much more than they do, and you must avoid emulating them and sinking to their level,” he said.
Botswana becomes the second SADC nation to send troops to Cabo Delgado, after South African soldiers landed in Mozambique last week.
Rwanda, which is not a member of the regional 16-member bloc, also sent 1,000 troops earlier this month.
Adriano Nuvunga, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Maputo, welcomes the arrival of foreign troops but is worried about the coordination of the operation.
“These are troops from different nations, different cultures (and) different codes of operation. It’s a further challenge for Mozambique to coordinate this. It’s a further militarization, which can fuel the conflict with consequences for the local communities, for humanitarian situations and abuse of human rights,” said Nuvunga.
Last month, SADC resolved to send troops to fight Islamist insurgents in the oil-rich Cabo Delgado region.
The civil unrest has claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people while an estimated 800,000 people have been displaced.

Source: Voice of America

KAMPALA, UGANDA – Ugandan authorities have detained weightlifter Julius Sekitoleko after he disappeared last week from the Olympic Games in Japan. His case is odd, as Sekitoleko did not qualify for the Ugandan Olympic team, and no one can explain why he was flown to Tokyo.

Ugandan authorities say they will likely grant bail to the 20-year-old weightlifter after he spent four days in detention but that he still may face charges.

Sekitoleko was deported to Uganda last week, after he was arrested by police in Japan’s Mie Prefecture. Police went looking for him after he disappeared from the Ugandan Olympic team’s training camp in Izumisano, in Osaka, Japan.

Sekitoleko competes in the elite category of 56 and 57 kilograms and has previously represented Uganda in tournaments in Kenya, Morocco and Australia. He did not qualify for this year’s Olympics.

Charles Twiine, spokesperson for Uganda’s Criminal Investigations Department, told journalists Monday that an investigation was launched to determine why Sekitoleko was flown to Japan with his coach.

“What is visibly clear here, is that there’s a probable fraud of airlifting a person with full knowledge that he had not qualified. To go and participate well knowing he is not going to participate. Now the fundamental question is, was he part of the fraud as a conspirator and it’s the reason why we are having him,” Twiine said.

The athlete’s wife, Desire Nampeewo, who is five months pregnant, told VOA she hoped that the government would “rehabilitate” her husband. Nampeewo said she was surprised that officials want to charge him instead.

She said life has not been easy for the athlete as he he isn’t financially stable, his life has been a struggle, he sleeps on the floor and doesn’t have enough food suitable for an athlete. She said he really wanted to participate but lost his mind when he was told he didn’t qualify and started wandering unconsciously. She said he even wanted to kill himself.

Mark Namanya, a Ugandan sports analyst, says the athlete’s disappearance from the training camp is not a new thing. He argues that many athletes who represent Uganda at the highest level come from very deprived backgrounds and see tournaments as a way out.

“It’s an opportunity for them to start a new life. I was in Australia three years ago. Uganda sent, I think it’s biggest team to the Commonwealth Games and five athletes vanished. I can tell you with certainty that Sekitoleko’s case is neither the first nor the last,” Namanya said.

It is not clear what charges may be filed against Sekitoleko.

Investigating officers say they continue to record statements from the Olympic Committee and will wait for officials currently in Japan to return to explain why Sekitoleko was allowed to travel.

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI – Wanini Kireri is changing the leadership landscape in the Kenya’s prison system. Kireri oversees both men’s and women’s prisons across the country, where her leadership style has been hailed as firm but humane.
Kireri is the first woman in Kenya’s Prison Service to hold the position of senior assistant commissioner of prisons, and the first to lead the Prison Staff Training College, based in Ruiru, central Kenya, as its commandant.
She joined the Kenya Prisons in 1982 and has been steadily rising through the ranks at the various institutions she has served.
Kireri says her second stint at Langata Women’s Prison, situated in the capital, Nairobi, was the turning point in her career and the beginning of her legacy in the prison system.
“I have seen my journey, what I have done, my impact in Kenya prisons, because I became a change agent, and it takes a lot of boldness,” she said.
Kireri was the first officer in charge of Langata Women’s prison, where she allowed media cameras into the correctional facility that showed for the first time how female inmates and their babies were being treated. Then, the inmates were sleeping on the floor, with limited basic supplies like sanitary towels and diapers for the babies.
She says the desire to change the institutions was also borne out of what she had witnessed as a junior officer.
“I didn’t like a lot that was going on. I could see the mistreatment, but now as a very young officer and junior, because there’s an officer in charge, there’s little you could do about it. And if you become a little kind to prisoners, it’s like there is something that is not right with you,” Kireri said.
That kindness, she says, is what has helped her to successfully navigate administration duties, even in Shimo la Tewa, a maximum-security prison for men located in the coastal city of Mombasa.
“I did not go with that character of ‘I’m the boss.’ I went with that character of like a mother, as much as I’m an administrator, I went with the character of a mother. I remember within one month, they were all very comfortable, and I would listen and I realized, it’s just about listening,” Kireri said.
Peter Ouko, a former inmate and now founder of a non-governmental organization that focuses on social justice, says a combination of respecting human rights laws in prison settings and Kireri’s personal qualities serve her well.
“You could see Wanini doing this, but she depended on the people below her. So, she’s a people person, she’s a servant leader, and the leadership was not only amongst her staff, [but] it was also amongst the inmates. So, it was a holistic approach and that’s why the changes were effected very fast,” Ouko said.
Vincent Mapesa, a long-serving prison officer, echoes his sentiments. He worked under seven male prison bosses before working with Kireri and says the prison is doing much better now.
“It is the conducive environment that she has created amongst our officers. No discrimination, it depends on your ability and your passion to work and she values every officer under her and that is the biggest difference, which is different from the former men that we were working under,” Mapesa said.
Kireri says she is hopeful that she will continue to climb the leadership ladder and maybe one day lead the entire Kenya Prisons Service, as she urges other women not to shy away from taking up leadership positions and challenging themselves.

Source: Voice of America