Exclusive Interview With Ruto’s Lead Counsel Karim Khan on ICC

Deputy President William Ruto’s lead counsel Karim Khan has hinted at the possibility of asking the International Criminal Court to invite former prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to testify on why foreign envoys in Kenya wanted President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto barred from seeking the country’s leadership prior to the March 4th 2013 election. In an interview with K24’s Apollo Kamau, Khan says Ocampo’s confessions now confirm a case gone wrong from the outset adding that an inquiry into the case involving assembly of state parties should begin.–here now are excerpts from that interview.

Luis Moreno Ocampo opens up!

Luis Moreno Ocampo gave The Hague Trials Kenya his first media interview on the Kenyan trials since leaving office at the International Criminal Court, where he held the position of chief prosecutor from 2003 to 2012. Questions were crowd-sourced from followers of THTK’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheHagueTria…) and the interview was produced by RNW. The interview took place on 22 January 2014 at a hotel in Amsterdam.
THTK offers Kenyans and other interested audiences an independent online forum to share their experiences, thoughts and questions about the three cases before the ICC relating to Kenya’s post-election violence of 2007-2008. THTK is a project of RNW (www.rnw.org) in partnership with This is Africa (http://www.thisisafrica.me).

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IOM Marks International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 7, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/– On the 6th/2/14), as part of its migration health programme to improve the health conditions of migrants and mobile populations in Somalia, IOM and the Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC) marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Aiming to raise awareness on FGM on this day, IOM and SWDC reached approximately 400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Al-cadaala and Walalo Biyole settlements in Mogadishu through community-based social mobilization.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that FGM is widely practiced in Somalia and there is an urgent need to increase awareness of the impact of the harmful practice on the health of women and girls. According to a 2012 joint programme report by UNICEF and UNFPA, an estimated 98 per cent of women have undergone FGM in Somalia.

Reports from IOM partners in 2013 indicate that most FGM survivors are girls between the ages of 9 and 12 who were mutilated with the consent of their mothers. The prevalence of the practice predisposes Somali women of child bearing age to various complications and in some instances puts their lives at risk during child birth.

“FGM is against Islamic religion as well as international law. A huge number of women suffer during childbirth and some of them even die due to complications caused by FGM.” said SWDC Legal Advisor Zahra Mohamed Ahmed, calling for international agencies and NGOs to organize campaigns to combat the practice.

“IOM has been working against gender-based violence (GBV) in Somalia by strengthening referral systems with partners, providing psychosocial first-aid and counselling to survivors of GBV, building capacity of relevant institutions, providing protection for vulnerable women, and improving security in IDP settlements by providing solar lanterns,” said IOM Somalia’s Ruth Mbugua.

In 2013 alone, IOM also provided primary healthcare services to over 12,000 IDPs throughout Somalia, with financial support from various donors such as the Government of Japan and the Government of France.

 

SOURCE

International Office of Migration (IOM)

US Special Envoy Visits IOM Operations in Eastern DRC

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 7, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/– US Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Russell D. Feingold, US Ambassador to the DRC James Swan, and senior officials from the US Mission in Kinshasa have visited an IOM maritime training programme for the National Congolese Police (PNC) in the east of the country.

The US diplomats observed a speedboat training of ten PNC trainers organized by IOM and the Uruguayan Riverine Patrol Company (URPAC) in Bukavu-South Kivu province, supported by the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

“This is an important initiative towards improving the security along DRC’s frontier with its eastern neighbors, and I am supportive of INL’s involvement,” said Special Envoy Feingold.

In addition to funding the training, INL has also paid for repairs to PNC boats used on the rivers and lakes that form the eastern DRC’s borders.

IOM has expressed its readiness to widen the scope of the project to build the capacity and equip 12 PNC river units comprising 280 trained marine police. The force would be deployed along all DRC river and lake frontiers as part of the DRC’s border management strategy for 2014-2017.

 

SOURCE

International Office of Migration (IOM)

AU – SADC workshop on RIXPs and RICs concludes with concrete conclusions

GABORONE, Botswana, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ – The African Union Commission (AUC), through the Information Society Division of the Infrastructure and Energy Department, in partnership with the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) concluded an interactive Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) and Regional Internet Carrier (RIC) Workshop with concrete recommendations and conclusions on the support and guidance needed for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to transform into regional players.

The workshop outlined the benefits of establishing RIC and RIXP by engaging participants and key regional stakeholders into discussions on operational and technical best practices, applicable policy and regulatory frameworks, regional interconnection strategies and existing business development models relevant to the region.

The overall objective of the discussions was to enhance interconnectivity within the region, encourage local content development and promote efficient information flow through accurate data localization, data hosting infrastructures / datacenters as well as through cost-saving peering and content distribution mechanisms. The workshop further established a minimum criteria for selecting Internet Service Providers and Internet Exchange Points to be supported to grow into Regional Internet Carriers and Regional Internet Exchange Points.

“This workshop served to empower the region to work towards keeping regional internet traffic within the region instead of transiting intra-regional traffic through overseas carriers” said Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division of the AU in his opening remarks.

As a way forward, the workshop agreed on setting up a regional policy and regulatory Committee to develop the regional interconnection policy and regulatory framework; Start the capacity building program to empower ISPs to take advantage of regional interconnections ; Finalise the IXP selection process and initiate the technical assistance program to support IXPs to grow into RIXPs.

 

SOURCE

African Union Commission (AUC)