Tokyo, Japan | AFP | The case of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn has gripped Japan and the business world since his stunning arrest in November, and now he is finally getting his day in court. Ghosn will be able to make his first public statement at a brief hearing on …
Read More »Uganda’s deadly highways
Poor road design leading cause of fatalities Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Whenever there is a fatal accident on any of Uganda’s highways, traffic police almost always blames “human error.” Uganda is a landlocked country and available statistics show that every year, 97% of goods and almost 100% of passengers …
Read More »Fighting Bobi Wine
BOBI WIN: Will banning the legislator’s concerts cripple him politically? Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | Young. Muganda. Catholic. Pop star. This combo makes singer turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine the most complicated political opponent President Yoweri Museveni faces ahead of the 2021 elections. But while the first three …
Read More »Sudan protests biggest threat yet to Bashir: analysts
Paris, France | AFP | Deadly protests that have grown across Sudan in recent weeks are the biggest threat to President Omar al-Bashir’s iron-fisted rule since he swept to power in a 1989 coup, experts said. Clashes have killed at least 19 since demonstrations began two weeks ago, initially in …
Read More »Somalia tells UN not to interfere after expelling envoy
United Nations, United States | AFP | Somalia on Thursday told the UN Security Council not to interfere in its national affairs after expelling a UN envoy who questioned the government’s decision to arrest an al-Shabaab defector running for election. Somali Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman did not specifically mention his …
Read More »World Bank Year in Review: 2018 in 14 Charts
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As 2018 comes to an end, extreme poverty is at the lowest level in recorded history but is expected to become increasingly concentrated in one region. A record number of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, and an influential new report confirms we’re …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Torture in 2018
Justice Katureebe pain and Bobi Wine’s pockets Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Many Ugandans, including Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, agree that this year has been one of the worst for human rights violations. This year coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but in Uganda, …
Read More »Volatile DR Congo braces for troubled election
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | One of the world’s powder-keg countries faces a crunch test on Sunday when Democratic Republic of Congo heads into elections marred by delays, clashes and fears of polling-day chaos. The vote crowns two years of turmoil, sharpening worries that the fragile giant of central …
Read More »ANALYSIS: The year Bobi Wine
NRM, FDC battled eight by-elections but a young untested legislator became the issue Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | This year, 2018, saw some upsets and changes in the political lay of the land as 36-year-old legislator Robert Kyagulanyi popularly known as Bobi Wine continued to exert his presence on a …
Read More »Trump’s surprise troop visit sparks criticism in Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq | AFP | President Donald Trump’s lightning Christmas visit with US troops in Iraq has triggered questions and criticism in a country deeply divided over Washington’s influence since the 2003 US invasion. The Wednesday visit, Trump’s first with US troops in a conflict zone since he took office …
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