Weekly Review

Kenya-Rwanda sign treaty The week wound up with Kenya siging an extradition treaty with Rwanda, which was seen as a historic event which will further enhance diplomatic relations between the two countries. The treaty was seen as a renewal of an outdated treaty which was first sighed in 1990, because there was need to refresh and include other crimes such as genocide, terrorism, money laundering among others. It was also revealed that Rwanda will have more of these treaties with many other countries within and outside the region. Mugambagye approved as Rwandan envoy to Uganda The Ugandan government approved Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambagye as Rwandan ambassador replacing Ignatius Kamali Karegyesa who was transferred to South Africa. Also Gerald Ntwari was appointed as Rwanda’s ambassador to Belgium. Mutindashaka faces new charges Prosecution has once again mounted fresh charges against embattled former Minister Theoneste Mutsindashaka charged with involvement in a tender scam. The new charges are slated to be tabled soon.However, the nature of the cases is not yet established. Kagame addresses business summit President Paul Kagame addressed a full house at the US Africa Business Summit which was held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The summit was attended by more than 15,00 business leaders and was organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA). President Kagame spoke on regional integration as a major tool for expanding economic opportunity across Africa. RDF initiates Umuganda in Darfur It was revealed that the Rwanda Defence Force Peacekeepers in Darfur have introduced the home-grown Umuganda community work activity which was aimed at protecting the environment. In this undertaking they were joined by other colleagues from other countries to clean up El Fasher main market, car park and the bridge. The activity serves to put a message that peace keeping is not just overseeing the implementation of peace, that such activities are also part of the peace keeping process. FDLR continue to plunder minerals in Dr Congo Fresh reports also indicated that the rag-tag rebel outfit, Democratic Forces for the liberation of Rwanda continues to illegally exploit minerals in Eastern Dr Congo. The major minerals mined by these rebels include coltan and cassiterite, as they continue brutalizing civilians who mainly live around the mineral rich areas. Gov’t in talks with SEACOM for reduced bandwidth costs It was reported that the government is in talks with SEACOM to bring down the prices of international bandwidth from about $2,700 to $50 for each Mbps, every month. It was revealed that when Rwanda connects to the sea cables it will boost telecommunication services and make them affordable for many Rwandans, the costs of international bandwidth for social services are to be reduced to 11$ for every Mbps each month. Ends