Uganda: The Uganda Cricket Team head Down Under.

New Vision reports

Uganda optimistic ahead of qualifier

                                       

THE national cricket team starts their ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2014 (CWCQ), in New Zealand from January 13 to February 1, 2014 determined to storm the final stage by finishing in the top two of their group of the 10 nation showdown.

Canada, Hong Kong, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates are the other teams attempting to qualify for the tournament that will be played in New Zealand and Australia from 14 February to 29 March 2015. The 10 full members of the ICC along with Ireland and Afghanistan make up the 12 nations so far with the finalist and runner up to be added following this tournament.

Uganda pooled in Group B opens their test against Netherlands at the Mount Maunganui Bay Oval on January 16 before facing Papua New Guinea, Kenya and finish their group stage fixtures against Namibia at the same venue.

Actually looking at the promotional flyer the first practice match is in 4 days time.That isn't a lot of time to get over jet lag.

Frank Nsubuga the team vice-captain voiced his optimism at the team flag off by the National Council of Sports (NCS) General Secretary Jasper Aligawesa on Wednesday morning at Lugogo.

It will be a huge ask of the Ugandan team. The ICC provides a bit of history. 

" From the teams that will do battle in New Zealand, Kenya has played in the ICC Cricket World Cup on five consecutive occasions (1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011); Canada played in 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011; the Netherlands in 1996, 2003, 2007 and 2011; Scotland in 1999 and 2007; the UAE has played once, in 1996; and Namibia played in 2003."

"We are determined and the boys are set. We have worked on our fitness and batting which were the major problems in our last outing," Nsubuga stated.

The ICC have not written the team off:

" Uganda skipper Davis Arinaitwe Karashani, who was adjudged player of the tournament of Pepsi World Cricket League Division 3 in April 2013, will be hoping Roger Mukasa, Benjamin Musoke, Frank Nsubuga, Laurence Sematimba and Charles Waiswa, who all played in the ICC CWCQ 2009, can form an experienced nucleus. Uganda will be hoping to break a jinx and qualify for its maiden ICC Cricket World Cup, having not advanced to the last three editions."  

Nsubuga further added that the return of bowler and lower order batsman Deus Muhumuza, wicket keeper batsman Lawrence Ssematimba and then middle order batsman Benjamin Musoke is a big boost to the team's performance.

"The return of Musoke who is much experienced has strengthened our middle order which is an added advantage to the team considering the other experienced players," Nsubuga stressed.

NCS secretary Jasper Aligawesa urged the team to front their interest first while playing in New Zealand if they are to attain victory.

"Remember when you win it means you and Uganda cricket will get richer but Uganda just gets the glory and pride, so go and play without tension but focused on that wealth to give the remaining 34 million people here pride, "Aligawesa stated.

The event falls into the same window as the Indian tour of New Zealand and as such seems to have been scheduled for secondary venues. It has also had no publicity in NZ I am aware of. That is a shame as I am sure the team will become by default the choice team of most Africans living in NZ from the Great Lakes Region. Trust me we have just been playing and beating the West Indies and for the when it comes to playing NZ they are an African Team if you listen to the ex-pat Africans.

                                                                                The Uganda Cricket Team

The team: Davis Arinaitwe Karashani (cpt), Roger Mukasa, Benjamin Musoke, Frank Nsubuga, Lawrence Ssematimba, Charles Waiswa, Brian Masaba, Deus Muhumuza, Roger Mukasa, Philemon Selowa Mukobe, Abram Ndhlovu Mutyagaba, Patrick Ochan, Farouk Ochimi, Richard Gideon Okia, Raymond Otim, Almuzahim Hamza Saleh.

Uganda: Joseph Kony... Watch this space.

New Vision Uganda reports

MPs renew calls for Kony arrest

                                                          Joseph Kony

MPs under the body umbrella Uganda National Group of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) have renewed calls for the arrest of lord’s resistance Army leader (LRA) Joseph Kony who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

The group chaired by Kajara county MP Stephen Tashobya  believes that the arrest and surrender of Joseph Kony and others at large , will significantly facilitate the processes of accountability and justice for the crimes committed against thousands of people in northern Uganda. 

Currently Kony's thought to be in the Central African Republic and is being sought by American Special Forces as well as the Ugandan Army. He could of course be in the Congo so I don't rate the chances of him being found anytime soon. At the end of the day this might be one of those situations where the fugitive just disappears from the face of the earth.

“The Uganda national group of PGA strongly urges the armed forces of Uganda, as well as regional forces and US military personnel, collectively engaged in the military pursuit of LRA leader – Joseph Kony and other fugitives to make every effort possible to arrest these individuals so that they may be brought to justice,” said Tashobya in a statement.

Kony’s whereabouts however still remain a puzzle to many.

The MPs noted that the arrest of Kony would be a fulfillments of Uganda’s legal obligation as a state party to the Rome statute of the ICC to cooperate with the ICC in execution of arrests, warrants , as enshrined in the Ugandan criminal Act 0f 2010. 

I doubt Uganda needs any " legal obligations " encouragement to go after this bastard. 

“In the event that Kony, Okot Odhiambo, Vincet otti, Dominic Ongwen are killed during the course of these military operations, the ICC proceedings against any of those that are deceased will automatically be terminated,” noted Tashobya.

They noted that having Kony killed will impede accountability for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as whole and leave many victims without redress for devastating harm which they have suffered in the past. 

Well capturing is not really going to provide any redress and he certainly won't face a noose under the International Criminal Court. I am far convinced that his death will being captured will be a bad thing. Osama Bin Laden springs to mind.

“We strongly welcome and support the ongoing international military assistance from both the United States (US) government and the regional forces in the pursuit of these fugitives, and recognize the very difficult circumstances in which they are fulfilling their mandate,” they said in a statement issued on Friday last week. 

The Ugandan National Group of PGA is a global parliamentary network dedicated to accountability for crimes of international concern.

I guess it is another watch this space situation.

Jacqueline Umrungi makes some good points

Spotted This it is definitely worth a read. I think that Jacqueline might want factor in the ICGLR talks that are happening.

The Untold Stories: Kagame a wounded Buffalo: Will the ICC Prosecute a Man who stopped Genocide in Rwanda?

The international criminal lawyer Christopher Black on behalf of the Rwandese and Congolese coalition presented a petition to the International criminal court based in the Hague requesting   Fatou Bensouda, the new Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, to investigate and indict Rwandan President Paul Kagame.  

President Paul Kagame, is accused of  violations various arms embargo and sanctions within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he is also accused of  helping the M23 so-called rebellion in Congo in violation of Security Council sanctions which has been responsible for gross human rights violations  in the DRC.

As far as I know the Kgame  legal camp will not tell the truth the President that it is possible to charge him,  they will tell the President that since Rwanda is not a signatory  to the ICC,  the the ICC  has no jurisdiction on him and other co-accused.  I know these guys who are legal advisors in the President’s office will not be brave enough to tell their Boss the naked truth.  I had this morning on the BBC Gahuzamiryango on the famous programme Imvo n’invano   saying that President Kagame on his tweeter page he was quoted saying that all these allegations will not have any consequences. Mr President your legal advisors should tell you what happened to your former counterparts in the World. The likes of Milosevic, Khadafy, Bashir, just to mention a few

The legal argument that will be told to the President will be that, since Rwanda is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the ICC cannot extend its jurisdiction to the once a strong man of Rwanda. Unfortunately Congo is, they could therefore charge Kagame and his officers with crimes committed inside the Congo, which would give them jurisdiction over him and his officers.  Because the statute says that if any country or group commits crimes within a territory which is signatory to the statute, then even if they’re not signatory themselves, they would be under the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Therefore if his legal team cannot tell the president the truth who Will? Please Mr. President don’t read  the only papers of Andrew Mwenda (The independent), The Rwanda New times, read also these online information although many of them have been blocked in Rwanda on your orders, to be honest, these guys don’t hate you, they rather tell you the truth which your so called close allies will never dare to tell you. It should be submitted that recently the US Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp told the Rwandan press that what he said in the Guardian News Paper in UK, was true and he even went further and said that he has more information on the allegations of the Rwandan regime supporting the M23 Militia group in the Congo which is trying to overthrow the Kabila regime.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was formed during one of the bloodiest decades in human history, after the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides. The establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court in 2002 represented a major breakthrough in international justice. The Court is the only one of its kind that can investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so. In June 2011, the ICC issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity in Libya, after the Libya situation had been referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council several months earlier.  Meanwhile, the Court has issued three arrest warrants against President Bashir of Sudan for charges including genocide.  The ICC sentenced the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in jail for recruiting and using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002 and 2003.  The readers of this article should be reminded that the co-accused of Thomas Lubanga is Bosco Ntaganda who is shielded by the Kagame regime not for any other reason, but for the protection of Kagame and his forces on the complicity in the crimes of both Ntaganda and Thomas Lubanga respectively.

Indeed the Lubanga case is closely related to the current fighting in DR Congo, where forces loyal to Gen Bosco Ntaganda are threatening many lives in the Kivu region of the DRC. As I have mentioned above Gen Ntaganda is accused of the same crimes as his erstwhile ally Lubanga and his M23 group which resumed its rebellion shortly after Lubanga was convicted, amid mounting calls for Gen Ntaganda to be arrested.   However, with the  fate of the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor still fresh in the minds of Kagame ,  where the former leader was sentenced  to 50 years for helping the former Sierra Leone  war  Lord Fody Sankoh  despite the fact that  Charles Taylor  never stepped his foot in  Sierra Leone will remind the Rwanda strong man that ,  the same  typhoon  weather  could blow against him any time.

Will the International Community act this time?

It should be noted that, the international community is well aware of the crimes of the man they strongly believe to have stopped genocide, and to certain extent regarded as a reformer who has transformed the tiny central African nation which was at the verge of turning into butcher ground. Paul Kagame has used the excuse of pursuing “genocidaires” to justify his regular invasions of the Congo. The casualties in these operations, supported by the silence of the international community have run into the millions. Many people believe that Kagame has far outstripped Idi Amin as a mass killer (Amin’s killings are estimated at 100,000-300,000, whereas Kagame’s surely run well over 8 million civilians in Congo and unknown number in Rwanda). But Kagame is servicing establishment U.S. and Western interests, and for the past 20 years has therefore received a free pass to rob and kill.

It is very hard to tell whether this new pressure of the political opponents of Kagame will bear any fruit or it’s the same song and the same dancers who will be ignored by the international community. But make no mistake, the holding of the aid or total withdraw of these dollars will force the Kigali regime to change tactics and in fact the waters seem are unnavigable at the moment, the heat of the friction of the forces of uncertainty is giving the regime sleepless nights, with some  carders within the  RPF camp proposing different options to top up the monies that were suspended, RPF carders  have been moving around spreading the gospel of  kwihesha agaciro(Dignity) but really can you have the same dignity with  owners of  business empires of RPF  and its operators?   But certainly the missing hard currency in Rwanda has caused political diarrhea in the RPF political establishment and is biting hard.

Jacqueline Umrungi

Brussels.