By Vision reporters

TWO more Kenyans have been arrested in connection with the July11 twin bomb blasts in Kampala that left 76 people dead and scores injured.

One of the suspects identified as Habib Sulaiman Njoroge was arrested yesterday at the Kenya-Uganda border post of Malaba in eastern Uganda while trying to sneak into the country.

The other suspect, Habib Suleiman, is a Kenyan journalist working for an FM station in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.

He was arrested over the weekend by the anti-terrorism police unit of Kenya. Njoroge, who is believed to be one of the chief architects bomb blasts, was transferred to Kampala under tight security.

He remains detained at an undisclosed location within Kampala.

“We got information that he was the one who aided the transfer of bombs to Uganda. He has links with al Shabaab,” a security source said.

The source added that Njoroge trained with the al Shabaab in Somalia in 2006 and 2008.Njoroge reportedly organised the transportation of the bombs and other items to Uganda using a pick-up truck.

The arrest of Njoroge and Suleiman now brings to 14 the total number of Kenyans arrested in connection to the bomb blasts.

Eleven of these were handed over to Uganda a couple of weeks after the attacks.The total number of suspects who have appeared in court now is 34. They include Ugandans, Kenyans, Somalis and one Pakistani.

The suspects are accused of causing the death of 60 people who died at Kyadondo Rugby Club and 15 others at Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala.According to Kenyan sources, Habib, the Kenyan journalist arrested over the weekend, was held on suspicion of having facilitated and financed some of the July 11 bomb suspects.

He reportedly moved to Mombasa from Nairobi where he settled with his wife and child. He had been working at the station in the production department as a presenter, producer and voice artiste, with his work entailing voicing advertisements.

Coast Police chief Leo Nyongesa confirmed that the suspect who is in his late 20s was flown to Nairobi, where more investigations will be conducted.

The source also said at the station, he used to handle a special Islamic programme with Sheikhs, especially during this Ramadan period.

TWO elephants have been killed in Toro-Semliki wildlife reserve in western Uganda by poachers who crossed over from the Congo.

Sources said one of the poachers was intercepted with elephant ivory and was being held by the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces. The sources added that the elephants were butchered on Wednesday and the carcasses were discovered the following day.

“It is unusual for poachers to cross over from the DR Congo and kill endangered species undetected,” the source said.
In a separate interview, John Makombo, the acting head of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), said the poacher who is being held is a Ugandan from Ntoroko and not a Congolese.

“UWA is working with security operatives to identify the ownership of the gun recovered from the poacher,” he said. “It is possible that he was working for someone from Congo which has a porous border. Many poachers prefer working in Congo and use Uganda as a trafficking route.”

He also said UWA will share information with a watchdog called the Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants and the Lusaka Task Agreement Force, which polices wildlife crime. Uganda has 5,000 elephants and the number is increasing after the population had slumped in the 1970s due to political and civil unrest.

Poachers killed a lot of wildlife including elephants, which are key tourist attractions. The black and white rhinos were driven into extinction.

Elephants are categorised as endangered species, according to the World Conservation Union, meaning that they are likely to disappear if nothing is done to protect them and their habitats. Locally, a kilo of ivory goes for sh120,000. The value in the Far East is about $600.

Although last week’s incident is the first case of killing elephants in Semliki, elephants in Queen Elizabeth National Park cross over to Congo.

“This is an ecological system and that is why Uganda and the DR Congo collaborate in managing the animals,” said Okello Obongo, the chief park warden.

“Large mammals do not know boundaries and the most important thing is to protect them irrespective of where they are,” said Obongo. - New Vision

The Deputy Chairman of the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), Chan Rich, has said that the appointment of a northerner as Secretary General of the Commission was unanimously agreed on by the members of the body.

Hundreds of people mostly women conducted a peaceful procession in Rumbek on Thursday to mark the launch of campaign to end fistula disease in southern Sudan. Addressing the crowd at Rumbek teaching hospital governor of lake state,Chol Tong Mayay, said that women reproductive health should be the priority of the government.

6 September 2010 – Flooding due to heavy rains has caused massive destruction and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people in Northern Bahr El-Ghazal, according to state officials..

"Though we are still accessing the damage caused by this flooding, relative estimates of destruction … is estimated at 90% for the Aweil (town) population … in the form of shelters, flour, sleeping gear, chicken and shoats (young pigs)," said Peter Kuot Jel, State Ministry for Physical Infrastructure official and head of the recently established Flood Risk and Disaster Management programme.

At the county level, 70% of Aweil South, 60% of Aweil East and 70% of Aweil West's crops and animals had been destroyed, affecting thousands of residents, the ministry official said.

The floods had also reportedly claimed three lives, and more people would likely die due to waterborne diseases, said Mr. Jel.

State Ministry of Health Director General Dr. Edward Ayong Abiai said that flood-related diseases had already been found in various parts of the state. "Many people have been admitted to health centers because of diarrhea and waterborne diseases associated with the flood problem."

Some hospitals lack drugs to treat flood victims, amid worries that cases of cholera could appear.

"Currently we don't have enough medicine in our stock," said Aweil Hospital Director General Dr. Garang Thomas Dhel. "At this stage we haven't seen cases of cholera but we don't know what will happen next, as the problem is continuing."

Mr. Jel noted that the government was working to ease the water problem by building drainage ditches.

"Though the ministry lacks machinery, we have liaised with construction companies to help us with excavators and hire some from traders in town," he said. "With those machines, we dug a drainage channel of about seven kilometres long to the lowland."

Last month, the Government of Southern Sudan declared Northern Bahr El-Ghazal State a disaster area following floods that swept many parts of it.

The region also suffered in 2008 from heavy flooding, which displaced about 40,000 people.

Source: United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)

Egypt Air is expanding its fast-growing network further with the launch of a twice weekly service between Khartoum, Sudan, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

The launch follows shortly after the introduction of a twice-weekly service from its Cairo hub, via Khartoum, to Southern Sudan’s capital city of Juba.

The national flag carrier is keen to build close ties with the sub-Saharan countries that also support a bilateral aid agreement.

In Eastern African in particular, Cairo-based investment firm Citadel has recently acquired a major interest in the rail operator Rift Valley Railways. In Southern Sudan, an aid offer has been made towards infrastructural projects worth US$300 million.

In other news, Egypt Air has also struck a deal with in-flight communications provider OnAir to offer inflight passenger communications services on the first of Egyptair’s fleet of twin-aisle Airbus 330-300 aircraft.

Egyptair customers will be able to stay connected inflight using their mobile phones or smartphones and access the internet by connecting their laptops wirelessly.

OnAir provides GSM/GPRS and Wi-Fi internet. Mobile OnAir uses Inmarsat SwiftBroadband services from Inmarsat fourth generation satellites.

The aircraft operates between Cairo and London. More are scheduled to be equipped in coming months.

Egyptair customers will be able to stay connected inflight using their mobile phones or smartphones and access the internet by connecting their laptops wirelessly.

OnAir provides GSM/GPRS and Wi-Fi internet. Mobile OnAir uses Inmarsat SwiftBroadband services from Inmarsat fourth generation satellites.

The aircraft operates between Cairo and London. More are scheduled to be equipped in coming months. - Travel news

The Government of Southern Sudan is urging the World Bank to support Southern Sudan in the development of its agricultural resources as to enable the South not to be solely dependent on its oil revenues. Following a meeting between the South Sudan Council of Ministers and the Vice President of the World Bank, the Southern Minister of Finance, David Deng Athorbi, said that oil revenues form more than 90% of South Sudan's budget.