Israel Airstrike On Syria Is ‘Declaration Of War’ – Syria FM

By RT

The remains of the Syria military facilities bombed by Israel on Sunday night

Israel is thought to have carried out a similar attack days ago.

Syrian TV accused Israel of the attack and of being in alignment with rebel forces.

"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," the report said.

The notion was backed by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, who said the attack proved that there is an alliance between Israel and Islamists trying to topple the Syrian government. In an interview with CNN he said the airstrikes are a "declaration of war" by Israel and that Syria would retaliate in its own time and way.

Massive explosions have been heard near Mount Qasioun in Damascus. The area hosts the Jamraya military research center, which came under Israeli attack earlier in January and marked the first incursion by Israel into Syrian airspace in six years.

A senior US official confirmed to NBC News that Israeli Air Force bombed the military research center.

The overnight Israeli strike reportedly targeted Iranian-supplied missiles to Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, a Western intelligence source told Reuters. "In last night's attack, as in

Red Cross Promotes Safe Delivery Among Pregnant Mothers In Northern Uganda

By Catherine Ntabadde Makumbi

Pregnant Mothers in Uganda

Indeed this was testified by Christine Aryemo, a nurse midwife at Kaladima Health Centre III in Amuru district who said most men are reluctant to come for antenatal visits with their wives.

This has however improved, thanks to sensitization by Uganda Red Cross (URCS) and other partners. Through its safe motherhood project, URCS has been utilizing the skills of 80 trained village health teams to sensitise communities about the need for expectant women to give birth in health centres, accessing antenatal and prevention of mother to child transmission.

During a URCS visit at Kaladima Health Centre, the team found Richard Ouma and Molly Adong visiting the centre and being attended to by Aryemo. ARyemo says, “Men fear to be tested for HIV. This is one of the service provided at the health facility. Also with polygamous families, the man would want to move with all his women. So if he comes with one wife, what will the other think?”

The project has so far seen 10, 000 expectant mothers in the districts of Kitgum and Amuru receive mama bags kits from URCS to improve safe delivery in health facilities.

The program manager Reproductive Health Alex Onzima

Mbabazi To Dubai Investors: Africa Rising

By Chimp Corp

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi in Dubai

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai

Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of COMESA

Hon. Ministers and Senior Government Officials

H.E. Abdulrahman Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry

The Secretary General, COMESA

Your Excellencies Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic Corps

Distinguished Leaders of the Corporate and Business Community

Distinguished Representatives from International Organisations and Investment Promotion Agencies

Members of the Media

Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning.

It is my great honour and pleasure to be in your company and to address this very important conference of Africa Global Business Forum. I bring you the warm greetings and best wishes of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of Uganda and the Current Chairman of the East African Community, Chairman of COMESA and Chairman of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.

I recognize that this is the third business forum being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Dubai and will build on the COMESA Investment Forum held in

Baryamureeba: Uganda Vision 2040 Is A Timely Intervention

By Professor Venansius Baryamureeba

Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, Vice Chancellor of Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU)

It is a source of inspiration for all Ugandans regardless of the age group and political affiliation. This Vision Framework provides plans and strategies to operationalize the Ugandan vision, which is “A transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years”. 

It aims at transforming Uganda from a predominantly peasant and low income country to a competitive upper middle income country with per capita income of about USD 9,500. 

Other Ugandans have projected that Uganda will be a first world country by 2062, which will coincide with 100 years of independence. It is interesting to note that last year we celebrated 50 years of Uganda’s independence of which 27 years have been under the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The next 27 years that end with the year 2040 could also be under the NRM. The question on everybody’s mind is whether what is being projected today in Vision 2040 will come to pass?  

I am one of those Ugandans who strongly believe that Vision 2040 is achievable if and only if we do things differently.

The National Planning Authority was established and is duly funded from the consolidated fund.

CPJ Calls On African Union To Uphold Press Freedom

By CPJ

H.E. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

Chairperson of the African Union

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Via fax and email

Dear Chairperson Zuma:

We ask that you mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2013, by calling for the release of all journalists imprisoned in Africa and appealing for justice in the murders of journalists killed in the line of duty.

At least 41 African journalists will spend World Press Freedom Day imprisoned in direct reprisal for their work, according to CPJ research. It is particularly disturbing that Ethiopia and the Gambia, which host offices of the African Union, are among the nations holding journalists in jail. These imprisonments have silenced important voices, often in contravention of regional and international rulings.

Among the seven journalists imprisoned in Ethiopia is Reeyot Alemu, who is serving a five-year term at Kality Prison on baseless terrorism charges lodged after she wrote columns critical of the government.

Reeyot was honored in 2013 with the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, and in 2012 with the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the U.N.

High Commissioner for Human Rights, among other international institutions, have censured

Uganda Rural Communities Chart New Dev't Plan

By Martin Karimi Regional Information Assistant in Nairobi, Kenya

In rural villages across North-Eastern Uganda, drought is the most feared threat

Despite the Karamoja region receiving rains every season for the past three years, farmers and livestock keepers are apprehensive.

In a report published by European Commission Humanitarian Aid department, several farmers and individuals in Northern Uganda were interviewed on how concerned they are for the future, for either drought or rains.

In Tokora Parish in the Nakapiripirit district, Loise Lemukol, a 38-year old mother of seven, says she is ready for it. “I have enough food to last me till the next harvest, and I can still get more from our ‘bank’,” she says.

Loise is one of the 20 people running a community grain store in Tokora. Currently, the store has 16 bags of maize, 10 bags of sorghum and 6 bags of beans in storage; and the community is buying more stock.

“We buy grain from farmers during the harvesting season and sell when markets are less saturated and prices are higher,” explains Jecinta Namer, the group’s chairperson. Profits are ploughed back. Needy members can get ‘emergency loans’ from the kitty.

Tokora community group is in its second cycle of buying, and the cash book looks healthy. “In the last sale, we made a profit of UGX

Students Learn Importance Of Medical Sustainability, Prayer In Uganda

By Ashley Barker

First-year PA student Carter Williams, left, and Christina Bagwell, a student in the nurse practioner program at MUSC, interact with a patient in Uganda.

The volunteers treated malaria, fungal infections, muscle aches, high blood pressure, epilepsy, back pain, STDs and dehydration, but Williams found that being able to train the locals to care for their own residents and pray with them were the keys to the trip’s success.

“We had the opportunity to put into practice what we have been learning in the classroom for the past 10 months. We gained confidence in our ability to take a thorough history and perform a comprehensive physical exam,” Williams said. “We saw patients with everything from common conditions such as hypertension to rare diseases that you only read about in textbooks in America. It was an incredibly eye-opening experience from both an education and a life perspective.”

PMI, a Charleston-based nonprofit organization committed to providing sustainable, quality health care to those in need while increasing accessibility to global medical missions, built a medical clinic in Masindi, Uganda. Groups of 25-60 volunteers spend a week setting up mobile clinics in various nearby villages.

“It was incredibly humbling to pull up to the clinic site with our team and be welcomed by a line of hundreds of cheering Ugandans who had walked miles to be there and undoubtedly

On The Fly: African Summer School On Insect Neuroscience

By University Cambridge

This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science.

When Cambridge PhD student Lucia Prieto Godino met Professor Sadiq Yusuf, a Nigerian scientist from the Kampala International University in Uganda, she learned that most neuroscientists in Africa use rats as a model system – and the seed of an idea was planted.

“Rats are expensive model organisms with very limited accessibility to genetic manipulation. Drosophila, however, are easy and inexpensive to breed and maintain in the lab, and the wealth of genetic tools available for the study of the brain makes it an attractive model organism used by many scientists in the West,” she explained. “But without training, it can seem a major step for researchers to change to this approach.”

Now, Dr Prieto Godino (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne) and scientists from several European universities are gearing up to hold their third summer school in Uganda to help early career scientists learn how to work with flies. To date, 34 scientists from six African countries have taken part in the three-week, hands-on programme that combines both theoretical and laboratory sessions.

One participant said: “This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science; actually I can say this course serve as

" Life Of Fear, Intimidation In Darfur Must End"

By United Nations News Center

UNAMID Joint Special Representative Mohamed Ibn Chambas. Photo: UNAMID/Albert Gonza´lez Farran

“The best solution to the conflict in Darfur is to achieve a lasting peace, allowing conditions to normalize so that citizens can live without fear or intimidation,” Mohamed Ibn Chambas said in a news release wrapping up a series of field visits, his first as the head of the AU-UN peacekeeping mission in the Darfur (UNAMID).

The joint envoy's eight-day trip from April 22 to 30 included meetings with “representatives of internally displaced people, traditional leaders, State authorities and UNAMID staff,” a spokesperson for the Secretary-General told journalists today in New York.

In East Darfur, Mr. Chambas travelled to Labado and Muhajeria, where clashes between the Sudan Liberation Army - Mini Minawi and the Government of Sudan have displaced thousands of civilians in recent weeks causing them to take refuge near UN peacekeeping bases.

On 29 April, UNAMID and its humanitarian partners delivered the second phase of emergency aid to the families. The first phase of the operation was conducted on 23 April, and consisted primarily of delivering food rations, bottled water and medical supplies delivered and protected by UNAMID peacekeepers, and provided by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN World Food Programme (WFP)

Somaliland Official Says Media Owner Attacked By Police

By CPJ

Mohamed Ahmed Jama's arm was broken in the attack. (Hubaal Media Network)

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the semi-autonomous republic to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that all those responsible are brought to justice.

Two masked gunmen burst into the offices of the critical independent daily Hubaal in the capital, Hargeisa, at around 11:30 p.m. as the paper's employees were proofreading the next day's issue, according to local journalists and news reports. One assailant fired at least once at Mohamed Ahmed Jama, but missed, the reports said. Mohamed is the owner and manager of the Hubaal Media Network, which publishes Hubaal and the English daily The Independent, according to Hubaal Editor-in-Chief Hassan Hussein Abdillahi. Mohamed is also the manager of both papers.

Mohamed suffered a broken arm and finger while he and other employees subdued the gunman. The other assailant's weapon jammed, and he fled, but police took the first gunman into custody, according to Abdillahi Adam Omar, chairman of the board of Hubaal Media Network.

Interior Minister Mohamed Nur Arale told the Somaliland House of Representatives on Monday that both gunmen had been identified as police officers and would be prosecuted, according to news reports.

Mohamed told CPJ he had not received