15 years of forced labor required against Benjamin Wenga, DG of OVD for misusing funds meant for construction of Roads in North Kivu and south kivu.

The court closed the debates at on Friday, June 12th in the trial involving Fulgence Lobota Bamaros, Benjamin Wenga and Modest Makabuza, respectively, director-general of the National Road Maintenance Fund (FONER), the Office des Roads et Drainage ( OVD), and Congolese Society of Construction (SOCOC).
In front of the Kinshasa / Gombe Court of Appeal sitting in a fair chamber at the Central Prison of Makala, the public prosecutor required 15 years of forced labor to be charged on Benjamin Wenga. The same penalty was asked against Fulgence Bamaros. The prosecutor took half 15 years against Modest Makabuza.
All defendants have claimed their innocence pleading for their acquittal.
The cause is taken into consideration. The next hearing will be devoted to the judgement w which  is set at 23 June.
In concrete terms, they are accused of having overcharged the work related to a contract obtained by OVD, SOCOC and FONER. 32,5 kilometres of road should be rehabilitated in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

NRA HEROES :Rtd Brigadier Andrew lugobe lutaaya RO 0028

He may not have fought pitched battles but his auxiliary contribution to the war that brought NRA/M to power in 1986 is unrivalled, according to various veterans of the bush war.
There are moments when the survival of the struggle depended entirely on RO 028 Brig. Rtd. Andrew Lugobe Lutaaya. One such moment was during the National Resistance Army’s (NRA) first attack on Kabamba Military Training School on February 6, 1981 which effectively launched the five-year bush war.
Not only did he get the Mercedes Benz truck that carried the fighters, but he drove them himself and delivered the 27 guerrilla fighters at Kabamba for their first hit. The rebels used two vehicles in this attack.
Andrew Lutaaya carried 27 fighters while five others, including 2nd Lt Sam Magara, followed in a pick-up truck with rebel leader Yoweri Museveni. After a meeting at Mathew Rukikaire’s residence in Kampala, Lutaaya drove the truck all the way to Kabamba.
Near the gate, he offloaded the squad which was tasked to deal with the quarter guard. Gen. Elly Tumwine, a Monduli trained Second Lieutenant at the time, was in charge of the quarter guard hit squad.
Lutaaya then drove inside the barracks to deliver another squad commanded by Julius Chihandae whose task was to destroy the Signal Centre. Lutaaya belonged to the Chihandae squad.
Veterans say that Lutaaya bravely and daringly drove the truck for about half a kilometre inside the barracks up to the Signal Centre. However, Tumwine botched up the attack after he prematurely shot a guard at the gate – alerting the unsuspecting government soldiers in the barracks.
In the ensuing panic, Chihandae was shot, reportedly by a fellow rebel. The rebels bundled their first casualty, Chihandae, onto their truck and Lutaaya drove off towards Kiboga. In Kiboga, Lutaaya smuggled Chihandae into the district hospital to receive his first treatment, almost a day after he was shot.
Veterans tell us that it is Lutaaya and the late Jackson Mule Muwanga, who actually reconnoitered Kiboga to establish safe areas where rebels would hide after the Kabamba attack.
Lutaaya, being the son of a Ssese Island chief, had a personal car, a VW Combi minibus, which he used during the Kiboga reconnaissance.
After he safely delivered the rebels and their casualty to Kiboga, Museveni dispatched him to Kampala to inform mainly members of the Uganda Patriotic Movement, his political party, that the war had begun.
Lutaaya was present during the final preparatory meeting at Mathew Rukikaire’s residence before the rebels set off to the bush.
Lutaaya had an extra advantage of knowing his way around Lake Victoria, an important link between the rebels, their financiers, and suppliers throughout the five-year war.
In his book, Uganda’s Revolution 1979-1986: How I saw it, Brig. Pecos Kutesa underlines Lutaaya’s contribution when he writes, “There are times when the struggle hinges on just one individual. In our situation everything depended on Lutaaya’s survival instincts and ingenuity”.
The particular incident Kutesa is talking about happened in December 1981 when Museveni and his guards, who included Pecos Kutesa, were returning to the bush from Nairobi. The other Museveni guards were Arthur Kasasira and Marius Katungi, a.k.a Suicide.
In fact Lutaaya, because of his role, had been co-opted on the journey as one of the guards. Even Museveni writes about it in his autobiography, ‘Sowing the Mustard Seed’. Andrew Lutaaya was probably more important during the journey than anybody else.
Museveni left the jungles of Luwero in June 1981. It is Lutaaya who guided him all the way to Ssese Islands. On the island, Museveni and his guards were fed by a friend of Lutaaya. The following day, Lutaaya using his other friends, carried the group in a canoe across the lake to Kenya.
On arrival, he went hunting for Amama Mbabazi and Sam Katabarwa to receive the rebel leader and his guards. Museveni was needed in Nairobi to discuss a merger with Prof. Yusuf Lule and also to travel to Libya to beg for guns as well as check on his family.
Lutaaya’s role during the return journey was even more crucial six months later. The group faced difficulties when the engine of the boat developed mechanical problems. That was not scary when compared to sneaking back into the bush.
Lutaaya left Museveni, Pecos Kutesa and company at an island to go and look for a vehicle that would carry them to the bush. The rebel leader and his group panicked when he delayed to return. They feared that if Lutaaya had been arrested, they would be finished.
He eventually returned and joined them. The group was later driven to the bush in two vehicles by Hajji Moses Kigongo and Sale Male.
Because of the secrecy involved in Museveni’s movements, sometimes only two or three people would be informed. Lutaaya was one of the few who would know in advance that the rebel leader would travel from the bush to Nairobi and back. The second person was Mathew Rukikaire who headed the external wing.
Museveni, therefore, was always at Lutaaya’s mercy, according to a senior veteran.
Lutaaya continued to move between the bush and the urban areas, given his knowledge of the city and Buganda areas. Almost everybody from the bush who traveled to Kenya did so with the help of Lutaaya.
"It is him who carried both people and supplies". Brig. Matayo Kyaligonza recalls when Lutaaya sent the rebels a radio and transmitter from Nairobi. The communication equipment was received by Kyaligonza’s wife in Kampala for onward delivery to the rebels.
Kyaligonza also recalls a time when he traveled with Lutaaya from Nairobi to Liberia to beg for guns. The canoes and boats that Lutaaya mobilised to help cross the vast Lake Victoria were baptised the “NRA marine unit”. The most famous riders in these canoes who feature in both Museveni and Kutesa’s books on the war are Paddy and Busagwa.
Together with Lutaaya, the canoe boys linked the bushmen with the outside world. They would deliver both human beings and equipment to and from the bush using their canoes. This “NRA marine Unit” carried Museveni to Kenya and back on two different occasions as he traveled abroad.
Lutaaya is one of the 15 soldiers that are listed in the UPDF Act 2005 second schedule as having been senior officers when the NRA rebels captured power on January 26, 1986.

Ugandan authorities released a total of 17 Congolese fishermen who were sentenced to heavy sentences before receiving a presidential pardon.

Ugandan authorities released a total of 17 Congolese fishermen who were sentenced to heavy sentences before receiving a presidential pardon.
The interim administrator of the Mahagi territory, who confirms the information , says that he welcomed these compatriots who spent several months in prison, specifying that some are from Aru and Mahagi in Ituri and others from Rutshuru in North Kivu .
Gilbert Unencan adds that pending the decision of the provincial authorities, health measures against the COVID-19 pandemic have been taken, the 17 fishermen having been placed in segregation for medical follow-up.
Arrested on the waters of Lake Albert shared between the DRC and Uganda, these Congolese have received a presidential pardon from President Yoweri Museveni after intense diplomatic negotiations between the two states.

An AK 47 and ammunitions recovered from a home suspected of habouring armed bandits in mobgwabilu 85 km from bunia

The incident took place around 9 am in the Depot district, avenue Goli in the rural commune of Mogbwalu, located more than 85 km from Bunia, capital of the province of Ituri.
The mayor of this commune Jean-Pierre Bikilisende, who gives an assessment of this attack, indicates that four people were arrested, another injured and an AK47 weapon with ammunition recovered as well as several other goods.
"[...] Another one managed to climb to the ceiling, they realized that he was looking for a weapon and it was then that there was an exchange of fire. The police fired on it and the gentleman fell from the ceiling and another came out ;
Following this search, a total of four people were arrested, an AK-47 weapon recovered with several other military effects.
"We managed to arrest four people and after the search of the police, he was found in this house, an AK47 weapon with a magazine and four ammunitions, suspected elements  may be hiding  within the population .
Mr. Bikilisende called on the population in his jurisdiction to be vigilant about security and to denounce any civilian person holding weapons while recalling that only the police and the military are authorized by law to bear arms.
The commune of Mungwalu, a mining entity whose main activity is the artisanal exploitation of gold, underwent last April, an attack by the assailants of CODECO which had killed three civilians, 1 police officer and three militiamen neutralized.

The city of Beni spent the whole day in chaos.

Socio-economic activities were again disrupted almost all day this Friday, June 2020, 12 in the city centre of Beni in North Kivu, by a new demonstration of young people and some pressure groups including the 'Veranda Mutsunga'. ".
This is to demand the departurereturn of some authorities judged including the Mayor of the city already suspended and the commander of the Congolese National Police Urban Police in Beni.
To do this, the fighters of this pressure group went down to the streets to set barricades in several roads in the municipality of Mulekera, especially downtown (Motonge).
Son Isambiro,  of this pressure group in Beni said that this demonstration aims to demand for explanations for the dismissal of Urban Police Commissioner with the whole city's safety committee.
He condemns the attitude of the elements of order that began to disperse protesters using weapons and instead  gas bombs, he says, before adding that 3 of the protesters were arrested by police at of level. He requires their release without condition.
Several city streets that have been hit by protesters have already been evacuated by police deployed to restore order in the city.
There are allegations  that police in beni team up or connive with gangs and other bad elements to terrorise civilians. In the beggining of this police had been banned from taking guns to their homes and authorities  in beni had warned that any police  who will do that will be attested.
In his words on 10/06/2020' Colonel Van Kasongo stressed it that"Any police officer who will be found with a weapon in his home will be arrested"
From now on, no police officer in the city of Beni, North Kivu, has the right to keep a weapon in his home or place of residence.
" Any police officer who will be found with a weapon in his home will simply be arrested warned Colonel Van Kasongo, in charge of the administration of the Congolese National Police (PNC) in North Kivu.
The announcement of this decision was made on Monday, June 8, during an exchange with the elements of the order at the PNC / Beni staff.
In his word to the police, Colonel Van Kasongo said he found that some of them use weapons to commit of acts, including robbery, red tape and other evils that caused local people.
That is why he believes that this decision is urgently needed and the announcement of severe penalties to those who will disobey this order.

American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson revealed Wednesday that it would expedite the development of its vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by initiating human trials in late July instead of September, as it had initially planned.

In a June 10 news release , the company’s Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels wrote, “Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development of our investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, recombinant.”
“Simultaneously, we are continuing our efforts to build important global partnerships and invest in our vaccine production technology and manufacturing capabilities. Our goal is to ensure we can deliver a vaccine to the world and protect people everywhere from this pandemic,” he added.
The human trials in July will be randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled and will test the drug’s safety, reactogenicity (or ability to produce common adverse reactions like fever or soreness at the injection site) and immunogenicity (or ability to induce an immune system response). The study, which will take place in both the US and Belgium, will involve 1,045 adults between the ages 18 and 55, as well as adults aged 65 years and older.
Johnson & Johnson is also currently discussing starting phase three trials of the vaccine ahead of schedule with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“As the Company progresses the clinical development of its investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, recombinant, it continues to increase manufacturing capacity and is in active discussions with global partners to ensure worldwide access,” the company wrote, also noting that it plans on “supplying more than one billion doses globally through the course of 2021, provided the vaccine is safe and effective.”
US biotechnology company Moderna is at the forefront of developing a COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna on Monday confirmed to
Bloomberg that it is on schedule to begin the final-stage clinical trials of its vaccine by July. The company was the first to begin human trials of a potential vaccine in the US. Moderna’s final-stage trial of its mRNA vaccine will involve 30,000 people and will be completed in cooperation with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the set of instructions used by cells to make proteins, and mRNA vaccines are a relatively new type of treatment that work by providing instructions to healthy cells to generate antibodies for a certain virus or bacterium. Conventional vaccines, on the other hand, introduce a weakened or dead virus or bacterium into the body. This induces an immune system response, allowing the body to recognize and fight the pathogen in the future.

Twitter on Friday removed more than 32,000 accounts with "state-linked information" originating in China, Turkey and Russia for violating social platform’s manipulation policies.

"Today we are disclosing 32,242 accounts to our archive of state-linked information operations — the only one of its kind in the industry. The account sets we’re publishing to the archive today include three distinct operations that we have attributed to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Russia, and Turkey respectively. Every account and piece of content associated with these operations has been permanently removed from the service … In all instances, accounts were suspended for various violations of our platform manipulation policies," Twitter said in a blog post.
Twitter claimed that over 23,000 China-linked accounts were engaged in spreading misinformation about the situation in Hong Kong and "geopolitical narratives favorable to" the Chinese Communist Party. Moreover, the social platform removed some 7,000 "fake and compromised accounts" that were being used to "amplify political narratives favorable" to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In addition, Twitter claimed that the Russian network of 1,152 accounts was linked to the Moscow-backed Current Policy media website and engaged in the political propaganda within the country. The platform alleges that the network was used for "promoting" the ruling United Russia party and "attacking political dissidents."
Twitter also said that it had shared data with two research partners, namely the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Stanford Internet Observatory.