GEM Sites Bi-weekly Updated News

                                                   February 12 - February 23, 2024

Lebanon

Israeli air strikes target Ghaziyeh in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces have carried out at least two air strikes on the coastal town of Ghaziyeh in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military and Lebanese state media. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7.

“Israeli warplanes carried out … strikes on the town of Ghaziyeh,” the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday, saying that a vehicle was targeted and ambulances rushed to the scene, without providing further details. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. The town is about 5km (3 miles) away from the southern port city of Sidon, and about 60km (37 miles) north of the border with Israel.

Pro-Gaza feeling runs high in Lebanon, but Hamas presence is controlled

Beirut/Tripoli, Lebanon — The entrance to the Burj Barajneh refugee camp is covered in the small yellow flags of the Palestinian group Fatah displaying the faces of the late Yasser Arafat and his successor, current Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

But these are not the men of the hour. That honour is for a man whose face is unknown because he covers it with a red keffiyeh: Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. Fatah and Hamas are opponents with presences in Lebanon, although they often have competing agendas politically or even militarily, but that does not filter down to the Palestinians there. “I’m not with any party, not Fatah or Hamas,” Hassan, a Palestinian refugee in his mid-20s, told Al Jazeera from under the sea of yellow.

Rwanda

Nearly 100 Burundian refugees return home from Rwanda after nine years Rwanda facilitated the repatriation of 95 Burundian refugees, comprising 75 individuals from Mahama camp, nine from Kigali, and 11 from Bugesera District, in response to their expressed desire to return. The returnees embarked on their journey from Mahama camp to the Nemba border post early in the morning, with the first individual arriving in Burundi by early afternoon.

Interviews with IGIHE revealed that many refugees felt a deep yearning for their homeland, having spent over eight years away. Egide Kamananga, one of the returnees, recounted how he had managed to support his children’s education from afar through the money he earned while in exile. "The longing for home was overwhelming. I’m grateful to be back after so long. In the camp, I was able to make some money for my children’s education.

MPs grant preliminary approval to UK-Rwanda migration deal Rwandan legislators, on Thursday, February 22, voted to give preliminary approval to the new UK-Rwanda migration treaty. Signed on December 5, 2023 in Kigali by the foreign ministers of the two countries, the deal seeks to revive the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP), which was ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court in November of the same year.

The arrangement aims to relocate people who arrive in the UK in small boats to Rwanda where they could claim asylum. According to the United Nations, more than 2,500 migrants died or went missing in 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe.

German support to social impact projects to create over 1,000 jobs in Rwanda The Facility Investing for Employment (IFE), on behalf of the KfW Development Bank and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), signed two grant agreements to support two social impact projects in Rwanda.

The signing took place in Kigali on Monday, February 12, at the residence of the Ambassador of Germany in Rwanda. The grants are aimed to boost local enterprises thus creating jobs for more than 1,000 Rwandans. One of the grants of €1.1 million was offered to Solid’ Africa, a local social enterprise that provides aid to the most vulnerable patients in Rwandan public hospitals, to establish an institute for culinary arts and nutrition.

Malawi

Indonesia Offers Scholarships to Malawian Students The Indonesian government, represented by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology and the Indonesia consulate in Malawi, is inviting Malawian students to apply for the Kemitraan Nagara Berkembang (KNB) Scholarship for 2024, which commenced last month.

For 2024, the indonesia Ministry of Education, culture, Research, and Technology in Collaboration with 31 KNB Scholarshop host universities in Indonesia, will welcom 222 KNB Scholarship applicants, comprising 30 Bachelor awardees, 162 Master awardees, and 30 Doctoral awardees. 

MP says Chakwera has improved education and energy sectors in Malawi Member of Parliament of Lilongwe South East Constituency Steven Baba Malondera says President Lazarus Chakwera has improved the education sector as well as the energy sector in the country. Speaking in Parliament when seconding the State of the Nation Address Motion moved by Dedza North MP, Malondera commended the President for recruiting teachers.

When it comes to education the President is doing very well. We can see now so many teachers have been recruited and at the same time other teachers have been promoted. “I felt I was duty bound to second the SONA because it’s not only for the short term but it’s also an advantage in the long term for this country because we can’t develop if our people are not educated enough,” said Malondera.

Kenya

Dr Shahabuddin: Universities should provide answers to the turmoil across the world Let me start with a quote from Nelson Mandela. He said: "Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world." I believe in that.  Universities create knowledge. They disseminate knowledge. They preserve knowledge, and they educate the leaders of tomorrow and those of today in some cases. So, the role of the university in education is significant. In this world that is torn by conflict, education allows people to understand the issues, to go to the origin of the issues, and to come up with rational thinking and analysis. That's the role of education.

Private Universities Under Fire As Audit Flags Sh883mn Irregular Disbursement According to the Auditor General’s report, private universities audited between the financial years 2016/2017 and 2022/2023 are urged to refund Sh 219 million out of the flagged amount. The breakdown indicates that Sh201 million was disbursed to 4,521 students who were not bona fide government-sponsored students in private universities. “The private universities should refund Sh 201,671,080 spent on students funded under GSS not placed by KUCCPS,” recommended Gathungu. All government-sponsored students are placed in learning institutions by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS). The revelation raises legitimate questions about the funding of the 4,521 students.“The audit highlighted various irregularities and weaknesses in the management of capitation funds disbursed to private universities that could result in the loss of public funds,” the report stated.

South Africa

Pressure mounts on South Africa's ruling party as unemployment rises again ahead of election The Quarterly Labor Force Survey reported that the number of unemployed working-age people in South Africa rose to 7.9 million after 46,000 more became unemployed in the last three months of 2023, increasing from 31.9%.

The news is a blow to the ruling African National Congress party as it faces its steepest election test ever in a few months. The desperately high unemployment rate is a key voter issue. Unemployment among those aged 15-24 was 59.4% at the end of last year as Africa's most advanced economy continued to struggle to create jobs for young people entering the workforce.

What’s fuelling the deadly cholera outbreak in Southern Africa? A severe cholera outbreak is currently ravaging communities in Southern Africa, spreading across borders in what experts say is the worst such crisis involving the illness that the region has seen in a decade. Thousands of people have died, and thousands of others have been infected with the acute diarrheal disease in at least seven countries. In some of the hardest-hit countries, the outbreak forced millions of students to stay back home in January. Across the region, emergency response centres have sprung up in school fields and stadiums, and are teeming with groaning patients in pain. Fears are mounting that if the outbreak is not tackled soon, healthcare staff could be overwhelmed.

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