Rwanda: Law On Genocide Denial In Pipeline
A new law that seeks to punish deniers of the Rwandan genocide deniers is in the pipeline. According to Dr. Diogene Bideri, a senior research consultant at the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide, people bent on negating and denying the genocide do so because there's no right law to match their criminal acts. Dr. Bideri said the new law should have jurisdiction over individuals outside the country who write and publish books that negate the genocide, adding that their acts have direct impact on people living in the country. He said that there is need for support from all member states of the United Nations, a decision he said can put an end to the deniers of the genocide. "In France, the Penal Code is applicable to those who deny the Holocaust. Why don't they include the Genocide against the Tutsis as well?" he said.
East Africa: Piracy Hit All-Time High In 2009
Pirate attacks globally rose to an all-time high last year, with suspected Somali pirates accounting for more than half of the 406 reported incidents. A new report by the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center revealed that the pirates, mostly operating from the Gulf of Aden, attacked a total of 217 vessels, hijacking 47 of them and taking 867-crew members hostage. In 2008, 111 vessels were targeted, ending in 42 hijackings.
The report by the global maritime watchdog says that despite this, the number of successful hijackings off Somalia had decreased, attributing this to the presence of international navies. But it warned that pirates had shifted their focus from the Gulf of Aden, considered one of the busiest maritime trade routes, to the east coast of Somalia.
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News: East Africa
