Police Arrest another Kampala Blast Suspect

Nairobi, Kenya

Police in Kenya arrested a radio presenter on Sunday in connection with the Kampala bomb attack, bringing the number of suspects to five. Detectives from the Anti-terrorism police unit arrested Habib Suleiman, in the capital, Nairobi, after trailing him from his home upon trying to board a bus to the coastal port city of Mombasa where he works as a religious programmes producer and presenter for the local Radio Salaam FM.

According to the station's sources, Suleiman was on leave attending to personal matters at the time of his arrest. Earlier last month, two other suspects linked to the bombing were arrested in the same city and seven vehicles suspected to be stolen were impounded in their compound.

The Al-Qaeda linked Somali militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibilities for the July twin bomb attacks on the Ugandan capital Kampala over Uganda’s involvement in supporting Somali’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Over 70 people were killed in two separate suicide explosions during the World Cup final match.

Last week, Uganda sent 750 peacekeeping forces in its latest deployment to help stem the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somali (AMISOM), following an earlier agreement by the AU summit to reinforce the mission to 7000 troops.

So far Uganda and Burundi are the only countries which have contributed troops as experts have analyzed need to deploy 20,000 more additional troops to the lawless state. [ER]

Kinshasa, DR Congo

Hundreds Feared Dead in Boats Accidents

Hundreds of people are believed to have died in Democratic Republic of Congo following two separate river accidents over the weekend. In one of the boats over 200 people were feared dead when it caught fire while trying to refuel and capsized on the Kasai River near the country’s border with Angola on Saturday evening. The vessel, which was transporting fuel, was not supposed to carry any passenger but was overloaded with over 300 passengers.

It’s believed that one of the fuel drums it was ferrying caught fire before the vessel began to sink. Local fishermen attacked the boat, beating the passengers with paddles and made away with the loot, ignoring their pleas for rescue.

In Equatuer Province, more than 70 people were reported to have drowned in the Rupi River when the boat they were travelling in on Saturday hit a rock and capsized. Fifteen survivors have been found so far as authorities in the province are investigating why the boat which had up to 100 people on board was sailing at night without lights.

 A local official said arrests are going to be made.  

Water transport is the dominant mode of transport in the Central African nation owing to the extensive navigable waterways. Roads and railway networks remain crippled after decades of civil strife that claimed millions of lives. [ER]