Tomorrow will see the world’s first commercial 4G mobile network here in Stockholm. In the beginning, it is expected that speeds will be around 50MBps and grow to around 80MBps. TELIA is currently the only operator offering it ( http://www.telia.se/4g )
With 4G, users will be able to watch live HD videos using their mobile broadband.
In my view, less connected countries like those in Sub-Saharan Africa might gain by investing in 4G wireless networks instead of spending their limited resources on outdated wired networks that come with other challenges especially when trying to expand them.
By building 4th Generation networks, African countries would be able to combine services like TV, Phone and Internet and all this using an easy to deploy wireless system. Being a new technology makes it expensive but I sure am that, with time, it will become affordable.
Ubu noneho hari uburyo buhendutse bwo kwohereza ibigendajuru by’igerageza mu kirere (Satellites). Nizere ko abanyarwanda cyane cyane abiga muri KIST na UNR Butare batazacikanwa. Aha ndatekereza nk’abanyeshuri bashobora gufatanya barangiza amasomo ya BSc cyangwa MSc bakwohereza ikigendajuru.
Igiciro ngo ni US$ 8000 (harimo ikigendajuru ndetse no kucyohereza). Iki kigendajuru ngo kikaba gipima 13 cm (Santimetero 13) ndetse na 0.75 Kg (amagarama 750). Iki kigendajuru kiri mu bwoko bwa LEO kikajya kuri 310 Km uvuye ku isi hanyuma ntabwo kimara igihe kirekire mu kirere kuko nyuma y’ibyumweru bike kigaruka kigashya kigakongoka kikimara kwinjira mu mwuka w’isi.
Ntekereza ko n’ibigo nka IRST bishobora guheraho byiga uko ibigendajuru byakoreshwa mu guteza u Rwanda imbere (Biramutse bibaye “made in Rwanda” ubanza atari njye gusa byatera akanyamuneza).
After reading the 2007 ITU report on ICT Development Index, I simply realize how deep the coma of Sub-saharan Africa is. When are we going to wake up???
Nordic countries, as in many other great things, come first with Sweden taking the number-one-sit. Out of 154, Rwanda comes at an unacceptable place of 143 (falling back from 136 [year 2002] even though the index improved). It has taken the Ugandan sit which improved its rank by 3 positions. Maybe the new Ugandan Minister for Development will help improve the index even better (On a side note, when I heard the news about the Ugandan President’s wife becoming a Government Minister, I thought it was a joke but by re-checking the calendar, it was not yet April 1st).
This is not about Ranks. But these numbers should awaken people and remind us that there are other important things than Genocide and mass-killing each other.
Almost all the shameful ranks are occupied by Black-inhabited countries. Behind Rwanda comes such countries as Tanzania, Mali, DR Congo, Chad and Niger. There is probably something wrong with us and until we have unearthed it, we will continue to lag far behind.
I read a few days ago that the SEACOM fibre was landing on the shores of Kenya. Let me hope that it will not only increase bandwidth for the East African region, but also interest in the use of ICTs. But, I believe that without local content, the backbones will dry up quickly and the local population will never see the benefit of having invested so much money into it.
Discours du Roi des Belges Leopold II s’adressant aux missionaires en 1883:
[code]
Révérends pères et chers compatriotes.
La tâche qui est confiée est très délicate et demande beaucoup de tact. Vous partez certes pour évangéliser le Congo, mais cette évangélisation doit servir avant tout les intérêts de la Belgique. L'objectif principal de votre mission au Congo n'est donc point d'apprendre aux nègres à connaître Dieu, car ils le connaîssent déjà. Ils parlent et se soumettent à un "Nzambi Pungu", un "Nzambé Mawenzi", et que sais-je encore. Ils savent que tuer, voler, coucher avec la femme d'autrui, calomnier et injurier est mauvais. Ayons donc le courage de l'avouer, vous n'irez pas leur apprendre ce qu'ils savent déjà. Votre rôle essentiel est de faciliter la tâche aux administratifs et aux industriels, c'est-à-dire que vous interpréterez l'Evangile de la façon qui servira au mieux nos intérêts dans cette partie du monde. Pour ce faire vous veillerez, entre autres, à désintéresser nos sauvages des richesses dont regorgent leur sol et sous-sol, pour éviter qu'ils s'y intéressent et ne nous fassent une concurrence meurtrière et rêvent un jour de nous déloger de cette partie du monde, avant que nous nous enrichissions.
Votre connaissance de l'Evangile vous permettra de trouver des textes recommandant aux fidèles d'aimer la pauvreté, tel par exemple : "Heureux les pauvres, car le royaume des cieux leur appartient. Il est aussi difficile pour un riche de rentrer au ciel, qu'un chameau de passer dans le trou d'une aiguille, etc...".On fera donc tout pour que les nègres aient peur de s'enrichir pour mieux mériter le ciel, les soutenir petit à petit pour qu'ils ne se révoltent jamais un jour. Les industriels et les administratifs seront obligés de se conformer à ce que je vous recommanderai. A vous, prêtres et pasteurs blancs, de temps en temps, de leur faire craindre le recours à la violence, les injures, les coups. Il ne faudrait pas que les nègres ripostent ou se nourrissent de vengeance. Pour cela, on les enseignera par tous les moyens et vous insisterez pour qu'ils prennent exemple sur tous les saints qui ont tendu les joues, qui ont pardonné les offenses, qui ont reçu les crachats et insultes. Il faudrait les décourager et les détacher de tout ce qui pourrait leur donner le courage de nous affronter. Je songe ici spécialement à leurs nombres fétiches de guerre, qu'ils prétendent ne point abandonner. Votre action doit se porter essentiellement sur les jeunes afin qu'ils n'hésitent point à nous saluer, qu'ils ne se révoltent pas. Si le commandement des parents est en contradiction avec celui des missionnaires, l'enfant devra apprendre à obéir à ce que lui recommande le missionnaire qui est le père de son âme. Insistez surtout sur la soumission et l'obéissance. Evitez de développer l'esprit critique dans vos écoles. Apprenez à vos élèves à croire et non à raisonner.
Ce sont là, cher compatriotes, quelques-uns des principes que vous appliquerez sans faille. Vous en trouverez beaucoup d'autres dans les livres et textes qui vous seront remis à la fin de cette séance. Vous y lirez donc ce que je vous recommande à vous prêtres et pasteurs blancs. Evangélisez les noirs jusqu'à la moelle des os, afin qu'ils ne se révoltent jamais contres les injustices que vous allez leur faire subir. Faites-leur réciter chaque jour : "Heureux ceux qui pleurent, car le royaume des cieux leur appartient". Convertissez les noirs au moyen des chicottes, gardez leurs femmes à la mission pendant neuf mois, afin qu'elles travaillent pour vous. Courtisez-les s'il le faut et exigez ensuite de ces convertis d'offrir un signe de reconnaissance, de bonne viandes - chèvres, poules, coqs et oeufs, chaque fois que vous visitez chaque village.
Faites tout pour éviter que les noirs ne deviennent jamais riches. Pour ce faire, chantez-leur chaque jour qu'il est impossible à un homme riche d'entrer dans le royaume des cieux. Faites-leur payer une taxe chaque semaine à la messe du dimanche. Détournez cet argent prétendument destiné aux pauvres pour avoir des magasins importants, là où vous êtes, paroisse, procure... Transformez ainsi vos mission en de gros centres commerciaux florissants et aidez légèrement les pauvres pour encouragez d'autres blancs à investir régulièrement. Demandez aux noirs de mourir de faim et, vous autres mangerez cinq fois par jour. En plus que vos ventres soient toujours plein de bonnes choses et que vos bouches exhalent partout l'odeur des oignons, instituez pour eux un système de confession qui fera de vous de bons détecteurs, ou détectives pour dénoncer tous les noirs à une prise de conscience pour la revendication de l'indépendance nationale. Enseignez-leur une doctrine que vous ne mettrez jamais en pratique et, s'il vous demandent pour quelle raison vous avez un comportement contraire à ce que vous prêchez, répondez-leur : "Vous, les noirs, suivez ce que nous disons et non ce que nous faisons". Et s'il répliquent en disant : " Une foi sans oeuvre est une foi morte", fâchez-vous en appliquant le fouet, et répétez leur : "Heureux ceux qui croient sans protester" [/code]
The New Times of Rwanda has a very interesting news article informing us that finally the methane gas from Lake Kivu has produced electricity. I say finally because the first time I heard about this gas was when I was still doing my primary school. At the time a teacher told us that it was a terrible gas that sucks in those who approach it and kill them making it even impossible to recover their bodies because nobody would venture to go down in the lake to bring them back.
Now, that gas is no longer a killer-only monster but has been a useful ingredient to the production of electricity: my congratulations to the team that made this dream come true. They made history.
I hope the full scale production will not take as many years as it took since I heard about the existence of this gas. I am sure this might be a great export product.
Muri Suwedi hari umwongereza wakatiwe igifungo cy’imyaka 15 kubera ko yaryamanye n’abakobwa benshi kandi abizi ko arwaye SIDA. Muri abo bakobwa (bagera kuri 15), babiri nibo banduye iyo SIDA bayitewe n’uwo mwicanyi wamenye ko arwaye yanduye kuva mu 1992.
Mu mategeko ya Suwedi, ni icyaha gihanirwa n’amategeko kwanduza umuntu indwara ubizi kandi ubishaka.
Ku mugabane wa Afrika yazahajwe na SIDA, mbona ko byagira akamaro cyane gushyiraho ingamba zibuza abantu kwanduza abandi. Mu Rwanda ndabizi ko hari itegeko rihana uwanduje umwana ariko niba mbyibuka neza nta tegeko rihana uwanduje umukuru. Birababaje cyane kuba umuntu abizi ko arwaye indwara idafite umuti ariko akavuga ati singomba gupfa njyenyine reka nisasire n’abandi.
Si ubwa mbere muri Suwedi umuntu urwaye SIDA ahanirwa kwanduza (cyangwa kubigerageza) kuko hari umugore umwaka ushize wahaniwe kuba yaramaranye imyaka myinshi n’umugabo we yaramuhishe ko yanduye SIDA ndetse bakanabyarana abana. Ariko ku bw’amahirwe uwo mugabo ngo ntiyigeze yandura.
This should be a lesson to all African leaders whose ideas are hardly known. We are in the digital age.
Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran has a blog that he (himself) updates. He uses 15 minutes every week on it (reading or posting). It is accessible at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/
I remember some months ago when the Blog of the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (and former prime minister) caused controversy. This was mainly due to journalists who don’t know if the ideas on the Minister’s blog should be taken as views of his Ministry or not.
Also, the prosecutor launched an inquiry into whether the Minister breached the law when some hate comments passed several days on his blog. This was about Anti-Palestian comments posted by some visitors (readers) of the blog. Under Swedish law, such comments should be removed by the blog maintainer.
Let me hope that African leaders in general, and Rwanda, my country, in particular will in the near future set up blogs where they post regularly and let us “Baturage” post comments, suggestions and questions. That way, they will make sure that they have something interesting to blog about. And those who pass months without any post will have given a clear idea of how well they sleep at work.
I hope this guy gets enough funding to spread his products all over Africa. Yes, only home-made items will increase the bargaining power of African countries.
[code]Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.
"It took me eight months to build this one," he said, sweat pouring from his forehead as he filled the radiator of the banana yellow four-seater which he now parks in the grounds of his university.
The chopper, which has flown briefly on six occasions, is made from scrap aluminium that Abdullahi bought with the money he makes from computer and mobile phone repairs, and a donation from his father, who teaches at Kano's Bayero university.
It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago.[/code]
I am sure those neo-cons will start saying negative things like “no one will be allowed to use something made locally” , “we need to have it certified by European engineers” and other “empty words” that are common from African politicians. They should help him reach good levels of reliability instead of discouraging him at the beginning.
And those who gain (mostly through bribes) by importing will make sure that those corrupt politicians halt this guy.
RwandaTel, the Rwanda government owned telecoms company is to be sold again. This time, not to a “virtual” american company, but to LAP Green Network, a Libyan based (or rooted) company.
It’s true that I am not a big fan of selling strategic companies to non-rwandans, but I will congratulate LAP Green Network for this new expansion. I also hope that it will treat Rwandans as brothers and sisters and thus bring them more development and funds.
By the way, I have tried to locate websites that are owned by this company without success. I will continue and possibly post what I find here.
Another serious incident involving a Murokore pastor (EDIT: original link seems dead: try here). Religion has been used to oppress people for so long. Religion has been used to explain why the colonization of Africa was necessary. Religion has been used to advance the beauty of Apartheid. Religion has been used to enslave black africans and force them into a life that still has negative effects until today. And religion is still used to extort poor Africans. When will this end? Maybe not tomorrow, maybe never.
No wonder why there are so many pastors and fighting each other (even though they say or are said to use the same book in their preaching). No wonder why they are born everywhere everyday in the great lakes region. They get too much money.
News from Rwanda and Uganda alone are shocking. One day is a pastor who defiled young students who are to go to school in order to put the holy spirit in her body, another day is a pastor who uses electro-shocks to prove that he is in direct contact with the holy spirit, a new day comes with a pastor who impregnated a girl younger than his own daughters, another day is a pastor from South Africa trying to fool us by proving the innocence of the rapist pastor without even waiting for the trial to conclude … the list is long.
