Newsletter 5

Vol. 4: Issue 5, 5th February, 2018

Bolivarian Government of Venezuela

Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Office of the Deputy Minister for Africa

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Kenya Concurrent to Rwanda,Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia

Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations Environment programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).

Newsletter Weekly

What’s inside

Venezuela strongly rejects the threats by the United States against peace, stability and democracy in Venezuela

Venezuela strongly rejects the threats by the United States against peace, stability and democracy in Venezuela Inside Venezuela US threatens to ban Venezuelan oil China slams U.S ‘Cold War Mentality’ amid nuclear policy shift Israel hands over deportation notices to tens of thousands of African Migrants EU: Israel uses tourism to promote settlements, erase Palestinian culture Cuba Praised for its Renewable Energy efforts Vietnam commemorates 50 years since Tet offensive

Inside Africa:

Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi to roll out EAC e-passport

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly rejects the new and serious threats by the regime of the United States of America against peace, stability and democracy in Venezuela. This is a strategy of comprehensive aggression, openly accepted and spread by the spokespersons of the supremacist Government of Washington.

In this sense, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hereby denounces before the world that, the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, by initiating an international tour of Latin American and the Caribbean, has revealed the intentions of his Government to violently overthrow the Constitutional President of Venezuela, by encouraging a military coup. Thus, Washington confesses its aggressive intentions against the most fundamental principles of the Public International Law which govern the relations among civilized nations.

Many countries of the world have endured the long history of covert and clandestine operations, propaganda warfare, economic blockades and direct military interventions conducted by the Government of the United States of America. The senseless actions against Venezuela show once again that Donald Trump’s administration has become the biggest factor of violence, discrimination and humiliation in the world.

Clearly, the main objective of the Latin American and Caribbean tour of Rex Tillerson is to increase pressures on the governments of the region to join the perverse plan of aggressions against Venezuela. In fact, in his statements he brings up the anachronistic Monroe Doctrine, an old US policy of expansion and illegal control over the countries of Our America.

The nature and identity of the Venezuelan People and its Bolivarian National Armed Force have been forged out of its deep and unequivocal anti-imperialist conviction. Therefore, no empire may ever undermine the sacred independence and libertarian willingness of the People of Simon Bolivar.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela calls on the free Peoples of Our America and the world to strongly reject the aggressions of the imperialist administration of Donald Trump against Venezuela and to defend the right of our Peoples to sovereignty, democracy and peace. mppre.gob.ve 1

For Now! And Forever

VENEZUELA

Russia expects normal development of elections in Venezuela

Counselor Jorge Arreaza begins South American tour Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, will set out on a tour to various Latin American countries, a source informed in Caracas. Arreaza will travel on Thursday to Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and other countries in the region.

The objective of the tour is to denounce the financial blockade that Washington has implemented against Venezuela. Arreaza will also visit another Central American country.

Source: chavez vive

16 parties ready to participate in presidentials The National Electoral Council confirmed that at least 16 political organizations will participate in the coming presidential election. The number could change during the recovery process of political party First Justice on February 3-4.

Over 19 million Venezuelans will vote in the presidential election to be held before April 30th, on a date that hasn´t been confirmed. This will be the twenty fifth election in Venezuela since 1998, when Hugo Chavez won the presidency.

Source: chavez vive

On 31st Jan, Russia expressed that the policies that interfere in Venezuela´s internal affairs are inadmissible. The representative of Russia´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zajarova, denounced the attempts of interference from abroad, and warned about the obstacles that are being created against the democratic process.

Russia expects that Venezuela’s presidential election will be carried out with normality, stated the spokesperson. She also expressed that Moscow hopes that the organization and accomplishment of the presidential election in Venezuela will be held in accordance with international principles and norms.

The Russian representative didn´t mention the United States, but said that the interference is “encouraged from the North”.

The statement was issued after the President of the United States, Donald Trump admitted that he is pressuring to take Nicolas Maduro out of power.

UN gave technical backing to Venezuela in industrial sector Venezuela´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a meeting was held between a high level delegation of the Venezuelan government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. It is planned for Caracas and this organization to sign an agreement of joint cooperation.

OPPOSITION: Borges confirms treaty was signed A spokesman from the Venezuelan opposition declared on the 31st Jan that if an agreement is not reached in the next meeting, they will close the negotiation chapter. “If we don’t reach an agreement we’ll close the negotiation chapter” said Julio Borges, Member of Parliament and one of the opposition’s representatives in the round of negotiations.

Venezuela will receive support from the United Nations to boost a new industrial economic model that involves the small and medium scale enterprises. The Director of the Department of Associations and Monitoring of Results of the UNIDO, Ciyong Zou, confirmed that they will support a second phase of the project boosted by Venezuela. Caracas confirmed to have received technical support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Source: chavez vive

The Chief of the opposition’s delegation in the dialogue table confirmed that there is a signed treaty on the advances for the agreement”.

U.S: More than 50 sanctions so far against Venezuela During his annual address to the North American nation held on Tuesday, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, requested the Congress of that country to issue more sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.

The US State Department confirmed that the United States has issued more than 50 economic sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and the country´s financial system, since Trump took office a year ago. In the foreign politics section of his discourse in the State of the Union before the Congress, the President of the United States bragged to have imposed “strong sanctions” upon the governments of Cuba and Venezuela. Venezuela´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced that these sanctions prevent Venezuela from purchasing basic products from abroad, such as food and medicines.

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Source: chavez vive

Nicolás Maduro alerts about sabotage of the election: US ORDERS THE OPPOSITION NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION revolutionary forces and the venezuelan people to prepare for two possible scenarios: the first if the opposition participates in the presidential election, while the second would be sabotage and abstention. "What I do tell you is that in this first semester, in Venezuela, with them or without them, there will be presidential elections and there will be a revolutionary victory, there will be a victory for peace, we will have a great political, democratic and electoral victory."

The economy will be the priority of the next Government The Venezuelan President asked his supporters to prepare for new battles because the aggression from the US increases and ensured that in the next administration the central task "I will dedicate myself completely to the reconstruction of the economy" will be the economic recovery and the change of the oil rentier model to a productive model of well-being. "We have to go to a new and profound economic revolution and completely correct the disturbed system of price fixing, speculation, induced inflation and looting against the people, correct it and establish a new system, I think it's one of the most important, key in the months and years to come, "he said.

He pointed out that the objective is to generate wealth, "but not to enrich four economic groups" but to finance the social programs required by the people. "Venezuela needs a new economy, we need to renew ourselves in force and we need to put a stop, in a structural and stable way, to the price war that they are doing to the people to despair," said the Venezuelan president.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that the Venezuelan opposition will probably not participate in the next presidential election on instructions from the Donald Trump government. "The order from the north is to abstain and sabotage the electoral process," the president said during an act of proclamation of his candidacy by a group of political organizations in Caracas.

Source: Venezuela Report

In his speech, the Venezuelan President said he had information regarding the eventual rejection of the opposition to the dialogue agreement reached in the Dominican Republic and that would stabilize the country's political life, build peace after the violence unleashed in 2017, and overcome the economic destabilization suffered by Venezuela. "I want the opposition candidate to be Ramos Allup (opposition leader), because he represents the failure of the Venezuelan right, but they have not given him permission, he has not received the" green card "from his northern boss," Maduro said.

Government confirms readiness to sign agreement of peace and coexistence MADURO REJECTS THREATS OF THE U.S AND ARGENTINA AGAINST VENEZUELAN PETROLEUM President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, emphasized on Sunday that Venezuela is prepared to defend its freedom and sovereignty, and categorically rejected the threats of the US and Argentine governments to implement oil sanctions against Venezuela.

Maduro ratified that the Venezuelan government is ready to sign on Monday, February 5, a peace agreement and coexistence with the opposition, product of the dialogue table that has been developed in the Dominican Republic, but warned that if the right parties does not sign the pact and written, it will be because "it yielded to external pressures".

In a transmission via social networks (https:// www.facebook.com/NicolasMaduro/videos/2135868799976925/), after leading a massive act in the commemoration of the 26 years of the military rebellion of February 4, 1992, headed by Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan President was emphatic: “United States and Argentina has just threatened us with an oil embargo. We are prepared. Workers in the oil industry are threatened by imperialism. We are prepared for any contingency. We are a free, sovereign nation, and nothing and nobody is going to stop us.

"I am eager to sign, I am ready to sign, I want peace, I want a permanent dialogue, if the opposition does not sign, it would be due to its internal divisions, which are many, and it would be the product of the State Department United States- the line of the hawks was imposed: zero dialogue, zero peace, zero understanding, "he emphasized. The president called on the 4

The U.S Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and Argentine Foreign Minister, Jorge Faurie, announced that they are studying to implement oil sanctions to “pressure the Government of President Maduro”.

The head of U.S diplomacy revealed that they are studying "sanctioning oil", prohibiting its sale in the United States or vetoing the refining of products "that come from Venezuela," reported news agencies.

After launching the threat, Tillerson who arrived in Argentina as part of the tour he undertook in several Latin American countries on February 1 in order to accelerate the economic and political aggression against Venezuela, clarified that before putting if measures of this type are taken, it is essential to analyze what their effects would be in other countries of the region to be "careful not to affect them negatively".

"February 4 it allowed us to recover the oil wealth for the Venezuelan people, and today the greatest wealth that any country has in the world, belongs to you, to the people. That would not have been possible without the rebellion of February 4, "said the Chavez leader.

Prior to his tour, Tillerson announcedthat Washington "will continue to put pressure" against Venezuela and hinted that the Venezuelan military could become "agents of change," alluding to a possible coup d'etat, statements that were condemned and qualified as aggression and interference by the Venezuelan State and the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB).

Nicolás Maduro listed the social achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution as education and free and universal greetings, the protection of the family, women, workers, citizens of the elderly and the disabled as essential achievements of the Revolution born on February 4 but assured that the Chavista project is fully in force: "In the spirit of February 4 there is more future than the past".

Minutes before, in front of thousands of. The Venezuelan President had ratified his full willingness to sign a peace and coexistence agreement with the opposition, but said he had doubts about the true commitment of the right-wing parties to peace.

The Venezuelan President reaffirmed what he said in the past days in the sense of his willingness to sign an agreement with the opposition that would normalize political life, strengthen peace and overcome economic problems, as well as attend a presidential electoral appointment so that the people decide the direction of the country.

Thousands take to the streets to 26 years of the rebellion of Hugo Chávez The rebellion of February was the first uprising of the people against neoliberalism

"I have received information that on Monday the National Electoral Council could announce the date of the presidential election, I still aspire for the opposition to participate, but it is very divided and pressured by its gringo heads so that it does not," said the candidate Maduro .

The military rebellion led by Hugo Chávez on February 4, 1992 split the history of Venezuela in two, because it meant the first rebellion born of a people against the neoliberal dictatorship, the oligarchies and the International Monetary Fund.

NicolásMaduro affirmed that it would be necessary to prepare for any scenario, be it one of participation or abstention and sabotage by the parties of the Right. "There is a plan that manages some persons in the opposition: register and then and then retire at the last minute. They plan this because they know they can not win a democratic election “ He reaffirmed that with or without the opposition, in Venezuela there will be a presidential election in the first four months of the year, as decided by the National Constituent Assembly.

In paying tribute to the young soldiers killed during the rebellion and to the memory of Hugo Chávez, President Nicolás Maduro affirmed that on February 4 he opened the path of history and allowed him to take power through the electoral process of a political project that he returned the rights to the Venezuelan people.

Source: Venezuela Report www.telesurtv.net

On February 4, the Day of National Dignity, allowed the country to have a political and social Constitution that is a vanguard in the protection of social rights, said the President before thousands of followers who ratified him as a presidential candidate in a popular rally. in the center of Caracas.

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US threatens to ban Venezuelan oil

In a prelude to the tour, the secretary of state made thinly veiled reference to U.S. support of a military coup in Venezuela to overturn the Maduro government at the University of Texas at Austin, last Thursday.

Tillerson says U.S. may ban the import and export of oil and crude products from Venezuela to pressure President Maduro to "return to the constitution."

"In the history of Venezuela and South American countries, it is often times that the military is the agent of change when things are so bad and the leadership can no longer serve the people," Tillerson to the university audience.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is threatening to ban the import and export of oil and crude products from Venezuela into the U.S. to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to "return to the constitution."

"The secretary of state, Tillerson, goes on a tour of five countries. What for? To conspire against President Maduro, against the Bolivarian revolution, against the people of Venezuela," Maduro rebutted to Tillerson in a speech to the President's party, United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

"Obviously, sanctioning the oil or in effect prohibiting the oil to be sold in the United States, or for the United States as well to sell or provide oil to Venezuela, or refined products, is something we continue to consider," Tillerson told the press today from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"But imperialism ... has turned out to be a paper tiger, and here we have a true and vigorous revolution," the incumbent added.

Venezuela continues to be the U.S.’s third-largest oil supplier. Approximately 90 percent of Venezuela’s gross domestic product (GDP) comes from crude and its extracts.

Tillerson is currently in Argentina meeting with the country’s Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie. Faurie said his country would "closely follow" the possibility of fuel sanctions as long as they "never harm the Venezuelan people."

"One of the aspects of considering sanctioning oil is what effect would it have on the Venezuelan people? Is it a step that might bring this to an end more rapidly?", Tillerson said in a press conference referring to the U.S. government’s desire to topple the democratically elected Maduro government.

The U.S. secretary of state will next head to Peru, then Colombia and ends his trip in Jamaica.

The U.S. already placed sanctions on several highranking Venezuelan government and business officials in order to oust its president.

www.telesurtv.net

The socialist incumbent was officially named his party’s candidate on Friday, the same day that Tillerson kick-started his week-long Latin American and Caribbean tour that began in Mexico.

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China slams U.S ‘Cold War Mentality’ amid nuclear policy shift The U.S. has vowed to expand its nuclear capabilities citing concerns over China, although it has 20 times more nuclear warheads than China.

The U.S. Department of Defense said its nuclear strategy seeks to “prevent Beijing from mistakenly concluding” it could gain regional territorial advantage by using its nuclear weapons. However, in its public statement, Beijing reiterated their nuclear arsenal is the “minimum required” to guarantee the country’s security and pledged it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.

The Chinese government has criticized a Pentagon document known as the “Nuclear Posture Review," which outlines the strategy to expand U.S. nuclear capacity and identifies China — along with Russia, Iran and North Korea — as potential nuclear adversaries.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said “we hope the U.S. will abandon a Cold War mentality and earnestly shoulder its special and prior responsibility for its own nuclear disarmament.”

www.telesurtv.net The views and opinions expressed in these articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy

The United States has 20 times more nuclear warheads than China. China holds the fifth-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The U.S. unveiled the strategy on Friday. Soon after, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was "disappointed" by the document for its "confrontational and anti-Russian character," while Iran claimed U.S. policy would bring the world “closer to annihilation.”

China joined international condemnation of U.S. nuclear policy. U.S. military institutions believe their current nuclear arsenal is too powerful to serve as an effective deterrent to other nuclear powers. At its core is expanding low-yield nuclear weapons. The move has been criticized by many U.S.-based arms control experts and activists as a reckless move, likely to start a new arms race.

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Israel hands over deportation notices to tens of thousands of African Migrants Calling the migrants, "infiltrators" Netanyahu announced over Facebook, "The government approved a plan today that will give every infiltrator two options: a flight ticket out or jail."

“As a country founded by refugees,” said another letter signed by 850 members of the Jewish clergy and delivered to Israeli embassies and consulates in the United States and Canada, “and whose early leaders helped craft the 1951 International Convention on the Status of Refugees, Israel must not deport those seeking asylum within its borders," New York Times reported.

Nearly 38,000 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan were handed over notices to exit the country voluntarily by March-end or face indefinite jail time, New York Times has reported.

According to New York Times, around 60,000 Sudanese and Eritreans crossed the border from Egypt to reach Israel in 2005. The influx came to a halt in 2012 when Israel decided to put a steel barricade on a 150-mile long stretch bordering Egypt.

The Eritreans and Sudanese people are being made to choose between either US$3,500 and a plane ticket to a third country in Africa or face jail time, the report said. Many migrants facing deportation notices fear they might be sent to Rwanda.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "anyone recognized as a victim of slavery or human trafficking, and those who had requested asylum by the end of 2017 but haven't gotten a response" would also be exempt for now."

Calling the migrants, "infiltrators" Netanyahu announced over Facebook, "The government approved a plan today that will give every infiltrator two options: a flight ticket out or jail."

Israeli Billionaire George Soros is trying to thwart the deportation campaign, according to the leaked reports by Channel 10 and Haaretz.

"Every country must guard its borders," Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said announcing his plan earlier in January. "The infiltrators have a clear choice — cooperate with us and leave voluntarily, respectably, humanely and legally, or we will have to use other tools at our disposal, which are also according to the law."

“George Soros is also funding the protests,” Netanyahu confirmed, according to the Times of Israel. www.telesurtv.net The views and opinions expressed in these articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy

Several members of the Israeli community including doctors, pilots, retired diplomats, professors, rabbis, architects, and musicians issued petitions urging Netanyahu to consider refugee and immigrant rights in the country which was built by migrants in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Nearly 36 Holocaust survivors, many who also spent time in concentration camps and ghettos in Europe, also penned a letter to the Israeli PM, urging him to “learn the lesson."

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EU: Israel uses tourism to promote settlements, erase Palestinian culture

The EU report identified several projects by the government and settler groups in Jerusalem that promote an Israeli “tourist settlements” narrative.

Another project identified by the EU officials is a cable car project that was approved by the Israeli government in May last year, which would connect West Jerusalem to the Palestinian Old City.

Israel is using tourism and infrastructure projects in order to legitimize its illegal Jewish-only settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank and erase the Palestinian culture, warned an EU report.

The document called the project, expected to be finished and operational in 2020, “highly controversial” as it will serve to consolidate the idea of “touristic settlements” with Jewish-only narrative.

National parks and tourism projects being built by the Israeli government and private settler-run organizations have been spreading throughout occupied East Jerusalem which are being used “as a political tool to modify the historical narrative and to support, legitimize and expand settlements,” the report said according to the British newspaper.

“Critics have described the project as turning the World Heritage site of Jerusalem into a commercial theme park while local Palestinian residents are absent from the narrative being promoted to the visitors,” it added.

Also such projects would lead to further insecurity and conflict within the city as such sites are either significantly close or actually within the complex of Al-aqsa mosque, considered holy by the majority Muslim Palestinian residents of the city.

More than 130 demolitions took place in East Jerusalem, while hundreds of Palestinians have been displaced last year, according to the report written by heads of EU missions in the city.

The bleak report comes as the European Union allocated more than US$17 million to support Palestinian projects in occupied East Jerusalem, a 40 percent increase from the previous amount, the Palestinian state-run Wafa agency reported Thursday.

Israel has also been using a strict permit system to marginalize Palestinian residents in Jerusalem which means “the city has largely ceased to be the Palestinian economic, urban and commercial centre it used to be.”

The report identified a government-sponsored archeological park that has been constructed on the urban Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, providing tours in the ancient ruins in East Jerusalem, which is internationally-recognized as an occupied territory the Palestinians hope to be the capital of their future sovereign state. Silwan has 10,000 Palestinian residents.

The projects are intended to preserve “the Palestinian existence and identity in the holy city,” Wafa quoted EU officials as saying.

The news comes as the West Bank and Gaza have been rocked with unrest over the past two months over the Dec. 6 decision of the U.S. administration to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, breaking with international accords stating that the fate of the city should be decided as part of a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

“East Jerusalem is the only place where Israeli national parks are declared on populated neighbourhoods,” the document warned adding that park is operated by a local settler group representing about 450 settlers and “promoting an exclusively Jewish narrative, while detaching the place from its Palestinian surroundings.”

www.telesurtv.net The views and opinions expressed in these articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy

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Cuba praised for its Renewable Energy efforts

An EU official noted “with satisfaction” Cuba’s ambitious goal of having 24 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030.

The director of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Irena, Adrian Z. Amin, also celebrated Cuba’s progress towards its goal. He stated that the agency is committed to working with Cuba to expand its renewable energy sources, in order to build a more sustainable energy future.

Cuba was applauded for its efforts in the development of renewable energy sources at the International Fair of Renewable Energies which took place in the country’s capital Havana Thursday.

The three-day international event was organized by Fira de Barcelona and Grupo Empresarial Palco, with the support of the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, and saw the participation of 10 countries as well as more than 75 exhibitors from about 40 companies.

Alfonso Blanco Bonilla, the executive secretary of the Latin American Energy Organization (Olade), praised the Caribbean nation for taking steps to develop renewable energy sources.

Condemning the economic sanctions and blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States, the official said, “It is really gratifying to see a Cuba that captures foreign investment, which is trying to make the energy sector an engine of the economy.”

www.telesurtv.net The views and opinions expressed in these articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy

Also at the event, the director general of International Cooperation and Development of the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, noted “with satisfaction” Cuba’s ambitious goal of producing 24 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030.

“It is a long-term effort, and a unique opportunity for investors,” he said, also rejecting the U.S. blockade on Cuba, and adding that the European Union has a program dedicated exclusively to cooperation with the island in the area of energy.

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Vietnam commemorates 50 years since Tet offensive

The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The name of the offensive comes from the Tết holiday, the Vietnamese New Year, when the first major attacks took place. The offensive intensified the anti-war movement in the United States, eventually pushing Washington to leave Vietnam.

Vietnam commemorated 50 years since the Tet Offensive on the 31st of January with ceremonies and performances taking place in the city of Ho Chi Minh, whose fall in 1975 to the communist forces of North Vietnam marked the end of the brutal war.

The 1968 offensive, named after the local name for the Lunar New Year celebrated on Jan. 30, was one of biggest military attacks launched by the communist North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, U.S. forces, and their allies.

The offensive was a coordinated attack by the North’s army in 100 cities in southern Vietnam that marked the beginning of the end for the U.S. intervention into the country. Washington was shocked by the attack and officials reportedly said “communists just won’t quit” after the surprise operation. The U.S. had more than half a million troops in Vietnam by the time of the officinsve.

In Ho Chi Minh, half a century after the January 1968 events, entertainers took to stage dressed as soldiers and peasants. A number of dance routines followed, along with martial arts performances. "We resisted the enemy until we had no bullets, we left our guns and retreated," Nguyen Van Duoc, 75, who had participated in the offensive, told AFP. "The 1968 spring general offensive will forever be a bright symbol of patriotism, strong determination, and the party, people and military's willingness to fight for independence and freedom," said HCMC party leader Nguyen Thien Nhan during the commemorations.

More than 80,000 northern soldiers and Viet Cong fighters took part in the attacks that also intensified the anti-war movement in the United States which eventually pulled out of the war few years later. www.telesurtv.net

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INSIDE AFRICA:

Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi to roll out EAC e-passport

Tanzania has joined Kenya in rolling out the East African Community electronic passport, ahead of the December 2018 deadline, when countries are expected to phase out the national passports.

Kenya began to issue the new e-passport in September last year, becoming the first country in the region to do so.

Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are yet to roll out the e-passport, but have reported various stages of progress.

Rwanda has initiated a tender to procure both the systems and booklets for the regional e-passport, and is now in the final stages of contract-signing. A Cabinet paper on the e-passport modalities, including categories, validity and key features, was approved.

The e-passport will facilitate fast clearance of citizens at immigration offices. An automated fingerprint verification system in the database will guard against multiple passport issuances to the same person and also detect imposters.

Burundi has already approved and domesticated the EAC designs and specifications of the document and is waiting to roll it out, while Uganda is still at the procurement and financing stage for the production of the e-passport booklets.

The e-passport comes in red, green and sky blue — the colours of the EAC flag — but with text and national emblems in gold to complete its face. The colour of the passport will depend on categories. For instance, EAC diplomats will carry the red passport, officials (service category) will have it in green while ordinary citizens will have the sky blue document.

The e-passport — also known as the biometric passport — complies with guidelines set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), making it admissible globally.

Verification

The ordinary passport will be valid for up to 10 years while the diplomatic and service passports will depend on the specific terms of service of the holder.

The EAC Heads of State Summit in March 2016 directed that the issuance of e-passports be done concurrently in all member states, with a one-year phase-out of the national and regional passports.

The outer front cover will be inscribed with the words “East African Community” in gold at the top, while the issuing partner state will be pasted below.

An e-passport looks like the current national passports, but contains an electronic chip that is encoded with the same information found on page two of the passport — the surname, given name, date of birth and sex. It also have a biometric identifier, digital photograph of the holder and security features to prevent unauthorised use and forgery.

www.theeastafrican.co.ke/ www.allafrica.com The views and opinions expressed in these articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy

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