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Article about an important event that occured recently in East Africa?

Can someone link me to an article about an important event that occured in East Africa not more than a year ago?

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1. Here's an article from today: http://allafrica.com/stories/200710230715.html East Africa: EAC Receives Proposed Regional Bill of Rights East African (Nairobi) 23 October 2007 Posted to the web 23 October 2007 Francis Ayieko Nairobi Four months after the East African Community heads of state approved the introduction of an Appellate wing of the East African Court for Justice, the Community is yet to enact Bill of Rights. The Community has received a draft East African Bill of Rights prepared by Kituo cha Katiba, a regional civil society organisation with observer status in the EAC. If enacted, the Bill be a source of law for the regional Court of Justice. The EAC Summit okayed the establishment of the Appellate Court for the Community after Kenya was apparently unhappy with a decision made by the EACJ. The court had ruled against Nairobi in a case involving the nomination of Kenyan MPs to the EA legislative Assembly. - made up of heads of state of the five member states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi - approved the operationalisation of the Appellate jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice with effect from July 1, 2007. The process of establishing the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice has started. The draft East African Bill of Rights was last month discussed jointly by the EAC secretariat, led by the EAC secretary-general Juma Mwapachu and a delegation from the Kituo Cha Katiba. The Kituo Cha Katiba also presented its views on the proposed Protocol on the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice to be discussed by the EAC Council of Ministers next month. The proposed regional Bill of Rights will to complement existing national Bill of Rights and international Human Rights Instruments, including the various United Nations and African Union Protocols and Covenants on Human Rights. It is also expected to have sections on economic and social rights, with elaborate provisions on protection of those rights, guarantee protection for vulnerable groups such as children and minorities. It addresses issues of equality, personal liberty, access to justice, including the principle of presumption of innocence and indicate how these will be ensured and protected. The Kituo Cha Katiba also seeks to link freedom of association to the rights of the individual, for example, the right to contest elections as an individual (independent candidates). It further advocates for the issues of freedom of movement, right to work, reside and own property within the EAC region, sexual reproductive rights, rights of refugees and internally displaced persons and, argues that rights are limited only by law where such limitations are acceptable and ascribed within the bounds of democratic society. "The human rights advocates envisage a Bill of Rights that captures as much as possible, the aspirations of the people of East Africa and that imposes duties on the citizens to meet their obligations, for example, to report acts of corruption and on corporations, the obligation to refrain from acts of corruption," said a statement from the EAC secretariat. "The Bill of Rights will have strong content under the jurisdiction of a robust regional Court that will assist to entrench a human rights regime in the EAC and the achievement of greater unity within East Africa founded on the bedrock of human-rights commitment and strict observance." Mr Mwapachu said the draft Bill of Rights was a fundamental instrument which should be considered as an addendum to the EAC Treaty. He said that the EAC has in the past concentrated on economic integration but "as we move deeper into regional integration," the need to address good governance and human-rights issues had come to the fore. The draft Bill of Rights initiative, he added, was "the beginning of tackling the human-rights and good governance issues that we should have done in the past 10 years ago." According to Mr Mwapachu, the work of the existing national human rights commissions, including the possibility of forming an East African Human Rights Commission, should be pursued in the context of moving toward the ultimate goal of an East African Federation. He said the national Human Rights Commissions have important roles as ombudsman in preventing violations and protecting victims, whereas the envisaged East African Court of extended jurisdiction was the last recourse . Relevant Links Human Rights Legal and Judicial Affairs Mr Mwapachu suggested that the draft Bill should be thoroughly exposed to national governments and their support even before it is finally presented to the EAC Secretariat. The planned introduction of the Bill of Rights will be part of the agenda of the meeting of EAC Council of Ministers. The meeting will also discuss the Protocol on the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice.