“We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo,” the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.

“We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up,” he said.

An undercover journalist with Daily Nigeria newspaper had detailed how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic under two months and in fact, deployed for the National Youth Service Corps.

The Federal Government had immediately suspended accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations and launched a probe which the minister said should submit its report in three months.

Mamman said students who patronise such institutions were not victims but criminals.

“I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” the minister said on Wednesday.

He added that security agents would go after those with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure opportunities in Nigeria.

On the issue of student loan, the minister said, “The President has given his word that it will be operational from this quarter and the committee is working very hard to ensure that the president’s word is implemented.

Uganda’s Health Minister, Jane Aceng, announced the passing on of Ms Margaret Nabisubi on Wednesday morning.

Nabisubi is the fourth health worker to die of the virus since the outbreak in September.

“I regret to announce the passing of another health worker, Ms. Nabisubi Margaret, an anesthetic officer. The 58-year-old succumbed to Ebola at 4:33am this morning at Fort Portal Hospital (JMedic) after battling the disease for 17 days. The late Margaret is the 4th health worker we have lost in the current Ebola outbreak after the probable case of the midwife, Dr. Ali, and the health assistant in Kagadi District.

“May their souls rest in eternal peace,” Aceng announced on her official Twitter account, @JaneRuth_Aceng.

On September 20, 2022, Uganda health authorities declared an outbreak of Ebola disease, caused by Sudan virus, following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende district, central Uganda.

The case was a 24-year-old male who developed a wide range of symptoms on September 11. He was then referred to the Regional Referral Hospital on September 15, where he was isolated as a suspected case of viral haemorrhagic fever. A blood sample was collected on September 17 and sent to the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Kampala where RT- PCR tests conducted were positive for SUDV on September 19. On the same day, the patient died.

According to the World Health Organisation, Sudan virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans. Sudan virus was first reported in southern Sudan in June 1976. Since then, the virus has emerged periodically and up to now, seven outbreaks caused by the SUDV have been reported, four in Uganda and three in Sudan. The estimated case fatality ratios of SVD have varied from 41 per cent to 100 per cent in past outbreaks.

“The virus then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with either blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from SVD or objects that have been contaminated with body fluids (like blood, faeces, vomit) from a person sick with SVD or the body of a person who died from SVD.

“The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days. People infected with Sudan virus cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms, and they remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus. Symptoms of SVD can be sudden and include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat later followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function. In some cases, the patient might present both internal and external bleeding (for example, bleeding from the gums, or blood in the stools).

“The diagnosis of SVD can be difficult, as early nonspecific manifestation of the disease may mimic other infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and meningitis. Confirmation is made using numerous diagnostic methods including RT-PCR. Supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival.

“There are no licensed vaccines or therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of Sudan virus disease,” the World Health Organisation said.

“The confirmed case is a 24-year-old male… (who) presented with EVD symptoms and later succumbed,” the ministry said on Twitter, using an abbreviation for Ebola virus disease.

In a statement released earlier on Tuesday, the World Health Organization said a 24-year-old man in Mubende had tested positive for “the relatively rare Sudan strain” of the virus.

“This follows an investigation by the National Rapid Response team of six suspicious deaths that have occurred in the district this month,” WHO said.

Eight other suspected patients were undergoing treatment, WHO said.

This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording the Ebola Sudan strain,” WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said.

“We are working closely with the national health authorities to investigate the source of this outbreak while supporting the efforts to quickly roll out effective control measures.”

There have been seven previous outbreaks of the Sudan strain, including four times in Uganda and thrice in Sudan, the WHO said.

Uganda — which shares a porous border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — has experienced several Ebola outbreaks in the past, most recently in 2019, when at least five people died.

The DRC last month recorded a new case in its violence-wrecked east, less than six weeks after an epidemic in the country’s northwest was declared over.

Major General Abel Kandiho was recalled late Tuesday from his posting as security envoy in South Sudan barely two weeks after being dropped as spymaster.

Kandiho has “been appointed to the position of the Joint Staff of the Uganda Police Force,” Uganda’s military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Kakurungu said in a statement.

Until last month, Kandiho was the commander of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and has faced accusations of abuses including beatings, sexual assault and electrocution.

The US Treasury slapped Kandiho with sanctions last December over alleged human rights violations committed under his watch.

People arrested by his bureau were “subjected to horrific beatings and other egregious acts by officials, including sexual abuse and electrocutions, often resulting in significant long-term injury and even death,” it said in a statement.

The US said Kandiho was sometimes personally involved in leading interrogations of detained individuals, including of those singled out for criticising the government.

Uganda has long suffered a series of crackdowns aimed at stamping out dissent, with journalists attacked, lawyers jailed, election monitors prosecuted and opposition leaders violently muzzled.

The frontier had been closed in February 2019 as political tensions between Kigali and Kampala spiralled, leading to the near-collapse of two-way trade.

Rwanda announced its decision to reopen the border last week as a step towards repairing ties that had been soured by various rival accusations of espionage, abductions and meddling.

It followed a visit to Kigali by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, where he met Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

The main Gatuna crossing post, known as Katuna in Uganda, officially reopened at midnight, and traffic was expected to gather pace throughout the day.

Museveni and Kagame were close allies in the 1980s and 1990s during struggles for power in their respective countries, but relations turned deeply hostile.

Rwanda shut the frontier after accusing Uganda of abducting its citizens and supporting rebels seeking to topple Kagame.

Uganda in turn accused Rwanda of spying as well as killing two men during an incursion into Ugandan territory in 2019 — a claim Kigali denied.

Both governments said last week they hoped the border reopening could contribute to the normalisation of ties.

Before the closure, Ugandan exports to Rwanda — predominantly cement and food — totalled more than $211 million in 2018, according to World Bank figures, while Rwanda exported $13 million worth of goods to Uganda.

Trade plummeted in 2019, with the situation further exacerbated by the Covid crisis.

The move followed a visit to Kigali by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba last weekend when he and Rwandan President Paul Kagame pledged to restore relations.

The border between the two East African nations was abruptly closed in February 2019 as political tensions between Kigali and Kampala spiralled, devastating two-way trade.

Rwanda’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the main Gatuna border post, known as Katuna in Uganda, would reopen on January 31.

Following Kainerugaba’s visit, the government “has taken note that there is a process to solve issues raised by Rwanda, as well as commitments made by the government of Uganda to address remaining obstacles”, it said.

“The government of Rwanda remains committed to ongoing efforts to resolve pending issues between Rwanda and Uganda and believes that today’s announcement will contribute positively to the speedy normalisation of relations between the two countries.”

There was no immediate comment from the Ugandan government, but it retweeted the Rwandan statement on its official account.

“We can see the two governments are trying to create a new direction after a long standoff and a few roadblocks have been removed,” said Ugandan security analyst Fred Egesa”

Kainerugaba, the commander of Uganda’s land armed forces, is rumoured to be positioning himself as a possible successor to his 77-year-old father, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Museveni and Kagame were close allies in the 1980s and 1990s during struggles for power in their respective countries, before becoming bitter rivals.

Rwanda abruptly closed its border with Uganda in 2019, accusing Uganda of abducting its citizens and supporting rebels seeking to topple Kagame.

For its part, Uganda accused Rwanda of spying as well as killing two men during an incursion into Ugandan territory in 2019 — a claim Kigali denied.

Shortly after the Kagame-Kainerugaba meeting, Museveni announced on Tuesday he was replacing the country’s powerful intelligence chief Major General Abel Kandiho.

Rwandan officials have in recent years accused Kandiho, who has been moved to a role as security envoy to South Sudan, of working with dissidents to kidnap Rwandan citizens in Uganda.

“For purposes of harmony between the two countries it was important Kandiho was deployed elsewhere,” analyst Egesa said.

The United States in December slapped sanctions on Kandiho, who had been the commander of the feared Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence since January 2017, accusing him and his office of involvement in human rights abuses including beatings, sexual assault and electrocution.

Talks to try to ease tensions between Kagame and Museveni were previously hosted by Angolan President Joao Lourenco and Congolese leader Felix Tshisekedi, with the last such meeting taking place in February 2020.

No meeting has been held between the two leaders since, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Relations between the two countries also soured after an investigation last year found that Rwanda had used Israeli Pegasus spying software to hack into the phones of Uganda’s prime minister and foreign minister, among others.

Ugandan goods such as cement, foodstuffs and liquor, dominated the Rwandan market before the closure of the border. They were effectively replaced by goods from Tanzania and Asia.

The explosions occurred in the central business district of Kampala near the central police station and the entrance to parliament, police said.

“What we can say (is) this was an attack but who is responsible is a matter that is under investigation,” Uganda’s Assistant Inspector General of police Edward Ochom told AFP.

Health ministry spokesman Ainebyoona Emmanuel said on Twitter that Kampala’s Mulago Hospital was treating 24 people, four in critical condition.

“Following the unfortunate and cowardly act of terrorism, our health workers are working around the clock to save lives of those injured,” he said.

The explosion near the police station shattered windows while the one near the entrance to parliament saw cars parked nearby burst into flames, Ochom said.

“We have dispatched a team” to the area, Uganda Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita told AFP.

The twin attacks follow two blasts last month — a bus explosion near Kampala that wounded many people and a bombing at a roadside eatery in the capital that killed one woman.

Police said last month both those attacks were connected and were carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) which the United States has linked to the Islamic State group.

Kyle Spencer, the executive director of Uganda’s Internet Exchange Point, told AFP that Tuesday’s explosions had sparked panic among many people nearby.

“The road to parliament is closed off, there are people just crying, everyone else is just trying to get away from these areas,” he said.

“Everybody is evacuating office buildings and the buildings are locking up and not letting anybody inside.”

The singers were arrested on Sunday, December 13, and charged with doing “acts that are likely to cause the spread of infectious disease, Covid-19” following the illegal concert at Ddungu resort in Munyonyo with large crowds while the country is on lockdown.

They were arraigned before the Makindye division court on Monday, December 14 and remanded in different prisons till Wednesday, December 16.

Following the outcry from Nigerians and some diplomatic moves made by the Nigerian government, the charges against them have now been dropped

The fast-rising stars were on Sunday, December 13, arrested together with their managers for holding an illegal concert at Ddungu resort in Munyonyo where they gathered big crowds, contrary to President Museveni’s directives on the prevention of the spread of Covid-19.

It was gathered that the organizers of the event disguised the show as a lunch and dinner event but it turned out to be a concert with a large crowd in attendance.

Omah Lay, Tems, and the others were arrested and charged with doing “acts that are likely to cause the spread of infectious disease, Covid-19,” according to him Assistant Superintendent of Police and Deputy Police Spokesperson, Luk Owoyesigyire, Kampala Metropolitan Police.

The group last month escaped from a hotel in Kibuli and were later arrested together with their Ugandan driver and his wife in Zombo district on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Chinese nationals, Mr. Huang Haiguiang, Mr. Li Chaochyan, Mr. Lin Xiaofang, Mr. Qin Shening, Mr. Liang Xinging, and Mr. Huang Wei on Tuesday, April 21 appeared before Chief Magistrate Ruth Nabaasa before they pleaded guilty of disobeying lawful orders, an act likely to spread infection of disease contrary to Section 171 of the Penal Code Act before Nakawa Chief Ruth Nabaasa.

Prosecution led by Ms. Annette Namatovu states that on the 19th day of March 2020 at Kibuli Hotel Africa in Kampala that six Chinese nationals unlawfully or negligently escaped from self quarantined at the said hotel without completing their fourteen mandatory days against COVID-19 to Zombo district.