RIP-MJ

RIP-MJ

Explosion at Redcross Reception Centre

An explosion occurred at a Red Cross reception centre in Suomusjärvi in south-west Finland in the early morning hours on Monday.

No one was harmed in the blast that shattered windows and harmed the building structure. The centre houses a few dozen asylum seekers. The explosion occurred around 4am on Monday morning.

A two-door white passenger car with a black trim was seen driving from the scene of the explosion moments before the blast.

“We have increased security at the reception centre to safeguard the residents,” says Päivi Nikkola, deputy manager of the Suomusjärvi reception centre.

Police in Salo are investigating the incident and are urging eyewitnesses to come forward.

Culled from yli.

Swine flu cases in Finland

Two Finnish schoolchildren have contracted swine flu. Riitta Lehtonen, Communications Chief of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusima, confirmed the new cases of the H1N1 virus on Sunday.

The patients are children showing mild symptoms of the virus. They have now left hospital. The family returned home from the United States on Saturday.

Seven cases of the virus have now been confirmed in Finland. Not a known case in Åland yet and we at Habari Newsletter and Habari 1 appeals to medical authorities to provide preventive information to the public as WHO last week declared H1N1 deadliest virus.

Onyango Okeyo

Mid-summer Humor

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.  This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (WORK).  If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever – DO NOT TOUCH IT!!!  This virus will wipe out your private life entirely.  If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the antidotes – Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER).  Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends.  If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Obuor refused entry into Finland

A FAMOUS Ghanaian hiplife artiste, Obuor, was refused entry to Finland to perform in an event called ‘World Village Festival’.

The reason, according to Finnish Embassy officials, was because Obuor’s crew of 15 performers was too big for just a day’s performance.

The development has left many Ghanaians in Finland, many of whom have never seen Obuor and were eager to watch him perform, bitterly disappointed.

Onyango Okeyo

Finns Complain About Racism

Finns are more frequently filing complaints with the Ombudsman for Minorities about incidents they consider racist. According to an annual report published by the office of the Ombudsman for Minorities, the worsening economic situation was reflected last year in a hardening of attitudes toward immigration.

It says that, for example, some Internet discussions took on a sharper tone.

However, alongside criticism of immigration, there was also a trend in the opposite direction. According to the Ombudsman it was striking how many Finns contacted the office after finding slurs against immigrants offensive.

There were 54 of these complaints registered last year. Over 40 percent were made by Finnish men who were reporting online racism. In addition to racism online, there were complaints by Finns of racial slurs on TV, in advertising, racist graffiti and even anti-immigrant slurs written in laundry reservation books.

Last year, the Ombudsman for Minorities dealt with over 700 complaints in total, just slightly more than the year before. Most of the complaints were filed by Romani, Russians and Somalis.

YLE(edited by Onyango Okeyo)

The Lady On Trial

Democracy activist and opposition politician in Burma Aung San Suu kyi is facing a trial that must be seen as ruling junta’s position and determination to keep her behind bars even to a long time victim of one of Asia´s most repressive regimes.

Confined to her home for most of the past two decades, Suu Kyi allegedly accepted a nighttime visit from uninvited American who swam unbidden to her lakeside residence May 3, 2009. While the Nobel Peace Laureate reportedly urged the American to leave, she is charged with violating the terms of her detention and faces up to five years in prison.

An observer at her trial noted that Aung San Suu Kyi trial is a story where the conclusion is already scripted, to continue detaining her or imprisoning her thus denying her the democratic rights to participate in the coming election.

Onyango Okeyo

Politics: Immigrant Women in Politics

The last week in May 2009, I traveled around the country and was humbled to attend   multicultural conference in Caisa. There I met groups of immigrant women who had gathered at Helsinki city’s international cultural centre, Caisa, to hear more about Finnish political life, there I met Oge Eneh and we had a little discussion of what lies ahead for immigrants Women.

Political parties are beginning to appreciate immigrant candidates, now is the time to for immigrant women to get involved in Finnish politics, immigrant women are still struggling to find a public voice and remain a rare sight on the Finnish political scene, says Oge Eneh.

Nigerian-born Oge Eneh, who has lived in Finland for over 20 years, is standing for election in the European Parliament Elections in June 2009 on the Swedish People’s Party ticket (SFP).

Oge Eneh´s background is in multiculturalism and culture competence. She designs courses around topics as: culture diversity, cross-cultural team building and communication skills. She has facilitated programs around these themes for companies and organizations such as Borealis-Neste, Nokia, Finnish Ministry of foreign affairs, and the cultural competence training for the Finnish Police.

She wants to transform integration to a democratic value both in EU and in Finland.

Immigrants have contributed to numerous achievements in Finland. We need to work together to find these persons and recognize their achievements as role models in a multicultural Finland and in a European Finland as a member of the Global Village.

She concludes our conversation by saying “I was asked to run in the elections, and I accepted. I have worked with immigrant integration issues for many years,” says Eneh.

Onyango Okeyo.

Finland Charges Rwanda Suspect with Genocide

Francois Bazaramba, 58, has been in detention in Finland since April 2007 but the government said in February it would not extradite him because it feared he would not get a fair trial in Rwanda.

State Prosecutor Raija Toiviainen said she had enough evidence to bring the charges to the court, with about 100 witnesses heard.

The maximum sentence would be a life sentence if he is found guilty. Toiviainen said Bazaramba was also charged with 15 counts of murder.

“It is obvious according to the pre-trial investigation that the man has committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis partly or totally,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

Rwanda accuses Bazaramba of orchestrating the murder of 5,000 people in the country in 1994. A total of about 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the masscares carried out by Hutu militias.

Local media said Bazaramba arrived in Finland in 2003 and sought asylum.

Bazaramba’s lawyer, Ville Hoikkala, said his client was not in a position where he could have led any killings.

“He is not guilty, and we have evidence that some of the witnesses heard in Rwanda were tortured,” Hoikkala said.

A spokeswoman for the district court in Porvoo, some 50 km (30 miles) from Helsinki, said the goal was for pre-trial hearings to start in the next few weeks and a trial to begin in the autumn. (Reuters)