Al-Shabab: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya

A militant Islamic group associated with al Qaeda has threatened to attack Israel, far from its normal base of operations in Somalia. CNN writes that Al-Shabab, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of “starting to destroy” the Al Aqsa mosque, where standoffs have recently been taking place between Israeli police and Palestinians.

The mosque is part of the complex that Jews called the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif. The group also threatened other African nations on Friday, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

Source: Afrik.com Monday 2 November 2009 - Somalia: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya
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(AFP photo) This still image provided by SITE, an organization which monitors Islamist websites, from a video entitled 'At Your Service Osama' released 20 Sep 2009, shows Abu Mansur al-Amriki (R) teaching mujahedeen small unit tactics

Source: Voice of America report by Alisha Ryu (Nairobi) 27 October 2009 - Uganda Tightens Security Following Al-Shabab Threat

Kenya calls on Sudanese parties to respect peace accord

Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir arrived in Kenya on Tuesday and has since held meetings with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

From China View, 29 October 2009:
Kenya calls on Sudanese parties to respect peace accord

NAIROBI, Oct. 29, 2009 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday called on the people of Sudan to respect the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which was inked in Nairobi in January 2005, ahead of their country's elections.

Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka also urged the Sudanese to always give priority to matters pertaining to the CPA if they have to overcome the challenges facing them and realize lasting peace.

"Reality is almost coming to Sudan because of the CPA. I am sure people of Sudan are working hard towards rebuilding their nation," Musyoka told journalists in Nairobi after holding talks with visiting southern Sudan President Salva Kiir.

He said Kenya will continue to facilitate and give the necessary impetus to the process, noting that a peaceful and prosperous Sudan is great importance for Kenya.

The CPA is a set of agreements signed in January 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLA) and the government of Sudan.

The agreement was meant to end the second Sudanese civil war, develop democratic governance countrywide and share resources.

He hailed the cordial relations between southern Sudan and Kenya and assured that the two sides would continue working together to strengthen the bilateral ties in several fields.

Kiir, who is also the first vice president of Sudan, thanked the government of Kenya for the role it is playing in the search for peace and stability in Sudan.

"The government of Kenya has made the investment for peace through Inter-Governmental Authority Development (IGAD) not only for the people of Sudan but the whole of Africa," Kiir said.

The southern Sudanese leader said his country was facing many challenges, especially now that it was heading for elections.

Kiir praised Musyoka for having worked tirelessly as mediator towards peace in Sudan, especially when he was the foreign affairs minister and assured him that they will do everything possible to protect CPA.

The southern Sudanese leader arrived on Tuesday and has since held meetings with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

During his meeting with Kiir on Wednesday, Odinga stressed that the government was committed to upholding good relations with neighboring countries to ensure that peace co-existence prevailed in the region.

He reiterated on the government's determination to see the implementation of the Kenyan brokered peace pact between southern Sudan and the government of Sudan.

"Kenya as the principle Guarantor to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) wants to see the implementation of the accord to the letter as the African Union and UN seeks amicable solution to the Darfur conflict," Odinga said.

During the meeting, Kiir said the Sudanese people wanted to foster harmonious coexistence with their neighbors to promote bilateral ties in the region.

He told the press conference that the amicable resolution to the cross-border conflicts between communities could only be realized when affected countries conducted a regional disarmament exercise.

Editor: Deng Shasha

Kenya: Country steps up security at Sudan border

It was reported at the weekend that 16 Kenya Army personnel were killed by the Toposa raiders at the Nadapal Barracks on the Kenya-Sudan border.

Nadapal has remained a contested area, with both countries claiming it. This has triggered frequent clashes.

Source: The Nation (Kenya) October 19, 2009 - via afrika.no -
Kenya: Country steps up security at Sudan border

Nairobi (Kenya) — Kenya has stepped up security near its border with Sudan after reports of clashes between police and Toposa pastoralists.

The General Service Unit, Administration Police and regular police are said to have engaged a combined force of Toposa militia for the second day running on Sunday.

The fighting is reported to have taken place at Nadapal, five kilometres inside Kenya. Some Kenya Army personnel are also said to be on the ground to give backing in case they are issued with orders.

Scores of people have fled Nadapal area towards Lokichogio, some 25 kilometres away following the fight which began on Thursday.

The Kenyan security team, led by Lokitang police boss Ngonya Waigonya and Turkana West district officer Eric Wanyonyi, has denied claims that 16 Kenyan soldiers had been shot dead by the Toposa militiamen.

Mr Waigonya said the Kenya security forces have been involved in an operation to flush out criminals along the Nadapal-Lokichogio highway who have been terrorising motorists and local residents.

"There were exchange of fire between our security forces and the Toposa militia but no fatalities were reported on our side" said Mr Waigonya.

It was reported at the weekend that 16 Kenya Army personnel were killed by the Toposa raiders at the Nadapal Barracks on the Kenya-Sudan border.

Nadapal has remained a contested area, with both countries claiming it. This has triggered frequent clashes.

According to Riam Riam peace network coordinator Joseph Elim, the Toposa established an army barracks near the Nadapal border point in order to give them full access to grass and water on the Kenyan side.

He said more than 10 people had been killed and more than 11,000 animals stolen in the last two months following attacks by Toposa raiders.

Why is Africa poor? Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed

Quote of the Day
"Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed." - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, 2009.

The following report also tells us that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she underestimated the problem of graft.

From BBC News, Monday, 24 August 2009:
Why is the African continent poor?
By Mark Doyle, BBC world affairs correspondent

The desolate, dusty town of Pibor on South Sudan's border with Ethiopia has no running water, no electricity and little but mud huts for the population to live in.

You would be hard put to find a poorer place anywhere on earth.

I went there as part of a journey across Africa to ask the question "Why is Africa poor?" for a BBC radio documentary series.

I was asked to investigate why it is that every single African country - with the exceptions of oil-rich Gabon and Algeria - is classified by the United Nations as having a "low" broadly defined Human Development Index - in other words an appalling standard of living for most of the people.

In Pibor, the answer to why the place is poor seems fairly obvious.

The people - most of whom are from the Murle ethnic group - are crippled by tribal conflicts related to disputes over cattle, the traditional store of wealth in South Sudan.

The Murle have recently had fights with the Lol Nuer group to the north of Pibor and with ethnic Bor Dinkas to the west.

In a spate of fighting with the Lol Nuer earlier this year several hundred people, many of them women and children, were killed in deliberate attacks on villages.

There has been a rash of similar clashes across South Sudan in the past year (although most were on a smaller scale than the fights between the Lol Nuer and the Murle).

And so the answer to why South Sudan is poor is surely a no-brainer: War makes you destitute.

Why is there so much war?

And yet South Sudan is potentially rich.

"It's bigger than Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi combined," the South Sudan Regional Co-operation Minister Barnaba Benjamin, enthused.

"Tremendous land! Very fertile, enormous rainfall, tremendous agricultural resources. Minerals! We have oil and many other minerals - go name it!"

The paradox of rich resources and poor people hints at another layer of explanation about why Africa is poor.

It is not just that there is war. The question should, perhaps be: "Why is there so much war?"

And the headline question is in fact misleading; Africans as a people may be poor, but Africa as a place is fantastically rich - in minerals, land, labour and sunshine.

That is why outsiders have been coming here for hundreds of years - to invade, occupy, convert, plunder and trade.

But the resources of South Sudan, for example, have never been properly developed.

During colonial rule South Sudan was used as little more than a reservoir of labour and raw materials.

Then independence was followed by 50 years of on-off war between the south and north - with northerners in Khartoum continuing the British tactic of divide and rule among the southern groups.

Some southerners believe this is still happening today.

Corruption

On my journey across the poorest, sub-Saharan swathe of the continent - that took in Liberia and Nigeria in the west, Sudan in the centre, and Kenya in the east - people explored the impact that both non-Africans and Africans had had on why Africa is poor.

Almost every African I met, who was not actually in government, blamed corrupt African leaders for their plight.

"The gap between the rich and the poor in Africa is still growing," said a fisherman on the shores of Lake Victoria.

"Our leaders, they just want to keep on being rich. And they don't want to pay taxes."

Even President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia came close to this when she told me she had underestimated the level of corruption in her country when she took office.

"Maybe I should have sacked the whole government when I came to power," she said.

"Africa is not poor," President Johnson-Sirleaf added, "it is poorly managed."

This theme was echoed by an architect in Kenya and a senior government official in Nigeria.

Both pointed out that the informal sector of most African economies is huge and almost completely unharnessed.

Marketplaces, and a million little lean-to repair shops and small-scale factories are what most urban Africans rely upon for a living.

But such is their distrust of government officials that most businesspeople in the informal sector avoid all contact with the authorities.

Kenyan architect and town planner Mumo Museva took me to the bustling Eastleigh area of Nairobi, where traders have created a booming economy despite the place being almost completely abandoned by the government.

Eastleigh is a filthy part of the city where rubbish lies uncollected, the potholes in the roads are the size of swimming pools, and the drains have collapsed.

But one indication of the success of the traders, Mr Museva said, was the high per-square-foot rents there.

"You'll be surprised to note that Eastleigh is the most expensive real estate in Nairobi."

He added that if Eastleigh traders trusted the government they might pay some taxes in return for decent services, so creating a "virtuous circle".

"It would lift people out of poverty," he said.

"Remember, poverty is related to quality of life, and the quality of life here is appalling, despite the huge amount of wealth flowing through these areas."

Then the young Kenyan architect echoed the Liberian president, some 5,000km (3,000 miles) away on the other side of the continent.

"Africa is not poor," he also said.

"Africa is just poorly managed."

See blog: Why is Africa poor? Have Your Say

Patricia Musyimi - CECAFA Under-17 Youth Championship (Hassan el Bashir Cup) August 19-31 2009 Sudan

Nairobi, June 26, 2009 - By appointing Patricia Musyimi to head its delegation for the CECAFA Clubs Championship in Sudan next week, Mathare United (MUFC) is setting a new and healthy precedent as Patriciah is evidently the first female to lead a Kenyan football delegation abroad.



Patriciah was recently appointed as the MUFC Public Affairs and Marketing Manager but also became the MUFC Acting CEO in early June as David Waithaka had to travel urgently on short notice to the USA to help and care for a seriously ailing family member.

Born and raised in the Mathare slums, Patriciah has managed to struggle against the odds and achieve some of her dreams as one of the pioneering players and leaders in the girls football programme of the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA). For example, in 1996 Patriciah was a key player on the first MYSA U14 girls team to feature in the Norway Cup, the world's oldest and largest youth football tournament.

Source: CECAFA

The CECAFA U-17 Championship is the a football (soccer) tournament in Africa. It is a tournament of FIFA and the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), and includes national under 17 teams from Central and East Africa.

The tournament was to be hosted in 2008 but CECAFA could not raise enough money so the tournament was delayed a year.

Source: Wikipedia

CECAFA U-17 football tournament: Kenya v Uganda (Juba, S. Sudan, 4.30pm on 19 Aug 2009)

From Pana via Afrique en ligne, Wednesday, 12 August 2009:
Fixtures of Cecafa youth football tournament in Sudan

(Kenya) - Below are the fixtures for this month's Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) championships taking place in Sudan.

The regional event, known as the Cecafa U-17 tournament, is slated for 19-31 August in three Sudanese cities - Khartoum, Juba and Medani. It is being sponsored by Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir to the tune of US$ 700,000.

Aug. 19 - Ethiopia v Zanzibar (Juba 2.30pm); Kenya v Uganda (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 20 - Somalia v Nigeria (Khartoum 5.30pm); Sudan v Tanzania (Khartoum 9.30pm )

Aug. 21 - Zanzibar v Kenya (Juba 2.30pm); Uganda v Ethiopia (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 22 - Nigeria v Tanzania (Khartoum 5.30pm); Somalia v Sudan (Khartoum 9.30pm ),

Aug. 22 - Eritrea v Rwanda (Medani 5.30pm); Egypt v Burundi (Medani 9.30pm).

Aug. 23 - Kenya v Ethiopia (Juba 2.30pm); Zanzibar v Uganda (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 24 - Tanzania v Somalia (Khartoum 5.30pm); Sudan v Nigeria (Khartoum 9.30pm ).

Aug. 24 - Rwanda v Burundi (Medani 5.30pm); Eritrea v Egypt (Medani 9.30pm).

Aug. 25 - Rest Day.

Aug. 26 & 27 - Quarter finals

Aug. 28 & 29 - Semi finals (Khartoum).

Aug. 30 - Rest Day.

Aug. 31 - Third place play offs/Finals (Khartoum).

Cross posted from Sudan Watch on Wednesday 12 August 2009: Fixtures of CECAFA U-17 football tournament in Sudan 19-31 Aug 2009

Click on labels here below for related reports and updates.

Kenya: Hillary Clinton highlights Africa's potential but warns against corruption

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s tour of seven African nations ends on 13 August 2009 after visits to Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the DRC, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday 07 August 2009:
Clinton Highlights Africa's Potential but Warns Against Corruption

(Nairobi) – During her visit to Kenya earlier this week, the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton described Africa as having the potential and the resources to compete in the world economy.

In a speech from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Clinton urged African countries to create markets with each other rather than focus on trading with first world countries.

[Hillary Clinton]: “Africa is capable and is making economic progress. In fact, one doesn’t have to look far to see that Africa is ripe with opportunities. The single biggest opportunity that you have right now is to open up trade with each other. The market of the United States is 3 hundred million people; the market of Africa is 7 hundred million plus people. Nations of Africa trade the least with each other than any region of the world. That makes it very difficult to compete effectively.”

However, Hillary Clinton has attributed the lack of economic progress in Africa to the failure by various governments to attract investors through stability.

[Hillary Clinton]: “It's not just about good governance, this is about good business. Investors will be attracted to states that do this and they will not be attracted to states with failed or weak leadership, or crime and civil unrest, or corruption that taints every transaction and decision.”

Clinton called on African states to reform their countries by ending bad governance, corruption and impunity. She encouraged government to ensure that the private sector and civil society organizations abiding by the rule of law.

Clinton’s tour of seven African nations ends on August 13th after visits to Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the DRC, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.