Kenya and Somalia want the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the leaders of Al-Shabaab for crimes against humanity.
Kenya also announced plans to go to the UN Security Council to seek support for an international naval blockade of Kismayu to starve Al-Shabaab of income.
In a joint communiqué issued in Nairobi on Monday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Somalia counterpart Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia had given Kenya permission to pursue the militants, but hand over the liberated areas to the local administration.
They asked the international community to provide warships to patrol Kismayu, regarded as Al-Shabaab's main source of income.
The leaders said the ICC should investigate individuals within Al-Shabaab over the terrorist attacks.
"The TFG will seek ICC assistance in beginning immediate investigations into crimes against humanity committed by individuals within the Al-Shabaab movement with the aim of seeking their indictment," read the statement in part.
Some of the known leaders of the group include Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr (better known as Ahmed Godane), the Supreme Leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali Abu Mansoor, the deputy leader, Sheikh Fuád Mohamed Khalaf, the propaganda chief, Sheikh Hussein Fidow, chief of political and regional affairs, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, former leader of the defunct Hizbu Islam, Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi Hersi alias Sheikh Hassan Turki, former deputy leader of the defunct Hizbu Islam and Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Raghe alias Sheikh Ali Dhere, the spokesman.
The Nairobi meeting was also attended by Defence Minister Yusuf Haji, Chief of General Staff Julius Karangi, National Security Intelligence Service chief Michael Gichangi, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka and Kenya's ambassador to Somalia Maj Gen (rtd) James Mulinge.
Mr Ali was accompanied by Somalia's deputy prime minister and Minister for Defence Hussein Aab Isse, Minister for Interior and National Security Abdisamad Mhamud Hassan, TFG Armed Forces commander Abdulkadir Sheikh Ali Dini and Somalia's ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nur.
Mr Ali was in the country to clarify reports by Somalia President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed questioning Kenyan's military intervention.
He said the TFG was united and that it supported the operation.
"I came with the blessing of the President. We will work with the Kenya government. There's no discord," Mr Ali said.
The join-statement said the security operation in Somalia was aimed at eliminating the threat posed by Al-Shabaab to Kenya's national security and economic well being "and is based on the legitimate right to self-defence under article 51 of the UN Charter."
The countries said the Al-Qaeda linked group was a common enemy for the region and the world.
Humanitarian assistance
"This threat must be fought jointly by the two nations with support from the international community," it said.
The two countries also agreed that the Kenyan government shall not negotiate with Al-Shabaab, but the TFG is free to negotiate with all armed opposition groups.
Fielding questions from journalists, Mr Odinga said people in areas that had been liberated by Kenya's Defence Forces were suffering and that the soldiers were sharing the little they had, including water and food, with them.
He appealed to the international community to intervene and provide humanitarian assistance, build schools and hospitals to restore normalcy in the area.
"We want to save the liberated Somali so that the country could join the East African Community in future," Mr Odinga said.
Mr Odinga denied claims that Kenyan troops were targeting civilians, saying they were only interested in destroying Al-Shabaab hideouts.
He said it was cheaper to crush the terrorist group now than defer military action.
Mr Odinga added that Kenya had no imperial intention of occupying Somalia, but the operation against Al-Shabaab will continue until they are defeated.
He said Djibouti has offered to deploy more soldiers to bolster the African Union contingent in the country.
"The TFG and Kenyan forces have been highly welcomed by population in Somalia. They had not seen forces which are human like that," he said, adding that more than 12,000 peacekeepers were needed to keep order.
He said the AU, Igad, the US, France, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, among others, had backed Kenya's operation and that the country will soon be seeking UN support.
Mr Odinga said Kenya does not support the secession of Southern Somalia and "all we want to see is a stable civilian government in Mogadishu.
"Somalia is a friendly country and we want to see it stable. The whole world wants peace in Somalia. It has taken long. Many have tried in vain but we can't wait for a solution to come from heaven. We have to make our own efforts," Mr Odinga said.
The PM said the country had cause to go to war across the border for the first time to protect itself and that it has the capacity to do so.
"I can't tell how long it will take. This is a war. It is not like 100-metre or 10-kilometre race. We will fight until the enemy is defeated. As neighbours, we have a role to play to ensure peace in Somalia," he said.
Mr Ali said Kenya and Somalia need a common strategy to fight terrorist groups and that they should have unity of purpose.
"We should work in tandem until we have eliminated Al-Shabaab from the Horn of Africa, Somalia and the face of the earth. This is a global problem," Mr Ali said.
He said the operation would be led by TFG supported by Kenyan forces and that the liberated areas will be handed over to local administration and humanitarian services and other infrastructure provided.
Mr Ali said TFG was looking into reports that Kenyan forces had bombed civilians.
Source: AllAfrica
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Airstrike Hits Displaced Somalis
Aid Group Says Three People Killed
An airstrike hit a camp for people displaced by Somalia's humanitarian crisis Sunday, leaving three dead and dozens of people injured, the aid group Doctors Without Borders reported.
The camp was hit during an aerial bombardment on the southern Somali town of Jilib early Sunday afternoon, the medical relief agency said in a written statement. Most of the 52 wounded its staff treated were women and children, the group said.
The group did not identify the source of the attack, but urged "all parties to the conflict in Somalia to respect the rights of civilians in conflict."
Kenya launched a military incursion into southern Somalia on October 15 in an attempt to push back the Islamist rebel group al-Shabaab, which controls most of Somalia's south. There was no immediate response from the Kenyan military to the report.
About 1,500 displaced Somali families live in the Jilib camp, with many of the children suffering from acute malnutrition, Doctors Without Borders said. They are among the hundreds of thousands displaced by drought, famine and fighting in Somalia, where an estimated 2.2 million people now depend on food aid, according to U.N. officials. The drought has given way to heavy seasonal rains in the south that are now hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Friday.
Meanwhile, two foreign aid workers kidnapped last week in Somalia are alive and well, a Danish aid group said Sunday.
Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, were abducted by gunmen Tuesday after visiting humanitarian projects in the northern Galkayo area, the Danish Refugee Council said.
"I have been told that contact was established today, and I am pleased to announce that both Poul and Jessica are doing well given the circumstances," said Ann Mary Olsen, head of the council's international department.
Buchanan is from the United States, while Thisted is from Denmark.
Both were working for the council's demining unit, which aims to make civilians safe from landmines and unexploded ordnance.
The U.S. State Department confirmed last week that a U.S. citizen had been kidnapped in northern Somalia but declined to give more details, citing privacy laws.
A number of high-profile abductions of foreigners have occurred in recent weeks in Kenya, close to the border with largely lawless Somalia. Those kidnappings have been blamed on the Somali Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Source: CNN
An airstrike hit a camp for people displaced by Somalia's humanitarian crisis Sunday, leaving three dead and dozens of people injured, the aid group Doctors Without Borders reported.
The camp was hit during an aerial bombardment on the southern Somali town of Jilib early Sunday afternoon, the medical relief agency said in a written statement. Most of the 52 wounded its staff treated were women and children, the group said.
The group did not identify the source of the attack, but urged "all parties to the conflict in Somalia to respect the rights of civilians in conflict."
Kenya launched a military incursion into southern Somalia on October 15 in an attempt to push back the Islamist rebel group al-Shabaab, which controls most of Somalia's south. There was no immediate response from the Kenyan military to the report.
About 1,500 displaced Somali families live in the Jilib camp, with many of the children suffering from acute malnutrition, Doctors Without Borders said. They are among the hundreds of thousands displaced by drought, famine and fighting in Somalia, where an estimated 2.2 million people now depend on food aid, according to U.N. officials. The drought has given way to heavy seasonal rains in the south that are now hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Friday.
Meanwhile, two foreign aid workers kidnapped last week in Somalia are alive and well, a Danish aid group said Sunday.
Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, were abducted by gunmen Tuesday after visiting humanitarian projects in the northern Galkayo area, the Danish Refugee Council said.
"I have been told that contact was established today, and I am pleased to announce that both Poul and Jessica are doing well given the circumstances," said Ann Mary Olsen, head of the council's international department.
Buchanan is from the United States, while Thisted is from Denmark.
Both were working for the council's demining unit, which aims to make civilians safe from landmines and unexploded ordnance.
The U.S. State Department confirmed last week that a U.S. citizen had been kidnapped in northern Somalia but declined to give more details, citing privacy laws.
A number of high-profile abductions of foreigners have occurred in recent weeks in Kenya, close to the border with largely lawless Somalia. Those kidnappings have been blamed on the Somali Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Source: CNN
3m Sudanese, Somali sheep to meet seasonal demand
The Jeddah Islamic Port will receive more than three million heads of sheep coming from Sudan and Somalia to cover the needs of the Haj season and Eid Al-Adha.
The head of the committee of livestock traders at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Sulaiman Saeed Al-Jabri, while announcing the figure, said he expected the market prices to stabilize following the arrival of the large quantity of sheep. Prices of sheep have been soaring with the approach of the Haj season.
Al-Jabri said his company will import about 1.6 million heads of this quantity while other traders import the rest.
He was optimistic that the livestock market would see stability in prices during Eid Al-Adha. He said the decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to subsidize import of fodder by 50 percent would also help in bringing down the prices.
Al-Jabri asked all livestock traders to help in stabilizing prices of sheep and warned them against exploiting the occasion of Eid to make a quick profit.
He called for more support to livestock traders and said hikes in international prices of livestock and the rise in the rates of foreign currencies against the US dollar have contributed to the increase in the prices of livestock in the Kingdom.
Current efforts to stem piracy off Somali coast must be strengthened – UN official
Pirates off Somalia
It is vital that Member States strengthen efforts to tackle piracy off the Somali coast, a senior United Nations official stressed today, adding that current initiatives, while laudable, are insufficient.
Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told a meeting of the Security Council that the international community has responded with an “unprecedented” effort to counter piracy, including through a naval presence off the coast of Somalia which has resulted in the reduction of incidents of piracy at sea.
In addition, more and more pirates are being arrested and prosecuted, and information sharing and coordination have improved, he said, as he presented the annual report of the Secretary-General on piracy off the Somali coast.
“Despite these unprecedented efforts, attempts to stem pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa remain insufficient,” Mr. Zerihoun stated, adding that Somali pirates have expanded their operations well into the Indian Ocean.
According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 316 people and 15 vessels were being held hostage as of early October 2011.
Mr. Zerihoun noted that the pirates’ technical capacities have increased and they have become more violent. Many young Somalis continue to be willing to take the risk of becoming criminals at sea.
Another cause of concern is reports of links between pirates and the Islamist militant group in Somalia known as Al-Shabaab, according to the official. Somali piracy could also be inspiring attacks elsewhere on the world’s shipping lanes, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, he added.
“It is important that Member States and international actors redouble their efforts,” said Mr. Zerihoun.
The fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia can only be won through an integrated strategy that tackles deterrence, security, the rule of law and development, he noted, adding that counter-piracy efforts should be an integral element of the Somalia peace process.
He said it is also worth looking at interim objectives, including developing Somali capacity to deal with piracy on land and waters close to shore through the establishment of a coast guard.
“The Somali people, especially the youth, need greater incentives not to succumb to the lure of piracy. Economic rehabilitation and the creation of alternative livelihoods, especially the development and rehabilitation of coastal fisheries, must be at the centre of efforts to fight piracy. But as long as piracy is lucrative, alternate livelihood options will be a hard sale,” he stated.
Last week the Council adopted a resolution renewing its call for tougher anti-piracy measures in Somalia and the wider region, and urging all countries to adopt laws and cooperate with international organizations to accelerate the prosecution and punishment of piracy.
It also emphasized that the failure to prosecute persons responsible for piracy undermines the broader anti-piracy efforts of the international community, and stressed the need to establish specialized anti-piracy courts in Somalia and other countries in the region.
Somali rebels say Somali American carried out suicide blast
The Islamist militant group the Shabab releases a suicide message that it says the Somali-born American recorded before the attack on an African Union base in Mogadishu.
Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22, was among about 20 young Somali Americans from Minneapolis allegedly recruited since 2007 by the Shabab, a rebel group, to fight in Somalia. (FBI / October 31, 2011)
An Islamist group says an American militant of Somali origin carried out a suicide bombing against an African Union base on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in Mogadishu, and it released a suicide message that it says he recorded before the attack.
Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22, was among about 20 young Somali Americans from Minneapolis allegedly recruited since 2007 by the Shabab, a rebel group, to fight in Somalia.
In an audio clip aired Sunday on a Somali radio station associated with the Shabab, a voice attributed to Ali said in English that jihad, or holy war, was the most important objective for Muslims and urged them not to "just chill out all day."
"It is not important that you become a doctor or you become some sort of engineer."
The speaker also called for attacks on nations including the U.S.
"My brothers and sisters, do jihad in America, do jihad in Canada, do jihad in England, anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in China, in Australia, anywhere you find kafir [those who don't believe in Islam]. Fight them and be firm against them."
U.S. officials did not confirm claims of Ali's involvement in the bombing.
A Minneapolis news website, MinnPost.com, reported Monday that university friends of Ali did not believe the voice in the clip was his.
"That did not sound like Bullethead," the website quoted one friend as saying, using Ali's nickname.
Ali was one of 14 Americans indicted in 2010 on charges of supporting the Shabab, which is fighting the United Nations-backed Somali transitional federal government and has links with the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The Shabab is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Britain and other countries.
A suicide bombing in Somalia by an American raises fears of other recruits returning to the U.S. to carry out attacks or enlist more militants.
There have been at least two previous American suicide bombers in Somalia, Farah Mohamed Beledi, 27, who attacked a military base in May, killing three people, and Shirwa Ahmed, who left the U.S. in 2007 and targeted the Ethiopian Consulate in Hargeisa in 2008, killing more than 20 people.
Several other young Somali Americans from Minneapolis reportedly have been killed in fighting in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in recent years.
Another American who joined the Shabab, Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or Omar Hammami, of Alabama recorded a militant recruitment rap song and features heavily in the group's efforts to recruit Americans and other Westerners.
In 2009, he was featured in a Shabab recruitment video. Another video released that year featured two young men who identified themselves as Somali Americans.
The Shabab reportedly has more than 300 recruits from Britain, Sweden, Canada, Australia, the Middle East, South Asia, Kenya and elsewhere.
robyn.dixon@latimes.com
Source: The Los Angeles Times
Why capturing Kismayu could trigger proxy wars for Kenya
Army enters the third week of its military campaign in southern Somalia, the African Union peacekeeping force is upping its pressure on the Al Shabaab around the capital Mogadishu, with the plan of “bringing some order” to the war-ravaged country by the end of December.
In conversations with diplomats, government officials, and intelligence sources in the region, a clear picture has started emerging of a war that has been in the making over the past five years and one that could dramatically reorder the Somali state, and just possibly bring about the peace that has proved so elusive over the past two decades.
According to these sources, Kenya’s military offensive was timely, coming as it did when the Al Shabaab militants are at their weakest and at a time when there is convergence of opinion in the wider East African region about what to do about the crisis in Somalia.
However, a clearer strategy crafted by Somali leaders and regional players in the conflict is also emerging. The first step, the sources say, is to create three new “areas of influence” in the rest of Somalia, beside Somaliland and Puntland, which now function as independent territories.
These territories would provide a buffer zone for Kenya and Ethiopia.
Already, Ethiopia has created a buffer zone spanning Galgadud, Hiraan, Bay, Bakool and Gedo (See map above).
Kenya’s military ambition is to create a buffer zone spanning Gedo El Wak, Middle and Lower Juba regions.
Ultimately, these regions will be governed as semi-automous states at first that could one day form part of a strong united federal government of Somalia.
The second step after the fall of Kismayu would to be to hand over all “liberated” areas to Amisom.
This, according to diplomats, would mean that the UN Security Council would be forced to reconsider upgrading Amisom into a full-fledged mission with the recommended minimum troop level of 20,000 soldiers.
So far, Amisom has about 9,500 troops in and around Mogadishu — and only two East African Community countries, Burundi and Uganda, have contributed.
There are plans to add 3,000 soldiers, but no one has offered to pay for them. Both Uganda and Kenya have been calling on the Security Council to upgrade Amisom.
The third step down the road, is for Amisom to hand over a pacified Somalia to the UN.
“If Kenya and other regional players can stabilise Somalia a little,” Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya, Shemsudin Ahmed, told The East-African last Thursday, “it will require more, not less, support from the rest of Africa and the international community.
It would make sense to hand over to the UN at that point,” he said. Ethiopia supports the Kenyan invasion, which mirrors its strategy five years ago.
Ethiopia, which went to war without the support of the international community with the exception of America, learnt some hard lessons.
Ethiopia’s foray
After Ethiopia made its foray into Somalia in late 2006 to fight the Islamic Union Courts regime led, ironically, by the country’s current President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, to prop up the more internationally recognised Transitional Federal Government that was then hiding out in Baidoa, it withdrew just over two years later in the face of international criticism.
Ethiopia then focused on creating a “buffer” zone with Somalia along the common border. Amisom already controls the bulk of Mogadishu, and the plan is for it to also establish a sphere of influence in Middle and Lower Shabelle and the coastal area of Galgaduud.
Kenya would establish a sphere of influence in Lower Juba, Middle Juba, and Lower Gedo and, of course, gain access to the key port of Kismayu, which is also the economic lifeline and greatest strategic asset of Al Shabaab.
Managing victory
However, as Kenya’s military campaign in Somalia clocks two weeks, the major cause of concern among diplomats, military and intelligence experts is starting to turn from taking over the Port of Kismayu into how to manage victory.
With Amisom increasing pressure in Mogadishu and the Kenya Defence Force continuing its onslaught in the south, experts told The EastAfrican that the capability of Al Shabaab to continue fighting on multiple battlefronts will face a significant challenge.
“There is no doubt we shall get Al Shabaab out,” said a source within Amisom, “but the key problem for Kenya is management of victory.
The moment the city of Kismayu falls, who will control it? There is a major potential for conflict between Kenya and Ethiopia.”
This potential conflict is symbolised by two men who experts say are being fronted as potential leaders of Jubaland, the new semi-autonomous state Kenya wants to help establish.
One of the men is former Somali Defence minister and “president” of the Azania state, Mohamed Gandi, who is said to be favoured by the bosses of Kenya’s National Security Intelligence Service as well as the French.
Ethiopians are wary of Gandi because his clan, the Ogadeni, harbour territorial ambitions of one day creating a super-state carved out of southern Somalia, southern Ethiopia and a huge chunk of Kenya’s North Eastern Province.
Then there is Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Islam, known as Madobe, who is the leader of the Ras Kamboni Movement that is allied with the Transitional Federal Goverment. Madobe is favoured by the Kenya military establishment because he comes to the table as a commander with troops, while Gandi is a politician with good business connections.
Managing local politics in Kismayu could easily see Kenya getting sucked into proxy fights with regional powers such as Ethiopia and Eritrea that have traditionally characterised the conflict in Somalia.
There is also the risk of getting entangled in clan politics that could easily turn the groundswell of support for Kenya by ordinary Somalis as a liberator and turn it into a foreign occupier.
In order to walk the fine line between invader and liberator, the Kenyan military has been taking a very cautious approach of turning over towns that have been captured to the local communities through the Transitional National Government.
However, when it comes to the port of Kismayu, the situation might turn tricky fast.
Mr Ahmed however downplays the potential conflict with Kenya over the establishment of the governing authority in Jubaland, claiming that Ethiopia has a good working relationship with both Gandi and Madobe.
However, even the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
A few days after the Kenyan incursion, Sheik Sharif threw a spanner in the works when he opposed Kenya’s military campaign. Everyone seems to have been caught by surprise, and the Kenya government wrote to the TGF to demand an explanation.
There was speculation that Sharif was playing to the Somali nationalist gallery, privately supporting the Kenya action, but maintaining his national credibility by publicly opposing it.
There seemed to have been widespread agreement too that Sheik Sharif was wary that the Kenyans were going to instal a regional government dominated by the Ogadeni clan in Kismayu, and that this would only create a Jubaland or Azania state that would operate like Puntland or Somaliland, and entrench the partition of Somalia.
Ethiopian hand
Some commentators saw the secret hand of Ethiopia, which was alleged to fear that Kenya’s Ogadeni proxy, with the lucrative Kismayu port and its revenues in its control, would back the Ogadeni National Liberation Front (ONLF), which is seeking to break away from Ethiopia and join a dreamed of Greater Somalia.
However, Ethiopia’s ambassador Ahmed denies the latter, telling The EastAfrican that he and other mission officials in Nairobi “talk regularly to… Gandi, the Nairobi-based Ogadeni leader and governor-in-waiting, who is likely to take over in Kismayu.”
He also said the majority of the Ogadeni are in Ethiopia, and they are leading lights in the politics of Ethiopia’s Somali State.
However, diplomats close to Sharif said a Jubaland or Azania state is the least of his worries.
Rather, it is his view of the role of Al Shabaab and the period after the one-year extension of the TFG extension, that is influencing his remarks on the Kenya campaign.
As for Kampala, it was President Yoweri Museveni who managed to get Somali groups to agree to extend the term of the TFG, which was expiring in August, by a year.
The international community, which initially opposed the extension, were on the spot once the Somalis agreed. Besides Uganda, which has the bulk of the troops in Amisom, made the argument for extension to the international community primarily as something that the peacekeeping forces needed to consolidate the gains they and the TFG forces were making against Al Shabaab in the Mogadishu region.
Sharif, the diplomats say, is “happy to see the Shabaab expelled from Mogadishu. But he is not ready to see it defeated.”
This is because, they say, his plan was to use the Shabaab to continue his stay in power when the extension expires next year.
The plan, they say, would involve Al Shabaab calling for a ceasefire, then entering into talks with Sharif, on the basis of which a new transitional government with him at the head would be formed — and he would thus get another term without an election.
Sharif’s plan, if that is what it is, seems to be unravelling.
Al Shabaab has reportedly asked for a truce, although this must be seen as a move by the Somali and less hardline faction, not the foreign faction of the militant organisation, who want to preserve some of their spoils around Kismayu.
The one thing that all Ethiopian, Kenyan, Ugandan, Burundian and Amisom officials The EastAfrican spoke to seem to agree on, though, is that if Sharif or the TFG embrace the Shabaab, then it is over for him. He would likely be ousted from power in seconds.
Turkish connection
In the meantime, Sharif and other players in Somalia are moving away from their traditional friends and allies in the Middle East, toward Turkey.
Turkey’s role, diplomats say, is one of the factors that make this moment in Somalia ripe for peace.
Turkey is rising as the new Muslim power in the world, and unlike the theocracies in the Middle East, it is eager to showcase the “modern” face of Islam, to show that a country can be Muslim and be a democracy, with free markets, full rights for women, and play a role in the world without a persecution or victim complex.
Its involvement in Somalia would help more secular and moderate elements to rise.
Secondly, despite the continuing attacks in Somalia by unmanned US drones, this time it is the French who are playing a greater role in the Kenya campaign.
For starters, Gandi is seen as “France’s man.” He is one of the very few Somalis who speak fluent French and is married to a Frenchwoman. In the past nearly 10 years that he has lived in Nairobi, most of his costs have been paid for, a source told The EastAfrican, with “French money.”
France has assumed a very aggressive, and equally controversial role in Africa.
It was very forward in using its military to help rebels oust Laurent Gbagbo from power in Ivory Coast in April this year, after the strongman lost elections to rival current president Alassane Ouattara, but refused to hand over power, leading a resumption of civil war.
France also assumed a high profile in the Nato bombing of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s embattled regime, to aid the rebels of the National Transitional Council. Gaddafi was captured, and very quickly killed in a gruesome incident by rebels in his hometown and stronghold of Sirte, just over two weeks ago.
France now seems to have turned its attention to East Africa. President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first French leader of the past 20 years to bury with the hatchet with Rwanda’s ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front.
The RPF blames French forces who were in Rwanda for collusion with Hutu extremists in the 1994 genocide, in which nearly one million Rwandans, most of them Tutsi, were killed.
French authorities, on the other hand, had long blamed the RPF, alleging they shot down the plane carrying then Rwanda president Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi’s Cyprian Ntaryamira over Kigali in 1994, setting off the last deadly phase of the genocide.
Not only has Sarkozy visited Rwanda and extended an olive branch, but Kagame too went to Paris.
France is seen as more likely to be willing to soil its hands in Somalia than the Americans, who have preferred to use proxies and drones, since their invasion of Somalia in 1992 ended in disaster and humiliation.
This is particularly important for Kenya, as it will need someone who is willing to share the bill for what looks set to be a drawn-out and expensive campaign.
Source: The East African
Somalia one of five "worst places in the world for women"
Survey shows Congo, Pakistan and Somalia also fail females, with rape, poverty and infanticide rife
Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows.
The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely hazardous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking.
Others were less surprised to be on the list. Informed about her country's inclusion, Somalia's women's minister, Maryan Qasim, responded: "I thought Somalia would be first on the list, not fifth."
The survey has been compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman, aimed at providing free legal advice for women's groups around the world.
High maternal mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a "near total lack of economic rights" render Afghanistan such a threat to its female inhabitants. "Continuing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combine to make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.
"Women who do attempt to speak out or take on public roles that challenge ingrained gender stereotypes of what is acceptable for women to do or not, such as working as policewomen or news broadcasters, are often intimidated or killed."
The "staggering levels of sexual violence" in the lawless east of the DRC account for its second place in the list. One recent US study claimed that more than 400,000 women are raped there each year. The UN has called Congo the rape capital of the world.
"Rights activists say militia groups and soldiers target all ages, including girls as young as three and elderly women," the survey reports, "They are gang raped, raped with bayonets and some have guns shot into their vaginas."
Pakistan is ranked third on the basis of cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women. "These include acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse," the poll finds.
Divya Bajpai, reproductive health adviser at the International HIV/Aids Alliance, added: "Pakistan has some of the highest rates of dowry murder, so-called honour killings and early marriage." According to Pakistan's human rights commission, as many as 1,000 women and girls die in honour killings annually.
India is the fourth most dangerous country. "India's central bureau of investigation estimated that in 2009 about 90% of trafficking took place within the country and that there were some 3 million prostitutes, of which about 40% were children," the survey found.
Forced marriage and forced labour trafficking add to the dangers for women. "Up to 50 million girls are thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide,", the UN population fund says, because parents prefer to have young boys rather than girls.
Somalia, a state in political disintegration, suffers high levels of maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation and limited access to education and healthcare.
Qasim added: "The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50-50 because there is no antenatal care at all. There are no hospitals, no healthcare, no nothing.
"Add to that the rape cases that happen on a daily basis, and female genital mutilation being done to every single girl in Somalia. Add to that famine and drought. Add to that the fighting [which means] you can die any minute, any day."
Monique Villa, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "Hidden dangers – like a lack of education or terrible access to healthcare – are as deadly, if not more so, than physical dangers like rape and murder which usually grab the headlines.
"In Afghanistan, for instance, women have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. In the top five countries, basic human rights are systematically denied to women.
"Empowering women tackles the very roots of poverty. In the developing world when a woman works, her children are better fed and better educated because they spend their money for their family."
The survey was based on responses from more than 200 aid professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists chosen for their expertise in gender issues.
Each country was also ranked in terms of six risk factors including: health, discrimination and lack of access to resources, cultural and religious practices, sexual violence, human trafficking and conflict-related violence.
In terms of individual risk categories, Afghanistan was deemed to be the most dangerous for health, economic/discrimination and non-sexual violence; the Congo is most plagued by rape and sexual violence; and India has most problems with trafficking.
"You have to look at all the dangers to women, all the risks women and girls face," said Elisabeth Roesch, who works on gender-based violence for the International Rescue Committee in Washington.
"If a woman can't access healthcare because her healthcare isn't prioritised, that can be a very dangerous situation as well."
The TrustLaw website has been in existence for some time, linking up local NGOs and social entrepreneurs with established law firms who are prepared to offer legal advice on a pro-bono basis. The groups are vetted by Transparency International.
More than 450 law firms are already involved including some from China. Among those that have recently benefited have been the charity Riders for Health, which delivers medicine to remote villages, and reviewed its contracts in Nigeria.
Source: The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows.
The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely hazardous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking.
Others were less surprised to be on the list. Informed about her country's inclusion, Somalia's women's minister, Maryan Qasim, responded: "I thought Somalia would be first on the list, not fifth."
The survey has been compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman, aimed at providing free legal advice for women's groups around the world.
High maternal mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a "near total lack of economic rights" render Afghanistan such a threat to its female inhabitants. "Continuing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combine to make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.
"Women who do attempt to speak out or take on public roles that challenge ingrained gender stereotypes of what is acceptable for women to do or not, such as working as policewomen or news broadcasters, are often intimidated or killed."
The "staggering levels of sexual violence" in the lawless east of the DRC account for its second place in the list. One recent US study claimed that more than 400,000 women are raped there each year. The UN has called Congo the rape capital of the world.
"Rights activists say militia groups and soldiers target all ages, including girls as young as three and elderly women," the survey reports, "They are gang raped, raped with bayonets and some have guns shot into their vaginas."
Pakistan is ranked third on the basis of cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women. "These include acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse," the poll finds.
Divya Bajpai, reproductive health adviser at the International HIV/Aids Alliance, added: "Pakistan has some of the highest rates of dowry murder, so-called honour killings and early marriage." According to Pakistan's human rights commission, as many as 1,000 women and girls die in honour killings annually.
India is the fourth most dangerous country. "India's central bureau of investigation estimated that in 2009 about 90% of trafficking took place within the country and that there were some 3 million prostitutes, of which about 40% were children," the survey found.
Forced marriage and forced labour trafficking add to the dangers for women. "Up to 50 million girls are thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide,", the UN population fund says, because parents prefer to have young boys rather than girls.
Somalia, a state in political disintegration, suffers high levels of maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation and limited access to education and healthcare.
Qasim added: "The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50-50 because there is no antenatal care at all. There are no hospitals, no healthcare, no nothing.
"Add to that the rape cases that happen on a daily basis, and female genital mutilation being done to every single girl in Somalia. Add to that famine and drought. Add to that the fighting [which means] you can die any minute, any day."
Monique Villa, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "Hidden dangers – like a lack of education or terrible access to healthcare – are as deadly, if not more so, than physical dangers like rape and murder which usually grab the headlines.
"In Afghanistan, for instance, women have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. In the top five countries, basic human rights are systematically denied to women.
"Empowering women tackles the very roots of poverty. In the developing world when a woman works, her children are better fed and better educated because they spend their money for their family."
The survey was based on responses from more than 200 aid professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists chosen for their expertise in gender issues.
Each country was also ranked in terms of six risk factors including: health, discrimination and lack of access to resources, cultural and religious practices, sexual violence, human trafficking and conflict-related violence.
In terms of individual risk categories, Afghanistan was deemed to be the most dangerous for health, economic/discrimination and non-sexual violence; the Congo is most plagued by rape and sexual violence; and India has most problems with trafficking.
"You have to look at all the dangers to women, all the risks women and girls face," said Elisabeth Roesch, who works on gender-based violence for the International Rescue Committee in Washington.
"If a woman can't access healthcare because her healthcare isn't prioritised, that can be a very dangerous situation as well."
The TrustLaw website has been in existence for some time, linking up local NGOs and social entrepreneurs with established law firms who are prepared to offer legal advice on a pro-bono basis. The groups are vetted by Transparency International.
More than 450 law firms are already involved including some from China. Among those that have recently benefited have been the charity Riders for Health, which delivers medicine to remote villages, and reviewed its contracts in Nigeria.
Source: The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)