Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{A fire engulfed Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, choking a vital travel and trade gateway to east Africa, witnesses and officials said.}}

Firefighters struggled to contain the blaze at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, the region’s busiest, that started early in the morning in the immigration section of the departure lounge and spread to the international arrivals area, officials said.

Huge plumes of black smoke billowed from the airport buildings, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

“We are still fighting to contain the fire. Investigations will start immediately after,” Michael Kamau, cabinet secretary for transport, told reporters at the airport.

“The fire started at a very central part of the airport and this made access difficult. But we have closed the airport indefinitely as we try to contain the fire.”

Hundreds of passengers were stranded outside the airport, which was cordoned off to keep the public out.

“People should not come to the airport while this work is ongoing. No casualties have been reported and the fire fighters are doing a good job. Safety is paramount,” Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Joseph ole Lenku said, adding that security had been heightened at the airport after the fire started.

The fire comes less than 48 hours after a fuel jet pump failure caused huge delays at the airport.

Kenya Airways’, one of the leading airlines in the region which uses the airport as its main hub, said on its Twitter feed that it was diverting flights to Kenya’s port city of Mombasa and that transit passengers were being taken to hotels.

Other airlines are expected to divert flights to Mombasa and to neighboring countries including in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

{reuters}

{{Regional heads of state still want other African countries to contribute to the stabilization effort in Somalia under AMISOM.}}

Currently this role has been played by states under the regional grouping of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

The heads of state and government of the troop-contributing countries under AMISOM as well as Ethiopia and Somalia held a summit in Kampala Uganda between 1st and 4th August.

The presidential summit was preceded by the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Defence.

After the defeating Al-shabaab, the challenge is now on the Federal Government of Somalia’s ability to establish effective governance structures in the liberated territory.

Importantly, the summit stressed the need for a regional political process to support Somalia to secure Kismayo seaport and airport.

Somalia’s leaders have accused the Kenyan troops based in Kismayo of meddling in Somalia’s internal affairs, handpicking local leaders and engaging in the banned charcoal trade, which is a violation of the UN Security Council resolution.

But following the summit, Kismayo seaport and airport will be handed over to the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).

Also, Kismayo, the regional leaders decided, is going to be boosted by a multinational force of Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and the Somali National Army, to operate alongside the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF).

The leaders recognised that the Somali Federal Government should take the lead in promoting reconciliation, establishing local administrations appointing local leaders in the regions and ensuring balanced participation.

Also, the Somalia National Security Forces will recruit educated Somalis as officer corps, while training of noncommissioned officers has been shifted to Jazeera in Somalia.

There is also a plan to integrate all militias into the national army except those associated with Al Shabaab. Also, a reconciliation conference is set to be organized, which the process is to begin to establish governance structures in liberated territories.

Also, the emerging concern is that AMISOM forces have reached their operational limits and are unable to conduct further expansion operations.

The leaders want the UN Security Council to support AMISOM and the Somalia National Security Forces to enable them reorganize, restructure, increase their forces and mobilize logistical support in order to undertake further stabilization operations.

AMISOM is presently comprised of 6,000 Ugandan troops, 5,000 from Burundi, 4,000 Kenyans and 1,000 troops from Djibouti. There are also 850 troops from Sierra Leone, with police units from Nigeria and Uganda.

NV

{{Journalists in Tanzania face increasing threats and lack government protection, with at least ten attacks against the media in the past year, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.}}

“Despite Tanzania’s reputation for transparency and democracy, its citizens are being denied vital information,” the New York-based CPJ warned in a report criticising “a rise in anti-press attacks set against a backdrop of repressive laws.”

The CPJ documented 10 “serious anti-press attacks and threats” since September 2012.

Those include the killing of cameraman Daudi Mwangosi, hit by a tear-gas canister while covering demonstrations in September, and the severe beating of editor Absalom Kibanda in March, in which he was blinded in one eye and had part of his finger hacked off.

“The deterioration of press conditions has coincided with jitters among members of a ruling party unused to criticism and unaccustomed to political challenge,” said CPJ report author Tom Rhodes.

Tanzania’s ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM, Revolutionary Party) has been in power for decades.

There was no immediate response from the authorities.

“The government of Tanzania’s crackdown on freedom of the press and expression is a clear sign that it feels threatened ahead of the 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections,” Rhodes added.

The CPJ said that while Tanzania’s government has pledged to reform media laws, little has been put into practice.

{CapitalFM}

{{Islamist militants set off several explosions in the Somali capital on Sunday, their spokesman said, demonstrating the rebels’ ability to attack the heart of government-controlled areas despite security gains.}}

The guerilla-style attacks were typical of al Shabaab rebels who have waged a six-year campaign to impose their strict interpretation of Islamic law on the country.

The militants had fired five mortar shells and hurled several grenades, wounding at least two women, senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud said.

Somali security forces responded with volleys of gunfire, witnesses said. Casualty numbers were thought to be low.

“We started a massive military operation across Mogadishu at dusk. It will go on until tomorrow morning,” said rebel spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, promising more attacks over the next few days as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ends.

Al Shabaab said late last month the rise in coordinated attacks conducted by its fighters pointed to its enduring strength and at the time warned of more attacks in Ramadan.

The African Union peacekeeping force, known as AMISOM, has struggled to control areas won back from al Shabaab. The central government extends little influence beyond the capital where security has improved since peacekeepers flushed the militants out of their bases two years ago.

Uganda’s Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told leaders from troop contributing countries – including Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Djibouti and Sierra Leone – at a summit in Uganda on Sunday that AMISOM had been stretched to its operational limit. But a summit communique stopped short of calling for extra troops.

“I am afraid the remaining nights of Ramadan will be the worst for Mogadishu,” local elder Farah Bulle told media. “They have managed to indoctrinate many fighters to die in the holy month.”

The blasts came just as people broke the day’s Ramadan fast.

Agencies