Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{At least seven people have been killed in the latest fighting between rival Somali warlords battling for control of the southern port city of Kismayo, witnesses said Thursday.}}

Gunmen from the Ras Kamboni militia of former Islamist warlord Ahmed Madobe who last month appointed himself “president” of the southern Jubaland region battled against forces loyal to Bare Hirale, a former Somali defence minister who also leads a powerful militia army.

“Seven people, three of them civilians, were killed, and four others were injured,” said Ali Mohamed, a resident of Kismayo who saw the aftermath of one battle on Wednesday.”The tensions are still there,” Mohamed added.

Several rival factions claim ownership of Kismayo, a former stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab, where Kenyan troops in an African Union force are now based.

Kenyan troops, who invaded Somalia in 2011, back Madobe’s control of the strategic and economic hub, but neither the title of “president” nor the region of Jubaland is recognised by the weak central government in Mogadishu.

Kismayo was reported quiet on Thursday morning, but residents were nervous and said they feared further fighting.

“The fighting was very heavy on Wednesday, and so far we have not heard of any negotiations going on to end it,” said Idris Moalim Ali, another Kismayo resident.”We are worried about this conflict, several people died on Wednesday.”

Two days of heavy fighting earlier this month between Madobe’s forces and gunmen loyal to Iftin Hassan Basto, another leader claiming to be president left at least 31 dead and 38 wounded, according to the UN’s World Health Organisation.

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{{Kenya has been ranked top out of 40 countries in Africa in improving policies and institutions for growth and poverty reduction by the World Bank.}}

The country overall score stood at 3.9 in 2012 which was the highest among 40 states, and reflects an improvement over a score of 3.8 in 2011.

Kenya ties at the top with Cape Verde in Sub-Saharan Africa, on the latest World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), which rates the performance of poor countries.

In East African, Rwanda and Tanzania are also ranked highly, with CPIA scores of 3.8, while Uganda scored 3.7.

“The CPIA shows that Kenya’s overall economic environment has improved over the past three years due to better economic management and proactive policies that increase opportunities for Kenyans to enjoy higher growth with equity,” says Diarietou Gaye, World Bank Country Director for Kenya.

The challenge for Kenya now, she said, is to improve on other critical areas like the business regulatory environment and governance, which have led to missed opportunities for Kenya’s economic transformation and its progress towards middle income status.

The CPIA examines 16 key development indicators covering four areas of economic management, structural reforms, policies for social inclusion and equity and public sector management and institutions.

Countries are rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) for each indicator.
The key gains for Kenya included strong monetary response in 2012, which enabled it to reduce inflation to 9.6%, from 14% in 2011, and a stable exchange rate.

Moreover, the government has maintained fiscal discipline even in the face of recent economic shocks and budgetary pressures including spending on elections and security operations in Somalia.

As a result, public debt as a share of Gross Domestic Product has declined to below 45%.

But, there is increasing concern about investment climate reforms, which are essential for private-sector led growth and job creation.

Since 2008, Kenya has gradually declined from a top performer in the doing business indicators, dropping from a global rank of 78 then to 121 in the 2013 rankings.

The general outlook for all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa shows an overall stable environment for growth and poverty reduction despite divergence in key policy indicators across countries.

Since 1980, CPIA ratings have been used to determine countries’ allocation of zero-interest financing under the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s fund for the world’s poorest countries.

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A new report has given Africa a thumbs up for making great strides towards achieving of some Millennium Development Goals as the 2015 comes closer.

The MDG African Progress Reports shows that the continent is on track towards achieving universal primary education, global partnership for development, promoting gender parity and empowering women and combating Hiv/Aids, TB, malaria and other diseases, which are listed as MDGs 2, 8, 3 and 6 respectively.

However, the report says the continent is still grappling with MDGs 1, 4, 5, and 7, — poverty and hunger eradication, reduction of child mortality, improved maternal health and ensuring environmental sustainability respectively.

Globally in 2012, 15 of the 20 countries that made great progress on the MDGs were in Africa.

In Africa, the report says, Benin, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Malawi and Rwanda are making impressive progress on a number of goals.

Rwanda leads the pack in East Africa, with the report indicating that the country is on track towards achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and women empowerment, reduction of child mortality, improving maternal health and spearheading global partnership for development.

Rwanda is the only country in East Africa that has registered success in empowering women after introducing a 30 per cent quota for female Members of Parliament in 2003. The country now has the biggest participation of women in parliament in the world, with around 56 per cent of Members of Parliament being women.

Tanzania is also on track towards achieving universal primary education while Kenya and Uganda scored highly in a global partnership for development MDG.

However, while Africa is the world’s second fastest growing region, the rate of poverty reduction is insufficient to reach the target of reducing extreme poverty by half in 2015.

The report, jointly funded by the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank, shows that extreme poverty has declined faster since 2005 than in the period between 1990 and 2005.

However, the report added that the pace is not fast enough to reach the target by 2015.

“The proportion of people living in extreme poverty in Southern, East, Central and West Africa as a group fell from 56.5 per cent in 1990 to 48.5 per cent in 2010; about 20.25 percentage points off the 2015 target compared with just 4.1 points for South Asia,” says the report.

Africa’s sluggish poverty reduction, the report says, is due to its lower economic growth.

Goal 1 aims to reduce poverty and hunger and increase gainful employment. Poverty in Africa exists predominantly in rural areas, where it is estimated to be at least three times higher than in urban areas in several countries.

{{The United States ambassador at the United Nations Susan Rice vowed today to continue having north and south Sudan as priority in her new role as president Obama’s National Security adviser .}}

Rice, who will assume her new post next week, said that improved relations with Khartoum is contingent upon the latter “meeting the most fundamental obligations to its own people”.

The U.S. official also noted the suspension of an invitation extended to Sudan’s presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as announced last week by Washington.

“[W]hat we have seen tragically in Darfur and more recently in the Two Areas [Blue Nile & South Kordofan]—and now with Sudan’s violation of the September 27th Agreement with South Sudan reflected in their decision to suspend oil flows, which are not meant to be suspended under the September 27th Agreement but only for technical reasons, not for political reasons—is discouraging and has certainly shaded our view of the timeliness of such an encounter [with Nafie]” Rice said in a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.

“We remain in communication with the leadership in Khartoum. We will continue to do so. But there are important steps that the United States feels ought to be taken to protect the people of Sudan, which is the responsibility of the government, and those have always been central to our interest in and ability to make meaningful progress in improving the relationship,” she added.

The invitation by Washington to Nafie, who is also the ruling party’s vice chairman, sparked outrage among lawmakers and activists alike.

But the U.S. administration defended the move saying while it is aware about Nafie’s past, it needs to open lines of communication with senior government officials in Khartoum with the exception of those indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The invitation was revoked however, following Sudan’s decision to shut down the pipelines that transport the oil produced in landlocked South Sudan to export terminals in Port Sudan for it to reach international markets.

Khartoum claimed that Juba continues to aid rebels who have recently stepped up their military offensive in South Kordofan, Darfur and even launched a daring attack on North Kordofan’s second largest town of Um Rawaba.

The Sudanese government downplayed Washington’s decision saying that they were not the ones who asked for the invitation.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since the 90’s after Sudan was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in 1993 for harbouring “international terrorists”. It has hosted prominent militants including Osama bin Laden and Carlos the Jackal.

Then-president Bill Clinton imposed the embargo in 1997 over Sudan’s alleged support for international terrorism, efforts to destabilize neighboring governments, and human rights violations.

Sudanese officials frequently voice frustration over what they say is U.S. backtracking on promises to lift sanctions despite cooperation on combating terrorism and allowing South Sudan to peacefully secede in July 2011.

But the U.S. asserts that conflicts in Abyei, Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan have prevented any move to normalize ties.

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{{East African leaders have agreed to develop Kenya-Uganda-Rwanda oil pipeline from Lamu Port, dropping the longer and expensive Mombasa or Dar-es-Salaam route.}}

In a memorandum of understanding read by Uganda’s Foreign Affairs minister, Sam Kutesa, after the meeting between Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) and Paul Kagame (Rwanda) on Tuesday, he said the pipeline would be extended to Rwanda.

“It was agreed that we develop two oil pipelines, one pipeline that currently exists and brings products from Mombsa to Eldoret should be extended to Kampala and Rwanda.

That pipeline will be configured such that it has to have a reverse mechanism so that when we have our own finished products it can pump those products backwards,” read the memorandum.

“Another pipeline will be constructed and will be for evacuation of crude oil when it starts flowing and this again will be done between Uganda, South Sudan and Kenya, ending up at the port of Lamu,” he said.

Mr Kutesa also said the three countries have agreed to mobilise resources to construct a railway line from Kenya through Uganda to Rwanda.

“It was agreed to revamp the exiting railway network and also construct a standard gauge railway line in Kenya and Uganda and also extend it to Rwanda,” he said. “They also agreed that they would work together to mobilise resources for it.”

This, according to President Museveni would reduce transport costs of goods from Mombasa to Uganda and Rwanda.

When asked why Tanzania and Burundi, the other two members of the community had not attended the meeting, President Museveni said: “Even if you are two or three, you still talk about EAC issues.”

Each country was given specific tasks as a move to follow up and achieve the proposed economic projects.

Rwanda is supposed to fast track the implementation of one East African Identity Card and single tourism visa.

Uganda will spear head the construction of the railway and the oil pipeline refinery while Kenya oversee the construction of the oil pipeline.

Mr Kutesa said the three heads of state agreed to meet every two months to assess the progress of these massive economic proposals.

When asked whether he would go to International Criminal Court for trial, President Kenyatta said he was not in Kampala to discuss ICC.

President Museveni also refused to comment on the visit of President Barrack Obama to Africa.

“Obama was not part of our programme,” he said.

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{{Despite the recent insecurity incidents that have hit various parts of the country, Tanzania has continued to perform relatively well in this year’s Global Peace Index (GPI).}}

As per the current GPI ranking, which is prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Tanzania is placed at number 55 out of 162 countries surveyed.

This indicates that Tanzania is among the moderately peaceful countries, putting it ahead of its counterparts in East Africa.

The GPI ranks Burundi at number 144, thus making it the most unsafe country in the East African economic zone.

However, commentators were quick to point out the fact that the report, resulting from a survey conducted last year, could have overlooked some key factors that have caused disruption of peace.

There have been two incidents of bomb attacks, both in Arusha, that killed seven people in total and injured over 100 others.

Widespread riots disrupted businesses in Mtwara and Lindi regions, as residents protested the construction of the gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam.

{{South Sudan’s army has detained some 130 civilians without charges in a central state since February, beating some of them severely, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.}}

Rights groups accuse South Sudan’s army and security forces, a loose umbrella of former guerillas from decades of civil war with Khartoum, of committing abuses.

HRW said the governor of Lakes state had ordered the army in February to detain 50 people each from two villages which had been locked in tribal fighting.

“Soldiers rounded up dozens of young men, often detaining others if they couldn’t find the suspects they were seeking, and held them in harsh conditions for weeks or months,” HRW said, citing witnesses. “At least some were severely beaten.”

The government, which could not be immediately reached for comment, regularly denies charges of human rights abuses.

Authorities have struggled to set up functioning state institutions since winning independence from Sudan in 2011 under a peace deal ending one of Africa’s longest civil wars.

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