Somali president signs anti-corruption law

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2019

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed came into office in 2017 vowing
to combat corruption which permeates evert aspect of life (AFP Photo/Michele Spatari)

Mogadishu (AFP) - Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Saturday signed an anti-graft bill into law, a long-awaited piece of legislation in one of the world's most corrupt nations.

The president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, came into office in 2017 vowing to combat the scourge which permeates evert aspect of life.

The new law will pave the way for the formation of independent anti-corruption commissions both on the federal and regional level, according to a statement from the president's office.

"Corruption is worse than cancer because cancer kills only the individual, but corruption kills the whole society. I hope those who will be selected to be members of the committees will be decent, religious and patriotic," the president said in a statement released Saturday after the signature.

In 2018, Somalia fell in last place in Transparency International's perception of corruption index, and graft has hampered efforts to rebuild the nation after decades of chaos including civil war and an Islamist insurgency.

Farmajo's government is keen to improve its image and win the confidence of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in a bid to secure formal debt relief.

"Good governance is the responsibility of the government and we are mandated to improve the different levels of the government. It is true that all cannot be corrected at once since the country was in chaos for so long, and that chaos created bad cultures in our society."

UN lifts sanctions on Eritrea

Yahoo – AFP, Carole LANDRY, November 14, 2018

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (L), Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (C)
and Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed met in northern Ethiopia to
push for regional economic development (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Eritrea following a landmark peace deal with Ethiopia and a thaw with Djibouti that have buoyed hopes for positive change in the Horn of Africa.

The council unanimously adopted a British-drafted resolution lifting the arms embargo, all travel bans, asset freezes and targeted sanctions against Eritrea.

Eritrea and Ethiopia hailed the decision as a boost for regional stability, four months after the two countries signed a peace deal that ended two decades of hostility and led to friendlier relations with Djibouti.

Addressing the council after the vote, Eritrea's Charge D'affaires Amanuel Giorgio said his government had long considered the sanctions "unwarranted" and declared: "the long overdue call for justice is finally answered."

Eritrea "is determined to redouble its own efforts and work closely with its neighbors to build a region at peace with itself," said Giorgio.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement that "the lifting of sanctions will have far-reaching effects in improving the stability of the Horn of Africa" and normalizing relations.

The council slapped sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 for its alleged support of Al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, a claim Asmara has long denied.

The resolution acknowledged that UN monitors have "not found conclusive evidence that Eritrea supports Al-Shabaab" and declared that the sanctions and arms embargo ended with the adoption of the measure.

"The current developments will have, definitely, ripple effects in terms of economic progress, prosperity as well as human rights," Ethiopian Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie told reporters.

UN officials have reported serious abuses by the Eritrean government that have triggered a major exodus of Eritreans from their country.

UN keeps eye on Djibouti

Ethiopia and Somalia strongly supported calls to end sanctions, and negotiations over the past two weeks focused on addressing concerns about Djibouti.

The resolution calls on Eritrea and Djibouti to press on with efforts to settle a 2008 border dispute and asks Asmara to release information concerning Djiboutian soldiers missing in clashes a decade ago.

At France's request, the council will hear a report every six months on Eritrea's efforts to normalize relations with Djibouti, where France, the United States and China all have military bases.

Djibouti is asking the United Nations to help broker a final settlement with Eritrea to agree on land and maritime boundaries and resolve a dispute over the Doumeira Island, Ambassador Mohamed Siad Doualeh told the council.

The fate of 13 remaining Djiboutian prisoners in Eritrean custody must be addressed, he added.

Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, and war broke out later that decade over a border dispute.

A 2002 UN-backed boundary demarcation was meant to settle the dispute for good, but Ethiopia refused to abide by it.

A turnaround began in June when Ethiopia announced it would hand back to Eritrea disputed areas including the flashpoint town of Badme, where the first shots of the border war were fired.

Somalia, Eritrea agree to establish diplomatic ties

Yahoo – AFP, 30 July 2018

Time to celebrate: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, left, and Eritrean President
Isaias Afwerki reopened the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa on July 16

The presidents of Somalia and Eritrea on Monday signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties after over a decade of animosity, in the latest fast-track rapprochement in the Horn of Africa.

"The two countries will establish diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors," said a "joint declaration on brotherly relations" signed in Asmara by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Somali counterpart Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

Mohamed's three-day visit to Asmara coincides with an extraordinary peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia -- part of dizzying change in a region burdened by war, proxy conflicts, isolation and iron-fisted rule.

Once close, Somalia and Eritrea fell out over a decade ago as Asmara stood accused of backing Islamist militants on Somali soil in a proxy war with Ethiopia.

Eritrea long denied this, but was slapped with UN sanctions over its alleged backing of Al-Shabaab in 2009.

"Eritrea strongly supports the political independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia as well as the efforts of the people and government of Somalia to restore the country’s rightful stature and achieve the lofty aspirations of its people," read the declaration.

The document, posted on Eritrea's information ministry website, also said the two nations "will endeavor to forge intimate political, economic, social, cultural as well as defense and security cooperation."

They will in addition "work in unison to foster regional peace, stability and economic integration."

Somalia housing boom as Mogadishu emerges from ashes of war

Yahoo – AFP, January 3, 2016

New housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as diaspora
Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalise on the relative
peace in Mogadishu (AFP Photo/Mohamed Abdiwahab)

Mogadishu (AFP) - Somalia's elegant colonial villas were left in ruins by two decades of street fighting among warlords, and the seaside capital Mogadishu was dubbed the most dangerous city in the world.

But now new housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as diaspora Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalise on the relative peace in the city.

Some seven kilometres (four miles) outside Mogadishu in a formerly largely rural area, new homes are springing up, with almost 50 houses now ready on an estate, builders say.

Those returning to Somalia -- including

 investors wanting to start new business 

in the their homeland -- say the Daru 

Salaam estate offers them a more secure

 place to live (AFP Photo/Mohamed 

Abdiwahab)

Mohamed Abdullahi Ali, from Salaam Somali Bank, said it was a "great honour" to back the estimated $20 million (18 million euro) project.

Construction began in early 2015 and the project was touted as offering commercial returns and helping rebuild the nation.

"It is a new neighbourhood for all Somalis to buy affordable homes, by leaving the densely populated neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, and to come and stay with families here," Ali said.

"According to our plan, we are going to build 500 homes that can cover the residential needs for 500 families in the first stage, and then will construct more houses."

Different vision of Mogadishu

Tens of thousands forced to flee their homes still live in plastic and rag shelters in the capital, sometimes in the ruins of war-shattered buildings, and more than a million people are still in need of emergency aid in a country ravaged by famine in 2011, the United Nations says.

Car bombs and assassinations are still common, and a 22,000-strong African Union force fights alongside the army to protect the internationally-backed government from attacks by the Islamist Shebab insurgents.

The streets in the new estate offer a very different vision of Mogadishu.

Those returning to Somalia -- including investors wanting to start new business in the their homeland -- say the Daru Salaam estate offers them a more secure place to live.

Somali security forces arrive to the site

 of a bomb blast near Makka al-Mukarama 

Road in the Somali capital Mogadishu 

on December 19, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Mohamed Abdiwahab)

"I came back to this city to buy a new home in Daru Salaam neighbourhood... the houses are well built," said Abdiqadar Jimale Roble, 34, who grew up in Sweden from the age of 12 after Somalia spiralled into civil war in the early 1990s.

"I have been out of Somalia for long time but I came back because everybody needs his country -- and the country is making much progress," Roble added.

"I had to take part in that progress, and everybody should have a house in his country."

For those returning with dollars earned abroad, the estate reflects the possible profits to be made even in a still dangerous country.

'Humanitarian needs remain vast'

Sadia Sheikh Ahmed, who also grew up in Sweden after fleeing Somalia, said she had helped her relatives abroad snap up property.

"Initially we wanted to buy two houses, but now we and our relatives have bought eight homes, scheduled to be completed soon," she said.

A two-storey house can cost some $130,000, while a more simple bungalow comes in at around $70,000.

Those are hefty sums in one of the poorest countries in the world, with a gross domestic product per capita of just $284, according to the World Bank, against a sub-Saharan Africa average of $1,300.

Development indicators are "among the lowest in the world", the World Bank says, noting the Horn of Africa nation is "heavily dependent" on aid and remittances.

Migrants from Somalia stand behind a

 fence outside a temporary housing facility

 for migrants located in a former Olympic 

hall in Faliro suburb of Athens, on 

December 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/Angelos 

Tzortzinis)

Over 308,000 children are acutely malnourished, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"After more than two decades of violence and political instability, Somalia is on a positive trajectory," OCHA said, while warning the "promising trend" takes place amid a "precarious" humanitarian and security situation.

"Humanitarian needs remain vast and Somalia's humanitarian crisis remains among the largest and most complex in the world," OCHA added.

But the estate is symbolic of the possible changes in Mogadishu.

"The security here is very good and there have been no problems," said Fuad Ahmed Warsame, marketing director of Daru Salaam Real Estate, which is building the new neighbourhood -- meaning "house of peace."

The company is headquartered in central Mogadishu's famous Bakara Market, the city's commercial heart, once infamous as the 1993 battle when fighters shot down two American Black Hawk helicopters. The bullet scars there have long been covered up with business booming.

John Kerry makes historic trip to Somalia

The US Secretary of State has arrived in Mogadishu, the first ever to do so. Kerry hailed the progress made against al-Shabab, but did not venture further than the airport amidst security concerns.

Deutsche Welle, 5 May 2015

In a show of solidarity with a Somalia that is "turning around" in the fight against al Qaeda-linked militants after decades of war, US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Somalia on Tuesday, a historical first.

The US has assisted the Somali government by carrying out drone strikes against the al-Shabab jihadists, but Kerry's trip is the highest-level visit from the US since the 'Black Hawk Down' incident in 1993 that left 18 Americans dead. Indeed, although Kerry praised the progress Mogadishu has made, the fact that his entire trip took place at the airport highlighted just how unstable thenation remains.

Indeed, the secretary of state spent only three hours at Mogadishu before flying off to Kenya.

"The next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown," Kerry said to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Downtown, the president answered, "is very different now."

Turning the tide against the terrorists

The terrorist activity has left Somalia without a government that can operate nationwide for two and a half decades. However, African forces combined with American airstrikes have crippled the al-Shabab leadership in recent years, their territory has been drastically reduced and their cash flow hindered.

"Over the past quarter century, you have known immense suffering from violence, from criminals, from sectarian strife, from dire shortages of food, and from an inability to remain safely even within your villages and homes," Kerry said in his address, adding "I visited Somalia today because your country is turning around."

The push back against al-Shabab has however also had the negative consequence of causing the terrorists to expand their efforts in neighboring countries such as Kenya. Last month, a massacre at Kenya's Garissa University College killed 148 people, mostly students.

es/jil (AP, AFP, dpa)

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Anger in Somali capital at Kenya cash transfer freezes

Yahoo – AFP, 9 April 2015

With no formal banking system in the impoverished country, diaspora Somalis

 use money transfer services to send cash back home to support their families,

 sending some $1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros) each year, dwarfing foreign aid

 (AFP Photo/Mohamed Abdiwahab)

Mogadishu (AFP) - Residents of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday condemned as "collective punishment" Kenya's shutting down of money transfer services to the country over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.

Kenya on Wednesday froze key transfer companies vital for impoverished Somalia, as part of a crackdown on alleged Shebab supporters following the university massacre of almost 150 people by the Islamists last week.

"It is a bad decision that collectively punishes the Somali people," said Abdisalim Mohamed, a resident in Mogadishu.

Kenyan soldiers question people at

 the front entrance of Moi University in

 Garissa on April 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Carl De Souza)

"It is already affecting me directly, because I cannot get money and help from my daughter, who has a business in Kenya."

With no formal banking system in the impoverished country, diaspora Somalis use money transfer services to send cash back home to support their families, sending some $1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros) each year, dwarfing foreign aid.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday warned Shebab fighters his government would respond to the killing of 148 people at the university in Garissa in the "severest way" possible, with warplanes on Monday attacking Islamist bases in southern Somalia.

But Kenyatta also warned that the masterminds behind last Thursday's attack were inside Kenya, not Somalia.

Somalis, like Kenyans, are struggling to combat the Shebab -- and now they say Nairobi's decision is harming them.

"It is sad that the same people who are victims of Al-Shebab here, are also being punished because of Shebab," said Samira Hussein, a mother of five who works in Somalia, but whose husband and children are in Kenya.

Kenya's police on Wednesday issued a list of 85 people and businesses with suspected links to the Shebab, with the top name alleged Islamist commander Mohamed Mohamud, a Kenyan said to be the mastermind behind the university massacre in Garissa.

But the list also included money transfer companies, including Dahabshiil, one of the most important transfer companies across the wider Horn of Africa region.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud this week said "remittances are a critical lifeline to millions in poverty."

'Devastating consequences'

The Shebab fled their power base in Somalia's capital Mogadishu in 2011, and continue to battle the AU force, AMISOM, sent to drive them out that includes troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

The group has warned of further revenge attacks in neighbouring countries, notably Kenya and Uganda, in response to their participation in the AU force.

"It would better for Somalis that Kenya pulls its troops out of Somalia than stop remittances," said Mogadishu resident Ahmed Moalim Dahir.

The restrictions are also hampering business transactions.

Abdullahi Ahmed, who works for an international aid agency in Mogadishu, said that if Kenya maintains the ban -- currently blocking him from receiving his salary from Nairobi -- organisations and businesses would be forced to shift operations elsewhere.

"It will hit Kenya economically, because organisations will move to another country, like Djibouti," Ahmed said.

Banks in the United States and Europe have previously also moved to shut the transfer services, with aid agencies warning of "devastating consequences" from those measures.

A hard-line Islamist fighter stands guard as hundreds of residents watch

 amputation punishment carried out publicly by the Shebab group on

September 9, 2009 (AFP Photo/Mustafa Abdi)

"Hundreds of people are showing up here to get money from relatives, but after the Kenyan decision, people have to look for alternatives," said Mohamed Jamal, working in a Dahabshiil office in Mogadishu.

Somalia has been unstable since the collapse of Siad Barre's hardline regime in 1991, with the country's internationally-backed government, along with African Union forces, currently battling the Shebab.

Stopping remittances "would only compound the misery of a population cowed by terrorism," President Mohamud added.

But it is not only in Mogadishu the impact is already being felt.

In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, those in the largely ethnic Somali district of Eastleigh said the move had sparked frustration, with people arguing that those wanting to send cash to support the Shebab would still find easy ways to do so illegally.

"Closing the remittance companies was a bad idea - and it has nothing to do with security measures," businessman Mohamed Khalil said. "What the government should do is focus on intelligence based information."

Kenya Names Law Graduate as Gunman in Student Massacre

Jakarta Globe, AFP, Apr 06, 2015

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, left, flanked by his Deputy William Ruto,
 addresses a news conference at the State House in the capital Nairobi
on April 4, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Thomas Mukoya)

Nairobi, Kenya. Kenyan authorities have named one of the gunmen who killed 148 people in a university massacre as an ethnic Somali Kenyan national and law graduate, highlighting the al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab’s ability to recruit within the country.

Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said high-flying Abdirahim Abdullahi was “a university of Nairobi law graduate and described by a person who knows him well as a brilliant upcoming lawyer”.

The spokesman said Abdullahi’s father, a local official in the northeastern county of Mandera, had “reported to the authorities that his son had gone missing and suspected the boy had gone to Somalia”.

Describing Abdullahi as an A-grade student, Njoka said it was “critical that parents whose children go missing or show tendencies of having been exposed to violent extremism report to authorities”.

Kenya entered the second of three days of national mourning on Monday for those killed in last week’s massacre, the vast majority of whom were students.

Hundreds had packed Nairobi’s Anglican cathedral on Sunday, where Archbishop Eliud Wabukala said Easter services were overshadowed by “great and terrible evil” as police patrolled outside.

“These terrorists want to cause divisions in our society, but we shall tell them, ‘You will never prevail’,” the archbishop said.

Somalia’s Shabaab militants attacked the university in the northeastern town of Garissa at dawn on Thursday, lining up non-Muslim students for execution in what President Uhuru Kenyatta described as a “barbaric medieval slaughter”.

Although Kenyatta has vowed to retaliate “in the severest way possible”, there have also been calls for national unity.

He said people’s “justified anger” should not lead to “the victimization of anyone” — a clear reference to Kenya’s large Muslim and Somali minorities in a country where 80 percent of the population is Christian.

‘Kenya is at war’

The massacre, Kenya’s deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.

Top Muslim and Christian leaders also offered their condolences.

“Kenya is at war, and we must all stand together,” said Hassan Ole Naado, the deputy head of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, saying the organization was helping to raise money for the funerals of those killed and the medical costs of the scores of wounded.

“We deeply feel the pain of the loss of young lives,” he added in a statement, warning that the Shabaab was aiming to “create religious conflict”.

Pope Francis called the killings “senseless brutality”, while the Cairo-based top Sunni Muslim body Al-Azhar has condemned the “terrorist act committed by Somalia’s Shebab”.

On Saturday, Shabaab warned of a “long, gruesome war” unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia, and threatened “another bloodbath”.

Hours after the Shabaab’s warning, police in Garissa paraded four corpses of the gunmen piled on top of each other face down in the back of a pick-up truck.

Five men have also been arrested in connection with the attack, including three “coordinators” captured as they fled towards Somalia, and two others in the university.

The two arrested on campus included a security guard and a Tanzanian found “hiding in the ceiling” and holding grenades, the interior ministry said.

A $215,000 bounty has also been offered for alleged Shabaab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher said to be the mastermind behind the attack.

The Shabaab fled their power base Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in 2011, and continue to battle an African Union force, AMISOM, sent to drive them out that includes troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

The group has carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighboring countries, notably Kenya and Uganda, in response to their participation in the AU force.

Shabaab fighters also carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013, a four-day siege which left at least 67 people dead.

Security forces criticized

Forensic investigators aided by foreign experts continued to scour the site, where one student survivor emerged unharmed from a wardrobe Saturday where she had hidden for over two days.

The remaining 600 traumatized student survivors from the now-closed college have since left Garissa, boarding buses for their home towns.

Over 200 family members of those killed continue their agonizing wait for the remains of their loved ones at the main mortuary in Nairobi.

One of them was 50-year-old Abraham Koech, who last heard from his daughter when she called him on Thursday saying, “Terrorists have come and I’m hiding under the bed.”

Koech said identification of corpses was difficult because the “bullets have deformed the heads” of the victims.

There has been growing criticism in the media that critical intelligence warnings were missed, and that special forces units took seven hours to reach the university, some 365 kilometers from the capital.

Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed defended the response, telling AFP that “fighting terrorism … is like being a goalkeeper. You have 100 saves, and nobody remembers them. They remember that one that went past you.”

Agence France-Presse

Pope hails Iran accord, urges end to 'absurd violence' in Easter message

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 5 April 2015

Pope Francis speaks from the central loggia of St Peters' basilica during the

 "Urbi et Orbi" blessing for Rome and the world following the Easter Mass in the

Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis appealed Sunday for an end to "absurd violence" in hotspots around the world and said the international community must not stand by in the face of the "immense humanitarian tragedy" in Syria and Iraq.

In his traditional Easter message, the 78-year-old pontiff said he was praying for those killed in armed conflict, including the students massacred by Somali gunmen at a university in Kenya.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims huddled under a sea of umbrellas in a rain-soaked St Peter's Square to hear the pope deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and World) blessing, broadcast live to dozens of countries.

Pope Francis greets the crowd from the

 popemobile after the Easter Mass at

 St Peter's square in the Vatican on

April 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

In his third Easter message since his election as pope in 2013, the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics prayed "for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease".

He called on the international community to "not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees" created by the two conflicts.

He also prayed for the victims of Thursday's attack in Kenya that left 148 people dead, with survivors sayng the militants spared Muslim students but taunted Christian and Jewish students before killing them.

"I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya," he said.

Earlier Francis greeted pilgrims personally as he rode through the flower-bedecked square aboard his open Popemobile after presiding over Easter mass.

The most important and joyous moment of the Catholic calendar, Easter celebrates the day when Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.

Pope Francis greets the crowd from 

the popemobile after the Easter Mass 

at the Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Speaking from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, Francis also said the framework nuclear accord reached Thursday between Iran and six major world powers inspired hope for "a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world".

The Argentine pope pleaded for "absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence" in Libya to be halted, and voiced his "desire for peace, for the good of the entire people" in war-battered Yemen and Ukraine.

Without referring to a particular hotspot, Francis said: "Those who bear within them God's power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence."

Be 'respectful, ready to help'

He prayed for "all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones" in armed conflict and attacks by extremists in Nigeria and South Sudan as well as parts of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition, he urged "peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups (and) for the victims of drug dealers... And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers."

Pope Francis greets the crowd from

 the popemobile after the Easter Mass

 at the Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Francis also sounded his trademark appeal to the rich and powerful to care for the world's poor and downtrodden, saying: "The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete."

Instead, Christians should "seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help," he said.

Sunday's Easter observances capped a long and demanding Holy Week that left Francis at times appearing tired.

On Friday he presided over the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession at Rome's Colosseum evoking the last hours of Jesus's life.

The day before Francis celebrated two masses -- one for priests, and the other at Rome's Rebibbia prison, where he washed the feet of 10 inmates symbolically evoking Christ's humility -- a theme he took up again on Sunday.

"To enter into the mystery, we need to 'bend down', to abase ourselves," Francis said.

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Death toll in Kenya university attack approaches 150

The death toll from the attack on a university has again risen dramatically. Officials now put the number of students killed at almost 150. An operation against the militants was said to have come to an end.

Deutsche Welle, 2 April 2015

The death toll from the attack on a university has again risen dramatically. Officials now put the number of students killed at almost 150 with many more wounded.

Kenya's national disaster response agency announced via its Twitter account on Thursday that the number of people killed in the attack on Garissa University College, which began more than 12 hours earlier had risen to 147.

UPDATE: 147 fatalities confirmed in the Garissa Attack. Plans are underway to evacuate students and other affected persons.
— Disaster Operations (@NDOCKenya) 2 april 2015

In a previous tweet, the agency said that the siege had now ended and that security forces had killed all four gunmen involved in the attack. It also said that plans were underway to evacuate students and other affected persons.

Earlier, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery and the national police chief, Joseph Boinet held a press conference in Garissa, with Nkaissery putting the death toll at just 70, with around 80 wounded.

Boinet also announced that the authorities had imposed a dusk to dawn curfew for Garissa as well as the nearby counties of Wajir, Tana River and Mandera, each of which is located near the Somali border, as a security precaution.

Fast-track for 10,000 new police recruits

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a few hours earlier that he had instructed Chief Boinet to fast-track the recruitment and training of 10,000 new police officers. Speaking in a nationally televised address, President Kenyatta said that Kenya had "suffered unnecessarily due to shortage of security personnel."

The Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Al-Shabab has pledged to punish Kenya for contributing troops to an African Union force fighting the militants in Somalia. The Islamist group also claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013.

pfd/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Midwives at China-built hospital bring solace to Somali women

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-16

The Banadir Hospital. (Internet photo)

When China constructed the maternity wing of Somalia's biggest public referral hospital four decades ago, little did they know that this department would stand to be the source of hope for Somali mothers.

The dream of providing quality and affordable maternity services for Somali women did not stop there, as several Somalis flew to China to study various courses in the medical field in order to realize this dream.

Maryam Omar Salad, a midwife at Banadir Hospital, is among a number of medical practitioners who were trained in China and are now applying the knowledge they acquired in China to save lives in their own country.

"My trip to China to study midwifery for three years was transformative. I did not only return with the knowledge and skill but also with a more expanded world view," Salad told Xinhua in an interview at the hospital in Mogadishu.

"I got a good experience from China on best midwifery practices and I am able to apply them here for the betterment of our mothers and children," she added.

Salad, however, paints a rather gloomy picture of the state of the midwifery department which has been overstretched over the years, saying most of the only existing facilities were donated by the Chinese government some years ago and there has been no expansion despite increasing usage.

Ruqiya Jamac, midwifery department officer shares the same opinion. Having worked at the department for the last three decades, Jamac is part of the history of the hospital. She said lack of facilities and space is a matter of urgency in the hospital.

Congestion is another challenge. "Thirty women deliver in this hospital every day. Some cases are normal while others bear some complications," Salad said.

"We also have to deal with cultural issues since some women and their husbands don't allow us to carry out cesarean section. But we tell them the need and the importance especially when the lives of the mother and child are at risk," she added.

The story of the midwifery department transcends the difficult times in Somalia. "Even in the face of the war, we were still able to help mothers deliver their children," said Salad.

Sharifa Haji, a displaced mother whose sister is recuperating after delivery, said Banadir hospital is the only option she and her sister have.

"The services here are totally free and for us as displaced people, this means a lot," said Sharifa.

The midwifery department of Banadir Hospital has 5 doctors and 15 midwives who work on a 24-hour basis.

German foreign minister seeking 'anchors of stability' in Africa

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier is seeking to intensify ties between Germany and Africa. Berlin is particularly interested in countries that foster regional stability.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Feb 2015

German Foreign Minister Steinmeir with kenyan President

Steinmeier's four-day trip took him to three countries - the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Kenya - and its purpose is to forge new partnerships for Germany.

There were occasional glitches. At the Nairobi museum, the minister was shown the start of a film with sound, but no pictures.

But such mishaps did not stop the high-level cultural and scientific delegation from Germany engaging in a lively debate with Kenya's cultural elite about new forms of cooperation with Africa. Such cooperation is expected to acquire tangible shape at a newly created Humboldt Forum in Berlin starting in 2019.

Cultivating a new relationship with Africa was the main goal of the foreign minister's four-day tour. In spite of the ongoing crises in Ukraine, the Middle East and Greece, Steinmeier went ahead with his Africa tour, the fourth in twelve months, to promote Germany's new Africa policy.

"We have to look at Africa in a new way," Steinmeier said. Germany still tends to view Africa as the continent of crises and conflicts. "But this is no longer true for all of Africa, because there are also anchors of stability in which we are particularly interested," the German minister said.

Rwanda accuses MONUSCO commanders of doing too little in the
fight against the FDLR rebels

'Where is Germany?'

Steinmeier said one anchor of stability in the region was Rwanda, despite deficits in democratic governance and its tense relationship with its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

But Rwanda is not satisfied with the work of the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO to which Germany contributes more than 100 million euros (US$ 113 million) every year.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said FDLR Hutu rebels were still active in the border region where they were spreading "ethnic poison." They have to be "eliminated," the Rwandan minister said bluntly. She blamed the head of MONUSCO Martin Kobler - who otherwise enjoys an excellent reputation - for the FDLR's continued presence in the region.

Mushikiwabo wants Germany to take on a far bigger role in the region. Currently only France, the UK and Belgium are active there."Where is Germany?" she asked, "We want more German presence here seen in the region, and across the continent."

Anchors of stability are rare in Central and East Africa. A few days ago, German President Joachim Gauck added Tanzania to the list.

Kenya, the last leg of Steinmeier's tour, is not one of them. The Somali terrorist militia group al-Shabab has repeatedly carried out attacks in the country and the internal political situation is considered fragile. But Steinmeier noted to Kenya's credit that it is the country that is promoting regional cooperation within the framework of the East African Community (EAC).

Steinemeir described Rwanda as an anchor of stability despite
 'deficits in democratic governance'

East Africa - a dependable partner

Steinmeier believes East Africa could develop into a politically strong and economically stable region. A customs union encompassing Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda, would create an internal market of at least 160 million consumers. During this trip Steinmeier referred cautiously to "a region of growing political and economic stability."

Some members of the younger generation of East Africans, whether in DR Congo, Rwanda or Kenya, are apparently pinning their hopes on Germany.

In surveys or comments on Facebook, young people say wish German companies could help boost the recovery of their respective national economies. They would also like German politicians to act as act as a counterweight to their often corrupt and patriarchal elites.

"Young people want change," said, Mukazi Ndekezi, a student of international relations from Rwanda. Mukazi, who is a youth ambassador, seeks to promote the interests of young people at the EAC. Not surprisingly, she believes regional cooperation will succeed. Young people between the ages of 17 and 35, she notes, account for two thirds of the population of the EAC region.

"They're really done with conflicts," she said of the under-35s. "And I have seen a positive impact of the regional integration. Like students, they collaborate, they talk, they discuss, and they share their views, their ideas. And then they understand each other."

Germany's foreign minister - who she can only see from afar in Kigali - would have readily welcomed such sentiments.