>>Africa's Athletics Bonanza PG 57 August 2010
Volume 005
Door to Region, Window on World
Somalia Imbroglio Africa Takes Aim at al-Shabaab AU Chairman Jean Ping
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•DIPLOMATIC LICENCE
Elections the Vehicle to Prosperity
T
o say that Africa is still in the woods as far as the electioneering process. Zanzibar goes to the polls in Octowell-being of its 1 billion people is concerned ber against the background of a history of election related is to state the obvious. At the conclusion of the violence dating back to the 1960s. Across the continent, by 15th AU Summit in Kampala last month, it was the end of the year, some 13 elections would have been held crystal clear that the continent needs a re-think, with complains about impartiality being the denominator the re-engineering of policy and practice and commitment to nearly all of them. to eschew lip service and implement the said policies. Only Given the direct continuum between democracy, electhis way will Africa make a clean break with its image of the tions and the desirable socio-economic development, it is sick continent of the world. important that the AU, East African Community (EAC) and Statistics from all fronts present a very grim picture in- individual countries commit to putting in place mechadeed, making Africa the worst continent in the world. There nisms for upholding the will of the people. As the AU Peace has been no shortage of forward looking strategies and and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra puts it, initiatives - solid and well meaning as well as abstract and elections are the means by which people make choices mischievous - to address the loads of challenges that weigh about who should represent and lead them, as well as exdown the continent. press preference for competing policies. While many players have crafted a multiplicity of interAfrican politicians will do a great service to their nations ventions, it goes without saying that the buck stops at the and the continent as a whole if they shun their excessive doorsteps of Africa’s leaders. In turn, leadership must derive appetites for state power, often exhibited in their employfrom the entrenchment of representament of dirty tricks in the electioneering tive democracy, often an alien prinprocesses. In the eastern Africa region as ciple on a continent where elections elsewhere on the continent incidences engender violence rather than peace where sham elections are organised parand prosperity. ticularly through manipulation of state We hold that without the benefit apparatus, legal structures and election of the democratic dividend delivered management bodies are the order of the through free and fair elections, issues day. Yet minimum electioneering stansuch as mother and child health, the dards and benchmarks abound as genertheme of the last AU Summit, will conated by the UN, AU and EAC. tinue to plague the continent. There is no contradiction in stating Long and winding road If democracy is the highway to that Africa is the world’s flashpoint for towards democracy is progress, then elections are the vearmed conflict. An analysis of the trigger the hallmark of African hicle. It needs no belabouring the unfor these wars shows that they revolve countries deniable link between democracy and around and emanate from election reelections. Africa’s history is however lated tensions. Being competitive means replete with incidences of pre and post election violence by which a people express their opinions through the ballot to the extent that these plebiscites have become the bane on diverse issues such as resource sharing, elections must rather than the boon for the continent. of necessity be tense. The point of departure is that these This year alone, elections have raised the spectre of ten- inevitable tensions need not lead to deaths, displacements sions in the eastern Africa nations of Burundi and Sudan. and collapse of law and order. Campaigns started in Rwanda last month against the backIndeed, at the AU Summit, it was announced that an Afdrop of accusations and counter accusations of subversion rican standby army will be in place by the end of the year of democratic ideals, grenade attacks and allegations of as- to address these armed conflicts. ust think of the resources sassinations and attempted assassinations. Earlier in 2008, that would be saved as a result of having smooth transitions Kenya, hitherto the island of peace in a sea of turmoil, along of power as compared to dollar-intensive conflict resoluwith Zimbabwe, experienced post election violence on a tions, not to mention the degeneration of society wrought scale unimaginable before. by disputed polls. Uganda goes to the polls early next year and already, In the long run, Africa will be as good as the elections in various opposition groups are raising the red flag over the its 53 countries
August 2010
11
PHOTO: XINHUA/SHI ZHIHONG
•IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES
Thousands of local people and tourists take part in the annual Torch Festival activities in Nanjian County of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, this month. The Torch Festival falls on the 24th day of the sixth Chinese lunar month. On and around the festival, people of Yi ethnic group gather together and participate in various activities, such as shopping in the open market fair, bull fighting, dancing, and a firework display. It is also a good opportunity for young men and women to meet their prospective spouses
Heard and Quoted “Our people expect us to resolve issues of hunger and poverty once and for all within our lifetime. Posterity will judge us harshly if we do not take action now. If not us then who? If not now, when?” Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi and Chairperson of the African Union during the luncheon on the African food basket Kampala, Uganda.
“Maternity and infants? We are not Unicef. Those things are Unicef’s job,” President Muammar Gaddafi on the summit’s official theme, which focused on maternal and child health in Africa.
“Women and children are the “engines” driving future economic growth in their communities” Dr. Asha Rose Migiro UN Deputy Secretary General
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August 2010
“Apparently, these poor children are told that they will go to heaven if they die as suicide bombers. If the suicide bombing is such a good investment, why don’t the leaders of these reactionary groups set the example of blowing themselves up instead of sending children and vulnerable youth?” “Tanzania’s Mwalimu Julius Nyerere stood with us in order to cope with the horrors of Idd Amin. That is how we, the Ugandans, got a chance to rebuild our country. How can we leave the people of Somalia to adventurers from the Middle East and Asia?” — President Yoweri Museveni reacting to terrorist attacks on Kampala.
o
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•DIPLOSPEAK Have Your Say
Biden was Inspiring... IS THERE NO HOPE FOR SOMALIA? I read with great interest the story on Somalia in your last issue and the incredibly high penchant for hostility and violence as ably described by your writer Patrick Wachira. The story captured the chequered history of the war-torn state and the tattered chapters of her people, struggling to find their place in an indifferent cosmos that has relegated them to be footnotes of history. Yet, friendly states such as Kenya, which have been at the forefront in finding lasting peace for Somalia must not give up the effort, not just yet. Indeed, the African Union must find pride of place at the front row towards efforts to restore a semblance of normalcy, which may be a remote possibility for a country described as the world's most completely failed state. The AU must find a way of raising the status of AMISOM so that it can discharge its mandate in a more holistic manner, seeing as it is unable to engage emerging threats such as the al-Shabaab, with all its attendant terror, which it recently exported to Uganda. That AU forces are reduced to defending themselves in the face of hostility is a position that must be immediately discarded. Indeed, President Yoweri Museveni was spot-on when he said that the AlShabaab must now be sought and appropriate offensive used in this regard. This must be a collective effort so that Somalia can be saved, even as piracy remains another headache. JOY WASIEBA, Kampala, Uganda
BIDEN WAS INSPIRING... YOUR story on US Vice President Joe
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August 2010
RANT/RAVE
>>Athletics Nairobi 2010 PG 52 July 2010
Volume 004
It is in light of this that your magazine should
Door to Region, Window on World
be congratulated for
fashioning a deal where diplomats of all ranks can visit and enjoy the annual wildebeest migration Biden was truly inspiring and served to demonstrate that the oft-held view that foreign envoys accredited to African states speak down to their hosts can be incredibly wrong. Biden spoke with serious empathy and this serves to underline the fact that many a time, such views, as he expressed concerning the ties between Washington and Nairobi, are meant to strengthen the ties of friendship between the two countries, never mind that one is a super power while the other is a Third World state. Indeed, the fact that he underlined that local situations require local solutions by the people themselves is a recognition that foreign solutions may last for a while but will fall apart in the long run. The fact that he has been to trouble spots and served his country for almost four decades means he speaks from a point of first-hand. Criticism of his visit is based on the presumption that his views are an infringement on a sovereign state, yet, didn’t Kenya ask for assistance from the international community when violence rocked the country after the
2007 polls? Where would one draw the line? If we were in trouble enough to seek assistance, let us not brag about sovereignty when the same people who assisted offer a word of counsel and guidance. Let us listen to advice, whether we act on it or not is entirely another matter... NYAMUGA WA NGINYIRA, Nairobi
Targeting Somalia
US Looks to Kenya to Check Terror Vice-President Joe Biden
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WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU: Send your letters to, letters@ diplomateastafrica.com. Submission of a letter constitutes permission to publish it in any form or medium. Letters may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.
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MORE OF THE ADVENTURE ARTICLES PLEASE How often to diplomats take off time to enjoy the beauty and scenery that Kenya can offer? Not often, one can say without fear of contradiction. As diplomats posted to Kenya, we are always struggling to beat deadlines, and our workload is just too heavy. Before you know it, our tour of duty is over and we have been recalled to our home countries. It is in light of this that your magazine should be congratulated for fashioning a deal where diplomats of all ranks can visit and enjoy the annual wildebeest migration. However, you should have provided many more details on how to take advantage of this phenomenon. For instance where specifically in the Maasai Mara is the company you are affiliated with, Maniago Safaris, taking the tourists? Which specific dates can diplomats hook up on the trips? What are the specific rates in terms of money? Note: The author of this letter is a diplomat with a European Union mission in Nairobi. He sought anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. The editor, wishes to confirm that we shall be carrying a travel article in every issue.
>>Athletics Nairobi 2010 PG 52 August 2010
Volume 005
Door to Region, Window on World
Volume No 005 • August 2010
Somalia g Imbroglio Africa Takes Aim at al-Shabaab AU Chairman, Jean Ping
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CONTENTS Table of
EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Kwendo Opanga Managing Editor: Bob Job Wekesa Consulting Editor: Matt K Gathigira Culture Editor: Ngari Gituku Staff Writers: Wycliffe Muga, Patrick Wachira, Jane Mwangi, Baron Khamadi, Christopher Mburu, Kiishweko Orton, Carol Gachiengo, Rita Njoroge, Gathoni Muraya, Mercy Njung'e
MARKETING & SALES Marketing Director: Simon Mugo
BUSINESS MANAGER Kristine Oloo
PG 57
SALES TEAM LEADER
PG 49
James Ombima
BUSINESS EXECUTIVES Joseph Ngina, Chris Nyaoro Derrick Wanjawa, Eunice Kiarie Paul Mucheru
DIPLOMATIC LICENCE
CULTURE
Elections the Vehicle to Prosperity............................... 1
DESIGN TEAM
IMMUNITIES AND IMPUNITIES................. 2
Lured by the Allure of Zanzibar ............................ 38-39 Watch out For the Bite Within..................................... 40 Pins of Diplomacy…………………………..……………….41 Of Excellence and Diplomacy……………………...…….42 African Footprints Across the World………...………….43
Daniel Kihara Raphael Mokora
PHOTOGRAPHY Yahya Mohamed, George Birya
CONTRIBUTORS Biko Jackson, Nairobi Godwin Muhwezi, Arusha Edward Githae, Kigali Silvia Rugina, Kigali Godfrey Musila, Johannesburg John Gachie, Juba John Mulaa, Washington DC Julius Mbaluto, London Manoah Esipisu, London Kennedy Abwao, Addis Ababa Mishaeli Ondieki, Los Angeles Rodney Muhumuza, Kampala Peter Mwaura, Nairobi Robert Mugo, Alberta, Canada Wangari Maathai, Nairobi
THE REGION East Africa fails the Human Rights Test ................... 6-7 The Dawn of a New Area............................................... 8 Somalia Imbroglio.................................................... 9-11
GLOBAL STAGE.....................................................46
DNA
Education Faces Grim Future.............................…...…47
EDUCATION AU Beats War Drum......................................................12 Jockeying for Control of AU Cash...........................13-14 Why AU’s Summit is a Global Gathering.....................15 Strong Growth Hands Kagame Clear Victory .......16-17 Iran Stands Firm on Its Nuclear Programme........18-19 Meet US Ambassador to East Africa Community…...............………………....20-22 Breastfeeding Good for Mum and Child………..….....23 Southern Sudan Not for Secession, says Envoy..........24
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Stephen Otieno
GREEN AGENDA
ADMINISTRATION
Juggernaut of Urbanisation Sprawling Slums in Africa...................................... 26-27
Josephine Wambui, Charles Kimakwa
PRINTER Ramco Printing Works
DISCLAIMER: Diplomat East Africa may not be copied and or transmitted or stored in any way or form, electronically or otherwise, without the prior and written consent of the publisher. Diplomat East Africa is published at Vision Plaza, Ground Floor, Suite 19, Mombasa Road, by Global Village Publishers (EA) Limited, Box 23399 – 0625, and Telephone 020-2525253/4/5. Registered at the GPO as a newspaper.
ECONOMY Bretton Woods Gives Africa the Thumbs up..........30-31 Alarm over Population Boom.................................32-33 So Many Hungers......................................................... 34 Brazil Embraces Africa in Radical Policy Shift........... 35
DEA HOTELS SAFARI PARK HOTEL AND CASINO: Splendid style spendour...............................................48
ODYSSEYS Welcome to Turkana’s Planet Mars…………...…….49-51
TRAVEL Maasai Mara for Diplomats…………………........………52 INDIA CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE DAY…………53
ENVOYS OF SPORTS A Shining Example of Good Governance............. 54-56 Kenya Basks in the Success of Athletics……..........57-58
DEA DIRECTORY................................ 5967 DIARY..........................................................68
WITH A LIGHT TOUCH...............................36-37
August 2010
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•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat
THWARTING CIVIL LIBERTIES
East Africa Fails the Human Rights Test
Violations rampant in many states despite signing of international treaties and conventions, writes VICTOR BWIRE
T
he vexing subject of human rights remains a veritable challenge for most regimes in Eastern Africa. While there has been tremendous movement towards ratifying several progressive international and regional treaties that indicate willingness to jump onto the bandwagon, the practical desire to embrace a human rights culture has not matched the political rhetoric accompanying the signing of the conventions. In Kenya, among the issues expected to give the government a headache is justice for post-election violence victims. The government, in a recent report, failed to explain why there are no prosecutions on the domestic front for perpetrators of the post 2007 election violence. While issues of poverty alleviation and entrenchment of good governance in the Eastern Africa region have seen some improvement, the positive gains in some countries are being reversed, while in others they are threatened by bad governance, rampant violation of fundamental rights and lack of
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August 2010
legitimate election processes. The broad human rights concerns in the region that have remained sharply on the radar include increased restrictions on people’s democratic rights, increased corruption and impunity, slow or absent access to justice for the majority, torture, political killings and detentions, weakening and erosion of the minimal safeguards protecting freedom of expression. Indeed, censorship, harassment and killings of human rights defenders and journalists especially in Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and lately Kenya and back-tracking on the democratisation process that began in the 1990s, have been witnessed. RIGHTS WATCH
The recidivist tendencies are most witnessed in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, initially thought to have made significant progress and now expected to be consolidating on the gains made. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reports that
the government has failed to make firm commitments to improve the cause for women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, particularly those unlawfully targeted on the basis of witchcraft. Similarly, the Kenya government was put on the spot over its failure to put in place measures to address general insecurity in the country. KNHCR was making its submission to the UN Human Rights Council where the country was being reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review in May. Neighbouring Tanzania has not done well either. According to the 2009 Human Rights report by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and the US 2009 Human Rights Report, many Tanzanians continue to be deprived of certain basic human rights, such as the right to life, the right to equal protection of the law, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. That is despite Tanzania having signed up to a number of regional international conventions and instruments on human rights and established the Commission on
•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat
Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) an independent government agency to lead the promotion, preservation and protection of human rights and duties as well as good governance. The most reported human rights violations are violence against women, cultural practices that promote the killing of people with disabilities especially albinos, female genital mutilation and threats against the media. The recent ban on Kulikoni newspaper by the Minister for Information, quoting the 1979 Newspaper Act, is a case in point. ARTICLE 19
Ethiopia remains one of the countries in Africa with an overly restrictive regime on civil and political rights in general. Political freedom is highly controlled by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, mainly affecting opposition parties, media and human rights activities. According to Article 19, the human right situation has continued to deteriorate since the passing in 2009 of the Proclamation on Charities and Societies and the Proclamation on Anti-terrorism. The new regulatory agency established by the Charities and Societies Proclamation froze the bank accounts of the largest independent human rights group. At least six of Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights activists fled the country in 2009. In the analysis, it was established that Article 12 and 14 of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation give national security intelligence services unfettered powers to search and impound broadcast equipment and force journalists to reveal sources of their stories. The situation is upbeat in some countries such as Rwanda which has the highest percentage of women in parliament globally - 55
per cent of the 80-seat parliament. However, it remains worrisome in others. In Kenya, for instance, the current parliament has 15 elected and six nominated women members of parliament out of a total of 222. While this is a modest figure it reflects an increase from 10 in the Ninth parliament (2003-2007). Over 11 million of the 25 million internally displaced persons as well as 17 million refugees globally are in Africa. Even though one may now say there are no violent conflicts or wars in Eastern Africa, according to UNHCR, the region hosts some 880,000 refugees and thousands of IDPs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. REPRESENTATION
In addition, there are an estimated 281,592 refugees from Burundi in various Eastern Africa Community states and over 100,000 IDPs in the country. Kenya has over 404,000 IDPs largely displaced by the December 2007 post-election violence while Uganda has over 853,000 IDPs because of the long war in the northern Uganda region. Once displaced, human rights violations are a norm rather than a
VIOLENCE: Citizens up in arms during the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya
An increase in the number of troops is anticipated in the coming weeks to bring the force to 8,000 troops
which is the upper limit according to AMISOM’s mandate
rarity, especially in the camps. While attacks on media practitioners and journalists, including prosecution, kidnapping, imprisonment, harassment and intimidation is in contravention of Principle XI (1) of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, the region is replete with such attacks. Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia frequently appear on the lists of the most dangerous places for journalism practitioners because of rampant censorship and frequent personal attacks, incarceration and intimidation of journalists. For instance, for the last 8 years Eritrea has an estimated 30 journalists, two media workers, and 11 former members of cabinet behind bars without trial. An estimated four journalists have since died in custody. The East African Association of Journalists has reported the banning of the Central Broadcasting Station in Kampala, Busoga InterDistrict Adventist OrganisationMaranatha FM, Jinja and Faith FM, Mbale. The considered amendment to the Press and Journalists Act by the Uganda Government are just but a few cases
August 2010
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•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat
The Dawn of a New Era
Kenyans voted decisively for a new constitution that they hope will put their country firmly on track to good governance, writes PATRICK WACHIRA
T
HE passing of Kenya’s new constitution by more than 60 per cent of the puts the country firmly on the threshold of a new order both literally and figuratively. The adoption of the new document is seen as the start of a new chapter, not only in governance but also in the exercise of power, what with a devolved system of governance empowers some 47 odd counties, gives citizens greater say in legislation, outlines a comprehensive Bill of Rights and ensures more equitable distribution of land. East Africa’s biggest economy, still smarting from the effects of the 2008 post-poll violence that left 1,500 people dead and some 300,000 displaced, some to date, will get a massive shot in the arm, with the new constitution that has in place dispute resolution mechanisms that are aimed at checking a repeat of the violence that rocked the nation and shocked the world. As this country of an estimated 40 million people set about putting its house in order, some 64,000 security officers stood watch as more than 6 million voters trooped to the polling booths to have their say, watched by 4,612 monitors and 150 international observers. A new constitutional dispensation was one of the items of Agenda 4 of the National Cohesion and Reconciliation Act, passed by
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August 2010
Parliament as a prelude to ensuring that the violence that captured the attention of the entire world does not recur. And the new document seeks to do that, with chapters and provisions that clearly stipulate transition processes and makes the government more accountable. The fight against graft, seen by many as an obstacle to foreign investment as well as local business players, also shot a notch higher with the appointment of constitutional lawyer and university don P.L.O. Lumumba as head of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, deputised by another veteran barrister Pravin Bowry. The presence of graft, seen as endemic for a long time, was so serious that the UK announced last year that it would deny visas to perpetrators of graft and postelection violence in Kenya. US Vice President Joe Biden said in June that the adoption of a new constitution would attract enormous foreign investment and spur unprecedented economic growth. “Too many of your institutions have lost the people’s confidence,” said he. And now is the time to turn the tide. Both he and US ambassador Michael Ranneberger have been in the spotlight, with the “No” campaign group saying the US was finding the “Yes” campaigns, thus tilting the game unfavourably in favour of the former. The accusations were made by Agriculture minister William Ruto
DEMOCRACY: Kenyans line-up to exercise their rights through the polls
who has been the de facto leader of the “No” group but the ambassador rubbished the claims, saying it was not true his country was taking sides but was only assisting Kenyans achieve what they had always desired. As early as January, Ranneberger had said, emphatically, that “despite the country having many tribes, it can still succeed if leaders come together and speak with one voice through a constitution accepted by all.” His opinion has been that reforms envisaged under Agenda 4 have been on course, even though incomplete. And it emerged, last month that the envoy was echoing the sentiments of President Barrack Obama who is keen to see a new constitution is in place. Indeed, observers have been quick to point out that after Obama sent to Kenya his Secretary of State Hilary Clinton early this year and later Biden his own visit may be next
•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
August 2010
AU'S VEXATION
Somalia Imbroglio DEA’s BOB WEKESA (pictured) interviewed African Union Commission Chairman JEAN PING on a wide range of issues during last month’s 15thAfrican Union Summit in Kampala. Excerpts:
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
D
IPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: The Somali problem has dominated this summit. What, as a result, are the tangible steps that the African Union is taking to solve this conflict? JEAN PING: Somalia is a major challenge that the AU is addressing. The Africa Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) troops started with 3,000 peacekeepers and stayed that way for some time. Today we have 6,300 troops from the troop contributing countries Burundi and Uganda. An increase in the number of
troops is anticipated in the coming weeks to bring the force to 8,000 which is the upper limit according to AMISOM’s mandate. The troops will eventually go beyond 10,000. The Guinean battalion is now ready and waiting for the green light to be deployed. The Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) countries have agreed to deploy additional forces and in this respect, Djibouti has committed to send one battalion and with Guinea ready to deploy a troop of 2,000 solders; the force will definitely go beyond the 8,000 mandated.
August 2010
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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
Q: What is your engagement with the UN Security Council as concerns Somalia? A: We have made appeals and presentations to the Security Council many times but nothing has come out of this. At some point, we even thought the Security Council had forgotten the Somalia war and Africa. Yet, the 53 AU member states are paying members of the UN. However, rather than just sit there mourning and complaining about inaction by the UN we decided to take action as Africa, to help our Somali brothers. The international community seems interested in the Somali problem only as concerns piracy in the Indian Ocean. Q: Is this frustration the reason why the AU is lobbying for two permanent seats on the Council?
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A: Yes. Africa needs to have a voice and presence on the Security Council. A committee of 10 African nations chaired by Sierra Leone is dealing with this bid. Heads of State have also discussed this issue in the context of reformation of the UN to reflect the interests of Africa along other regions of the world. We want to have two permanent seats on the Security Council with the right to veto powers. Q: What is the long term AU strategy for and in Somalia? A: We have no intention whatsoever to stay in Somalia forever. We are only helping Somalia to have a state because it is the only failed state in the world. Our role is to help the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) consolidate its positions in Somalia. We are doing this by training the government’s security forces, supply of equipment and provision of salaries. We pay the peacekeepers US$700, up from US$500 when we started operations.We hope to reach the US$1000 allowance per soldier which is the UN benchmark. We are currently training 10,000 Somali soldiers. The critical thing is that Somalia should have its own army and police to safeguard law and order and to protect the territorial integrity of the country. We are also working to broaden the TFG’s political base by facilitating negotiations with various political groups. In this respect, an agreement was recently reached between the TFG and Ahlusuna waljamaa, a group that was formerly opposed to the TFG. We are certain that more groups will be signing agreements for cooperation with the TFG in the coming days. On another front, we are encouraged by the fact that the TFG is working with Puntland and Somaliland and this will expand its geographical reach.
Q: Comment on reports about that foreign fighters in Somalia. A: External interference should cease. We are told that terrorist groups are involved in Somalia. Al Qaeda has been specifically mentioned along with some foreign countries. Iran had been accused of involvement but it has since denied and is now working with the TFG.
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
A military team from Guinea is already in Addis Ababa being briefed and will go to Somalia soon to assess the situation on the ground and to ascertain requirements and needs before deployment. Other countries including Nigeria and Ghana have pledged and appeals have been made to them to make good their pledges given the unfolding situation. South Africa has also been specifically requested to send troops. We need a lot of equipment to effectively handle the threat to peace and stability in Somalia and the region. Specifically, we need five helicopters immediately and we have made requests to partners for this. Unfortunately appeals to partners on the need for equipment have not been heeded so far. The UN Security Council had pledged to supply the five helicopters but this has not happened. It’s only Ethiopia that has contributed substantially in terms of equipment.
The critical thing is that Somalia should have its own army and police to
safeguard law and order and to protect the territorial integrity of the country
Q: What's AU strategy on Al Qaeda? A: We have the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism based in Algiers, with staff of slightly over 100 personnel which is handling the issue. Most of the AU member countries have already signed the African convention on combating terrorism. We are also working closely with the international community to promulgate a global convention against terrorism. So far, the international anti-terrorism convention has been dogged by definition disagreements. We at the AU are of the opinion that an elephant is an elephant and it is not necessary to define it. We want the global convention to be agreed upon expeditiously so that we can have an effective structure within which to fight terrorism. Many countries in the Sahara region such as Mauritania, Algeria and Niger are struggling to combat the spread of terrorism on a daily basis. Q: Comment on the proposal to convert the African Union from a commission to an authority. A: The AU Summit early this year discussed this issue at length. This will be a process that will call for major amendments of the statutes and it can be a protracted process. Q: Enumerate AU's achievements
•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
A: AU has achieved a lot. You will recall that in the mid 1990s some 15 countries were going through intra and inter-state conflicts and this was the cause of death for more of the people who died on the continent in that period. Let me give examples. The conflicts in Angola between UNITA and MPLA, the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo where over 10 countries were fighting over the country’s territory and the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict and others are now behind us. Indeed, an effort for normalisation of relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea is on and hopefully, the two nations will live together as good neighbours soon. Across the continent, democratic processes are getting entrenched thanks to periodic elections in various countries that have been declared free and fair. Today Somalia and Sudan remain the two major conflicts and we are certain our efforts are bearing fruit. Clearly, the AU has played a major role in resolving conflicts on the continent. Indeed, we declared 2010 the year of peace in line with our commitment to bring peace on the continent. Our achievements should not make us complacent however. In some parts of the continent, we are still seeing coups d’état and we are determined to bring an end to this. We are also working hard to operationalise an African standby force to help with conflict resolution.
Q: Has the 15th AU summit theme been overshadowed? A: The theme of the summit remains relevant despite the focus on conflicts. There is no inconsistency between the summit theme and
standards when it comes to Africa. In the case of Sudan, we were not requested to investigate the allegations made against President Omar El-Bashir. The ICC took an individual approach and concluded that El-Bashir had committed crimes against humanity in Darfur and recently added the charge of genocide. But even then, the ICC court decided to free Thomas Lubanga (accused of recruiting children as soldiers in DRC) for lack of evidence. We need to closely examine how ICC is operating because they seem to be targeting Africa. In Sudan, one has to consider the emerging situation and evolving peace. For instance, in South Africa, all leaders accused of apartheid were let to go scot free and the whole world applauded. We are working for a peaceful Somalia but (Luis Moreno) Ocampo (the ICC Prosecutor) doesn’t care. All he wants is to catch Bashir. Let him go and get him.
our addressing armed conflicts and seeking peace. Maternal and child health cannot be achieved in a situation where there is violence as happens in war situations. In fact, it is in war situations that maternal and child health suffers the most. It is therefore only logical that we tackle the issue of conflicts alongside the theme of the summit. Indeed, the heads of state spend four hours discussing the theme which incidentally was also the theme of the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada and is, in fact, one of the pillars of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that African countries are committed to. Our focus on this theme is informed by the fact that the achievement on MDG. Today, one out of 16 women die during childbirth and our mission is to ensure that no mother dies when giving life. Similarly, we are determined to reduce the mortality rate of two out of eight children who die at birth. Q: Comment on the Sudan and the ICC process A: Following the successful holding of elections and considering the forthcoming referendum, Sudan is going through truly historical times and turning a new page. The AU is not against ICC for petty reasons. We are against their approach to conflict situations in Africa. For instance, ICC wants to open an office in Africa and specifically in Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters. We are asking ourselves why they cannot open an office in Asia or Latin America. We read a lot of mischief in this. As you know, the ICC was established by the Rome Treaty. Thirty African countries are signatories of the treaty, of which the majority are against the way it’s being implemented in Africa. My view is that ICC is applying double
Another grim static is that every two minutes, a
child dies on the continent from preventable diseases
Q: How are you engendering peace in Sudan? A: We have appointed former presidents Thambo Mbeki (South Africa), Abdulsalam Abubakar (Nigeria) and Pierre Buyoya (Burundi) to lead a comprehensive peace process. Negotiations and dialogue between Darfur, the South and the North have already taken off. The AU has a peace and security operation in Darfur with battalions contributed by Rwanda and Nigeria. In fact, 90 per cent of the peace keeping force in Darfur is African despite the fact that the peace keeping mission is a joint UN-AU initiative. The complexity of the situation in Sudan demands that one is cautious. For instance if Southern Sudan votes to succeed at the forthcoming referendum, how will it relate not only with the North but also with Darfur?
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AU Beats War Drums
Upping the stakes in the Horn of Africa Conflict
A
t the AU Summit, leader eader after leader railed at the unconventional rag tag army, al-Shabaab, which has been labelled terrorist. The leaders’ indignation springs from the suicide bombs detonated in Kampala on the final action day of the FIFA World Cup and a week to the AU Summit. The Kampala blasts were ostensibly al-Shabaab’s message to Uganda to remove its forces from Somalia as well as a warning to other African countries. It was therefore quite in order for the leaders to condole Ugandans, condemn the attacks and more importantly, promise action against alShabaab. From 6,300 AMISOM peacekeeping at the commencement of the Summit, the peacekeeping force was set to grow to well over 20,000 as countries rushed to pledge not only more battalions, but also military hardware. It is clear that the AMISOM mandate in Somalia is about to change from peacekeeping to peace enforcement. Justifications for the revision are plenty. Kenya’s Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula, argued that there was “...no peace to keep in Joe Biden
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August 2010
COMBAT-HARDENED:
Somalia teems with armed and rag-tag armies
Somalia, rather there is need to enforce peace”. The peacekeepers mission has this far been limited to protecting President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh’s presidential palace, the airport and the port. Peace enforcement on the other hand will give the AU forces power to pursue al-Shabaab into its strongholds. RETALIATION
The peacekeepers mission has this far been limited to protecting
President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh’s presidential palace, the airport and the port
Rather than the Kampala blasts beating Uganda into submission, it appears they have emboldened this troop contributing country. In the words of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, “the cowardly act of attacking our merry-making noncombatants will make their situation worse. In the past, we were only guarding...three installations as per the AU force mandate. These reactionary groups have now committed aggression against our country. We have a right to self-defence. We shall go for them.” Indeed, sources indicate that Museveni, who is eyeing the chairmanship of AU after Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika exist, has been lobbying and advocating for decisive action to obliterate al-Shabaab and what he calls “mindless Middle-Eastern ter-
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
SOMALIA
rorism”. Thus, the al-Shabaab insurgency has now been framed as a war between terrorists and Africa. But over and above the collective Pan-African affront, al-Shabaab could very well reckon with Uganda as Museveni, himself a combatant of the rank of general with a guerrilla war experience. Due to its unconventional tactics the defeat of al-Shabaab calls for deployment of quite a big force on the ground. According to Mr Abubakar Abdi Osman, TFG’s Defence minister, the estimation is that as many as 50,000 troops are needed. “It’s not in our (Somali) culture to kill oneself in the name of suicide bombing. These are alien warfare practices that al-Shabaab has brought to our country. They are using the Islamic religion in the wrong way. For this reason we need up to 50,000 troops to finish them once and for all”, he told DEA. While 50,000 may be way above the mustering of AU, indications are that the AU force will be 20,000 strong in short order. Already Guinea has lined up 2,000 soldiers set to hit the ground by end of August. The Inter Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) comprising Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Sudan, is putting together another 2,000 soldiers under the auspices of the East Africa Brigade (ESBRIG). According to an AU source, the other countries that will be sending in troops include Malawi, Namibia and Angola. In the emerging unity of purpose, Algeria has offered transportation logistics for the Guinean troops. With allegations that al-Shabaab has remained strong because of support from terrorist cells from the Middle East, it was a major scoop for the League of Arab Nations, represented at the Summit by no less than Secretary General Mr Amr Moussa, to equally pledge material support for the war against al-Shabaab
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NEPAD
Jockeying for Control of AU Cash Cow
Backroom battles and horse trading for lucrative NEPAD position KENNEDY ABWAO and BOB WEKESA report from Kampala
S
enegalese leader Abdoulaye Wade failed to mobilise his supporters to oppose Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s chairmanship of a key African Union (AU) committee tasked with the running of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) activities at the highest level. PresidentWade, who had the support of West African allies, including Nigeria and Ghana, had planned to raise objections to Zenawi’s threeyear term at the helm of NEPAD when the Committee held its 23rd session during the African Union Summit in Kampala last month. Sources said there was discomfort over Zenawi’s stay at the helm of the NEPAD Committee of the AU. Opponents also argued that the Ethiopian leader - fresh from an overwhelming electoral victory - was already representing Africa at several forums and should have relinquished some responsibilities to his peers. In what has always marked AU representation politics, eastern and southern Africa nations sitting on the committee are said to have thrown their lot with Zenawi. The whispered word at the Summit was that West Africa, where Senegal’s Wade hails from, has many senior positions in the AU hierarchy and should be content with that for the moment. “There is a feeling among many
ZENAWI:
A move to remove him from the NEPAD helm failed
that he (Zenawi) has already served a three-year term and is also representing Africa at several committees and that it is time for him to give up some of them,” a Nigerian diplomat, who did not want to be named discussing confidential issues revealed. ETHIOPIA
Zenawi is the chairman of a committee of 10 African heads of state tasked with negotiating a worldwide climate change treaty that would benefit Africa. President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya is also a member of that committee. The Ethiopian leader, whose country’s May 23 elections yielded a single seat for the opposition, also chairs NEPAD’s good governance panel. NEPAD’s flagship project, the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM), has seen an increment in the number of African countries seeking to pass the test of complying with global benchmarks for democracy. Indeed, APRM is one of NEPAD’s and therefore AU programmes that have not only attracted accolades, but also funding from the international community, including favourable endorsement by the UN. A brainchild of former South African president Thabo Mbeki who was present alongside his successor Jacob Zuma, NEPAD and APRM have been opposed by bitter critics of Western ties with Africa, key among them Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. The high-profile leadership battle did not materialise at the Kampala Summit but served as the opening salvo in the battle for the control of NEPAD, seen as the cash cow and high profile appendage of AU. Indeed, discussions by the heads of state revolved around the completion of discussions on the full integration of NEPAD into the AU. Senegal is said to have attempted to raise and lobby around the issue of chairmanship as a substantive agenda issue. But this was circumvented when it was agreed by a majority of leaders that the issue should be discussed at another forum to provide room for consultations on matters slated for the AU Summit. Nonetheless, even the striking off of the chairmanship item from the agenda was achieved through winded discussions that brought to the fore intense craving for the NEPAD pie. “The Ethiopian Prime Minister has secured an automatic term as the chairman of NEPAD. The issue of the elections was stepped down,” an official, who represented an eastern Africa president at the meeting said, but was quick to add that other informal and lobbying meetings had advocated hard on the issue.
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The leadership of NEPAD, an automatic ticket to a number of key international meetings, including representing Africa at the Group of Eight (G8) summits, has often been a controversial issue at AU meetings. The chairman of NEPAD has also represented Africa at the meeting of the Group of 20 most influential global economies (G20), of which South Africa is a member. The G20 is crucial because it determines several key issues, which determine the economic stability of the globe. Gadhafi has often engaged the AU leaders in a closed-door battle. He has called NEPAD a plan by former US President George W Bush to divide Africa. He reasons that since the US President has left power, his dream of NEPAD should be killed. In January when he attended the NEPAD Summit, the Libyan leader engaged Zenawi, Wade and Abdulaziz Buteflika (Algerian President) and urged the leaders to disband the committee, saying it was a duplication of AU Summit’s responsibilities. African leaders, who gathered in Kampala, were expected to officially elect one of the 53 African countries to vie for a permanent position on the G20. This push is informed by the risks that the continent suffered due to the effects of last year’s global economic slowdown. The African leader’s Committee is made up 12 countries, including the four countries whose leaders founded NEPAD as a project aimed at reinventing Africa’s image through radical improvements of governance parameters and redefining its relations with donors to base aid on projects that benefit Africa. Zenawi secured the leadership of the committee after emerging as the veteran at a time when some of the founding fathers of NEPAD had to retire from politics after serving their presidential terms. The four
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founders include Buteflika, Mbeki, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo and Wade himself. The four successfully pushed for the co-option of NEPAD into the AU. At the time of electing Zenawi to the post, Wade, who was seen as the preferred choice, faced elections at home, making Zenawi the natural choice. It was apparent the leaders present, including AU Summit Chairman Bingu wa Mutharika, who is a member of the committee by virtue of his position, were asking for more from NEPAD. NEPAD Chief Executive Hassane Mayaki, a former Prime Minister of Niger, admits that there have been concerns over the performance of NEPAD. “Many of the continental initiatives have failed. But the integration of NEPAD into the AU means that it is not a failure,” Mayaki told journalists. “The challenge for NEPAD is to ensure that it looks at civil society as the true instruments of development…we will definitely achieve something,” he said. AMALGAMATION
At the NEPAD Summit, leaders appeared to openly express the view that they did not understand the role of NEPAD and its benefits. In his opening speech at the meeting, Mutharika called for a rethink of the NEPAD idea. “We have to go back to the drawing board and re-look the objectives”. “We need to determine what we want African economies to be,” Mutharika said. He argued that NEPAD’s structures should be reviewed in order to make its projects implementable at the national and regional levels. Mutharika spoke about the disappointment that the lack of a global response to the pledges made to finance African infrastructure to ably manage projects to benefit Africa
AFRICA LOBBIES FOR UN SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM
As the 15th African Union Summit in Kampala drew to a close, one of the key agenda on the platter was the reform process of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, currently a plum topic among member states. Heads of state and government reaffirmed the African position on the reform of the Security Council as contained in the ‘Ezulwini Consensus’ and the ‘Sirte Declaration’ while calling for its intensive promotion to ensure that Africa speaks with one voice. The ‘Ezulwini Consensus’ was endorsed at the close of the African Union Summit hosted by Libya in July 2005 during the 5th Ordinary Session of the Assembly along with the adoption of the declaration which also called for “a comprehensive reform of the United Nations system.” The Sirte Declaration proposes enlarging the UN Security Council from 15 to 26 member countries, with the 11 additional seats distributed to different continents - including two seats for Africa, two for Asia, one for Latin American and Caribbean states, and one for western European and other states. Since 2005 African states have been lobbying for the two permanent seats in this major UN organ to be incorporated in an expanded council under new reform proposals. Africa currently has three states sitting as non-permanent members of the Security Council, that is, Nigeria, Gabon and Uganda. France has been among those pushing for a bigger say for Africa in the Security Council. “The reform is inevitable,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said. “If you ask me (when it will happen), I will not be able to say, but it is not plausible to keep it the way it is,” he said in June in Rio de Janeiro. Key in the Security Council Reform process has been the veto power accorded to the permanent members. On this issue the ‘Ezulwini Consensus’ explains that permanent membership comes along with all the prerogatives and privileges which include right of veto
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AU Summit a Global Gathering It’s lobbyists galore when African leaders go into summitry By BOB WEKESA
ALLIANCE
Countries such as Brazil, Mexico, India and Pakistan were not to be left behind. Business lobby groups, prospecting companies, think tanks and consulting groups from across the globe were not only present but could be seen aggressively pushing business and strategic deals. So were members of civil society organisations. Powerful world economies are looking to the so-called ‘nextfrontier-for-growth’ continent for trade and raw materials. In fact, delegations from these countries were much more organised and bigger in number than a good number of Africans could muster. Drawn mainly from ministries of foreign affairs and their equivalents, the delegates could be seen lingering outside venues of high level meetings to catch the eyes of African foreign affairs ministers and senior officials. Activity would heighten once the ministers emerged from closed door meetings. Indeed one of the meetings that drew a lot of interest from these
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
O
ne would have been excused for imagining that the African Union (AU) Summit in Kampala last month was some global forum happening on African soil. At the various meeting venues at the Commonwealth Resort, Munyonyo, on the shores of Lake Victoria, there were as many nonAfricans as there were Africans themselves. Donning ‘observer’ badges, the representatives from Japan, EU countries, China, Australia, US and Canada were very much part of the ebb and flow of the 15th AU Summit.
interested parties was the council of ministers meeting, by dint of its pivotal role in shaping the policy orientation and direction of the AU. DEA investigations reveal a pattern and self-serving motivations to the whole lobbying and networking business. Long before the Summit took place, strategists in the powerful countries had delineated interests they would be pursuing at the meeting. Lobbyists targeted specific countries and specific officials in line with the briefs they had received back home. An observation of which foreign delegation was meeting which African delegation gives an indication as to which resources were being targeted. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, seemed to attract many more lobbyists in comparison to other African countries, no doubt because of the DRC’s huge resource endowment. One delegate from the Sudan who talked to DEA on condition of anonymity mentioned that the foreign powers can’t wait for the secession of Southern Sudan next year so that the new nation becomes a new target for resource-hungry glo-
REPRESENTATION:
Delegates at the AU summit in Kampala
bal economies. Quite apart from smoothening the way for the entry of their exports into the continent, the powerful nations were circling the African nations to tap into the continent’s natural resources, top on the list being oil. The glaring irony is that with thin budgets, most, if not all, African countries can hardly afford to attend continental meetings such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the EU and the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA). At Munyonyo, the lobbying went on at various venues. Over tea and coffee breaks, one would observe the ‘observers’ entice, cajole and persuade African delegates on one or another issue. Much more formal deals were initiated or cut in bilateral meetings between African delegations and the foreign powers at meeting rooms designated for this purpose. TÊTE-À-TÊTE
Powerful nations were circling the African nations to tap into the
continent’s natural resources, top on the list being oil
In the evenings, the lobbyists could be seen engaging African officials in tête-à-têtes over drinks at the Five Star bar. Other resource related consultations and negotiations went on in the suites of either the delegates or senior government offices and it helped quite a lot that all foreign affairs ministers were putting up at Munyonyo rather than downtown Kampala. The lobbying pattern does not start and stop with entreaties at the Summit. Governments will often follow up deals cut at the Summit back home. This is then followed up by the signing of contracts. To this end, some multinational companies were present to reap from the negotiations of their deal seeking governments
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S
AVE for unforeseen and dramatic circumstances, the re-election of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame for another seven-year term was just a matter of course. His position at the helm will determine the levels of prosperity and growth as Rwanda fights to attain the Millennium Development Goals among other visions and missions of the region. Indeed, Kagame’s runaway victory has been attributed to his steady and deft hand at returning Rwanda to normalcy after the murder and mayhem of 1994, putting Rwanda on a path of sustained economic growth and making it the best place to do business in the region. To his credit, Kagame has led Rwanda’s rebound to the path of growth and prosperity, essentially a rebirth. Its economy has grown an average of 6.4 per cent since 2001 and the World Bank has named Rwanda the most improved country in the region. The parameters used were roads, schools, running water and telephony, which are evidently on the upswing. Conversely, disease was arrested and literacy and life expectancy have improved. Kagame has carefully crafted himself as the leader of a new country on the continental arena, so much so that just in June UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named him co-chair of a new panel set up to end world poverty. Further, under his watch, the death penalty has been abolished and government has been decentralised. He has also given the opposition seats in his Cabinet, thereby portraying himself as a unifying factor in the nation, just healing from the 1994 genocide. But that is not to say the 52-year old former rebel fighter in Uganda’s armed forces has had it easy and rosy. Indeed, early in the year, a local journalist described him as resem-
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RWANDA
Strong Growth Hands Kagame Clear Victory
TRIUMPH: President Kagame had a runaway victory
bling Nazi icon Adolf Hitler in what was later described by officialdom as a “press gone haywire”. In the lead-up to the polls on August 9, several opposition personalities were arrested and the government expelled a representative of Human Rights Watch (HRW), shut down two newspapers and suspended the BBC’s service in Rwanda. Police detained Mr Peter Erlinder, 62, a US lawyer representing opposition leader Ms Victoire Ingabire and held him for more than a fortnight in May. Ingabire returned a few months ago from exile to emerge as the leading opposition figure but she, too, faced a hostile reception amid claims
that she was fanning tribal sentiments. As the world watched, a former military officer living in exile in Johannesburg was shot and wounded in June. Back home in Rwanda, reports said a critical journalist was shot dead on June 24, and an opposition leader was beheaded on July 14. The President has denied government involvement in the killings but also defended some of the government’s actions against opposition leaders, saying they were aimed at halting the stoking of ethnic tensions and possible violence. Perhaps it makes sense that the president is apprehensive that any tendency to relax may cause a return to the days just before 1994 when ethnic chauvinism reached fever pitch. Back then, the ethnic-Hutu majority led an onslaught in which some 800,000 members of the Tutsi minority and their Hutu “collaborators” were killed systematically over 100 days. Kagame is on record as saying that some of his acts are meant to save Rwanda from its worst demons, given that memories are still fresh of the mayhem that ran like wildfire across the country as the rest of the world watched, too stunned to move. Rwanda has been awash with reports that many opposition figures representing the Hutu maintain contact with the militias said to have been behind the 1994 mayhem and time and again make incendiary statements, which have prompted the government’s rather harsh response. The President insists that Rwanda needs to make a clean break with its unsavoury past so that the demons of yesteryear are buried and remain so. However, the latest incidents have aroused the attention of Ki-moon, who said last month that there was need for an inquiry to safeguard human rights and bring the “perpetrators to justice”
•PICTORIAL Credentials
President Mwai Kibaki receives credentials from the newly appointed
President Mwai Kibaki receives credentials from the new Ambassador-desig-
Ambasasdor-designate of the Republic of Burundi to Kenya, HE Emmerence
nate of the United Mexican States to Kenya, HE Luis Javier Campuzano Pina at
Ntahonkuriye at State House, Nairobi.
State House, Nairobi.
President Mwai Kibaki welcomes the newly appointed Ambassador-des-
President Mwai Kibaki congratulates the newly appointed Ambassador-designate of
ignate of Saudi Arabia to Kenya HE Ghurum Bin Said Bin Ghurum at State
the Kingdom of Thailand to Kenya, HE Kosit Chatpaiboon after receiving his creden-
House, Nairobi where he received the envoy’s credentials.
tials at State House, Nairobi.
Kenya's Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Monica Juma 3rd right front row, in a procession during presentation of her credentials to Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis
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FIRM REBUFF
Iran Stands Firm on Its Nuclear Programme By JANE MWANGI
I
ran, home to the world’s oldest continuous major civilisations, continues to occupy the global centre stage, thanks to a long running standoff with the West over its nuclear programme. Characterised as a quasi-theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the standoff has put the 18th largest country in the world on the receiving end of military, trade and financial sanctions from the UN Security Council. The most imperative figure in the former Persia remains Ayatollah Khamenei. He is the Supreme Leader whose word is final in Iranian political affairs. According to the constitution, the Supreme Leader is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and controls the intelligence and security forces. He alone can declare war. The president is second to the Supreme Leader followed by eight vice-presidents and 22 cabinet ministers. The 290 members of the Iranian parliament are publicly elected every four years. DEA had an extensive interview with Iran ambassador in Kenya Dr Seyed Ali Sharif. DEA: What is the Iranian government’s response to international sanctions? Dr Seyed Ali Shariff: After the victory of the Islamic revolution we got our first round of sanctions, so we are very familiar with this kind of sanctions but we do not accept this kind of oppression of Iran. Iran’s geopolitical position with 15
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surrounding countries is something that the sanctions cannot totally affect and many of these countries don’t follow the directives of the sanctions. All of Iran’s activities are based on the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of which Iran is a member. The Agency works with its member states and multiple partners world-wide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies. Q: Is criticism against your nuclear programme justified? A: Iran has a legitimate right to exercise its nuclear programme. We are enriching uranium for exclusively peaceful purposes. We know that the mass media is dominated by the West and have the tools to influence public opinion and policy hence the wide negative reports on Iran that make it appear worse than it is. The people of the world have been affected by the reports of the international press but we believe God is helping the capabilities and developments of Iran. Q: Comment on Iran's nuclear swap agreement with Brazil and Turkey A: Iran had a special meeting on May 17 with the presidents of Brazil and Turkey in Tehran finally coming to a common declaration. The meeting centered on the peaceful nature and legitimate use of peaceful nuclear energy. We are very positive that this will continue to yield tremendous progress and quiet down skepticism from various quarters around the world.
STATS &FACTS The agreement for the provision of crude oil for Kenya has been signed where we are looking at an estimated
80,000 barrels of crude oil to be exported per day
Q: There have been claims that Iran is producing an atomic bomb, which you have consistently denied. This is seen as a ruse towards gaining power. Is this the case? A: We are not going to gain power by using atomic bombs. We are ready to give a guarantee of any kind that we do not have an atomic bomb. The IAEA inspector has carried out a lot of inspections on the Iranian site and is monitoring everything with their cameras and so far hasn’t discovered anything. Iran lives in a world free of nuclear weapons. The world’s super powers provide many nuclear weapons to the fabricated and Zionist regime and when another country wants to use peaceful nuclear energy they oppose it.
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Q: President Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei hold rather strong sentiments against the West’s oppression of developing countries. Do you echo their sentiments or do you hold a different opinion? A: I hold the same sentiments and herald Ahmedinejad as being very brave. I believe developing nations should be at par with their developed counterparts. We want a new order in the world. The arrogant countries map out conditions and if you don’t follow them then you will continue to be under-developed. Q: On your government’s foreign policy orientation, which areas have you given priority and why? A: Our policy is people-oriented, a move towards the grassroots hence a departure from the bipolar system. The relations of South- South countries have been progressing despite the Western world’s attempts to stump down this kind of enlightenment claiming that it would weaken the people of the world. Q: What is Iran’s agenda for Kenya especially in light of President Ahmedinejad’s February visit? A: Kenya and Iran have signed protocol agreements providing frameworks for enhanced bilateral cooperation. The Iranian market of 80 million is open to Kenya. More than 20 Memoranda of Understanding and agreements have been signed, 13 of those since President’s Ahmedinejad’s visit to Nairobi. The Agreements on Veterinary and Animal Health and Protocol of Co-operation of which the latter provides a $5m credit facility. Kenyan tea has been a major export to Iran; it comprises 20 per cent of Iran’s tea consumption. The agreement for the provision of crude oil for Kenya has been signed where we are looking at an es-
Iran where he witnessed the capabilities, reviewed the mechanisms and signed an MoU on co-operation. We have more than 40 established banks in Iran and Africa can borrow a lot from our experience.
timated 80,000 barrels of crude oil to be exported per day. Iran is also keen on developing links between the University of Tehran and the University of Nairobi (UoN) to benefit the two institutions as centres of excellence in the two countries. For a start, the Embassy will set up an Iranian centre at UoN and explore staff and student exchange programmes. The centre will also lay ground for the teaching of the Persian language. We also want to help in the area of dam construction where Iran ranks among the top three dam constructors in the world. Before the revolution we had six dams and we now have 582, all of which have been constructed by Iranian engineers. Q: Kenya has a large Muslim population, about half a million of whom are Shi’ites. We also have two banks that major in Islamic finance – Gulf African and First community Bank. Would you agree that Africa has been positioned as the next growth region for Islamic finance? A: Iran is one of the pioneers in the Islamic banking sector and in order to promote banking sector co-operation, we have come up with a good programme for stakeholders to go to Iran. The Central Bank of Kenya Governor, Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, visited
LEADERSHIP: President Ahmedinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei the sepreme leader
The president is second to
the Supreme Leader followed by eight vicepresidents and 22 cabinet ministers
Q: The future for Iran. Is it all gloom and doom? A: The future of each nation depends on its past. During the last 30 years, Iran has been faced with different kinds of sanctions with the recent one by President Obama. Despite all these obstacles, Iran has gone forward and advanced and we are on the right track in achieving our cause. We are a self-sufficient country in the field of agriculture; we produce 60 per cent of the world’s energy and are second in fossil fuel production. We are the specialists in food processing in the world. Nothing can hinder Iran from progress. Q: How would you describe your tour of duty in Kenya? A: I have been responsible for the African continent for 20 years and have seen the expansion of economic and commercial relations. I have a good feeling about Africa’s growth and future. I love Kenya and Africa and endeavour to help in their growth. Since I came to Kenya, relations have changed completely. I am planning to hold talks in Nairobi on the situation in Somalia in an attempt to foster peace and stability
BIO DATA Dr Seyed is 48 years old and married with 3 children. He is a holder of a BA in Architecture, a Masters in Human Geography and a PhD in Geo-politics. He has served as Director General in African Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran. He is also Iran’s Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat and UNEP.
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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
since 2008. We share with the EAC common goals of democratic governance, prosperity and social progress, while at the same time we share concerns about transnational threats such as trafficking in persons, piracy, food security and climate change.
AMERICA'S GRIP
Meet US Ambassador to East African Community The US Ambassador to Tanzania HE ALFONSO E LENHARDT was recently accredited as envoy to the East African Community. He spoke to DEA’s KIISHWEKO ORTON (pictured) about the American dream on East African integration. Excerpts:
D
IPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: Please comment on your recent accreditation as an envoy to the EAC. How did this come about given that you are the first diplomat to be formally accredited to the EAC? ALFONSO LENHARD: Last March, Foreign Minister Benard Membe circulated a diplomatic note to all diplomatic missions in Dar-esSalaam, followed up by a letter from East Africa Community SecretaryGeneral Juma Mwapachu, encouraging resident ambassadors to seek accreditation to the EAC. I expressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton my view that the East African Community had developed into an effective regional body pursuing ambitious plans that have the
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My appointment as ambassador to the EAC represents US
support for the implementation of regional policies that promote the well-being and advancement of the peoples of this region
potential of significantly increasing prosperity and opportunity for millions of East Africans. I suggested that my government seeks accreditation. In April, Secretary Clinton nominated me to serve as Ambassador to the EAC, pending agreement by the EAC SecretaryGeneral and simultaneous with my office as American Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania. In May, Mwapachu kindly granted the request for my accreditation. We believe that the EAC will bring greater prosperity and security to the people of this region. The United States and the EAC already have co-operated on defence, aviation security and trade development projects. We have had a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in place with the EAC
Q: What will be your role as the US ambassador to the EAC? A: The EAC belongs to its member states. Building roads, harmonising regulations, reducing tariffs, etc. are accomplished at the national level. The EAC coordinates, but action is carried out by member states. The United States is a key partner of all the EAC member states bilaterally. Therefore, among my tasks as ambassador to the EAC is to facilitate community-related communication between the EAC and the five United States missions in the five EAC member states. We want our bilateral efforts to support regional goals. My appointment as ambassador to the EAC represents US support for the implementation of regional policies that promote the well-being and advancement of the peoples of this region. Our engagement and future and ongoing activities are likely to expand as the EAC further develops. Q: What is the position of the US Government on the forthcoming General Elections in Tanzania mainland and on the islands? Are you happy with preparations for the elections? A: We are watching the Tanzanian political process with great interest. Tanzania has a good track record in the management of its national elections, which have generally been free and peaceful. We expect that record to continue in October. We strongly support a process in which the wananchi determine their political leadership in a democratic,
•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
peaceful and honest fashion. We do not support any particular party, as it is not our business to do so. Tanzania’s lively media have an important role in informing the electorate about political events, politicians, and proposed policies. On Zanzibar, I will be frank: Zanzibar cannot afford another controversial, violent election. We have long called for Zanzibar’s leaders to champion peaceful, constructive and fair politics so that no Zanzibari feels permanently excluded from having a voice in government and no Zanzibari need fear political reprisal. But, Orton, I am an optimist when it comes to Zanzibar, I really am. I’ll repeat what I said in an op-ed published back in January: “...let 2010 be the year of Zanzibar’s reconciliation. With renewed and vigorous leadership, with patience and charity from the people, let the conduct of the 2010 elections make all citizens of the United Republic of Tanzania proud.” That is what I pray for. Q: What are some of the areas of cooperation and collaboration between the US and Tanzania that you are upbeat about? A: The United States Mission to Tanzania promotes a democratic, wellgoverned, prosperous, healthy and secure Tanzania. I will proudly list our goals, programmes and priorities in Tanzania. They are as follows: Accountable Democratic Governance, Efficient Service Delivery: We support Tanzanian institutions to improve governance, counter corruption and enhance delivery of services; Prosperity & Food Security: We work with Tanzanian partners to foster sustained economic growth through transport, energy and water infrastructure; debt management; natural resource management; improved business and investment cli-
PULLING TOGETHER:
EAC heads of state during the 10th anniversary commemoration
The United States and the EAC already have
co-operated on defence, aviation security and trade development projects
mate; increased credit access; food security; and quality education. We promote poverty reduction through economic growth generated by empowering women to ensure their full participation in and benefit from Tanzania’s social and economic advancement. We invest in agriculture to grow Tanzania’s staple food supply for greater food security and nutrition. We invest in road, water and energy infrastructure to lower the cost of agricultural production and marketing. We champion U.S.-Tanzanian trade and seek to expand American business presence in Tanzania; Quality Education: We improve the quality of lower primary education by targeting reading, maths and science in Grades 1–4 with support for teacher training and education policy and management, especially among underserved communities. We improve educational opportunities in secondary schools, especially for girls, through scholarships and working with the Tanzanian government to ensure that all secondary students have access to quality textbooks. We improve the quality of higher education by funding advanced degrees for health care professionals to address the severe shortage of trained
health workers, and by offering fellowships for graduate degrees in the United States; A Healthy Nation: We work with Tanzanian partners to improve the nation’s health by addressing HIV/ AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, and other major health concerns. We collaborate with the Health Ministry to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality; Region at Peace: We assist Tanzania to bring its capabilities and influence to bear on resolving conflicts in Africa and beyond. This includes capacity building (peacekeeping) and policy dialogue (refugee issues, foreign policy consultations, etc.). We contribute to Tanzanian peacekeeping capacity through military education and training; and, Secure Nation: We work with government and civil society to address transnational challenges such as violent extremism and criminal activities, including illicit trafficking in persons, arms and drugs; piracy; banditry; money laundering; and financial fraud. We promote security through building Tanzanian capacity to detect and obstruct these threats by furthering our partnerships with Tanzania’s security agencies, particularly as concerns protecting Tanzania’s borders. We support American visitors and residents. The safety of the 3,000strong American community is a vital concern. We provide prompt, courteous adjudication of visa requests, facilitating legitimate travellers and barring illegitimate ones. Q: What lessons can Tanzania learn from the US in its bid to overcome the challenges of poverty and under-development? A: Competition in both the economic and political arenas produces the best range of choices for citizens. Progress arises from the cumulative
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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
free choices of the citizenry. A company with no competitors can still sell poor quality products at high prices. A company with many competitors would soon go out of business if it tried to do the same. Similarly, a politician who knows he will keep his office no matter how he performs has no incentive to produce good results for his constituents. If he starts out with good intentions, those intentions may not last, especially if he surrounds himself with praise singers and sycophants. Our chief lesson for Tanzania is that the legal and political system must provide the wananchi with real choice and their collective decisions must reign supreme. Tanzania also has a great lesson for my country. It took us many years
of conflict and reconciliation to arrive at a certain degree of social harmony among the various groups that make up the American people. While in my lifetime I have witnessed great progress in that regard, we still have not reached the level of national unity that Tanzanians have enjoyed since shortly after your independence. We have a lot to learn from Tanzania. Finally, Tanzanians and Americans should continually seek ways to learn from history so that we are not bound to repeat many of its past mistakes. Q: What is your relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation? How do you relate to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Bernard Membe? How do
you relate to President Jakaya Kikwete? A: As an ambassador, I have multiple roles. I am the personal representative of President Obama to President Kikwete. I also represent Secretary of State Clinton to her counterpart, Foreign Minister Membe. All official communications between our two governments pass through our respective foreign ministries. In addition, I lead all other United States government departments and agencies operating in Tanzania. In that capacity, I also work closely with certain other Tanzanian ministries. Outside government-to-government channels, I promote good relations between private Americans and Tanzanians
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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
Breast-feeding Good For Mum and Child BY RITA NJOROGE
T
o the typical urban, urbane and upwardly mobile woman, her breasts are the ultimate symbol of feminine beauty and not
much else. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which says breast milk holds the power to unlock thousands of child deaths . “Breastfeeding is today the single most effective preventive intervention for improving the survival and health of children. It is estimated that more than 1 million deaths in children under the age of five could be prevented every year with the improvement of breastfeeding practices,” the 2010 WHO Secretariat Report on Infant and Young Child Nutrition (May 2010) says. In its World Health Statistics Report for 2009 WHO included poor infant feeding practices among preventable risks. The role of WHO is to work with partners to advocate breastfeeding at all times, including during the World Breast Feeding Week. Breastfeeding has numerous benefits for both baby and mother. This includes composition of perfect nutrients at the correct temperatures, is easily digested, protects against infection and as food security. To the mother, breastfeeding helps in bonding and development, helps delay a new pregnancy, protects the mothers’ health and gives the mother emotional satisfaction. Others are psychological such as bonding and emotional security of the child. According to an influential review by Agency for Health and Research Quality, breastfeeding also contributes to better performance in intelligence tests, increased confidence and love
which enhances child development, promotion of child survival and reduction of risks such as obesity. Breast milk provides food security for millions of children even in extremely difficult situations. For optimum benefit, a baby needs to be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months before a mother embarks on appropriate complementary foods thereafter but continuing breastfeeding for up to 2 years is recommended. Breastfeeding rates are lowest in Kenya compared with other East African countries, with Rwanda having the highest rate. Kenya tends to lag behind because of lack of information on the benefits and absence of support from health workers for mothers. Mothers lack support especially to deal with issues such as engorged breasts, cracked nipples and inadequate milk. Other issues which complicate the problem range from cultural taboos such as discarding the first milk (colostrums) because they think it is ‘bad’, giving of herbs as the first feeds to the baby, lack of support from males, inadequate maternal nutrition, fear in HIV positive women and inadequate maternity leave. This year’s theme is ‘Just 10 steps: The baby Friendly way’. The Ten Steps were developed by WHO/UNICEF and were first published in 1989 as the Joint Statement on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding. The Innocenti Declaration in 1990 called upon the world to fully implement the Ten Steps in all maternities by 1995. Twenty
CUDDLE AND SUCKLE:
WHO is making a strong pitch for breastfeeding
years later, more than 152 countries have baby-friendly hospitals that have implemented the 10 steps. The 10 steps to successful breastfeeding include having a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff, training all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy, informing all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. Others include showing mothers how to breastfeed, how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants, giving newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated, practising “rooming in” that allows mothers and infants to remain together for 24 hours a day and encouraging breastfeeding on demand
•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis
PLEBISCITE
Southern Sudan Not for Secession, says Envoy With the referendum only 6 months away, the country is at a crossroads but as JANE MWANGI writes, unity appears to be the principal affirmation
S
udan is on the threshold of a new era. In slightly over half a year, the country will vote for either going the unity way of having the South secede from the north. But Sudanese ambassador to Kenya Majok Guandong says that he stands for peace. “In the upcoming January 9 referendum we are encouraging dialogue among the Sudanese whilst promoting peace and tolerance.” The ambassador holds that civic education which is now in its infancy is being looked upon to create awareness in order for the people to know why and what they are voting for. “We stand for peace and this can only be done by making unity attractive through emphasising our common history, culture and way of life,” he said. He lauded the strides made thus far - alluding to the five and a half years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nairobi whose implementation has been on course. “It is only the CPA that will help us address the causes of the war between the North and South.” Diversity in all aspects, he says, has been enshrouded in both the CPA and Interim National Constitution which guarantee the basic human rights, freedoms and democratic governance. “Today we have freedom of speech, association and expression for all the people of Sudan and is not only limited to the southerners or
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REFERENDUM:
Sudanese Ambassador to Kenya Majok Guandong
northerners,” he said. Since coming into office in 2007, the envoy has been on the frontline preaching the need to inculcate the culture of peace and tolerance. He has advocated the need to move forward in an open and transparent debate. But the ambassador feels that separation (secession) would be bad for the southerners. His call is for unity of the Sudan. He, however, spoke out on the Darfur war, seeking to assuage sentiments that its genesis was a result of resource conflict. “One thing that people need to know is that the fight was for cultural identity and not resources. The people of Sudan should cement the common bond that unites us,” he stresses. The government of President AlBashir is said to have committed itself to the full implementation of the CPA and the ambassador sees this as a better way of not only bringing the people together but also saving the Sudan. DEBATE
“We are creating a database during each trip we set out on in order
to establish the number of people who are eligible to vote come the January referendum”
“It is our right to carry out the debate and accept the viewpoint of one another.” And it is in setting this debate in motion that the Kenyan chapter of the Sudanese Students Union held a forum dubbed, “The regional view of the referendum” in Nairobi last month. Previous fora have been held in Australia and Egypt. Former Federal Minister of Health and member of the SPLM political bureau, Dr Tabitha Botros, said at the forum: “We have a historic role to
play and this critical period demands that we all come together.” Some countries, she said, have had wars after separation, “we do not want that.” She pointed out that the last 21 years of war had destroyed many lives and stalled the country’s development. “We need to build back the bridges of confidence amongst us.” Many Sudanese nationals are taking a pro-active approach in determining the outcome of the referendum. Among these is a group of budding Sudanese university students studying at Kenyan universities who launched a civil society organisation dubbed, ‘My Referendum for Freedom’ in Australia back in 2009. The main objective is to create awareness about the upcoming referendum and educating Sudanese voters residing in and outside the country on their rights. According to the leader of the group, Jerome Kumbo, their aim is to target every Sudanese national in the Diaspora and urge them to vote; so far they have carried out civic education in Eldoret and Karatina as well as Daadab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya. “We are creating a database during each trip we set out on in order to establish the number of people who are eligible to vote come the January referendum.” The people of Sudan indeed have a mammoth undertaking. Should the south choose to split from the North, the two sides will have to negotiate over some fundamental issues like oil and nationality
•INDUSTRY NEWS Products & Services
The New Jameson Campaign Hits the Road
P
ernod Ricard has kicked off a vibrant campaign for Jameson Irish whiskey, one of the World’s leading whiskey brands and the fastest growing spirits brand in Kenya. The Jameson campaign is being co-ordinated through Kenyan Partner Viva Productline and is titled “Triple distilled, twice as smooth”. It targets 25 to 34-year-old men who enjoy socialising with friends and family. Remaining true to Jameson’s unique relaxed and confident style, the campaign aims at conveying the message of Jameson’s unmatched smoothness due to triple distillation, reinforcing Jameson’s credentials as a premium, iconic and contemporary spirit, without losing its appeal to more traditional drinkers. The campaign is further supported with trade promotions and carried in selected monthly consumer magazines. It is also aimed at converting existing whiskey drinkers to Jameson and creating more brand awareness. The new campaign will see significant and overt brand building and promotion of the Jameson Irish Whiskey range in the country. For Viva, having the Jameson brand in their stable is key as it offers the Kenyan whiskey consumers a quality choice. “Jameson is a quality product with a rich history and tradition - the campaign blends this heritage with Jameson’s credentials as an accessible, versatile and mixable whiskey that’s always at the heart of every
occasion,” says Rupen Samani, CEO Viva Pruoductline, an industry veteran with nearly a decade of experience in sales, brand development and marketing of premium beverages. MORE ABOUT JAMESON
Jameson is one of the great names in Irish whiskey. It is triple distilled from barley in copper pots. It matures in sherry butts, bourbon barrels and port pipes. Jameson is produced by John Jameson & Son in Midleton Single Distillery, County Cork, Ireland. It has a 40% alc/ volume (80 proof) and its profile reflects the blending techniques which render the complexity of the whiskey. Jameson is a reliable, popular whiskey that can be found almost anywhere. It has a flavourful, smooth character that is ideal for offee and mixed drinks as in Irish coffee Irish whiskey. This makes it a delightful sipper for the robust whiskey connoisseur and a pleasant cocktail ingredient. nge of Jameson comes in a range blended whiskies. Its currentt offerey, the ey ings are Jameson Irish whiskey, flagship, entry-level blended offerrve v , a ing and Jameson Gold Reserve, slightly stronger blend which offers d vanilla va anilla a more pronounced oak and tion n into profile. It is a good introduction d d the world of premium Irish blended whiskies. There is also the Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve, a blend of hich of20-23 year old whiskies which nd a truly uly fers an unparalleled taste and classic whiskey.
Pernod Ricard is the worldwide coleader of the global spirits and wine industry. The company is primarily focused on premium spirits (the high-margin segment of the industry), and has leading premium brands in all key spirits categories. Their spirit brands include ABSOLUT® vodka, Beefeater® Gin, Chivas Regal® Scotch Whisky, Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky, Jameson® Irish Whiskey, Kahlúa® Coffee Liqueur, Malibu® Flavoured Rum, Martell® Cognac, The Glenlivet® Single Malt Scotch Whisky Havana Club Cuban Rum, Olmeca Tequila, Pernod and Ricard Anis. Their wines and champagnes brands include Jacob’s Creek® from Australia, Brancott Estate® from New Zealand, G.H. Mumm™ champagne and Perrier Jouët® champagne from France. For more information about Pernod Ricard visit our website, www. pernod-ricard.com. ABOUT VIVA
Within a period of 10 years, Viva has become one of the leading wines and spirits agents in the region. It imp ports wines and spirits from Spain, South S Africa, Italy, Chile and France. V Viva started its operations in 2001. S Since then it has expanded its netw work across the country, and the East Af African region. It gives customers co convenience and flexibility in terms of accessing products. Viva is also pro of the fact that in all the transproud acti actions they provide secure ways to plac an order, satisfying customer place need on time. needs In the 2009 survey of Kenya’s Top 10 00 mid-sized companies, Viva re100 ce ceived an award among the top 100 co companies. The survey was an initiativ of KPMG Kenya to identify Ketive ny yas fastest grow nya’s growing medium sized co ompanies in ord companies order to showcase busine ess excellence ness ww ww.vivaproduct www.vivaproductline.com August 2010
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•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth
UN HABITAT
Juggernaut of Urbanisation Spawning Slums in Africa With half the world’s population living in cities, and with this projected to rise by 70 per cent by 2050, it is feared that some 2 billion people are likely to reside in substandard housing and slums, writes JANE MWANGI
T
he outgoing Director of UN-Habitat Dr Anna Tibaijuka said in a recent interview with the UN News Centre that just over half the world now lives in cities but by 2050, over 70 per cent of the world’s people will be urban dwellers. By then, only 14 per cent of the people in rich countries and 33 per cent in poor ones will live outside cities. It is in light of this situation that the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out “to make significant improvement in
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the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers”, a paltry 10 per cent, given that the world already has 1 billion slum dwellers. In addition, the target has been reached by only a few countries – China and India - which have improved the lives of 125 million slum dwellers. Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia remain shackled by the slum menace. And the number of slum dwellers in the developing world has shot up in the last 10 years to an estimated 827.6 million in 2010, adding some 55 million new residents to the global figure.
The world urban campaign, dubbed ‘Better
City, Better Life’, seeks to promote a vision of sustainable urbanisation
The Millennium Declaration that saw UN member states pledge to achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020 and to halve the figure by 2015 is a pipe dream in a majority of Third World countries. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of slums. The world urban campaign, dubbed ‘Better City, Better Life’, seeks to promote a vision of sustainable urbanisation. This ‘new kid on the block’ aims to celebrate innovations for sustainable urbanisation, rec-
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•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth
ognising stories of change of cities around the globe, listening to urban voices and what people are doing to improve city life. The components of the vision include access to housing, land, infrastructure, basic services and finance. The initial test phase on the selected 100 cities will culminate in a 100 Cities Summit in 2011 after which the platform will be open to broader participation. UN-Habitat reported that the city of Wujin in China has become the first Chinese city to join “The 100 Cities Initiative for Sustainable Urbanisation”. UN-Habitat’s state of the world cities report attempts to bridge the urban divide by starting with 100 best cities in the world and then proclaim their ideas to burgeon the word to more and more cities in order to multiply to 1,000 cities and beyond. URBANISATION
UN-Habitat in its bi-annual flagship report, The State of the World’s Cities 2010 themed Bridging the Urban Divide, says that the ‘shock’ of rapid, irreversible urbanisation catches many cities unprepared, especially in the developing world. The trickle-down effect between the opulent milieu vis-a-vis slums still remains elusive, more so in the developing counties with populations ranging from under 10,000 in Africa to about half a million in Latin America. Growing numbers of people are living in slums without power, water, sanitation, health access or other basic services. The broad dynamics is fourfold – economic, social, political and cultural – the report says. Indeed, in spite of the Millennium Development Goals set by world leaders, even if deemed to be farsighted in a bid to liberate a major fraction of humankind from the
fetters of extreme poverty, illiteracy and disease - time remains to be the main assessment of their realisation. As UN Secretary-General Ban KiMoon famously articulates, “in short, they adopted a blueprint for a better world – and pledged to spare no effort in fulfilling that vision. While the world has reason to celebrate, there is no room for complacency.” In his introduction to the MDG’s report 2009, Ban Ki-Moon states that despite the progress achieved, the world and its leaders cannot afford to turn their backs on the poor. On her part, Tibaijuka seems to echo the same sentiments: “The urban divide stands out as one of the major paradoxes – some would say scandals - of this early 21st Century. Today’s urban divide is largely an outcome of the biases and inadequacies of the three main tiers of government – central, local and municipal.” The World Cities Summit 2010, organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), in Singapore in July 2010, under the theme Livable and Sustainable Cities for the Future focused on the challenges related to urban planning, infrastructure financing, public housing, waste management, urban biodiversity and climate change. It attracted 25 ministers, as well as 45 mayors and governors from 20 countries, including China and Australia. The summit reinforced the fact that 227 million people have moved out of slum conditions since 2000, against the backdrop of challenges posed by rapid urbanisation, the financial crisis and climate change. UN-Habitat’s move towards combating urban poverty in Eastern and Southern Africa is further bolstered under a programme that seeks to assist member states to realise Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 11, also known as the “Cities without
Slums” target: by strengthening institutional arrangements, building partnerships, supporting improvement of conditions of people living and working in slums in select cities in Eastern and Southern Africa. INFRASTRACTURE
STATS &FACTS The summit reinforced the fact that
227 million people have moved out of slum conditions since 2000, against the backdrop of challenges posed by rapid urbanisation, the financial crisis and climate change
Unplanned settlements, which host between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of the total urban population in the region, lack basic services and infrastructure, including adequate water, sanitation and roads. In the case of northern Uganda, which is still making the transition back to normal life after two decades of conflicts that displaced up to 2 million people, upbeat progress is visible in urbanisation. An unknown but significant number of displaced people have settled in the major urban centres, particularly around the towns of Gulu, Kitgum and Lira. UNHabitat work in northern Uganda has its focus on helping communities meet the huge demand for new housing, to recover from the scars of conflict, and to help populations adapt to urbanisation in environmentally sustainable, economically productive and socially inclusive ways. In early 2010, UN-Habitat constructed 64 teachers’ houses at 16 rural schools in the District of Lira. Dar-es-Salaam City Council and the three municipalities of Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke are taking comprehensive steps to address the challenges of unplanned and unserviced settlements on a citywide basis, working with the urban poor and the private sector with a goal to achieving a Dar- es-Salaam without slums by 2015. The project is a partnership between CIDA, French Co-operation, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UN-Habitat and World Bank and will cost $770,000
August 2010
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•PICTORIAL Lights•Camera•Action
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234th AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY JULY 4 1. MUSICALLY SPEAKING: German ambassador Margit Hellwig-Boette with Kenyan celebrity couple Eric Wainaina and wife Sheba Hirst 2. GOOD TO SEE YOU: The Sudanese ambassador to Kenya, Mr Majok Guandong has a warm handshake with Esther Passaris of Adopt a Light 3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: US ambassador Michael Rannerberger gives his speech during the 234 years of America's independence 4. CATCHING UP: Ambassadors Zdravko Bisic of Serbia and Chage D'affaires of Romania catch up on news at the event 5. LOOK WHO's HERE: Former President Moi (right) with PR guru Gina Din Kariuki and Coperative Development Minister Joseph Nyaga were not left behind 6. AMERICA'S DAUGHTER: Elizabeth Rannerberger with US Marines
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CULTURAL EVENTS ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF CULTURE The Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents an exhibition of paintings ” Back from Italy ” with Kivuthi Mbuno, Justus Kyalo Mutisya, Stanlaus Shake Makelele, Ash Uman at the Italian Institute of Culture. Venue: ‘Michelangelo Hall Date: Thursday 26th August 2010 at 6.30pm runs till 8th September Entrance free Refreshments will be served The exhibition 2010 will be Open daily from 10.30am to 6pm. 1
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THE GODOWN ARTS CENTRE The Nubian Photographic Exhibition July 17th-August 14th at 2pm By Greg Constantine - Partnering with the UNHCR. The exhibition shall portray the statelessness and the denial of citizenship on Nubians in Kenya with rare historical photographs and documents from their personal collections.
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE Art: Unveiling Africa exhibition August 10th-31st Free Entry An exhibition of paintings, portraits and steel art by Philip Ondik, Boniface Maina and Mathew Owino 3
Three young artists come together in an exhibition that aims to unveil the positive side of the African continent. Using warm, vibrant colours, Philip Ondik’s art represents the Nilotic cultures of East Africa. He has recently returned from New Zealand where he exhibited in several galleries. Boniface Maina’s painting style is a combination of expressionism and surrealism. He portrays women to symbolize emotions and feelings in his paintings. Mathew Owino’s portraits are inspired from African doctrines and the connection between man and nature.
ART: PEOPLE: PORTRAIT PAINTING EXHIBITION
BELGIUM NATIONAL DAY JULY 21 1. HAPPY: Czech ambassador Margita Fuchsova with Spanish ambassador Nicolas Martin Cinto share a light moment at the Belgium National Day 2. LOOKING AHEAD: Eric van der Linden, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in a reflective mood with Dutch ambassador Laeititia Van den Assum
August 10th-31st 3. TETE-A-TETE: Chines e ambassador Deng Hongbo with Argentine ambassador Daniel Chuburu
Free Entry An exhibition of portrait paintings by Benjamin Vasapolli.
4. ALLIES: Excellencies Tony Msimanga of South Africa and Daniel Chuburu of Argentina
Benjamin Vasapolli has travelled widely in Africa,
5. ADDRESS: Belgium ambassador to Kenya Igor Haustrate delivers a speech during the National Day celebrations
he travels he captures the peoples of the nations
South America, Australia and Oceania. Everywhere with his Acrylic on canvas style.
August 2010
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•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity CAPITAL CENTRE
Bretton Woods Gives Africa the Thumbs up DEA Correspondent JOHN MULAA reports from Washington DC that senior African managers at the World Bank and IMF are unusually upbeat about Africa’s economic prospects and explains why they should be
T
he World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are gung-ho, almost gaga, about Africa’s economic prospects. In the past half year, they have issued a steady stream of positive assessments about the continent’s future, a sharp departure from a time when the two institutions and other development partners were forefront purveyors of what was commonly known as Afro-pessimism. Leading the good news brigade is a band of senior African managers at the two institutions, particularly at the World Bank. Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was in full throttle optimistic mode when she gave an address at the Harvard Kennedy School mid May this year. In a sunny speech titled “What is the Big Idea? Africa as the next “BRIC” she rhapsodised Africa’s prospects. In case you do not know what BRIC stands for it is an acronym for the fast growing and transforming economies of Brazil, (no R does not stand for Rwanda) Russia, India and China. What region, she posed introductorily, has a trillion dollar economy, has grown faster than Brazil and India between 2000 and 2010 in nominal dollar terms and is projected by the IMF to grow faster than Brazil between 2010 and 2015? Few could have guessed answer, which happens to be sub-Saharan Africa.
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Here are the minutiae of this happy picture. Sub-Saharan African real Gross Domestic Product growth rose from 3.4 per cent per year over the six years 1996 to 2001 to 5.2 per cent per year in the period 20022008. The region’s median inflation rate in the mid-2000s was about half what it was in the mid-1990; foreign exchange reserves including gold increased more than 300 per cent from $37 billion in 2001 to $154 billion in 2008; and net Foreign Direct Investment flows doubled from $14 billion in 2001 to $34 billion in 2008.
devastating economic shocks, both domestic and international. Against expectations and amidst gloomy prognostications, the continent bounced back from the immediate financial shock that drove its growth to about 1 per cent in 2009 to the current 4 per cent. POLICIES
POLITICS
What accounts to this positive panorama? Good housekeeping and husbandry that is what. Politically the continent is maturing and shifting to governance systems that encourage rather than stifle growth. Autocratic regimes in Africa have been giving way like dominoes to more democratic arrangements. For holdouts, it is only a matter of time before they fall in line. The security situation has markedly improved: there are fewer conflicts on the continent despite the headline creating domestic and regional depredations by Somalia’s al-Shabaab (the youth). Battle deaths across the continent have reduced substantially The one crucial economic fact about the emerging Africa is its demonstrated resilience in the face of
The region’s median inflation rate in the mid2000s was about
half what it was in the mid-1990
If nothing else, the reaction of African officialdom to the crisis demonstrates they are serious about sticking to sound policies in order to deliver growth and tackle poverty. Almost two-thirds of African economies have implemented economic reforms are varying rates of depth, but reform is the default position right now on the contnent. Even as she painted this realistically sanguine picture of Africa’s present and future, Ngozi was careful to infuse in her assessment dollops of caution to highlight how far Africa still has to go in order to join the ranks of fast developing and poised for take-off economies in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. Several things hobble Africa’s valiant strides to somewhere. The continent’s infrastructure is woeful, which directly affects competitiveness. Consider. Kenya factory floor productivity is just about the same as China’s, but Kenyan firms are burdened by a 40 percent cost disadvantage because of indirect costs.
Second is volatility and its management stemming from domesticeconomicmismanagement of the kind Kenya suffered during Daniel arap Moi’s long reign. “African countries must take responsibility for internally-driven sources of volatility emanating from bad policy, social conflict, and institutional weakness in the fiscal, financial and judicial sectors,” Ngozi counsels. EDUCATION
Third, is the failure of continent’s education systems to deliver quality education to children and youth, and yes adults continuing their education after a break. Here the outlook is decidedly not good. Listen to Ngozi: “Questions are [being] raised about the quality of the education now being provided. New tests show that in Mali, 94 per cent of Grade 2 students cannot read a single word; in Uganda, half of Grade 3 students fail this simple test.” The situation is not different in Kenya.
Despite these shortfalls, the general mood about Africa is positive. What is more the World Bank has embarked on a series of consultations in several African countries, a process designed to inform the Bank’s Africa Action Plan. To date meetings have been held in 26 African countries as well as in France, Germany and Denmark. Between June 1 and June 10 this year, consultative meetings were held in South Africa, Ethiopia, Senegal and Nigeria involving several hundred representatives of the private sector, civil society, government, academia and the media. All this hubbub of activities obviously pleases the World Bank’s Africa Region Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili, Ngozi’s former cabinet colleague in Nigeria where she held the education portfolio. She and the Region’s chief Economist Shanta Devarajan are literally reading from the same script in their optimistic assessments.
An Op-ed by Obiageli touting good news about Africa’s performance and prospects might appear in say a newspaper in Madagascar. Shanta will likely re-purvey the message through the World Bank web broadcasts. The essential points made by both are the following: Africa’s economic growth rate is perking up and is widespread; Poverty is declining and child mortality rates as well is the incidence of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS are on downward trajectory; Mobile telephony has penetrated the continent at an amazing speed and it is being put to good economic use; and, finally, African policy makers continue to pursue prudent macroeconomic policies and growth. “ These positive developments mean that Africa’s growth momentum can be sustained and accelerated, and the deep problems solved, if there are adequate resources and a vigorous open debate on how to use these resources more
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GLOBAL THREAT
Alarm Over Population Boom Some 149 human beings born every minute spell doom for mother earth By PATRICK WACHIRA
T
HE world marked the UN-designated World Population Day on July 11 on the threshold of an increasing spectre of humans outstripping resources by the next generation. The population of the world grows at a staggering 6.461million per month! That is 215, 382 people per day, 8,974 people per hour or 149 people per minute! Put another way, by the time you read this article, in say 10 minutes, some 1,490 women will have given birth. UNFPA official Urmila Singh: “The global population will reach 7 billion next year. This will place tremendous pressure on demand for food, housing, water and sanitation. Therefore, governments need to be able to gather information, and track, disseminate and analyse population trends in order to create and manage
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sound policies and generate the political will to address current and future needs.” UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said the theme “Everyone Counts” speaks to the inherent value and dignity of each human being. In Asia, when censuses and surveys identified sex-ratio imbalances and missing girls, governments responded, the media reported extensively on the disturbing trends and people were rallied to action. By a similar vein, she said, in Europe, policy debate heated up when data analysis examined the levels of replacement immigration needed to counteract declining and ageing populations. “Censuses and surveys provide critical data to guide plans, policies and programmes to meet people’s needs and improve their lives. This data is crucial as we strive for
STATS &FACTS And top of the world agenda must be the
United States, the only remaining superpower, which boasts of hosting 5 per cent of the world population
universal access to education, HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, and reproductive health and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” she said. UNFPA actively supports countries in conducting censuses, which she describes as central to its mandate to reduce poverty and ensure “every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect”. Obaid has also welcomed the news that the governments of the world’s largest eight economies had committed to the Mushoka Initiative to promote maternal, newborn and child health. “UNFPA strongly supports the Initiative’semphasisonstrengthening health systems, expanding sexual and reproductive health services, includingfamilyplanning,addressing gender inequality and promoting the human rights of girls and women.” CENSUS
It is against this backdrop that censuses are being carried out in many parts of the world, mainly as a way of identifying population and migration trends, birth rates and use of amenities in different sections of the populations. India, one of the most populated regions, began a census of its billionplus population in April in and it plans to photograph and finger print every citizen over the age of 15 to create a national database. For the first time, the people will get national
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identity cards. The exercise will take a year, owing to the immense logistical nightmare that it will be. Picture this: about 2.5 million census officials will visit some 630,000 villages and 5,000 cities targeting every structure. Its government has aptly called it the world’s largest administrative exercise. Further afield in Latin America, the Barbados Council for the Disabled (BCD) launched a peer education campaign to improve disabled youth’s awareness of sexual and reproductive health issues. Administration project officer for the BCD, Rose-Ann FosterVaughan lamented that “HIV/AIDS and other controllable sexual diseases have spread at an alarming rate.” BCD had partnered with the UNFPA to create a programme that would heighten awareness on the need for sexual reproductive education for disabled people. POPULATION
Still in July, Tanzania launched the “Don’t Kick Her, Kick a Ball”, campaign sponsored by the government, women’s rights advocates and UNFPA to address intimate partner violence. The campaign uses footballs printed with the slogan to carry the important message of non-violent relationships, according to Frederike Paul, Special Assistant to the UNFPA Country Representative. Another highly populated region, Pakistan, which has not had a census since 1998, had a population of 170 million in 2008, according to theWorld Bank. The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07, done by the National Institute of Population Studies, estimated that the population would explode to a staggering 450 million by 2050. Obviously, the birth rate of 1.9 per cent has to be reduced to replacement levels. China, the most populous state in the world (1.3 billion) and the second
largest by land area is an emerging military super power which also boasts the largest army on the globe (2.3 million soldiers). Accurate figures of the population are not available owing to large numbersofmigrantcommunitiesbut those relating to “stagnant” people have prompted the government to issue a one child policy. The principle has worked, by and large, especially in urban areas so that now the life expectancy is 73, up from 35 in 1949, but it is resisted in rural areas where labour is critical for agriculture to thrive. Only 10 per cent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Chinese development and civilisation has come at cost: 300 million of her people drink unsafe water and at least 400 out of 600 cities are reported to be short of the commodity. But it is in sub-Saharan Africa where demographic factors are at their most dramatic, with some of the poorest nations of the world striving to acquire the basics of survival alongside rich brothers in a conundrum of sorts. The population of sub-Saharan Africa was 800 million in 2007 and, with the current growth rate at 2.3 per cent the UN predicts a population of nearly 1.5 billion in 2050, not very far away. Over 40 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan countries is younger than 15 years, with the exception of South Africa, the largest economy in the region. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers a very high child mortality rate. Around 2002, one in six (17 per cent) children died before the age of five, by 2007 this rate had declined to one in seven (15 per cent). The leading cause of death was malaria, though civil strife, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS have also played a part in raising mortality
AFRICA PEER REVIEW MECHANISM In an effort to enhance quality of governance in Africa, the 6th Summit of the Heads of States and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) in 2003 adopted the MoU on the APRM and the ‘Declaration of Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance’. The Declaration committed participating states to promote adherence and fulfilment of its statutes. The Summit, in Durban, adopted a document setting out the stages of Peer Review and the principles by which it should operate. Accordingly, they undertook to work with renewed determination to enforce, among other things, the rule of law; the equality of all citizens before the law; individual and collective freedoms; the right to participate in free, credible and democratic political processes; and adherence to the separation of powers, including protection for the independence of the judiciary and the effectiveness of parliaments. APRM is open to all member states of the AU of which 16 members have voluntarily acceded at present including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic of Congo,Ethiopia,G abon,Mauritius,Ghana,Kenya,Mali,Mozambiq ue,Nigeria,Rwanda,Senegal,Republic of South Africa and Uganda. As of July 2008, 29 countries had formally joined the APRM APRM structures include: APR Forum which is the Committee of the Heads of State and Government APR Panel consisting of seven eminent persons of ‘high moral stature and demonstrated commitment to the ideals of Pan-Africanism APR Secretariat which provides ‘the secretarial, technical, coordinating and administrative support services Country review teams which enables an integrated, balanced, technically competent and professional assessment Civil society organisations
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FOOD MATTERS
So Many Hungers-Globally By PATRICK WACHIRA
I
n the last one year, the number of the hungry and undernourished has risen by an astronomical 100 million globally, creating a dire need to arrest the situation- pronto! According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) both of the United Nations, estimates indicate that for the first time since 1970, more than 1 billion people– one sixth of all of humanity – are hungry and undernourished worldwide. The two organisations contend that even before the food and economic crisis, hunger was on the upswing. “The World Food Summit target of reducing the number of undernourished people by half to no more than 420 million by 2015 will not be reached if the trends that prevailed before those crises continue,” says a report released last year. FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide as of 2009 and postulates that the increase in food insecurity is not a result of poor crop harvests but because high domestic food prices, lower incomes and increasing unemployment have reduced access to food by the poor. In other words, any benefits from falling world cereal prices have been overturned by the global economic downturn. In trying to cope with the burden of consecutive food and economic crises, poor people reduce their food varieties and spending on essential items such as education and health care. Faced with the crisis, households are forced to find ways to cope. Coping mechanisms involve undesirable but often unavoidable compromises, such as replacing more-nutritious
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food with less nutritious food, selling productive assets, withdrawing children from school, forgoing health care or education, or simply eating less. In WFP and FAO’s words, “these coping mechanisms were strained during the food crisis, and the poor will now be forced to draw on their meagre assets even more deeply, creating poverty traps and negatively affecting longer-term food security. Infant mortality is set to increase, with girls being more affected than boys. Indeed, increased investment in agriculture during the 1970s and 1980s helped reduce the number of undernourished. Rural non-farm sector must be developed in tandem with agriculture, which is another way out of poverty and food insecurity. FAO Director General Jacques Diouf and WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, say that past economic crises led to declines in public investment in agriculture. Yet, they say, “There is no greater engine for driving growth and reducing poverty and hunger than investing in agriculture. “Despite the difficult global economic conditions, support to
FAO estimates that 1.02 billion
people are undernourished worldwide as of 2009 and postulates that the increase in food insecurity is not a result of poor crop harvests
agriculture should not be reduced. Indeed, it must be increased. A healthy agriculture sector, combined with a growing non-farm economy and effective safety nets and socialprotection programmes, including food safety nets and nutritionassistance programmes, is a proven way to eradicate poverty and food insecurity. Household food security is the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals within households as the focus of concern. In the last 20 years, the number of the undernourished has risen despite the benefits of a slower population growth caused in part by declining Official Development Assistance (ODA). Sadly, Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most food-insecure region, the report says. Average calorie intake barely exceeds the daily requirement of 2 100 kcal, and is by far the lowest in the world. Many countries in this region do not have an adequate supply of food, and income inequality exacerbates the problem. Since 1990, sub-Saharan Africa has demonstrated the highest growth in grain production – 2.8 per cent per year – but this growth has been almost negated by the region’s high population growth of 2.7 per cent per year (compared with less than 1.5 per cent in the other regions). Nearly 90 per cent of the production growth in sub-Saharan Africa over the last two decades is attributable to area expansion as the region’s yields are the lowest in the world, at about one-third of the global average. This means that most countries are far from their maximum technical potential for growing crops
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BRIC'S ROLL-OUT
Brazil Embraces Africa In Radical Policy Shift By JANE MWANGI
T
he six-nation African tour by out-going Brazilian President Lula Da Silva is widely viewed as a shift to deepening monetary, technical and commercial ties with the world’s emerging economic powerhouses popularly known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China). These have recently emerged as key players in Africa’s trade and investment portfolio. The Brazilian leader, recently named the world’s most influential leader by Time magazine, because of his efforts in raising his country’s profile on the world stage, has travelled to 25 different African countries since he became president - a move aimed at improving relations with the cradle of mankind and a focal point of his foreign policy. He began his tour in Cape Verde, where he attended a meeting with the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), and laying emphasis on South-South relations. He then visited Equatorial Guinea before arriving in Kenya. While in Zambia he signed Memoranda of Understanding on food and nutritional security and humanitarian assistance aimed at implementing a US $200, 000 project called “Zero Hunger Zambia” together with the World Food Programme (WFP). Zambia and Brazil have also signed a visa exemption where
nationals from the two countries are exempted from visa requirements for a period not exceeding 90 days. Da Silva also travelled to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, where he met President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He also visited Tanzania and SouthAfrica. BOUQUET
The 65-year old, who has been at the helm since 2003, is the first Latin American president to visit East Africa. Speaking in Nairobi on his July 6 visit he said Brazil would not be what it is without help from Africans. Brazil owes a “historic debt” to Africa, largely due to the many Brazilians who are of African descent. Aid trade between Kenya and Brazil has increased six times between 2002 and 2009. “Now is the time for the challenge to diversify exports from Kenya to Brazil and to stimulate Brazilian investments in Kenya,” Da Silva said. He was accompanied by cabinet ministers and a business delegation keen on establishing partnerships and identifying business opportunities. The president said Brazilian construction companies were looking to build roads, ports and hydro-electric plants in Kenya. Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim signed five agreements that include allowing Kenyan students to join a university the Brazilian government
STATS &FACTS Aid trade between Kenya and Brazil has increased six times between 2002 and 2009
will build in its northeastern state of Ceara to train 5,000 African and 5,000 Brazilian students in varied fields. Brazil’s rendezvous with Africa leaders for the signing of multibillion commercial deals is further seen as a step towards establishing trading partners, viable sources of investment and a route to diversify policy. Following in the footsteps of India and China, the South American nation whose GDP is likely to grow between 6 per cent and 7 per cent in 2010 has a lot to offer in feeding the palates of struggling African economies. According to Goldman Sachs, Brazil is the leader among the BRICs in the Growth Environment Score (GES), an index used to measure the sustainability of a country’s growth. Brazil is basking in a torrent of economic growth that saw it regain its position in the first quarter of 2010 as the eighth largest economy in the world. It emerged as a global powerhouse in the production of cheap goods that require advanced technology such as generic drugs under Da Silva. His two terms have seen the number of those living in poverty fall from about 50 million to 30 million with more than half of all Brazilians now belonging to a lower middle class group. Brazil’s glory days are beckoning fast with all sights set on its scheduled hosting of the next soccer World Cup bonanza not to mention her being the host city to the 2016 Summer Olympics
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•WITH A LIGHT TOUCH Seriously Lighthearted
HUMOUR
How I almost Missed the Africa Union Summit By BALOZI DIPLOMACIA
F
ollowing the incident where I was roughed up by Joe Biden’s men-inblack, I have been cautious not to be over-enthusiastic when it comes to providing my protocol services to Minister Mambo wa Kigeni and the ministry of Foreign and Overseas Affairs in general. For, those across-the-Atlantic security men with bulging ambits would have actually dispatched me to the hereafter simply for my appetite and zeal to shake Joe’s hand and hopefully drop in a quick one for a green card, my ultimate passport to Uncle Sam’s land of milk and honey. For the better part of last month, I was in this state of acquiescence; arriving home before the 7.00 pm, like all responsible men of the house do. I was doing this with so much dedication, the airport incident providing the sobering background for the need for me to keep to my protocol job without overreaching or having delusions of grandeur. When His Excellency Minister Mambo wa Kigeni noticed my new found dedication, he even tipped me with 100 US dollars which immediately went into a hefty purchase for
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home provisions. Of course as a family that prays together and eats together, I took along my wife Angelica and our daughter Anampiu to the shopping mall. Asumpta, the tea-cum-porridgecum-juice girl even commended me for taking on a diplomatic mien when I told her ‘sorry’ after accidentally stepping on her in the ‘box’, which is how we call our tiny, hemmed in office that doubles up as the kitchenette. Rosalinda, the new secretary, began giving me leftovers of Mambo wa Kigeni’s meals (not a bad thing considering Mambo wa Kigeni hardly touched the meals brought to his office). The stern looking, unsmiling official driver-cum-gun-handling security man, Odhis Papa, took a major risk, taking advantage of Mambo wa Kigeni’s absence to drop me home in the official limousine. Mid last month however, His Excellency summoned me to his office and given the good manners I had exhibited lately, I was certain he would be promoting me to the position of third secretary that I had long coveted and even applied for. “Make arrangements for travel to Kasozi ka Impala”, His Excellency said in his usual curt manner.
“Eeer! Kasozi? His Excellency, I am sorry I don’t understand, please I request…” I stammered. “Of course, you do not know that Kampala is originally the grazing fields of Kabaka’s royal Impala”, he cut me short, eyeing me from above the rims of his spectacles. “I am, or, we are going for the African Union Summit. Prepare”, he concluded and I instantly realised the brief was that brief. As I walked back via the reception area, I noticed my swagger was back and I did not try to limit my bouncing gait. Rosalinda also noticed the illumination on my face, but before he could say anything, I cockily told him: “Off too Kampala we go baby”. At the box, I ordered Asumpta to make me a cup of coffee with a lot of milk, filling her in that I was off to Kasozi. “Now what has gone to your head? Old habits die hard. What is Kasozi?” she asked. MEETING
I do not provide free education. A cup of coffee!” I ordered with superior intonation. She obliged and I told her that I was off to Kampala for the AU meeting. Next, I went to the parking lot and told Odhis Papa to make sure the limousine was ready the following day to deliver the minister to the airport. I left no doubt in him as to who was boss, for which he gave me a sadist glance, but did I care? The following day, I was at the airport with the break of dawn. His Excellency arrived one hour later and we started moving towards the clearance desk. The minister passed the screening machines express. Though I was immediately behind him, I was stopped apparently because I did not have a diplomatic passport. The security officers meticulously went through my hand luggage, literally
sniffing at everything and holding up my innerwear. Then one of them used a metal detector to thoroughly check my body, I mean every part of my anatomy. All this took over fifteen minutes, by the time they were through with me, I was livid with frustration. I took His Excellency’s briefcase and weighing my hand luggage on the either shoulder, I dashed for the VIP lounge. To my utter dismay and consternation, I saw the minister leave towards the aeroplane just as I made my way into the lounge. To make matters worse, the orderly at the lounge closed the door as soon as the minister had passed through it. I broke into a sweat and started explaining to the orderly my role and how I was linked to His Excellency. “Sorry”, he told me, “our new anti-terrorism rules say only assistant ministers; ambassadors and their seniors can use these facilities”. With this, he politely led me out of the lounge. I took to my heels headed for the common lounge, only to find another body and luggage check queue. I tried to jump the queue but the other passengers complained loudly and in unison, such that I went to the tail of the line. Just then, one of the security details called out my name and I proceeded to where he was standing. “You are just a hyena; the aeroplane is being delayed because of you. Were it not for the minister the aeroplane would have left without you. Come through, you troublesome man”, he ordered in crass Swahili, but I cared little about his belittling invectives. All that mattered was that I was going to make it for the trip – after all. Next month: A run in with Muamar Gadhafi’s Libyan security men at the AU Summit
PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME Watering Rwanda to greater heights
SILVA KIIR
Hoping for a split of Sudan with crossed fingers
Museveni’s Woes on the Upswing THE Commander in Chief of Uganda’s armed forces, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, his past life as a soldier notwithstanding, must be seething with anger. When it is not the dreaded Al Qaeda and their offspring Al Shabab exporting their kind of wry humour to Kampala and bombing some 76 innocent souls to oblivion, it is his security men trying to keep from his inner cordon security men guarding a man who foresees a United States of Africa through rather dark shades-read one Muammar Gadaffi. (You can safely say he takes a dim view of the world, quite literally!) During the heads of state conference in Kampala
last month, security men of the two extraordinary men engaged in a scuffle over what was later termed as an attempt by Gadaffi’s men to violate the territory of their host President, styled “cordon” in security lingo. Now, when gentlemen who are known to be crackshots and snipers, trained in VIP protection are engaged in a scuffle, there is more than just a punch-up and it poses serious questions, which we shall not ask here. Suffice it to say another scuffle had occurred in 2008, again pitting Lybian and Ugandan security men at another summit, again in Kampala, and again in similar circumstances...
Obama-Ahmadinejad TV Duel Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls on US presidents Barrack Obama to face him in a television one –on –one debate to see who has the best solutions for the world’s problems. “Towards the end of summer we will hopefully be there for the United Nation General Assembly and i will be ready for one- on- one talks with Mr. Obama in front of the media of course,” Ahmadinejad told a conference of Iranian expatriates in Tehran. “We will offer solution for the world’s issues to see whose solutions are better.” The proposal comes as Iran deals with a new wave of international sanctions driven by Washington
aimed at putting pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme. Ahmadenejad suggested such a debate last September, which was not taken up by Washington he said Obama predecessor, George W Bush, had declined similar invitation because he was “scared” Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful bid to produce electricity. But its uranium enrichment activities, a process which can have both civilian and military uses, has fed fears in some countries that it is trying to build a nuclear weapon. In his speech, the president mocked the sanctions and the potential for a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, an option the US and Israel say they do not rule out.
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•CULTURE REVIEWS•RAVES•REVUES•REPASTS REVIEWS•RAVES•REVUES•REPASTS
SHIMMERING SPLENDOUR
Lured by the Allure of Zanzibar Island is the ultimate melting pot of culture, civilisation and natural beauty By JOSEPH OJWANG’
T
he 2,460 odd kilometre square island known as Zanzibar has a greater aesthetic, cultural and racial mix than any other part of the African continent. This Indian Ocean island territory has known human occupation for 20,000 years going by the presence of Mesolithic tools. It is a melting pot of races, from black Africans to Arabs, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Europeans and others, majority of them fused by years of intermarriage into chocolate-coloured humans bonded by one great language, Kiswahili. Tourists of all colours pour in by their thousands to visit the historic sites dating back hundreds of years, adding to the island’s global mix. They come to see the ruins of palaces where the Sultans lived and ancient mosques and churches that
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played a crucial role in securing the freedom for slaves. While both the churches and mosques were built on slave labour, mosques glossed over the vice. This most widely spoken of African languages today is a palpable reflection of Zanzibar’s racial mix, drawing words from Arabic and Bantu dialects, Portuguese, German, English, French, Persian and others through contact during the last five or so centuries. The name Zanzibar is traced to Persian, largely of Shiraz origins in Iran who first settled on the Island around 975 AD (1,035), years ago. In Persian, Zangi means black and bar means land, hence Zanzibar (place of black people). Zangi was later to change to Zanzi with the occupation of people from other Arabian lands, which have no letter g in Arabic.
PARADISE FOUND:
Under water and above it , Zanzibar has plenty to offer all visitors
While Arabs chose to isolate themselves as a community by not inter-marrying with blacks who they preferred to exploit through rape, resulting in a few people with Arab/Bantu blood, the Shirazi Persians married freely with the locals, giving rise to a community with distinctive features not found on the mainland. So widespread was this intermarriage that Zanzibar’s first independence party was called Afro Shirazi as opposed to the Arab Umma Party. Shirazi Persians who chose not to intermarry retained their identity as a separate group, though in the minority. The discriminative and exploitative nature of the Arabs against Africans spawned the slave trade that turned the island into the epicentre of the business, bringing in Africans from the mainland as far afield
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as Mozambique, Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi. Male slaves sold into the Arab world were castrated to stop what was perceived to be “bad genes” from spreading. Many who failed to attract buyers were killed, but a few survived to work on clove plantations on the islands of Unguja and Pemba, nurturing their separate cultures, including languages that with time gave rise to Kiswahili. VARIETY
The many breeds of Africans drawn from far and wide are evident in Zanzibar where folks vary distinctly in colour, height and general appearance. The Arabs retained their racial purity to the chagrin of other groups until the post-independence revolution in 1964 when first President Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume instituted forced interracial marriages. Many Arab girls committed suicide as a result. Arabs remain a sizeable population on the island to this day. The overwhelming Arab influence means that religion is predominantly Muslim, estimated at 90 per cent. For the majority of the population; life, from birth to death, revolves around Islam. Mosques dot both Unguja and Pemba islands and prayer is a strictly five-times-aday ritual. So dominant is the Muslim culture that it has literally spilled over into the seven per cent Christian community who, like their Muslim compatriots, have separate pews for men and women in churches. Hindus form a paltry three per cent. One of the ancient Anglican churches has inscriptions above its door in Arabic. And how religion can influence a people! Women, as a rule, have their heads covered in veils while
others have their faces covered under the dark hijab to the extent that one can easily fail to recognise one’s own wife, mother or sister! Men, on their part, wear white, embroidered caps across the age divide. The visitor must brace to be awakened by the loud muezzin to prayer at 5.00 am every day. The crow of cocks is muffled by these routine calls. For a visitor from a non-Muslim society, the cultural shock is most dramatic in the toilets. Toilet paper is non-existent. Buckets of water are the vogue, accompanied by small tins, with which to draw the liquid after answering calls of nature. Woe unto you if you have reservations in that respect. Christians have adapted to “washing” in the toilet. Arab, Persian, Indian, Portuguese and diverse African influence is evident in the architecture - from mosques and palaces to churches, temples, shops and residences. Arab mansions, with high, blank white walls sit next to the lacy wooden balconies and colourful stained glass windows at grand Indian residences. Wherever you go barazas or benches are a focal point of community life. Benches run around verandas outside traditional Swahili homes. The long narrow streets
STATS &FACTS Arabs brought with them the date palms and dates or tende a popular sweet bite. Besides, Zanzibar ranks among the Spice Islands of the world
of Stone Town, for instance, have baraza benches built on each side instead of pavements. In the villages, palm leaf shelters flanked by wooden seats fulfill a similar function. In the towns, men loll on cement or wooden benches playing the popular ajua, bao or cards while sipping thick black coffee, styled kahawa thungu, in small porcelain cups. Women on their part sit and banter, plaiting each other’s hair or drawing beautiful patterns on their feet and hands using henna, a kind of dark brown paint used for adornment. As is the wont on the East African Coast, coconut products are galore, ranging from coconut flesh or madafu to drinking its water and relishing its wine. Tourists sample these too. Arabs brought with them the date palms and dates or tende a popular sweet bite. Besides, Zanzibar ranks among the Spice Islands of the world, thanks to the Arab Sultans and the British conquerors who brought all manner of spices, among them cloves which are said to be a native of Indonesia. Vanilla, Cinnamon, ginger and pepper are also in plenty. And, for people who love fish, Zanzibar is the place to be
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•CULTURE Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
REFERENDUM
Watch Out For the Bite Within! Powerful documentary precedes Kenyan referendum, reminds of last General Election
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24 Media and Camerapix, in collaboration with Transparency International-Kenya, launched a deeply insightful and powerful documentary titled Kikulacho - The Bite Within, at the Silverbird Cinemas in Nairobi last month. How devastating are poor organisation and management to a country and its people? How can we ensure better leadership and a better tomorrow for our children? These are some of the themes explored and exposed in the film Kikulacho – the Bite Within. Kikulacho is a moving Kenyan documentary that examines how corrupt systems and policies have impacted on the common people. But it is also a story of hope and triumph that aims to look at how our institutions and leadership can be shaped by the people themselves to realise their dreams. The film was broadcast on Nation Media Group’s NTV in July, followed by a global release. It comes at a critical time in Kenya’s history. At the time of the launch, the country was on the threshold of voting in a referendum on a new constitution. The last referendum on the same issuein2005,bitterlydividedthecountry and sowed the seeds for the discord and violence that rocked Kenya and shocked the world in the wake of the December 2007 General Election. How have our elections been organised? Why does land remain such an emotive issue – can any constitution be used as a tool of oppression?
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Using powerful, historical archives, interviews with people across the country and a haunting music score, the film seeks answers to these questions. Much of the material in the film was drawn from Camerapix’s own rich and authoritative library and gives perspective to the story of corruption in Kenya. AWARDS
Directed by Kenyan filmmaker Murad Rayani and produced by the same team that created such award winning documentaries as Refusing to Die and Mo & Me, Kikulacho, promises to be another hard-hitting globally acclaimed story. Mo & Me in particular went on to win over a dozen best documentary awards including the New York International Film Festival, the Chairperson’s Prize at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and was screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. A24 Media is Africa’s first online delivery site for material from journalists, African broadcasters and NGO’s from around the continent. Its production arm, Camer-
FILM MAKING: A24 Media Chairman Salim Amin
apix, was founded by the legendary photo-journalist Mohamed Amin, and is one of the continent’s oldest independent production houses. Speakingduringthelaunchofthefilm, A24MediaChairmanSalimAminsaid: “This film is meant to serve as an eye opener. It basically is a stop sign, for people to pause and think, before literally stampeding into yet another crushing pitfall.” That is a reference to the 2005 referendum and the 2007 post-election violence. “It was so clear after the 2007 elections that the image we portrayed of Kenya as a land of peace was a sham that brutally turned to a mess in the eyes of the whole world,” he said. The film covers such emotive topics as extra-judicial killings, corruption scandals including Goldenberg and the issues of landlessness and squatters’ rights. It also examines the key impact played by such icons as Pio Gama Pinto and JM Kariuki as well as exposing the dark underbelly of corruption. As the country stands at a crossroads with the ghost of the last election still looming large and the referendum approaching, the film is a must see for every Kenyan and anyone concerned with issues of human rights, progress and governance. “It is also a story of hope and triumph that aims to look at how our institutions and leadership can be shaped by the people themselves to realise their dreams,” said TI-Kenya Executive Director Samuel Kimeu in his launch address. TI Board chairman Dr Richard Leakey had the last word: “Transparency International-Kenya hopes that all Kenyans will view this documentary and act to stamp out the attitude of helplessness and apathy towards corruption. “Accountability and transparency require an active role by the public. Kenyans’ power to take charge, change their destiny and shape a better Kenya lies with their votes ”
•CULTURE Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
BOOK REVIEW
Pins of Diplomacy Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box By MADELEINE ALBRIGHT ($40 Hardcover) Reviewed By JOHN MULAA
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ins, pendants, brooches and other forms of decorative ware have been part of man’s sartorial ensemble from the time of the caveman and Neanderthals, or, for the religiously inclined, since the Garden of Eden after the fall. Leaves to cover nakedness must surely have been complemented with ornaments soon after Adam and Eve were told by God they were on their own. Insignias to signify rank, importance or prestige are ubiquitous. In the military, Napoleon Bonaparte hit on the wise and inexpensive idea of rewarding his officers and men with medals. Medals, stripes and other forms of rank and valour signifying ornaments constitute an essential part of military culture everywhere to this day. In some political cultures, wearing pins to signify fealty to a cause or leader is de rigor. Kenyans who experienced a dose of intense Nyayoisim must remember the era of pins when just about everyone in public life wore a Nyayo pin. To be spotted not wearing one in public could have yielded not-so-pleasant consequences. In diplomacy the use of pendants or pins to send a message is not entirely new either, but in more recent times, few high flying or senior public officials perfected the use of the ornaments in diplomacy as former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. And it all came about by happenstance. Madeleine happens to have liked pins and pendants before she ascended to the heights of public service.
STATS &FACTS In some political cultures, wearing pins to signify fealty to a cause or leader is de rigor
In her book, Read My Pins, she describes the role of pins in her family, and more significantly, her introduction to the role of ornamentation in politics when her father served as Czechoslovakia’s ambassador to Yugoslavia. (Albright was born in the former. Her family later moved to the United States where her father Josef Korbel became a university professor). She recalls when the late Marshal Tito gave her mother, Mandula, and other diplomatic wives a ring, her father, the ambassador, privately wondered whose finger had been severed to get the ring! Her parents waited until Madeleine passed her PhD orals to hand her the Tito ring. She wore that ring to Tito’s funeral as part of the US delegation during Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Growing up, Albright did not exhibit above average interest in jewelry. As a Wellesley College student in the mid 1950s, Albright absorbed the lesson of sending messages through pins and pendants. Albright was duly “pinned” by Joe Albright, a scion of a wealthy Denver family. Madeleine’s desire to display her status by wearing a pin signifying she was soon housebound as a wife was complicated by the fact that when she accepted Joe’s proposal she already had a boyfriend and wearing the pin openly would cause what she might have termed in later years as a diplomatic incident. In the event, Albright wore her pin out of sight on her bra instead of blouse. Madeleine married Joe. The marriage lasted 23 three years during which time she raised three daugh-
ters. She received pins as presents now and then but she was not unduly taken by them. Madeleine fascination with pins took off in her second life after divorce. She completed her doctorate and returned to the labour market as an assistant to a US senator. She began wearing pins as a political statement. Her first political pin was peanutshaped in honour of peanut farmer Jimmy Carter. Her appointment as America’s ambassador to the United Nations provided a perfect opportunity for Madeleine to demonstrate her political messaging skills through pins, in fits and starts at first and later as a real pro with a specific message embodied in each pin she wore. As first woman Secretary of State, she perfected her pin diplomacy to potent art form. In her diplomatic dealings with the troubled Middle East Madeleine frequently wore a dove pin. However, in her own words, “I found cause—when displeased with the pace of negotiations- to substitute a turtle, a snail, or when truly aggravated, a crab,” she writes. She particularly liked a lady bug pin, and secondly, a hot air balloon pin (ouch). “When I wanted to deliver a sharp message, I often wore a bee. Muhammad Ali (world boxing great) used to boast that he could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” Meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov after Russianplanted listening bugs had been discovered at the State Department in Washington D.C., Madeleine wore a pin in the shape of a large bug. Earlier on, as America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine decided to wear a pin in the image of a serpent to send a sharp message to troublesome adversaries such as Iraq. Her book is a very lively account of diplomacy, social history and the use of the innocuous pins to effectively advance America’s interests. And, of course, to intimidate enemies
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•CULTURE Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
REFINED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Of Excellence and Diplomacy By NGARI GITUKU
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inesse, no doubt, is at its best at the feet of both diplomacy and excellence. It is at its most rarefied at the finest expressions of excellence in diplomacy. Ideally, it is unfathomable to pursue diplomacy without the sensibility of excellence. In other words, excellence is diplomacy’s indispensable centerpiece and insignia. The question however is “excellence in what”? Before I venture into details, may I indulge you in my three most enduring impressions of excellence in diplomacy. During my undergraduate days, slightly over two decades ago, I had this friend whose elder brother, a Kenyan, lawyer by training and a UN employee became my mentor. He was a man of few and circumspectly chosen words. To me, he was the ultimate expression of temperance, spontaneous genius and subtlety of demeanor. He still is. That’s one. Six years ago, as one of a British Council Pan-Africa leadership programme from Kenya, I joined the finest personalities from 19 countries in the continent for two weeks in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. In between the sessions, the participants made friends with an ease that I have been unable yet to capture in words. To settle for the personalities in attendance those concerned must have applied an instrument that clearly deserves more than an honourable men-
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tion. The experience was one of a kind and so were the participants. To date, a lady of exceptional comportment and cranial output, back then resident in London but currently settled with her family back in her home country Nigeria remains the image of that pseudodiplomatic encounter. Her family has since become close friends with mine. Oga! ASIA
Then slightly more than one year ago, I had the privilege of dining out with a man whose comportment, latitude and presence reminded me of my undergraduate days mentor, almost to a T. He is currently an ambassador from one of the countries in Asia, then, fresh from Washington and green in Kenya. The man literally lit the evening with magic – his grasp of geopolitics, brilliance in topical issues and eloquence. As I parted ways with him, my companion and his two officers after dinner the man gifted me a couple of books. One, by Wu Genyou, titled, “Peace: The Roots of the Cultural Traditions and Values of the Chinese People” is, remarkably memorable. Chapter One of the book, in part, explores “Soupcooking and Political Wisdom for Harmony of the Chinese People”. The topic may sound a little farfetched but certainly not the impression created by the person who gave it. But what was excellent in the three encounters?
My undergraduate mentor first. Though, in my view back then widely travelled and exposed, the man retained the most reassuring local touch whilst inspiring both his brother and I to pursue all that is excellent in and beyond college. All that expressed largely without words! Talk of a fusion of patriotism and refinement. As for the Nigerian friend, the spell in her expression is simply unequalled! Even more amazing is her masterly of communication that enables her to be that quintessential flamboyant Nigerian in equal measure with the global personality she is as well as that unaffected human being who effortlessly disarms friend and foe and accommodates with due caution stranger and acquaintance. The envoy, meanwhile, reminds one of the finest skill in the art of adaptation. The man’s antenna for the local pulse in the context of a global order is a study in alchemy in diplomacy. This, he most ably expressed last October 1 during China’s National Peoples’ Congress 60th anniversary at the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi to the marvel of guests in attendance. As for his address, no one could miss the aptness of decibel, tone, substance and particularly grounding of local relevance. The three attributes, patriotism, eloquence and adaptation expressed in the three cases perhaps espouse universal diplomacy’s very sans pareil
•CULTURE Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
ON THE MAP
African Footprints BY CAROL GACHIENGO
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he world, it is said, is becoming a global village – ever shrinking as a result of our ability to communicate through advancing technology. The limited history we are taught tells only of famous European explorers, so we presume that our own African ancestors never went beyond the marketplace of their home village or the next village for the more adventurous. The truth is, there is much evidence that they left deep footprints across the world. Legend has it that California in the United States is named after an African queen, Califia. The story goes that Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez learned of California, a nation of powerful Black women and ruled by Queen Califia from a 17th century best-selling adventure story the Exploits of Esplandian by Garci Oronez de Montalvo and published in Seville in 1510. EXPLORERS
Montalvo wrote: “Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is an island named California, very close to that part of the terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by Black women, without a single man among them, and that they lived in the manner of Amazons. “They were robust of body, with strong and passionate hearts and great virtues..." There is also evidence that of the 44 people who founded the City of Los Angeles, 26 were of African descent. And that the majority of the founders of San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego were also of African descent. Mansa Abubakari II of Mali is said to have sailed to America 181 years before Christopher Columbus. Ac-
cording to Egyptian scholar, Ibn Fadl Al-Umari, in 1311, this king launched two hundred ships filled with men and a further two hundred ships stocked with food, gold and water to last for two years. One ship returned with news of America, which inspired the Mansa to set sail across the Atlantic with a fleet of two thousand ships Though they never returned, there is evidence they may have reached their destination, for Columbus himself reported that he acquired West African metal goods from the Native Americans. Old maps of the Mexico region, drawn by Europeans, show that the Malians renamed places in the region after themselves - Mandinga Port, Mandinga Bay and Sierre de Mali. The Swahili also had trading ships sailing the Indian Ocean between East Africa and China two centuries before Colombus sailed to America, according to historian Ivan Van Sertima. On one of these voyages, they shipped an elephant to China in the 13th century. A Chinese commissioner of foreign trade recorded in 1226 that the East African cities imported ‘white cotton cloth, porcelain, copper, and red cottons’ by way of ships that came every year, according to historian Basil Davidson. The Moors, who were Muslim Africans from Northern Africa, conquered and ruled Spain and parts of Portugal from 711 AD to 1492 AD, resulting in the entrenchment of what is now known as Ibero-Maurisian culture in that part of Europe. We get a glimpse of the Moors influence beyond Spain from Shakespeare and his famous character - Othello the Black Moorish nobleman of Venice. In Spain, the Moors influence on Spanish cuisine included fruit and nut combinations with meats and
CONNECTIVITY:
Technology has transversed the African Continent
fish, rice, and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and saffron. Their musical influence includes the Spanish guitar, which evolved when a sixth string was added to a Moorish lute. The English language is in constant growth. On June 10, 2009 it passed the Million Word threshold. Currently there is a new word created every 98 minutes. In July, “Vuvuzela” was one of the words accepted into the English Lexicon. Over the years, many other African words have left their footprint on the English language. Some such as safari from the Swahili word for “journey” are fairly recent, but others have been around so long even we in Africa know them only as English words. For instance, the word “banana” was originally a West African word from the Wolof language; “cola”, arguably the most
•AU PICTORIAL Lights•Camera•Action
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AU SUMMIT, JULY 2010 The 15th AU Summit in Kampala attracted the highest number of Presidents 1. Algerian President : Abdelaziz Bouteflika Shortly after arrivin g at the Commonwealth Speke Resort, Munyonyo 2. President Congo Brazzaville Denis Sassou-Nguesso is welcomed with a bouquet of flowers 3. Malawi President who is also Africa Union Chairman Bingu wa Mutharika with his wife shortly after arriving at Entebbe Airport 4. Delegates leave one of the meeting venues at the AU Summit 5. Namibia's President Hifikepunye Pohamba Receives flowers on arrival for the Summit 6. Zambian President Rupiah Banda shares pleasantries with the welcoming team before being driven to the meeting venue
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7. International Trade Centre CEO Patricia Francis addresses a meeting of African Private Sector players
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8. African Heads of State pose for a group picture shortly after the official opening of the 15th session of the AU Summit 9. Ugandan police band members follow proceedings at the Commonwealth Speke Resort 10. African chiefs, Kings and other eminent people were not left behind. Here two of them resplendent in traditional regalia look on 11. Uganda First Lady Janet Museveni keenly listens to a speaker during the official opening 12. Presidents Muamar Gaddafi of Libya in a clenched fist greeting with his Zimbabwean comrade Robert Mugabe 13. Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki makes his way into a meeting venue 14. Uganda Investment Authority CEO Margaret Kigozi compares notes with a fellow delegate during the launch of a private sector forum on the sidelines of the Summit
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•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World
MIDDLE EAST
Obama Rating Drops The Leaks Fall out
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rab approval of USWPresident Barack Obama has dropped dramatically since last year, despite what many had mistakenly viewed as his popularity in the region, according to a poll released on Thursday. The study, entitled "The View from the Middle East: The 2010 Public Opinion Poll," found a significant shift in Arabs' perception of Obama, whose disapproval ratings jumped from 23 percent last year to 62 percent this year. While Afghanistan stands as an important issue, the University of Maryland/Zogby International poll found that disappointment over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resonates deepest in the Arab world and influences Arabs' evaluation of Obama. "There is no question in my mind that the bulk of the shift in attitudes toward the Obama administration in the Arab world ... is due to disappointment on this central issue," said Shibley Telhami, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former advisor to the U.S. Mission to the UN. "This is the central prism through which Arabs view the U.S.." The poll surveyed nearly 4,000 people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates during the period of June 29-July 20 this year. Sixty-one percent of respondents cited the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a major disappointment, followed by 27 percent who cited Iraq. While last year's poll found that more than half of those surveyed
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were hopeful about Washington's Mid-East policies, the number dropped to 15 percent this year, with 63 percent saying they are discouraged with U.S. policies. 20 percent cited attitudes toward Islam as the issue with which they are most pleased, while 13 percent gave the United States positive marks for its economic aid. Iraq is the second biggest source of Arab frustration with Obama. While Arabs last year favored the U.S. president because of his pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from that country, Arab disappointment with Iraq's elections has pushed down Obama's ratings. "The U.S. gets blamed for the absence of government in Iraq and the frustration of the public when they see the candidate who won the most seats is not able to put together the government in Iraq, " said Telhami, the study's principal investigator. Many Americans last year viewed Obama as a beacon of hope who could improve U.S.-Arab relations. In a speech from Cairo, Egypt not long after taking office, he called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims, " and said the two sides could confront militancy and pursue peace together. The address was laced with references to Islam's important place in history, and the president noted how the religion carried the torch of learning through many centuries, paving the way for European enlightenment
Xinhua News Agency
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was in Britain amid a row over Prime Minister David Cameron's comments concerning the country's role in terrorism. Zardari has been criticised for making the trip to Britain while his country is facing severe floods, which have killed over 1,400 people. The Pakistanis wanted the president to stay at home to deal with the devastating floods. A senior Pakistani official was quoted by The Guardian as saying that Zardari soughted to advise Cameron to be "more careful in what he says" "David Cameron has been doing some plain talking. Now Zardari will be doing the plain talking," the official said. Cameron made his controversial remarks during a visit to India when he said elements in Pakistan should not be allowed to "look both ways" and to "promote the export of terror." Ahead of Zardari's arrival, Cameron defended his remarks, saying that "there has been and still is a problem of terror groups in Pakistan that threaten other countries, also threaten our troops in Afghanistan, threaten India and threaten us in the UK, and they need to be dealt with." "As I said in India, to be fair to the Pakistan government they have done more recently to combat terror groups, but they need to go on doing even more, and we should be working with them in order to encourage them to do that," Cameron said. During his trip to France, Zardari told the French newspaper Le Monde he would tell Cameron that the anti-terror war should bring them together. "I would explain to him that it's my country that has paid the highest price in this war in human life. This frank discussion could give us some serenity," he said. "That is why I didn't cancel my trip to London despite this grave error. Our relationship is ancient and solid enough for that," he said. Zardari met with British cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Theresa May, Education Secretary Michael Gove and Minister Without Portfolio Baroness Warsi
•EDUCATION Pursuit of Excellence DIMINISHING EFFECT
Education Faces Grim Future Sector Stalked by Poverty, Malnutrition, Unfulfilled Aid By DEA REPORTER
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NE in every two children in some sub-Saharan countries have acquired less than four years of education, the United Nations says. And the global body predicts an even grimmer future, amid reports that Africa faces the greatest shortfall in education aid, estimated at $18 billion. Coming just five years short of the 2015 Education for All target, the picture is a grave one indeed. And it appears that some of the gains made in the last decade are being undone by the global meltdown that affected almost every sector all over the world. The UN’s Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, warns that plenty of the gains of the past decade could be reversed as education budgets especially in subSaharan Africa suffer cuts as foreign aid is reduced to a trickle. And it has emerged that a huge chunk of the promised aid is not actually delivered, leading to unfortunate discrepancies between the figures accounted for and those promised, a sort of distortion. UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said on the launch of the report that “All too often, countries are delivering good-quality education for some, while failing to provide for poor, socially marginalised children. We need a scaled-up and more effective aid effort.”
Inequalities between groups within countries pose other bottlenecks. In Nigeria, 97 per cent of poor, Hausa-speaking girls have less than two year in school
According to the report, the number of children out of school worldwide fell by 33 million in the last 10 years. Implication: At least 72 million children are getting no education at all. If that trend continues, 56 million will still be not in school in 2015 – when member countries pledged to achieve full enrolment in primary schools when they signed a commitment at the World Education Forum in 2000. The report’s main author, Kevin Watkins says: “We estimate it will take $16bn a year to achieve universal primary education and other Education for All goals by 2015. This price tag appears considerable unless it is measured against the scale of resources mobilised to rescue ailing financial institutions. “Education is at risk, and countries must develop more inclusive approaches, linked to wider strategies for protecting vulnerable populations and overcoming inequality,” says the report. It says that in 22 poor countries, 30 per cent or more of young adults have had less than four years of education, and this rises to 50 per cent or above in 11 sub-Saharan African states. In 26 countries, 20 per cent of school leavers had less than two years’ education while in countries such as Burkina Faso and Somalia, the number is above 50 per cent. Inequalities between groups within countries pose other bottle-
necks. In Nigeria, 97 per cent of poor, Hausa-speaking girls have less than two year in school. A similar figure applies to Somali girls living in Kenya’s northern frontier district. The report has no kind words for the Fast Track Initiative, launched in 2002 to accelerate international progress towards the goal of universal primary education, saying that it has had “no significant impact”. According to UNESCO, the FTI is unfit to lead a big push on aid for education as it has suffered a “deadly mix of under-financing, red tape and weak leadership. Marginalisation on the scale that we document in the report is tantamount to a widespread and systematic violation of the human right to education”, says UNESCO. It is feared that with poverty getting more acute, unemployment growing and aid remittances diminishing, many poor and vulnerable households are being compelled to cut back on education spending or withdraw their children from school altogether. Malnutrition affects around 175 million young children worldwide each year and is now a health and an education emergency. There were 72 million children out of school in 2007. At that rate, some 56 million children will be out of school in 2015. Around 54 per cent of the children who are out of school are girls
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•DEA HOTELS Lifestyles styles & Hos Hosspppitality Hospitality itality
DEA HOTEL OF THE MONTH
Safari Park’s Splendid Style and Splendour
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afari Park Hotel & Casino started off in 1974 as Spread Eagle Hotel, initially popularised by weary tourists on their way to and from Mount Kenya and local residents wanting to get away from the noise and confinement of the city of Nairobi. Paradise Investment & Development Company Limited – Korea acquired the then 3-star, 105-roomed property and turned it into the Safari Park Hotel & Casino. It is part of the leading hotel chain and member of the Paradise Group with marked hospitality presence in Korea, Busan, Jeju, Incheon, Dogo and Nairobi. The current five-star luxury hotel, just minutes away from the city centre, stands on 50 acres of beautifully manicured gardens . The rooms have high speed wireless and cabled internet connectivity and satellite TV, with safe and 24 hour room service. Safari Park’s five international specialty restaurants offer the finest dining, each uniquely decorated in traditional themes ranging from the Far East to Europe. A variety of great entertainment and leisure facilities are available; the Sensual Safari Cats Dancers & Acrobats, Paradise Casino, Cats Club Discotheque and Piano Bar. With its wide range of contemporary to traditional designed meeting and banquet venues with a capacity
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for over 1,200 delegates, Safari Park is the home for the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) market. Voted Kenya’s top wedding venue, with varieties such as ballroom or garden ceremony, beautiful reception and honeymoon, Safari Park’s wedding portfolio offers a wide range of wedding packages and themes, designed to suit all tastes and budgets. The hotel offers a wide selection of windowed, naturally-lit rooms, which feature en-suite marble bathrooms with wooden polished floors, antique African themed four-poster beds and furniture. There are 204 guest rooms; 168 deluxe rooms, 21 junior suites, 8 business suites, 6 executive suites and 1 presidential suite spread out in 9 storey blocks with 2 floors each and rear and front private balconies overlooking the beautifully manicured gardens. The hotel has 24-hour concierge services and offers high quality 24hour room and laundry services. A complementary shuttle bus service is available twice a day between the hotel and the city centre. Given its 20 internet-ready conference and meeting facilities, Safari Park is easily the largest conference and events venue in Kenya. This is backed by a complete business support service and an integrated conference planning and management team. That is why it is a household of
PACESETTER: The Jambo Conference Centre is the largest facility of its kind in East and Central Africa South of the Sahara with a capacity for 1200 delegates
international conferences in Africa. The Jambo Conference Centre is the largest facility of its kind in East and Central Africa South of the Sahara with a capacity for 1200 delegates. The Paradise Gardens and Theme Park are magnificent for outdoor and teambuilding training. The hotel prides itself on proficiency in organising private cocktail parties, receptions, bush dinners and a whole range of customised incentive events. It offers world class cuisine and refreshing ambience, with five international restaurants. All the restaurants and bars in the hotel have distinct themed décor from the international fare of the central Café Kigwa, which blends Parisian café with New York Deli; or the rustic Italian charm of La Piazzetta, which offers delicious home-made Italian pasta and traditionally-made pizzas hot from the wood-burning oven
•ODYSSEYS People & Places
RICH HERITAGE PHOTO: GERMAN EMBASSY
Welcome to Turkana’s Planet Mars
Germany Ambassador Margit Hellwig-Boette and husband Gerd-Josef Boette hosted diplomats and locals to the annual Lake Turkana Cultural Festival at Loyangalani Village along with the local community. They recount the exotic journey up north DAWN OF JUNE 17, 2010 RUNDA, 7.30 AM amuel Kosgey, the Embassy’s expert off-road driver, picked us up at our residence. Suitcases, food, plenty of water, spare tyres cameras a tyres, toilet paper paper, hats hats, cameras, cooler box with cans of Tusker – everything went into the Toyota Prado. It looked like moving houses again. The three of us, Kosgey, my husband Gerd, and I set out to join the convoy that was to drive to Loyangalani in the next two days. We wanted to participate in the Third Lake Turkana Cultural Festival, organised by the German Embassy and had decided to go by car instead of taking the easy way of flying. We wanted to feel the distance between Nairobi and Loyangalani geographically and culturally.
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RUMURUTI, 11 AM We reached the end of the tarmac road. We met our fellow travellers at the police station, where an escort
was provided for our trip. The policemen were ready, but we still had to wait for some cars. Even Germans are not always on time. MARALAL, 6 PM Finally our convoy of seven cars arrived at the local police station to be handed over to the next escort that would take us to Loyangalani the next day. For the Rumuruti policemen it was too late to travel back, because nobody would want to take that road at night. We had passed a place, where three big lorries got stuck in the mud and it was only with great care and diligence that we could get around them and continue our way. Luckily enough, all the cars made it. Stunning experiences: the sight of elephants, giraffes, dik dik and zebra in their natural environment – the police turned out to be expert wildlife guides. In Maralal we were taken to a nice lodge, my husband, I and a catholic priest being the only guests. Food and wine were excellent, and
had it not been for the struggle with the mosquito net, we would have spent a very pleasant night. JUNE 18 , 2010 MARALAL, 7 AM Again, we set out an hour later than planned, because of a change of tyre. The road was getting worse, the landscape more adventurous, and the country much less populated. Spectacular views of the Samburu Hills helped us cope with the challenges of driving in an environment that was becoming more and more hostile. For hours and hours we were driving through the savannah, the landscape just small acacias, some goats and a camel every now and then. After South Horr things got really tough. The savannah turned into a moon like landscape with rocks and pebble stones. Even goats and camels seemed to feed on stones. If they could, then life on Mars must be possible! The embassy’s security officer,
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•ODYSSEYS
also our chief mechanic, told us to speed up, or we would not make it to Loyangalani before dusk. Now we were all waiting for the view we were being told of: Lake Turkana, also called the “Jade Lake“, because of its greenish-blue colour. However, we kept on driving and driving and instead of the lake the only things we saw were stones, stones, and stones again... But then, all of a sudden, there it was. The lake: greenish-blue and very, very big, with a huge island in front. But there was no sign of human life at first. We got out of the cars. It was hot and dry and the sun was stinging even at 5 pm. Now we knew that Loyangalani was only an hour’s drive away. We continued our way with the lake to our left, discovering small huts, fisher boats and fishermen going out fishing. But somehow all this looked unreal and remote. Life on planet Mars. LOYANGALANI, 6 PM The road took a last bend and then we saw the palm trees of the Oasis Lodge at Loyangalani, where we were to spend the next two days. What a relief to see green plants! Next to the trees was Loyangalani’s link to the rest of the world, a huge mobile phone antenna, looking somewhat out of time and out of place. Oasis Lodge had definitely seen better days, but at the moment it did not matter much, as chilled Tusker was immediately available. Later on in the evening, we decided to go for a swim in the pool, but the water turned out to be around 30° Celsius as it came from a natural hot spring... The only moment of
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PHOTO: GERMAN EMBASSY
People & Places
EXPEDITIONS:
Ambassadors Shigeo Iwatani (Japan), Margit HellwigBoette(Germany) and Michael Ranneberger US
refreshment was getting out of this cooking pot! We pondered a while how many ice cubes it would take to improve the situation, but abandoned the idea rather quickly. JUNE 19, 2010 It was the first day of the festival. We had to get up early, because the first planes from Nairobi were due to arrive at 8.45 and it was the Ambassador’s job to welcome the guests at the airstrip. Although not an early bird, it was no problem getting up early, as the room was very hot. “Air conditioning” was only provided during the night in a natural way: a special feature of Lake Turkana is an incredible wind that rises after 10 pm and lasts until the early morning hours. Opening the windows then provides for some natural air conditioning. The small planes, carrying 4 to 12 passengers each, were on time. The
first to put his foot on the ground was Agis Loizou, High Commissioner of Cyprus, followed by Shigeo Iwatani, the Japanese Ambassador, and his wife Yuko. Wilfred Ombui, Assistant Minister of Culture – who had never travelled to this place before – joined us for the occasion. Quite a number of Kenyans who were curious to see what this was all about, journalists and photographers, staff from numerous embassies and UN organisations – a crowd of approximately 50 people climbed out of the aircraft. On arrival, they met a colourful scenery. Representatives of the Turkana, Samburu, Rendille and Gabbra communities, dressed in their traditional costumes and jewellery, danced happily to welcome the guests. Even the donkeys as local luggage trolleys seemed to smile and dance as they carried the suit-
•ODYSSEYS People & Places
cases and backpacks to the lodge. The festival started after lunch. Meanwhile US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger had also arrived. At Oasis Lodge we were all greeted by the chief organiser of the event, Senteyo Baltor, chairlady of Mosaretu Women’s Group, which consists of 60 women from the El Molo, Samburu, Rendille and Turkana people. Without the group’s commitment and Senteyo’s energy the festival would not be possible – even the men had learned to listen to her... We walked along Loyangalani’s main street to the Festival Square. Shade was scarce. The Japanese Ambassador and his wife had been clever to bring along an umbrella. All the others hoped to survive somehow with hats, caps, and sun screen providing basic protection. The festival started with the slaughtering of a goat, a traditional feature of a wedding ceremony of the Rendille, followed by dances. Even if we did not understand every single detail of the ceremonial rites and the backgrounds of the performances, it was fascinating to watch. Each tribe had its own performances, men started to dance first, followed by the women, performing special figures, and jumps. Most fascinating was a little girl, maybe 4 years old, who danced like an adult. Sometimes her mother took her by the hand, but she never got tired and was so absolutely serious in her performance. The Rendille were followed by the Turkana dancers, the Samburu, El Molo and Gabra, and finally the Pokot. The real highlight, a joint dance of all the six tribes, an absolutely new feature of the festival, demonstrated the power of co-operation. Of course, all the VIPs with their with their jerky, uncoordinated moves joined the dancers at the end. We then visited different huts, saw the livestock, especially the camels and enjoyed a wrestling competi-
tion. A little sunburnt, sweating and covered in dust but overwhelmed by the colourful pictures and performances, we finally returned to the lodge. Later, at dinner, we mingled with the locals for an “African Night”. Local food was served and once again traditional dances were performed. JUNE 20, 2010 After another windy night we set out again early in the morning to visit a special attraction: “rock art”, i.e. ancient drawings of animals carved into big stones, allegedly some 2,000 years ago. Again fascinating and literally breathtaking: in order to get there, we had to climb up a rocky hill, and it was real climbing, not just a walking! On reaching the top we were so exhausted that we were hardly able to appreciate the artworks of our ancestors. The next visit was easier to accomplish: a tour of El Molo village at the shore of the lake. Only a few hundred people of this tribe are left and they may face extinction rather soon, because they struggle for survival in a very difficult environment. The morning ended with a visit to the Desert Museum and swimming and boat racing competitions organised by the National Museums of Kenya to celebrate their 100th birthday. LOYANGALANI, 4 PM The aircraft took off and left Senteyo and everyone else in a cloud of dust. Two memorable days had come to an end. The plane flew over the shimmering waters of Lake Turkana. Then it turned and we could see the moon-like landscape we had crossed by car two days before. We could even see that rocky road. From above, it seemed unbelievable that cars could make their way through this region. But it was possible. Like life on Mars. And we will be back next year
TURKANA FESTIVAL COMES OF AGE By MARGIT HELLWIG-BOETTE The Lake Turkana Festival in Loyangalani has grown in leaps and bounds to become something of a national calendar from 2008 when it was first held. The German Embassy organized the event for the first time then and the reasons are just as valid in 2010. The six tribes around Lake Turkana, the Rendille, El Molo, Gabbra, Turkana, Samburu and Pokot do not have a friendly relationship. They fight over livestock and water as resources are scarce in this remote part of Kenya. The festival gives them an opportunity for co-operation by joining ranks for a positive and creative event, thanks to the initiative of the Mosaretu Women’s Group under chairlady Senteyo Baltor, the local driving force behind the festival. For two days all tribes perform their traditional dances and other activities and attract a crowd of interested visitors from Nairobi. As accommodation is limited in Loyangalani and transport either difficult or expensive, the number of participants is limited to 100 for the time being. But the event may give a boost for tourism in the region because its cultural and geographical features are unique and deserve recognition from the region and outside Kenya. Together with tourism, chances for more development, especially of infrastructure, might arise. The Lake Turkana Wind Park Project has the potential to provide an incentive. The Kenyan government, however must assume the responsibility to balance the need for economic development and the respect for cultural heritage. The Oromo Project in Ethiopia, the Gibe III Dam, may endanger Lake Turkana. If it results in a dropping of the water level and a complete disappearing of Lake Turkana, the special living conditions for these unique tribes will be threatened. The festival may tell Kenyans a story about cross-cultural co-operation. As the question of tribalism is overriding many aspects of Kenyan politics, the Lake Turkana Festival shows that ethnic diversity is a cultural asset and not a political liability
August 2010
July 2010
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•TRAVEL
ADVENTURE & DISCOVERY
MISS IT AND MISS OUT
Maasai Mara for Diplomats
I
n our July issue we brought you a tailor made exciting safari expedition deal in conjunction with Maniago Safaris for the highest degree of travel at its very best. We want to give you, our readers a chance to break away from the roll and mill of everyday life – in order to capture the authentic display of wildebeests in all their dark primeval beauty crossing the crocodile infested waters of the Mara River. Our partner, Maniago Safaris is pleased to inform that the response has been beyond expectation with adventurers booking in big numbers. The rare chance of experiencing Africa’s Eden in real time is an offer too good to refuse. Producing one of the world’s most spectacular sights is a natural inclination played out during the migration - an opportunity that calls for all to take a part in. We invite our esteemed readers to order their golden ticket in order to get on board this paradise in the wilderness. WILD
The Maasai Mara is a rich cultural gem proudly displaying its diversity in the phenomenal wildebeest migration. Mr Duncan Muriuki, Managing Director of Maniago Safaris says diplomats have been very keen. He positions the Maasai Mara as the most popular destina-
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tion with the migration still ongoing till early November. He promises an exciting time. “We believe any diplomat worth his salt should not miss out on this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A diplomatic tour of duty in eastern Africa should have the Maasai Mara on the top of the ‘to do’ list. It’s not for nothing that the Maasai Mara is listed as one of the wonders of the modern world”, he says. Maniago Safaris has singled out diplomats as they are the best word of mouth ambassadors for Kenya not underscoring the fact that Maasai Mara and famous natural phenomena like Lake Nakuru are just not found anywhere else in the world. However, individuals, family, group and corporate travelers are encouraged to come and explore. Muriuki cites an example of an elderly American lady who came for the migration and enjoyed herself so much that she decided to bring her grandchildren along. The Mara is still a must see because of its popularity the world over, and maniago receives a diverse and wide array of clients from across the board. “Families come again and again. Visit and see for yourself. I encourage diplomats to travel and explore the beauty and splendor that is the Mara. Diplomats taking up the offer will benefit from the exclusive ex-
WILDEBEEST:
Nicknamed Clowns of the Wild, their migration is a great spectacle
pertise of Maasai traditional chief James Ole Nairuko one of the driver-guides. Nairuko was crowned chief during a ceremony covered by National Geographic Spanish Version in 2007. “He is best known for sharing his wealth of knowledge as a driver guide and naturalist,” says Muriuki adding, the diplomats will also get a chance to visit and interact with the local Maasai community getting to know their pristine way of life. Chief Ole Nairuko will personally select souvenirs for each guest depending on a myriad of factors such as gender and age, so that the gift is relevant. The experience is further complimented by take away souvenirs like Masai belts, rungus, wedding necklaces and bracelets. Masai Mara is indeed the idyllic getaway and a true cornucopia of countless wonders. Book now and discover
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
India Celebrates 15 August Independence Date
A
s the crescent moon rose in the evening of Independence Day, in the deepening night as it is attractively illuminated. In New at the stroke of midnight Delhi, the Prime minister hoists the on August 15 1947, India national flag at the ‘Red Fort’ and delivushered in a new dawn; ers a nationally televised speech. He the rise of an independent nation. also pays tribute to key players in the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first freedom struggle. Colorful kites dot the Prime Minister’s famous speech titled, night sky in a symbolic expression of ‘Tryst with Destiny’ still echoes with the freedom. same bang now as it did back then. Under the Independence Act, 1947, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, Viscount Lord Mountbatten of Buma when the world sleeps, India will awake the last British General of India anto life and freedom. A moment comes, nounced the partitioning of the British which comes but rarely in history, Indian Empire into India and Pakistan when we step out from the old to the on June 3 1947. British India consisted new, when an age ends, and when the of 17 provinces and 562 princely states. soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds The provinces were given to India and utterance..... We end today a period of Pakistan after being partitioned. The ill fortune, and India discovers herself princes of the princely states, however, again”, Nehru intoned. won the right to either remain indepenThe speech gave to the birth to a dent or join either nation. new India with the people being awakIndependent India’s first years faced ened to nation building. The Constituent Assembly completed the work of drafting the independence constitution on November 26 1949. On January 26 1950, the Republic of India was officially proclaimed. Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first president of India by the Constituent Assembly, taking over from Governor General Rajgopalachari. ICONIC LEADERSHIP: Mahatma Gandhi and This August, there is an Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru endless stream of festivities as has been the case for the past 63 turbulent episodes that included a years. The day is marked with pomp massive exchange of population with and color across the length and breadth Pakistan, the Indo-Pakistan war of 1947 of the second most populous country in and the integration of over 500 princely the world and in its Diaspora. All sing in states to form a united nation. unison to the ‘Jhanda uncha Rahe HaOn Independence Day, India emmara’ the independence song. braces and simultaneously reflects on Flag hoisting ceremonies are the the rich heritage of the past, the values, predominant affair of the day and In- culture and traditions. From the perdian diplomatic missions in the eastern petual snows of the Himalayas to the Africa region will not be left behind this refined peninsula of far South, India is August. Shops and offices will remain as rich as it is diverse. At 1 billion-plus closed. The ‘India Gate’ is the axis of at- people, India is one of the world’s most traction and a nice place to hang out populous countries
INDIA-AFRICA RELATIONS India has been stepping up the ante in Africa-India relations where it has been actively promoting trade with the continent in recent years. In March 2010, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), together with the EXIM Bank of India and with support from the government of India, hosted the sixth Conclave Meeting on the India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi. The meeting themed ‘Developing Synergies: Creating a Vision’, witnessed a gathering of almost 1,000 delegates, with about 380 participants, representing 34 African countries to discuss business transactions and about 150 project investments to the value of approximately US$10 billion. This was one of the largest meetings between political and Industry leaders from India and Africa. India-African bilateral trade is projected to grow by over nine times from $26 billion now to $150 billion by 2012, according to an estimate by a leading business chamber. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), in a report on Africa, projects that in the next four years the continent will have greater business significance and drive two-way trade to over $150 billion. The governments in African continent have also been encouraging industries to intensify their ties with the Asian nation. Among the areas expected to witness increased trade include healthcare, education, IT, minerals, fuels, gems, inorganic chemicals, project exports and consultancy. August 2010
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•ENVOYS OF SPORT MATHARE YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION
MYSA: Shining Example of Good Governance Why diplomats fall over one another to fund a Kenyan slum sports association By DEA REPORTER
W
hat is it that attracts Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) to the diplomatic world? The chemistry between diplomats and a youth organisation based in one of the biggest poverty-stricken slums in Africa is amazing. From former UK First Lady Cherie Blair to iconic sports personalities like former England international Sir Bobby Charlton, former France captain Marcel Desailly, American double Olympic 400m hurdles champion Ed Moses, multiple Olympic and world 400m and 200m champion Michael Johnson, tennis Goddess Martin Navratilova to a host of envoys representing their countries in Nairobi, MYSA is the destination of choice for Western diplomats eager to donate their countries’ taxpayers’ money to community service. MYSA has, for good measure, tapped from diplomatic circles a massive war chest, which it uses to run its programmes, among them Kenyan Premier League (KPL) giants Mathare United FC. The management good health pass mark by the diplomats has had a trickle-down effect on the Association and its affiliated clubs. It is the only club to have bought a piece of land and built a sports complex, which has a playground, library and well-equipped gymnasium, among other infrastructure. Only recently, Mathare United FC
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SUPPORT: MYSA leaders and trainers also advise and assist youth in other poor communities in and outside Kenya
landed a Sh20 million sponsorship with Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and were to get a kit sponsorship with a leading British sports apparel manufacturer, Umbro. That places Mathare United FC on the top of the pecking order of Kenya’s richest clubs. The club has completed a 10-year negotiation with Goan Institute to lease its playground in Pangani to host all its home KPL matches. With the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, closed for renovation, the Pangani ground will help bring the people’s game even closer to them, with the location the ground in Nairobi’s Eastlands, an area with the highest concentration of football lovers in the capital city. “We have a zero tolerance policy to age cheating in our junior sides
who are invited for international tournaments. We use the donors’ money strictly for the purpose for which it is intended and we subject all our financial transactions to audit,” said Bob Munro, chairman of the MYSA Board of Trustees and Mathare United FC. Munro, a former Canadian civil servant and diplomat as well as a senior policy adviser on environment and sustainable development to the United Nations and many African countries, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs, founded MYSA in 1987. He started MYSA so the kids in the Mathare slums could have the same chance to learn and benefit from sports as he and his friends had in the small Canadian town of St Catharine’s, where volunteer fathers had
Behind the youth are well-
connected and powerful individuals in the private and public sector and professionals who ensure things run smoothly in MYSA
organised and coached the youth ice hockey and baseball leagues for him and his friends in the 1950s. MYSA was an instant hit in the diplomatic world, mainly due to its many noble and innovative ideas, which makes its stand out as a pioneer in linking sport with community service and development activities. “From the outset, MYSA has been an innovative development project which uses sport as a starting point for a wide range of community development activities such as clearing accumulated garbage and blocked drains, preventing the spread of Aids, stopping drug and alcohol abuse, feeding and freeing jailed kids, training and educating local youth leaders, establishing new slum libraries and study halls, and, in addition to sports, providing training in pho-
tography, gymnastics, music, dance, drama and puppetry,” says Munro. “The most distinctive feature of MYSA, and the main reason for its success, is that the organisation is owned and managed by the youth themselves. Today, over 20,000 youth and over 1,600 teams in 16 zones participate in MYSA’s self-help youth sports and community service programmes,” he says. “The largest of the 16 MYSA zones is Kayole, with over 2,000 youth on 127 teams. The elected chair of the Kayole Executive Committee is Charity Muthoni, who celebrated her 12th birthday on January 18 2010. Even Fifa acknowledges that she is the youngest elected football official in the world,” said Munro. Behind the youth are well-connected and powerful individuals in
the private and public sector and professionals who ensure things run smoothly in MYSA. Former anticorruption czar John Githongo was at one time a member of the Board of Trustees. MYSA leaders and trainers also advise and assist youth in other poor communities in and outside Kenya. For instance, MYSA has assisted the Moving the Goalposts Project for girls in Kilifi District and initiated the Kakuma refugee camp project for youth from eight neighbouring countries. MYSA leaders also helped set up similar youth sports and community service projects in Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda and southern Sudan. With the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) Academy, MYSA instructors have led KNVB/MYSA courses in Botswana, Cape Verde,
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•ENVOYS OF SPORT
India, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, southern Sudan, Vietnam and Zambia. Over the last two decades, MYSA has benefited from the advice and assistance of many experts, diplomats and sports ambassadors from different countries and international organizations. MYSA youth and teams have also served as sports ambassadors for Kenya and in the mid-1990s even helped in restoration of diplomatic ties with Norway. MYSA also helped inspire the new StreetFootballWorld global network of sport and development NGOs and the new FIFA Football for Hope initiative, one of only a handful multi-million-shilling projects that was to inspire hope among Africa’s youth in the lead-up to this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The envoys’ role in MYSA has particularly been instrumental in its development and tapping of donor funding. UNEP
It all started with the former Canadian Ambassador, David Miller, and his wife, Chantal, who in 1987 made a personal donation of Sh10,000 to MYSA. In 1988, UNEP adviser Robert Lamb, an avid football fan, often went to MYSA youth matches and was surprised to fund a team playing in the MYSA Dandora Zone named after his favourite team, Aston Villa. On his return to England, he arranged with Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis for a donation to MYSA of a set of Aston Villa shirts. The MYSA Under-18 boys’ team proudly wore them in their first big tournament, the Kenya Under-18 Youth Tournament in Nakuru in December 1988. They were by far the best-dressed team and also won the tournament. That was the first trophy ever won by a MYSA team. In 1989, Denmark/DANIDA became MYSA’s first official aid donor
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with financial support for the MYSA garbage, drainage ditch and environmental clean-ups plus donating the MYSA Community Service Cup, which is still awarded annually to the MYSA team with the best record on cleanup projects. The key Denmark/ DANIDA officer in Kenya was Bo Jensen, who is now the Danish Ambassador to Kenya. In April of the same year, former Canadian High Commissioner David Miller and Brigadier Jonathan Shigoli, then of the Nairobi City Council, helped MYSA youth clear accumulated garbage and blocked drainage ditches in Mathare Village 1. In 1989 and 1990, Danish Ambassador Erik Fill had a good pastime every Saturday. He often drove the two kilometres from his official ambassadorial residence in the nearby Muthaiga suburb to referee MYSA youth matches at the PCEA field in Eastleigh. Around the same time, the Norwegian Minister for the Environment, Sissel Ronbeck, donated funds for MYSA to buy over 100 wheelbarrows plus rakes and shovels for use in the MYSA clean-up projects. Their international debut came in May 1990, when Ronbeck donated the air tickets for the first MYSA team, the Under-18 boys, to participate in the Norway Cup, the world’s oldest and largest international youth football tournament. MYSA is today ranked only second to Brazilian club Pequininos, in the number of gold medals won since the Norway Cup started in 1972. In July 1990, the Norwegian Ambassador to Kenya, Niels Dahl, invited the MYSA leaders and Norway Cup (U-18) team to his official residence for a reception. That was the first time any MYSA youth attended a diplomatic reception (and the first time any MYSA youth had been outside Kenya as the property of embassies and ambassadorial residences are extra-territorial).
That was the first time any MYSA youth
attended a diplomatic reception (and the first time any MYSA youth had been outside Kenya
On July 18, 1990, then Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi received the MYSA Under-18 team at State House, Nairobi. He presented the team with a Kenyan flag and designated them “young sports ambassadors for Kenya” when they travelled later that month to participate in the Norway Cup in Oslo. After the breaking of diplomatic relations between Kenya and Norway in 1990, Norway appointed diplomat Arman Aardal as its chargé d’affaires and UN Representative in Kenya. As his bilateral diplomatic duties and activities in Kenya were limited, he spent a lot of time at MYSA and became an active and informal “MYSA ambassador to Norway”. For example, he helped secure continued Norwegian financial support for MYSA teams for the 1992 and subsequent Norway Cups plus special funding to start the first MYSA girls’ football leagues and activities. MURDER
In 1991-1992, vigilante groups and police in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo in Brazil were murdering street kids. UN Under-Secretary-General Maurice Strong, the UN head of the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio in June appointed Brazilian football legend Pele as a special representative for the conference and asked him to appeal to the government to stop the murders. He also told Pele about what the street kids and youth in the Mathare slums were doing to help themselves and their community through their innovative self-help sports and environmental clean-up projects. Pele invited and personally promised to pay for the accommodation, food and local transportation for a MYSA Under-16 boys’ team to participate in a special Eco-92 youth tournament against different Brazilian youth teams during the UN Earth Summit
•ENVOYS OF SPORT
STARS DELIVER
Kenya Basks in the Success of Athletics By DEA REPORTER
T
he unrivalled success story of the 17th African Senior Athletics Championships in Nairobi has provided a classic example of how the public and private sectors can merge synergies across spheres to deliver a world-class event. Africa came to Nairobi, the home of athletics and after five days of zenith action, the continental showcase proved to be a runaway success. The
efficiency demonstrated during the tournament highlighted the country’s ability to host major events. The crowd and performance of athletes on the track and field events exceeded by far the expectations of athletics enthusiasts and organisers as well. Watching Grace Wanjiru and David Lekuta Rudisha post 1:34:19 and 1:42.84 in 20km walk and 800m race respectively, which are the fastest times ever on Kenyan soil, and Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okag-
RELAY: Kenya's team for the 4x100m relay celebrating their victory during the 17th CAA Safaricom African Senior athletics Championships at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi
bare’s 11.3 seconds championships record in the 100m race, at Nairobi’s altitude, convinced even the most skeptical fans that nothing is impossible. The 17th edition of the bonanza, unlike the previous event in Addis Ababa in 2008, managed to assemble a star-studded cast only seen at global championships. A battle between the worlds 5,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot and her Ethiopian nemesis, former Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Indoor champion, Meseret Defar, and 5,000m and 10, 000m gold medalist Tirunesh Diba ba together with her archrival Linet Masai, had all the ingredients of a world class event. South Africa’s reigning world outdoor champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Sudan’s two-time world indoor champion, Abubaker Kaki, would have made the 800m race a rather frenzied encounter, but they backed down and gave Rudisha a walk in the park on the two laps. It was also heartwarming to watch a Kenyan win a medal in a field event, where medals have always been elusive for the world-beaters on the track. Cherotich Koech’s 1.55m earned the country a bronze medal, certainly a step in the right direction despite being a far cry from Leso-
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•ENVOYS OF SPORT
STEEPLE CHASE WOMEN 3000 M: The race was won by Milcah Chemos (1710) Sofia Assefa Abebe,(1524) of Ethiopia was second while Lydiah Rotich,(1791) was third
tho’s h ’ gold ld medalist d li T Tso’alei ’ l iS Selloalei’s ll l i’ 1.75m or Lissa Labiche’s of Seychelles who won a silver medal on 1.70m. The huge crowds that filled Nyayo National Stadium from Day One to the end, cheering and performing Mexican waves throughout the afternoon sessions, sent the atmosphere at the stadium to ecstatic heights. Security was top notch, much as entry to the stadium was free to the public and the equipment matched international standards. The continental championships that ended on August 1 were an eyeopener from the organisational point of view. Even with the resources at their disposal, organisation of top class events can be nerve-racking. The organisation was a level higher compared to previous events hosted by Kenya, with a large number of hired personnel and volunteers ensuring that everything went on smoothly throughout the five days. With less than two weeks before the championships, no one could believe that everything would be in place for the opening ceremony on July 28, what with delayed arrival of equipment and work on the venue, but the Local Organising Committee worked round the clock to achieve success. Locals also took advantage of the throng og visitors to sell merchandise and take entrepreneurship a notch
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hi h in i the h spirit i i off making ki h higher hay while the sun shines. The government, through Athletics Kenya, mag now aim higher and bid for global championships such as the World Youth or World Junior Championships. Confederation of African Athletics President, Malboum Kalkaba, who attended the championships, urged Kenya to bid for the hosting of the next World Junior Championships and promised to support the move. He felt that the success of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa had inspired the continent to plan a serious bid for the World Athletics Championships and urged Kenyan officials not to rest on their laurels. Kalkaba said Morocco would likely bid for the World Championships and stood a strong chance because of superior infrastructure, equipment and financial muscle. South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria were also capable of hosting successful world championships, but Kalkaba believes Morocco stands a good chance in 2017. Arguably, African athletes’ contribution to global athletics justifies staging the championships on the continent. But Kenya should start with the age-group championships, whose requirements are not as stringent as the world championships, which is equivalent of the FIFA World Cup
5000 M MEN; The winners of the 5000m men Edwin Soy (centre), Vincent Yator (left), and Mark Kiptoo,(right) display their medals
THE FORCES BEHIND THE GLITTERING SUCCESS The recent sterling success by Kenya at the 17th Africa Athletics Championships and the World Junior Championships was not just the apex but the end of a long chain. And just as Rome was not built in a day, neither did the winning local athletes hit the peack in a short time. The sterling performance witnessed in Nairobi was the end of a process that began some time back through good preparation and molding of talent and sponsors which such as the National Bank of Kenya (NBK), New KCC and Safaricom deserve due credit. Last year, NBK sponsored all youth activities in athletics in a Sh16m agreement and was handsomely rewarded when the Kenya team for World Youth Championships in Bresanonne, Italy won the event. The feat was repeated at this year’s World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada with seven gold medals just days before the continental event. The success in Nairobi that saw Kenya bag the overall title with a record 10 gold medals is also as a result of the New KCC Athletics Tour, started four years ago to identify talent. The key factors in the decision making process of offering sponsorships are cost, the likelihood of product image enhancement, resulting in increased sales, and the likelihood of a significant amount of positive media exposure. At the 17th Africa Senior Athletics Championships, Safaricom was the title sponsor with a donation of Sh23.5 million, while NBK donated Sh20m, Samsung Sh8m, New KCC Sh3.5m and East Africa Breweries Limited Sh2m. All the sponsors earned value for their money through signage at the five-day event, local and international media coverage, promotional opportunities before and after the event, and the opportunity of entertaining clients and prospective customers
•DIRECTORY BURUNDI AMERICAN EMBASSY B.P. 1720 Avenue Des Etats-Unis City: Bujumbura Phone: (257) 22-34-54/ (257) 21-48-53 Fax: (257) 22-29-26 Web Site: http://bujumbura. usembassy.gov/ CYPRIOT CONSULATE IN BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI 1660 City: Bujumbura Phone: (00257) 22 242630, (00257) 77735325 (Mob.) Fax: (00257) 22 223917 Email: cyprusconsulate.bjm@gmail.com EMBASSY OF BELGIUM B.P. 1920 Bujumbura Phone: + (257) (22) 22.32.66 + (257) (22) 22.61.76 Fax: + (257) (22) 22.31.71 http://www.diplomatie.be/ Email: Bujumbura@diplobel.fed.be
Fax: +257-213735 +257-224082 Email: chinaemb_bi@mfa.gov.cn COMORAN CONSULATE IN BURUNDI Phone: (257) 93-93-10-27 Fax: (257) 929-728-09 DANISH CONSULATE 6, rue Nyabagare, B.P. 2880 City: Bujumbura Phone: 226099 Fax: 227786, 216697 Email: andersen@cbinf.com EGYPTIAN EMBASSY Kinindo, Avenue Nzero, NO. 12 Bujumbura Phone: (+257)22223161 Fax: (+257)22222918 FRENCH EMBASSY 60 avenue de l’Uprona Phone: [257] 22 20 30 00 Fax: [257] 22 20 30 10 Email cad.bujumbura-amba@d iplomatie.gouv.fr
CANADIAN CONSULATE 4708, Boulevard de l’uprona, City: Bujumbura Phone: 257 22 24-58-98 Fax: 257 22 24-58-99 Email: bujumbura@canadaconsulate.ca
GERMAN EMBASSY Ambassador of German to Burundi- Joseph Weiss Hotel Source de Nil, Suite Nr. 301, Avenue de Stade, Bujumbura. Phone: (00 257) 22 64 12 / (00 257)22 64 16
CHINESE EMBASSY B.P. 2550 Bujumbura Phone: +257-224307 +257-216856
GREEK CONSULATE IN BUJUMBURA Ambassador of GreekDimitri Alexandrakis
P O BOX 1660, Bujumbura, Burundi Phone: (00257224) 242532
SENEGALESE CONSULATE BP 382 City: Bujumbura Phone: (+257) 223771 / (+257) 222147
KENYAN EMBASSY PTA Bank Building 2nd floor, West Wing Chaussee du Prince Louise Rwagasore, Bujumbura B.P. 5138 Phone: +257-22-258160/62/ 63/67 Fax: +257 22-258161 Email: information@kenyaembassy.bi
SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY Hotel Novotel, Chaussee du Peuple Murundi, Room 215 and 217, Bujumbura PO Box 185 Phone: +257-244650/ +257-248219 Fax: +257-244650 / +257-248219 Email: saebujfin@usan-bu.net
DUTCH CONSULATE IN BURUNDI Consulate Honoraire du Royaume de Paya Bas Avenue de Grece no. 5 1 etag Phone: 00-257-222082 / 223614 Fax: 00-257-2-22615 Email: conspaysbas@mapatro.com
SWISS CONSULATE Rwanda,Uganada,Somalia, Seychelles Rue du Commerance 11 City: Bujumbura Phone: (+257) 968471 Email: bruno_vincenti@heineken.nl BRITISH EMBASSY British Embassy Liaison Office, Building Old East, Parcelle No1/2, Place de l’Independance, City: Burundi Phone: (257) 22 246 478 Fax: (257) 22 246 479 Email: belo@cni.cbinf.com
RUSSIAN EMBASSY Phone: +257 22-60-98 Fax: +257 22-42-37 Email: ustas@cbinf.com RWANDAN EMBASSY Boite Postale 400 24 Avenue de la République City: Bujumbura Phone: (+257) 223255, 226865 Fax: (+257) 223255 Email: arbuja@cni.cbinf.com. ambabujumbura@minaffet.gov. rw
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+254 20 2525253/4/5 August 2010
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•DIRECTORY TANZANIA THE AMBASSADOR OF ALGERIA A. LAHIOUEL 34 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road P.O. Box 2963 Dar es Salaam Telephone No:2117619 Fax No: 2117620 e-mail: algemb@twiga.com EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA The Ambassador of Angola Brito Sozinho Plot No. 78 Lugalo Road P.O. Box 20793 Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2117674, 2139235 Telex No: 41251 EMBANG TZ Fax No: 2132349 E-mail: ngola@cats-net.com EMBASSY OF BELGIUM Ambassador of Belgium Peter Maddens Black lines House , 5 Ocean Road P.O. Box 9210 Dar Es Salaam Telephone No:2114025,2112688, 2112503 Fax No. 2117621, 2125675 Telex No: 41094 AMBELG E-mail: ambabel.dsm@cats-net.com
EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA The Ambassador of China Xinsheng Liu Chancery: 2 Kajificheni Close P.O. Box 1649 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2667586, 2667694 Fax No: 2666353 EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA The Ambassador of Cuba – Ernesto Diaz Gomez Chancery: Lugalo Road Plot No. 313Upanga , Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 211592 Fax No: 2115927 8 E-mail: embacuba.tz@raha.com DANISH EMBASSY H.E Bjarne Henneberg Sorensen Chancery: Ghana Avenue P.O. Box 9171 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2113887/91, 2117510 Direct Line: 2111325 Telegraphic Address: AMBADANE Telex No: 41057 Fax No: 2116433 E-mail: daramb@um.dk
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION Social security house Azikie Street/Samora Machel Avenue P.O. Box 9200 Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 211765964, 2113501/2 Fax: 2112952/2668436 Fax: 2116703 EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI The Ambassador of Burundi – Amuri Leanare Lugalo Road House No. 1007, Upanga P.O. Box 2752 Dar es Salaam Fax 2121499 E- Mail: burundemb@raha.com CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSION The High Commissioner of Canada Andrew McAlister 38 Mirambo/Garden Avenue
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2112837, 2112863, P.O. Box 1022 Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 21128656, 2112831/5 Fax No: 2116896 Fax No: (Dev. Section) 2116897 Facsimile: 2116897, 2116896 E-mail: dslam@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
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EMBASSY OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT The Ambassador of EgyptMasr Ummuldunya Chancery: 24 Garden Avenue P.O. Box 1668,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2113591/2117622/ 2111716 Telex No: 41173 Fax No: 2112543 E-mail: egypt.emb.tz@intafrica.com EMBASSY OF FINLAND The Ambassador of Finland -
Jorma Paukku Corner of Mirambo/ Garden Avenue P.O. Box 2455,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2119170 Fax No:2119173 e-mail: finemb @twiga.com EMBASSY OF FRANCE The Ambassador of France Emmanuelle d’Achon Chancery: Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road/Kinondoni Road P.O. Box 2349 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2666021/3 Fax No: 2668435 E-mail: ambfrance@africaaonline. co.tz EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY The Ambassador of GermanyDr. Guido Herz Chancery: NIC Building , 10th Floor,Samora Avenue P.O. Box 9541,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2117409 - 15 Fax No: 2112944 e-mail: german.emb.dar@raha.com HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA Chancery: Design House , 2 Dar es Salaam Place P.O. Box 34889 ,Lusaka Telephone No: 73035/7 Telex No: 42960 UYCOMZA HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA The High Commissioner of India - Debashish Chakravarti Chancery: NIC Investment House 7th & 8th Floor Wing ‘’A’’Samora Avenue P.O. Box 2684 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2117175/6 2116551 Fax. 2118761 Telex. 41335 HICIND TZ E-mail. Hcitz@cats.net.com EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA The Ambassador of Indonesia –
Trijono Marjono Chancery: 299 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road P.O. Box 572,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2119119,2118133, 2115841 Fax No: 2115849 Telex No: 41575 INDON TZ Telegraphic Address: INDONESIADAR ES SALAAM E-mail: kbridsm@raha.com EMBASSY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN The Ambassador of Iran – Abbas Vaezi Chancery: Plot 31 Upanga Road P.O. Box 5802 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No:2112255/2117623 Fax No: 2118804/5 Jihad Sazandegi: 2150505 Cultural Center: 2130475 EMBASSY OF ITALY The Ambassador of Italy Marcello Griccioli Chancery: Lugalo Road 316 P.O. Box 2106 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2115935/36, 2123010/11 Ambassador’s: 2113741 Fax No: 2115938 e-mail: italdipl@raha.com EMBASSY OF JAPAN The Ambassador of Japan – Hiroshi Nakagawa Chancery: Plot No. 1018 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road P.O. Box 2577 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2117384, 115827/9, 2117384, 2117383 Fax No: 2115830 Telex No: 41065 TAISHI Telegraphic Address: TAISHI HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA The High Commissioner of KenyaZachary Dominic Mu buri Chancery: P.O. Box 5231 NIC Investment House 14th Floor Samora Avenue ,Dar es Salaam
•DIRECTORY TANZANIA Telephone No: 2112955/6, Fax No: 2113098 E-mail khc@raha.com EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA H.E Soon Chun Lee Chancery: Plot 8/1 Tumbawe Rd ,Oyster bay P.O. Box 1154 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2600496/2600499/2602000 Fax No: 2600559 E-mail rok@intafrica.com BUREAU OF THE SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S LIBYAN Arab JAMAHIRIYA Ambassador of LibyaMr.Ahmed Abdulasalaam Chancery: Mtitu Street No. 386 P.O. Box 9413 ,Dar es Salaam Telegraphic Address: ASHABI Telephone No: 2150166/ 2150188 Fax No: 2150068 Telex No: 4117 HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE The High Commissioner of Mozambique – Mr.Amour Zacharias Kupela Chancery: 25 Garden Avenue P.O. Box 9370 ,Dar es Salaam Chancery: 25 Garden Avenue P.O. Box 9370 ,Dar es Salaam ROYAL NETHERLANDS EMBASSY The Ambassador of the Netherlands - Karel van Kesteren Chancery: ATC Town House Terminal Blg Ohio Street , 2nd Floor P.O. Box 9534 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2118566/8 2130428 Telefax No: 2112828 Fax No: 112828 HIGH COMMISSION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA The High Commissioner of Nigeria – Dr.Tafida Chancery: 83 Haile Selassie Road, Oyster bay
P.O. Box 9214 , Dar es Salaam Tel No: 2667620/2666000/ 2666834/2666843 Telefax No: 2668947 Telex No: 41240 E-mail: nhc-dsm@raha.com ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY The Ambassador of NorwayMr.John Lomoy Chancery: Plot 160, Mirambo Street P.O. Box 2646 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2113666 Fax No: 2116564 Telex No: 41221 NORAMB Telegraphic Address: NORAMB E-mail: ambassade-dar@norad.no EMBASSY OF THE STATE OF PALESTINE The Ambassador of Palestine Fariz Mehdawi Chancery: 612 United Nations Road P.O. Box 20307,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2150636/2150643 Dir. 2153257 Fax No: 2153257 EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND The Ambassador of Poland(Ryszard Malik) Chancery: 1/9 Chisiza Close P.O. Box 2188 Oyster bay, Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2667501 Fax No: 2668309 E-mail: polamb@twigas.com EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA The Ambassador of Rwanda Zemo Mutimura Chancery:Plot No. 32 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd P.O. Box 2918 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2115889, 2117631 Fax No: 115888 Telex No: 41292 Telegraphic Address: AMBARW TZ EMBASSY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION The Ambassador of Russia –
Mr.Valery Orlov Chancery: Plot 73 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road P.O. Box 1905 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2666005/6 Fax No: 2666818 E-mail: embruss@intafrica.com SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSION The High Commissioner of South Africa HE Mr SG Mfenyana Chancery: Plot 1338/9 Mwaya Road ,Masaki P.O. Box 10723 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2601800 Fax No: 2600684 EMBASSY OF SPAIN H.E Mr. Gerran Zurita Chancery: Plot No. 99B ,Kinondoni Road P.O. Box 842, Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2666018/9 Ambassador’s: 2666936 Fax No: 2666938 E-mail: embesptz@mail.mae.es EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SUDAN H.E Abdelbagi Kabier Chancery: 64 Upanga P.O. Box 2266 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2117641 Tel:/Fax No: 2115811 E. mail - sudan.emb.dar@raha.com EMBASSY OF SWEDEN Ambassador of Sweden Lennarth Hjelmåker Chancery: Mirambo Street/Garden Avenue P.O. Box 9303 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2111235 Fax: 2113420 E-mail.www.swedemb-dar.com EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND The Ambassador of Switzerland Emmanuel Jenni Chancery: 79 Kinondoni Road / Mafinga Street
HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA H.E Ibrahim Mukibi Chancery: Plot No. 25, Msasani Rd , Oyster bay P.O. Box 6237 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No:2667391/2667009 Fax: 2667224 E-mail: ugadar@intafrica.com EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA H.E Alfonso E. Lenhardt Chancery: 140 Msese Road P.O. Box 9123 , Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2666010 Telex No: 41519 Fax No: 2666701 EMBASSY OF THE FEDERATION REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA H.E Richard Viietz Chancery: Plot No. 35/36 Upanga Road P.O. Box 2838 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2115891 - 2 Fax No: 2115893 E-mail: ambyudar@raha.com HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA H.E Inonge Mbikusita Chancery: Plot No. 5 & 6 ,Junction of Ohio/ Sokoine Drive P.O. Box 2525 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: Fax/Phone: 2112977 E-mail:zhcd@raha.com HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE Major Gen Rt. John Edzai Chimonyo Chancery: Plot 2097 East Upanga Off Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road P.O. Box 20762 ,Dar es Salaam Telephone No: 2116789 Fax No: 2112913 T Telex No: 41386 E-mail: zimdares@cats-net.com
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•DIRECTORY Uganda EMBASSY OF ALGERIA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H. E Aziria ABEDELKADER P.O. Box 4025, Kampala Tel. No. 256-312-265212/3 Fax: 256-312-265214 Telex 61184, Jazaira E-mail: ambalgka@imul.com Ambassador's Line: 256- 41-232689
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Jean NGENDANGANYA Plot No.14 Hannington Road SM Chambers Building, 1st Floor P.O.Box 29214. Kampala Tel: 256-41-235850 Fax: 256-41-235845 Email: ambabukpl@utlonline.co.ug
APOSTOLIC NUNCIATURE (VATICAN EMBASSY) Ambassador & Head of Mission) H. E. Archbishop Christophe PIERR Chwa II Road, Mbuya Hill P.O. Box 7177, Kampala Tel. 256-41-505619 Fax: 256-41-221774 E:mail: nuntius@utlonline.co.ug
CHINA Embassy of the People's Republic of China Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E Fan GUIJIN Plot 37 Malcolm X Avenue Kololo P.O. Box 4106, Kampala Tel. 256-41-231095/259881/234058 Fax: 256-41-235087/341463 E-mail: chinemb@infocom.co.ug
EMBASSY OF AUSTRIA Head of Bureau: (Charge d'Affaires a.i.) Mr. Franz BREITWIEZER Regional Office for Development Co-operation of the Austrian Embassy in Kampala Crusader House, Annex 3rd Floor 3 Portal Avenue P.O. Box 7457, Kampala. Tel. 256-41-235103/179 Fax: 256-41-235160 Email: franz.breitweiser@ada.gv.at ROYAL BELGIAN EMBASSY, KAMPALA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Jan DE BRUYNE Email: jan.debruyne@diplobel.org 3rd Floor Ruwenzori House Lumumba Avenue Plot 1 P.O. Box 7043, Kampala. Tel. 256-41-349559/569/570 Emergency No. 256-772-704400 Fax. 256-41-347212 E-mail: kampala@diplobel.org , coop. kla@diplobel.org (development cooperation) Website : www.diplomatie.be/kampala.
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EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Minister Counselor/ Charge d'Affaires A.I. Mr. Biselele WA MUTSHIPAYI 20 Philip Road, Kololo P.O. Box 4972 Kampala Tel. 256-41-250099/232021 /230610 Fax: 256-41-340140 Email: amba_rdc_kla@yahoo.fr EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Ricardo Antonio Danza SIGAS KAR Drive Plot 10 Lower Kololo Terrace P.O. Box. 9226, Kampala Tel. 256-41-233742 Fax. 256-41-233320/236438 E-mail: ecuba@africaonline.co.ug ROYAL DANISH EMBASSY Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Mr. Stig BARLYNG Plot. 3 Lumumba Avenue P.O. Box. 11243 Kampala Tel. 256-312-263211
Emergency Mobile: 256-772-221470 Fax. 256-312-264624 Telex: 61560 AMBADANE E-mail: kmtamb@um.dk Website: www.ambkampala.um.dk EMBASSY OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Reda Abdel Rahman BEBARS E-mail: stibar@um.dk 33 Kololo Hill Drive P.O. Box 4280 Kampala Tel. 256-41-254525/245152 Telex No. 61122 EGYPT UGA Fax. 256-41-232103 Email: egyembug@utlonline.co.ug
H.E. Alexander MÜHLEN Plot 15 Philip Road, Kololo P.O. Box 7016 Kampala Tel. nn256-41-501111 Fax. 256-41-501115 Telefax: 343136 Emergency no.256-77-763 000 E-mail: germemb@africaonline.co.ug EMBASSY OF ICELAND Counsellor/ Chargé d'Affaires a.i Ms. Agusta GISLADOTTIR, Country Director ICEIDA Uganda East African Development Bank Building 4 Nile Avenue KAMPALA, Uganda Tel: 041 230984/92 Fax: 041 341079
EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Terfa Mengesha REMCHIE Plot No. 3L, Off Kira Road, Kit ante Close. P.O. Box 7745, Kampala Tel. No. 256-41-348340/ 256-41-341881 Fax. No. 256-41-341885 E-mail: ethiokam@utlonline.co.ug
THE HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA High Commissioner: H.E Sibabrata TRIPATHI 11 Kyaddondo Road, Nakasero P.O. Box 7040 Kampala Tel. 256-41-259398/344631 /342994 Telex. 61161 Fax. 256-41-254943 Gram: HICOMIND, KAMPALA E-mail: hc@hicomindkampala.org hoc@hicomindkampala.org attache@hicomindkampala.org/
T HE FRENCH EMBASSY IN UGANDA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E Bernard GARANCHER Plot 16 Lumumba Avenue, Nakasero P O Box 7212, Kampala Tel. 256-41-342120 / 342176/342344/5 Fax: 256-41-341252 E-mail:: ambafrance.kampala@diplo matie.gouv.fr Emergency Tel: 256-77-777717
EMBASSY OF IRELAND Chargé d 'Affaires e.t. H.E. Áine HEARNS Plot No. 25, Yusuf Lule Road Nakasero P.O. Box 7791 Kampala Tel. No. 256-41-344 348, 256-312-63104/5 Fax: 256-41-344353 E-mail: ireland@ireland.co.ug
EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Political, protocol and Consular Affairs
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: H.E. Umberto PLAJA 11 Lourdel Road, Nakasero P.O. Box 4646 Kampala Tel. 256-41-250442/250450/341786 Fax: 256-41-250448/349526
•DIRECTORY Uganda Emergency; 256-75-750448 E-mail: ambkamp@imul.com Website: www.imul.com/embitaly EMBASSY OF JAPAN Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H. E. Ryuuzo KIKUCHI East African Development Bank Building, Nile Avenue, Kampala. P.O. Box 23553 Kampala Tel. 256-41-349542/3/4/5 Fax. 256-41-349547 E-mail: jembassy@jembassy.or.ug THE HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA High Commissioner H.E. Japheth R. GETUGI Plot 41, Nakasero Road P.O. Box 5220, Kampala Tel. 256-41-258232/5/6 Fax. 256-41-258239 E-mail: kenhicom@africaonline.co.ug EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE 'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: HE Pak Hyon ZAE 10, Prince Charles Drive, Kololo P.O. Box. 5885 Kampala Tel. 256-41-254603/343424 Telex: 61144 DPRK UG Fax. 256-41-250-224 THE GREAT SOCIALIST PEOPLE'S LIBYAN ARAB Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: Vacant First Counsellor Mr. Salaah A. FARID Jamahiriya People's Bureau, Kampala Plot 26, Kololo Hill Drive P.O. Box 6079, Kampala Tel. 256-41-344-924-27 256-312-344100 Telex. 61090 Allibya Fax. 256-41-344969, 256-312-344237 E-mail: l.a.p.b. @ utlonline.co.ug ROYAL NETHERLANDS EMBASSY Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: H.E . Yoka BRANDT
4th Floor, Kisozi Complex, Nakasero Lane P.O. Box. 7728 Kampala Tel. 256-41-346000 Fax. 256-41-231861 E.mail: KAM@minbuza.nl www.netherlandsembassyu ganda.org ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Bjørg S. LEITE Plot 8a, John Babiiha Avenue P.O. Box. 22770 Kampala Tel. 256-41-343621/ 346733/340848 Fax. 256-41-343936 Mob: 256-75-703107 (Emergency) E-mail: emb.kampala@mfa.no Website: www.norway.go.ug Email: bsl@mfa.no THE HIGH COMMISSION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA High Commissioner H.E. Chukudi Dixon ORIKE 33 Nakasero Road, Kampala P.O. Box 4338, Kampala Tel.256-41-233691/2 Fax. 256-41-232543 Telex 61011 Telegraphic address: "NIGERIAN, KAMPALA" Email: nighicom-sgu@africaonline.co.ug EMBASSY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: HE Mr. Valery UTKIN 28 Malcolm X Avenue, Kololo P.O. Box 7022, Kampala Tel:256-41-345-698 Telegraphic address: "SOVPOSOL" Telex 61518 SOVPOS UG Fax 345-798 E-mail: russemb@imul.com EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: H.E Kamali Karegesa IGNACE Plot No. 2, Nakaima Road Next to Uganda National Museum P.O. Box. 2468 Kampala
Tel. 256-41-344045/333541 Fax. 256-41-258547 ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: H.E. Ahmad Mohammed Abdullah AL-BAHLAL Plot 3 Okurut Close, Kololo P.O. Box 22558, Kampala Tel. 256-41-340614/340616 Tel: 256-41-231248 (Ambassador's Direct) Fax: 254017 E-mail: resakla@utlonline.co.ug EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SUDAN Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Hassan Ibrahim GADKARIM Plot 21 Nakasero Road P O Box 3200 Kampala Tel: 256-41-230001/346583, 256-312-261358/261082 Fax: 256-41-346573 E-mail: sudanikampala@utlonline.co.ug HIGH COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICAN High Commissioner: H.E. Thanduyise Henry CHILIZA Plot No. 2B Nakasero Hill Lane P.O. Box 22667 Kampala Tel: 256-41-343543/44/46/60 or 256-312-220006/9 Fax: 256-41-438216 EMBASSY OF SWEDEN Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: HE Mr. Erik ÅBERG Plot no. 24 Lumumba Avenue, Nakasero P.O. Box 22669 Kampala Tel: 256-41-340970 Fax: 256-41-340979 Emergency Tel: 256-77-740970 Email: ambassaden.kampala@sida.se HIGH COMMISSION OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA High Commissioner H.E . Rajab H. GAMAHA 6, Kagera Road, Nakasero
P O Box 5750, Kampala Tel: 256-41-256272 Fax: 256-41-343973 Emergency Number after Closure: 256-41-348139 Telegramme: TANZANREP KAMPALA E-mail: tzrepkla@imul.com HIGH COMMISSION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND High Commissioner: H. E. Francois GORDON CMG British High Commission 4 Windsor Loop P. O. Box 7070 Kampala Main switchboard: (256) (31) 2312000 Telephone: (256) (31) 2312000 Fax: (256) (41) 4257304 General Enquiries (256) (31) 2312281 Consular/Visa Sections (256) (31) 2312267 Political Section Email: bhcinfo@starcom.co.ug Email Kampala.Visasection@fco.gov.uk Email Consular.kampala@fco.gov.uk Website http://ukinuganda.fco. gov.uk/en/:: EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: H.E. Steven Alan BROWING Plot 1577 Ggaba Road P.O. Box 7007 Kampala Tel. 256-41-259791/5 , 234142, 233231 Fax: 256-41-259794 EUROPEAN UNION Delegation of the European Com mission in Uganda Head of Delegation Amb. Vincent DE VISSCHER 15th floor, Crested Towers Building Plot 17-23 Hannington Road P.O. Box 5244, Kampala Tel: 256-41-233303/4, & 256-41-250049, 343516 Emergency Tel: 256-41-257907 Fax: 256-41-233-708 E-mail: delegation-uganda@.cec.eu.int
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•DIRECTORY RWANDA SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY P.o Box 6563 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252583185-89 Fax: +250(0) 252511760 Email: saemkgl@rwanda1.com www.saembassy-kigali.org.rw
BURUNDIAN EMBASSY P.o Box 714 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 515512 CANADIAN EMBASSY P.o Box 1177 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 573210 www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/africa/ rwanda-contact-en.asp
GERMAN EMBASSY P.o Box 225 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 575222 www.konsulate.de/rwanda_e.php
CHINESE EMBASSY P.o Box 1345 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 575415 Fax: +250(0) 252 576420
BELGIAN EMBASSY P.o Box 81 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 575551 Fax: +250(0) 252 575551 www.diplomatie.be/Kigali/default
KENYAN EMBASSY P.o Box 6159 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 583336 Fax: +250(0) 252 51091
NUNCIATURE EMBASSY P.o Box 261 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 575293 Fax: +250(0) 252 575181
BRITISH EMBASSY P.o Box 576 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 584940 Fax: +250(0) 252 510588 www.britishembassykigali.org.rw
SWEDISH EMBASSY P.o Box 547 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 5753534 Fax: +250(0) 252 586808
RUSSIAN EMBASSY P.o Box 40 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 575286 Fax: +250(0) 252 503322 www.russianembassy.biz/rwan da-kigali
EGYPT ARAB REPUBLIC EMBASSY H.E Ahmed Rami Awaad Tel: +250(0) 252 587510 Fax: +250(0) 252 576420
TANZANIAN EMBASSY P.o Box 3973 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 505400 Fax: +250(0) 252 505403 USA EMBASSY P.o Box 28 Kigali Tel: +250(0) 252 505601 Fax: +250(0) 252 572128 http://www.usembkigali.net
•DIRECTORY Kenya
ALGERIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Muthaiga Road 37 PO BOX 64140 Mobile Plaza 00620 Nairobi Phone: 254 20 31 04 30, 254 20 31 04 40 Fax: 254 20 31 04 50 Email: Algerianembassy@wananchi.com ARGENTINIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kitisuru Km. 3.3e P.O. Box 30283 Nairobi GPO 00100 Kenya Phone: (+254) 20 418 3119 (254) 2 - 254 20 41 8 0161 Fax: (+254) 20 418 3054 Email: ekeny@bidii.com AUSTRALIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Riverside Drive (400 mtrs off Chiromo Road) (Postal Add: PO Box 39341) Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 254 20 444 5034-9 Fax: 254 20 444 4718 Web Site: http://www.kenya.embassy. gov.au/
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AUSTRIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA 2nd floor, City House Corner Wabera Street/Standard Street P.O.B. 30560 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (+254/20) 31 90 76 to 78 Fax: (+254/20) 34 22 90 Web Site: http://www.aussenministerium.at/nairobi Email: nairobi-ob@bmeia.gv.at AUSTRIAN CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA 3rd floor, Ralli House Nyerere Avenue P.O.B. 84045 Mombasa, Kenya Phone: (+254) (41) 31 33 86 Fax: (+254) (41) 31 33 86 Email: tibor@tgaalarchitects.co.ke BANGLADESHI CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Ole Odume Str. P.O. Box 41645 City: Nairobi Phone: +254 2 562 815 Fax: 562 817
August 2010
BELGIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Limuru Road Muthaiga Nairobi Phone: + (254) (20) 71.22.011/71.22.166/ 71.23.093/71.22.181 Fax: + (254) (20) 71.23.050 Web Site: http://www.diplomatie.be/ nairobi Email: Nairobi@diplobel.fed.be BELGIAN CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA P.O. Box 91276 - 80103 Mombasa (Kenya) Fax: + (254) (41) 474.236 Email: consulbel@mombasa.be BOTSWANA CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA P.O. Box 754 00606 Sarit Centre Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (2542) 447735 (2542) 448726 Fax: (2542) 449782 CANADIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Limuru Road, Gigiri Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: (011 254 20) 366 3000 Fax: (011 254 20) 366 3900 Web Site: http://www.kenya.gc.ca Email: nrobi@international.gc.ca CANADIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA The Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations Environment Programs, Nairobi Limuru Road, Cigiri Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (011 254 20) 366 3000 Fax: (011 254 20) 366 3900 Email: nrobi@international.gc.ca CANADIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA The Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT), Nairob Limuru Road, Gigiri Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (011 254 20) 366 3000 Fax: (011 254 20) 366 3900 Email: nrobi@international.gc.ca CHILEAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Riverside Drive N 66 Riverside P.O.Box 45554 00100 Nairobi
•DIRECTORY Kenya City: Nairobi Phone: 254(20) 4452950 254(20) 4452951 Fax: 254(20) 4443209 Email: echile@echile.co.ke CHINESE EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Woodlands Road Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 00254-2726851 00254-2722559 Fax: 00254-2726402 00254-2711540 Web Site: http://ke.china-embassy.org Email: chinaemb_ke@mfa.gov.cn COLOMBIAN EMBASSY I N NAIROBI, KENYA International House 6th Floor Mama Ngina Street P.O. Box 48494-00100, NAIROBI Phone: 009 254 2 246770/1 Fax: 009 254 2 246772 Email: emkenia@colombia.or.ke CONGOLESE EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Embassy of Congo in Nairobi, Kenya Botschaft , 2nd floor, City House, Corner Wabera Street/ Standard Street Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (+254 / 2) 24 73 65 Fax: (+254 / 2) 33 17 92 Email: austria@africaonline.co.ke COSTA RICAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA No. 982-Code 00621 Village Market Nairobi Kenya Phone: 00 (254) 20 -71-20330 Fax: 00 (254) 20 -71 22255 Email: aranibarmkt@iconnect.co.ke CUBAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA 5th Floor, International Live House Mama Ngina Street P.O. Box 198, Sarit Centre Nairobi, Kenya. Phone: (254) 202 41003y 204 1005 Fax: (254)) 202 410 23 Email: embacuba@swiftkenya.com CYPRIOT CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA International House, 6th Floor P.O.Box 30739 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: + 254 20 2220881 Fax: + 254 20 312202 Email: cyphc@nbnet.co.ke
CZECH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Jumuia Place, Lenana Road P.O.Box 48785 00100 Nairobi Republic of Kenya Phone: 0025420/2731010 0025420/2731011 0025420/2731012 Fax: 0025420-2731013 Web Site: http://www.mzv.cz/nairobi Email: nairobi@embassy.mzv.cz,zamini. cz@africaonline.co.ke DANISH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA 13 Runda Drive, Runda P.O. Box 40412-00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 254 20 7122848-51 Fax: 254 20 7120638 Web Site: http://www.ambnairobi.um.dk Email: nboamb@um.dk DANISH CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA Mikanjuni Road, Liwatoni Bay P.O. Box 99543 Mombasa, Kenya Phone: +254 41 229241/2/3 Fax: +254 41 221390 Email: jhn@africaonline.co.ke ECUADORIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA P.O.Box 76626, Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 254 2 722382 Fax: 254 2 720936 Email: alfaroma@net200ke.com EGYPTIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA 24 Othaya road off Gitanga road, Kileleshwa P.O.BOX: 30285 GPO 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (25420) 3870298-38702783870360 Fax: (25420) 3870383 Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.eg/Missions/kenya/nairobi/embassy/en-GB Email: eg.emb_nairobi@mfa.gov.eg ERITREAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA PO Box 38651 2nd Floor, New Rehema House Raphta Road, Westlands Phone: +254-2-443164 Fax: +254-2-443165 ETHIOPIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA
State House Avenue P.O. Box: 45198 GPO Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 00254-2-2732057 Fax: 254-2-2732054 Email: executive@ethiopianembassy. or.ke FINNISH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Eden Square, Block 3, 6th floor Greenway Rd off Westlands Rd Phone: +254-(0)20-3750721-4 Fax: +254-(0)20-3750714 Web Site: http://www.finland.or.ke Email: sanomat.nai@formin.fi FINNISH CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA Mikanjuni Road Liwatoni Bay c/o Shipmarc Ltd. Postal address: Honorary Consulate of Finland P.O. Box 99543 City: Mombasa Phone: (254-41) 229 241/-2/-3 Fax: (254-41) 221390 Email: jhn@africaonline.co.ke FRENCH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Barclay's Plaza, 9th Floor, Loita street P.O. Box 41784 00100 Nairobi Phone: [254] (20) 277 80 00 Fax: [254] (20) 277 81 80 Web Site: http://www.ambafrance-ke.org/ Email: ambafrance.nairobi@diplomatie. gouv.fr GERMAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Williamson House 4th Ngong Avenue Nairobi Phone: (00254 20) 426 21 00 Fax: (00254 20) 426 21 29 Web Site: http://www.nairobi.diplo.de Email: info@nairobi.diplo.de
Email: gremb.nai@mfa.gr GREEK CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA P.O. Box 90194, Mombasa, Kenya Phone: (002541) 1228286 Fax: (002541) 1314642 GREENLANDIC EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya Cassia House Westlands Office Park off Waiyaki Way P.O. Box 40412 Nairobi Phone: +00 254 20 445 1460-3 Fax: +00 254 20 445 1474 Web Site: http://www.ambnairobi.um.dk Email: nboamb@um.dk HONDURAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kabarsiran Avenue (off James Gichuru Road) Lavington, P.O.Box: 61146-00200 Phone: 00 - 254 - 20 444-2612 Fax: 00 - 254 444-2101 Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.hu/emb/ nairobi Email: mission.nai@kum.hu HONDURAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kabarsiran Avenue (off James Gichuru Road) Lavington, P.O.Box: 61146-00200 Phone: 00 - 254 - 20 444-2612 Fax: 00 - 254 444-2101 Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.hu/emb/ nairobi Email: mission.nai@kum.hu
GERMAN CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA, KENYA Bank of India Building 2. Stock, Nkrumah Road, Mombasa P.O Box 86779, Mombasa, Kenia Phone: (00254 41) 222 87 81 Fax: (00254 41) 231 45 04 Email: mombasa@germanconsul.com
HUNGARIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kabarsiran Avenue (off James Gichuru Road) Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya P.O.Box: 61146-00200 Phone: 444-2499 Fax: 444-2101 Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.hu/emb/ nairobi Email: mission.nai@kum.hu
GREEK EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Nation Tower, 7th Floor Kimathi Str. P.O.Box 30543 00100 Nairobi Phone: (00254 20) 340722 or 340744 Fax: (00254 20) 2216044
HUNGARIAN CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA Mombasa Kastan Center NR Nyali Bridge, P.O.Box 90653, Mombasa/Kenya
August 2010
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•DIRECTORY Kenya Phone: 475-074, 474-947, 0733-608-767 (mobile) Fax: 471-257, 473-533 Email: mike@southerncrosssafaris.com INDIAN CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA Bank of India Building Nkrumah Road PO Box 90164 Mombasa Phone: +254 41 2224 433/2311 051 Fax: +254 41 2316 740 Web Site: http://www.hcinairobi.co.ke/ Pages/AHC_mombasa.html Email: cimsa@swiftmombasa.com INDIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Jeevan Bharati Building Harambee Avenue PO Box 30074-00100 Nairobi Phone: +254 - 20 222 566 / 2225 104 / 2224 500 Fax: +254 - 20 316 242 Web Site: http://www.hcinairobi.co.ke/ Email: hcindia@kenyaweb.com INDONESIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Menengai Road, Upper Hill P.O. Box 48868-00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (254-20) 271-4196 to 98 Fax: (254-20) 271-3475 Web Site: http://www.indonesia.or.ke Email: indonbi@indonesia.or.ke IRISH CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Dante Diesel Workshop Building Masai Road Off Mombasa Road P.O. Box 30659 00100 Phone: 00 254 20 556647 Fax: 00 254 2 556647 Email: irconsul@swiftkenya.com ISRAELI EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Embassy of Israel in Nairobi, Kenya send edits Bishop Road(Opp. Fairview Hotel) P.o.Box 30354 - 00100 Nairobi,Kenya Phone: 254 20 2722182 / 3 Fax: 254 20 2715966 Web Site: http://nairobi.mfa.gov.il Email: info@nairobi.mfa.gov.il ITALIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Mama Ngina St. International House, 9th floor P.O. Box 30107 Phone: (2542) 337356
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Fax: (2542) 337056 Web Site: http://www.ambnairobi. esteri.it Email: ambasciata.nairobi@esteri.it JAPANESE EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Ground Floor, ICEA Bldg, Kenyatta Avenue P.O. Box 60202 Kenya Phone: +254-20-341244 Fax: +254-20-252007 Web Site: http://www.ke.emb-japan. go.jp/ Email: jinfocul@eojkenya.org EMBASSY OF REP OF KOREA HisExc. Lee Han-Gon University way, Ann. Towers 15th Floor. P.O.Box30455-100 Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: 222000, 2218888 Fax: 2217772, 312317 web: ken@mosat.go.ke email: emb-ke@mosat.go.kr KUWAITI EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Matayja Road P.O.Box 42353 960, 6763275, 6761614 Fax: (+254-20) 6767053 MALAWIAN EMBASSY IN KENYA Westlands, off Waiyaki Way P.O. Box 30453 Phone: +(254) 2 440 569 Fax: +(254) 2 440 568 MALAYSIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA No. 58, Red Hill Road Gigiri P.O. Box 42286, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: +254 20 7123373/74/75 Fax: +254 20 7123371/67 Web Site: http://www.kln.gov.my/ perwakilan/nairobi Email: malnairobi@kln.gov.my MOROCCAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA United Nations Street, Gigiri P.O. Box 617 00621 Nairobi City: Nairobi Phone: (+254) (20) 7120 765 / 795 Fax: (+254) (20) 7120 817 Email: sifmanbi@clubinternetk.com MOZAMBICAN EMBASSY
August 2010
IN NAIROBI, KENYA Embassy of Mozambique P.O.Box 66923 Bruo House, 3rd Floor Standard Street Nairobi Kenya Phone: (+254-20) 221979, 214191 Fax: (+254-20) 222446 Email: mozambiq@africaonline.co.ke NEPALESE CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Nairobi, Kenya Gateway Place, Milimani Road, Phone: 254-2-2713131-7 / 254-204348149, Fax: 254-20- 2713138 Email: gkaruri@gateway-insurance.co.ke DUTCH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Riverside Lane P.O. Box 41537 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: +254 20 42 88 000 Fax: +254 20 44 47 416 Web Site: http://www.netherlandsembassy.or.ke/ Email: nlgovnai@africaonline.co.ke KIWI CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Diju Investments, Mirage Plaza, Room 2C Second Floor, Argwings Kodhek Road PO Box 52224, 00200 Phone: +254 20 601074 Fax: (+254) 20 272 1990, +254 20 601076 or (+254) 20 27 Email: dijuinvest@inds.co.ke NORWEGIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Lion Place, Waiyaki Way P.O.Box 4636300100, Westlands, Nairobi Phone: (020) 4451510-6 Fax: (020) 4451517 Web Site: http://www.norway.or.ke/ Email: emb.nairobi@mfa.no PAKISTANI EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA St. Michael's Road, Off Church Road, Off Waiyaki Way, Westlands, P.O. Box 30045, 00100, Nairobi Phone: (+254-20) 4443911 & 4443912 Fax: (+254-20) 4446507 & 4443803 Email: parepnairobi@iwayafrica.com PHILIPPINE EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA State House Road (next to Hillcrest College)
P.O. Box 47941 00100 Phone: (25420) 272-5310 Fax: (25420) 272-5316 Email: nairobipe@philembassy.or.ke / nairobipe@dfa.gov.ph ROMANIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Gardenia Road-Gigiri or P.O. Box 63240 Nairobi 00619 Phone: (00) (254) (20) 7123109 or 7120607 Fax: (00) (254) (20) 7122061 Email: secretariat@romanianembassy.co.ke RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA P.O. Box 30049, Lenana Road, Nairobi, Kenya Phone: +254 20 272-87-00 Fax: +254 20 272-18-88 Email: RUSSEMBKENYA@MAIL.RU RWANDAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA 2nd floor, International House, P.O. Box 30619 Phone: +254-2-575975 Fax: +254-2-317-400 SAUDI ARABIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kenya Nairobi P.O. Box 58297 00200 City Square Main Muthaiga rd Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 020 260997/020 260999 Fax: 37452 62/374 5263 E-mail: keemb@mofat.gov.sa SEYCHELLES CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA 114 James Gichuru Road P.O.Box 23686 Lavington Phone: (+254-2) 577628/+254-20540957 /+254-20-540754/+254-733759785 Fax: +254-20-577628 /+254-20-540754 Email: urbannre@africaonline.co.ke SEYCHELLES CONSULATE IN MOMBASA, KENYA Honorary Consulate of Syechelles in Mombasa, Kenya P.O.Box 81149 Phone: +254-11-224184 Fax: +254-11-226072 Email: mason2001ke@yahoo.com
•DIRECTORY Kenya SLOVAK EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Milimani Road PO Box 30204 Phone: +254-20-2721896/+254-202721898/+254-20-2717415 Fax: (+254-20) 2712956 Email: sknai@swiftkenya.com SOUTH AFRICAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA South Africa Consulate , Kenya PO Box 42441 Phone: (+254-20)-215616 / +254-20215618/+254-20-228469/+254-20252420/+254-20-252421
Fax: (254-2) 715801, 715802 Web Site: http://www.thaiembassy.org/ nairobi Email: thainbi@thainbi.or.ke TURKISH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA P.O. Box 64748 00620 Phone: +254-20-7126929 / +254-207126930 Fax: +254-20-7126931 Web Site: http://www.nairobi.emb.mfa. gov.tr Email: tcbenair@accesskenya.co.ke
SPANISH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA CBA Building 2nd Floor Upper Hill PO Box 45503 00100 Nairobi Phone: (+254-20) 2720222/6 / 0733631144 Fax: +254-20-27202226 Email: emb.nairobi@maec.es
UGANDAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Uganda House Kenyatta Avenue P.O.Box 60853 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (+254-20) 2330801, 2330814, 2330834 Fax: (+254-20) 2330970 Email: asiimwe@africaonline.co.ke
SUDANESE EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Kabarnet Road, off Ngong Road 48784 Nairobi, Kenya. Phone: (2542) 720-854 Fax: (2542)722-253 Email: salahmousa@yahoo.com
UGANDAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Riverside Paddock Off Riverside Drive Phone: (+254-20) 4445420/4449096 Fax: (+254-20) 4443772 Email: ugacomnrb@todays.co.ke, ugahicom@todaysonline.com
BRITISH CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA Upper Hill Road PO Box 30465-00100 GPO Phone: 254 20 2844 000 Fax: 254 20 2844077 254 20 2844239 Web Site: http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/kenya Email: bhcinfo@jambo.co.ke AMERICAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA P. O. Box 606 Village Market 00621 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 363-6000, Fax: 363-3410 Web Site: http://nairobi.usembassy.gov/ VENEZUELAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Mama Ngina Street International House, 3rd floor Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (+254-20)-340 178 / 340 167 / 2340 178 Fax: +254-20-337 487 / +254-20-2337 487 Email: embavene@africaonline.co.ke
ZAMBIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Nyerere Road Nyerere Road City: Nairobi Phone: (+254-20) 72476,724799,724850 Email: zambiacom@swiftkenya.com ZAMBIAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA P.O.Box 48741 Nairobi Kenya Phone: (+254-20) 2724850, 2724796, 2724799 Fax: (+254-20) 2718494 Email: zambiacom@swiftkenya.com ZIMBABWEAN CONSULATE IN NAIROBI, KENYA High Commission of Zimbabwe in Nairobi, Kenya 6th Floor Minnet ICDC Building, Mamlanka Rd, PO 30806 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: (+254-2) 721071 Fax: (+254-2) 726503 Email: zimna@africaonline.co.ke
YEMENI EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Corner Ngong and Karbarnet Roads P.O. Box 44642 Kenya Phone: (+254) (20) 56 4379 / 57 4646 or (+254) (20) 386 4379 / 387 4646 Fax: (+254-20) 3874680, 3861071
SWEDISH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Lion Place, 3rd floor Waiyaki Way, Westlands Nairobi Kenya Phone: +254 (20) 423 40 00/+254 (0)734 600 851 Fax: +254-20-445 2008/09 Web Site: http://www.swedenabroad. com/nairobi Email: ambassaden.nairobi@sida.se TANZANIAN EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Taifa Road Re-insurance Plaza, 9th Floor Phone: (+254-2)-331056 / 331057 / 331104 Fax: +254-2-218269 Email: tanzania@user.africaonline.co.ke THAI EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA Rose Avenue, Off Denis Pritt Rd, P.O. Box 58349 P.O. Box 58349 Phone: (254-2) 715243, 715800, 715796, 714276
August 2010
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•DIARY Looking Forward
UN INTERNATIONAL DAYS AUGUST August 9
International Day of the World's Indigenous people
August 12
International Youth Day
August 23
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Aboltion
•DEA CLASSIFIEDS
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