DIPLOMAT East Africa - Volume 10

>>Kenya’s Date with the Other ICC PG 62 February 2011

Volume 010

Door to Region, Window on World

Strengthening Ties That Bind African Agriculture Fund in Record Growth New Wave of Extinctions

Egypt's Short Sharp Shock

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•DIPLOMATIC LICENCE

New Sudan: Triumph of Hope over War

T

he people of southern Sudan voted massively mouth in Khartoum for it amounts to its rejection by the and overwhelmingly (99.5 per cent) for southerners. And there are many who fear that secession Africa’s largest country to be split into two. of the South could set in motion separatist movements But it is not the size of the country that in the West and East of Sudan. caused them to vote for separation rather Indeed, there are yet others who feel strongly that than the unity of the polity as the world has known it.

President Omar Al-Bashir should be held responsible for It is incontestable that the North — or successive the secession of the South and the domino effect in the the governments in Khartoum — have been unfair and West and East that this may set in motion. Most notably, unresponsive, remote and insensitive former Vice-President Hassan Alto the aspirations, desires, hopes, Turabi has called for a revolution wishes and fears of the people of the and change of government in the South for five long decades.

North.

Some might want to argue that The leadership of the South, for it was the long period of war in the its part, knows that last month’s vote South, which dates back to the early was the easier part. Now, the really 1950s and ended only five years ago, hard work begins. This will be a that is to blame for the noticeable veritable test of the adroitness of the lack of infrastructure and the most leadership as it handles exceedingly basic amenities, for example, in the high expectations among the region. people.

But if this is accepted as the reason It will be a test of its expertise for the underdevelopment of the as it addresses the tensions and South, it must be borne in mind flashpoints between communities that right from the ’50s, when the and with the North; negotiating the South took up armed struggle, the delicate diplomatic minefields with argument was that it was doing so in the North; building infrastructure; order to right the wrongs committed and ensuring the security of the against it by the North. people in order that they take part in The South was convinced 50 nation-building. years ago, and remains convinced Where previously the North now, that it was never allocated its provided a ready excuse for any The leadership of fair share of its wealth by the North. wrongdoing by the leaders of the the South, for its Reversing this trend is what has South, separation has closed that part, knows that last been called righting the wrongs door and the people of the South month’s vote was the committed by the North against the will train their eyes and ears on their South. This could only be achieved, leaders and the promises they have easier part. Now, the the South remained convinced, if it really hard work begins. made to them. Suffice it to say that was independent of the North. transitions are very delicate and After decades of war, two of which always potentially volatile affairs. were extremely costly in both human That being the case, it is and material terms, both North and South, the eastern incumbent upon the South to ensure that instability Africa region, the Organisation of African Unity (the does not return to that part of the Sudan. Similarly, it precursor of the African Union) and the United Nations is incumbent upon Al-Bashir to ensure that there is concluded that the North-South divide could not be no instability in the North. Instability in either part of bridged militarily.

Sudan in the lead-up to the eventual separation remains The result was the peace talks that culminated in the catastrophe option for the entire region — which is the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to say it is no option at all.

(CPA) that led to the five-year autonomy of the South The best way to ensure that things run smoothly is leading up to last month’s referendum that returned a for the parties involved is to stick to the provisions of resounding, indeed overwhelming, rejection of unity the CPA and to ensure that the people understand the and embrace of separation. results of the vote and take in their stride the meaning Naturally, the result of the plebiscite, while expected of it. For the South, another leg of a long journey just by the North all along, still leaves a bitter taste in the begun

February 2011

11

•IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES

Heard and Quoted “How does the African Union help Kenya yet we are already a signatory of the Rome Statute? If we want to move away from the Rome Statute, which I don’t support, we would rather deal directly with the ICC” — Prime-Minister Raila Odinga on Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s bid to seek the support of African Union to defer Kenya’s case at the International Criminal Court.

This is a boring soap opera; we know how to respond to it and how to deal with it; we’re not shocked by this nonsense” — Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas dismissing the leak of hundreds of secret files on IsraeliPalestinian peace talks by Al-Jazeera.

“The will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator.

And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people”, — US President Barack Obama reacting to the situation in Tunisia.

“It is true that my mother Vernita is also Patricia’s birth mother. That means Patricia is my half sister who I never knew existed”, Popular talk show host Oprah Winfrey revealed this family secret, terming it her miracle of miracles.

2

February 2011

(nMoy the /avish &omforts of a Private Villa or Apartment

Our villas and apartments allow families to interact in one spacious property, with some of our villas sleeping as many as 14. Staying in our self catering apartments and villas allow guests to prepare their favorite meals in a well equipped kitchen or barbeque area at any time of the day or night, dine al fresco or picnic on the property, la]e on the deck by their own private rim Ăœow pool or indulge in a rela[ing Macu]]i, all while feeling secure that they will not be disturbed.

w w w. v i l l a s i n a f r i c a . o r g

•DIPLOSPEAK Have Your Say

You are Setting the Pace...

UNPARALLELED JOURNALISM I read your December-January issue with keen interest, particularly the solid first-rate interviews with the new Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore and former head of EU delegation Eric Van Der Linden. At the risk of coming off as a skeptic, I did not think your magazine would last six months on the newsstands, I guess you proved me wrong. So you can imagine, when I got a copy of your first anniversary issue, I was rather suprised and at the same time proud. Therefore, let me take this opportunity to congratulate you. It is hard to find a home-grown product like Diplomat East Africa competing with big shots like The Economist. Perhaps, you ought to spread your wings further and emerge from your status as a regional to an internationally acclaimed publication. This is certain to shut up other critics like me.

Your story on Collymore was tasteful and served to demonstrate that Safaricom is indeed East Africa’s most profitable corporate giant. I loved the feel-good approach Kwendo Opanga carried out in this world-class piece.

Kudos! Indeed, Michael Joseph’s exit only serves as a testing ground as to whether his successor will continue making a world of difference as has been the catch-phrase of this runaway corporation.

I continue to be a critic but one whose loyalties keep on changing. As long as you keep dishing out stories like this, you have got yourself a keeper. Congratulations on your first anniversary.

NAMASAKE NYIMBIGIRA Kisii County

4

February 2011

RANT/RAVE

>>WikiLeaks: Diplomatic Debacle of the Decade PG 80 December - January 2011

Volume 009

I continue to be a critic but one whose loyalties keep on changing.

As long as you keep dishing out stories like this, you have got yourself a keeper

Door to Region, Window on World

Ocampo's Gambit

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of law sanitise the political waves.

Very soon you will be thanking Mr Moreno Ocampo for ridding you of the masterminds of the ugly violence that befell you.

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17/01/2011 TO THE EDITOR DIPLOMAT EAST AFRICA

LET OCAMPO BE I have been following the Ocampo trail for a while now. As an outsider looking in, I must say I was reassured just like the many victims of the post-election violence that took place in neighbouring Kenya that high-level impunity has finally met its Waterloo. The naming of the infamous ‘Ocampo Six’ who have been deemed to bear the greatest responsibility should come as a sort of amnesty for Kenyans. I would like to downplay the flooding of mixed reactions that accompanied the shattering announcement. The ICC was, after all, formed to serve as a ‘gift of hope to future generations and a giant step towards universal human rights and the rule of law’. The article dubbed, ‘Ocampo’s Move’ by your writer Levi Kiama highlighted a rather uncanny perspective towards the 2012 Presidential elections. Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto no doubt are the most popular politicians known to command a vast following in their ethnic political blocs and hail from two regions known to have produced three Presidents. This is sure to topple their bids for the top seat. I advise my brothers and sisters in Kenya to sit back and let the rule

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.

DISCLAIMER: All letters submitted to Diplomat East Africa are presumed to be intended for publication. The editor reserves the right to edit all letters. Readers are advised to keep their letters short and to submit their names and addresses even when these are not to be published.

In your edition of December/January 2010, you carried an interview with Egyptian Ambassador Kadri Fadhi Abdel Mottaleb which contained a few facts that require clarification.

Egypt has invited Kenya’s private sector to Cairo for the March 2011 International Trade Fair and made available a 25 square metre booth and not 25 cubic metre booth as stated.

On the contentious issue of the waters of the Nile, Egypt gets 55.5 billion cubic meters while Sudan gets 18.5 billion cubic metres, all amounting to 74 cubic metres.

Further, 85 per cent of the waters reaching Egypt and Sudan comes from Ethiopia and Lake Victoria.

Finally, Egypt received 13 million tourists in 2009, but was targeting 17 million by 2015.

Sincerely, MR. AHMED HARES Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt

>>Kenya’s Date with the Other ICC PG 62 February 2011

Volume 010

Volume No 010 • February 2011

Door to Region, Window on World

Strengthening Ties That Bind African Agriculture Fund in Record Growth New Wave of Extinctions

Egypt's Short Sharp Shock

Days of Rage Rock Mubarak Regime >> PG 48 Kenya KSh300

Uganda USh9000

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DIPLOMATIC LICENCE

Daniel Kihara Raphael Mokora

New Sudan: Triumph of Hope over War .....................1

PHOTOGRAPHY

IMMUNITIES AND IMPUNITIES.................2

Yahya Mohamed

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

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Stephen Otieno

ADMINISTRATION

THE REGION Birth of a Nation ........................................................6-7 New Kid on the Bloc ...............................................8-12 It’s Rwanda, Burundi Turn for EAC Post — Kagame...................................................14 Uganda’s Tumultuous History Major Factor in Coming Polls...............................16-17 Boosting Road Safety.............................................18-19

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CULTURE ‘Isikuti’ Sings and Dances its Way into Unesco’s Heart and World Heritage.....................41-42 Is East Africa’s Academy on the Path to Decay?............................................ 43-44 Achilles’ Heel Across Cultures...............................46-47

ODYSSEYS Paradise Lost — Where Nature Lives....................48-49

DNA

GLOBAL STAGE

Strengthening the Ties That Bind.........................20-21 Cote d’Ivoire: Did Raila Bite More Than He Could Chew?........................ 24-25 Only the Rest of the World Can Come to Ivory Coast's Rescue.................26

Days of Rage ...........................................................50-53 Revolution within the Revolution: Iran’s Women through Decades............................54-55

WITH A LIGHT TOUCH Jalopy Coughs and Stops on Christmas Eve......... 56-57

Josephine Wambui, Charles Kimakwa

PRINTER

Fund Peaks at US$135m............................................. 37 Towards an Australia -Africa Convergence....................................................38 Kenya Voted New Desired Destination 2010............. 41

GREEN AGENDA Year of Biodiversity Reveals New Wave of Extinctions.......................................26-27 Eco-Challenge Awards Boost Conservation................................................31-32

HEALTH Denizens of Dandora Dumpsite’s Daily Drudgery..................................34-35

DEA HOTELS Serving One Tribe - the Human Race...................58-59

PERSPECTIVE Kenya’s International Relations Will Change Forever.............................. 60-61

ENVOYS OF SPORT Kenya’s Date with the Other ICC.......................... 62-63

ECONOMY African Agriculture

DIARY  64 February 2011

55

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat THE NEW SUDAN

Birth of a

Nation

The harder part of the journey to independence has just begun. The euphoria experienced in the lead-up to an historic, globally-watched and peaceful plebiscite has dissipated. But it is likely to return in July to usher in, and in celebration of, the new state the January 9 vote gave rise to,

T

he harder part of the journey to independence for South Sudan has just begun. The euphoria experienced in the lead-up to an historic, globallywatched and peaceful plebiscite has dissipated. But it is likely to return in July to usher in, and in celebration of, the new state the January 9 vote gave rise to.

The patient waiting for the vote is over; the slow and long voting done and dusted; and the verdict decisive and overwhelming. Now for the inauguration of the new country — Africa’s and the world’s youngest. Sixty-year-old Salva Kiir Mayardit will be inaugurated as head of state, a new anthem will be sung and the flag that so resembles Kenya’s hoisted. If the elections of 2009 were the junction to the referendum, the euphoria of the plebiscite was the rehearsal for the independence celebration.

However, Kiir and President Omar

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February 2011

STATS &FACTS For example, huge numbers of people, estimated at about

180,000, left their domiciles in the North of the country and moved South where they did not have homes.

Al-Bashir know that separation of North and South Sudan cannot mean divorce. Separation will result in loss of revenues from oil, but while the oil fields that carry the 6.3 billion barrels are in the South, the pipeline that takes the oil out of the country is in the North.

South and North as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement share the oil revenues, but long after the South becomes an independent state it will need the co-operation of Khartoum to sell its oil. And Khartoum will still need oil revenues from Juba.

Oil could be the source of friction between Khartoum and Juba as are other unresolved issues such as the common border and the decision over where oil-rich Abyei region will lie.

But, make no mistake, the enthusiasm of the people of the South for a new way of life remains high. This has not been dampened by the harsh reality that awaits the people and their leaders.

For example, huge numbers of people, estimated at about 180,000, left their domiciles in the North of the country and moved South where they did not have homes. The United Nations estimates that another 100,000

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

may make the journey by the end of March. The demand for goods and services has risen considerably and exerted a tremendous strain on the few that are available.

When demand outstrips supply prices soar and frustration creeps in. But hope remains high.

Fear of the unknown does exist, but there is a determination among the people to face the future and make the best of it for themselves and country.

Not even the fact that their vote effectively created the world’s least developed country, without the very basic amenities in health, security, education, roads or communication can weigh down the people. However, recent pronouncements from Khartoum could unsettle Juba and worry the people of South Sudan and concern the eastern Africa region, Africa and the international community as a whole.

In the lead-up to the referendum President Bashir said the South was not ready for statehood and warned that a newly independent South could be headed for instability.

The demand for goods and services has

risen considerably and exerted a tremendous strain on the few that are available. When demand outstrips supply prices soar and frustration creeps in. But hope remains high

been thrashed out by July. There is, therefore, uncertainty among the people of the entire Sudan and in the region as how exactly the story of Africa’s newest nation will unfold. Uncertainty is not good for business, which means most investors will be adopting a waitand-see attitude and hold onto their purses.

EXPECTATIONS

Managing the sky-high expectations of the people will be a major undertaking of the government of South Sudan as will be their canvassing for foreign investment. The latter — from neighbours and beyond — will depend heavily on the new nation’s security.

But there is one thing going for Juba; the South is blessed with arable land, water and natural resources that the North can only dream of and which are waiting to be exploited

REVOLUTION

Could elements in the North, unhappy with a newly independent South, cause instability in the South and what would Khartoum sit by without helping end it or would it abet it?

Former Vice-President Hassan Turabi has called for a revolution in the North and for new leadership.

Would these developments spill over into the South and what would be the result?

And reports from the North towards the end of last month suggested that Khartoum would like the date of the inauguration of the new state delayed because there are urgent and pressing issues relating to the CPA that cannot have

February 2011

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•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

SUNRISE

New Kid on the Bloc

It’s morning yet on Creation Day in South Sudan, eastern Africa’s newest nation and a land of plenty where decades of racial strife have resulted in truly Wretched-of-the-Earth backwardness and privation.

But the future begins now, writes

DEA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JOHN GACHIE

S

ince the TurkoEgyptian invasion and occupation of modernday Sudan in 1820s, its fate as a country has always revolved around the fulcrum of religion — its centrality and, or lack of it, and its impact on the socio-political and economic foundations. The primacy and pivotal role of religion in its national discourse has defined and haunted the Sudanese body politic like no other and has colored its milieu like no other.

At the core of this discourse and national prism are two allembracing questions — is Sudan an Islamic-cum-Arabic entity and construct? Is Sudan a multi-racial, diverse and plural society that

8

February 2011

respects its ethno-religious and cultural diversity? This question of religious supremacy has shrouded and haunted modern Sudan’s history and has been the bane of the Sudanese experience from the Mahdists conquest in the late 1880s, the beheading of the British Major-General Charles George Gordon and subsequent reconquest of Khartoum by a British expeditionary force in the twilight years of the 19th Century.

From the creation of the AngolaEgyptian condominium rule in Sudan in the early part of the 20th Century to the subsequent granting of independence in 1956, the religious question was the key consideration, across almost six decades. In the post-independence

period, the same religious question always lurked in the background and at times surged ahead and served as the catalyst for political and military domination of the centre by Islamic and Arabised cluster in Khartoum.

Nearly all Khartoum-based leaders of Sudan have sought to invoke and rally the people of Khartoum and the adjacent settlements to the defence of Islam — these include General Jaffar Nimeiry in 1983, when he imposed Sharia and abrogated the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement, and President Omar al-Bashir, who on assuming power in 1989 invoked the name of Islam as the cause for the power grab.

It is in an attempt to answer these questions and dilemma that the just-concluded Referendum on Self-Determination in Southern Sudan held between 9-15 January 2011, whose more than 95 per cent outcome in favour of separation has produced the birth of a newfangled country, has conclusively answered.

PEDIGREE

For the dominant, Islamic and Arabised riverine ruling class clustered around Khartoum and adjoining settlements around the mid-reaches of the White Nile to the South, and past the confluence of the White and Blue Nile to the upper reaches to Shendi, Sudan is an Islamic-Arabised country with an Islamic pedigree and heritage stretching back in time all way to the Prophet Mohammed period.

Indeed, according to some, Sudan is at the centre of Islamic and Arabic culture.

The North Sudanese national dilemma and hubris has been based entirely on the country’s preponderant Islamic-Arabic character. The South Sudan

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

referendum has dealt a death blow to the dominance and primacy of religion over secularism in Sudan by fiat, power of arms and ability to wage a holy war.

The core protocol of the Sudanese peace pact, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed on January 9th 2005, was the Machakos Protocol of July 2002, which acknowledged the separation of State and Religion (secularism), and the Right to SelfDetermination of the people of southern Sudan to affirm the unity of the Sudan or reject the same and in the process opt for secession and, or independence.

In this regard, all the other protocols in the peace agreement were secondary and facilitative of the Machakos Protocol, whose linchpin was to separate State and Religion in Sudan as the preeminent socio-political and economic driver in the national discourse. Further, to entrench the right to self-determination of the people of southern Sudan.

Will Sudan be balkanised, dismembered and de-constructed and transition from a fragile to a failed state(s) in its different constituent components? Will the different components that made up the former Sudan be compatible, viable and peaceful entities? What are the strategic security, military, political and economic interests that are at stake in the break-up of the Sudan initially into two countries (and possibly more in the future) for the international community and the region?

These three sets of questions are weighing heavily on political analysts and observers across the globe and, even more so, the ruling elite and the entire socialpolitical, economic and militarycum-security superstructures in Khartoum, Juba and neighbouring

and insignias, including the portrait of President Bashir, during a church service in Juba. He sparked off a heated internet debate by asking southern Sudanese to forgive Bashir and the people of northern Sudan in particular for the war and called for national patience until the final results of the referendum were announced.

countries. For the first set of questions as to whether Sudan will be balkanised, dismembered and de-constructed — the answers are in the affirmative — bar the nature and form that it will take. As per the Machakos Protocol, South Sudan is entitled to the secession and becoming an independent country with effect from July 9th 2011. It matters little whether the postInterim Period negotiations on outstanding issues between Sudan and South Sudan are successful or not — South Sudan will declare its independence regardless.

SUBTLE

ELITE

Indeed, regardless of the success or not of these negotiations on disputed borders and boundaries, the oil, currency, nationality and citizenship, residency and property rights, trade and water rights, national debt and international treaties, South Sudan will declare independence notwithstanding.

Even the red-hot emotional issue of the disputed oil-rich territory of Abyei and the most important — though down-played — issue of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Sudan’s main military forces, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and other armed militia groups in Sudan will not suffice as a reason to delay southern Sudan Independence.

For southern Sudan, the referendum was the fulcrum through which everything else revolved and the outcome — the ultimate prize, Independence — and no price is too high to pay.

Some anecdotal evidence on the ground that captures the public mood would suffice here. On Sunday, January 16, 2011, one day after the end of the referendum exercise, the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayadirt, was hard pressed to implore his people to respect and not to deface the national symbols of Sudan — the national flag, Coat of Arms of arms

Nearly all Khartoum-based leaders of Sudan have sought to

invoke and rally the people of Khartoum and the adjacent settlements to the defence of Islam

Earlier in the week, the leader of the first liberation war in southern Sudan, General Joseph Lagu of the Anya Anya struggle between 1962 and 1972, and currently a Presidential advisor to Kiir, employed very subtle methods to ensure that the southern Sudan public was aware of his referendum choice. The 80-year-old General sought the assistance of a polling clerk to mark his ballot, claiming he had forgotten his reading glasses and would not make out clearly the Unity and Separation symbols on the ballot and in the process having a witness to attest that he voted for Separation, lest his preference and choice were to be doubted in the future.

In North Sudan and in particular, the riverine cluster around Khartoum and amongst the traditional political ruling classes, the referendum in southern Sudan was akin to death or the chopping off of a body part. The daughter of a one-time Prime Minister of Sudan caused a security scare by unfurling a black mourning cloth around her family’s residence in Khartoum, which was torn down by the police. The traditional political party establishment in the North has demanded for a transitional power arrangement in the wake of secession by southern Sudan and has threatened to call for popular mass action to topple the Government of President Bashir as urban food riots engulf major cities in the White-Blue Nile confluence region. At the same time, the National Congress Partyled Government in Khartoum is

February 2011

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•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

engaged in a myriad negotiations with Darfur groups who have taken up arms in the Gulf City of Doha and a resurgence of heavy and widespread fighting in large regions of Darfur and South Kordofan states of northern Sudan.

It is not lost to political analysts and observers that these armed groups have used the public glare and attention paid to the southern Sudan referendum to garner world attention. Indeed, the southern Sudan peace agreement template (the CPA) has been suggested by these groups as a model to emulate in the peace negotiations that have stalled since the signing At the moment of the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 both South between Khartoum and and North are the Darfur groups. engaged in their A similar, though characteristic somewhat subdued and perhaps less brinkmanship active, politically and intense and militarily, scenario slow on-and-off obtains in eastern negotiations Sudan, where the people of Beja and other under great marginalised groups international along the border with pressure, Eritrea and Ethiopia have taken up arms against the Khartoum Government, despite a similar peace agreement having been signed (the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement) in 2006. It is apparent that the ruling National Congress Party of President Bashir has its hands full not only within its traditional power base in the dominant Islamic-Arabised centre cluster around Khartoum and theWhite-Blue Nile confluence regions, but also other peripheral regions in the West in Darfur and in the East. The core issue is one of centre-periphery power dispensation and marginalisation, even though the people of these

with each side trying to strike the best deal while stalling to buy time

10

February 2011

regions predominantly practice the Islamic faith but are by no means arabised.

The second sets of questions revolve around post-referendum relations between and amongst a dismembered Sudan — in particular between southern Sudan and northern Sudan. It is a widely held position and view both within and outside Sudan that both North and South Sudan are inherently culturally, socially, politically and economically enjoined. It is believed that both may be mutually best served by co-

operation rather than hostility and antagonism, despite centuries of exploitation and marginalisation of the South by the ruling class in the North.

OIL

This interdependency is most pronounced in the oil sector, over extraction, processing, transport and pipeline infrastructure, export and security. The South hosts for the moment the largest proven oil deposits and the largest oil wells in Sudan, but is utterly dependent on the North for transport and pipeline infrastructure, including processing and export facilities, and also the technical manpower and capacity to exploit the oil.

Both are highly dependent on oil proceeds for their national budgets, currently at over 47 per

cent for northern Sudan and over 95 per cent for southern Sudan respectively. Both are so beholden for the time being to the oil proceeds that a few weeks before the referendum, they signed an agreement to protect the oil fields by the National Minister for Defence from Khartoum and the Minister for SPLA and Veterans Affairs from Juba, and witnessed by the 2nd Vice-President of Sudan and Chief Negotiator of the CPA, Mr Osman Taha and the VicePresident of South Sudan, Dr Riek Machar.

Before both governments can develop alternative revenue sources and, or new oil finds and exploitation, including alternative transport and pipeline infrastructure and new export route and new oil proceeds sharing formulae, they are stuck together like Siamese twins. And it will be a highly delicate operation to separate them: perhaps, they are better off in the immediate and medium term re-negotiating a new equitable, functional and just oil-wealth sharing agreement.

Together with new citizenship/ nationality, residence and property rights, currency and the national debt — including water and international treaties — a new global southern Sudan/northern Sudan agreement would ensure that the two countries are viable, peaceful and complementary to each other’s social-political and economic development.

Currently, Sudan has signed similar agreements and protocols with Egypt that facilitate border movement, trade, residency, property rights and investment dubbed the “four freedoms” that recognise the special culturallinguistic-religious and economic ties between the two countries.

At the moment both South and North are engaged in their characteristic brinkmanship intense and slow on-andoff negotiations under great

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat international pressure, with each side trying to strike the best deal while stalling to buy time. This has been a particular negotiating tactic and strategy of Khartoum’s ever since the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2005.

This negotiating methodology was evident in the run-up to the census, elections in April 2010 and in the lead to the passage of the Referendum Act in July 2010.

This strategy is also evident in the stalled Abyei negotiations and will certainly be employed in future negotiations between the two parties.

But perhaps now that the referendum has passed and an independent southern Sudan is being born, the onus and the initiative to seek a negotiated mutually beneficial global postreferendum agreement will shift. Khartoum has to rapidly seek to contain simmering and potentially explosive internal political power contestation, fend off international pariah status and economic sanctions and deal with International Criminal Court (ICC) crimes against humanity indictment of President Bashir.

On the third set of questions — a divided and or dismembered Sudan — the threats, challenges and risks are immediate. Khartoum will have to assuage its neighbours, in particular Egypt, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda, that it harbours no ill designs nor poses a threat to their internal security and military interests. For Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central Africa Republic (CAR), Sudan has, to a lesser extent, been more accommodating and has enjoyed a relatively stable and normal relationship, despite and regardless of the war in the South. Nonetheless, these three countries, like the rest, are wary and cautious of an unstable Sudan and, in particular, an unstable independent southern Sudan.With a new country, southern Sudan, will share borders with northern

Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, DRC and Central Africa Republic, while northern Sudan will share borders with Egypt, Libya, and Chad, Eritrea and Ethiopia and the longest disputed and tense land border with southern Sudan.

CICATRICED CELEBRANT:

A heavily beautyscarred South Sudan voter’s smile and wink tell it all

MILITIA

The key security-military issues will be border control, immigration, cross-border trade and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, cattle rustling and armed militia groups that have yet to be fully incorporated and integrated into the mainstream forces in Sudan, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

Currently both main military forces in Sudan are involved in widespread and extensive reorganisation, re-armament and training. For the Sudan Armed Forces, they have been engaged in extensive military campaigns in Darfur, eastern Sudan and some parts of Southern Kordofan State close to the border with the South.

For the Gulf region countries, Sudan, both North and South, offers exciting possibilities in large-scale

oil and agricultural schemes and investments, and also serves as a catchment area for cheap labour and human resources

For the SPLA, it has been mainly deployed along the border with northern Sudan and in cantonments in unstable southern states of Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states to counter armed militia groups that were funded and armed, if not actually led by, Khartoum’s security-military establishment during the war in the South. Some SPLA units are also active in some parts of western Equatoria and eastern Equatoria States to stem the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) mobile groups and cattle rustling along the common borders with Kenya and Uganda. For larger international community, the issues are largely commercial and energy-cum-trade and investment- related, especially on oil and minerals for China, India, Malaysia and Russia, and the European Union, in particular France, Italy and Britain, which have long-term oil/energy and commercial interests.

For both China and Russia, northern Sudan offers lucrative weapons and armaments contracts as they are currently the lead arms sellers to the Sudan Armed Forces over and above the oil/energy interests.

For the Gulf region countries, Sudan, both North and South, offers exciting possibilities in largescale oil and agricultural schemes and investments, and also serves as a catchment area for cheap labour and human resources.

For the United States, a divided Sudan provides it with many benefits and interests, primarily in its war on terrorism and spread of extremist Islam in the immediate and medium term. An independent South Sudan also offers a mediumto-long-term strategic entry into future large-scale energy/oil and mineral contracts in South Sudan and immediate outlets for US technology and goods in an independent country bestriding the strategic Nile River

February 2011

11 11

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

COMMUNITY

It’s Rwanda, Burundi Turn for EAC Post — Kagame The regional intergovernmental organisation of the republics is now eyeing a new secretary general, a state of affairs that is causing ripples in the most unlikely quarters as DEA’s STAFF WRITER reports

T

he position of Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), which falls vacant in April, has brewed an unlikely hubbub expected to cause progressively more heated discussions.

President Kagame’s statement comes four months before the tenure of the current secretary general of the EAC expires. Reports hinged on plots to prevent Rwanda and Burundi from holding the post, owing to both countries’ supposed lack of stability for such an important portfolio in the region, have cropped up recently. It has been widely held that Rwanda and Burundi may not qualify to fill the slot on account of the perception that both are not conversant with the operations of the bloc, hence leaving room for speculation that there could be a dispute in filling the position.

Speaking at a press conference in Kigali on January 19, President Kagame indicated that the two countries would not be ready to be denied the chance to take the helm of the regional body.

“What is official is that the post is falling vacant in April, however I haven’t been told officially that there is a dispute. The rules are clear.

This is not an elective office; it is rotational,” said President Kagame, adding that his expectation is that the rules will be followed, and to his knowledge it is the turn of Rwanda or Burundi. He further noted that since the rules were clear and the position not elective, there

12

February 2011

would be no problems in filling it.

The EAC’s founding members are Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Rwanda and Burundi joined three years ago. The position is currently occupied by Tanzania’s Juma Mwapachu. Former secretaries general have been Kenya’s Francis Muthaura (who did not serve a full term as his role was transitional rather than substantive) and Uganda’s Amanya Mushega.

The East African Community’s journey has been rather eventful.

It was founded in 1967 before collapsing in 1977 and officially being revived again on July 7, 2000.

After negotiations with the Common

Speaking at a press conference in Kigali on January 19,

President Kagame indicated that the two countries would not be ready to be denied the chance to take the helm of the regional body

Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in 2008, the EAC agreed to an expanded free trade area. The EAC is a potential precursor to the establishment of the East African Federation, a proposed authority of its five members into a single state.

In 2010, the EAC launched its own common market for goods, labour and capital within the region, with the goal of a common currency by 2012 and full political federation in 2015.

Meanwhile, current EAC Secretary General Mwapachu, while receiving credentials from the South African High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Henry Chiliza, now accredited to the EAC, said the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) has been appointed to manage the fund and implementation of strategic transport infrastructure projects in the zone. He said an investment committee made up of a pool of experts from different countries has been appointed to scrutinise the earmarked projects, mostly in the transport and energy sectors. “We have made significant headway,” said Mwapachu, also the chairman of the taskforce on the EAC/SADC/ Comesa tripartite process. Donors have pledged a total of US$1.2 billion to implement infrastructure development projects under the EAC/SADC/Comesa Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA). The United Kingdom will channel £67 million to the projects, while South Africa is expected to inject US$1 million.

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

DEMOCRACY

Uganda’s Tumultuous History Major Factor in Coming Polls

By DEA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT awry. Uganda became a British Protectorate in 1894, after the agreements between the then reigning European powers, France, Germany and Great Britain. Key to the acquisition of Uganda by Britain was without doubt the strategic importance of the Nile. Naturally, Uganda came into being around the Buganda Kingdom, which, even in these early days, had an elaborate structure, including a parliament, court and taxation systems and the King, Kabaka, the symbol of authority.

EUPHORIA

A

s Uganda goes into a month-long electoral period, most indications are that the incumbent, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, will romp home triumphant, notwithstanding the red flags being raised about the integrity of the elections.

Much as opposition presidential candidates are putting up brave faces before a well-lubricated Museveni campaign machine, most Kampala observers reckon the selfsame Opposition is long reconciled to its fate. Indeed, the only semblance of competition for Museveni is in his guerrilla war-era ally-turned-nemes,

Dr Kiiza Besigye (the Forum for Democratic Change candidate) with whom he fell out in 1999, provoking political rivalry underpinned by personal nuance. The former was the latter’s doctor, among other intimate antecedents.

This year’s election will be only the second since Museveni seized power in 1986, bringing order to a country that had gone through hell. Indeed, it is the possibility of Uganda’s relapsing into civil strife that Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) has been harping on with some success.

A recap is necessary to explain the jitters about elections going

As independence dawned in the early 1960s, differences between ethnic entities, vented through political parties, took centre stage, revolving around the question of a proud Buganda Kingdom vis a vis the rest of the country.

In 1966, hardly four years after independence, the short burst of post-Uhuru euphoria was quickly forgotten and Uganda embarked on a downhill path. Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote suspended the independence constitution, declared himself president and threw Kabaka Mutesa into exile.

Winston Churchill’s beloved “Pearl of Africa” lost its shine as Uganda, endowed with better resources than most of its neighbours, descended into a dark age of political, economic and moral decline.

The Obote reign of terror gave way to the Idi Amin despotism as Uganda went through a murderous period of tragic rule engendering economic

February 2011

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•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

decay. It was not until Museveni, virtually a saviour, came on the scene that the situation would stabilise. To all intents and purposes, therefore, Uganda’s political history has been marked and defined by conflict. The destruction of economic, physical and institutional infrastructure to a large extent explains the worldview and outlook of Ugandan society today.

Indeed, Museveni has scored on the fact that when it seemed impossible, he (rarely does one hear about his comrades) inspired a warscarred nation into re-engineering itself into a modern state that can hold its own in the comity of nations. The running thread in Museveni’s campaign has been that the opposition, particularly Besigye, is irresponsible and could return the country to the dark days when, between 1966 and 1986, hundreds of thousands died and Uganda became a failed state.

Over and above the benefits of incumbency, Museveni has been flaunting the fact that Uganda has over the past two-and-a-half decades registered one of the fastest economic growth rates on the continent as a prime reason for continuity. Of course, the opposition has responded in kind, pointing out inequalities and instances of hardcore poverty as grounds for which Museveni should leave.

MISCHIEF

Museveni, a soldier of the rank of Major General, has been quick to point out that he would not hesitate meeting any military mischief from opponents with brute force (from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, a battle-hardened formation). This has had the net effect of sending a chill down the spines of not only the opposition leaders but also the citizenry, many of whom live with the traumatic memories of the brutalities of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s throughout Uganda followed by, up to only recently, the Lord’s Resistance Army’s reign of murderous anarchy

14

February 2011

in northern Uganda. There has been undeniable progress since the NRM came to power in January 1986. This regime change, which was hailed around the globe, has brought peace and security across most of Uganda, except in some areas in the north, by reconstituting a failed state.

Museveni rejuvenated an economy that had atrophied and put an end to human rights abuses of earlier governments. However, despite these monumental achievements, the task of establishing democratic institutionsthroughwhichUgandans

Uganda has been progressive in committing itself to promoting and respecting African- and internationallyrecognised human rights instruments and has ratified several major international and regional instruments

of all regions, ethnic backgrounds and political orientations have a meaningful stake in the political system and resolve their differences under democratic rules has yet to be fully achieved. Uganda still faces enormous challenges in managing diversity.

Uganda has been progressive in committing itself to promoting and respecting African- and internationally-recognised human rights instruments and has ratified several major international and regional instruments

KENYAN VIPS’ EXTRAORDINARY ELECTIONEERING EXTRAVAGANZA FOR MUSEVENI A DEA COMMENTARY Do Kenyan politicians view Uganda differently from other East African countries?

Not a single Kenyan politician crossed into Tanzania last year to campaign for President Jakaya Kikwete as he sought re-election. Again, not a single Kenyan politician visited Kigali to campaign for President Paul Kagame last year. The same goes for Burundi, which also had elections in 2010.

But as Ugandans prepare to elect a new president — or maintain Museveni in place —they have already seen Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who was accompanied by 10 MPs, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Information Minister Samuel Poghisio, suspended Minister William Ruto and Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa curiously join President Museveni on the campaign trail.

Nairobi has always been interested in the elections in neighbouring countries, but never before has a leading member of government taken such a visible and controversial position as actively campaigning for a candidate. The January referendum in South Sudan was no exception and though it was clear that Nairobi supported the desire of the South to separate from the North, this was not stated as the official position.

However, when the Prime Minister and Vice-President joined the Museveni campaign following in the footsteps of a minister and MP, the opposition parties in Uganda were dismayed while Kenyans were confused by the turn of events. Both sides have looked at the campaigns as interference in the politics of Uganda.

What remains unclear is why the sudden interest in the Museveni campaign or, better still, the boosting of his re-election by the Kenyan VP and PM, representing interests and partisanship at the highest level in government. Kenya goes to the polls next year in which Musyoka and Raila are likely to face off and the level of interest of Kampala will be a matter of huge speculation.

Is Uganda special or is it Museveni who is special to Kenya’s top politicians? What has changed in Uganda that has such a significant bearing on Kenya that the V-P and PM would plunge themselves into a volatile arena with all the security implications for the host, themselves and their countries?

And how will this open support for the incumbent augur for the future relations of the two countries in the event the opposition triumphs in the elections or at a later date?

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

UN SHIFTS GEARS

Boosting Road Safety As world enters Global Decade on Appropriate Strategies, the East African region loses nearly 3,200 people per year through accidents

By RABURA KAMAU

B

eginning January 2011 to December 2020, the world will be observing the UN Decade of Action on Global Road Safety Strategies aimed at reducing traffic-related deaths and injuries across the globe.

The development has come through a United Nations (UN) resolution passed by the General Assembly on March 2nd 2010.

The resolution recognised the heavy financial and social burden associated with road accidents in the world which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), causes an estimated 1.2 million deaths and 20 to 50 million non-fatal injuries annually. Of these, 85 percent are from developing countries. The global economic cost, according to 1997 estimates in the World Report was of US$518 billion per year with $100 billion of that amount occurring in developing countries.

Within the East African region, Kenya and Tanzania lose nearly 3200 people each per year through road accidents while Uganda and Rwanda have annual average deaths at 2,400 and 370 respectively.

The estimated annual financial costs due to these accidents in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are in excess of US$ 50 million for each, sometimes going to as high as “3.4 per cent of Tanzania’s annual GDP,” according to a statement in April this year attributed to Omar Chambo, the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development in Tanzania. Through the resolution, the General Assembly called on Member States to “implement activities in the

areas of road safety management, road infrastructure, vehicle safety, road-user behaviour, road-safety education and post-crash care” within this period of time.

Joseph ole Tito, Kenya’s Traffic Police Department Commandant, while talking to Diplomat East Africa said: “We are in line with the UN action plan and together with our stakeholders, we teamed up and started off with Matatu Christmas Road Safety Campaigns in December with tips aimed at saving lives. We shall also roll the Anti Drunken Driving Road Campaigns with the theme ‘Alcohol Impairs Drivers Stop Drinking and Driving’ while at the same time sustaining traffic law enforcement throughout the country.”

“This will be done while implementing long term strategies, guided by the ‘National Road Safety Action Plan, 2009 – 2014’ that includes acquiring modern Traffic Law enforcement equipment, among them, the Alco-blow, to reduce the number of drink-driving motorists

in the country. Proposals for instant ticketing to minor traffic offenders have been forwarded to the Attorney General through the Ministry of Transport for consideration,” he said.

Recently, a report carried in the local media indicated that Tanzania was embarking on two major initiatives to eradicate road accidents. First, the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (Taboa) is to deploy a multimillion-shilling electronic fleet tracking solution that combines advanced GPS technology with a two-way satellite communication system to provide continuous tracking, monitoring and management of fixed and mobile assets 24 hours a day. Secondly, the ministry is to start computerised vehicle safety inspection to enhance roadworthiness. The same report quoted Mohamed Abdullah, the chairman of Taboa, as saying that an international tender for the supply, installation and commissioning of real time tracking system units in over 500 buses had already been

February 2011

15 15

•THE REGION Eastern Africa Beat

floated. The units would be installed in all inter-city buses operating within Tanzania and from neighbouring countries. The device, unlike the speed governor system is capable of capturing all important data, and “cannot be tampered with easily”.

He added that cameras would be installed to maintain a continuous visual record of the interior of the bus. “These state-of-the-art devices will record data that is automatically relayed to the proprietor’s system for easy monitoring,” he added.

The system will also be linked to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Road Traffic Police Headquarters and to the Surface and Marine Transport Authority (Sumatra) systems.

And speaking during the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) Road Safety awards ceremony in November, Mr Amos Kimunya, Kenya’s Minister for Transport announced that the government was looking to introduce a public service vehicle tracking system within the first six months of 2011, to monitor motorists’ behaviour on the road.

“The ministry is working on a deal with technology companies to set up an Integrated Administrative System which will, among other things locate and trail vehicles on their routes to check compliance with speed regulations using GPS, Google maps and other platforms.

The technology will link the data of each vehicle to its owner, operator, licencees, drivers, touts, insurance, mechanical condition, past offences and court fines,” said the minister. But more poignantly, he pointed out, the value of insurance premiums will be pegged on the behaviour of a particular driver or transport company. “The riskier the documented behaviour, the higher the premiums and court fines,” he added. In Uganda, where 2.7 % of the annual GDP (or close to $200 million) is lost in terms of lives, injury, vehicle and other property lost, according to the country’s Minister of Works

16

February 2011

and Transport, John Nasasira, the government has undertaken short, medium and long term measures guided by the 3 “Es” of Education, Engineering and Enforcement of appropriate regulations.

The minister said this while making opening remarks during the ‘MAKE ROADS SAFE AFRICA CONFERENCE’ held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania adding that the measures were being supported by the five year National Road Safety Action Plan whose implementation started in 2004. Rwanda has been described by WHO, in a 2006 report titled African Regional Health Report as “an example of how African countries can improve road safety” having embarked on a sustained campaign since 2001 to get rid of drunk driving, speeding motorists, poor roads and corruption. Stiff penalties for offenders were cited as having drastically reduced road carnage. However, it is political will and leadership that has been the main driving force behind this success. “Rwanda has very good, focused leadership in road safety – political will is key,” Dr Olive C. Kobusingye, Regional Advisor on violence, injuries and disabilities at WHO’s Regional Office for Africa was

quoted saying of Rwanda’s success.

The recent influx of cheap PSV motorcycles from Asia has also become a major cause of road accidents across East Africa. Between January and October this year, 137 motorcyclists had been killed while 746 others were injured in Kenya alone. In Tanzania, the annual deaths are estimated at nearly 1000 while in Uganda, cumulative deaths and injuries for the last three years stand at around 1500 and 6000 respectively.

“We are urging the ministry to formulate a national policy to deal with this new menace on our roads,” said Ole Tito.

But, as Kobusingye says, the success of the resolution relies heavily on political will and support.

A good example is when former French President Jacques Chirac stated in his manifesto that he would ensure drastic accident reduction in France during his term of office. He realised a 40% decline in accidents in the country by the time he left office in 2007. However, if this is not done, road accidents, according to WHO, will become the third leading cause of death in the world by 2020. The hope is that the leaders will trail the blaze. Or blaze the trail

The recent influx of cheap PSV motorcycles from Asia has also become a

major cause of road accidents across East Africa. Between January and October last year, 137 motorcyclists had been killed while 746 others were injured in Kenya alone

•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Strengthening the Ties That Bind

British High Commissioner to Kenya Rob Mcaire speaks about the close-knit ties between the former colony and the UK, the mutual diplomacy and his impressions of his host country

By JANE MWANGI

D

iplomat East Africa: Your Excellency, kindly begin by explaining the pillars or drivers of Britain’s diplomacy in Kenya? Rob Macaire: Britain is committed to a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship with Kenya. This stems from our enduring friendship and vital political, economic, commercial, security and cultural interests. The British High Commission represents the British Government in its relations with the Kenyan Government and promotes British interests in Kenya.

Q: Which areas would you categorise as the main ones of co-operative development between England and Kenya?

A:Kenya is a significant partner for the UK. If I were to choose the most important areas of cooperation, I think they would be the work we do with Kenyans (not just government) to tackle poverty and inequality; the trade and investment relationship that is important to both countries; and the vital security interests we share — related to Somalia and transnational threats such as drugs, crime, terrorism and piracy.

Q: How would you rate David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s coalition government six months down the line?

Considering that the last time

there was a hung parliament with no party holding a majority of seats in the House of Commons was in 1974?

A:As a British civil servant it is not my job to pass judgement on my political leaders! What I can say is that since the last General Election in the UK in May, we have had to adapt to a coalition government. Much like in Kenya, this is a relatively new form of politics for my country. I think that, so far, we have done quite well to adapt to this change, understanding as we do that it involves give-andtake from the parties involved. But it’s a good reminder that, even in establisheddemocracies,institutions and governance are never static,

UPBEAT: British High Commisioner Rob Macaire

but always evolving. The basic principles — of accountability and transparency — remain the same.

Q: At the close of the 20th Century, as part of a larger decolonisation movement

by European powers, most of the territories of the British Empire became independent.

After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Half-a-century on, is the Commonwealth a stronger body?

A:Well, if one of the health indicators of an international organisation is that countries are keen tojoinit,thenyes,theCommonwealth is strong. For example, Rwanda was welcomed in as the 54th member at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. British Foreign Secretary William Hague recently said in a speech that it is the policy of the current British Government to reinvigorate Britain’s activity within the Commonwealth.

It is a unique network of 54 nation states underpinned by a common language, common attitudes, and by a commitment to the rule of law and good governance. We see it playing a strong role in 21st Century diplomacy. The Commonwealth is involved in a number of important activities aimed at providing fora to share experiences, developments and practices among member-states.

For example Kenya recently hosted the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) annual meeting of parliamentarians. I am pleased to say that the next CPA meeting will be held in London in 2011.

Q:YourviewonthepaceofKenya’s reform agenda, especially in the police force? Do you feel the Government needs to do more after the promulgation of the new Constitution?

A:In the recent Development

February 2011

17 17

•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

Partner Forum meeting between the Kenyan Government and Development Partners (DPs), one of the things we discussed was the implementation of the Constitution.

During that meeting we talked about the Government’s costed Implementation Plan — something which the DPs need so as to be able to consider providing funding where required. We also agreed that it is important for DPs to also coordinate support to the implementation amongst themselves. Kenya’s close partners, such as the UK, have already supported some activities related to the implementation of the constitution, and police reform is one of those areas we believe can make a fundamental difference not only to the country’s security, but also to the economy, human rights, and the dayto-day lives of wananchi.

Q: The British High Commission has been supporting a local television drama — Makutano Junction — on the perils of illegal migration to the UK. Is this a result of the mammoth challenge faced by the UK in as far as the inflow of illegal immigrants is concerned?

A:We were glad to be one of the supporters of Makutano Junction, especially as it is a local Kenyan production using local talent. The programme you have mentioned attempted to highlight how the UK manages migration, to help smooth the way for genuine workers, students, tourists and other travellers to their destinations, as well as combating organised immigration crime. That is the heart of the UK’s policy on migration. So the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for the UK’s visa service, implements this by operating an efficient visa service that facilitates legitimate travel to the UK, while at the same time preventing abuse of the system.

One of the main reasons for working with Makutano Junction was to

18

February 2011

community. It is detrimental to doing business, and the biggest victims of corruption are often the poorest Kenyan citizens. Although there has been limited progress in terms of prosecutions since last year, it is encouraging to see the renewed vigour that the promulgation of the new Constitution seems to have brought to the fight against corruption. I hope this momentum continues. For our part, we have stepped up our engagement with KACC under its encouraging new management, and have also worked closely over the last year with the Internal Audit group in the Ministry of Finance, who are looking at — among other things — fraud in the Ministry of Education. And we continue to urge all concerned, leaders, ordinary Kenyans, international partners, not to accept the unacceptable.

get the message out to ordinary people not to fall for the scams of middlemen who pretend they can get UK visas but end up just stealing your money.

Q: The UK is believed to be home to secret accounts and prime assets in which corrupt officials kept money siphoned from Kenya, many of whose details were pointed out by the Kroll Report. What is the UK Government doing towards supporting and strengthening institutions charged with the fight against corruption in Kenya to reverse this alarming trend?

A:It would be a huge step forward to track down, freeze and even return assets in the UK that are the fruits of corruption. There has been some success in doing so for other countries (such as Nigeria), but it requires real political will in the country concerned (which is where the evidence is going to come from).

It is not easy to trace corrupt money flows, but also not impossible. The UK stands ready to help make that happen. For example, we recently assisted a team from KACC to visit the UK to meet officials from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and other law enforcement agencies to discuss this issue. We have also made clear that we are ready to pass on any relevant evidence that we might have to Kenyan investigating authorities.

Q: During the launch of the corruption brochure by the British High Commission late last year, you came out strongly by urging Kenyans to demand transparency and accountability, subsequently promising to work together with EU and other partners.

What strides have been made towards this endeavour?

A:Corruption remains a massive problem of concern to Kenyans as well as to the international

It would be a huge step forward to

track down, freeze and even return assets in the UK that are the fruits of corruption. There has been some success in doing so for other countries (such as Nigeria), but it requires real political will in the country concerned

Q: How would you describe your tour of duty in Kenya since being appointed the British High Commissioner in August 2008?

Your impressions of Kenya and her people?

A:It is an immense honour to represent my country in Kenya, in particular at such an important time in the country’s history. I arrived only a few months after the post-election violence, and my time here has been defined by the common struggle to prevent that happening again. At the same time, events in Somalia and Sudan have made this a crucial and worrying time for Kenya. So, roughly halfway through my posting, I would say that the responsibilities of the job have been matched by the huge professional rewards of working on issues that really matter.

And, personally, I and my family have been blown away by the beauty and diversity of the country, and the spirit of ordinary people we meet, up and down the land. The ability of Kenyans to look forward to a better future is one of the most inspiring things about living here

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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

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Subscribe Now! February 2011

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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY

Cote d’Ivoire: Did Raila Bite More Than He Could Chew?

An unlikely candidate for an unlikely job, Kenya’s premier was ill-suited for his assignment as arbiter and his rejection by Laurent Gbagbo’s faction was not entirely unexpected, writes KWENDO OPANGA

W

hen the African Union named Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga its special envoy to help end the postpresidential poll stalemate in the West African state of Cote d’Ivoire, it tied itself in a credibility knot.

First, Raila had made it abundantly clear that Mr Laurent Gbagbo should be removed by military force. Like the AU, UN and European Union, Raila holds the view that the winner of Cote d’Ivoire’s September presidential poll was Alassane Ouattara.

History was also against the Kenyan PM. He was himself embroiled in a not dissimilar stalemate to the one obtaining in Cote d’Ivoire in late 2007 early 2008, when he disputed the Kenyan presidential poll results which declared incumbent President Mwai Kibaki the winner.

Then when the following year the presidential poll results in Zimbabwe were disputed, Raila again took sides in the matter on the side of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai against incumbent President Robert Mugabe.

In Nairobi, the wrangling in the Prime Minister’s Orange Democratic Movement Party

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February 2011

did not do Raila any favours. His critics taunted him, asking him to heal the wounds in his own party before he could go across borders to solve the stalemate in West Africa.

And in mid-January it emerged that the Office of the President took umbrage at the Raila appointment, apparently because it had not been consulted by Dr Jean Ping, the chairman of the AU secretariat, before the commissioning and announcements were made.

UMBRAGE

A report quoted by the daily press suggested that Nairobi was keen to let it be known that Raila’s position on the Cote d’Ivoire stalemate was not shared by the government. Kenya’s is a coalition government and while Raila’s AU role may have been readily welcomed by his party, the same could not be said of President Kibaki’s.

In this scenario, then, Raila did not embark on the Cote d’Ivoire mission from a strong footing at home and from a historical standpoint on such disagreements.

Given his pronouncements, past and present, he was seen by one half of Abidjan or Cote d’Ivoire as already biased against it and as friendly by the other as he set off from Nairobi.

•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

To the Gbagbo corner therefore, Raila was not going to Abidjan to find out what the problem was and negotiate a solution. He was seen as one who was jetting in to ask Gbagbo to pave way for Ouattara to take over the reins of power or be removed by concerted military force. It is a position Gbagbo has maintained is untenable for he maintains he is the rightfully elected leader of Cote d’Ivoire.

It did not therefore come as a surprise when Raila announced that Gbagbo had agreed to remove the blockade around the hotel which Ouattara has made his quarters. It also came as no surprise when his convoy was attacked by Gbagbo’s supporters on his second visit.

Second, even before dispatching Raila on his maiden international peace mission, AU had also indicated that the military option was on the cards and therefore what it sought to do through Raila was to find a safe passage for Gbagbo out of Cote d’Ivoire.

MILITARY

The message from AU appeared to be simply that the carrot is the safe passage out and the stick is forcible ejection. Having taken that position and Gbagbo having decided that he is not exiting, the AU is left with the unprecedented — in Africa —military option, which already is unpopular with such key regional players as Ghana.

But military force was neither defined by Ping nor by Raila as peace envoy. It is why Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia explained that use of force does not necessarily mean an invasion for a naval blockade could be deployed to enforce sanctions. And the controversy over Raila’s assignment did not

end with his failure to secure a solution to the crisis and his emphatic rejection by the Gbagbo camp, which accused him of being an actor in the stalemate or campaigner for Ouattara.

A delegation from Gbagbo’s camp was dispatched to Nairobi in the last week of last month to explain why Raila was rejected.

Raila’s party read mischief in the mission, arguing that the right recipient of such a message would be the AU (in Addis Ababa) and not Nairobi.

The delegation was, like Raila in Abidjan, caught up in local politics. Prof George Saitoti, the acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, appeared not to know about the presence of the delegation in Nairobi even as media reported that ministry officials were making frantic efforts to secure appointments for it.

Raila’s lieutenants jumped into the fray with the view that the Ivorian delegation had been invited by President Kibaki’s allies to undermine the Prime Minister.

The earlier word was that it was Gbagbo who had sent a message to Addis Ababa that he needed to send a delegation to Nairobi.

As the controversy raged in Nairobi, Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika, the AU chairman, made a surprise visit to Abidjan to continue the talks towards a solution to the Ivorian crisis. He joined the long list of dignitaries who have trooped to the troubled country and left without coming up with a formula to end the stalemate.

Having backed Ouattara and having backed force to eject Gbagbo, the AU, EU and UN might want to change course and craft a formula to end the crisis without a return to civil war or find a way of saving face in the face of Gbagbo’s determination to stay in office

TERRORISM

EMBASSY BOMBER GETS LIFE A United States District court has sentenced to life imprisonment a former bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, over his role in the 1998 twin US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ghailani is the first former Guantánamo Bay camp detainee to be tried in the civilian court system. He was sentenced last month.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said, “Mr Ghailani knew and intended that people would be killed as a result of his own actions and the conspiracy he joined.”

The twin attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224 people and injured thousands, some maimed to this day. The attacks were executed at about the same time.

Ghailani, now 36, was convicted in November 2010 of a single count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings and property, but was set free on more than 280 charges of murder and conspiracy.

Had Ghailani been convicted of all counts of murder and conspiracy, he would have received the same maximum life sentence, without the possibility of parole. He may be incarcerated at the Supermax Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado, where other convicts in the same embassy plot are being held.

Ghailani trained in Afghanistan with Al Qaeda for six years and later became a bodyguard for bin Laden, still on the world wanted list as the de facto leader of al Qaeda and believed to be in hiding in North Western Pakistan. Ghailani was captured in 2004 after a 14-hour gun battle with Pakistani authorities

February 2011

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•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

FRAGILE STATES

Only the Rest of the World Can Come to Ivory Coast's Rescue

Impasse between incumbent and perceived winner of presidential polls leaves the African Union and the mediator in a limbo, argues SHITEMI BARON KHAMADI

S

ome of the vilest laughter in democratic discourse has been provoked by the Joseph Stalin axiom that “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes”.

Africa has had more than its fair share of inability to have a more accommodative form of democracy and servant leadership in general.

Democracy being the most widely preferred system of government since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it has had its successes and failures around the globe. In Africa, democracy’s bleak prospects have only become more dismal with each passing year since the colonial masters left the scene, and they were convinced that Africans did not deserve any of the benefits of liberty. So, is democracy still-born in Africa?

Currently, the imbroglio in the Ivory Coast is getting all the negative publicity. The November 2010 elections resulted in the Ivorian Independent Electoral Commission announcing Opposition leader Alassane Ouatarra as the winner against the incumbent President, Laurent Gbagbo. However, Gbagbo alleged election malpractices and took his case to the Constitutional Council, the highest court in Ivory Coast. The latter nullified some election results from the southern part where Outtara

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February 2011

domiciles, leading to the announcement of Gbagbo as the rightful winner. The elections were expected to unite the fragile nation but this is not the case. International criticism of the court ruling led to most world powers recognising Outtara as the presidentelect. This led to mediation efforts to try and resolve the impasse by ensuring Outtara becomes the head of state. Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga was chosen by the AU to lead the mediation efforts. The decision was informed by the argument that the best mediator would come from southern or eastern Africa rather than West Africa.

Indeed, Raila having been central to the formation of the grand coalition government that restored peace in Kenya and Nairobi being an acknowledged regional hub of

International criticism of the court ruling led to most world powers recognising

Outtara as the presidentelect

diplomacy, played well with having a Kenyan lead the mediation efforts.

It also resonated well with the words of Dr Kofi Annan that “We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will”.

What led to his rejection by the Gbagbo side of the divide was the fact that before the AU appointed him mediator, he had openly said Gbagbo was in power illegally and even advocated his ejection through the use of force. However, Japheth Byegon, a doctorate student of human rights law at the University of Pretoria, asserts that, legally speaking, the use of force can only be accepted when Article4(h) of the Constitutive Act of the AU has been invoked. The article legitimises AU’s intervention in a member state in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as well as a serious threat to legitimate order to restore peace and stability to the Member State of the Union upon the recommendation of the Peace and Security Council.

FORCE Byegon adds that Chapter 7 of the UN Charter is clear on circumstances under which the use of force is valid.

Modern day elections are conducted by a properly constituted elections body and another body adjudicates elections grievances. Clement Chigbo, a lawyer and an academic in the UK, records that these two bodies’ satisfied international standards and were constitutionally constituted where the Constitutional Court is the final decision making body in the Ivory Coast. However, it’s the latter’s decision that many say was heavyhanded. Indeed, experience elsewhere around the world makes this a precedence concern.

Ivory Coast, the largest cocoa producing nation in the world, is a fragile state on the cusp of becoming a failed state. Only international intervention can save the day

•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

PIRACY

Maritime Menace of the Century

The veritable hijacking of the Indian Ocean by Somali buccaneers is a logistical and diplomatic nightmare that requires the concerted effort of the international community, which is not doing enough, says Andrew Shapiro, the US Assistant Secretary in Political and Military Affairs, reports WANJOHI KABUKURU

I

n November 2010, addressing the 2nd African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Fisheries Ministers Meeting in Victoria, the Seychelles, President James Alix Michel warned: “As a leader of a maritime nation, I cannot begin my opening remarks without addressing the greatest threat that currently exists to fisheries, trade and development in our region. The scourge of piracy is hijacking not only our economy

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February 2011

but the whole of the Indian Ocean.”

Michel’s sentiments came hot on the heels of three pirate attacks on fishermen within the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and seven other pirate-related attacks in the region.

Few took him seriously. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. In mid-January 2011, East African transport ministers found themselves grappling for answers over rising freight costs which have

translated into increased commodity prices in the region necessitated by piracy on the western Indian Ocean shelf. Meeting in Kenya’s coastal resort city of Mombasa under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS), headquartered in Mombasa, the ministers lamented that shipping costs were escalating owing to the increase in insurance premiums imposed by firms to cover ransom costs demanded by Somali pirates.

ISCOS brings together, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia and has been exploring ways to reduce the costs incurred by shipping in view of the recent spate of pirate attacks.

“We are calling on insurance firms to discourage payment of ransom and instead concentrate on efforts to prevent piracy,” Kenya’s Transport Minister Amos Kimunya said.

Kimunya’s sentiments not only ring hollow to maritime commercial operators, but underscore the ignorance key policymakers are steeped in on such a crucial and multifarious issue.

Maritime industry watchers currently estimate that annual costs to piracy now stand at a staggering $200 million. According to the Kuala Lumpur-based piracy reporting centre, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), in 2010 a record 1,181 seafarers were kidnapped. In total, 53 vessels were hijacked. Of the 1,181 kidnappings, 1,016 were recorded in Somalia with demands for ransom.

At present the Somali pirates are said to hold 31 vessels and 713 crew members. Twice last year, Seychelles Coast Guard commandos, in a joint operation with the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), intercepted pirates in the Indian Ocean and rescued Seychellois and Iranian fishermen. It is now a generally agreed principle that Somali pirates pose the

•DNA Diplomacy•News•Analysis

greatest danger in the Indian Ocean today. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) notes that the Horn of Africa coast is the most dangerous shipping line. Lack of a centralised government in Somalia and known links to extremist groups like Al Shabaab, have made the collapsed nation a comfortable ally for pirates and terrorists alike.

The complex dynamics that piracy has posed to international law experts, foreign policy gurus and global security watchers is dizzying.

Hear out President Michel: “We are doing more than our part, while, at the international level, not enough is being done. We need to re-look at the strategy being adopted to tackle piracy. Piracy is exploiting the weaknesses that exist in global governance. It exists, not only because of the dire state of Somalia but also because of the inaction of the international community”.

President Michel’s sentiments are spot-on. At present the Seychelles and Kenya shoulder the unwieldy burden of trying, convicting and incarcerating pirates. That the international community is shying away from piracy is not in doubt. The biggest worry to the international community is what to do with jailed pirates after they have completed their terms.

In his paper Counter-Piracy Policy: Delivering Judicial Consequences presented last year at the American Law Review Symposium Andrew J. Shapiro, the US Assistant Secretary for Political and Military Affairs, lamented the diplomatic nightmare that piracy poses to both Port Victoria and Nairobi: “Prosecuting pirates can be an incredibly complex proposition in today’s globalised world. The realities of international shipping and global commerce are such that in any given piracy case you could have suspect-

ed Somali pirates intercepted and apprehended by a British naval vessel after trying to attack a Liberianflagged ship, owned by a Canadian company, crewed by Ukrainians, Indians, and Filipinos, with a Russian captain and carrying cargo owned by a Turkish company, en route for delivery to a company in Dubai. And the case could be taking place in a courtroom in yet another country, like Kenya or the Seychelles, which are both currently prosecuting piracy cases. The logistical and diplomatic challenges presented by such a scenario are immense”.

That a solution to piracy is yet to be found Shapiro left no doubt: “Courts in Kenya and the Seychelles are currently prosecuting more than a dozen cases between them, and we hope they will continue to do so. But, at the end of the day, two countries are not enough.

Kenya and the Seychelles simply do not have the capacity to handle all of the potential suspects that are apprehended. For reasons of both fairness and pragmatism, the burden currently shouldered by these countries must be shared more broadly both within and beyond the piracyaffected region. We cannot ask just a few states in one region of the world to bear the burden of holding, prosecuting and incarcerating pirates.

The cost of this crime is borne globally. The cost of combating and defeating it should likewise be borne by many states in all corners of the world”. To this day few states have stepped forward to ease Port Victoria and Nairobi on their heavy burden of tackling piracy. Echoing his president’s view, Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Paul Adam notes: “Piracy fundamentally affects the way we are able to interact with the world. The sea-lanes are our arteries. We are dependent on imports

For reasons of both fairness and pragmatism, the burden currently shouldered by these countries must be shared more

broadly both within and beyond the piracyaffected region.

and the increased insurance costs of freight leads to increased cost of goods in shops. Many tuna vessels that used to call at our capital, Port Victoria, can no longer do so. Those that continue to fish have to invest in expensive security and restrict their fishing to areas that are less at risk.”

According to Adam, piracy is now costing the Seychelles Government a cool 2.5million. Nairobi is yet to reveal how much of its exchequer expenditure goes to combating piracy. It is significant to note that both Kenya and the Seychelles have signed several pacts with the European Union and the US on how to handle piracy. These pacts however haven’t been able to fully discourage piracy activities and neither have they safeguarded Nairobi and Port Victoria from the perils of its side effects.

According to Adam, long-term solutions to piracy cannot be found without involving the Somalia government.

“We must seek to build effective facilities in Somalia itself, with the support of international organisations in the immediate short-term.

It is important that Somalia is part of the solution of incarceration from the start,” says Adam.

For the last three years, diplomats have been mulling over how best to deal with piracy but there have been no easy answers. Suggestions such as setting up a special court like The Hague have been bandied about, but the polemics have not generated any consensus. Sadly though as international law experts, security agencies and diplomacy practitioners struggle to come to grips with piracy, the buccaneers are unrelenting. Nairobi and Port Victoria continue to stoically bear the brunt of a global problem with little help from the community of nations, not to mention the increased costs of imports

February 2011

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•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

SAVING MOTHER EARTH

Year of Biodiversity Reveals New Wave of Extinctions And they’re mediated not by natural calamities but in large part by the unsustainable actions of human beings, reports SHITEMI BARON KHAMADI

I

am because we are and because we are, so I am. The ubuntu philosophy is perhaps what prompted the UN’s declaration of 2010 as the Year of Biodiversity. The idea was, as declared by the UN General Assembly in 2006, “to bring greater international attention to the continued loss of biodiversity”.

Forthwith, the focus has been how to start turning around the loss of biodiversity, the wealth of diversity of flora and fauna to fungi and other life forms upon which humanity depends for its very survival and well-being.

Scientists have been warning for some years of an accelerating decline of biodiversity which makes up the building blocks of ecosystems such as forests, fisheries and freshwaters to soils, coral reefs and sea grass beds, which, in turn, provide a variety of crucial, essential and economically-important services. Undeniably by some estimates, the Earth has and is going through a sixth wave of extinctions mediated not by natural calamities such as comets, but in large part by the unsustainable actions of human beings.

Numerous mechanisms were earlier furthered to address this scenario. For instance, in 2005 the United Nations, including UNEP, along with many other partners, published the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a landmark report aimed at spotlighting the condition of these ecosystems at the start of the 21st Century. It concluded that

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February 2011

60 per cent of ecosystems and their services are degraded or heading that way. Many other scientific assessments, such as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlooks, have also highlighted the challenge.

UNEP spokesperson Nick Nuttall, avers that “as we entered the international year, it became clear that despite efforts in many nations, both developed and developing, no single country had achieved the 2010 goal”. Perhaps the only bright spot in an otherwise sobering reality was some evidence that the target had been met among European species of bats covered by the UNEP-linked Eurobats agreement.

A moment for reengagement with a greater sense of purpose and determination on the biodi-

versity challenge became apparent. Primarily, stakeholders called for a kind of Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change-for-nature to bridge the gap between the mounting levels of research and a defining policy response. The history of the establishment of the IPCC in the late 1980s to achieve a similar bridge between climate science and policy-makers, by UNEP, along with the World Meteorological Organisation, was therefore a venture worth exploiting. Without a doubt the IPCC has proven to be the catalyst for such instruments as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol — the first emission reduction treaty — alongside the evolution of various climate funds and

•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

mechanisms aimed at countering global warming and accelerating climate adaptation. A similar body was needed to define the response among nations to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, supporters had claimed. After around two years or so of negotiations, facilitated by UNEP, an historic decision was made and an important piece in the response jigsaw puzzle was placed in Busan, Republic of Korea, in June 2010. Here, nations gave the green-light for the establishment of an Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES. PILLAR

The second challenge for 2010 was strengthening the treaty, established in 1992, to boost the prospects for biodiversity, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose secretariat is hosted

by UNEP. The CBD has three pillars —conservation, sustainable use and access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. But the third pillar had remained absent since the birth of the CBD. In October, at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the CBD in Nagoya, Japan, governments finally agreed to the establishment of an international regime on access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. It will establish the norms and standards, on how the profits, arising from, say, a new cancer drug based on a plant or other living organism, will be shared with the country and communities of origin.

This could lead to the transfer of significant funding from North to South, assisting in providing incentives for conservation while tackling poverty. Nuttal admits “it forms part of what one might call the ‘missing link’ in forging a comprehensive response to biodiversity loss: unequivocally, the economics”.

In the past the true value and

economic-importance of the world’s invaluable natural or nature-based assets were all but invisible in national and global accounts. But this changed in 2010, in part as a result of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), an initiative requested by G8 and developing country environment ministers, which is hosted

by UNEP. In Nagoya, TEEB, which are a central stream of UNEP’s wideranging Green Economy Initiative, published its final synthesis report.

One of the findings was that insect pollinators are nature’s multibillion-dollar providers. For 2005 the total economic value of insect pollination was estimated at 153 billion. This represents 9.5 per cent of world agricultural output for human food in 2005. Another finding was that 50 is the number of rupee millionaires in Hiware Bazaar, India, as the result of regenerating 70 hectares of degraded forests. This led to the number of active wells in the surrounding area doubling, grass production increasing and income from agriculture rising due to the enhancement of local ecosystem services.

Meanwhile, the World Bank, in partnership with UNEP and others, is also launching a green accounting initiative to assist several developing economies to incorporate the economics of nature into national accounts, including Colombia and Mexico. At the same time governments also announced a new strategic plan, including fresh targets for addressing biodiversity loss to be met by 2020. For example, governments agreed to increase the extent of land-based protected areas and national parks to 17 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, up from around 12.5 per cent today, and to extend marine protected areas to 10%, up from under one per cent now. Other elements of the plan include lifting the extinction risk from

now threatened species by 2020.

As we usher in 2011 as the Year of Forests, Nuttal reminds that “it would be wrong to boil down nature to dollars and cents, rupees or shillings, yuan or pounds and pence — but without the economic argument the world’s forests to freshwaters may continue to be sidelined in favour of the latest infrastructure development or unsustainable exploitation”.

SYMPTOMS

So while 2010 began with concern and alarm it perhaps ended on a far more upbeat note than many may have imagined. No one year will define the future of life on Earth, but this year may go down in the annals of history as the point in time when humanity began to really start valuing the wealth and richness of the natural world, and also began acting on that knowledge.

Equally important is heeding Prof Wangari Maathai’s call, “You must not deal only with the symptoms. You have to get to the root causes by promoting environmental rehabilitation and empowering people to do things for themselves.

What is done for the people without involving them cannot be sustained”.

As Achim Steiner, UN UnderSecretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said in Nagoya: “In the past only traditional sectors such as manufacturing and mining to retailing, construction and energy generation were uppermost in the minds of economic planners and ministers of finance, development and trade.

TEEB has brought to the world’s attention the fact that nature’s goods and services are equal, if not far more central, to the wealth of nations, including the poor, a fact that will be increasingly the case on a planet of finite resources with a population set to rise to nine billion people by 2050”

February 2011

The second challenge for 2010 was strengthening the treaty, established in 1992, to boost the prospects for biodiversity, namely the

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP

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•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

GOOD NEWS

Census Finds Rise in Critically Endangered Mountain Gorillas Charming simians have increased their numbers by more than a quarter, according to results in the Virunga Massif, the key habitat for the species, writes PAUL UDOTO

T

he population of the iconic but critically endangered mountain gorillas in their main Central African habitat has recorded an impressive population increase — by a quarter in the last seven years.

A census of the world’s largest mountain gorilla population counted 480 animals, up from 380 in the last count in 2003, up from 324 in 1989, according to a census funded by a number of local and international wildlife organisations. Most of the world’s goril-

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February 2011

las live in Central Africa’s Virunga Massif region, a volcanic mountain ecosystem consisting of three adjacent national parks spanning parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Rwanda. A fourth park, southwestern Uganda’s Bwindi, is home to an additional 302 mountain gorillas, the only other remaining wild population, which together with four orphaned mountain gorillas in a sanctuary in the DRC brings the wild population to 786.

UNESCO World Heritage Site has established that Bwindi Im-

penetrable Forest National Park has more than half of the global population of an estimated population of 780 mountain gorillas.

Located in south-western Uganda, bordering the DRC, this boasts over 300 mountain gorillas, the largest and rarest of all ape species. Rwanda is home to half of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas and the country has been on the frontline of the gorilla conservation effort, especially through the high profile annual kwita izina gorilla-naming ceremony.

The Virunga census was conducted in March and April 2010 by local authorities with the support of the International Gorilla Conservation, a coalition of several conservation organisations, including WWF. PROTECTION

“The increase in mountain gorilla numbers is a testament that we are all reaping from the conservation efforts,” Rica Rwigamba of the Rwanda Development Board told the AFP news agency.

“This is vivid testimony to the commitment of the Rwanda, Uganda and DRC governments, in addition to their supporting partners, including IGCP, to ensuring the sustained protection of this charismatic species,” said David Greer, African Great Ape Coordinator at the environmentalist group WWF. Greer added: “The survey results provide us with an excellent demonstration of how strong law enforcement efforts put in place to safeguard flagship species can advance species conservation, benefit local communities, and provide important revenue to governments.” The current figure represents an annual growth rate

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•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

of 3.7 per cent in Virunga, despite the illegal killing of no less than nine mountain gorillas in the area over the past seven years, according to IGCP. Of the gorillas surveyed, 352 have been habituated to human presence, 349 living in groups and three solitary silverback males. Habituated mountain gorillas have been the basis of a sustainable eco-tourism programme since the late 1970s.

“Unfortunately, as we continue efforts to replicate the successful mountain gorilla eco-tourism model elsewhere in Central Africa, weak government support for wildlife protection, rampant corruption and an uninviting tourism culture make for a much more challenging environment,” said Greer. “To date, no gorilla tourism programmes west of the Virungas have achieved fiscal success.”

rica, the loss of their habitat, the wildlife trade, and infectious diseases. Estimating numbers of gorillas poached is difficult because they are often butchered and eaten on the spot, or their meat is smoked for later sale in towns.

Although gorillas may constitute only a small proportion of all animals killed for the bush meat trade, they present easy targets for hunters, and in many areas gorillas are favoured by hunters because of the weight of saleable meat.

Gorillas’ low reproductive rates mean that even low levels of hunting can cause a population decline, which could take many generations to be reversed.

Gorillas are also frequently maimed or killed by traps and snares intended for other forest animals such as antelopes.

Gorillas are also much-soughtafter as pets or trophies and for their body parts, which are used in medicine and as magical charms.

EXTINCT

“The mountain gorilla is the only one of the nine subspecies of African great apes experiencing a population increase. While we celebrate this collective achievement, we must also increase efforts to safeguard the remaining eight subspecies of great apes,” said Greer. “Elsewhere in African great ape range states, government support of wildlife law enforcement efforts is shockingly weak and great apes continue to be poached in an environment of pervasive, legal impunity.”

To conduct the Virunga census, over 1,000 kilometres were systematically walked by six mixed teams of 72 people from DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda. Teams covered the entire range and meticulously documented fresh signs of gorilla groups. Mountain gorillas make a new nest each night. Genetic analysis of fecal samples were collected and analysed to identify and correct for any double-counting of individuals or groups, ensuring

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February 2011

CENSUS

the most accurate estimate for the population.

Mountain gorillas, who have fallen prey to conflict and poaching over the years, were famously brought to the world’s attention by the late Dian Fossey and are one of the region’s main tourist attractions. The mountain gorilla, a subspecies of eastern gorillas, became known to scientists just over 100 years ago. Uncontrolled hunting, destruction of its forest habitat, and capture for the illegal pet trade soon led to a dramatic decline in numbers and fears that the mountain gorilla would become extinct in the same century it was discovered.

The main threats to gorillas are hunting for commercial trade in bush meat, which occurs throughout West and Central Af-

The Virunga Massif mountain gorilla census was conducted by the protected area authorities in three countries — L’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, the Rwanda Development Board and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The census was supported by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (a coalition of WWF, the African Wildlife Foundation, and Fauna & Flora International), the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. The census was funded

by WWF, Fair Play Foundation, and the Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) through the Greater Virunga Trans-boundary Collaboration

•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

Eco-Challenge Awards Boost Conservation

Accolades for administrator who spearheaded reclamation and rehabilitation of Nairobi River from a haven of muggers, waste dumping and illicit arms trade to a clean, crisp and clear waterway

By RABURA KAMAU

O

ut of love for a clean and healthy environment, Chief Francis Muigai of Starehe Location (now retired) felt that the flowing muck that was Nairobi River could be rendered clean once more. With support from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), he decided to initiate efforts towards its rehabilitation. That was in 1999.

Little did he know that he was up for a dangerous herculean task. The entire riverbanks had been encroached on for years, serving as a safe haven for all manner of trades and vices that included food vending, car repairs, waste disposal, muggings,

rapes and gunrunning. Rehabilitating the river basin meant removing all these people up to 30 metres from the riverbed as stipulated by the environmental laws of Kenya.

And it wasn’t going to be as easy as the chief, now director of the Nairobi River Project’s Consultants (NAIRIPRO) initially thought, as the encroachers were ready to resist all his efforts.

“Initially it was quite frustrating.

We weren’t getting enough support from the Nairobi City Council and the government. However, we persevered and soldiered on. And it wasn’t until 2004 when the government, through the ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, and the

A RIVER RUNS TRHOUGH IT:

Some of the receipients of the awards

then city Town Clerk, John Gakuo, got interested in my work and got involved”, says Muigai.

Using the police to drive away the encroachers sometimes turned achieved little and sometimes turned tragic. The retired chief had to try something else. Dialogue! Trying to first make these people understand the logic behind the need to clean up the environment and why they had to give way, while highlighting the benefits of getting involved in the project. It worked, like plastic surgery. His organisation today boasts up to two million trees in the riparian lands within the basin. And the banks are green once more. Muigai told Diplomat East Africa: “The river

February 2011

31 31

•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

is not only clean now, but hosts fish.

More trees are being planted downstream and a beautiful recreational park has come up next to the Globe Round-about bus stop. Muggers and rapists no longer have a place to hide and have deserted the area. Traditional polluters of the river, including the NCC, are being taken to court and the future of the river has never been so promising.”

PROMISING

For his work, Muigai was one of the trophy winners for this year’s Eco Challenge competition sponsored by Total Kenya Oil Company.

Speaking during the awards gala night, Total Managing Director Alexis Vovk said the competition was launched eight years ago to champion the planting of trees outside forests for sustainable use as the only way to meet the insatiable demand for wood, while preserving indigenous forests which are vital to climate, all major rivers and a healthy environment.

For the first time, Kenyans are planting trees faster than they are cutting them down. The aim of the initiative is to plant not less than a billion trees, hoping to make a major contribution towards achieving the desired 10% of forest cover in the country. This requires the planting of no less than five billion trees. The Eco Challenge

initiative is currently helping plant 100 million trees per year through individuals, community-based organisations, self-help groups, schools and colleges, government institutions and corporate organisations.

“This is in recognition of conservation as a key area for Total Group.

Different conservation efforts are implemented in different countries where the company operates. In Kenya, tree planting was identified as the most important area of conservation,” Juliette Murugu, the company’s Corporate Communications Manager, told DEA. She said anybody is free to enter the competition online to get recognition and support for their role in tree-planting.

And this is also how the Bolimog self-help women’s group from Garissa were recognised and awarded for planting 700 trees last year. Considering the region’s harsh climate and drought, the seemingly small number of trees was no mean achievement in the semi-desert, thus warranting an award. The Oshwal Community Education and Relief Board was not left behind either. Starting with a fundraising walk by the community’s schools and college students in 2007, the board was able to raise money to start tree nurseries in Kabage Forest in the Aberdares. With the involvement of the local community in taking care

The success of tree-planting initiatives is enjoying substantial success, thanks to a renewed interest and support by the government.

This is notable, considering that among this year’s winners was the

Kenya Armed Forces, who were awarded for having planted 4.5 million trees

of the seedlings, the community has managed to plant 80,000 trees.

“Our aim is to have 100,000 trees survive to maturity. We hope to achieve this, especially now that Total Kenya has shown recognition and support for our efforts. It was quite motivating considering that ours is a purely voluntary effort where the main aim is towards the survival of the seedlings,” Dr Minesh Shah, a board member, told DEA. The success of tree-planting initiatives is enjoying substantial success, thanks to a renewed interest and support by the government. This is notable, considering that among this year’s winners was the Kenya Armed Forces, who were awarded for having planted 4.5 million trees in the last year through their ‘Environmental Soldier’ programme.

Speaking during the launch of the 2010 United Nations report in Nairobi last month, Prof Bani OyelaranOyeyinka, director of the monitoring and research division of UN-Habitat said that, among other things, Kenya is not classified as a Least Developed Country (LDC) because the country has done well in terms of trying to green the environment, terming it as one of the “greenest in Africa”.

Only Kenya is not in the list of LDCs among the East African Community members

WWF CONDEMNS OIL EXPLORATION PLANS IN AFRICA’S ICONIC NATURE PARK

BY PAUL UDOTO

The World Wildlife Fund has appealed to two UK companies, SOCO and Dominion, to abandon their oil exploration plans in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

WWF has warned that these actions will undermine decades of work and successful and costly conservation efforts aimed at saving the park’s unique nature.

The UK-listed companies’ plans to drill for oil will be costly for the area’s precious and fragile biodiversity, including chimpanzees, hippos, elephants and other rare species,

But with oil companies coming in, all these achievements might be undermined.

WWF has called on the Congolese Government to guarantee and to enforce the existing oil exploration ban in the park and asks the UK companies to respect the law and international conventions and to abandon their harmful plans for exploration.

Company maps seen by international media indicate that SOCO intends to drill through much of the park in areas with some of the highest savannah biomass in the world

32

as well as the local population who benefit from tourism and sustainable fishing inside the national park.

Africa’s oldest national park and the continent’s first World Heritage Site, Virunga is home to many species of mammals, birds and reptiles, and an impressive diversity of landscape and habitats.

It is also home to about 200, almost a quarter, of the earth’s last remaining mountain gorillas, a charismatic large ape species and one of human kind’s closest living relatives.

Some 30,000 local fishermen who fish sustainably on the park’s Lake

February 2011

Edward, a Ramsar protected site, will also suffer if drilling plans in the park go ahead.

Observers say after so many years of conservation and money invested in the park by green groups, the international community and the government, it is devastating to see an oil company pursue profit with total disrespect for both the animals and the local Congolese.

Armed groups are moving out of the park, and the enormous efforts put into conservation work is starting to pay off and the park’s situation is finally improving.

•GREEN AGENDA Planet Earth

T

he first Brazil Eastern Africa Expo is geared towards bridging the gap between Brazil and Kenya by developing relationships and exchanges in trade and culture.

The mega event scheduled for March 22-26 at the KICC, Nairobi will feature a trade exhibition, conference and cultural week.

Dubbed ‘the missing link’, the trade exhibition targets 60 Brazilian companies representing a wide range of products and sectors covering East African common market and beyond. With over 3000 regional businesses and a potential consumer market of over 200 million people, the exhibition will unravel a field of untapped probabilities.

The conference will be centered on South to South Cooperation with an in tray highlighting the Brazilian model of agribusiness and renewable energies. Others will be research and value addition chain, focus on biofuels, tourism and Brazil- Eastern Africa tourism exchange potential.

Of particular interest are the 2014 World Cup Tourism Opportunities and 2016 Olympics Tourism Opportunities.

Brazilian Cultural Week is tied around the theme -“Environmental Stewardship through Sports”. Towards this effort the Brazil-Kenya Football 2011 is inclined towards Brazil’s internationally renowned football skills in an effort to develop latent football talent amongst Kenyan youth.

The event comprises a knock-out tournament amongst 80 Kenyan youth teams. The teams will battle for the opportunity to be coached by Brazilian coaches, the gold standard for football coaching in the international football foray. To cap it all talented youth will also have the opportunity to be headhunted by talented scouts for further professional coaching in camp in Brazil.

The Brazil-Kenya Football 2011 extravaganza will also seek to pro-

Brazil in Eastern Africa Expo 2011 The much anticipated first Brazil expo in Eastern Africa is anchored towards bridging the gap in commerce and cultures, reports

DEA STAFF WRITER

vide Kenya’s leading brands with the opportunity to capitalise on the massive media publicity and exposure that the event will generate. Additionally, for brands that are driven to empowering Kenyan youth in all spheres of life this is a unique opportunity to showcase brand values of empowerment, world class and to build relevance and appeal with Kenyan youth for your brand or service.

The Kenyan Youth Football Competition will have 1000 children competing, 80 teams from various

schools and academies for the competition that started mid-January 2011 and is expected to conclude on 26th March 2011. Brazilian coaching clinics bring on board 4 - 6 Brazilian football coaches to partner with the coaches of the top four teams of the tournament and run football clinics for 2 weeks. Top 2 players of the tournament will have the opportunity to train in Brazil for 3 months. On March 26, the Brazilian football team plays a Kenyan team before 25,000 fans with the possibility of having Brazilian football stars’ attendance.

Brazilian Samba Dancers will introduce the final children’s tournament match and the Kenya / Brazil match. The event promises to be the youth soccer climax of the year 2011 and is attuned towards the World Cup 2014. The event will be held annually across Eastern Africa, with 80 youth teams under 15yrs competing for an opportunity to be trained

by Brazilian soccer coaches. For the individuals aspiring to professional stardom there is the potential for a football coaching stint in Brazil for two youths. The tournament would be for both Kenyan boys and girls.

The crowning glory of the Brazil - Kenya Football 2011 will be the display match between a Brazil select team and Kenya select youth under 23 team. The youth will also participate in planting of 10,000 trees in collaboration with environmental entities and soccer academies in the region.

The long term objectives of the event are to develop South-South co-operation and cultural exchange, of which soccer is an integral part of Brazilian culture where Kenya may be able to share and benefit from an active exchange. The Sponsorship offer seeks long term partners who are willing to look toward 2014 jointly with the event organisers who have underwritten the event. The sponsorship package includes: Main/ Title, Gold, Silver, Bronze & service provider category

February 2011

33 33

•HEALTH Mind • Body B dy • Soul Bo

TRASHED LIVELIHOODS

Denizens of Dandora Dumpsite’s Daily Drudgery Chilling tale of survival drama as humans and beasts barely scrape off a living from 600 tonnes of waste deposited every day at Nairobi’s premier garbage dump, reports PENINAH GITUMA

I

t is a searing hot and humid Saturday afternoon and descending 8km east of Nairobi is one astounding experience. After a 20-minute drive, I arrive in Dandora Phase II and ask for directions to my destination.

I head straight to an office, depressingly near a mound of garbage and state my quest. I am referred to a young man in notso-clean green overalls to be my security escort for the next two hours or so. Strangers are apparently discouraged around here.

And my reception is rather rude, to put it mildly. My entry into the sun-baked site is met with a heavy, suffocating stench emanating from the waste, flocks of marabou stork with their long beaks burrowing in the dirt, pigs, cattle and humans who easily outnumber the other scavengers.

It is a hive of activity, despite the scorching sun, though that passes unnoticed. It is survival of the fittest between human and animal scavengers in East Africa’s largest dumpsite as every creature is competing to grab a share of the waste.

34

February 2011

Welcome to the Dandora Municipal Dumping Site, the main waste receptacle for most of the solid waste generated by the 4.5 million people living in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. A bulldozer is piling up the stuff at one end to pave way for more waste as several trucks wait to offload.

“Normally, I have to dig up the waste, level the site so that there is enough space for dumping,” the bulldozer captain tells me, matterof-factly. Being one of the world’s most polluted waste dumps and carrying close to 600 tonnes of waste daily, the 32-acre stretch of land that started off as an abandoned quarry over three decades ago is a source of livelihood for many. The

Dandora Dump Site is not a haven for street urchins, contrary to many as city folks’ belief, but is actually a breadbasket for thousands of people who eke out a living from waste.

Ann Wambui, (not her real name) is 22 years old, a mother of two daughters and one of the beneficiaries of this not-so-promising job. She has worked on the site since she was 13 and knows no other source of income. Wambui majors in pig food, which she later sells at Sh10 per bag to middlemen, and says she can sell up to 10 bags a day, making it Sh100 (just over a dollar).

Yes, that is what she takes home on a

•HEALTH Mind M Mi nd • Body • Soul good working day. It pays her rent, school fees and food! Of course, lunch is an ill-afforded luxury for her.

On whether she is happy with her job, Wambui gazes wistfully at the clear, azure skies and says: “Despite the conditions I work in I always manage to get my daily bread but the income at times is not enough to cater for my needs.

She is here for lack of choice and hopes for a better job. As we chat, I notice people trying to steal curious glances at me and pointing at my camera. Apparently, they have gotten wind of a visitor in their midst. Workers here know each other well hence easily spot a stranger.

Wambui shockingly reveals how naughty men lure them to sex in exchange for cash. “My daughter was sent away for school fees last week and I am not able to raise the money, so if a ‘good Samaritan’ comes along and offers me Sh500 (about $6) I am able to send my daughter to school. In return I pay in kind for that. That’s why we breed so much since we have no choice”.

I am speechless as Wambui points to a pregnant teen collecting plastic cans whom she says is expecting her fifth child! “If a problem cannot be cured it should be endured”, is clearly a saying young women buried in the refuse site are living with.

At this juncture, I notice a tall, slim woman busy serving her customers lunch and tea. Mueni supplies food to many workers here and makes Sh100 per day. Significantly, if you thought the food is eaten anywhere away from here, you are grossly mistaken. It is eaten in these humbling surroundings. I also get a cup of tea and piece of bread and, as I munch it, a garbage truck snakes its way to the site. The drama that follows is heart-wrenching: the entire group

of scavengers shoves, elbows and pushes each other into the truck to offload the “goodies”. As they rummage through sacks and bags they happily munch away leftovers! Shockingly, I am told there are no complaints of stomach disorders or food poisoning!

SWINE

Swine have found solace in this site from the mounds of food they eat and the puddles of mud where they relax and frolic after filling their bellies. They move in a herd and one easily notices the satisfaction these creatures are getting, even from their well-built bodies as well as from the way they burrow in search of edibles. Some two or three emaciated cows roam nearby, apparently frustrated at the absence of pasture for their four-chambered bellies.

Whilst the beneficiaries of this waste dump are calling on the City Council not to relocate the refuse to another location on the outskirts of the city, scores others are complaining of the health hazards the dump is posing to them.

A study commissioned by UNEP in 2007 that examined 328 children aged between 2-18 years living around the site showed half of the children tested had blood lead levels equal to or exceeding the internationally accepted action levels of 10 micrograms per decilitre

of blood, including two children with concentrations of over 29 and 32 micrograms. This is due to prolonged exposure to lead emitted from burnt metals and plastics that damages both the nervous system and brain after inhalation, ingestion and absorption. Some of the known symptoms of lead poisoning, such as haemoglobin and iron deficiency, were detected in 50% of the children, with almost half of those tested suffering from respiratory diseases.

What’s more, the famous Nairobi River passes next to the site and some of the waste matter may be finding its way there, posing hazardous risks to people who use it for domestic purposes.

Away from the lead emissions, the stench, unnoticeable to those eking out a living there, can lead to serious nasal irritations. But life continues. Or appears to...

February 2011

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•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

SCALING NEW HEIGHTS

African Agriculture Fund Peaks at US$135m With investments across the value chain, from primary production to tertiary services, it aims to support private sector companies to enhance and diversify food production and distribution by providing equity reports PATRICK WACHIRA

T

he African Agriculture Fund (AAF), a private equity fund designed to respond to the food crisis that gripped the continent in 2008 in the wake of escalating food prices, reached its first closing at US$135 million in November 2010.

The thrust of AAF investment primarily focuses on food production, processing and distribution in cereals, livestock farming, dairy, fruit and vegetables, crop protection, logistics, fertilisers, seeds, edible oils, smallholders and agricultural services. To achieve optimal diversification within the sector, the Fund will invest across the value chain (from primary production to processing and tertiary services) and pan-Africa.

The support to AAF, The Fund will make whose total target size investments of up to is US$20 million per Portfolio Company, targetis part of a coordinated ing entities with robust response of a pool of management and growth European Direct Foreign prospects. The Fund aims Investment (DFI) to support private sector companies that implement strategies to enhance and diversify food production and distribu-

US$300 million,

36

February 2011

tion in Africa by providing equity funding, including strengthening the management and modernisation of the agricultural sector on the continent.

To enhance its impact on development, the Fund has deployed two powerful instruments: a dedicated SME sub-fund of a target size of US$60 million (initially US$30 million) and a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) of 10 million, to support out-grower schemes in large companies and business development services in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The support to AAF, whose total target size is US$300 million, is part of a coordinated response of a pool of European Direct Foreign Investment (DFI), with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Promotion et Participation pour la Coopération économique (Proparco) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on the one hand.

On the other hand are African DFIs, with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the ECOWAS Bank of Investment and Development (EBID), as limited liability partner investors.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will

manage the Technical Assistance Facility for which core funding has been committed by the European Commission with the contribution of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Italian Cooperation.

In order to combat African agribusiness and agriculture’s chronic undercapitalisation, the Fund is equipped with an innovative mechanism designed to attract private sector capital. Lead investors such as AFD and AECID, together with BOAD and EBID, have pooled their shares into a first loss risk-taking mechanism that will provide private investors into AAF with an accelerated return.

Phatisa are the Fund Managers, comprising a team of seasoned professionals with a depth of experience in both private equity, fund management and the agricultural sector across Africa. Phatisa is led by Duncan Owen and Stuart Bradley.

The Group has offices in Mauritius, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and is in the process of being established in West Africa.

“With food security such a crucial issue across Africa, the AAF will make equity finance available for African agricultural companies,” says Valentine Chitalu, Chairman of Phatisa Group. “We welcome all the investors’ significant contributions to Africa’s economic development and long-term prosperity”

•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

A

ustralia’s Foreign Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP, outlines a bold vision that underpins engagement in the full spectrum of cooperation, action and unity. As if lobbying towards an Australian-African union, Rudd remarks, “Australia is unique among the major developed countriessituatedintheSouth,between the Indian and Pacific oceans and surrounded by developing countries.

The perspective we have of Africa is also different from many Western countries’. When we look west towards Africa, Australia sees a continent of growing stability and opportunity”.

Africa is already a continent of a billion people, and by 2040 it will have the world’s largest working-age population. Its combined consumer spending in 2008 was $860 billion, and McKinsey, a global management consulting firm, predicts this will grow to $1.4 trillion in 2020. Rudd is therefore of the opinion that there is good reason to be optimistic about Africa’s future.

“Foreign Direct Investment in Africa has increased from $9 billion in 2000 to $62 billion in 2008 — almost as large as the flow into China when measured relative to GDP. According to McKinsey the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region”. This, he says, spells shared interest and opportunity for both Australia and Africa.

The Foreign Minister points out the mineral and resources sector as the key area of common interest, saying minerals development has been a key part of Australia’s economic success. Africa’s resource endowment can also be the basis for its development and prosperity.

Australia’s mining sector is ready to use and share its expertise. There are already more than 215 Australian resources companies with assets in Africa, with nearly 600 projects. Investment by Australian companies in this sector is $20 billion, with billions more

MULTILATERAL RELATIONS

Towards an Australia, Africa Convergence Canberra lays out foreign direct policy whose bedrock is peacekeeping, developmental and humanitarian assistance for the continent

By STAFF WRITER

HON KEVIN RUDD ,

Foreign Minister

Africa is already a continent of a billion people, and by 2040

it will have the world’s largest working-age population.

Its combined consumer spending in 2008 was $860 billion

in prospect. This is further complemented by the fact that the Australian Government too is ready to assist African governments to manage their resources to spur economic development, including through training and technicalassistance.He emphasises that Africa is central to progress on key issues such as climate change, trade reform, peace and security, and addressing global poverty.

“I am committed to working closely with Africa, bilaterally and multilaterally, to tackle global challenges. For example, on climate change, I serve under the co-chairmanship of President Jacob Zuma and President Tarja Halonen [of Finland] in the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability, designed to formulate a new vision and set of mechanisms for achieving sustainable growth and prosperity”. Rudd continues, “Australia is prepared to put its money where its mouth is on climate change. We will provide $599 million over three years for fast-start financing for developing countries, a quarter of which will benefit least developed countries, many in Africa. We have doubled our development assistance to Africa in the past three years." Australia, like Africa, is a major agricultural producer and Rudd says building on expertise, it is

helping to build agricultural research capacity in Africa through a three-year $100 million food security initiative.

In a bid to build linkages, the new Australia-Africa Awards are boosting education links between the two continents. This year 400 African students from nearly 40 countries will study in Australia under the scheme. By 2012-13, there will be 1,000 such awards for Africans every year.

Australia also has an interest in bringing peace and stability to Africa’s flashpoints and has always been a major contributor to UN peacekeeping, contributing 65,000 personnel to more than 50 UN and multilateral peace and security missions over the years. “Today, we have 27 personnel deployed to the UN Mission in Sudan, and we are working through the UN Peace Building Commission to support Sierra Leone. Australia has also worked with the AU to develop guidelines for the protection of civilians in conflict, which we hope to see adopted by the AU later this year”.

Undoubtedly, Australia and Africa have common interests to pursue, and common global challenges to confront. They will pursue their engagement with creative ideas and active diplomacy. Rudd concludes: “Our commitment to Africa will be an enduring one”

February 2011

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•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

BILATERAL TRADE

Malaysia Anchored on Global Commerce On his maiden visit to sub-Saharan Africa, DATO’ NORHARUDDIN NORDIN, CEO MATRADE, the Malaysian national trade promotion agency, speaks to DEA’s JANE MWANGI on the opportunities for trading with the Asian tiger of 27 million people and a steady annual GDP growth rate over the years, what is happening in Malaysia is quite significant; emerging from a low to middle income country, MATRADE has contributed highly to this outcome. Therefore, yes, I do believe our vision has been realised.

DATO’ NORHARUDDIN NORDIN, CEO

MATRADE, the Malaysian national trade promotion agency

38

D

EA: Do you think MATRADE’s vision of positioning Malaysia as a globally competitive trading nation has been realised?

Mr Nordin: The World Trade Organisation identified Malaysia among the top 25 trading nations in the world. With a population

February 2011

Q: As Malaysia’s national export promotion agency, MATRADE is responsible for assisting Malaysian companies to succeed in the international market, as well as offering assistance to foreign buyers. How do you carry out this mandate?

A: As the national trade promotion agency, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation acts as a focal point for Malaysian exporters and foreign importers seeking trade-related information.

It also helps in trade matching, assisting foreign buyers in establishing links with Malaysian enterprises, and this is done through providing trade advisory services on doing business with Malaysia as well as managing incoming buying missions and scheduling business meetings with Malaysian exporters.

Q: You are highly concentrated on the export of manufactured and semi-manufactured products and services. Which are some of these?

A: We pride ourselves on hav-

ing the ability to meet global demands for high quality products and services. Malaysian exporters continuously improve their product offerings and provide excellent service, including complying with international standards to meet the ever-changing consumer needs. Our focus now is to highlight the creativity and design capabilities of Malaysian companies. Recognising the fact that elements of creativity and design are critical to enhance competitiveness and increase value.

The MATRADE Export Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur is a stateof-the-art complex with 29,000 square metres of exhibition space to prominently showcase Madein-Malaysia products and services from more than 400 Malaysian companies.

Q: MATRADE is represented worldwide at 40 locations in major commercial cities. Which are key among these cities?

A: We have an office in all the commercial centres in the world, including Nairobi. Malaysia’s major trading partners are the USA, Singapore, Japan, China and Thailand.

Q: What strategy do you have to boost the trade relations between Malaysia and East Africa, especially due to the fact that Kenya MATRADE’s covers East, Central and West Africa?

A: We want to establish a huge

•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

presence as far as East Africa is concerned. I would like to share the fact that the reason we have a presence in Nairobi is because it is a major gateway hub for Africa. Our objective is to enhance and diversify Malaysia’s trade relations with Kenya. We are inviting Kenyan business professionals to come to Malaysia and discover the many business opportunities. MATRADE receives visits of foreign trade delegations, we organise business briefings, schedule individual business meetings between Malaysian business and members of foreign trade delegations. I would like to tell the world that Malaysia is an attractive location for business, offering a versatile and capable workforce with a conducive business environment and pro-business policies. We have put in place various policies and incentives that make trade and business transactions easy, secure and reliable.

Q: Malaysia’s services sector is expected to provide the basis for sustained rapid growth of the economy to achieve the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2020. What role is MATRADE playing in order to realise this?

A: There is a lot being done to achieve this goal. We are undergoing radical transformational growth, which entails developing new sectors such as exporting services. These include: construction, architecture, engineering, education, halal services, ICT, oil and gas and Business Process and Outsourcing, among others. The services sector is an important component of Malaysia’s economy and is the main contributor to Malaysia’s GDP, accounting for 57 per cent of the total employment.

The concerted development of

the services sector is part of the national development strategy to venture into new growth areas and broaden the economic base for exports. It is also expected to provide the basis for sustained rapid growth of the economy to achieve the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2020.

Q: Now, we know that challenges are experienced even by the most successful corporations. Have you encountered any?

A: Definitely. For example, in 2009 our total trade amounted to US$137 dollars. Unfortunately, the recession brought it down to US$101 million. However, last year witnessed a slight recovery, going up to US$120 million. Secondly, our country has stuck as a middle-income economy since the mid-. We have been pushed out of the low cost market, with China now being our major competitor. Hence, we are losing our competitiveness in the low-end

COOPERATION:

The leader of the Malaysian trade delegation Dato’ Norharuddin Nordin addressing members of the Kenyan trade delegation at the Hilton Hotel in Nairobi, while Malaysia Trade Commissioner Mohammed Azuri Zukainain (left) and Mr Iqbal Dadani, of Portcross Limited (right) looks on

market and lack of penetration into the high-end market.

Q: Looking forward, what is the world likely to expect from Malaysia?

A: Our Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razaak, has developed a new economic model aimed at speeding up Malaysia’s transition to a high income country. This involves, among other things, increasing investment from overseas and encouraging the growth of knowledge industries. In addition, the Government has identified 12 key economic sectors expected to deliver the highest value for the economy. The private sector will be the major contributor funding 92 per cent, while the Government will be responsible for 8 per cent.

The Malaysian Government has also invested a lot in Research and Development. The focus is on alternative energy and green technology; in the future we aim to be able to supply more to the global market

February 2011

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•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

K

enya is the New Desired Destination 2010 of China’s Travel & Cuisine magazine.

This positions the celebrated home of the Big Five in the league of tourism magnets such as scintillating Singapore, dashing Denmark and City-of-Love Paris. Kenya was awarded the new status alongside Spain, Turkey, Italy and Egypt after selection and voting by veterans of the travel trade and Internet browsers. The award put Kenya on the world map as a spectacular tourist destination and comes hot on the heels of the award of Best Destination for Eco-tourism voted by both the public and travel trade in China in May 2010.

Destinations including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Tunisia were all within the African continent and were eligible for the selection.

Soaring above the otherwise stiff competition, the untamed paradise that is Kenya stood out as the wild and beautiful scenic getaway anyone looking for adventure and leisure is sure to choose.

The renowned Travel & Leisure award is a prestigious accolade due to its limited categories of prizes. The five most-sought-after are: New Desired Destination, Best Hotels in China, Airliner of the Year, Most Popular Destinations and the Best Cruise Liner. The rigorous selection process, which involves the Travel & Leisure selection committee, comprises respected travel trade veterans.

The magazine invited readers to participate as members of a selection panel in May 2010. Come July, travel trade veterans joined in and started judging; their selection contributes to 30 per cent of the total score. In August Internet browsers joined in and the result

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February 2011

TOURISM’S CROWN JEWEL

Kenya Voted New Desired Destination 2010 The award showcases the country at its best — wild, beautiful, stunning, breathtaking and scenic

By STAFF WRITTER

of their selection contributed to 40 per cent of the total score.

Kenya is no stranger to international acclaim. After all, it is the undisputed and world-renowned athletics powerhouse, producing such world champions as Paul Tergat and David Rudisha. The unsurpassed beauty and spectacular landscapes cover 582,646 square kilometers of contrasts where dense and verdant forests are home to arresting breeds of wildlife, rich savannahs, and a shimmering tropical coastline stretching from

the Somali border to that of Tanzania. This unique recipe not only invigorates but enraptures every visitor to this great nation.

Over the years, Kenya has gradually become a cosmopolitan nation owing to immigrations and influxes of diverse ethnic backgrounds, thus creating over 42 fascinating tribes of Kenya, who today make up the population of some 40 million diverse people.

The breathtaking beauty that is the Great Rift Valley has a series of volcanoes which stud the valley floor to the centrally placed Aberdare Ranges, rich in fertile farmlands of tea and coffee; it is here that one enjoys some of the world’s most restful scenery.

Alternatively, an idyllic getaway to the Kenyan coast reveals the splendour of deep-sea fishing that offers an environment where there is a multitude of activities; water skiing, scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing and wind sailing.

A Kenyan holiday is one that promises not to disappoint as it proudly displays all of the diversity that is this delightful jewel at the heart of East Africa. Its set-pieces include the vast wildlife attractions which are contained in some 37 Kenyan national parks and reserves are what spurs on many tourists: or, more specifically, the internationally famous Masai Mara game reserve. Here, one gets a rare chance of experiencing Africa’s Eden in real time as millions of wildebeest and zebra follow the timeless ritual of migration moving in search of fodder as they have done since time immemorial.

Archeological research indicates modern man first appeared in Kenya and, as a result, the country and its East African counterparts is almost certainly considered the Cradle of Mankind

•ECONOMY Investment•Technology•Prosperity

HAWK EYE

Policing Internet Use Current corporate policies surrounding network security often neglect the most critical component: the human element. An organisation’s overall security is only as strong as its weakest link: the user.

BY ONSOTI RATEMO

I

f you are that kind of employee who wanders into job searching websites or social networks while in the office, you need to be wary.

Your employer could be watching and tracking any move you make using an organisation’s network.

Technology has made that possible and Cyberoam is one such technology. It is changing how online resources can be managed and Internet security assured.

Vulnerable networks prone to internal and external attacks are on the rise as technology gets better and complicated each day.

However, current corporate policies surrounding network security have often neglected the most critical and weak security component; the human factor.

According to cyber security experts, an organisation’s overall security is only as strong as its weakest link: the user.

It is against this background that Cyberoam, an Internet security solution, is tied together to ensure a one-stop shop for all security and online management concerns of business and individual users alike.

With Cyberoam, it is even possible to allocate each user the amount of broadband (Internet capacity) to use and determine which sites they visit and at which time while in the office.

“Using Cyberoam, one can allocate senior employees more broadband and access to particular websites and restrict junior employees access to sites such as Facebook or sports.

One is able to monitor who visited which site and at what time,” says Alkeshi Soneji, Cyberoam International Sales Director.

Alkeshi says the security module also helps those with responsibility to monitor users’ online habits generate reports on which user is flouting online rules thus take disciplinary measures in time.

He says Cyberoam enables real time visibility into bandwidth utilization and can allow blockage of all unwanted sites just from the same platform.

According to Isolutions Associates Managing Director, Joseph Kinyua, Cyberoam UTM appliances integrate multiple security features such as Firewall, VPN, Intrusion Prevention System, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam, Web Filtering, Layer 7 Visibility and Control, Bandwidth Management and Multiple Link Management on a single platform.

Extensible Security Architecture along with multicore processors enable it to offer future-ready security and faster throughput.

With ICTs taking the lead in growing economies, the Internet has emerged out to be a superhighway that conveys businesses to prosperity but again it can be a source of innumerable risks.

Corporates can only ignore Internet security at their own risk thus the reason technology companies are

The cyberoam platform is so elaborate that a user will always move around with own access privileges from one computer to another and there is no danger of one

employee using another’s account without permission.

always innovating platforms to counter the ever increasing cyber threats.

The cyberoam platform is so elaborate that a user will always move around with own access privileges from one computer to another and there is no danger of one employee using another’s account without permission.

How cyberoam works In order to address the concerns of gaining visibility and controls on user activity in the network, Cyberoam UTM’s Layer 8 technology is derived from the need for a more robust network security system which can include a user’s human identity as part of the firewall rule matching criteria.

By definition, Cyberoam UTM’s Layer 8 Technology treats user identity the 8th layer or the “human layer” in the network protocol stack.

This allows administrators to uniquely identify users, control Internet activity of these users in the network, and enable policy setting and reporting by username.

All Cyberoam security features can be centrally configured and managed from a single firewall page with complete ease.

Layer 8 binds these security features to create a single, consolidated security unit and enables the administrator to change security policies dynamically while accounting for user movement - joiner, leaver, or rise in hierarchy.

IT teams often waste time in knowing source of attacks and attackers in case of a security incident.

However since Layer 8 offers instant visibility into source of attacks while identifying victims/attackers by username, cyberoam allows proactive remediation of security incidents. Thus adds speed to security.

Cyberoam's content and application filtering feature manages indiscriminate Internet surfing by users through custom policy setting for users and groups, thereby setting access limitations based on time duration and predefined blocked sites across 82+ categories,? said Alkeshi

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GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING

‘Isikuti’ Sings and Dances its Way into Unesco’s Heart and World Heritage Stepping up the soft power advantages of cultural diplomacy to promote practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills across the globe with emphasis on those under the threat of extinction

By CHARO NGUMBAO

T

he recent visit to Kenya by Irina Bokova, the Director General of the United Nations Educational Science and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) may have been a routine meeting of this foremost heritage agency of the UN. Looked at from the point of view of the objective of the visit, however, Kenya scored handsome marks on the global cultural diplomacy front. Bokova was indeed leading some 500 delegates from 130 countries to discuss the place of culture in the global agenda.

Bokova, to all intents and purposes the first among equals in the increasingly important cultural diplomacy, was in Kenya to oversee the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

ICH is a relatively new instrument in Unesco’s armoury of leveraging the potentialities of the natural and social sciences, education, culture, communication and information as agents of

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global understanding, tolerance and peace. ICH was mooted in 2003 and became operational only in 2006 after the threshold of state signatories to its conventions was reached. That Kenya was unanimously endorsed as the host of the fifth session goes to indicate the cultural prestige attached to

EXUBERANT:

Isikuti dancers doing their jig

the country globally. Delegates during the event applauded the chairmanship of this session by Dr Jacob ole Miaron, Kenya’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture.

So, what is Intangible Cultural Heritage, better known in cultural diplomacy parlance simply as ICH

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all about? The ICH Convention seeks the promotion of a multitude of practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills across the globe with emphasis on those under the threat of extinction while at the same time mining vibrant ones.

Across the globe cultural expressions through, say, song and dance and artefacts have been found be fountains of human endeavours to socialise. The 200 delegates who congregated in Nairobi for the fifth session of the ICH therefore sought to affirm cultural heritage as a means of side-stepping the ill effects of conflict while promoting appreciation of the great diversity of world cultures.

Discussions during the session, the importance of oral traditions, particularly important in Africa and often the source of differences and conflicts between communities, were discussed.

Delegates also grappled with topics revolving around the significance of the performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events as potential means of creating common understanding and lessening hostilities, for instance through exchanges.

While the peoples of the world have diverse knowledge and understanding of the universe, it was underscored that the ultimate goal is human advancement.

Kenya has fared quite well in cultural diplomacy terms, what with the preservation and protection of a growing number of cultural heritage sites. Indeed, in appreciation of the importance of ICH, its instruments have been rendered in Kiswahili, a language widely spoken in East and Central Africa.

During the fourth session of ICH held in Abu Dhabi in 2009,

the cultural practices of the Mijikenda in the sacred Kaya forests of the coastal region were nominated as a cultural heritage that required urgent safeguarding and US$126,580 was approved for preservation efforts.

In addition, the African Cultural Regeneration Institute (ACCRI), a non-governmental organisation, was accredited to the ICH, becoming one of the few civil society outfits globally working with Unesco on this score. The November event saw the nomination of Western Kenya’s scintillating song and dance style, Isikuti, to the Unesco list of best cultural heritages. The upshot of this is that the vibrant and rollicking dance style will now feature as a distinct performance at world events.

Sources say that, in discussions with Bokova and the top echelon

of Unesco, Kenya’s acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof George Saitoti and Acting Permanent Secretary Patrick Wamoto lobbied for the country’s enhanced representation in the Unesco Secretariat.

One of the lines that cultural connoisseurs have been pursuing is that with the Unesco Africa region office based in Nairobi, it would only be fair that Kenyans are represented commensurate to the role they are playing in setting the global heritage agenda

Kenya has fared quite well in cultural diplomacy terms, what with the preservation and

protection of a growing number of cultural heritage sites

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INTELLECTUAL POWERS

Is East Africa’s Academy on the Path to Decay?

The university should manifest its imprint beyond the lecture theatre into the career world long after college, says DEA Culture Editor NGARI GITUKU

U

nless an overhaul takes place quickly, the East African academy seems to be hurtling towards imminent decay. Yet, trapped in our universities are hundreds of brilliant mortal gems, young men and women going through school, yes, but hardly challenged to fully harness their intellectual endowments or passion towards a happy ending.

Why do I think so? A few years back, I got involved in the Kenya Leadership Institute’s Inter-university Policy Challenge, a forum that encourages students to share their creative public policy-leaning ideas in a format that projects their application in real life situations. What I listened to was pure fodder for a social-economic revolution. The students who made those ambitious presentations have since completed their studies and consequently joined the rat race in earnest. You now cannot feel them at all. Their fire is extinguished and so is their zeal to exert their ingenuity.

CONTOURS

So where is the problem? In my view, we have disfigured, or actually lost, the place and mission of the academy and plucked out its essence. The university, among other things, is supposed to whet the appetite for knowledge while equipping learners with the oars with which to navigate both charted and unexplored territories. It is the academy that ultimately imparts

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the trappings of culture, character and style to a society.

Ideally, the university should always manifest its imprint beyond the lecture theatre and notes way into the career world long after college. It is the sole onus of the academy to impart moral-ethical standards and etch deed-and-thought contours into the rhythm that defines people’s value systems.

WARNING

In his Farewell Address to the American people 50 years ago, the 34th President, the uncannily prescient General Dwight Eisenhower, gave a warning to the US academy that goes to the heart of the point I am making here: “... the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.

For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present — and is gravely to be regarded”.

The ideal university graduate must therefore be trained to occupy the centre of the society’s cockpit whence collective learning and unlearning are negotiated and streamlined into a concrete consciousness.

At the acme of national character

formation and transformation, therefore, must be a worldview deliberately informed by the kind of exposure that only the model university can cultivate.

In fact, proof of good tertiary learning is oftentimes typified by the ease in concurrence on general knowledge and commonsense between any two real products of a university, wherever it may be located under the sun. But is this really true of your typical East African university today? I doubt it.

On the face of things, a random pick at any of East Africa’s universities would most likely give you something totally different. Not for want of sharp brains on the part of learners or their teachers, rather because tertiary education and university academic awards have generally become commoditised.

Today’s average East African degree is largely a totem of consumerism

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STATS &FACTS

and only a mere license to the nebulous job market. While I doubt Africa can, at this point in time, afford education for its own sake, a degree of liberty to engage the academe in a little make-belief is critical. After all, aren’t great possibilities the offspring of dreams some of which may initially resemble idle musings?

So is it that the energy that could temper the minds of East Africa’s academes with scholarly ornaments has been rerouted to the nonchalant marketplace, where goats, salt and snuff are retailed? Or has the notion that today’s university exists to package and parade graduates in front of employers finally poisoned our minds? The irony is that when regional inter-university trivia contests come on TV, there isn’t any doubt that there is more than enough cerebral clout in our midst.

Yet the common image that is

ultimately conjured in many a mind at the very mention of a typical East African university is one of an ATM whose work is to dispense degrees and diplomas with no breather in-between transmittals. It seems there is very little, if any, thought for the shaping of the character of our local university graduate, let alone equipping him or her with relevant intellectual sensibilities capable of turning the tide in the social, political, economic and leadership dilemmas that stalk us.

PEDAGOGY

Indeed, if you ask me, commoditised university education and poor intellectual orientation at the academy make for a fertile seedbed for most of our social and economic miseries. A quick-food approach to tertiary education, especially at the undergraduate level, is a bubbling well for juvenile delusions that drain

into barren fallows. Such is the tragedy of impersonal and transactional pedagogy.

Suffice it to say that a decadent approach to education masks real geniuses whilst relegating them to the peripheries of intellectual stardom before finally consigning then into a heap of decaying waste, courtesy of loads of regrets born of lost or mismatched opportunities.

But before we fix the syllabus, content and matters of approach, can we ride on the university forum across East Africa to tattoo a shared regional culture into the beat, rhyme and reason that can unite us beyond a common trade bloc, currency and passport?

How about inter-university cultural festivals and student-lecturer exchange programmes for a start?

The Inter-university Council for East Africa — are you still there?

February 2011

On the face of things, a random pick at any of East Africa’s universities would most likely give you something totally different.

Not for want of sharp brains on the part of learners or their teachers, rather because

tertiary education and university academic awards have generally become commoditised

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ANNALS OF VULNERABILITY

Achilles’ Heel Across Cultures

Despite the thrilling episodes and accounts of men endowed with superhuman and baffling strength that defied convention and physical assault, humans still have their deadly weaknesses, well-hidden though they are, writes CAROL GACHIENGO

W

hat do a heel, a thigh, a head of hair and a shadow have in common? Read on…

The story of the young warrior after whom the concept of the Achilles’

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heel is named is probably the best place to begin. An Achilles’ heel is a fatal weakness, despite overall strength, that can or does lead to downfall. It all began thousands of years ago in ancient Greece, so the story goes, when a goddess named

Thetis dipped her infant son Achilles in the magical waters of the River Styx to protect him from harm.

Fortunately, Thetis held Achilles by the heel as she dipped the rest of his body in the river, otherwise he might have been carried away by the water and drowned. Unfortunately, the heel by which she held him was not covered by water and therefore remained vulnerable.

The story goes that Achilles grew up to be a brave warrior, a far cry from the baby who had wriggled and howled from being held naked upside down in cold river water. It is unclear whether Achilles would still be alive and with us today had his whole body been dipped in the Styx. At any rate, Achilles was eventually felled by a poisoned enemy arrow that found its mark in the unprotected part of his heel.

Vulnerability, it seems, has been written about or told of in every culture for as long as human civilisation has existed by every people on every continent. Stories of great heroes with an Achilles’ heel are part of the literary traditions of cultures around the world.

From the Indian Subcontinent comes the story of Duryodhana and his particular Achilles’ heel.

Duryodhana, a prince in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, was the firstborn of 100 brothers, the sons of the Kauravas blind king Dhrutarashtra. He started a war with the Pandavas brothers when he insulted their wife Draupadi (the five brothers were all her husbands). As the war raged on, Duryodhana vowed to kill Bhima, one of the Pandava brothers. Duryodhana’s mother Gandhari, although not a goddess like Achilles’ mother, had powers of her own; dedicated to her blind husband, she kept her eyes covered all the time, and had therefore acquired great powers.

Everything she looked upon be-

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came invincible. Gandhari sought to use her power to make her son invincible for the fight.

What she did not account for was that Lord Krishna was on the Pandava’s side. Duryodhana was on his way to appear naked before his mother so that she could gaze upon every inch of his body, thus making him invincible, when he encountered Lord Krishna, who so ridiculed him that he covered his hip and thigh area. His mother’s gaze therefore did not make the covered area invincible. The long and the short of it is that Lord Krishna reported on his vulnerability to the Pandavas, as a result of which Bhima killed Duryodhana in the fight by crushing his thigh.

PRINCESS

In Kenya, the story is told of Lwanda Magere, a Luo warrior who was undefeated in battle against the neighbouring Nandi people.

Lwanda Magere was so strong that the Nandi people had no chance in battle against him. Spears aimed at him merely bounced away, so the story went. They realised their only hope was to get rid of the Luo warrior, and since they had so far failed to kill him on the battlefield, some investigation into his secret was required. Lwanda Magere must have fancied himself the luckiest man alive when the Nandi elders offered him the most beautiful princess as a wife; a token of peace and surrender, they said.

One version of the story says that his beautiful wife seduced him into telling her the secret of his strength while another says that injured in battle, he revealed the secret to enable her to treat him. Whatever the case, he revealed to his wife that the secret of his strength was in his shadow, and she of course promptly reported this to her people, who challenged

the Luo to a daytime fight and pierced his shadow with an arrow.

The rest is history, for Lwanda Magere, fatally injured, turned to stone.

The similarity between the legend of Lwanda Magere and Samson in the Bible is uncanny. Endowed with superhuman strength, Samson was the Jews’ greatest weapon against the Philistines. In battle, he killed many Philistines and things were looking up for the Jews. Then he fell in love with Delilah, a Philistine woman, but she too was on a mission to discover the secret of his

One version of the story says that his beautiful wife seduced him into telling her the secret of his strength while another says that, injured in battle, he revealed the secret to enable her to treat him. Whatever the case, he revealed

to his wife that the secret of his strength was in his shadow

strength on behalf of her people.

Judgment clouded by love, Samson revealed to Delilah that the secret to his strength was in his hair. Warriors must sleep some time, even invincible ones, and when Samson fell asleep, Delilah ordered her slave to cut off all his hair. His strength gone, the Philistines arrested him and put him in jail, but with time his hair grew back, so that, come his court date, his strength was back.

That was how Samson caught the Philistines unawares by knocking down the pillars of the courtroom, killing all the Philistines in the courtroom, and himself as well.

The modern day fictional American superhero, Superman, brings the concept of the Achilles’ heel into our times. Born on the planet Krypton, he is brought to earth as an infant by his scientist father and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, who raise him as a regular American boy named Clark Kent. Superman discovers his superhuman strength as he grows up and vows to use it only for good. In his various adventures, Superman fights and defeats many villains. But although he is “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound”, Superman too has an Achilles’ heel. Green Kryptonite, a mineral from Krypton, nullifies his powers, immobilises him with pain and nausea, and has the power to kill him. Unlike the other legends, Superman is still alive and well, to the relief of his millions of fans.

So to answer the question — what do a heel, a thigh, a head of hair and a shadow have in common? They bind the human race together; a reminder that, wherever we come from, whatever our strengths, we all have our vulnerabilities. A humbling thought…

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•ODYSSEYS People & Places RARE GETAWAY

Paradise Lost– Where Nature Lives A blanket of serenity, dazzling and breathtaking waterfalls, picnic/camping sites, Stone Age caves, camel, horse and boat riding are on offer at this magical destination

BY PENINAH GITUMA

T

SPLENDID:

Local tourists having fun at Paradise Lost.

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he bumpy boda boda (motorcycle taxi) ride on the 2km stretch to one of Kenya’s untapped adventurous picnic site is an experience I would ordinarily hesitate to share with anyone who has not dared this mode of transport. What lulled the discomfort of my rough ride was the lush, carpet green vegetation that stretched to the horizon and the blossoming coffee plantations, but my every joint was hurting. The ride does induce a sharp appetite, though.

Located off Kiambu Road, north of Nairobi, on a 54-acre plot, Paradise Lost is an exquisite fun-filled destination with the most beauti-

February 2011

ful and spectacular sites for those in pursuit of adventure. From dazzling and breathtaking waterfalls, to picnic and camping sites, Stone Age caves, camel, horse and boat riding to the nature trail, these attractions are on offer at this magical destination.

The place started off in 1998 when the founder got wind of the splendid exceptional natural attractions, then buried in numerous coffee plantations and he got a brain wave to make it a traveller’s site. After paying KSh300 entry fee at the gate, I follow the arrows and head straight to the waterfall. Here, every site is clearly marked with arrows, needless for a guide unless you are on an

educational tour. I spot a couple emerging from a hidden pathway surrounded by huge trees and follow suit. The place is dark and the only sound is the lulling melodies from chirping birds and the swaying of trees.

Away from the smog in the city, I smell the clean, crisp air and begin to feel at one with nature. I am alone and very nervous but I put on courage. At the end of the dark pathway, a scenic 100m waterfall emerges from nowhere and the heightened sound of water as it hits the hard rock is like a soothing balm to a city-hardened, peaceseeking soul. Visitors are busy taking pictures of the falling water as others pose for a photo shoot. As

•ODYSSEYS People & Places I watch the enthralling spectacle of water falling to the hard rock, I spot a man seated on a chair reading a newspaper next to the waterfall. I approach him, and, after exchanging pleasantries, he inquires if I need any assistance.

I have just acquired a guide.

Water from Lake Naivasha flows underground, emerging in Limuru and later meanders here as a river before it flows over the cliff to form the waterfall. This and other underground springs feed the four dams in Paradise Lost, my guide informs me. The exhilarating spray of water hitting my face is another exceptional experience that works wonders to unclog a writer’s block and unleash literary springs! I follow my guide to Stone Age caves, behind the waterfall. These date back 2.5 million years. The caves served as Mau Mau hideouts during the colonial days in this predominantly highland area. Approved by the National Museums of Kenya, there is excavation evidence that these caves housed our Stone Age ancestors.

A glimpse on the roof of the caves shows thick coats of blackened soot and thin layers of oil that my guide says was as a result of the Mau Mau who used to light fire to cook and warm themselves.

Inside the caves it is cool, dry and the atmosphere is refreshing.

To walk here, you bend double or crawl. There is enough lighting in the caves as several bulbs have been lit at strategic places for accessibility. This is such a stunning experience, walking in caves and not knowing where next you will emerge! Away from the allure of the magical caves is an inlet from a stream that flows from the waterfall. A few boats are lying here, rather invitingly. The ride is free on weekdays and Sh100 on weekends and public holidays. However, there’s a guide to take you for the ride and every rider dons a

life jacket as a precautionary measure. Horse rides are on offer too, and the charges are Sh100, while a camel ride is free on weekdays apart from weekends and public holidays, when you part with Sh50.

The entrance fee is Sh300 for adults, Sh200 for children and US$10 for non-residents. The dress code is casual and visiting hours are restricted between 6am to 6pm daily. Bird-watching, fishing and ostrich feeding are captivating activities that make Paradise Lost such an inimitable attraction site. An affordable fee of Sh600 is charged per person per night for those out to camp and tents, blankets and mattresses are provided; the staff will make the tent for you as well as provide security.

A bar and restaurant are open during the day and food is made on order. You can as well decide to carry your own food or carry it along and ask them to cook for you at a fee. There are jiko (charcoal stoves) for hire and a small set-up kitchen if you want to make your food.

GARDEN

STATS &FACTS A glimpse at the roof of the caves shows thick coats of blackened soot and thin layers of oil that my guide says was

a result of the Mau Mau who used to light fires to cook and warm themselves.

Inside the caves it is cool, dry and the atmosphere is refreshing

Set downhill, sandwiched between exuberant coffee plantations, thrives a splendid garden by the lake, very apt for weddings, meetings and corporate events.

The garden has well-manicured lawns and the environment is fresh and friendly, creating a serene setting for comfort, bonding and reflection. The spectacular lake that stretches 500m has an exclusive large boat made from old metal drums that spell sheer fun in this haven of tranquillity. The garden that hosts mainly weddings and other corporate events is normally on booking with charges ranging from Sh 50,000 to Sh 70, 000 per day.

I am so engrossed that I do not notice the sun setting in the horizon. For fun lovers wanting to break away from the roll and mill of every day life, Paradise Lost is the next get away destination for those in pursuit of adventure. It is a step into a virgin, unspoilt, undiscovered haven of tranquillity and serenity: an unforgettable step into nature itself

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•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World

February 2011

THE TUNISIA TRIGGER

Days of Rage ‘I think there is something very interesting going on in Egypt, moving under the pressures of society... The effect of mobiles, computers, satellites — there is a generation coming that is outside the traditional controls. Normally, generations recreate themselves. But something else is happening. The police are unable to prevent the political demonstrations. These are not very large — but by using ... mobiles, the Internet, SMS, they are starting a political form of guerrilla warfare in a new medium. Do you know that never before in our history in Egypt was the budget of our army less than the budget of the police? Now it is. What does that tell you?’

— Mohamed Hasseinein Heikal, veteran Egyptian journalist and author of Autumn of Fury: The Assassination of Sadat, speaking in April 2007

By MATT K. GATHIGIRA, DEA Consulting Editor

N

owadays you know a ruler has lost it when he orders the switching off of the Internet and the mobile phone networks.

Prior to this his intelligence (surely increaingly a misnomer!) services will have wasted serious police time hacking into the individual Facebook, Twitter and email accounts of profiled and targeted putative ‘enemies of the state’.

The regime of Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, President

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of the Arabic Republic of Egypt and Chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the longest serving Egyptian leader of the modern era, switched off these 21st Century means of communication late in January, a sure sign that it had its back firmly against the wall and there was nowhere left to run.

Tunisia, whose own uprising a couple of weeks before Egypt’s own “Days of Rage” sent President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fleeing into exile after 23 years of Big Man

misrule, was described by global freedom-of-the-press watchdog Reporters Without Borders as one of 12 “Enemies of the Internet”.

The RWB List of Shame included such usual suspects as North Korea, Burma and Turkemenistan.

CRUCIBLE

Releasing the list in March 2010, Reporters Without Borders, whose motto is ‘For Press Freedom’, noted: “In authoritarian countries in which the traditional media are state-controlled, the Internet of-

•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World

HEIKAL ON MUBARAK Mohamed Hasseinen Heikal, 87, veteran Egyptian journalist and author, on Mubarak: “Our President Mubarak lives in a world of fantasy at Sharm el-Sheikh. Let us face it, that man was never adjusted to politics. He started to be a politician at the age of 55, when Sadat made him vice-president before he was assassinated. Yes, Mubarak was a very good pilot, but to start off at the age of 55, that takes a lot of work. His original dream was to have been an ambassador, to be among the ‘excellencies’. Now its been 25 years he’s been president — he’s nearly 80 — and he still can’t take the burdens of the state”.

fers a unique space for discussion and information-sharing and has become an ever more important engine for protest and mobilisation. The Internet is the crucible in which repressed civil socities can revive and develop. “The new media, and particularly social networks, have given populations collaborative tools with which they can change the social order. Young people have taken them by storm.

Facebook has become the rallying point for activists prevented from demonstrating in the streets”.

Reporters Without Borders’ prognosis of barely a year ago will have to be rapidly updated in an international context that is both in flux and rapidly evolving. Facebook has actually become the rallying point for activists who are about to burst into the streets and redefine the term The Political Street.

As we went to press, there were reports of the beginnings of an uprising in the North Sudan capital of Khartoum and Sudanese cyberspace, including in the far-flung Diaspora, was suddenly abuzz with talk and strategies of regime

change. The prospects of a Tunisia-Egypt-like uprising in North Sudan are rearing their head at a critical time — the South has just seceded in a self-determination referendum that was part and parcel of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005.

But the focus remains on Egypt. Where Ben Ali became the first Arab ruler to be felled by a people-power street uprising,

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•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World

Mubarak could become the most substantial victim of what will come to be increasingly referred to as the Tunisian Trigger, the death knell for Old School authoritarian systems in North Africa and, soon, inexorably, elsewhere. Across the three decades of his rule, the only electoral presidential choice Mubarak presented to Egyptians came in the form of a referendum held under control-freak conditions that awarded him four successive terms — in 1987, 1993 and 1999, each of which returned a majority vote.

SEETHING

When he fired his Cabinet towards the end of last month in a televised address to the nation, Mubarak looked so emaciated and so out-of-the-loop that some observers initially thought they were looking at a body double with dubbed voice. Two days later, on the afternoon and early evening of Sunday January 30, someone in the new line-up — perhaps the new Vice President or the new Prime Minister — advised the Mubarak edifice to send American-made F15 Air Force jets flying low over the seething, teeming masses in Cairo’s CBD, breaking the sound barrier over unarmed civilians.

But this terror-by-noise-pollution only served to increase the protestors’ resolve and rage, for even more people breached the curfew and poured into Cairo’s and other cities’ streets.

EMERGENCY

Mr Mohammed el Baradei, formerly a top UN official and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, joined the uprising and offered his services as “Transition Leader”, a patently non-elective position that other

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big league activists around the world have no doubt quickly noted down and filed for their own near-future reference and, or deployment. The uprising brought an interesting fact to the fore regarding Egypt which the outside world was not very widely aware of — the country has laboured under a state of emergency that has been in place for 52 years, the Emergen-

cy Law, Law No 162 of 1958. Egypt is one of the world’s great tourism destinations, thanks to its ancient and vibrant heritage. And Brand Egypt has ensured that the news and reality of the draconian Emergency Law is one of the country’s best-kept open secrets. But now a real emergency, the “Days of Rage” uprising inspired by the Tunisia Trigger, has overtaken and obliter-

•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World

EGYPT’S MODERN PHARAOHS FOUR STRONGMAN PRESIDENTS IN 59 YEARS Hosni Mubarak, who rose to the Egyptian presidency from the position of vice-president upon the assassination in 1981 of President Muhammad Anwar el Sadat did not feel obliged to appoint a VP until the final weekend of January 2011, just three months short of 30 years since he came to power

FIRED BY ‘KIFAYA’ Noam Chomsky, the academic once described as “perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet”, described in his 2006 book Failed States, sub-titled The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy, “There have long been internal pressures for democratisation in Egypt. In the past few years, the leading force in opposition to the US-backed Hosni Mubarak dictatorship has been Kifaya, the popular ‘movement for change’’.

Kifaya was created in 2000, when it challenged the country’s emergency laws. It was largely sparked by the Palestiniant Intifada; its leading elements were Palestinian solidarity groups. Although such events mean little by Western standards, in Egypt and elsewhere there were strong reactions to what took place in the occupied territories immediately after the Israeli actions that provoked the Al-Aqsa Intifada...

“The spokesman for Kifaya, Abdel-Hakim Qandil stresses that it is an anti-imperial movement, with goals extending beyond the democratisation of Egypt” (emphasis added)

ated the Emergency Law. Among other depredations, the Emergency Law imposed a total ban on street protests, saw a detention-without-trial population of political prisoners numbering more than 15,000 and accorded the police and judicial authorities unlimited powers of arrest, interrogation and incarceration as well as censorship and suspension of

constitutional rights. Almost inevitably, the enjoyment of such immense unaccountable powers for such a long period of time also came to underwrite massive corruption and impunity, two factors that are fuelling the “Days of Rage” regime-change agenda. And scenes of Ben Ali’s daughter in law fleeing Tunisia with gold bullion as well as of Mubarak’s son Gamal

He was only the fourth President since the 1952 so-called Free Officers’ coup that overthrew the joint monarchy of Egypt and Sudan — the Muhammad Ali Dynasty — and four years later ushered in the spectacular era of Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein as second President and first President of the United Arab Republic (UAR), in office June 23 1956 to September 28 1970, when he died in office.

Nasser is remembered for a period of modernisation, including the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, a surge of pan-Arab nationalism and the 1967 Six Day War with Isreal.

Nasser’s successor was Sadat, in office October 15 1970 to October 6 1981. Sadat rolled back many aspects of Nasserism, restored political pluralism, waged the October Ramadhan War of 1973 (known in Israel as the Yom Kippur War because it was launched on the eponymous holiest day in Judaism) with Israel, one of history’s great military total-surprise attacks. Four years later, Sadat made a complete about-turn and made peace with Israel in the Camp David Accords brokered between him and then Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin by then US President Jimmy Carter. Sadat’s peace with Israel earned him the Nobel Peace Prize but cost him his life.

All four presidents of Egypt since 1952, led by the now largely forgotten leader of the Free Officers’ Movement putsch and first President of Egypt, Muhammad Naguib, have been drawn from the armed forces.

fleeing to Britain with 100 bags of luggage only serve to underline the graft factor. Isn’t this a species of money laundering in full view of the whole wide world? Why do Canada and Britain accept these riches alienated from the Third World into their banking systems, even under cover of fugitive “diplomatic immunity”?

February 2011

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•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World GENDER BALANCE

Revolution within the Revolution: Iran’s Women through Decades

A quiet transformation of their status in social, cultural circles and academia has taken place, By DEA SENIOR REPORTER

T

h director of Iran’s Womhe en’s Information and Statistics Centre (the Women’s Socio-Cultural Council), N Nahid Azam Rampanahi, ey in this eye-opening report vividly traces the development of women f the h early age of ignorance from when the they were regarded as mere o reproduction and part means of of man’s property. Then, they were subject to disproportionate discriminati crimination, impediments and injustices ssuch as poverty, illness, ilan exploitation. literacy and re The report reveals that, in the pre-revol pre-revolution era, Iranian women amo the most secluded and were among dormant strata of society and only a limited n number of them who were connecte to the high-ranking perconnected sonnel of the regime or had access to the royal family had access to social and political opportunities.

Most of these women were treated as insignifican and only toys and objects cant for those responsible for cultu and gender policy and tural rrelations. The majority of w women suffered from illite eracy, poverty, poor health co conditions and social seclusion, a and the educated ones, including iintellectuals and scientists who had accomplishments, were very few iin number. ess In essence, Iranian women did not enjoy any prestigious status in

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scientific fields in the international arena. However, the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979 was a turning point in determining the future policies of the country, and in rectifying its underdevelopment. In addition, it was a jump towards comprehensive economic, political, social, scientific and cultural development of the Iranian nation while preserving women’s independence as well as Islamic and national identity.

KHOMEINI

The leader of the revolution, Imam Khomeini, it is said, had a key role in leading the nation as the founder and leader of this transformation and believed in the true status and character of women. He tried very hard to make them prosper. Khomeini said: “A woman is the manifestation of mankind’s wishes coming true: she is the nurturer of venerable men and women. Men are able to transcend if they are trained by good women.”

Iranian women were of two major categories before the dawn of the Islamic revolution — traditional housewives who were confined to limited house chores and had almost no political, social, scientific and cultural activities worth mentioning, and modern women who had a kind of social presence but neglected their family responsibilities, casting away moral and religious values. However, upon the victory of the Islamic revolution, a

•GLOBAL STAGE Window on World

Iranian women have made remarkable progress in

science and education, literacy, research, culture, the arts, health and hygiene, and social, economic and political participation besides taking care of their family roles and responsibilities

third group emerged influenced by Imam Khomeini’s policy who had a discerning and meticulous participation in the economic, social, cultural, scientific and political arenas while observing moral and religious values and fulfilling their family responsibilities.

Iranian women experienced a fundamental change in terms of their status after the revolution. The Iranian woman, who was so different from the women in the West, the East, and even those in other Islamic countries, became an example and a role model for all. The more the Islamic revolution went by, the more it became possible for women to restore their identity and reinforce the spirit of self-esteem and self-confidence. Today, the world regards the Iranian woman as a sacrificing and hardworking person in different social and revolutionary arenas, as well as a cheerful, responsible and successful member of her family.

After the Islamic revolution, various laws were passed directed towards supporting women, improving their status, and reinforcing the family institution. These legislations were a guarantee for the implementation of Articles 3, 10, 20, and 21 of the Constitution on securing women’s rights in all aspects. It provides them with legal support as pertains to their cultural, social, economic, and political and human rights on an Islamic regulations basis. It also provides appropriate background for the development of women’s personality, revival of their physical and spiritual rights, and support for women during pregnancy and during child custody.

PERTINENT

The most significant legislations included, among others, granting the family pension to divorced women and widows, and women with disabled husbands; providing for women and children without guardians; giving women a chance

to file for divorce according to the conditions specified in the marriage contract; prohibition of referring hard and harmful work to women and granting equal wages to women for equal work with men, and in equal conditions.

In addition, other equally pertinent legislations were on reforming the Law of Banking System, which passes the financial facilities of war veterans and former prisoners of war to their wives or their children’s legal guardian once they are dead; implementation of social security and welfare for female guardians of the family and self-supporting women and the protection of women and girls subject to severe social harms.

Iranian women have made remarkable progress in science and education, literacy, research, culture, the arts, health and hygiene, and social, economic and political participation besides taking care of their family roles and responsibilities. This was due to the issue and implementation of laws, policies and plans of expansion and improvement of their status and the activity of women themselves during the last three decades of the revolution. According to the latest Statistical Centre of Iran figures, the population of women before the 1979 Islamic revolution was 16,352,397, or 48.5 per cent of the to-

tal population. In 2010, however, the above number reached 36,775,277, 49 per cent of the total population.

This means that the relative gender proportion of the country has decreased to 103.22 from 106.1 during this period, which means there are 100 women per every 103.22 men in Iran.

In the field of academia, the 20092010 census shows that the number of female students was estimated to be 6,738,684, or 48.18 per cent of the total population of students nationwide. This rate has increased 142.6 per cent compared to the last three decades. Besides, based on the census in 2009-2010, girls accounted for 62.31 per cent of pre-university students.

A comparison between the total population of women in the country (49 per cent) and the percentage of female students (48.18 per cent) reveals that, today, the majority of females who are old enough have access to education, which indicates that the Islamic Republic of Iran is rooting out illiteracy. Statistical data shows 173 of the female members of the scientific board in the state universities are professors, 436 are associate professors, and 3,086 are assistant professors. Moreover, women constitute quite a considerable, and increasing, portion of elites in scientific competitions

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•WITH A LIGHT TOUCH Seriously Lighthearted

HUMOUR

Jalopy Coughs and Stops on Christmas Eve

By BALOZI DIPLOMACIA

E

ven from space, the exodus would have been visible.

All over Mashariki mwa Africa, it seemed, populations were migrating; jumping ship from the concrete jungles of cities for the liberating aeration of the green countryside. After all, it was December and Christmas and New Year were both nigh — no thought for those post-festivity blues in the blasted month of January!

With the little money I had procured for rendering protocol services to the Orientals, I had spruced up my jalopy for the trip up north to what Junior calls ‘digs’.

In preparing for the trip, I had called Omosh the neighborhood mechanic to help fix my car for the long haul trip to the home of my ancestors.

“You mean we are going digs”, Junior had chimed in as I chatted with Omosh, who in turn was flexing muscle unfastening the metallic strip to open the car bonnet.

“Not digs. We shall be going to our rural home to celebrate Christmas”, I patiently explained to Junior, who returned a sneer and retorted, “ooh! Daddy. But Digs is the modern way of saying that entire rural, upcountry, reserve…thing”. I took it all in my stride as Omosh, who seemed to have an idea about this ‘Digs’

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business, laughed out loud. I had a feeling ‘Digs’ was so-called because it was borrowed from what rabbits call home, burrowing the earth.

“And, for your information, what Omosh has done is to lol, laugh out loud”, Junior was saying when, suddenly, Omosh was catapulted mid-air from the bonnet, landing with a thud a few paces away. I couldn’t help it but do what Junior had described as lol at Omosh as he rose again. Apparently Omosh had applied all his energy in trying to open the bonnet, since it hadn’t been opened for a long time. Such was the energy he had used that the bonnet straps had snapped unexpectedly, sending Omosh reeling.

“That is nothing”, Omosh said in a drooling baritone and bent over the engine. He started with removing the cobwebs that had made the engine their home, using a broom. When Junior nosed into the engine and exclaimed that the cobwebs gave a new meaning to ‘web network’, I knew it was time to dismiss the lad from the garage area.

Omosh went into the engine literally hammers and tongs. At some point, using a huge metallic hammer, he hit some unfortunate engine part really hard and the whole commotion effectively brought back the nosy Junior. This

time round, chubby Junior kept his silence, the better to avoid being sent out away to sit with Mum and the girls in the kitchen.

Omosh dismembered the engine, removing the constituent parts of the Ford Anglia (‘Fond Ugly’ for Junior, tongue-in-cheek) and scattering them on the grass in the front yard. Towards dusk, he started returning everything once more, discarding diseased engine parts that were no longer of value, scrapping and cleaning others with strange liquids, hammering others into shape, chiseling holes into others, riveting some onto the engine body…the man was a one-man hive of activity…except that, unlike an apiary, he sweated torrents through the job.

Towards dusk, Omosh went into the cabin and turned the ignition key. The whole metallic contraption hissed and coughed and then went silent. He then got out, walked round the engine to the left side, where the battery was located, and give it a few knocks, giving new meaning to the phrase ‘school of hard knocks’. He went back to the cabin and turned the ignition key while apparently repeatedly kicking the accelerator pad. The car coughed some more, this time as one with an expectorant cold, belched some dark smoke full nauseating to the nose and then went silent again.

“Tutasukuma (we shall push this car)”, Omosh said and Junior, without prompting, took off to the kitchen to call his fairer-sex relatives for the exercise. With my wife, daughter, Junior and I providing the heaving and pushing labour, we managed to get the Anglia out of the garage for the first time in seven months. When the vehicle gained relative momentum, Omosh, who had been pushing at the driver’s side with one hand while the other steered the car, jumped into the cabin and by some dexterity caused the car to move in sudden starts and stops. Shortly, the Anglia roared into life and dangerously hurtled downhill.

When Omosh was done with all the repairs to the car, he gave me the keys and explained what I needed to do in case of an emergency. He then, in his standard drool, wished me a merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Little did he or I know that the Anglia would stall halfway through the journey, in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night on Christmas Eve

Praying...Preying...Gone!

If you loaned a person some US$30,000 and they appear unwilling to repay, where would you think of cornering, nay, waylaying or ambushing them? In their offices?

Wrong! Residence? Wrong again! At their place of worship? Correct! At least, that is what a man did in the heart of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi on the Sunday of January 23 in a mosque. So, was it about praying or preying? Read on…

It transpired that when the defaulting character was spotted, it mattered precious little that he was communing with his Maker. Pay up or else, he was told, upon which an argument ensued and the loan shark drew a gun, a Ceska pistol, said to have been loaded with 14 bullets, to the utter

horror of other faithful. They promptly wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him but, in the confusion, he managed to flee. Talk of a fruitful melee! Like they say in the novels, he quickly became a face in the crowd!

Central Officer Commanding Police Division, (OCPD) Eric Mugambi was quoted as saying the man was being sought and that he would be relieved of his gun over such flagrant misuse. And you always thought the one in greater danger was the lender for fear of loss?

Think again! Maybe William Shakespeare was right, after all:”neither a lender nor a borrower be!”

At 90, still Taking Care of Himself, Literally!

Hollywood macho men such as Denzel Washington and former muscleman Arnold Schwazzerneger, now the outgoing governor of California, must have millions of admirers. And for good reason. But in reality and at the age of 90, would they fend off armed robbers? Well, a 90-year-old did just that in Tennessee, USA. Police said the man in Sumner County put up a fight after three women attempted to rob him.

The incident occurred outside the Verizon store on Indian Lake Boulevard.

Hendersonville police said three women followed

the elderly man to the store and held him up with a gun when he got out of his car.

The man knocked the weapon out of one of the robbers’ hands, grabbed it and ran into the store.

Several people saw the incident and were able to give police a detailed report of the robbers and their car. Three women from Nashville were later arrested in the case and identified. Two were aged 19 and one 20 years. Perhaps the man should have been in Hollywood in his youth: the world would not be short of blockbusters!

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•DEA HOTELS Lifestyles & Hospitality DIPLOMATIC DISTRICT THRILLER

Serving One Tribe the Human Race

I LUXURIOUS LIVING:

Aspects, faces and facets of the Marina

58

t has been said, “Grandeur is all very well, but without a touch of glamour a high-end hotel is just that: a smart place to sleep in.”

In recent years, Nairobi’s blue chip companies have literally been running away to the hills, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Gigiri, the capital city’s diplomatic district, is home to a serene environment that takes care of its own. This being the heart and home to many UN bodies, elegant diplomatic residences, embassies and chanceries, the area is superlative beyond imagination.

But even with the particularly modern buildings, some of the diplomats and top managers would

February 2011

still need to find their way through the notorious Nairobi traffic jams for a breakfast conference or working lunch at the high-end hotels in the CBD. This was until Nairobi’s luxury hotel scene was blessed with the style and splendour plus excitement of Tribe Hotel.

Located in the heart of Nairobi’s urbane Gigiri district, Tribe one of the newest luxurious boutique hotels, is adjacent to The Village Market, the region’s best shopping destination.

Tribe is designed for complete opulence that will plainly make your jaws drop. Since its official opening, the hotel has already played host to Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and

Nicole Kidman, as well as luminaries from the MTV Africa Music Awards including Wyclef Jean.

Tribe beguiles from the moment you get through the gate. Its newlybuilt four-storey structure lies low, falling back into its magnanimous sloping grounds and black undulation in the exterior walls masking the lines of windows. The entrance also confounds. One enters via the elaborate one-storey entrance, which almost suddenly shoots upwards into an immense reception area where stylish people lounge on artful black leather stools, tall-backed sofas or woven loungers.

The striking and luxurious Tribe boasts 137 rooms, a popular grill res-

•DEA HOTELS Lifestyles & Hospitality

taurant, gym, complimentary wireless Internet access, a business centre and meeting rooms, a wellness spa, individualised travel services and a wellversed concierge service consisting of the Tribe limousines. From polished granite steps making their way up to the first floor, chandeliers of chrome baubles light up the curtains and sofas so tall that they look like pods.

A plethora of African artwork can be seen embellishing every corner of the hieratic heads, figurines beautified with cowrie shells and leather gourds. It also houses a library containing some 2,800 books and a lounge with 300 DVDs if one chooses to hang around.

Its restaurant, Epic, is fully in tune

with the Tribe ethos and boasts a great range of options at a reasonable price. Tribe’s diverse menus cater to the formal and casual requests of guests in rooms, in the lounge, around the pool and the warm 72seat restaurant, which accords guests the playful tastes from Executive Chef Luca Molteni. It is truly a fun dining experience.

Forty minutes from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from the West, it sits right in the embrace of the Village Market, an enclosed shopping mall with a weekly Masai Market Day (see Diplomat East Africa DecemberJanuary issue). One advantage is that it is next to the US Embassy, security is of a very top notch standard.

Comfort and style are not overlooked, given that each room differs from the other. They all share dark wood flooring with sandstone brick walls, adorned with African sculptures and calabashes. From junior suites to the business suites, the flashy penthouses and the epic ambassadorial and presidential suites, this is definitely not a tacky affair.

Desks are well placed with speedy Wi-Fi and laptop-sized safes at arm’s reach. Tribe Hotel truly takes hospitality back to its essence, back to the days when a fatigued traveller was warmly greeted and requested to feast and share stories and, above, all rest. It provides solutions and not just service to its ever tantalised guests.

It was recently selected by Conde Nast Traveller (UK) and the Conde Nast Traveller (US) for the Hotlist 2010 as one of the Hottest Hotels in the World. It was also awarded a Wow Pick by Kiwi Collection. Tribe supports Unity in Diversity & Peace and Tranquillity in Kenya. Tribe promises sophisticated hospitality as its motto dictates ‘One Tribe, the Human Race’

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•PERSPECTIVES People & Places

MODERNISING DIPLOMACY

Kenya’s International Relations Will Change Forever As the new constitutional order transits into the implementation mode, the relevant architecture is on a pedestal. DEA points out challenges and opportunities on the path to a transformed diplomatic dispensation, viewed through a brand new prism

By CHARO NGUMBAO

K

enya’s new constitutional dispensation promises dramatic and drastic changes not just in the manner the governors will go about their work but also about diplomacy and how the national ethos will be fashioned. And there is plenty to be done.

Take presidential appointment of ambassadors and high commissioners. Envoys will now be appointed, well, by the president but only with the say so of parliament.

This will purge luscious postings of the favouritism and political debauchery of yesteryears. Career Foreign Service employees are likely beneficiaries as their upward mobility to head missions will be constitutionally anchored.

The section on the sovereignty and supremacy of the constitution will have to be aligned with consistent international laws or clarify those that contravene the new constitution. This will entail technocrats training sights on all general rules of international law that may run afoul of the letter and spirit of the constitution while adopting and adapting those that are in sync.

Complaints have been raised about Kenya signing treaties and conventions with alacrity only to back-pedal on implementation.

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The constitution anticipates that all obligations of ratified international statutes will be met, and they are legion!

PIRATES

Some parts of Kenya’s territory have been disputed and the case of Migingo Islands in Lake Victoria (dispute with Uganda), Elemi Triangle (dispute with Sudan) and parts of the Kenyan border with Somalia (potential dispute with chaotic Somalia) come to mind. In addition, Kenya’s territorial waters particularly in the Indian Ocean have not been clear-cut defined.

The delineation and delimitation of Kenya’s territory will now have to be mapped out unequivocally.

This will call for more stringent protection of Kenya’s territorial integrity for instance, from attacks by pirates on the Indian Ocean, itself a hot button issue drawing in international law and players. Protection of Kenya’s territorial waters might need interpretation of laws relating to international waters and determination of Kenya’s reach into the ocean.

Diplomatic services in the country have been domiciled in Nairobi, yet, the constitution calls for availability of essential services across the nation. It is envisaged that consular offices will be established in appropriate parts of

PROMULGATION DAY:

The new Basic Law

the country in the spirit of availing services to the people in addition to stepping up the somewhat currently muted public diplomacy.

Criticism has been levelled against the Government for not protecting intellectual property rights of her citizens. Now diplomacy will have to come to the aid of persons and communities that have suffered infringement, abuse on cultural heritage and the stealing of fauna and flora. A case in point is the abuse of the Maasai culture internationally, as well as the stealing of certain wildlife varieties by international players.

Even more poignantly, consider the world-famous sisal bag, the kiondo, originally a product and creation of Central Kenya which was, however, exported initially as an artefact but later faced the danger of being patented in Japan, were it not for a spirited diplomatic and legal offensive that reversed the move.

The new constitution allows dual citizenship, recognises children born in the country of foreigners as citizens and liberalises the registration of foreigners seeking citizenship. This is, however, a potential minefield that will have to be supported by subsidiary legislation to provide for procedures and limitations. International crimes such as human and drug

•PERSPECTIVES People & Places

trafficking are potential threats that could be exploited by criminal syndicates. Another gargantuan challenge will be how to ensure the holders of dual citizenship living abroad enjoy similar rights and services as Kenyans domiciled in the motherland. This will have to be looked at against the consideration of the Diaspora are a ‘region’ of Kenya in the foreign policy as backed by African Union.

VISION

The expansive Bill of Rights traversing fundamental freedoms will heavily borrow from international laws, precedents and practices as policies and legislation are developed, particularly from the West.

Particularly challenging will be the potential for the abuse of the freedoms or the human and financial demands on the enforcement of these rights. How will the country fulfil statutes on provision of free legal services to accused persons who may not afford lawyers?

In setting out to implement the Bill of Rights, the distance between the vision of the constitution and the availability of resources will be stretched to the limit. How have countries with such broad minded constitutions but a thin national purse met these obligations? How will the country meet the expectations of the populace? What affirmative action programmes will be put in place? These are the policy and legislation questions that constitutional implementers will have to grapple with.

Kenya will have to borrow heavily from progressive nations and old democracies in respect of the welfare state as spelled out expressly in the Bill Rights. What will happen, say, if and when sections of the populace demand food from the state in times of hunger and starvation, scourges that afflict the country from time to time? Food for

thought! In a devolved structure, the constitution creates national and country governments. The national government will handle all matters foreign affairs, foreign policy and international trade. The county governments will therefore rely on the national governments for international engagements.

Counties lying on international borders, say Kajiado with Tanzania or Busia with Uganda, will have to undertake international relations only through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the national level.

This will pose challenges including demand for the allocation of resources.

By encompassing international trade, the framers of the implementation structures will have to find conjunction between the ministry that will handle trade, the ministry of foreign affairs and the disparate entities involved in international trade such as Export Promotion Council, Kenya Investment Authority, Export Processing Zones and Kenya Tourism Board.

While in the past the distinctions between foreign affairs and defence were at best blurred, the new constitution sets up the National Security Council on which the ministry of foreign affairs must sit. This is a progressive statute in that defence matters will benefit from the soft power advantages inherent in diplomacy. This is particularly important given the increasingly important role of bilateral and multilateral engagement in global trade.

Through policy formulations, it is expected that the “integration (of) the domestic, foreign and military policies relating to national security...” will lead to a more coherent approach to international issues of diplomatic and military nature. To the extent that diplomacy is a natural progression of politics, the ministry of foreign affairs

will play a pivotal role in matters such as deployment of peacekeepers, and provision of early warning systems. The constitution also provides for the deployment of foreign forces in Kenya in times of turbulence. Moreover, the ministry of foreign affairs may play a role in the hitherto distinct intelligence arena that encompasses intelligence and counter intelligence as spelled out in the provisions for the establishment of the National Intelligence Service.

BACKWATERS

To give effect to the new form of diplomacy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have to put together an inclusive foreign policy and this with urgency, lest matters diplomatic are shunted to the backwaters of the implementation process. While lawyers may argue that international law is their province, the dividing line is very thin because international relations ride on international law in which diplomacy has a substantial stake.

Kenya’s diplomats may therefore be called upon to supply knowledge and information on intricate international legal instruments to the service of implementation of international aspects of the constitution.

With the new constitution setting the lower limit on the number of ministries as fourteen with the upper cap at thirty two, it is evident that some of the current forty two grand coalition government ministries will die a natural death, merged, as they will be, with more substantive entities.

Foreign Affairs, being a very important government function will clearly remain a stand alone. However, the jury still out as to whether diplomatic functions such as immigration and international trade will not be added to the foreign affairs docket!

February 2011

Through policy formulations, it is expected that the “integration (of) the domestic, foreign and military policies relating to national security...”

will lead to a more coherent approach to international issues of a diplomatic and military nature

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•ENVOYS OF SPORT CRICKET

Kenya’s Date with the Other ICC

Playing in five successive World Cup contests is in itself a major achievement for the eastern Africa associate member country

BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

C

ricket is credited as being one of three team sports — the others being women’s volleyball and rugby sevens — in which Kenya has been to the world stage.

Kenya’s best performance in the International Cricket Association (ICC) World Cup showpiece remains a historic semi-final feat achieved during the 2003 competition held mainly in South Africa, but with locally-arranged competitions in Kenya and Zimbabwe in the spirit of Pan-Africanism.

Playing in five successive World Cup contests is in itself a major achievement for the Eastern Africa Associate member country, which was at one time the best outside the test nations.

Test nations South Africa and Zimbabwe are other teams that have represented Africa in the ICC World Cup. The quadrennial competition is here with us again, with the best of cricket national teams heading for the sub-continent to showcase their strength of character in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the countries co-hosting the event starting February 19 through to April 2.

Kenya, perceived as an underdog in the world of cricket, has announced its 15-man squad for the World Cup and it is a combination of youth and experience under newlyappointed captain Jimmy Kamande.

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“The announcement was more of a rubber-stamping exercise than a surprise, given it is the same group who are currently preparing for the tournament with matches in India,” reported ESPN online.

Steve Tikolo, the 41-year-old allrounder, who led his country to the semi-finals in 2003, will be taking part in his fifth World Cup as will 32year-old Thomas Odoyo.

At the other end of the spectrum, nine of the squad will be making their World Cup debuts. The squad that Kenya will be parading in the sub-continent will be much different from the one that played in the previous World Cup. Missing from the line-up is Ravindu Shah, Malhar Patel, Rajesh Bhudia, Tony Suji and Lameck Onyango.

Cricket Kenya selectors have brought on board a number of youngsters in a development that leaves many believing this is a team for the future.

World Cup debutants include Alex Obanda, Rakep Patel, Elijah Otieno, Shem Ngoche and James Ngoche.

These are all inexperienced players in the World Cup arena, but the training tour of Asia is expected to give them a sneak preview of the event — especially when they play against the West Indies and (February 12) and the Netherlands (February 15) in build-up matches. The warm-up matches in India, however, suggest Kenya will struggle to make any impression in the main competition.

For the World Cup, the Kenyan squad is even more exposed against

•ENVOYS OF SPORT stronger and more experienced teams — Australia, India, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Canada, which will all compete in Pool A. Having played more international matches this time around, the team that is coached by the West Indies’ former test player Aldine Baptiste have got used to handling pressure situations and strategising their game when playing against big names.

Although Baptiste’s batting order has been scoring well, their bowlers have been ineffective and all five matches against India regional teams Baroda and Gujarat have been lost.

According to Cricinfo (the online cricket news and scores website), there are potential problems with Serene Waters, the 20-year-old opening batsman who has scored the only hundred on the India trip.

He is currently at Durham University, where the authorities are insisting he returns to resume his studies between now and the start of the tournament. If he does, it will leave him un-acclimatised if he has to return to India just in time for Kenya’s opening game on February 20.

In only one match did Kenya come remotely close to winning, and even then they were unable to defend a total of 293 for 6, losing to Gujarat by six wickets, with more than three overs remaining.

The batsmen have coped fairly well with alien conditions. Waters scored the only hundred of the tour, but almost all the other front-line batsmen did enough to suggest they will cope come the World Cup, although doing more than that may be beyond them. However, Alex Obanda and Odoyo were really out of touch, and, more worryingly, Tikolo failed to dominate in any game.

For so long the lynchpin of the side, there have to be worries that a lack of high-class cricket and age are both taking a toll on his game. Collins Obuya made one good score, but in four other innings managed only 47 runs. If Tikolo is unable to hold

together the innings, much will depend on him, and his form is another big concern. The real headache for coach Baptiste is with the bowling.

Peter Ongondo, who has been so vital with the new ball, only played twice but leaked runs, while too many others lacked enough control to really put pressure on what were little more than inexperienced, if Talented, young batsmen.

While some of the figures may not appear too bad, they have to be read in the knowledge that Baroda and Gujarat’s batsmen were rarely under pressure to score quick runs and so did not need to be overly attacking.

After back-to-back wins, Gurajat completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the final match between the sides. Kenya’s batsmen finally posted a good score, a second-wicket stand of 178 between Waters (103) and Obuya (92) helping them to 293 for 6, but Gujarat’s well-paced reply enabled them to ease home with 19 balls to spare.

Kenya then headed to Vadodara for two matches against Baroda. Both followed a similar pattern. In the first, Kenya were put in, most of their batsmen got starts without building a big innings, and their eventual score of 217 was not remotely enough as Baroda ambled to a five-wicket win with 20 balls in hand.

In the second, Kenya again batted and scored 182, with Mishra’s 63 saving them from a much lower score.

Early wickets gave the Kenyans brief hope, but Baroda knuckled down and again meandered to a well-paced sixwicket win.

Kenya now head to Dubai for conditioning, while Baptiste will be left scratching his head and trying to work out how to avoid the World Cup becoming a nightmare for his side.

Kenya’s form in the recent past has been worrying as the team has been forced to struggle to win matches even against countries like Uganda, which was nowhere on the cricket radar when Kenya made its debut in 1996. Before Kenya moved its training

While some of the figures may not appear too bad, they have to be read in the knowledge that Baroda

and Gujarat’s batsmen were rarely under pressure to score quick runs and so did not need to be overly attacking

base to Asia, they invited neighbours Uganda to a build-up series in Mombasa, which they unconvincingly won 2-1. The first two matches at Mombasa Sports Club went according to script. Kenya batted first and posted a formidable total and then Uganda came up well short.

In the opening game Collins Obuya (106) made more than half Kenya’s 207 and then 19-year-old left-arm seamer Lucas Oluoch took 4 for 32 as Uganda limped to 123 all out. Two days later Alex Obanda put a duck in the opening game behind him in making exactly 100, and, aided by Obuya’s unbeaten 71, Kenya made 304 for 4. Although Uganda’s batsmen fared slightly better, their 210 was still a long way short of making a match of it. With the series done and dusted, Baptiste wanted a clean sweep but instead he got a lacklustre display from his top-order batsmen.

Roger Mukasa’s 86 took Uganda to 223 all out, a score well within Kenya’s sights, but instead they crumbled to 53 for 5 and only David Obuya’s defiant 68 enabled them to keep the margin of defeat under three figures.

This inconsistent performance has left Kenyans fearing for the worst as their team prepare to feature in their fifth World Cup. Kenya made its ICC World Cup debut during the sixth edition held in 1996 in India and contested by 12 teams. The East Africans finished last in the Group, with two points off a surprise 73 runs victory against the West Indies.

Kenya lost against India by seven wickets, Australia 97 runs, Zimbabwe five wickets and Sri Lanka 144 runs to bow out of contention.

Kenya emerged victorious against Canada in the war of underdogs in its opening match at the Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia. Showing a brilliant all-round performance, Kenya defeated Canada by seven wickets to start off their World Cup 2007 campaign on a high note

February 2011

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November 2010

BAHRAIN