Monthly Archives: June 2012

Shock as Gen Gration quits post of US ambassador to Nairobi

Posted on June 30, 2012 by

The American ambassador to Kenya, once a confidant of President Obama, abruptly announced on Friday — days before the release of a stinging internal audit — that he was resigning, citing “differences with Washington.” His departure will leave the top embassy post vacant at a time when Kenya is increasingly being drawn into a battle with militant Islam. At about the same time that the ambassador, Scott Gration, was giving a tearful farewell to embassy staff members, suspected Somali militants attacked a convoy of aid workers near the Kenya-Somalia border, according to reports in state-run news media. The gunmen shot and killed a driver before kidnapping four international aid workers … Continue reading →

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Britain fights off rendition claims by Kampala ‘bombers’

Posted on June 27, 2012 by

Britain has fought off a case which three terror suspects arrested in Kenya and handed over to Ugandan authorities allege that they are being illegally held in Uganda after British security officers were involved in alleged renditions in East Africa. Omar Awadh Omar, Habib Suleiman Njoroge and Yahya Suleiman Mbuthia, were all arrested as part of the investigation into the bombings in Kampala during the July 2010 World Cup final when at least 76 people were killed after suicide bombers struck football fans watching the cup finals on TV screens in Kampala. The July 2010 attacks were blamed on al-Shabaab, the armed Islamist group in Somalia. Three terror suspects say … Continue reading →

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Kagame ordered downing of Habyalimana’s plane – Nyamwasa

Posted on June 26, 2012 by

Former Rwandan Army Chief, Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa has testified to a court in South Africa that the attempt on his life two years ago might have stemmed from revelations he made that Rwandan President Paul Kagame had ordered the downing of a plane in which the country’s former leader Gen Juvenal Habyalimana was killed. Testifying under oath in South Africa Wednesday, Gen Nyamwasa described fearing he would become a political prisoner in his country and had therefore decided to flee to Johannesburg, where he was shot. Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa’s testimony brought East Africa’s fractious politics to South Africa, where he is a witness in the case against three … Continue reading →

Posted in Rwanda, South Africa | 1 Comment

Britain warns foreign governments over support of M23 Group

Posted on June 24, 2012 by

By Henry D Gombya The United Kingdom is warning foreign governments against providing support for a group of several hundred soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that have mutinied against the government of DRC President Joseph Kabila. A statement made by the office of Britain’s Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham said the instability currently in eastern DRC ‘is in no-one’s interest’. Bellingham said the British government was concerned about foreign support for a newly formed DRC group calling itself the M23. He said allegations of foreign support for the M23 group had already worsened the humanitarian situation in the DRC and that it had led to thousands of Congolese … Continue reading →

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Tahrir Square protests continue as Egypt awaits result

Posted on June 22, 2012 by

With confidence ebbing away in a process Egyptians hoped would secure the democracy they thought they had won with blood spilt on the square over a year ago, those camping out overnight demanded military rulers reverse new orders that entrench the generals’ power and called on the election commission to declare the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy president. Across town, in a luxury international hotel, former general Ahmed Shafik, who was Hosni Mubarak’s prime minister when the army forced out the dictator to appease the Tahrir protesters, challenged Morsi’s self-proclaimed victory and said he was sure he had won, despite Islamist pressure on officials. At a televised address to whooping and … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt | 1 Comment