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Prompt Board Next day settlement
Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.

The Latest Daily PodCast can be found here on the Front Page of the site
http://www.rich.co.ke

The Next Mindspeak is on the 26th May and we are hosting
@BharatThakrar CEO ScanGroup

Tim Carstens CEO Base Resources #Mindspeak Video
http://www.rich.co.ke/rctools/richtv.php

Safaricom FY2011/2012 Annual Results @BobCollymore Interview with
@alykhansatchu YouTube
http://j.mp/KO6zLG

I thank Alberto Labella of the Italian Embassy for a Super Dinner last
Night. It was a Pleasure to meet The Chairman of the Lake Turkana Wind
Power Project Carlo Van Wageningen and The Trade Commissioner Embassy
of Belgium Ivan Korsak Koulagenko and their Wives.

Macro Thoughts

The FED Minutes repelled the 13 Consecutive Session Dollar Advance,
which was predictable and predicted.

Home Thoughts

Two Perspectives from the Masai Mara

A Masai Chief's Perspective on Cows and Marriage Video
http://www.twitpic.com/83v7pa

I met Bachi Singh Bisht at the #Fairmont Mara Live For Today Yesterday is gone
http://www.twitpic.com/84u0v6

The rising specter of terrorism in Syria shows that by clinging to
power and refusing to implement meaningful reforms, Arab autocrats in
Syria, Bahrain, and elsewhere are indirectly contributing to the
resurgence of terrorism in their societies. Arab protests started
peacefully, but almost in every country regime repression and torture
ultimately pushed popular revolts toward violence.

This cynical calculus allowed Arab autocrats to claim that protests
were directed from the outside and resistance was the work of
terrorist groups. In Egypt and Tunisia, regimes fell while popular
protests were still peaceful.

In Bahrain and Syria, regimes have changed the narrative from human
rights and reform to sectarianism, using the divide and rule approach.
Their self-fulfilling prophecy of terrorism has come to pass because
of their conscious policy to discredit the opposition and shore up
their legitimacy.

While successful in the short-run, this policy is destined to fail in
the long run. Domestic terrorist groups that could emerge from the
opposition would not only target regime assets; they will go after the
United States' and other Western economic interests and personnel in
those countries.

The Annan plan is doomed to fail because the regime views the domestic
situation as a zero-sum game. It believes its survival can only be
assured through continued repression and control. Negotiating with the
opposition is a fantasy that Assad cannot afford to indulge in if his
Alawite minority rule is to survive.

Since 9/11, Arab autocrats have cooperated closely on
counter-terrorism with the US and other Western countries. At the same
time, they branded domestic dissidents and pro-democracy activists as
radicals and urged western governments not to fret over their harsh
tactics against their citizens.

Arab regimes mistakenly thought that autocracy, not democracy, was
critical for fighting terrorism and that Western support for human
rights in Arab countries would dilute such an effort. Because Arab
autocrats were pliant partners, Western governments, unfortunately,
became addicted to autocracy, which in turn helped autocrats become
more entrenched.

Washington and other Western capitals should make it clear to the
remaining Arab dictators, in word and in deed that the game is up.
They must implement genuine political reform or step aside. The world
cannot tolerate a resurgence of terrorism because of their repressive
rule and sectarian politics.

Dr Emile Nakhleh is the former director of the Central Intelligence
Agency Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, a Research
Professor at the University of New Mexico and a National Intelligence
Council Associate. He is the author of A Necessary Engagement:
Reinventing America's Relations with the Muslim World and Bahrain:
Political Development in a Modernizing Society.

Conclusions

He is right on the Money. Many Regimes have snatched Short Term and
eventually ephemeral Victories from the Jaws of Long Term Defeat.

Syria has evidently been destabilised by the opposition’s hit-and-run
guerrilla campaign, but it has not yet experienced a civil war on the
Algerian model. That may well be what awaits the country if the
opposition and its foreign backers continue their efforts to topple
the regime -- and thereby weaken its Iranian ally -- whatever the cost
in Syrian lives. These foreign backers include the United States (with
Israel in the background), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and France (when
Nicolas Sarkozy was President. François Hollande, France’s new
President, is thought to be less hostile to Syria and Iran than his
predecessor.)

Syria's Bashar al-Assad vows to display captured foreign mercenaries Guardian
http://j.mp/Jgy4lB

"For the leaders of these countries, it's becoming clear that this is
not 'spring' but chaos. If you sow chaos in Syria you may be infected
by it yourself, and they understand this perfectly well."

Syria's president Bashar al-Assad has promised to display captured
foreign "mercenaries" who have been fighting his regime and denounced
western governments for failing to protest at the violence being
perpetrated by his enemies.

"There are foreign mercenaries, some of them still alive," he told
Rossiya-24 TV. "They are being detained and we are preparing to show
them to the world."

Syria has previously mentioned a list of 12 foreign terrorists killed
in Syria, including one French citizen, one British and one Belgian.

Conclusions

The Point Bashar is making is that He is yet to export the Infection.

Suddenly, self-immolation is everywhere. Yesterday, in Oslo, a man set
himself on fire outside the Anders Breivik trial. He follows at least
forty Tibetans who have set themselves aflame to protest Chinese rule
in the past year. There have also been a series of self-immolations in
the Middle East and North Africa. In January, five young Moroccan men
auto-cremated (the more accurate term; “self-immolation” technically
means any form of self-destruction) following a fifty-two-year-old
pensioner in Jordan and an elderly woman in Bahrain. The young men
belonged to a group called Unemployed Graduates that had been
occupying the Ministry of Higher Education building. They followed
upon the action of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor,
whose self-immolation—inspired by the chronic poverty and corruption
of his country—helped incite the Arab Spring.

What happened to sit-ins and hunger strikes? When did dousing oneself
in flammables and lighting a match become the preëminent act of
defiance?

Some time ago, actually. Contrary to common belief, the practice does
not originate in the Vietnam era and is not confined to Asia (where,
thanks to Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions, posthumous
cremation is far more common than in the West). Rather, it is a
millennia-old practice in both the West and the East, where it has
long commanded mass sympathy and outrage unmatched by other forms of
suicide. The sociologist Emile Durkheim separated suicides into four
types: the egoistic, the altruistic, the anomic (moral confusion), and
the fatalistic. Perhaps self-immolation captivates so thoroughly
because it wins on all counts. It is the ultimate act of both despair
and defiance, a symbol at once of resignation and heroic
self-sacrifice.

In Greco-Roman mythology, Heracles and Dido are said to have burned
themselves to death, the former out of insanity, the latter out of
despair and pride (such pride, indeed, that she was willing to see
Carthage destroyed just to spite Aeneas).

The recent Tibetan self-immolations remind us that the practice’s
longest history is in China, where, beginning in the fourth century
A.D., Buddhist monks took to sitting in pyres to propitiate ganying,
the force that binds the corporeal and ethereal. “I have been weary of
this physical frame for many a long day,” the monk Daodu said before
melting to death. His forebear Fayu started the trend of swallowing
incense chips beforehand, perhaps to lubricate his soul’s passage,
perhaps to improve the odor of the proceedings

. Duc has since become the most famous self-immolater in history, only
partly thanks to the cover of Rage Against the Machine’s début album.
His fellow-monks and nuns saw to his fame, alerting the international
media to the event beforehand, lying down below fire engines to
prevent them from arriving at the scene, and distributing texts,
translated into English, of Quang Duc’s final words, according to the
Oxford historian of self-immolation Michael Biggs.

“Fire is the most dreaded of all forms of death,” he said, so “the
sight of someone setting themselves on fire is simultaneously an
assertion of intolerability and, frankly, of moral superiority. You
say ‘I would never have the guts to do that. It’s not that he’s trying
to tell me something, but that he’s commanding me.’ This isn’t
insanity. It’s a terrible act of reason.”

In January, 2010, after years of grinding destitution and harassment
by police, Mohammed Bouazizi set himself aflame, not so much out of
protest as—returning us to Dido—existential despair. But while his
suicide was intensely personal, it was interpreted as an act of public
defiance. He became a symbol of the Arab world’s governmental perfidy
and a rallying cry for its restive youth. He has also, it seems,
become the inspiration to a new generation of self-immolaters.

Conclusions

The Term 'Existential Threat' is one that is bandied about by all and
Bibi, with a degree of Abandon. However, Self-Immolation is clearly
such a Threat. Just ask Layla Trebelsi. I think its rooted in Ancient
Human History and its Power lies in the Fact that it is so elemental
and so scornful of the Life that Mankind has created on Earth. Its a
'Diss' of monumental Proportions.
Aly-Khan Satchu
Nairobi
http://www.rich.co.ke

Rage Against the Machine cover
http://j.mp/KeOuXz

Euro 1.2742 touched 1.2681, the weakest since Jan. 17
Dollar Index 81.31 slid 0.2 percent to 81.284, after completing a
13-day advance yesterday, the longest string of gains since its
inception in 1973
Japan Yen 80.30 Gross domestic product rose an annualized 4.1 percent
from the final three months of 2011
Swiss Franc 0.9426
Pound 1.5925
Aussie 0.9936
India Rupee 54.465
South Korea Won 1164.80
Brazil Real 2.0016
Egypt Pound 6.0353
South Africa Rand 8.2966

The dollar retreated from a four- month high against the euro after
minutes from the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed
some policy makers said further easing may be needed should the
economy lose momentum.

Several Fed policy makers said a loss of momentum in growth or
increased risks to their economic outlook could warrant additional
action to keep the recovery on track, according to minutes of the
FOMC’s April 24-25 meeting released yesterday in Washington.

Conclusions

I did warn that the FED Minutes were likely to repel the Dollar
Advance Near Term

The consequences of a Greek euro exit would be “unimaginable” and
“catastrophic” for Europe, Malaysia’s central bank Governor Zeti
Akhtar Aziz said in an interview with Bloomberg Television aired
today.

“The worst-case scenario is what we saw in Asia, when one economy
collapses, then the market usually moves on to focus on the next one,
then there will be a contagion that will affect different countries,”
Zeti, 64, said in the interview in Istanbul. “This is what is
described by unimaginable and it will be catastrophic.”

The European Central Bank said it will temporarily stop lending to
some Greek banks to limit its risk as President Mario Draghi signaled
the ECB won’t compromise on key principles to keep Greece in the euro
area.

The Frankfurt-based ECB said yesterday it will push the responsibility
for lending to some Greek financial institutions onto the Greek
central bank until they have sufficiently boosted their capital. “Once
the recapitalization process is finalized, and we expect this to be
finalized soon, the banks will regain access to standard Eurosystem
refinancing operations,” the ECB said in an emailed statement.

The move comes after Draghi acknowledged for the first time that
Greece could leave the monetary union. While the bank’s “strong
preference” is that Greece stays in the 17-nation euro area, the ECB
will continue to preserve “the integrity of our balance sheet,” he
said in a speech in Frankfurt yesterday.

“A Greek exit was seen as an absurdity up to now,” said Thomas
Costerg, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in London. “It is
gradually becoming the main scenario. The ECB is prioritizing its
balance sheet over monetary-union geography.”

Greece faces a fresh election on June 17 that may boost parties
opposed to the conditions of its international bailouts, raising the
specter of its exit.

The ECB can only lend to sound banks and therefore won’t allow
undercapitalized institutions to access its refinancing operations, a
euro-area official said on condition of anonymity.

“Pending the recapitalization of Greek banks that are severely
undercapitalized as a result of the” debt restructuring, some “have
been moved to Emergency Liquidity Assistance,” said ECB said.

The so-called ELA is emergency support national central banks can
provide to lenders with ECB approval. The ECB “continues to support
Greek banks,” it said.

Conclusions

A departure by Greece “is not necessarily fatal, but it is not
attractive,” he said.

Euro versus The Dollar 3 Month Chart 1.27395 Last
http://j.mp/bQ9veD

Dollar Index 3 Month Chart INO 81.268 Last
http://j.mp/cfmNIL

I said that the Fed Minutes would repel the Advance.
It was a 13-day advance through yesterday, the longest string of gains
since its inception in 1973

Facebook, gearing up for the largest-ever IPO of a technology company,
had already increased the offering’s price range to $34 to $38 apiece,
from $28 to $35 previously. At $16 billion, Facebook’s debut would
surpass that of General Motors Co. to be the second-largest in U.S.
history, excluding so- called over-allotments, which let underwriters
buy more shares at a later date, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Goldman Sachs now plans to sell 28.7 million shares, more than double
the amount earlier, while Tiger Global Management is selling 23.4
million shares, almost 7 times the amount first offered. Facebook’s
executives and directors increased the amount of shares they’re
selling 62 percent to 189.4 million. Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, the
top shareholder, didn’t boost the amount of shares he’s selling.

Accel will hold about 23 percent of Facebook’s Class A shares
following the offering, compared with about 5.9 percent for Goldman
Sachs, according to today’s filing. Digital Sky will own about 5.4
percent of the Class B shares after the sale, and Tiger Global will
hold about 2 percent.

Investors are betting that Chief Executive Officer Zuckerberg can
overcome slowing sales growth by expanding into areas such as mobile
advertising and e-commerce, said Samuel Schwerin, managing partner at
New York-based Millennium Technology Value Partners.

“An increasing number of institutional investors are looking beyond
the value of the business today and looking at the future growth,”
Schwerin, whose firm oversees $1 billion, including Facebook stock,
said yesterday. “Those drivers are extraordinary in size, including
international and mobile and commerce.”

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook and its existing holders had
earlier planned to offer 337.4 million shares. Its underwriters will
have the option to buy an additional 63.2 million shares from the
company and its holders after the IPO, the company said in the filing
today.

GM raised $15.8 billion in November 2010, before expanding the sale to
$18.1 billion when underwriters exercised the over- allotment option.
Visa Inc. raised $17.9 billion in its 2008 IPO, the biggest in the
U.S., and later expanded the sale to $19.7 billion.

Facebook’s shares are set to price tomorrow and begin trading under
the symbol FB on the Nasdaq Stock Market the following day.

“I was attracted not only to the people but to the combinations of
art, clothing, technical devices, and postures,” Freeberg said. “I
found the lighting, costumes, and set design excellent for
photographing these living dioramas, where the art world plays
itself.”

Crude Oil 3m Chart INO 93.91 Last
http://j.mp/J3BIyL

Crude for June delivery rose as much as 66 cents to $93.47 a barrel in
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:05 p.m.
Singapore time. The contract yesterday fell 1.2 percent to $92.81, the
lowest close since Nov. 2. Prices are down 5.4 percent this year. Oil
rose from the lowest settlement in six months in New York after
economic data in Japan beat estimates and technical indicators
signaled declines in crude prices may be exaggerated.Futures advanced
as much as 0.7 percent, climbing for the first time in five days.
Prices, down 11 percent this month on concern Europe’s debt crisis
will curb fuel demand, rebounded after falling to technical support
levels

Gold Live KITCO 1551.9
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html

The Rupee is Headed to New All Time Lows

An innocuous-seeming U.S. Air Force press release. A serendipitous
satellite image in Google Earth. Snapshots from a photographer on
assignment at a Spanish air base. The crash of an Air Force F-15E
Strike Eagle fighter-bomber in the United Arab Emirates. These are
some of the fragments of information that Italian aviation blogger
David Cenciotti has assembled to reveal the best picture yet of the
Pentagon’s secretive war in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa

In a series of blog posts over the past two weeks, Cenciotti has
described in unprecedented detail the powerful aerial force helping
wage Washington’s hush-hush campaign of air strikes, naval
bombardments and commando raids along the western edge of the Indian
Ocean, including terror hot spots Yemen and Somalia. Cenciotti
outlined the deployment of eight F-15Es from their home base in Idaho
to the international air and naval outpost at Camp Lemonnier in
Djibouti, north of Somalia.

Over the years there have been hints of the F-15s’ presence in East
Africa, but “their actual mission remains a (sort-of) mystery,”
Cenciotti writes. Based on the evidence, he proposes that the
twin-seat fighter-bombers — one of the Air Force’s mainstay weapon
systems in Afghanistan — are dropping bombs on al-Qaida-affiliated
militants in Yemen. If true, that means the U.S. intervention in the
western Indian Ocean is far more forceful, and risky, than previously
suggested.

The Navy maintains around 30 warships in the Indian Ocean as part of
several international task forces. American destroyers have launched
missiles and fired guns at terrorists in Somalia and Yemen.

But arguably the most interesting vessels in the area are also the
least flashy. Lewis and Clark-class supply ships, normally used to
carry fuel and cargo, have also been used as Afloat Forward Staging
Bases — in essence, seaborne military camps for housing Special Forces
and launching helicopters and small boats. The ships can be configured
with makeshift jails for holding captured pirates and, in theory,
terror suspects.

The Lewis and Clark class ship Carl Brashear visited Djibouti in early
May, according to a military press release. Where the ship went next —
and what exactly she did there — is unclear. But if Cenciotti’s
investigation of the F-15s is any indication, there could be a
surprising truth beneath the layers of official secrecy concealing
America’s underreported Indian Ocean shadow war.

Conclusions

I have been saying that I think One Side has essentially weaponised
itself and this gives them a decisive Advantage when it comes to
tilting the Pitch.

Screen dump from Google Earth showing six F-15Es on the apron at Camp
Lemonnier, Djibouti International Airport, on Oct. 29, 2011.
http://j.mp/L8T74F

The US army has said a combat brigade will be assigned to the
Pentagon's Africa Command next year in a pilot programme that will
send small teams of soldiers to countries around the continent to do
training and participate in military exercises.

General Ray Odierno, the army's chief of staff, says the plan is part
of a new effort to provide US commanders around the globe with troops
on a rotational basis to meet the military needs of their regions.

This pilot programme sends troops to an area that has become a greater
priority for the Obama administration since it includes several
nations from where it perceives an increasing threat to the US and the
region.

Odierno says a brigade from the 10th Mountain Division will take on
the new task.

Already US special forces have begun providing training and logistical
support to Ugandan soldiers hunting Joseph Kony, leader of the Lords
Resistance Army.

Military advisers are also in Uganda to draw lessons learned from Iraq
and Afghanistan to help train African Union soldiers to fight
Somalia's al-Shabab group.

Conclusions

The StopKony Campaign was a very subtle and viral way of lending Cover
and Legitimacy to this Military Insertion into Africa.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a news conference in New York that
the defendants had requested the delay until the ICC decided whether
to grant their appeal, which argues that the war crimes court has no
jurisdiction to prosecute them.

Moreno-Ocampo said that his office "did not oppose the right to
postpone the beginning of the trial until the appeal chamber solved
the claim presented by the defendants."

No specific date had been set for the trial.

"We take note in Kenya that many citizens are requesting that the
court proceed with the trial as soon as possible in order to define
the responsibility of the suspects before the elections which are
planned for March 13," Moreno-Ocampo said.

But he warned Kenyans that it was not the job of the ICC to determine
who could stand for election.

"The court should not define who are the candidates in Kenya to the
next elections or who will win the next election," Moreno-Ocampo said.
"The Kenya political situation should be dealt with politically, by
political actors. They cannot expect the court to define the political
situation in Kenya."

Conclusions

FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Kenya Reuters
http://j.mp/JQkXoG

'The 'Black Swan' political risk in Kenya remains a decision to
unilaterally withdraw from the ICC process. President Kibaki only
recently floated the idea of pursuing an east Africa track, which made
this risk blink amber,' said independent Nairobi-based analyst Aly
Khan Satchu.

'It would introduce a 'pariah' discount on Kenya assets and we just
have to look north at Khartoum to see the consequences of such a move.
It would be unconscionable.'

NAIROBI, May 16 (Reuters) - Kenya is close to sealing a deepwater
exploration contract with France's Total and has offered three other
oil majors new offshore blocks, the country's petroleum commissioner
said.

Martin Heya told Reuters on Tuesday a production sharing contract with
Total for block L22 offshore was with the Attorney General's office,
meaning it is close to being signed.He said the energy ministry had
offered Brazil's Petrobras , Norway's Statoil and Italy's Eni offshore
blocks, but the companies had yet to sign agreements.

Oil and gas exploration in East Africa has surged in recent years,
after hydrocarbon discoveries in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.
British explorer Tullow Oil has also found oil in Kenya, but its
commercial viability is yet to be determined.

Kenya said in March it was listing eight new deepwater blocks for
leasing. It said on Tuesday it had signed production sharing contracts
with U.S.-based CAMAC Energy Inc. for four blocks, two of which are
new deepwater blocks.In all, Kenya has 46 exploration blocks. With
CAMAC's signing, 34 are licensed.

Heya said last month Total had purchased data in the area that is now
block L22. It approached the Ministry of Energy and requested it
demarcate a block there. In July 2011, Total signed a heads of
agreement with the government to acquire it.

Normally, Kenyan authorities choose where exploration blocks will be,
delineate the boundaries and then licence them.

However, because the country had been looking for a company to ramp up
exploration efforts offshore - and Total has a long history of
exploration in risky, deepwater areas - Kenyan officials responded
warmly to Total's proposal, Heya said.

Heya said Texas-based CAMAC was the first explorer to licence any of
the eight new deepwater offshore blocks the country gazetted earlier
this year.

Two of CAMAC's four blocks, L27 and L28, are in deep waters offshore,
due east of the coastal city of Mombasa. Block L1B is onshore while
L16 straddles land and sea.

CAMAC has a 90 percent stake in the blocks and will be the operator,
with the government holding the rest. CAMAC says it expects to find a
local partner to take a minority interest.

CAMAC signed a preliminary heads of agreement on one other onshore
exploration block, 11A in northwest Kenya in February, according to
information from the company.

The licences mark CAMAC's entry into East Africa. The Texas company
also actively explores in West Africa.

"Signing the PSCs for these four blocks in Kenya represents a
milestone in CAMAC Energy's strategy to acquire highly prospective
exploration acreage in targeted oil and gas basins in Africa," said
Segun Omidele, CAMAC's senior vice president of exploration and
production, in a statement late on Tuesday.

Conclusions

Oil and the New Scramble for East Africa The Star
http://j.mp/JiYW2y

One of my greatest pleasures is watching and tracking elephants. I
recall turning a corner in the Masai Mara and finding myself alone
except for a herd of over 100 elephants. I have watched a documentary
about the elephants of Kilimanjaro and I learnt that elephants mourn
their dead just like we do. They actually caress the bones of the
departed and apparently never forget. When I left London, I naturally
kept myself plugged into the information loop and a stream of research
has been landing in my inbox.

The latest arrival was issued by UBS and its tagline was Oil & Gas
Hunting Elephants in East Africa’s rift basins. It really is worth a
read. The thrust of the report is that the great game is on and it is
in play in  East Africa. In this report, UBS estimates that Kenya
alone might have 6 Lake Albert basins equivalents. I have seen a
report that compares Somalia to Kuwait. The gas find in Mozambique is
variously estimated to be equivalent to 2m barrels of crude oil
equivalent per day for 50 years. These are very big numbers. East
Africa is like a brand new freshly minted debutante at her coming out
party.

Understanding the fact that the prize is a c21st Koh-I-Noor diamond,
helps us better comprehend the geopolitical power plays that are
taking place.

Now lets try and unpick the bigger picture. China took a big hit in
Libya [35,000 Chinese left in the space of 7 days last year], they are
taking a big hit in Sudan. Five per cent of china’s oil imports came
from Sudan [north and south]. And it seems to me that a line is being
drawn and it is somewhere near Heglig. Last week, there was some
controversy over comments credited to a couple of European emissaries.
It told me a
lot about what Europe is thinking. There has been an epiphany about
China in africa and we are [East Africa] apparently the jewel that the
big powers are jostling over.

The insertion of 100 JSOC [the US joint special operations command]
personnel to find Joseph Kony was made legitimate in an extraordinary
c21st and viral way. #stopkony and #kony2012. They are notgoing folks,
they are here to stay and they have many more than just Joseph Kony in
their crosshairs.

Kenya has been hit by a series of grenade attacks since it sent tanks
and troops into Somalia late last year. The authorities are blaming
the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab for the violence.

"It is about time that Al Shabaab gives up and takes part in a peace
process," tweeted the Kenyan military spokesperson Emmanuel Chirichiri
on the social network Twitter in April. A tweet in response was not
long in coming. "Al Shabaab encourages and supports all Kenyan Muslims
who want to fight a jihad against the Kenyan government,"

In October 2011, Kenya declared war on al Shabaab and sent troops into
Somalia. "The argument was that Kenyan troops in Somalia could push Al
Shabaab as far away as possible from the Kenya border, and if possible
to eliminate them," says Emmanuel Kisiangani, an analyst at the
Institute for Security Studies ( ISS) in Nairobi.

"Today you can say they prevented major terror attacks, but they
haven’t managed to stop terrorist activities in the country," he adds.

Total protection against terrorism is hardly possible because of
Kenya's porous border with Somalia and an easily accessible coastline.
Terrorism cannot be defeated by military means alone, says Kisiangani.
He believes the root causes such as poverty and deprivation need to be
addressed.

"Groups who feel deprived are easily brainwashed by this radical
ideology," he adds.

Conclusions

War and Peace 31st October 2011 The Star
http://j.mp/v0F7bb

“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree
of human wisdom.”

I start with that quote by Tolstoy because there are so many variables
and potential curve balls around our first military excursion across
our borders, since the 1960s and a time when we sought to combat the
shifta menace.

President Obama has taken a very aggressive stance in the drone war,
removing many folks from the battlefield. By all accounts and the Wall
Street Journal, in particular, drones have been deployed against the
al Shabaab, for some time. MQ-9 reapers can be configured for both
reconnaissance and strike missions. The reapers can fire hellfire
missiles, as well as guided 500-pound bombs. That’s some pretty
powerful materiel. I think it is the deployment of drones over
Somalia, which might have tilted the pitch big time. The drones have
been a game changer in many places.

The Kenya thrust into Somalia might be predicated on evidence that the
al Shabaab and their various franchises [The Kentucky Fried Chicken
business model] are like George Foreman in Kinshasa, at the moment
when his eyes glazed over and Muhammed Ali realised George was just
one punch from hitting the deck. That is in many respects the optimal
outcome. The risk remains that even if we land a decisive blow,
the al Shabaab might intensify the asymmetric war.

The capital markets regulators approved CIC’s application for listing
yesterday, about a week after clearing publishing company Longhorn
Kenya’s bid to join the bourse.

CIC’s ordinary shares numbering nearly 2.2 billion will be listed at
Sh3.50 each on the Main Investment Market Segment, the company said in
a press release after receiving the regulatory approval.

Chief executive Nelson Kuria said CIC’s priority would be its
expansion push into East and Central Africa, starting with Rwanda and
South Sudan where the firm plans to partner with the local
co-operatives and other organisations rather than opening new
subsidiaries.

The insurer has also announced plans to diversify into real estate.

CIC currently has a total of 3,878 shareholders. Co-operative
Insurance Society Limited (CIS) is the top strategic shareholder with
a 74.3 per cent stake, while individual investors constitute the
remaining 25.7 per cent. The CIS represents interests of millions of
members in the co-operative movement through the societies that own
the co-operative society.

CIC’s gross premiums rose by 48 per cent last year to Sh6.7 billion
from Sh4.6 billion in 2010. The total assets grew by 48 per cent from
Sh7.5 billion to Sh11.1 billion in the same period.

“Establishment of the Corival bank account was done by Mr Paul
Benzimra, a son of the then CEO, Mr Jack Benzimra and a Mr Stanley
Lewis,” read the statement published on Tuesday and signed by him.

It is not clear why he issued this statement so late after the two
forensic reports on the firm had been done and their findings already
released to the motor dealer’s shareholders.

The forensic audit mentioned Mr Kiereni as one of the signatories of
the secret offshore accounts, allegations he is now fending off.

“There is absolutely no truth in the allegation that I was party to
the establishment of the Fairvalley Trust. I was informed about it by
Mr Jack Benzimra when he was CEO because it had already been
established before I joined CMC,” the statement read.

“It is inaccurate, malicious and a violation of my basic human rights
to speculate on my suitability to serve on the board of any company,
public or private,” he said.

Lions prowled through posh suburban gardens here recently, frightening
residents and reminding them that they live in Africa, after all.

In the latest incident of growing conflict between humans and wildlife
in East Africa, a lion stalked an upmarket suburb of Nairobi for
months before being shot dead by park rangers.

The lioness was one of a group of six that in January left Nairobi
National Park, a 30,000-acre nature reserve surrounded on three sides
by the city, and took up residence in Langata, a smart neighborhood of
big houses and large fenced gardens.

The lions have not strayed from anywhere, it is people who have moved
into their area,” said Paul Udoto, a spokesman for Kenya Wildlife
Service (KWS), the national authority responsible for the country’s
parks and animals.

Udoto is primarily concerned about the welfare of the lions. “The
lions are not a threat, it is the people who are a threat,” said
Udoto. “Lions have been there for many, many years but people have
moved in and blocked the areas the wildlife was using," he said.

In a two-week period late last year, at least three lions were killed
on the Kitengela plains southwest of the park after they mauled
cattle.

“The indigenous people had been living with these animals,” he said
referring to the Maasai who traditionally roamed the Nairobi plateau
with their cattle, “but it is the rest of us who have moved in and now
are crying foul.”

Confronted with reduced hunting grounds and fewer antelope to eat,
Kenya’s lion population of 2,000 may become extinct in less than 20
years, according to the New Scientist.

Male Lions with rumbling Stomachs #Fairmont Mara Safari Club Twitpic
http://www.twitpic.com/83si8c

Life is tough for a Zebra #Mara Twitpic
http://www.twitpic.com/83xmob

Masai Dance #Fairmont Mara #Kenya #Africa Video
http://www.twitpic.com/84v8kh