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Monday 14th of October 2013
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Morning Africa |
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0930-1500 KENYA TIME
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I thank His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador to Kenya for the
Invitation to the National Day [a day early] at his Residence |
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President Uhuru Kenyatta's Speech during the Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia scribd Law & Politics |
Even as we maintain our innocence, it has always been my position,
shared by my deputy,that the events of 2007 represented the worst
embarrassment to us as a nation, and ashock to our self-belief. We
almost commenced the rapid descent down the precipitous slope of
destruction and anarchy. Its aftermath was similarly an unbearable
shame. We are a people who properly take pride in our achievements and
our journey as a nation. The fact that over that time we had lost
direction, however briefly, was traumatising.That is the genesis of
our rebirth. Until our ascension to the Presidency of Kenya, thousand
sof internally-displaced persons remained in camps.It is generally
difficult to resettle many people owing to scarcity of land and
sensitivity to their preference. But we have undertaken to ensure that
no Kenyan will be left behind in our journey to progress. Resettling
the IDP therefore was a particularly urgent assignment for us. Within
6 months of assuming office, we resettled all of them, and closed the
displacement camps for good. Our efforts at pacifying the main
protagonists in the PEV have similarly borne fruit. So much so, that
the reconciliation efforts gave birth to a successful political
movement which won the last general election. This not only speaks
tothe success of reconciliation, but also testifies to its popular
endorsement by the majority of the people of Kenya.We certainly do not
bear responsibility at any level for the post-election violence of
2007,but as leaders, we felt it incumbent upon us to bear
responsibility for reconciliation and leadership of peace. Our
Government wants to lead Kenya to prosperity founded on national
stability and security. Peace is indispensable to this aspiration.
Reconciliation,therefore was not merely good politics; it is key to
everything we want to achieve as a Government.Your
Excellencies,America and Britain do not have to worry about
accountability for international crimes.Although certain norms of
international law are deemed peremptory, this only applies to
non-Western states. Otherwise, they are inert. It is this double
standard and the overt politicisation of the ICC that should be of
concern to us here today. It is the fact that this court performs on
the cue of European and American governments against the sovereignty
of African States and peoples that should outrage us. People have
termed this situation"race-hunting". I find great difficulty adjudging
them wrong.What is the fate of International Justice? I daresay that
it has lost support owing to the subversive machinations of its key
proponents. Cynicism has no place in justice. Yet it takes no mean
amount of selfish and malevolent calculation to mutate a quest for
accountability on the basis of truth, into a hunger for dramatic
sacrifices to advance geopolitical ends. The ICC has been reduced into
a painfully farcical pantomime, a travesty that adds insult to the
injury of victims. It stopped being the home of justice the day it
became the toy of declining imperial powers.This is the circumstance
which today compels us to agree with the reasons US, China,
Israel,India and other non-signatory States hold for abstaining from
the Rome Treaty.
In particular, the very accurate observations of John R Bolton who
said, "For numerous reasons, the United States decided that the ICC
had unacceptable consequences for our national sovereignty.
Specifically, the ICC is an organization that runs contrary
tofundamental American precepts and basic constitutional principles of
popular sovereignty,checks and balances and national independence."Our
mandate as AU, and as individual African States is to protect our own
and each other's independence and sovereignty. The USA and other
nations abstained out of fear. Ourmisgivings are born of bitter
experience. Africa is not a third-rate territory of second-class
peoples. We are not a project, or experiment of outsiders. It was
always impossible for us to uncritically internalise notions of
justice implanted through that most unjust of
institutions:colonialism. The West sees no irony in preaching justice
to a people they have disenfranchised, exploited, taxed and
brutalised.Our history serves us well: we must distrust the
blandishments of those who have drunk out of the poisoned fountain of
imperialism.The spirit of African pride and sovereignty has withstood
centuries of severe tribulation. I invoke that spirit of freedom and
unity today before you. It is a spirit with a voice that rings through
all generations of human history. It is the eternal voice of a
majestic spirit which will never die.Kenya is striving mightily, and
wants to work with its neighbours and friends everywhere t oattain a
better home, region and world. Kenya seeks to be treated with dignity
as a proud member of the community of nations which has contributed
immensely, with limited resources, to the achievement of peace,
security and multilateralism.Kenya looks to her friends in time of
need. We come to you to vindicate our independence and sovereignty.
Our unity is not a lie. The African Union is not an illusion. The
philosophy of divide-and rule, which worked against us all those years
before, cannot shackle us to the ground in our Season of Renaissance.
Our individual and collective sovereignty requires usto take charge of
our destiny, and fashion African solutions to African problems.It will
be disingenuous, Excellencies, to pretend that there is no concern, if
not outrage,over the manner in which ICC has handled not just the
Kenyan, but all cases before it. All the cases currently before it
arise from Africa.Yet Africa is not the only continent where
international crimes are being committed. Out of over 30 cases before
the court, NONE relates to a situation outside Africa. All the people
indicted before that court, ever since its founding have been
Africans.Every plea we have made to be heard before that court has
landed upon deaf ears. When Your Excellencies' resolution was
communicated to the Court through a letter to its president, it was
dismissed as not being properly before the Court and therefore
ineligible for consideration.When a civil society organisation wrote a
letter bearing sensational and prejudicial fabrications, the Court
took urgent and substantial decisions based on it. Before the ICC,
African sovereign nations' resolutions are NOTHING compared with the
opinions of civil society activists. The AU is the bastion of African
sovereignty, and the vanguard of ourunity. Yet the ICC deems it
altogether unworthy of the minutest consideration.
Presidents Kikwete, Museveni, Jonathan and Zuma have pronounced
themselves on the court's insensitivity, arrogance and disrespect.
Leaders in my country have escalated their anxiety to the national
Parliament, where a legislative process to withdraw altogether from
the Rome Treaty is under consideration. As I said, it would not be
right to ignore the fact that concern over the conduct of the ICC is
strong and widespread.There is very little that remains for me to say
about the slights that the ICC continue to visit upon the nations and
people of Africa. We want to believe in due process before the ICC,but
where is it being demonstrated?We want to see the ICC as fair and
even-handed throughout the world, but what can we do when everyone but
Africa is exempt from accountability? We would love nothing more
thanto have an international forum for justice and accountability, but
what choice do we have when we get only bias and race-hunting at the
ICC? Isn't respect part of justice? Aren't our sovereign institutions
worthy of deference within the framework of international law? If
so,what justice can be rendered by a court which disregards our
views?Our mandate is clear: sovereignty and unity. This is the forum
for us to unite and categorically vindicate our
sovereignty.Excellencies, I turn to you trusting that we will be
faithful to our charge, to each other, and to our people. I have
utmost confidence that this Assembly's voice will be clear to the
entireworld. Like other African countries, Kenya did not achieve its
independence with ease.Blood was shed for it.Your Excellencies,I thank
you. God Bless you. God Bless Africa.
Conclusions
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Igniting the 'Feel Good' Factor - Effecting Trickledown @UKenyatta #Kenyatakeoff Addis The Star Law & Politics |
The recently released Report by Afrobarometer certainly captured
Everyone's attention. The Survey posited an increasing Disconnect
between Africa the Darling of International Investors and perceptions
on the Ground. Afrobarometer surveyed 34 countries and reported that
a majority (53%) rate the current condition of their national economy
as "fairly" or "very bad", while just 29% offer a positive assessment.
The First Point to note is that Perceptions are in fact everything.
The 'Africa Rising' Narrative is a recent and last decade Phenomenon
and the moment when all the Boats get floated remains some ways away,
I am afraid. The Big Shift in African perceptions happens when GDP
Expansion rates pop into double digits and stay there for a meaningful
period of time. And There are very clear instances where that is
going to happen. An extreme example is Mozambique, where analysts put
Mozambique's first LNG exports at around 55 billion cm per year, which
would amount to annual revenues of over $30 billion. I think the
Energy Resource on the Eastern Seaboard of Africa is the last great
Energy Prize in this c21st and still Hydrocarbon Century of ours. The
Issue remains that we are still a number of years away from having
these Revenues flow into the various Treasuries, ours included. And
the Risks of a Mis Step, a smash and Grab, Policy Dysfunction or
capricious decision making remain high and could further delay the
moment of Acceleration. If You look six or seven years out and you
assume that Policy making remains optimal, then I can see a remarkable
Acceleration in this part of the World and from Mozambique all the way
up to Somalia.
Perceptions are about the Now, however and my personal experience
shows that Africa is more invested in the Now than any other
Continent.
Week-End Events in Addis Ababa indicate higher Levels of Friction
between Kenya and the International Community. Its not possible to
model exactly how this all plays out. I err on the side that Westgate
introduced an important new Dynamic into the entire equation. That
Dynamic being Counter-Terrorism. It propelled the President to the
very Front-line of the Global War on Terror. And therefore,
notwithstanding some very fruity Language in Addis Ababa, once
everyone stops throwing their Toys out of the Pram, there is a Deal
that can be struck that keeps the President on the Front-line and in
situ. Of course that brings its own complexities within the Alliance.
Investors, of course, might be concerned around the downside, if such
a benign scenario does not play out.
As we enter this Period of increased Volatility, I think its important
that the Government encourage the Economy and its Citizens. My dearest
Friend Alexander Michaelis invited me to lunch in London with David
Cameron just before he was elected Prime Minister. Alex is like that,
his Interventions always land you slap bang in the Spot. And I for
one, never underestimated him after our Lunch and think The Prime
Minister will be riding the crest of a Wave when it comes to
Re-Election.
The most recent Tweet of Prime Minister @David_Cameron says;
''I'm glad every small investor will get their #RoyalMail shares -
their investment will help deliver a 1st class service.''
And That Tweet is a powerful signifier for the Government. Hunkering
down is not an Optimal Thing. Can you remember having to hunker down
for close to two years after the 2007 Election?
If I were sitting in President Kenyatta's shoes, I would be insisting
on a State Divestment Program, at steeply discounted Prices, ensuring
the widest absolute Distribution across my Citizens. And I would do it
tomorrow. It makes economic sense, it worked for Mrs. Thatcher [she
won three Elections], its going to work for Prime Minister David
Cameron and it will work for President Kenyatta.
President @Ukenyatta #Kenyatakeoff #Africarising @imfnews
http://www.twitpic.com/ddvu2o
"The AU summit decision did not meet our aspirations of withdrawing
from this neocolonialism tool, but it's a positive step towards the
right decision," Sudanese foreign affairs minister Ali Karti
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/AU-summit-decision-on-ICC-is-frustrated/-/1066/2030062/-/tkhfa0/-/index.html
Sudanese foreign affairs minister Ali Karti
http://www.sudantribune.com/IMG/jpg/karti04302012a_-_copy.jpg
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Old Game, New Obsession, New Enemy The China Fixation by JOHN PILGER Law & Politics |
Countries are "pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a
great game for the domination of the world," wrote Lord Curzon,
Viceroy of India, in 1898. Nothing has changed. The shopping mall
massacre in Nairobi was a bloody façade behind which a full-scale
invasion of Africa and a war in Asia are the great game.
The al-Shabaab shopping mall killers came from Somalia. If any country
is an imperial metaphor, it is Somalia. Sharing a common language and
religion, Somalis have been divided between the British, French,
Italians and Ethiopians. Tens of thousands of people have been handed
from one power to another. "When they are made to hate each other,"
wrote a British colonial official, "good governance is assured."
The one stable Somali government, the Islamic Courts, was "well
received by the people in the areas it controlled," reported the US
Congressional Research Service, "[but] received negative press
coverage, especially in the West." Obama crushed it; and in January,
Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, presented her man to the
world. "Somalia will remain grateful to the unwavering support from
the United States government," effused President Hassan Mohamud,
"thank you, America."
The shopping mall atrocity was a response to this -- just as the attack
on the Twin Towers and the London bombings were explicit reactions to
invasion and injustice. Once of little consequence, jihadism now
marches in lockstep with the return of unfettered imperialism.
Since Nato reduced modern Libya to a Hobbesian state in 2011, the last
obstacles to Africa have fallen. "Scrambles for energy, minerals and
fertile land are likely to occur with increasingly intensity," report
Ministry of Defence planners. They predict "high numbers of civilian
casualties"; therefore "perceptions of moral legitimacy will be
important for success". Sensitive to the PR problem of invading a
continent, the arms mammoth, BAE Systems, together with Barclay
Capital and BP, warn that "the government should define its
international mission as managing risks on behalf of British
citizens". The cynicism is lethal. British governments are repeatedly
warned, not least by the parliamentary intelligence and security
committee, that foreign adventures beckon retaliation at home.
With minimal media interest, the US African Command (Africom) has
deployed troops to 35 African countries, establishing a familiar
network of authoritarian supplicants eager for bribes and armaments.
In war games, a "soldier to soldier" doctrine embeds US officers at
every level of command from general to warrant officer. The British
did the same in India. It is as if Africa's proud history of
liberation, from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela, is consigned to
oblivion by a new master's black colonial elite whose "historic
mission", warned Frantz Fanon half a century ago, is the subjugation
of their own people in the cause of "a capitalism rampant though
camouflaged". The reference also fits the Son of Africa in the White
House.
For Obama, there is a more pressing cause -- China. Africa is China's
success story. Where the Americans bring drones, the Chinese build
roads, bridges and dams. What the Chinese want is resources,
especially fossel fuels. Nato's bombing of Libya drove out 30,000
Chinese oil industry workers. More than jihadism or Iran, China is now
Washington's obsession in Africa and beyond. This is a "policy" known
as the "pivot to Asia", whose threat of world war may be as great as
any in the modern era.
This week's meeting in Tokyo of US secretary of state John Kerry and
defence secretary Chuck Hagel with their Japanese counterparts
accelerated the prospect of war with the new imperial rival. Sixty per
cent of US and naval forces are to be based in Asia by 2020, aimed at
China. Japan is re-arming rapidly under the right-wing government of
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in December with a pledge
to build a "new, strong military" and circumvent the "peace
constitution". A US-Japanese anti-ballistic missile system near Kyoto
is directed at China. Using long-range Global Hawk drones, the US has
sharply increased its provocations in the East China and South China
seas, where Japan and China dispute the ownership of the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Advanced vertical take-off aircraft are now
deployed in Japan; their purpose is blitzkrieg.
On the Pacific island of Guam, from which B-52s attacked Vietnam, the
biggest military buildup since the Indochina wars includes 9,000 US
Marines. In Australia this week, an arms fair and military jamboree
that diverted much of Sydney, is in keeping with a government
propaganda campaign to justify an unprecedented US military build-up
from Perth to Darwin, aimed at China. The vast US base at Pine Gap
near Alice Springs is, as Edward Snowden disclosed, a hub of US spying
in the region and beyond; it also critical to Obama's worldwide
assassinations by drone.
"We have to inform the British to keep them on side," an assistant US
secretary of state McGeorge Bundy once said, "You in Australia are
with us, come what may." Australian forces have long played a
mercenary role for Washington. However, there is a hitch. China is
Australia's biggest trading partner and largely responsible its
evasion of the 2008 recession. Without China, there would be no
minerals boom: no weekly mining return of up to a billion dollars.
The dangers this presents are rarely debated publicly in Australia,
where prime minister Tony Abbott's patron, Rupert Murdoch, controls 70
per cent of the press. Occasionally, anxiety is expressed over the
"choice" that the US wants Australia to make. A report by the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute warns that any US plan to strike
at China would involve "blinding" Chinese surveillance, intelligence
and command systems. This would "consequently increase the chances of
Chinese nuclear pre-emption ... and a series of miscalculations on both
sides if Beijing perceives conventional attacks on its homeland as an
attempt to disarm its nuclear capability".
In his address to the nation last month, Obama said, "What makes
America different, what makes us exceptional is that we are dedicated
to act."
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A Sine qua non of President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia is US/NATO Power Projection over the Indian Ocean.August 19th Law & Politics |
I have no doubt that the Indian Ocean is set to regain its glory days.
China's dependence on imported crude oil is increasing and the US'
interestingly is decreasing. I am also certain the Eastern Seaboard of
Africa from Mozambique through Somalia is the last Great Energy Prize
in the c21st. Therefore, the control of the Indian Ocean becomes kind
of decisive and with control China can be
shut down quite quickly. A Sine qua non of President Barack Obama's
pivot to Asia is US/NATO Power Projection over the Indian Ocean.
John Pilger's "Obama and Empire"
http://thing2thing.com/?page_id=308
"The Struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory
against forgetting."
Milan Kundura
"We should never forget that the primary goal of great power is to
distract and limit our natural desire for social justice and equity,
and REAL democracy."
John Pilger
"Mere sparks can ignite a popular movement that may seem dormant"
Noam Chomsky
"No one predicted 1968; no one predicted the fall of apartheid, or the
Berlin Wall, or the civil rights movement, or the great Latino rising
of a few years ago. I suggest that we take Woody Allen's advice and
give up on "hope"... and listen to voices from below.
John Pilger
"At a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
@Aiww's The Snake The Pivot to Asia which is really the encirclement of China
http://www.twitpic.com/bdl6zk
@Aiww What's in a Name?
http://www.twitpic.com/badw1n
A Name is the First and Final Marker of individual rights, one fixed
Part of the ever-changing Human World. A Name is the most basic
Characteristic of our Human Rights: No Matter how poor or how rich,
all living People have a Name, and it is endowed with good wishes, the
expectant blessings of kindness and Virtue.
Once Upon a Time on the Road to Mecca Photo Essay
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/11/once_upon_a_time_on_the_road_to_mecca_remarkable_images_hajj%20
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Currency Markets at a Glance WSJ World Currencies |
Euro 1.3568 The dollar weakened 0.2 percent to $1.3565 per euro as of
6:40 a.m. in London after touching an eight-month low of $1.3646 on
Oct. 3
Dollar Index 80.28 Talks between President Barack Obama and House
Republicans hit an impasse
Japan Yen 98.26
Swiss Franc 0.9095
Pound 1.5988
Aussie 0.9470
India Rupee 61.155
South Korea Won 1071.44
Brazil Real 2.1750
Egypt Pound 6.8875
South Africa Rand 9.9050
The dollar has declined 1.2 percent over the past month, according to
Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Indexes. The euro has gained 1.1
percent and the yen is little changed.
Dollar Index 3 Month Chart INO 80.28
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=NYBOT_DX&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1
Talks between @BarackObama and House Speaker @SpeakerBoehner broke
down over the weekend. Obama, in a phone call with House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, "reinforced that there must be a
clean debt limit increase" -- and a stopgap spending measure also free
of policy add-ons -- before budget negotiations can begin, according
to a White House statement
Japan held $1.14 trillion worth of U.S. Treasuries at the end of July,
the second-largest foreign holder, according to data from the Treasury
Department. China, with $1.28 trillion worth, is the largest foreign
creditor to the U.S. while the Federal Reserve holds the most
Treasuries, the data show.
If the U.S. fails to raise the borrowing cap by Oct. 17, the
government will have $30 billion plus incoming revenue to pay its
bills. It would start missing scheduled payments, including benefits,
salaries and interest, between Oct. 22 and Oct. 31, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.
The U.S. fiscal impasse is a good time for a "befuddled world to start
considering building a de-Americanized world," including a new
international reserve currency to replace the dollar Xinhua News
Agency said Oct. 12
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/japan-urges-u-s-to-end-deadlock-as-aso-keeps-calm-on-treasuries.html
Euro versus the Dollar 3 Month Chart 1.3568
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_EURUSD&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1
"European activity indicators continue to tell the story of improving
economic growth," said Mike Jones, a currency strategist in Wellington
at Bank of New Zealand Ltd
Dollar Yen 3 Month Chart INO 98.26
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_USDJPY&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1
Japan's plan to raise the sales tax to 8 percent in April from 5
percent while boosting fiscal stimulus met "widespread skepticism" at
the G-20 meeting, according to Chinese Deputy Finance Minister Zhu
Guangyao
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South Africa All Share Bloomberg +14.44% 2013 Africa |
Dollar versus Rand 6 Month Chart INO 9.9068 [remains in its long
entrenched 9.55-10.60 Trading Range]
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_USDZAR&v=d6&t=c&a=50&w=1
Egypt Pound versus The Dollar 3 Month Chart INO 6.8877 [I think
Saudi Arabia, GCC and Kuwait have been on the Buy Side for a while]
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_USDEGP&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1
Egypt EGX30 Bloomberg +12.16% 2013 [33 month highs]
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CASE:IND
Nigeria All Share Bloomberg +35.78% 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NGSEINDX:IND
Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index Bloomberg +72.37% 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GGSECI:IND
Striking Gold: How M23 and its Allies are Infiltrating Congo's Gold
Trade Enough Project
http://www.enoughproject.org/files/StrikingGold-M23-and-Allies-Infiltrating-Congo-Gold-Trade.pdf
Gold is now the most important conflict mineral in eastern Congo, with
at least 12 tons worth roughly $500 million smuggled out of the east
every year.4
The Allure of Mozambique WSJ [Subscriber]
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303342104579101640960038578
I PASS THROUGH a dark corridor and step into the nave of a small
church built nearly five hundred years ago. Its altar is illuminated
by converging beams of light streaming through three cross-shaped
openings carved into the thick coral walls. The architecture is raw,
magnificent and reminds me of Tadao Ando's miraculous Church of the
Light--built a few hundred years later in Japan, but informed by the
same appreciation of the interplay of sunlight, space and darkness.
The building I'm standing in--the oldest, fully intact European
structure in the southern hemisphere--is at the tip of Ilha de
Moçambique, a tiny island off the coast of Mozambique that was once
the capital of all Portuguese holdings in East Africa and a hub for
trade routes stretching as far away as Goa.
Mozambique, after years of post-independence suffering, is now
prospering again, partially because this stretch of ocean is poised to
become a very valuable route--this time for vast reserves of natural
gas recently discovered off the country's northern coastline. Today,
the islands north of here--up to and including the 200-mile-long
Quirimbas Archipelago, which almost reaches Tanzania--are mostly empty,
apart from a handful of fishing villages and some small, exclusive
lodges fronting rugged beaches. The downside to traveling to islands
so remote and unspoiled is that you sometimes end up feeling as though
you could be anywhere in the world. Fortunately, in Mozambique, the
natural appeal of these islands is complemented by a rich, largely
unknown historical and architectural legacy that includes preserved
gems like this fort and adjacent church. And it isn't just the
Portuguese who left their mark; the islands also carry the legacy of
the Arabs and Indians who traded in this region for centuries,
revealed by the fact that many Mozambicans here still speak Swahili, a
lingua franca strongly influenced by Arab traders.
Beyond its pristine maritime beauty, Mozambique is also home to one of
Africa's livelier capital cities, Maputo, with its own architectural
treasures. All of which mean that this nation is fast becoming the
destination of choice for travelers who have already discovered more
frequented spots in Africa. There aren't too many tourists on these
islands yet, though: Ilha has just a handful of hotels and only a few
dozen visitors at any given time. But tourism here is rapidly
developing, often with South African, East African or, more recently,
local investment.
THE MODERN HEART of Mozambique is its capital, Maputo, located on the
opposite southern coast of the country. Whereas the northern islands I
visited felt connected to the Indian Ocean cultures of Kenya and
Tanzania, Maputo is closer to South Africa; though just a six-hour
drive from Johannesburg, it couldn't be more different from that
bustling, chaotic city. At the luxurious Polana Serena Hotel--a storied
place that has been the center of Maputo social life since the city
was called Lourenço Marques by the Portuguese--I go downstairs for
breakfast and see, next to the usual offerings of eggs, bacon,
pastries and muesli, a station serving Chinese congee (rice porridge),
perhaps the simplest expression of the rising influence of China in
this part of the world.
On my first morning in the capital, I meet Walter Tembe , an
architecture student who is obsessed with the works of the Portuguese
architect Amancio "Pancho" Guedes and offers guided tours of
the city to view his buildings. As we stroll into the leafy green
residential district outside the hotel gates, I ask Tembe when he
first became interested in Guedes. "At architecture school, I started
to see photos of his buildings," he says. "And then I realized that
one of his structures was right behind my childhood home. At that time
the Guedes building was deserted and decrepit. We used to play in its
grounds when I was a little kid."
Guedes, who is now 88, moved from Portugal to Maputo as a child and
later spent 25 years designing hundreds of buildings before leaving
the country after independence. He was part of a mass exodus: The vast
majority of Portuguese in Mozambique left in 1975, hastened by the
so-called 24/20 declaration, when the Portuguese had 24 hours to leave
and could take only 20 kilograms of belongings with them. Guedes, like
many of his fellow countrymen, emigrated to South Africa, where he
eventually became chair of the architecture department at Wits
University in Johannesburg. Despite his long residence there, his
life's work is in Maputo, and his architecture here has long been
recognized as some of the most original on the continent.
"Guedes didn't have one style; he had many," Tembe tells me, as we
stand in front of a row of medium-size houses the architect built.
"Where other artists or architects have different stylistic periods,
he has families of buildings, to which he added more buildings over
time, as opposed to building in only one style for a given time." On
the street in front of us are strikingly modern, angular buildings
from his Frank Lloyd Wright family. Around the corner, we view a
series of houses in his Alfama family, named after a hillside Lisbon
neighborhood that features buildings interconnected at different
levels. And then we have a look at what turns out to be my favorite
buildings--the uncategorizable ones, which Walter refers to as his
"freaks and dead-ends" family.
Later we take a taxi to the Baixa, Maputo's old downtown, and stop for
a moment at the square in front of the railway station. Behind me is
the gleaming white neoclassic façade of the station, often wrongly
attributed to Gustave Eiffel ; across the street is a high-rise office
building built by Guedes with an abstract stone mosaic on one side.
"Guedes loved the drawings made by his young daughter," Tembe says,
"so he decided to put them on a building." As we walk toward the city
center, we pass a stark white office tower that wouldn't look out of
place in Miami. Walter calls me over and points to the underside of
the building's concrete canopy, which is decorated with a vividly
colored painting visible only when you're standing under it--another
Guedes trick. I snap a photograph, and a guard emerges, yelling at me
to stop. "When times were tough people used to photograph buildings in
order to rob or loot them later," Walter says, explaining the guard's
behavior.
In the center square we climb the steps of the enormous, stately city
hall. Beneath our feet are faint traces of what was once inscribed on
the pavement by the colonial administration: "This is Portugal." In
front of us stands a statue of Samora Machel , the first leader of
independent Mozambique. Then I look down toward the waterfront, and
see tall construction cranes erecting enormous new buildings, most of
them financed by gas money or by Chinese investment--a vision of the
country's complicated past, and its uncertain future, converging in
one view.
I think now about what first drew me to this place: the multilayered
cultural background I had tasted in its cuisine. There are those who
see certain destruction in the gas money now flooding the country, and
who lament the vast, new Chinese-funded office complexes being erected
in the center of the city. But as I gaze once more at the view, I
realize that these are just the latest set of cultural influences that
Mozambique will somehow manage to endure, absorb and make its own.
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Shabab's brutal warlord sent a message with Kenya mall attack LA Times Kenyan Economy |
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The Somali warlord who claims
responsibility for last month's shopping mall attack in Kenya is a man
so ruthless and ambitious that even hardened militants fear him.
According to some Islamist fighters in Somalia, Ahmed Abdi Godane is a
tyrant who runs secret jails, kills too many civilians and hunts down
anyone who dares speak against him. Many prominent dissenters in the
Shabab, the Somali militant group, are dead or in hiding. Godane's
brutality has cost the Shabab support in Somalia. But though
diminished, the group is more dangerous than ever, analysts say.
"What has emerged is a smaller but more nimble and capable and most
likely more dangerous terrorist organization," said J. Peter Pham,
director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic
Council.
The Shabab is certainly seen by the United States as dangerous enough
to warrant the Oct. 5 predawn raid by Navy SEALs on the house of one
of its leaders, Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, also known as Ikrima,
in Baraawe south of Mogadishu. The raid apparently wasn't successful,
but it underscores American willingness to send troops into a hostile
environment to go after the Shabab's top leadership.
Godane, who has a $7-million U.S. bounty on his head, remains a
premium target, with his recent moves to seize power in the Shabab
only increasing the attention on him.
The charismatic American militant Omar Hammami, known as Abu Mansour
al-Amriki, who joined the Shabab in Somalia, tweeted about Godane in
the weeks before the warlord's men reportedly hunted him down and
killed him last month. He said Godane had "gone mad" and was a
"control freak."
Godane, who after the mall assault in Nairobi, Kenya, vowed in an
Internet audio post to carry out more attacks, has emerged as the
unquestioned boss of the Shabab after killing off his rivals, some of
whom had openly appealed to Al Qaeda's leadership to stop him.
"It's aimed at sending a signal within Somalia that Godane is leading
Al Shabab. It's pretty clear that at least some of the attackers were
foreigners, and the target certainly included many foreigners, so it
was also intended to send a signal to the international community,"
Pham said.
"A high-profile attack like this is very useful for a terrorist group
like Al Shabab. It has certainly now raised its profile, and that will
help with both recruiting and finances."
The attack, in which some Muslims were spared, was also designed to
send a powerful message to Al Qaeda's leadership and the shadowy
funders of global terrorism that Godane and the Shabab are
disciplined, effective fighters who can be relied on as the vanguard
of militancy in East Africa, analysts said.
Cedric Barnes, Horn of Africa analyst at the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group, said Godane and the Shabab had long
threatened a major attack in Nairobi. "He's trying to say, 'This is
Shabab and we are the No. 1 presence in East Africa.'"
Godane, 36, highly ambitious but remote from his followers, is a
veteran of militant training in Afghanistan who reputedly enjoys
penning poetry. He's rarely photographed, but he releases occasional
audio statements laying down the law in a droning, pious tone.
Under Godane's guidance, the group carried out brutal stonings,
beheadings, amputations and killings, alienating Somalis. When famine
struck the country in 2011, the Shabab blocked humanitarian aid,
feeding doubt within the group about his leadership style.
''It's clear that there's something new going on. The attack in
Nairobi required weeks if not months of planning and reconnaissance
and demonstrated a tactical and strategic capacity that Shabab to date
has not demonstrated," Pham said.
Analysts say the only way to defeat the Shabab is to transform Somalia
into a prosperous, stable nation with jobs for the kind of young men
who join its ranks.
"I am of the belief that the appeal of Al Shabab is to a very small
minority of the [Somali] diaspora [in the U.S.], but it does have a
reach," he said. "It clearly has a reach into the American homeland
that no other group has."
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China has overtaken France as the second largest lender to Kenya after Japan East African Kenyan Economy |
Kenya's debt to Beijing rose by 50 per cent to about $750 million in
the year ended June 2013, compared with $500 million in fiscal year
2011-2012.
In August, Kenya announced it had agreed on a Ksh425 billion ($4.8
billion) concessionary loan from China to fund the construction of the
Mombasa-Malaba standard gauge railway as well as energy and wildlife
protection projects.
The loan will be repaid at a floating interest rate of 360 basis
points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). The Kenyan
government has been getting funding from the China Export Import
(Exim) Bank, the China Development Bank or the China Agricultural
Development Bank.
"The terms of loans from Beijing are favourable -- they have long
repayment periods with a huge component being concessional," Dr
Nyademo said.
19-AUG-2013 ::@UKenyatta rebalances towards China
http://www.rich.co.ke/media/docs/036NSX1908.pdf
Kenya Shilling versus The Dollar Live ForexPros 84.947 [Shilling at 4
month highs]
http://j.mp/5jDOot
Nairobi All Share Bloomberg +39.015% in 2013
http://www.BLOOMBERG.COM/quote/NSEASI:IND
The Nairobi All Share set a Sequence of 4 consecutive All Time Closing
Highs on the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th October. The All Share rallied
+7.1715% over 12 sessions through October 8th and since Westgate. The
All Share has retreated 1.2949% since Tuesday and over 3 sessions
Nairobi ^NSE20 Bloomberg +19.279% 2013
http://j.mp/ajuMHJ
Every Listed Share can be interrogated here
http://www.rich.co.ke/rcdata/nsestocks.php
Nairobi mall attack: 'White Widow' taunts detectives Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Nairobi-mall-attack-White-Widow-taunts-detectives/articleshow/24122241.cms
LONDON: Terrorists hiding Samantha Lewthwaite, dubbed the 'White
Widow', have taunted detectives by revealing she recently travelled
through a remote town in Somalia.
A message posted in the last few days on Lewthwaite's Twitter account,
quoting lyrics from the song Many Rivers To Cross by reggae legend
Jimmy Cliff, gave the first clue about her whereabouts since Nairobi's
shopping mall massacre.
Security officers believe that Lewthwaite may have been behind last
month's terrorists attack on the Westgate mall.
According to the Mirror, the message on the account read: "Many rivers
to cross, but I can't seem to find my way over wandering, I am lost as
I travel along the Mountains of Galgala... "
It refers to a remote area of Somalia close to the town of Bari and is
thought to have been posted on Lewthwaite's behalf by Shabaab
terrorists.
Reflections on #Westgate, #Samanthalewthwaite The White Widow
http://www.rich.co.ke/rctools/wrapup.php?dt=MjAxMy05LTMw
Another Tweet says ''I am Titanium.'' referencing a David Guetta Song,
whose lyrics read and are practically a Taunt
The Lyrics
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidguetta/titanium.html
[Sia:]
You shouted out
But I can't hear a word you say
I'm talking loud not saying much
I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet
You shoot me down, but I get up
[Chorus:]
I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away
Ricochet, you take your aim
Fire away, fire away
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
[Sia:]
Cut me down
But it's you who'll have further to fall
Ghost town and haunted love
Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones
I'm talking loud not saying much
My Friend Aidan Hartley tweeted ''what use would Samantha Lewthwaite
be when shooting starts? She's a bogey woman in a burkha, a media
construct'' and ''Yes immoral! like plucked eyebrows & lipstick sulky
selfies in hijab.''
And I thought to myself, thats a whole new Audience. In fact, that is
the Audience. It's not in Mogadishu, its in Minneapolis, London, its
the Diaspora.
The new phenomenon of astro-tourism
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Tourists-gearing-up-for-the-total-eclipse-in-Kenya/-/1248928/2026902/-/129mmwiz/-/index.html
Unlike others before it, this will be a remarkable switch from partial
and total eclipses shimmering across Lake Turkana as the moon crosses
the path of the sun at approximately 5.22 p.m.
Though the trajectory of the hybrid solar eclipse has been marked to
transverse the north Atlantic and pass through some countries in
Africa near the equator including Gabon, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia it is in Kenya, specifically in north
eastern that there shall be total darkness for 11 seconds.
It is this corner of Kenya, at Alia Bay, in the Sibiloi National Park,
Turkana, that has been identified as the best place for viewing the
13-kilometres of lunar shadow due to the predicted clear skies.
Sibiloi National Park
http://thetreasureblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/fiebig-3372.jpg?w=670&h=446
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