Konyiego,

from Judy Miriga

I hear you.

Yes, It is the way to go……..and so, President Obama must himself supervise as Chief Comander of Armed Forces, this is what we are all quiping here with sentiments of brother Macharia from the UN ……..

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Now, it is Africa’s turn to rescue the world

During the scramble for Africa at the end of on the nineteenth century, European powers staked claims to virtually the entire continent.

At meetings in Berlin, Paris, London and other capitals, European statesmen and diplomats bargained over the separate spheres of interest they intended to establish there.

Their knowledge of the vast African hinterland was slight. Hitherto, Europeans had known Africa more as a coastline than a continent; their presence had been confined mainly to small, isolated enclaves on the coast used for traditional purposes.

Dumping ground

The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, from 1920 known as Kenya Colony. With the beginning of colonial rule in 1895, the Rift Valley and surrounding Highlands became the enclave of white immigrants engaged in large-scale coffee farming dependent on mostly local labour — for little or no pay. Kenyans were put under intense suffering that is still a bitter memory to many.

Indeed, this is what is now pushing the Mau Mau fighters to have the British Government compensate them for the inhumanity they were exposed to almost five decades ago.

Despite their adamancy, it is a fact that colonisation took Africa back in terms of development. The innumerable problems of the continent today are as a result of slavery, denying Africans education as well as proper shelter.

But the world turned upside down as the Europe debt crisis reached a new extreme last week when Europe came pleading for lucre where it once only seized it — Africa. The visit of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho of Portugal to former colony Angola — once a prime source of slaves, then a dumping ground for the mother country’s human rejects and now swimming in oil wealth — was a milestone of sorts.

While Europe’s financial distress has already revived bad historical memories — there was talk of a Chinese rescue for the continent that once humiliated it — the Angola-Portugal moment has had no equal in its upfront plaintiveness. This is a show that the “dark” continent is fast changing —for the better. The continent is rich, with massive resources and expertise. It only needs to improve its governance to be the world’s superpower.

— On Mon, 11/21/11, Jagem K’Onyiego wrote:
From: Jagem K’Onyiego
Subject: Re: Kenya seeks Obama support for Somalia incursion
To: “Judy Miriga”

Judy,

You seem to be a little late on this one in particular. Wuod Alego has done alot so far. Kenya would not have moved and made any impact kama ingekuwa hakuna wajasusi wa kutoka kwake.

Kwa hiyo wewe tulia, haswa kwa hii maneno.

Jagem

From: Judy Miriga

Folks,

Like Israel, US should in a joint NATO clean-up Kenya, go after Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab starting from within Kenya driving Rebels outward back to Somalia, so Somalian Government could come to terms with itself and be given a chance to Democratically elect their leaders and be stable, instead of operating from Kenya and muddying the situation…….and like Libya,without interfering with peace of the neighbouring countries. This will out-do a conspiracy engineering maneuvres of Meles Zenawi, Moi, Museveni, Salim Saleh, Kagame, Kibaki and Raila for their corrupt special interest cartel network……..their sneaky Game Gone Haywire………falling out of control and now are not able to contain and clean up their mess………a bone is stuck on their throat………

President Obama is not blind in all these…….I trust God will give him wisdom to make a fair judgement based on Public Mandate as is demonstrated at REFERENDUM……..

I am in equal agreement that no one else in the world can save and contain a spilling out of control offensive invasion by Kenyan Coalition Government to Somalia, except President Obama. However, my concern is that, it should and must be done responsibly………. and yes, for that reason, I repeat, the only intelligent person who can do that effectively, efficiently and successfully is President Obama, and indeed, President Obama should step up and intervene without delay.

May God Bless us all……!

Thank you all,

Cheers ….!!!
Judy Miriga Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

Kenya seeks Obama support for Somalia incursion

By Chris Wamalwa in USA

Kenya’s United Nations Permanent Representative in New York has appealed directly to the Obama administration for support for Kenya’s incursion of Somalia to root out Al Shabaab Islamist rebels.

In diplomacy reflective of President Kibaki’s strategy of courting international support for the war in Somalia, Ambassador Macharia Kamau early last week made a rare appearance at the Capitol Hill, the seat of congressional power to make a case for Washington’s support of the war.

“We would love to see the international community, with the US right up there, engaging in Somalia in ways in which they have not for quite a long time,” Ambassador Macharia Kamau told the press in Washington, DC soon after meeting some members of US congress.

Kenya deployed tanks and troops to the

Al Shabaab-controlled southern Somalia on October 14 to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels the country blames for kidnapping foreigners and making cross-border raids thus disturbing the peace and threatening the tourism industry.

“We would like to see the US and the international community taking advantage of basically what Kenya is doing, which is putting troops on the ground, taking risks that need to be taken to achieve the goals that we all say need to be achieved, which is to bring peace and security to Somalia,” said Ambassador Kamau.

But, Pentagon officials told National Public Radio’s (NPR) Michelle Kelemen in an interview broadcast over the weekend that the US is monitoring the Kenyan incursion, but not providing assistance.

The State Department is advising caution, said Donald Yamamoto, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa.

“You don’t know what the consequences are going to be,” he said. “Look at the Ethiopian incursion into Somalia, look at our own personal history. It’s fraught with a lot of problems and dangers. The Somalis just do not like foreigners in their area.”

Yamamoto said Kenya’s motivations were understandable, but the US has tried to keep focused on beefing up the African Union forces, supporting a transitional government and reaching out to major clans.

“The overall issue and solution to the Somalia problem is going to have to be a regional, concerted approach, [an] international approach, but also ultimately the Somalis themselves will have to resolve this,” Yamamoto said.

Ambassador Kamau’s courting of lawmakers in DC among them Democratic Senator Al Franken and Democratic Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, seems to be bearing fruits. Late last week as a result of Mr Kamau’s briefing, Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, a state with a vast Somali-American community that Al Shabaab has tapped for recruits, made a presentation in the House of Representatives asking the US government to help Kenya deal with the Al Shabaab menace once and for all.

Making reference to these links, Mr Kamau said Al Shabaab was training over 40 known American citizens in Somalia, warning that there was a direct line from the group right back to American cities that poses a clear and present danger for Americans.

“We should never forget that what’s going on in Somalia, while it might appear to be far away, out in the middle of nowhere, has tentacles that stretch back to the United States,” he cautioned.

Ambassador Kamau made a fresh appeal to the United States to consider imposing a blockade on the rebel-held Somali port of Kismayu to choke off the rebels’ supply line, a move Washington has been reluctant to support.

“Why this has not happened is actually a little bit beyond us because it does not require any troops on the ground, neither does it really put anyone at any risk,” he said.

“It’s really a question of moving their naval assets into positions that would ensure that these people are not able to continue to supply through Kismayu,” which is an Al Shabaab “nerve center,” he said.

The envoy said Kenyan forces had cleared rebels out of towns and areas they once controlled and suggested that “maybe the international community might take advantage of that to send down peacekeeping troops to ensure that these towns and areas are not re-infiltrated by the armed groups and terrorist elements.”

US officials said Kenya has been making what one senior senate source called “a full-court press” for Washington’s help on Somalia and against the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab, with top diplomats reaching out to key lawmakers for help.

The ambassador said he would also meet with non-governmental organizations in Washington in a bid to improve the flow of humanitarian aid into Somalia.

And he reminded US lawmakers wary of fresh commitments at a time of belt-tightening that “Kenya itself is not in the best of economic times.”

“But we ourselves have recognized that all our collective long-term interests demand that we make the necessary sacrifices now, because if we don’t, then the price that we shall pay, collectively, as an international community, whether Europe, Asia, or the United States, could be quite severe,” he said.

The month-old incursion caught the United States and others off guard and has raised alarm among aid groups.

Speaking on National Public Radio (NPR) over the weekend, ambassador Kamau said, “We surprised ourselves. We have never in our history engaged in any kind of foreign adventure of a military sort. But I think what it is, is that matters did come to a head.”

“When you are dealing with a violent group of murderous individuals, you have to come to a point where you make a decision: Do you continue to allow the slow bleed to happen, so that the country becomes completely anemic and unable to function, or do you, after 25 years of living next to a failed state, make a decision that you can no longer afford to tolerate the situation?” he asked.

(Additional materials from: NPR and AFP)

Kenya should seek inclusive political roadmap for Somalia
Published on 19/11/2011

By Billow Kerrow

A month after our troops entered Somalia, political analysts continue to ponder on the political end game of this military incursion. Most commentators and political observers wonder what next after the military removes Al Shabaab. This raises the primary question – what is the objective of this war that the military says was abruptly conceived.

Our leaders have given varying comments on this matter. The Vice- President reiterated that Kenyan troops would stay as long as is necessary to stabilise not just Kenya’s borders but also Somalia and the region. The military, too, has given indications that we are in for the long haul. Initially, it was to rid our borders of Al Shabaab and secure it by creating a buffer zone known as Azania State.

In recent weeks, this appears to have been abandoned as the Somali President Sheikh Shariff trashed the concept of balkanising the country and undermining his nationwide authority. Ethiopia, which calls the shorts in Mogadishu, reportedly backed Shariff who had their tacit approval to deride the Kenyan invasion initially.

And this week, Sheikh Shariff was in Nairobi and brought along his close friend, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, to help him impress upon Kenyans that he runs Somalia or what is left of it, and that our troops should handover any captured territory to his TFG regime. It is clear that the Azania agenda seems to have been put in the freezer. They also succeeded in convincing Kenya to join Amisom if it wants its troops to push all the way to Mogadishu and ‘liberate’ Somalia as our leaders have called for in recent weeks.

This move limits Kenya’s unilateral mission of securing its borders and placing its troops under Amisom, an action that will also legitimise its actions in Somalia. Sensing the political landmines it got itself into, the Government has been on the diplomatic offensive globally to explain itself and get support for its mission. So far, many have welcomed Kenya’s move to defend its borders and fight terrorism. And except for the kind words, it is highly unlikely that these countries will reach for cheque books and draw some little cash for our efforts.

Except for a few skirmishes, the first month ended without any major battles. The army announced that it is focusing on humanitarian activities in the ‘liberated’ areas, a dumb move in my view. You do not go to war and start dishing out candies in the brief lull. The US premised its 1994 ‘Operation Restore Hope’ on humanitarian operations, but the warlords read a political agenda in the mission and went to war, forcing the US to capitulate.

The Somali population has so far remained indifferent or supportive of Kenya’s mission. The army’s decision to shelve its earlier warning of imminent attacks on ten major towns in southern Somalia was a wise move that prevented potential collateral damage that would have tipped the support among many Somalis.

The police have handled the expected ‘crackdown’ in Eastleigh and other parts of the country fairly well, with minimal victimisation, and focusing more on enhancing intelligence operations.

The PM’s visit to Israel seeking support to fight terrorism did not go down well with many Somalis. There is no love lost between the Muslims and the Jewish State and the move elicited negative reaction even in Somalia. It was a daft political move, lacking in strategic thought. It is similar to equally sterile thoughts by some of our leaders that Kismayu will be administered from Garissa once captured.

Somalia’s problem requires a political solution, not a military one. It is essential that Kenya and its allies seek an inclusive, broad-based political road map that will create a strong, centralised government. As we are the most affected in the long term, we must not tire of this process.

—The writer is a former MP for Mandera Central and political economist