Zimbabwe's Future Power Demand Presents Huge Opportunities: Official

Xinhua
2018/8/26 9:22:43

Zimbabwe will require 11,000 megawatts of electricity to achieve its vision of becoming a middle income country by 2030, an official said Saturday.

Ministry of Energy official Benson Munyaradzi said the huge demand for power presents vast opportunities for China to further invest in Zimbabwe's energy sector.

He was speaking at the two-day international conference on China's Belt and Road Initiative organized by the University of Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Confucius Institute. The conference ends Saturday.

Munyaradzi said with Zimbabwe's current installed capacity standing at 2,000 MW, it means that 9,000 MW more of installed capacity was required for Zimbabwe to become a middle income economy by 2030.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has spelled out the vision as he seeks to propel Zimbabwe's growth after two decades of economic stagnancy.

The Chinese government is already bankrolling power expansion projects in Zimbabwe.

It completed the 300 MW Kariba South Hydro Power expansion project in March this year at a total cost of 533 million US dollars.

In June, Sinohydro, the same firm that undertook the Kariba project, began the expansion by a further 670 MW of the coal-fired Hwange Power station.

The project will cost 1.5 billion dollars and is expected to be completed in mid 2022.

In total, China's power expansion projects, when completed, will add 960 MW into Zimbabwe's national power grid.

Currently, the county is generating 1,200 MW against demand of 1,600 MW.

It is plugging the shortfall through imports from neighboring South Africa and Mozambique.

Munyaradzi contended that since power projects take longer to be completed, Zimbabwe will in the interim have to import more electricity from the region to meet its 2030 vision while it builds its internal power capacity.

Xi to Announce New Actions, Measures at China-African Forum

By Liu Xuanzun
Global Times
2018/8/23 8:51:42

Chinese President Xi Jinping will introduce new concepts and proposals for ties between China and Africa, and announce new actions and measures on practical cooperation with Africa during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing summit September 3-4, with Chinese experts saying that China will further cultivate Africa's autonomous development capability and help boost modernization.

A media briefing hosted on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave more insights on what to expect during the two-day summit.

Xi will deliver a keynote speech during the summit's opening ceremony on the afternoon of September 3, in which he will make a comprehensive introduction to new concepts and proposals for ties between China and Africa, and announce new actions and measures on practical cooperation with Africa, focusing on industrial development, infrastructure, trade and investment, human resources development, science, educational, cultural, and health undertakings, environmental protection, and peace and security, Wang said.

Song Wei, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday the new set of proposals and measures are likely to be "based on the actual development needs of both sides, and further combine China's development experience and African countries' development potential."

"This will further cultivate Africa's autonomous development capability and help boost Africa's modernization," she said.

Wang said that the summit is expected to build a closer community of shared future between China and Africa, connect the Belt and Road initiative to African development, lay down a path for China-Africa cooperation at a higher level and boost friendship between the two sides.

Xu Weizhong, deputy director of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday that China and Africa share a similar history of being colonized and have the same goal of peaceful development.

Direct communication and cultural exchange are of importance as the Chinese and African peoples often only get information on each other via Western media, which could be twisted and not objective, Xu said.

The summit will see the signing of the Declaration of the Beijing Summit on building a closer community of shared future between China and Africa and the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-21) on September 4, Wang said.

The declaration will guide development of China-Africa relations in the next three years, Song said.

Chinese-aided Project to Connect 500 Malawi Villages to Satellite TV

Xinhua
2018/8/24 8:54:45

Malawi's Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Nicholas Dausi (centre) chats with Chinese officials. (Xinhua/photo by Malawi information department)

The Malawi government has launched a satellite television project which seeks to make 500 rural communities connected to satellite television services, with assistance from China.

The development is a follow-up action since the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held in South Africa, and part of China's pledge to provide satellite TV reception to 10,000 African villages.

In his remarks during the launch earlier this week, Malawi President Peter Mutharika hailed the Chinese government for the initiative, saying it resonates with his development strategy of bringing development to the country's rural masses through Rural Growth Centers.

Mutharika said: "Malawi is migrating into a digital world and I want everyone in rural areas to be part of that migration.

"I want rural people to have access to information because informed people make informed choices and decisions." he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Malawi Liu Hongyang said the project was a concrete reflection of China-Malawi friendship and cooperation.

"Since the establishment of our diplomatic ties, the two countries have witnessed rapidly growing and continuously deepening bilateral cooperation which brings tangible benefits to the people of Malawi," he said.

Liu disclosed that through the project, China will also donate 500 sets of solar digital TV integrated with decoder, 1,000 sets of solar projector TV system, and 10,000 sets of digital decoder.

The country's rural masses are expected to have access to at least 21 TV channels through the project, including three local channels. China's Star Times Group was implementing the project.

Britain Supports 'Legal' Land Reform in South Africa, Says Theresa May

28 August 2018 - 11:56
BY REUTERS AND AFP

Britain supports South Africa’s land reform programme provided it is carried out legally, Prime Minister Theresa May said in Cape Town on Tuesday, adding that she would discuss the issue with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The UK has for some time now supported land reform. Land reform that is legal, that is transparent, that is generated through a democratic process,” May said. “It’s an issue that I raised and discussed with President Ramaphosa when he was in London earlier this year. I’ll be talking about it with him later today.”

British leader Theresa May shares her thoughts on South Africa’s land reform policies at a news conference held in Cape Town on August 28 2018.

May has also pledged to prioritise investment in Africa as she started a three-nation visit to the continent to drum up new trade deals ahead of leaving the European Union.

Her tour of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya — May’s first to Africa since becoming premier in 2016 — is seen as an effort to reinforce Britain’s global ambitions after Brexit.

“By 2022, I want the UK to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa, with Britain’s private sector companies taking the lead,” May told business leaders.

The G7 groups major industrialised nations but does not include China, which has become a big investor on the African continent.

“As prime minister of a trading nation whose success depends on global markets, I want to see strong African economies that British companies can do business with,” she said.

I want to create a new partnership between the UK and our friends in Africa built around shared prosperity and shared security.”

May is facing pressure at home from so-called Remainers sceptical of her ability to forge trade deals once Britain severs ties with the EU, as well as from Brexiteers fearful she will not deliver a complete break.

“As we prepare to leave the European Union, now is the time for the UK to deepen and strengthen its global partnerships,” she said in a statement as she arrived in South Africa.

Former foreign minister Boris Johnson, whose July departure from the cabinet brought May’s government to the brink, said in his resignation speech that May’s current Brexit policy would hamper London’s ability to strike independent trade deals. But May said Britain was well placed and had many companies ready to invest in Africa.

She announced a new four-billion-pound investment programme. There were no immediate details about the initiative. May added that Britain would also host an African investment summit next year, and would open new diplomatic missions across the continent.

May will later Tuesday present Ramaphosa with the bell from the troopship Mendi, which sank in the Channel in 1917 drowning more than 600 mainly South African troops who were set to join the Allied forces fighting in World War I. It was the worst maritime disaster in South Africa’s history, and has become a symbol of its Great War sacrifice. The bell was given to a BBC reporter in 2017 following an anonymous tip, according to the broadcaster.

The prime minister is also expected to visit Robben Island where former president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. May will head to Nigeria on Wednesday for meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja and with victims of modern slavery in Lagos.

On Thursday she will meet Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, shortly after his return from seeing US President Donald Trump in Washington and before he travels to China to meet President Xi Jinping. The prime minister will also see British troops in training action and tour a business school, before concluding the trip at a state dinner hosted by Kenyatta.

Britain Supports Land Reform in South Africa - PM Theresa May

28 AUGUST 2018, 11:25AM
REUTERS AND BRENDA MASILELA

Britain supports South Africa's land reform programme provided it is carried out legally, Prime Minister Theresa May said in Cape Town. Picture: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Cape Town - Britain supports South Africa's land reform programme provided it is carried out legally, Prime Minister Theresa May said in Cape Town on Tuesday, adding that she would discuss the issue with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

"The UK has for some time now supported land reform. Land reform that is legal, that is transparent, that is generated through a democratic process," May told reporters.

"It's an issue that I raised and discussed with President Ramaphosa when he was in London earlier this year. I’ll be talking about it with him later today."

The land should be shared in South Africa so that everyone has an opportunity to benefit from what it has to offer, President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously said.

"We must make sure that everything which is in our country we share... It must never be that a small group of people just take what this country has to give and hold it to themselves and say it belongs to them only," he said at the Biodiversity Economy Innovation conference last week in Thohoyandou in Limpopo.

"All of this belongs to all of us, and this is what this government wants to make sure," he said to loud cheers.

Ramaphosa said land expropriation could make more land available for cultivation and the process would begin by using state-owned land, not privately-owned land.

Reuters and African News Agency (ANA)

Britain to Invest 56 Million Pounds in Battery Storage in South Africa

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Prime Minister Teresa May has committed 56 million pounds towards investment in battery storage in South Africa during her current trip to the country, the government told Reuters on Wednesday.

Battery storage will allow the country to manage peaks and troughs in energy supply – storing energy from solar, wind and other renewable projects, to then be used as and when it is needed.

The investment is being financed via Britain’s contribution to a $5.4 billion Clean Technology Fund, which provides funding for developing countries to scale up low-carbon technologies.

UN Says African Migrants Rejected by Italy Were Tortured, Raped in Libya

The UN migration agency says African migrants who were rejected by Italy last week said they had been held by smugglers for up to two years in Libya and many had been beaten, tortured and raped.

Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration Joel Millman told a UN briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, the 190 migrants, mainly Eritreans and Somalis, were rescued in the Mediterranean on August 15.

‘‘All were described as malnourished and exhausted, they said they had been arbitrarily, held by, they call it arbitrarily detention but for up to two years, many, many between one and two years, possibly some shorter but the longest anyone had been held is about two years in Libya. They complained that many had been beaten and tortured by smugglers and traffickers seeking ransom money from their families in their countries of origin. And we understand that Italian doctors who attended all the women on the (inaudible) report that many of them has said they have been raped while in Libya”, Millman said.

They complained that many had been beaten and tortured by smugglers and traffickers seeking ransom money from their families in their countries of origin. And we understand that Italian doctors who attended all the women on the (inaudible) report that many of them has said they have been raped while in Libya.

Millman said, the UN agency staff had gathered testimony from the migrants and that all were malnourished and exhausted. He said they had been held against their will in Libya for up to two years.

27 unaccompanied minors and 13 people needing urgent hospital treatment had earlier been allowed ashore in Italy but the remaining 150 waited 10 days while Italy’s anti-immigrant government refused to let them disembark.

Ireland, Albania and the Vatican later agreed to accept them.
Millman said, IOM believes thousands of migrants were still being detained, held in safehouses or warehoused, but getting people to the shore had recently become more difficult because of violence in the west of the country.

Reuters

Fresh Clashes Erupt in Libya's Tripoli

2018-08-29 20:20:36
Editor: Shi Yinglun

TRIPOLI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Fresh clashes erupted on Wednesday in the south of Tripoli between forces of the UN-backed government and militias from the nearby city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of the capital.

"Our forces used heavy weapons and attacked a number of sites in Qasr Ben Ghashir area, the southern outskirts of Tripoli. We want to restore the sites controlled by the Seventh Brigade gunmen of Tarhuna," a source of the joint security chamber told Xinhua,

The clashes have continued since the morning, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) warned against military actions in Tripoli.

Southern Tripoli has been witnessing violent clashes between government forces and armed militias over the past few days, killing at least five and injuring 33 others, according to the Ministry of Health.

Interior Minister Abdulsalam Ashour told a local TV channel on Monday that a cease-fire agreement in Tripoli had been reached.

Witnesses, however, said gun firing could still be heard in southern Tripoli occasionally, even after the cease-fire announcement. 

International Community Calls for Calm as Clashes Shake Up Libya's Capital

August 27, 2018 - 22:02
By Abdulkader Assad

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on its website on Monday that it was following the clashes in and around Tripoli with grave concern, calling on all parties to immediately cease all military action.

"UNSMIL is concerned by the use of indiscriminate fire and heavy weapons in densely populated residential areas, endangering civilian lives and reminds all parties of their duty to protect civilians, in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law." The UNSMIL said.

It also stressed that political aims must not be pursued through violence and warned that the build-up of armed groups and hostile acts as well as rhetoric risk a wider military confrontation.

"UNSMIL reaffirms its support to the Government of National Accord and calls for serious efforts by all sides to unify the institutions of the country. The Mission stands ready to support all efforts to de-escalate the situation and offers the use of its good offices for this purpose." The statement reads.

The European Union also called for ceasefire and end of hostilities in Tripoli.

"We are following closely the surprising violence that erupted in Tripoli and we call on all parties to restore calm as there is no military solution to the crisis." Bawabat Al-Wasat reported the spokesman for the EU as saying.

Likewise, the Italian Embassy in Libya condemned the violence on Twitter.

"We stand by the people of Tripoli as they face renewed violence in the streets of their beautiful capital. Our condolences go to the victims families, our wishes of prompt recovery to all those injured. Only dialogue can bring peace and reconciliation in Libya, not military action." It said.

The British ambassador to Libya, Frank Baker, also weighed in on Twitter: "Very concerned by the clashes in Tripoli. We call on all parties to cease military action, protect civilians, respect international law and engage in dialogue to de-escalate the situation Libya."

Several have been killed and injured as clashes erupted Monday morning in southern Tripoli.

The Health Ministry reported on Facebook that five have been registered as killed and 33 injured so far due to the clashes.

Uneasy Calm Prevails in Southern Tripoli As Cease-fire Agreement Comes Into Effect

August 28, 2018 - 11:35
By Safa Alharathy

The head of the Council of Elders and Dignitaries of Tarhuna Saleh Alfandi confirmed that ceasefire agreement was reached between the parties fighting in the southern suburbs of the capital, after hours of clashes with heavy and medium weapons.

"A ceasefire agreement has been reached between the conflict parties fighting in Tripoli and the handover of security checkpoints to the Tripoli Security Directorate, as well as the return of all troops to their former positions," the Libyan news channel Libya Al-Ahrar quoted Alfandi as saying.

For his part, a senior commander of the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, Jalal al-Wershifani, said that the agreement, which came at the initiative of the dignitaries of Zawiya city, provides for the complete withdrawal of heavy weapons from areas of clashes and the return of the 7th Brigade to the district of Qaser Bin Ghashir.

Jalal revealed that the agreement also provides for the handover of clashes areas to the security directorates of Tripoli and Qaser Bin Ghashir, in addition to handing over the camps to the Ministry of Defence.

He also added that the agreement came into force since Monday, noting that most forces have begun withdrawing from the areas of clashes in order for the security directorates to take control.

The southeastern suburbs of Tripoli have witnessed since Sunday a security tension, which further escalated to violent clashes from the early hours of Monday between forces affiliated to the Presidential Council.

U.S. Says Air Strike Kills Islamic State Militant in Libya

Aug. 28, 2018, at 11:49 a.m.

BENGHAZI, LIBYA (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed a suspected Islamic State militant in Libya on Tuesday, the U.S. Africa Command said.

The strike into the northwestern town of Bani Walid was carried out in coordination with the U.N.-backed government based in Tripoli, it said in a statement.

It did not name what it called an "ISIS-Libya terrorist" but residents identified him as Walid Bu Hariba who hails from the central city of Sirte where Islamic State had its main base in the anarchic North African country until 2016.

Residents had earlier reported an air strike on a car in Bani Walid in which an Islamic State militant had been traveling. Photos on social media showed a white pick-up truck purportedly hit by a projectile.

Some militants have sought to regroup in Libya's vast desert and in towns such as Bani Walid, located some 150 km (93 miles) south of the capital Tripoli.

In June, the United States said it had conducted two precision air strikes near Bani Walid, killing four Islamic State militants and an al Qaeda fighter.

The United States gave air support to Libyan forces that drove Islamic State from Sirte in 2016, and has continued to launch occasional strikes on suspected militants in Libya since the end of that campaign.

The Tripoli administration exercises little control in the OPEC member country, which has been plagued by turmoil since rebels overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli, Aidan Lewis and Ulf Laessing, writing by Ulf Laessing, editing by Mark Heinrich)

Migrants in Libya Detention Center Say Their Lives Are in Peril

Hundreds sent back to war-torn country by EU-backed coast guard report dire conditions

Sally Hayden
Irish Times

African migrants, who according to the Libyan navy were rescued by the  coast guard, arrive in Tripoli on July 12th, 2018. Photograph: Stringer/AFP/Getty

Hundreds of refugees and migrants say they were abandoned in a detention centre in the middle of renewed fighting in Tripoli, after they were returned to Libya earlier this year by the EU-backed coast guard.

The Libyans guarding the detention centre – a prison in Ain Zara, southern Tripoli – ran away on Monday morning, a young Eritrean man told The Irish Times. Food and water has already run out, and refugees risk being killed if they try to leave, he said. Among the hundreds still there are pregnant women and children.

“We hear machine guns, tanks, big bombs. We see from the roof it’s all fire, all everywhere. We need food especially for the children, they can’t tolerate this,” he said. “We see bullets passing over us and heavy weapons passing on the street.”

Migrants intercepted while crossing the Mediterranean have been returned to war-torn Libya since Italy struck a deal to fund Libya’s coast guard in February 2017. This has attracted fierce criticism from human rights groups, while former UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein condemned the move as “inhuman”.

Asylum seekers returned to Libya face terrible conditions in cramped detention centres, including torture and extortion, according to Amnesty International.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed fighting in Tripoli had impacted some detention centres, including in Ain Zara.

“Our teams are closely monitoring the situation and assessing how best we can assist. Fighting seems to have ended for the time being, which may allow us to approach the concerned areas,” said Christine Petre, support officer to IOM’s Libya chief of mission.

Anti-aircraft guns

A local journalist in southern Tripoli also confirmed the fighting, saying it started in the Wadi al-Rabie area. The journalist, who didn’t want to be named, said anti-aircraft guns and even tanks were being used.

The Eritrean refugee, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of retribution, said he has been in the detention centre since March. Even before the fighting, conditions were terrible, he said.

He communicated through texts and calls, using a phone given to the refugees by smugglers to contact the Italian navy during their failed attempt to sail to Europe, which he has kept hidden since.

The refugee fled home after years of forced military service in Eritrea. He said he was arrested by police in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, who accused him of having no refugee ID card, and then sold him to a group of traffickers. From there, he was brought to Libya, where he was tortured until his family paid $12,000 (€10,280), which they raised by selling their belongings and begging for money from friends. This story echoes those told by many Eritreans in Libya.

After paying the money, the man was given a chance to be smuggled across the Mediterranean to Italy. However, once the boat was spotted by Italian ships, the refugees on board were turned over to the EU-backed Libyan coast guard, which brought them back to detention in Tripoli.

Since then, he said, he has been living in substandard conditions with hundreds of others. “We eat one time a day, we drink dirty water and there is no kind of hospital. There are many sick people.”

He said three people recently died of tuberculosis, and another was shot by guards after they protested for better conditions and for a visit by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Refugees abused

“This place is very hot and we need so much water, but the water they give us is very dirty, even you can’t wash your body.”

He said the refugees were regularly abused by guards, with Christians particularly targeted. “They beat and insult them, they cut their necklace of the cross,” he said. “They make the ladies have sex by force.”

Nearly 55,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered in Libya, though it is believed there are a lot more unregistered across the country. About 20,000 were brought back to Libya by the Libyan coast guard in 2017.

Nearly 55,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered in Libya, though it is believed there are a lot more. Arrivals across the Mediterranean to Italy have reduced by nearly 87 per cent this year on the same period in 2017, a change the Italian government touts as a success.

At least 8,000 migrants are currently being held across 18 detention centres linked to the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, according to UNHCR.

Speaking on the phone as bombs could be heard in the distance, the Eritrean refugee in Tripoli said he blames the EU and the UN for the situation he’s in. “The Europeans should have helped us. We have a problem in our country. We left to get freedom. The Europeans and the UN don’t care about us. Shame on the EU. Shame on the UN.”

“This is a very dangerous place,” he added. “We have suffered more than anything. There are so many problems. They sell people. We are animals.”

The EU and the UNHCR did not respond to a request for comment.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta Meets with Trump at the White House

Aug. 27, 2018, 6:00 pm
By CORNELIUS MWAU
Kenya Star

President Uhuru Kenyatta has held a meeting with US President Donald Trump at White House.

President Uhuru and first lady Margret Kenyatta were welcomed at the White House by his host Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.

At 1:45pm (Washington time), Trump and his wife Melania received Uhuru and the First Lady Margaret at the South Portico.

Uhuru and the first lady walked together with their hosts through the South Lawn to the Rose Garden before getting into the Oval Office.

While addressing a press conference before the meeting, President Trump said both the US and Kenya are committed to fighting regional terrorism.

The US president said the two counties will also sign deals to open ways for business and infrastructure.

“We are working on a major infrastructure project on a massive road in Kenya,” Trump said.

Kenya is considering a Sh300 billion loan from the US to finance the construction of a six-lane expressway to link Mombasa and Nairobi.

The road is to be done by American construction giant Bechtel.

President Uhuru Kenyatta lauded the mutual relationship the two states share citing that it has been since after colonial period.

“We have a very good and excellent cooperation especially in the fight against terrorism in the neighbourhood we are in,” he said.

Uhuru also said that he wants to strengthen the trade ties with the US considering the many American companies in Kenya.

Trump’s ‘America First’ Seen in Trade Deals with EAC

MONDAY AUGUST 27 2018
Kenya Daily Nation

Workers at a textile factory that produces clothing for export to the US under Agoa. For the US, an open mitumba market will guarantee the estimated $120 million sales into the East African Community. PHOTO | FILE | AFP 

In Summary
Smart, a US lobby, argued the ban would amount to a trade barrier, violating the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa).
Then Trade CS Adan Mohammed told journalists that Nairobi was letting market forces determine what Kenyans want to buy.
In trade, the observers say Kenya will draw little if it fails to push for things that matter.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

The East African Community had given itself a deadline of 2019 to start phasing out importation of second-hand clothes from the US.

Commonly known as mitumba, the presidents of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi had agreed in 2016 to stop further importation from 2019, saying it would protect their nascent textile and leather industries.

Then things started to fall apart.

First, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (Smart), a US lobby, argued the ban would amount to a trade barrier, violating the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa).

The Act, created during the George W Bush years, allows African countries like the EAC members to export goods to the US through tariffs.

WARNINGS

Then the US government itself started giving warnings to each of the EAC countries: If any ban was imposed, they would lose the privilege of selling goods to the US and the attendant jobs that come with it.

Last year, Kenya acted first, pulling out of the EAC deal to ban mitumba.

Then Trade Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed told journalists that Nairobi was letting market forces determine what Kenyans want to buy between mitumba and new clothes produced locally.

“Our policy is, of course, that it is our desire to develop and promote our textile industry in our country to create more jobs for people in our country,” he argued.

“And through the transition of market forces we would like mitumba clothes to compete with clothes that are produced within East Africa, within Kenya, and if those products are more competitive and more consumer-friendly, then of course you will see a reduction in the mitumba business in our country,” he added.

RWANDA

Kenya survived the suspension, but Rwanda which went ahead with the plan, was recently removed from the Agoa beneficiaries list.

Tanzania and Uganda survived too.

For the US, an open mitumba market will guarantee the estimated $120 million sales into the East African Community.

Kenya, through Agoa, has sold goods worth $256 million (Sh25.6 billion) to the US this year— mainly apparel under this arrangement, according to the US Census Bureau.

In 2017, the trade with the US was worth Sh126 billion, more than half of it benefiting the US.

Under Agoa, Kenya sold about Sh40 billion worth of textiles and clothing into the US market with Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania selling a cumulative Sh4.3 billion.

JOBS AT RISK

In rescinding decision to ban, Kenyan officials had argued more than 60,000 jobs that draw from the textile industry were under threat.

Yet President Trump had always spoken of ‘America first’ in engaging with other parties.

When Trump first made contact with President Uhuru Kenyatta last year, a White House read-out of the call said the two had “discussed our economic partnership and mutual dedication to overcoming terrorism and other regional security challenges through close cooperation.”

Politically, the meeting between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Trump could benefit Kenya’s image, argued Benard Ayieko, an economist and commentator on trade and investment.

“It’s also a perfect opportunity for the president to engage his US counterpart on interventions that will reduce this trade imbalance. The US remains a key source of foreign tourist arrivals to Kenya thus need to discuss potential challenges that hinder American tourists from arriving in droves for holidays.”

THINGS THAT MATTER

In trade, the observers say Kenya will draw little if it fails to push for things that matter.

“It needs to change gears from the traditional trade of selling primary commodities. Most of the things we are selling are apparels, which are not even manufactured by companies owned by Kenyans,” argues Clement Onyango, the Director of Nairobi’s trade think-tank CUTS International.

“We need lots of value addition because we are an agriculture-based economy. There are many US firms that have done this bit so well, in food processing, in ICT and e-commerce. These are areas that the president can facilitate cross-feritilisation of ideas on,” he told the Nation.

Ahead of the meeting, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma spoke of Africa’s engagement with the US, after Agoa expires in 2025.

ACCESS TO US MARKETS

Started by the Republican administration of Mr Bush, it was extended, to help African countries access US markets.

But it also requires beneficiaries to eliminate barriers or at least show progress in doing so.

“The policy advantages of Agoa have enabled entire industries to emerge in many countries in Africa such as the textile exports in Kenya,” she told a gathering of African diplomats in Washington last on Wednesday.

“Regrettably, these Agoa policy advantages have not translated to firm-level advantages that define world beaters with the inevitable lifting the preferences.”

According to Dr Juma, Africa can improve on that by adopting the recent Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement, signed earlier this year to open up the continent’s markets as a way of dealing with any vacuum left after Agoa expires.

Kenya’s Deputy Chief Justice Arrested for Suspected Corruption: Police

George Obulutsa

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of corruption, failure to pay tax, and improper dealings with a local bank now in receivership, the police and the country’s top prosecutor said.

Chief Public Prosecutor Noordin Mohamed Haji told a news conference that Mwilu had abused her office for personal gain, undermining public integrity in the judiciary. The director of criminal investigations, George Kinoti, told Reuters in a text message: “I can confirm the arrest of the deputy chief justice.”

Reuters was unable to immediately contact representatives of Mwilu.

Corruption in East Africa’s biggest economy drains billions of dollars from the state each year. The government has launched a new anti-graft push this year led by Haji, a former deputy head of national intelligence, who has brought criminal charges against dozens of civil servants and businesspeople.

The detention of the deputy chief justice was the highest profile since a series of corruption-related arrests began several months ago.

“Lady Justice Mwilu... accepted gifts in the form of money which undermined confidence in her office,” said Haji.

He said Mwilu had also obtained “execution of a security belonging to Imperial Bank, now under receivership, by false pretence” and had “conducted herself in total disregard of the law”, citing what he said was her failure to pay tax. Haji gave no further details.

“I have concluded that the evidence is sufficient for a reasonable prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest that criminal proceedings should be preferred,” Haji said.

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu Arrested at Supreme Court

TUESDAY AUGUST 28 2018
   
In Summary
Judge Mwilu was on Tuesday taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for questioning.
The judge faces numerous counts of stealing, abuse of office and unlawful failure to pay taxes.
The judge is also accused of engaging in misconduct in furtherance of personal benefit.

By DAILY NATION

Kenya's deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu has been arrested at the Supreme Court in Nairobi over alleged corruption.

Judge Mwilu was on Tuesday taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for questioning.

Moments after her arrest, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji called an urgent press conference on the matter.

Her arrest followed a series of meetings by the Judicial Service Commission, the judiciary employer, for the better part of the morning.

Mr Haji and Kenya's top crime buster George Kinoti attended some of the meetings before judge Mwilu was taken into custody.

The agenda and resolutions of the meetings were not immediately clear and it is expected that Mr Haji will communicate the same.

Staff at the Supreme Court went on about their business, with the majority avoiding contact with journalists.

The arrest of such a high-ranking judicial staff, unprecedented in Kenya’s history, is the culmination of weeks of investigations into brazen corruption at the Judiciary, and is likely to send shock waves throughout the institution.

Bank transactions

The Nation has followed this case for months after it learnt that the judge had been reported by the Kenya Revenue Authority to Mr Haji over the suspicious movement of large sums of money in and out of bank accounts.

Sources told the Nation that investigations on the judge have mainly revolved around transactions involving the collapsed Imperial Bank, and failure to pay taxes.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) appointed the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) as receivers of Imperial Bank in October 2015 following its collapse amid revelations that up to Ksh34 billion ($340 million) of shareholder deposits had gone missing.

The investigators had previously focused on the directors of the collapsed bank and some CBK officials.

The judge faces numerous counts of stealing, abuse of office and unlawful failure to pay taxes.

Additionally, investigators claim that the judge has acted in contravention of the Leadership and Integrity Act by accepting a personal loan of Ksh12 million ($120,000) from Imperial Bank.

The judge is also accused of engaging in misconduct in furtherance of personal benefit.

Chief Justice David Maraga, who heads the institution, has previously indicated that there will be no sacred cows, even within the corridors of justice, in the fight against corruption.

“I have no room for corrupt judicial officers,” he warned in June this year.

“Know that you are alone if you are corrupt and expect no sympathy, mercy or protection from my office.”

Kenyans React to Philomena Mwilu’s Arrest

By Fay Ngina
Aug 28, 2018 at 15:06 EAT

Justice Philomena Mwilu arrested
SUMMARY
Supreme Court Judge Philomena Mwilu was arrested on Tuesday 28 August and taken to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for questioning over alleged graft

Supreme Court Judge Philomena Mwilu was arrested on Tuesday 28 August and taken to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for questioning over alleged graft.

Mwilu was picked up at the Supreme Court by detectives from the DCI following the collapse Imperial bank.
​
Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji later called for a press conference to address the matter.

Kenyans on social media took to social media and this is how some of the reacted to Mwilu’s arrest;
The arrest of a judge of the highest judicial office in Kenya; Supreme Court has been arrested. A revisit was promised and delivered.

Kenya Supreme Court Judge Targeted in Corruption Purge

By Mutuma Mathiu and John Kamau
Kenya Daily Nation

A Supreme Court judge faces imminent arrest and prosecution for corruption in a devastating and dramatic escalation of the government's campaign against graft.

The arrest of such a high-ranking judicial staff, unprecedented in Kenya's history, will be the culmination of weeks of investigations into brazen corruption at the Judiciary, and is likely to send shock waves throughout the institution.

The Nation has followed this case for months after it learnt that the judge had been reported by the Kenya Revenue Authority to the Director of Public Prosecutions over the suspicious movement of large sums of money in and out of bank accounts.

The Judiciary, supposed to be a citadel of virtue, seemed to have been spared in the current anti-corruption purge, which has mainly targeted the Executive wing of government and its parastatals.

Sources told the Nation that investigations on the judge have mainly revolved around transactions involving the collapsed Imperial Bank, and failure to pay taxes.

SH34 BILLION

There certainly were other lines of investigation, but we could not establish them by the time of publishing the story.

The Central Bank (CBK) appointed the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) as receivers of Imperial Bank in October 2015 following its collapse amid revelations that up to Sh34 billion of shareholder deposits had gone missing. The investigators had previously focused on the directors of the collapsed bank and some CBK officials.

The judge faces numerous counts of stealing, abuse of office and unlawful failure to pay taxes. Additionally, investigators claim that the judge has acted in contravention of the Leadership and Integrity Act by accepting a personal loan of Sh12 million from Imperial Bank.

PERSONAL BENEFIT

The judge is also accused of engaging in misconduct in furtherance of personal benefit. Prosecutors have discussed, on top of prosecuting, reporting the judge to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), possibly an indication of confidence in the evidence they have gathered.

The mandate of the JSC is to receive, investigate and resolve complaints against Judges under Article 168 of the Constitution.

Security around the investigation has been uncommonly tight, with routine office notes -- which reporters would ordinarily pilfer from sources or secretly photograph -- classified, and usually reliable sources appearing not to have the full picture.

The veil of discretion and caution over the case has also reflected its sensitivity: judges are highly respected and protected by the law. No institution, whether police, media, or prosecutors, would be willing to make allegations against a sitting judge of the Supreme Court without strong evidence.

SUPREME COURT

Added to that is the spectre of President Uhuru Kenyatta's threat to "revisit" the Judiciary after the Supreme Court voided his August 8 election victory in what Jubilee supporters thought were suspicious circumstances.

Chief Justice David Maraga, who heads the institution, has previously indicated that there will be no sacred cows, even within the corridors of justice, in the fight against corruption.

"I have no room for corrupt judicial officers," he warned in June this year. "Know that you are alone if you are corrupt and expect no sympathy, mercy or protection from my office."

Nation sources, while not senior, were almost uniformly confident that the investigation was complete, the legal analysis finished and the permission to prosecute by Mr Noordin Haji either already given, or highly likely to be granted.

Mr Haji did not return calls throughout the week. Efforts to reach him through an intermediary and an aide were equally unsuccessful, with the DPP being variously reported to be out of the country and "indisposed".

SECURITY

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, a wily media operator who served as police spokesman, did not return multiple calls early in the week.

Normally, when something big and secret is about to happen, talkative sources suddenly discover the value of tongue-tied discretion, bosses go underground, and there are lights on at night in normally sleepy and lethargic government offices.

When the Nation drove up to the high-rise block where the ODPP is housed and bluffed that it wanted to meet Mr Haji, the guards asked: "You have a meeting with him?" and cleared us through without hesitation. Our reporters were equally processed through building security and onto the floor where the DPP's guarded office is located. At the lifts, one of the country's top prosecutors was lugging a huge pile of files.

The corridor leading to the executive offices was a hive of activity, with armed security and aides flitting in and out of cubicles. Far from being "out of the country" and "indisposed" -- as the Nation had previously been told -- the DPP appeared to be not only at work, but also putting in some overtime. For an unwelcome reporter to try and penetrate this fortress is to risk a Bobi Wine moment. Our reporters, therefore, did not get the opportunity to interview Mr Haji.

WAR ON CORRUPTION

While the war on corruption is popular with the public, civil society is sceptical, with activists dismissing it as a "power grab" by the President. A section of Rift Valley politicians also see it as an attempt to weaken Deputy President William Ruto and block his path to the presidency by allegedly targeting his allies.

It is also pointed out that what has happened so far is nothing new; arrests have been carried out in the past without any successful prosecution.

However, the recent spate of investigations and prosecutions do seem to have the potential to change the country and have affected more senior people than any other crackdown since Anglo Leasing.

New Survey Provides Insight Into African-American History

Carter Giegerich 
Mountainer

A comprehensive study of historical cultural resources in Waynesville's African-American community will help guide the town's planning department, as town staff continue to work on a comprehensive development plan and several new projects around the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center.

During an Aug. 16, meeting at the center, residents heard the report from a recently completed study conducted by Asheville-based consultant Sybil Argintar. The study was put together in order to document existing and historical cultural resources relating to the African-American community in Waynesville. Argintar conducted numerous interviews and performed a survey of the remaining historical places related to the study during her time here.

“Part of the process was interviewing many people, and gathering oral histories,” she said. “From that, and from driving around with some of the older folks in the community, we were able to identify places where families lived in the community, as well as the cemetery, the two remaining churches, the Pigeon Street school – all of those kinds of resources.”

Argintar shared photos of existing structures throughout town, including a number of residences near the community center where black families have lived over the years and businesses owned by African-American families. She also talked about some of the challenges black families faced in Waynesville's earlier years – there were many obstacles to securing quality housing, for instance, and until the construction in 1948 of a black high school in Canton, African-American students were forced to travel to Asheville if they wanted to attend high school.

Community feedback

The historical survey will likely prove valuable to the town's planning department as they seek to create and improve public spaces in the vicinity of the community center.

“We're hoping information from that study can be incorporated into some signage or something similar to go into a pocket park we're working on,” said Waynesville development services director Elizabeth Teague. “We want to put a historic marker into the park, and we hope to work with the community and possibly the arts community to help develop that.”

The group assembled at the Pigeon community center also provided input to the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department and the Planning Department during the meeting, helping guide the development of an updated comprehensive plan for the town and a possible new park in the neighborhood. Teague said there was a wealth of input from the community about what they would like to see included in a new comprehensive plan.

“Some of the key themes that came up were affordable housing, and also looking at conservation of green space,” she said. “What are some creative ways we can work with property owners to incentivize preservation of green space, while still protecting property rights? That's a balancing act that is part local government, part private property owner.”

Plans for a park

A good deal of the feedback town staff received on Aug. 16 centered on plans for a park at the intersection of Craven Road and Calvary Street, just down the road from the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center. There was some discussion of trying to fit a basketball court into the relatively small footprint of the proposed park, but Teague said she hoped to explore alternative uses for the park while still meeting those demands from the community.

“It's not a very large area, and there is a group of young people who really want to see a basketball court incorporated,” she said. “But there's been some discussion of public use of an existing court behind the Pigeon Community Center, which is private property. We hope we can use some of the feedback we got to work out some kind of shared use agreement, so maybe they could allow the public to use the court during some hours.”

Any agreement of that sort, along with development of the proposed park, is still fairly far off, Teague said.

“We have to go out and price a larger pavilion, and then we're looking at whether the town can even enter into an agreement with the community center to allow public use of their basketball court,” she said. “That's sort of a legal question, with liability and everything. Then, also, if we can enter into an agreement then can we invest public funds into the center to provide some sort of covering on the court. Those are two big questions.”

Teague said the information they gathered from residents during the meeting is invaluable in making sure the entire town is served by the updated plan.

“There are some exciting things happening here,” Teague said. “The Pigeon center is such a great resource for the entire town and, as we start moving forward in our planning, we want to make sure we're including everybody.”

Arizona Sees Swell in Number of African-American Candidates

By MELISSA DANIELS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Aug 25, 2018, 12:41 PM ET

At least 30 African-Americans are running for offices in Arizona this year, a milestone that some political observers say is a result of increased engagement and a new pipeline of leadership.

State Rep. Reginald Bolding is one of two African-American lawmakers currently serving in Arizona's 90-person state Legislature. He and other political watchers say more African-American candidates are running compared to past cycles — and it presents the opportunity to more than double the number of African-Americans in the Legislature.

"I think a culmination of what's happening nationally, and what's happening locally, has really inspired people to say that this is a new day and a new era for African-American leadership," Bolding said, citing the successes of President Barack Obama, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

African-Americans make up about 4 percent of the population in Arizona, a state once noted in the late 1980s for its refusal to enact the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. In 1992, voters approved a ballot initiative creating the holiday.

Tuesday's Arizona primary finds African-American candidates running for seats on school boards, city councils and other local offices. Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans is running for re-election, and at least four people are vying for Justice of the Peace seats.

In the state Legislature, Bolding and state Rep. Geraldine Peten are seeking re-election.

Four Democrats and one Republican are seeking to join them in the state Legislature. On the federal level, Democrat Garrick McFadden is in three-way primary for Arizona's 6th Congressional District that covers eastern suburbs in Maricopa County.

"You have African Americans running all throughout the state of Arizona, not just south Phoenix where you've historically had African-Americans running," Bolding said.

Arizona has a population of about 7 million people, but only about 287,000, or 4 percent, are black, according to 2016 data from the American Community Survey. The state's Native American population is comparable at 296,000. About 2 million residents are Hispanic or Latino and 3.8 million are white, the data shows.

Bolding said African-Americans in Arizona have become increasingly engaged in political issues in the state over the past several years. He pointed to many people of color who canvassed for the minimum wage ballot initiative that passed last year, and those who have supported bond overrides in school districts.

Marcus Ferrell is one of seven candidates in a competitive Democratic primary for a state House seat representing parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Almost half the residents are people of color, but Ferrell says a person of color has never represented the seat.

Ferrell, who was the national African-American outreach director for Sen. Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaign, said it's increasingly important to mobilize communities of color and run more diverse candidates as the state changes demographics.

"If it's going to hurt a marginalized community, you can guarantee it's going to affect black people in Arizona," he said. "If cuts are made to a program, you can guarantee it's going to hit the black community."

Kiana Sears, a statewide candidate who is running for one of two seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission, joined Ferrell and four other African-American candidates at a forum in early August. She told the group one of her top priorities is helping to ensure Arizona increases its renewable energy portfolio, citing higher rates of asthma among African-American children. The commission regulates electric utilities, water companies, railroad safety and securities.

Sears says she was the first African-American elected to the school board of the state's largest school district in Mesa. She hopes that her statewide candidacy can inspire others to run for office, regardless of their background.

"I don't want to be that anomaly. I don't want to be that unique," she said. "After I've run and more have come along, I can say 'Oh, when we talk about that first, I was the first of the next 20 who are now sitting in those positions.'"

The majority of African-Americans running for office are Democrats. State Democrat chair Felecia Rotellini says the party has worked to reach out to communities of color across the state by locating offices in communities like south Phoenix, south Tucson and Nogales.

"I believe that's one of our greatest advantages as a party, that we are so inclusive that everybody has a voice," she said.

In the Republican primaries, Walter Blackman, a military veteran, is seeking a state House seat in a rural district. If elected in November, Blackman said he believes he'll be the first black Republican elected into the Arizona House.

As a black conservative, he said he's received criticism from Democrats over his support for Republican President Donald Trump — including once when he wore a "Make America Great Again" hat.

"It's disheartening, being a black American, when I get treated poorly because of what I believe and my principals," he said.

Blackman grew up in a military family and says he's held onto conservative values throughout his life. Blackman said he was motivated to seek office in Arizona as a way to continue his public service and provide strong leadership for his community.

"I believe everyone wants their family safe, they want their kids to have a good education, and you want to live in a community that's safe," he said. "I don't think it really matters if there's an 'R' or a 'D' behind your name."