East Africa

East Africa

Details: East Africa; 02 April 2023; 672

When formerr U.S President Barack Obama visited his grandmother Mama Sarah Obama in Kogelo in 1987. [File, Standard]

Former US President Barack Obama is resettling in Kenya for at least a year as Special Envoy for US Diplomacy (SED), a deployment which he said “makes me truly grateful as I pay tribute to the land of my father- and forefathers”.

Nominated by President Joe Biden, who was Obama’s Vice President between 2009 and 2016, the former president, codenamed “Renegade”, was confirmed by The US Senate, which is increasingly exploring the possibility of sending retired Presidents to countries of their ancestry.

Obama is expected to jet into the country on June 13 for what his team calls “a reconnaissance trip”, has indicated his desire to set up an office outside the capital Nairobi when he finally lands.

This, he says, will help him better understand devolution and promote coordination among counties before he can seek an enhanced diplomatic partnership between Kenya and the US.

With speculators saying property prices could triple within no time, mooted counties of his stay initially included Siaya, which is the home to Alego, in which sits Kogelo village, where his grandmother (and extended family) have lived for years.

Others were Kajiado, due to its proximity to Nairobi, Lamu and Mandera, where he was expected to see firsthand the intermittent threat of The Al Shabaab, thus better advising the US on best, and prompt, actions to take.

**When former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama** **arrived for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2021.** [File, Standard]

But it is increasingly appearing that Obama could settle in Nyeri with locals noticing a grand, highly secured, ultramodern block, cryptically labelled "Yad Sloof Lirpa" whose use the county government could not disclose, coming up behind Governor Mutahi Kahiga’s official residence. The term is an old time slogan associated with alma mater, Occidental College, Columbia University.

Obama will, however, spend much of his time in Nairobi, where he is expected to shoot his much anticipated documentary “In The Land of My Father”, enlisting, in part, Morgan Freeman and Sir David Attenborough for the narration.

“It has been my lifetime dream to come back to Kenya and to do what our diplomats do here. This is the start of my new, exciting life as a moviemaking expat,” he said, to delirious laughter, in a dinner organised in his honour by The White House last week yesterday.

It is not clear if Obama will be accompanied by his wife Michelle, but sources close to him can confirm that his daughters Malia and Sasha will be in the country and might, for the first time ever, engage in high-level political meetings

**When former President Barack Obama met with Raila Odinga when he visted Kenya.**[File, Standard]

Obama’s team has said that he is interested in working with local filmmakers and has started reaching out to interested parties to send samples of their work, alongside other professional details.

The Obama mission is believed to have been his own initiative after his 2015 visit to Kenya as president.

His inner circle says that he was “truly impressed” by the potential Kenya has politically and economically and negotiated with President Biden to have this deployment.

“It would have come earlier during (Donald) Trump’s administration but look, that would have been dramatic,” David Axelrod, Obama’s former strategist, said. “He would have been ridiculed by the 45th.”

It is believed the plans to send Obama to Kenya were solidified during President William Ruto’s US December visit, and the subsequent Dr Jill Biden visit to Kenya earlier this year.

Hawk-eyed papparazzi have already spotted Secret Service agents in some of the city’s most expensive haunts, and two Cadillac Escalades spotted at Villa Rosa Kempinski Sunday afternoon further gave credence to early speculation of a top global leader’s expected presence.

Meanwhile, Kenya may explore the possibility of Obama immediately talking to opposition leader Raila Odinga over the ongoing anti-government protests.
Top leadership believes Obama could prevail over the opposition, with an insider saying: “Obama could stop the sun with his words and could calm the ocean with his hands.” By Peter Theuri, The Standard

Details: East Africa; 02 April 2023; 442

Photo collage of KTN News cameraman Hebrone Kinyoda and a reporter preparing to cover Thursday, March 30, 2023, protests.

FACEBOOK - CANVA/ HEBRONE KINYODA

Media Stakeholders on Sunday, April 2, revealed an alleged plan by the government to shut down broadcast media and the internet across the country ahead of the Azimio-led protests on Monday, April 3.

Speaking to the press, Kenya Editor’s Guild President Churchill Otieno Issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to issue a statement on the attack on journalists by the police on Thursday, March 30.

Further, he stated that there was an increasing wave of attacks on journalists both online and offline adding that journalists were additionally targeted by police officers since the Azimio mass protests began on March 20.

Churchill warned against the profiling of journalists by Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and the Inspector General of Police.

“This would be most ill-advised and a grievous assault on Kenya’s democracy because it denies the Kenyan public their right to information. Taking this route will sink us all as a country.

“We have documented more than 20 cases of attacks and violations against journalists by law enforcement officers including harassment, arbitrary arrests, and physical attacks,” Churchill stated.

Further, the Executive Director of the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Patience Nyange called upon Independent Policing Oversight Authority(IPOA) to address the nation on the status of the investigation of police brutality against journalists.

She called on the government to compensate journalists covering the protests including paying for their medical treatment and replacing the destroyed equipment.

“Failure to which media houses will consider blocking out the coverage of government events. Journalists must be provided with proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs),” She noted.

The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor announced that journalists would hold demonstrations on Wednesday, April 5, if any journalist will be attacked during protests on Monday, April 3.

“We are calling on journalists all over the country to come out in large numbers and protest if tomorrow there will be cases of attacks against journalists.

"We will hold the head of police Japhet Koome individually responsible if there will be any attacks on journalists or if any equipment will be destroyed,” Oduor affirmed.

A photo collage of a police officer captured lobbying tear gas into a car ferrying journalists (left) and NTV Cameraman Erick Isinta after receiving treatment on March 30, 2023. By Joy Kwama, Kenyans.co.ke

Details: East Africa; 01 April 2023; 469

South Sudan will address the border issues with Kenya and Uganda diplomatically, the speaker of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, said. Nunu added that this is one of the resolutions reached during the 13^th plenary conference for the Great Lakes Region that is expected to end today, in Juba.

The 12 countries that form the Great Lakes Region are currently in the country for a conference to address common challenges like insecurity that is plaguing the region.

Nunu said the country will soldier on with the implementation of the peace agreement.

She added that most conflicts in South Sudan are communal and that parliament will need to address them.

“Most of the current conflicts in South Sudan are civilian related and have taken on an ethnic or communal dimension, such as cattle rating, abduction, and pastoralists and farmers,” she said.

“We are ready to address the challenges facing the Great Lakes Region since South Sudan is among the conflict areas,” Nunu added.

However, vice president Dr. James Wani Igga also pledged the South Sudan’s commitment to implementing the resolution with the help of its parliament.

“South Sudan will continue to play its role in the region and increase its participation in the regional bodies such as the parliamentary forum,” he said.

He stressed that the conference is taking place at a time when most parts of the Great Lakes Region have been affected by conflict and need solutions.

“We will look forward to seeing how we can implement the resolution in the shortest term possible.”

Dr. Igga added that insecurity has made the environment unsafe for people, hence forcing them to take refuge, saying the resolution will be the first step of peace in South Sudan.

“We are ready to end the suffering of the people of South Sudan; it’s time for peace implementation,” he added.

He appreciated the members for coming up with a resolution to the conflict in the Great Lakes region. By Jennifer James, City Review

Details: East Africa; 01 April 2023; 537

As noted, the Ugandan troops joining EACRF crossed the Uganda-DR Congo border to deploy in Bunagana, Kiwanja and Mabenthe zones within Rutshuru, "marking a critical milestone and the final phase towards full deployment of the EACRF."

They will oversee M23's sequenced withdrawal, protect civilians and open Bunagana-Goma main supply route.

Bunagana, a major Congolese town at the border with Uganda, fell into the arms of the M23 rebels in June 2022, threatening the passage of goods to Goma, the capital of DR Congo's North Kivu province.

The Ugandan army (UPDF) leadership, on March 29, flagged off a contingent dispatched to eastern DR Congo and Uganda became the third country to contribute to the regional force, after Kenya and Burundi. The Ugandan soldiers officially joined the regional force on Friday.

ALSO READ: Museveni explains Uganda’s troop deployment to DR Congo

In a March 30 statement, President Yoweri Museveni – who was responding to media reports that claimed that the Ugandan troops would fight the rebels fighting the Congolese government forces in North Kivu – said that the UPDF will support the peace plan agreed between the Congolese government and the M23, including the rebels’ withdrawal.

He said the soldiers would act as “a neutral force as the Congolese use the time to sort out their political problems.”

Not there to fight

Museveni said UPDF’s initial mission is to occupy some of the positions that the M23 rebels already handed over to the East African Force as a neutral force, “instead of the Congolese Army which the M-23 see as enemies or armed opponents in their internal politics.”

Museveni stated: “We are, therefore, going to the Bunagana-Rutshuru area, not in order to fight the M-23, but to act as a neutral force as the Congolese use the time to sort out their political problems.

“Unless we are attacked, we are not there to fight. Fighting may come later if one of the non-state armed groups does not accept peace on what we all regard as reasonable conditions.”

The regional force was first deployed in November 2022.

It is mandated to support efforts to stabilize eastern DR Congo, a region rich in mineral resources and home to more than 130 local and foreign armed groups including the FDLR, a terrorist group sanctioned by the Security Council in 2013.

ALSO READ: DR Congo: Burundi troops taking over M23 positions significant milestone, says regional force

Ever since its deployment, the regional force took control of positions vacated by the M23 rebels as par the November 23, 2022 Luanda agreement signed by regional leaders in the Angolan capital.

While in Luanda in November 2022, regional leaders expressed concern about “the persistence of negative and terrorist forces” in the eastern DR Congo, which they noted, “constitutes a threat to peace, security, and stability in the sub-region.” They decided that all local and foreign armed groups should put down weapons.

In particular, three foreign armed groups, FDLR from Rwanda, RED-Tabara from Burundi, and the ADF from Uganda, were mentioned.

Handle eastern DR Congo problem politically

Museveni said peace talks between the M23 and the Congolese government have been going on and “should continue so that the problem is handled politically.

Despite its gains in persuading the M23 to withdraw, the regional force faces pressure from Congolese politicians and civil society who want it to battle the M23 rebels.

Although Kinshasa maintains that the regional force’s mandate is ‘unequivocally offensive,’ for Museveni, the EAC heads of state would “have to mandate us to fight if one of the stakeholders refuses to implement the peace agreement we have agreed on.”

“That, however, is not the case now,” he said.

The Kenyan General commanding the regional force, Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, in November 2022, said that a military solution would be the last option.

Under a bilateral mechanism with Kinshasa, Uganda already has troops in DR Congo’s Ituri province, where they are fighting the ADF, a Ugandan militia responsible for various human rights abuses both in Uganda and in DR Congo.

Museveni said the Ugandan troops in Ituri had “seriously degraded ADF” and that Congolese farmers were able to harvest their Cocoa for the first time in many years.

By Moise M. Bahati, The New Times

Details: East Africa; 01 April 2023; 470

People cast their ballots at the Delta Hotel on voting day for the 2021 Canadian election in Montreal, Quebec on September 20, 2021. [Courtesy VOA]

Allegations are mounting that China may have interfered in Canada’s most recent federal elections to favor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party. One Conservative candidate near Vancouver says a deliberate misinformation campaign led to his defeat in 2021.

Kenny Chiu, a member of Canada’s Conservative Party, was elected as member of Parliament for Steveston Richmond-East in 2019. His suburban Vancouver district has a population that is just over 50% ethnic Chinese. In the next election 22 months later, he was defeated by the Liberal Party candidate, who is now the current MP for the constituency.

The 2021 contest saw the Liberal Party improve its numbers in the district by roughly 1,800 votes compared to 2019. Votes for Chiu, on the other hand, dropped by more than 4,400 compared to the previous election.

Beyond the numbers, Chiu noticed a difference in how he was received by voters while campaigning in 2021. He says, in 2019, people were quite welcoming and engaged him in conversation. Not so in 2021.

“Some of them were obviously disturbed, frustrated, and yet some of them are even showing signs of being angry,” Chiu recounted. “And at the time, I was quite puzzled. What was that all about? Because, I mean, again, it's only been 22 months and it's during a pandemic.”

Chiu, who was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada, said he later found out through Disinfo Watch, Quebec-based McGill University and the Atlantic Council that he was smeared by a disinformation campaign that sought to influence ethnic Chinese voters. He said false rumors started spreading online and on the Chinese instant messaging app WeChat, that the Conservative Party and Chiu himself were going to ban the platform in Canada.

WeChat is the only messaging service that many in Canada’s Chinese community can use to communicate with friends and family in China.

Chiu remembered some of the specific rumors: “'He is anti-Chinese. He hates Chinese. He's a traitor.’”

“And all these labels are leveled on me personally,” Chiu said. “There's also been articles written saying that the Conservatives are anti-China, that Erin O'Toole, the Conservative leader back then, is going to ban WeChat.”

Not everyone sees a conspiracy. Longtime Liberal Party activist Mark Marissen, who has run several campaigns at the federal, provincial and local level, points out the 2021 Conservative campaign and then-leader Erin O’Toole did, in fact, take a harder line against China.

“There was a real opposition amongst many people within the community to the way that O'Toole was campaigning about China,” Marissen told VOA.

Kareem Allam, who has run several campaigns for Conservative candidates, said, going forward, there should be more scrutiny by entities like CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, of possible election meddling from abroad.

“But if I have a concern about a candidate, potentially with regards to foreign interference related matters, CSIS is legally bound to not report on any Canadian nationals,” Allam explained. “And if you're running for Canadian office, you have to be a Canadian citizen. So there's no way for me to clear whether this person — who could end up being a member of parliament who could end up being a cabinet minister.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who leads Canada’s Liberal Party, has appointed former Governor General David Johnston as a “special rapporteur” to investigate whether a formal inquiry into election meddling is needed. His report is due by the end of May. VOA