FILE - Ethiopian government soldiers ride in the back of a truck on a road near Agula, north of Mekelle, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on May 8, 2021.
The African Union has invited representatives of Ethiopia’s government and leaders of the northern Tigray region for peace talks in South Africa later this week to end the nearly two-year-old civil war that has devastated the region.
The October 1 letter from Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union Commission, said the talks would be facilitated by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU’s special envoy, with the support of former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
The letter said the talks are “aimed at laying the foundation for a structured and sustained mediation” between the two sides “towards a durable resolution of the conflict.”
Redwan Hussein, the national security adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said Wednesday that the government had accepted the AU’s invitation in a post on his Twitter account.
Hussein said the invitation “is [in line] with our principled position regarding the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the need to have talks without preconditions.”
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front has not confirmed if Debretsion Gebremichael, the head of the TPLF, has received the letter or accepted the invitation.
The conflict in Tigray between the Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF began in November 2020 when Ethiopian government with its allied forces launched what it termed a "law enforcement operation," a military offensive in response to attacks by the TPLF.
The TPLF accuses neighboring Eritrea of joining the renewed fighting and deploying its forces to Tigray where they have been previously accused of committing war crimes. Eritrean officials deny the allegations.
The conflict quickly exploded into a civil war which, along with looming famine, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions of others. Source: VOA
Former Standard Media CEO Sam Shollei gives an address at a past event. FILE
Former Standard Group CEO Sam Shollei will be smiling all the way to the bank after he won Ksh45 million for abrupt firing.
Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Hellen Wasilwa, on Tuesday, October 4, directed a local brewer to pay Shollei, who served as its MD for a year, the money after relieving him of his duties.
The court ruled that no sufficient reasons were provided to the former executive before he was shown the door by his former employer in 2018.
Shollei, according to the ruling, was also not given a notice before he was fired after just serving for one year at the company.
An image of a legal scale and a gavel. FILE
“As provided under Section 45(2) of the Employment Act, the termination of the contract was unfair and unjustified,” the court ruled.
Reports indicated that his firing was influenced by a critical letter he wrote to the company's board that did not seat well with its top management.
In the ruling, Judge Wasilwa awarded him Ksh25 million as a 10-month salary for the unfair firing as well as an additional pay of Ksh4.5 million to cover his unutilised leave.
He was also awarded Ksh5.5 million in gratuity among others.
Shollei had sued the brewer demanding Ksh75 million on the basis that it did not follow disciplinary process before terminating him.
He had a storied career at the helm of Kenya's largest companies including the five years he served atop the Standard Group - PLC.
Shollei joined the Mombasa Road-based media giant in September 2012 and resigned in 2017.
He led the media outlet through some turbulent times and oversaw the launch of KTN News, a 24-hour channel that became among the three most watched TV stations.
File image of a court gavel FILE By Derrick Okubasu, Kenyans.co.ke
A collage of Uganda president Yoweri Museveni (left), President William Ruto (center) and US president Joe Biden (right)
FILE
"AGOA has been an amazing success story. Just recently the US was announced as Kenya's largest export market. We were number two and now we are number one and this is majorly due to AGOA," she explained.
At the end of September 2022, the United States overtook Uganda to be Kenya's leading export market.
According to Whitman, since the implementation of the Act, parallel export to the US increased drastically.
A file image of Business mogul and US ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman COURTESY
"AGOA has been an amazing success story. Just recently the US was announced as Kenya's largest export market. We were number two and now we are number one and this is majorly due to AGOA," she explained.
"I am not a career diplomat I am a career woman. I went to MAS Intimates and met very young Kenyans working at the factory. It was exciting working with the young population. It give you a sense of belonging," she remarked.
Notably, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), had pleaded with the US government to extend the AGOA agreement.
"With unemployment and under-employment challenges in Kenya at a record high, the contribution of AGOA to creating job opportunities cannot be underestimated," KAM stated. Uncertainty looms as the AGOA agreement is set to expire in 2025. BY Maureen Njeri. Kenyans.co.ke
President Yoweri Museveni has fired his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba as the commander of Land Forces, a day after he caused a diplomatic storm when he threatened to capture Kenya within two weeks. After dropping him, he promoted him to General, the highest rank in the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).
Muhoozi is replaced by Maj Gen Kayanja Muhanga, the current commander of Operation Shujaa who has since been promoted to Lt Gen, according to a statement from the UPDF. Muhoozi announced through his official handle, @mkainerugaba that he was on a mission to raze colonial borders and capture Nairobi.
The tweets which covered feeds since last evening sparked an online rage between Ugandans and Kenyans. Early this afternoon, the ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reaffirming that Uganda treasures the existing strong bilateral relations between Uganda and Kenya based on the shared history between the two countries, common values, mutual respect, trust and the desire to build a unified East African Community.
The ministry added that the government of Uganda does not conduct its foreign policy and other official business through social media nor depend on social media sources in dealing with other sovereign governments.
While the discussion ensued, Muhoozi tweeted that he had held a discussion with his father Museveni and informed him that the younger East Africans have decided to make East Africa one nation. He however added that they had agreed on some changes, which would be announced later in the day.
“…Had a good discussion with my great father this morning. Apparently, my tweets scared Kenyans too much. He will announce the changes. There is a special prayer I shall make for our army,” Muhoozi said.
He added that during the discussion, he told his father that the younger East Africans have decided that they will be one nation and no amount of threats will stop them from that goal. Muhoozi has since edited his Twitter handle and removed the position of commander of Land forces. He has now replaced it with senior presidential advisor/special operations. It is not the first time Muhoozi's tweets are setting him on a clashing path with his father.
In April this year, during Muhoozi's birthday celebrations which were attended by Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Museveni publicly attacked his son and said his tweets might cause diplomatic troubles with other countries. President Kagame offered to edit Muhoozi's tweets before he posts.
Although Ugandans took Muhoozi's tweets about capturing Kenya as a joke, a large section of Kenyans seem to have taken them seriously with several politicians calling on President William Ruto, a close ally with Museveni to make a statement. Ruto brushed the tweets off and said they were the usual jokes Muhoozi usually makes on Twitter. After his sacking, Muhoozi has instead accelerated his Kenya tweets. - URN/The Observer
The King will welcome Cyril Ramaphosa and First Lady Dr Tshepo Motsepe to Buckingham Palace at the end of November, in a visit originally suggested during the late Queen's reign.
Over three days, the Royal family will roll out the red carpet for South African guests, with a full state dinner and speeches included.
The King and Queen Consort will be joined by other senior members of the Royal family to welcome Mr Ramaphosa, with the Prince and Princess of Wales likely to be included.
The visit, from Nov 22 to 24, is the first state visit since the Covid-19 pandemic and has come at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
It is likely to have been chosen in part because of South Africa’s membership of the Commonwealth.
The King has replaced his late mother as the new head of Commonwealth and taken a leading role in encouraging member countries to remain in the “family of nations”, despite debates about the legacy of colonialism and calls for republicanism in the Caribbean realms.
The visit is understood to have been in the planning stages while the late Queen was alive, with King Charles inheriting the responsibility.
It comes three years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made an official visit to South Africa, also at the request of the Foreign Office, which started in glory and ended in tears.
But the trip is now best remembered for its last few days, in which the Duchess launched legal action against a UK newspaper and the Duke issued a scathing condemnation of the tabloid press.
Soon afterwards, ITV broadcast an interview in which a tearful Meghan relayed her unhappiness during the tour, saying “not many people have asked if I’m OK”.
They could instead be invited to sleep at Windsor Castle or Clarence House, which the King is currently using as his main London home.
The last state visit was from Donald Trump in 2019, when he was president of the United States. He and his wife stayed with the US ambassador and made visits to both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle for a series of events with the wider Royal family.
Before that, in 2018, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were able to stay in the London palace during their own successful trip.
The late Queen had a long relationship with South Africa, visiting in 1947, 1995 and 1999 - and she had a warm friendship with Nelson Mandela, who used to call her “Elizabeth”.
The King has visited South Africa on a number of occasions since his first tour of the country in 1997, which included Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
His last trip was in 2011 when, along with the Queen Consort, he carried out engagements including a speech on climate change at the University of Cape Town and a visit to the Black Rhino Range expansion project in Phinda Game Reserve.
They also attended the Nelson Mandela Foundation, where they were received by Graca Machel, the former president’s widow.
The King was also present at Mr Mandela’s funeral in 2013, remarking the world would be a “poorer place without him” and that he was owed “an enormous debt of gratitude for what he’s managed to achieve with his life”.
The King and the Queen Consort, then the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, also welcomed Jacob Zuma at the start of a state visit by the former South African president in 2010.
It comes as Mr Ramaphosa denies allegations of money laundering that threaten his position at the heart of Africa’s most developed economy. By Hannah Furness, Telegraph
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