Kenya has been handed the right to host the World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally every year until 2026. This was announced yesterday by President Uhuru Kenyatta after the country’s successfully lobbied for the hosting rights following a smooth event last year. 

The organisation of last year’s event which was returning to the WRC calendar after a two-decade absence was awarded an ‘A’ rating, a factor for the assurance of four more years.

Last year’s event was won by Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier is believed to have contributed Sh6 billion shillings to the Kenyan economy. This year’s race is also set to be held in Naivasha and will be between June 23 and 26.

Meanwhile, WRC legend Sebastien Loeb is bracing for a grand comeback to next month’s Safari Rally in Naivasha for the first time in two decades.  

The Frenchman has a sentimental attachment to the picturesque Great Rift Valley terrain where he finished fifth in the 2002 WRC Inmarsat Safari Rally navigated by Daniel Elena in a Citroën Xsara WRC. 

The nine-time WRC champion made a comeback to top tier rallying during January’s WRC Monte Carlo Rally where he beat rival and compatriot Ogier to score an 80th career win.

Loeb is tackling his first gravel rally of the 2022 season in an M-Sport Ford Puma in Portugal this weekend where he joined a strong field of 12 Rally1 hybrid entries.

In Kenya, the legendary driver will renew his rivalry with Safari’s defending champion and eight-time world champion Ogier who is in the Toyota Gazoo Racing lineup for Safari.  Loeb is part of a six-car M-Sport World Rally Team lineup for Safari alongside Briton Gus Greensmith, Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux, Craig Breen of Ireland, Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) and Belgian Jourdan Serderdis.

Loeb told www.autosport.com this week: “The first feeling in the Puma on gravel at our test was quite good, I was quite happy with the feeling I had as we worked on the suspension and the differential setups,” said Loeb, who is also set to participate in the WRC’s 50th season celebrations this weekend.  

Loeb is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He won the world championship a record 9 times in a row and holds several other WRC records, including most event wins, most podium finishes and most stage wins.

Loeb retired from full-time WRC participation at the end of 2012. He currently drives part time in the WRC for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team,  full time in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for Bahrain Raid Xtreme and full time in the Extreme E Championship for Team X44.

Originally a gymnast, Loeb switched to rallying in 1995 and won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001.

He was signed by the Citroën World Rally Team for the 2002 season, and together with co-driver, Elena racked up their maiden WRC win that same year at the Rallye Deutschland.

After finishing runner-up to Petter Solberg by one point in 2003, Loeb took his first driver's title in 2004.

Still, with Citroën, Loeb went on to take a record ninth consecutive world title in 2012. Loeb is a tarmac expert, having won all but three of the WRC rallies on that surface in which he has participated between 2005 and 2013.

In 2018, Loeb won the Spanish round of that year’s World Rally Championship, in a rare entry six years after his retirement as a full-time WRC driver.

WRC Safari Rally Kenya is being sponsored by KCB Bank Kenya and Toyota Kenya among others. The event will revolve around Nairobi and Naivasha covering a total distance of 1226.23km between June 23 and 27.

Shakedown returns to Ndulele Conservancy on June 22. The Super Special Stage also returns to Kasarani on June 23 where WRC crews will recce in their Rally 1 hybrids.

By Edwin Otieno, PD

Cyanika border post, a crossing point between Rwanda and Uganda. While free movement of people between Rwanda and Uganda has resumed, there is still restriction on imports from Uganda. PHOTO | FILE | NMG/Photo Courtesy 

Rwanda says it is reviewing its trade list with Uganda before its goods can be allowed on its market, almost four months after opening its main border.

While free movement of people between the countries has resumed, there is still restriction on imports from Uganda.

This week, Rwanda’s Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente told a press briefing that the process of reviewing the trade list is almost complete and the goods will soon be allowed in the market subject to quality checks. 

The review was necessary because Rwanda wants to enforce quality as well as protect local manufacturers who had started producing some goods that were previously imported from Uganda, he said.

Ugandan products, the PM said, must comply with the set standards on the Rwandan market.

“What I can possibly say is that trade between the two countries will resume very soon,” Dr Ngirente said on Wednesday after the launch of the second phase of the Economic Recovery Fund (ERF). 

Ugandan importers and exporters will be required to apply for a licence from the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for industrial- manufactured products and Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition, and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA) for agricultural products. 

“Rwanda is investing in developing its local manufacturing sector, including the promotion of Made in Rwanda products. That's why we are regulating importation of goods,” Theobald Habiyaremye, the FDA division manager for Foods and Drugs Import and Export, told The EastAfrican.

Cement was one of Uganda’s top exports to Rwanda before the common border was closed.

However, over the last two years, Rwanda turned to importing cement from Tanzania and Kenya in addition to setting up one more local factory.

Currently, there are two existing local cement makers, Cimerwa and Prime cement, which have an annual installed capacity of 600,000 metric tonnes each.

Hima Cement Uganda, one of the top cement exporters to Rwanda, recently told The EastAfrican that their exports to Rwanda have not resumed though there are ongoing discussions to resume exports.

“We are currently not yet exporting to Rwanda but we are resuming soon. We have, however, already sent a verification team to Rwanda, which will help inform our decision,” said Caroline Kezaabu, the company’s communication manager. Other commodities are aluminium, maize, soap, electricity, pharmaceutical products, and fuel.

Uganda’s Ministry of Trade estimated that Uganda lost over $200 million in export earnings to Rwanda because of the border closure, leaving a major dent since formal exports to Rwanda comprised 5.8 per cent of Uganda’s merchandise exports in 2018. By ELIE MUTANGANA, The East African

US Marines at Baledogle Military Airfield in Somalia in 2020 (Credit: Cpl. Patrick Crosley) Photo Courtesy Cpl. Patrick Crosley

The Biden administration has ordered the redeployment of 450 US soldiers to Somalia at the request of the Pentagon. Government officials state the decision is aimed at countering the advances of the Islamist group al-Shabab, which controls much of the countryside in southern and central Somalia.

Biden’s decision is a reversal of a Trump administration order to remove 700 US soldiers from the country and deploy them to neighboring countries in January 2021. Trump portrayed the action as part of his campaign promise to roll back US involvement in “forever wars,” though US troops continued to conduct military activities inside of Somalia from their new bases in neighboring Kenya and Djibouti.

The stated goal of the redeployment is to target a dozen leaders of al-Shabab, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US government, and to “maximize the safety and effectiveness of our forces and enable them to provide more efficient support to our partners,” according to Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council in an interview with the New York Times.

Al-Shabab has been engaged in military confrontations with the central Somali government for over 15 years and has been the target of repeated US military operations and airstrikes. Having consolidated control over large parts of the country, the organization is believed to have 5,000 to 10,000 armed fighters and close ties to Al Qaeda.

Several deadly bombings have been linked to the group, including a truck bombing in the capital Mogadishu in 2017 that killed at least 587 people.

Capitalizing on the violent tactics and Islamist ideology of al-Shabab and other groups, the United States has used the threat of terrorism to justify military involvement in the impoverished East African country for 30 years. According to CNN, a senior Biden administration official argued that al-Shabab had the “intent and capability to target Americans.”

However, it should be noted such concern for the safety of American citizens was not shown to the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a dual US and Palestinian citizen assassinated by Israeli forces last week.

The United States has been militarily involved in Somalia since 1992 when it ostensibly deployed troops to protect United Nations aid workers. George H. W. Bush deployed 25,000 US troops to the country that had descended into fierce conflict between rival clans after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Bush and Clinton administrations understood the strategic importance of Somalia for controlling trade through the Suez Canal and Red Sea. Up to $700 billion in maritime shipping passes by Somalia every year, encompassing nearly all trade between Europe and Asia. Seeking to establish US control over the region amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US imperialism sought to impose its domination through military force.

The campaign resulted in disaster, however, when the Battle of Mogadishu ended in the deaths of 19 US soldiers and hundreds of Somalis, including civilians, in October 1993. Better known as the “Black Hawk Down” incident, the failure of the US to control local warlords resulted in a drawback of direct US involvement.

For the next 15 years US imperialism took on a reserved role in Somali politics. However, the rise of al-Shabab in the mid-2000s prompted the US to steadily increase its military involvement throughout the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. Obama authorized multiple airstrikes against top al-Shabab leaders and the Trump administration increased troop deployments up to 700 soldiers before announcing his plan to withdraw them.

Significantly, reporting of Biden’s decision corresponds with the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as president of Somalia, who was sworn in this Monday.

Returning for a second term after his previous term from 2012 to 2017, Mohamud’s election ends a 15 month period of crisis after outgoing President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmaajo attempted to extend his term by two years, throwing the country into further violent clashes between rival clans and political groups.

Farmaajo was defeated by Mohamud by a vote of 110 to 214 in the legislature. Somalia’s elections do not include the 15 million people who live in the country. Instead, clan elders select delegates to represent them in parliamentary elections. The parliament then elects the president itself without any direct input from the general populace. Effectively, only 101 people have the right to vote in federal elections.

Mohamud is a member of the Hawiye, one of the five largest and most politically influential clans in Somalia. He also leads the Union for Peace and Development Party, which currently controls a majority in both legislative chambers, securing his victory.

In an insult to the very concept of democracy, the US State Department issued a statement congratulating “the people of Somalia on the conclusion of their national electoral process.” It continued by congratulating Mohamud on his election and encouraged him to “prioritize strengthening democratic governance and institutions.” How Mohamud is supposed to strengthen something that does not exist is unclear.

Despite claiming to be defending democracy in Ukraine, the United States is not concerned with democracy in Somalia as long as its leaders are beholden to its imperialist aims. Mohamud was voted out of office in 2017 due to the intense levels of corruption and political infighting. Despite this, his return to office was facilitated by the United States, which took action to sanction Somali officials by restricting visas on the grounds that they were “undermining the democratic process in the country.”

International donors also threatened to withdraw $400 million in loans from the International Monetary Fund unless Farmaajo ceased his efforts to stall new elections.

The US now has its favored puppet, but it will not solve the intense social crisis in Somalia. Severe drought and decades of war have displaced hundreds of thousands and left 6 million people in acute food insecurity, including 1.4 million children. The US/NATO war against Russia in Ukraine has worsened the situation in Somalia, which relies on exports from both countries for 90 percent of its wheat supply.

Such conditions are what allow al-Shabab to persist, even thrive, despite regular attacks by the US, Somali government and African Union forces.

Al-Shabab has consolidated its power to operate effectively as its own state. It collects taxes, runs its own courts, organized a COVID-19 medical care site and has even issued a ban on single-use plastic bags in areas it occupies. According to Omar Mahmood, a senior Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group, al-Shabab is now often capable of “providing services that are more competitive than the federal government.”

The fact that US imperialism is not concerned with even attempting to alleviate these conditions is shown by the fact that three successive administrations have conducted military operations within Somalia without any clearly stated plan or end goal. Now US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is calling for a “persistent US military presence in Somalia” indicating that the US does not intend to leave anytime soon.

The ultimate goal of the US is to strengthen its hold on the geostrategic region in its pursuit of a confrontation with China. Should war with China break out, the US could use Somalia as a chokepoint for shutting down Chinese trade through the Suez Canal to Europe. The claims of countering al-Shabab is merely conducive to this end.  By Alex Findijs, WSWS.org