East Africa

East Africa

Details: East Africa; 10 May 2021; 857

PARIS: Climate change is set to devastate Kenya’s tea production as the world’s largest exporter faces rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and insect infestations, according to analysis released yesterday. Tea is the world’s most consumed drink after water and disruption in supply from the east African nation is predicted to have a global impact.

A report from the charity Christian Aid outlined the various threats Kenya faces to its key black tea crop, as well as the dangers that other countries are likely to encounter as the planet continues to warm. Citing a peer-reviewed study, the report said that the quadruple threat of rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, droughts and new insect infestations are forecast to destroy 26.2 percent of the country’s optimal tea growing areas by 2050.

And climate change is expected to reduce the areas with medium quality growing conditions by nearly 40 percent in the same time frame. “For generations we have carefully cultivated our tea farms and we are proud that the tea that we grow here is the best in the world,” said Richard Koskei, a tea farmer from Kenya’s western highlands. “But climate change poses a real threat to us. We cannot predict seasons anymore, temperatures are rising, and rainfall is more erratic.”

Karimi Kinoti, head of Christian Aid’s Africa division, said tea was just another example of how people living in countries least responsible for the climate crisis are bearing the heaviest burden. “Africans make up 17 percent of the world’s population but we generate just four percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that have caused the climate crisis,” she said. “And yet it is we who are suffering the brunt of the impacts of climate change.”

‘World will be watching’

The report warned that the livelihoods of more than three million people in Kenya’s tea industry would come under threat in the next two decades. Britain, the biggest per capita tea consumer, is set to host crunch UN climate talks in Glasgow in November. Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa climate and energy think tank, said the COP26 negotiations presented a vital opportunity for richer nations to provide proper support for poorer ones already having to adapt to climate change.

“As a major historical polluter and the creator of the industrial revolution the UK has played a big part in the climate emergency which we Kenyans are suffering from,” he said. “This year, as hosts of the G7 and COP26, the UK has a big role to play in tackling it. “The whole world will be watching, especially Kenyan tea farmers and other people on the front lines of the climate crisis,” added Adow. – AFP/Kuwait Times

Details: East Africa; 09 May 2021; 991

Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi addresses traders during the launch of Meru County Post Covid-19 Recovery Strategy on March 4, 2021.

David Muchui | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

In a widely discussed piece in all the major dailies, Mr Murungi described in great detail his near-death experience with Covid.
He lays bare his utter impotence in front of the virus. He says he was ready to meet his maker.

The Bible doesn’t have many people who were both villain and hero. Saul, the villain, later becomes Paul, the hero. By all accounts, Saul was an evil man. A Pharisee who mercilessly tormented the followers of Jesus. His confessions of atrocity are in Galatians 1:13-14 and in the Epistle to the Philippians. There, he admits to taking part in the stoning of Stephen.

In the Book of Acts, Saul was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus to find and persecute the followers of Jesus. That’s when he’s struck by a blinding light, and after significant torment, converts to Christianity and becomes Paul. Is Covid the blinding light that has hit Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi and converted him?

In a widely discussed piece in all the major dailies, Mr Murungi described in great detail his near-death experience with Covid. He lays bare his utter impotence in front of the virus. He says he was ready to meet his maker. He didn’t care whether he lived, or died, or whether he was rich, powerful, or popular. He spoke movingly about how the virus tormented him. He felt alone, and knew he would die alone, if he was to meet his end. Everything became irrelevant to him. After he recovered, he realised that he had lived a lie, a fake life driven by empty materialism and obsequiousness to powerful people. He vowed never to do so again going forward.

Which begs the question – is Governor Murungi genuine, and on the road to Damascus? Or are his confessions due to “long Covid”, the debilitating aftershocks brought on by the damage Covid does to the brain? In other words, is he “Covid-drunk” like a boxer who’s demented and “punch drunk” because of years of repeatedly being hit in the noggin? It’s too early to tell.

He announced that from now on, he would “follow the desires of my heart” and “ignore all the noise, the psychological burdens of friendship and idiocies of politics”. He says corona helped him “find myself” and “liberate me” from other people. He will now “reclaim my life”. It sounds like a conversion of the soul.

'Obsessed with winning'

Mr Murungi called Covid his “own personal journey”. He starkly defrocks himself so we can see his vulnerabilities. He says “politics had robbed me of my life and my voice”. It had done worse and “robbed me of my freedom of thought”. He had been “obsessed with winning” and “advocated ideas and anxieties which were not genuinely my own”. Heavy stuff.

Mr Murungi is one of the very tiny number of politicians who are intellectuals. He knows better than most. His moral downfall began with the Anglo-Leasing imbroglio early in the Narc Kibaki era. He was never the same again. He’s associated with Kenya’s corrupt, illiberal and abusive regimes. He’s been on the wrong side of history.

Mr Murungi and I were fast personal, political and family friends until the Anglo-Leasing scandal. That sad chapter put us asunder when I ended our relationship. I knew Mr Murungi quite well when he was admitted for an LLM degree at Harvard Law School. I was then running the Harvard Law School Human Rights Programme. Kenya was in the throes of the struggle for multipartyism. Both of us were in cahoots with the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford), Kenya’s leading opposition party. Mr Murungi returned to Kenya and was elected MP on a Ford ticket. He was a part of Kenya’s hope among the “Young Turks” – Paul Muite, Peter Anyang Nyong’o, Mukhisa Kituyi, Gitobu Imanyara and others.

Ford later splintered, lost its left-progressive politics, and became an ethnic political party like all others. This is where we lost Mr Murungi. Where he was once a Kenyan, his vision shrank to a Mt Kenya politician, and then to a Meru potentate. His nationalist credentials evaporated as he veered irredeemably to the right. Members of civil society, of whom he once was, lamented that he had joined the “eating” gravy train. Mr Murungi, ex-CJ Willy Mutunga, Maina Kiai, Peter Kareithi, and I had formed the Kenya Human Rights Commission together in the US.

We dropped Mr Murungi from KHRC’s board once he joined unsavoury party politics. Regrettably, his divorce from civil society became complete after Anglo-Leasing.

You don’t wish Covid on anyone. It’s very sad Mr Murungi got it. However, I am glad there’s a silver lining to the illness. But talk is cheap. Will Mr Murungi revert to the man I knew at Harvard? He was conscientious, funny, progressive and a champion for good government and social justice.

Will he return to the honest intellectual he was once? He must tell the full truth for transparency and accountability. He must clear the air on what he’s done while in government. We haven’t spoken in close to two decades but I believe in redemption. I’ve reached out to him to see if he’s truly coming to Damascus. By Makau Mutua, Sunday Nation

Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.

Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School. He’s chair of KHRC. @makaumutua

Details: East Africa; 08 May 2021; 883

General Townsend, America's top brass in Africa, has warned China is seeking a new western naval base
The base, similar to one in Djibouti, would allow Beijing to project its military might into the Atlantic, he said
Any new base would be just the latest chapter in a decades-long effort by China to gain influence in Africa
Country has lent billions to African states while building roads, railways, ports, power stations, internet networks, government buildings in an effort to bring the continent under its sway

On the west side of Djibouti City sits a sprawling military compound. Within its razorwire-topped walls are helipads, a dock large enough to fit aircraft carriers, and 2,000 troops alongside armoured vehicles and gunboats.

Opened in 2017, this is China's first overseas military base - but could soon be one of many located across Africa if those sounding the alarm in Washington are correct.

The Department of Defense warned last year that Beijing has 'likely' sought bases in Angola, the Seychelles, Kenya, and Tanzania, and just this week General Stephen Townsend - America's top brass in Africa - warned a new naval base similar to the one in Djibouti could soon appear on Africa's west coast.

Such a base, which could be located anywhere from Mauritania to Namibia, would allow China to project its growing military might not just across the Pacific Ocean but the Atlantic too, General Townsend said.

But while the thought of Chinese military bases popping up across Africa may be new to some, in fact it is only the latest chapter in a decades-long effort to bring the continent under Beijing's sway that has gone largely unnoticed.

'The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa,' Gen. Townsend said as he issued his warning. 'Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa.'

China has lent billions of dollars to African nations (shaded red showing which countries have accepted cash, with darker colours indicating higher levels of debt) while building ports, power stations, railways and roads. Beijing has also built a military base in Djibouti (right), but is planning more - with 'likely sites' in Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Seychelles (blue pentagons). But is is the possibility of a new naval base on the west coast (shaded blue) that has caused fresh alarm in the US

And he's right. It seems that, almost wherever you look on the continent, China's influence is being felt.

Railways? China is building them, including new lines between Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya, Abuja and Kaduna in Nigeria, Lobito and Luau in Angola, and between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Ports? China again, constructing or expanding no less than 41 harbours in sub-Saharan Africa up to 2019, according to a CSIS report, meaning Beijing now has a commercial interest in around one in five of the total.

Africa's power grid is also being transformed off the back of Chinese investment. Environmentalists kicked up a stink when it emerged late last year that China has financed seven new coal-fired plants in Africa with plans for 13 more - but the country is also investing in hydroelectric, and has interests in some of the continent's largest dams.

For example, the huge Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which spans the Blue Nile and has sparked tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt, is a project in which China is heavily involved.

To run those projects, thousands of Chinese companies and tens of thousands of Chinese workers have set up on the continent and show no sign of going anywhere.

US General Stephen Townsend, who heads US Africa Command, says China has designs on naval ports on the western coast of Africa, which would give the nation easy access to the Atlantic Ocean

Meanwhile, China has lent at least $153billion to African governments to finance the development - according to the China-Africa Research Initiative - though the real total is thought to be far higher once other types of financing such as grants and direct investment are included.

The projects don't stop there. According to The Heritage Foundation, China has built no fewer than 186 government buildings in 40 out of 54 African countries, developed 70 per cent of the continent's 4G networks, and even built sensitive intra-governmental communications networks for 14 nations.

Even the African Union headquarters, located in Ethiopia, was full financed and build by China.

And Beijing's interest shows no sign of slowing. In 2018, President Xi Jinping announced the creation of a $60billion pot of Chinese money specially ear-marked for development projects in Africa.

In short: If Africa needs it, then China is supplying it. And in spades.

While economic investment is hardly a threat to America on its own, it does buy Beijing influence - meaning that when Xi wants to locate a new military base on the continent, he is likely to find a host of national leaders who are more than happy to welcome him.

And it is that thought which is keeping Townsend and others at the Pentagon awake at night.

'They´re looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict,' Townsend said in an interview with the Associated Press this week.

'They´re a long way toward establishing that in Djibouti. Now they´re casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there.'

Townsend's warnings come as the Pentagon shifts its focus from the counterterrorism wars of the last two decades to the Indo-Pacific region and threats from great power adversaries like China and Russia. By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE

Details: East Africa; 09 May 2021; 898

The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the core module of China's space station Tianhe, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, China on Apr. 29. © Reuters / May 9, 2021 10:08 JST

US and EU space authorities monitor possibility of dangerous landing.

While there were still varying estimates of where the rocket would land, it appeared increasingly likely it would not hit the United States.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday that most debris will burn on re-entry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm, after the U.S. military said that what it called an uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by U.S. Space Command.

U.S. Space Command estimated re-entry would occur at 0211 GMT on Sunday, plus or minus one hour, while the Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies (CORDS) at Aerospace Corporation, a U.S. federally funded space-focused research and development centre, updated its prediction to two hours either side of 0302 GMT with the rocket re-entering over the Pacific.

EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) said its latest prediction for the timing of the re-entry of the Long March 5B rocket body was 139 minutes either side of 0232 GMT on Sunday. EU SST said the statistical probability of a ground impact in a populated area is "low", but noted that the uncontrolled nature of the object made any predictions uncertain.

Space-Track, reporting data collected by U.S. Space Command, estimated the debris would make reentry over the Mediterranean Basin.

Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said on Twitter that it was believed the United States was safe from a potential impact but recent predictions were still tracking it from Costa Rica all the way to Australia and New Zealand.

Travelling at a speed of around 4.8 miles per second, a difference of just one minute in the time of reentry translates to hundreds of miles difference on the ground.

"This is difficult to predict and not an exact measurement," Space-Track wrote on Twitter.

The Long March 5B - comprising one core stage and four boosters - lifted off from China's Hainan island on April 29 with the unmanned Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters on a permanent Chinese space station. The rocket is set to be followed by 10 more missions to complete the station.

Long March 5 rockets have been integral to China's near-term space ambitions - from the delivery of modules and crew of its planned space station to launches of exploratory probes to the Moon and even Mars.

The Long March launched last week was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May last year.

McDowell previously told Reuters there is a chance that pieces of the rocket could come down over land, perhaps in a populated area, as in May 2020, when pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.

Debris from Chinese rocket launches is not uncommon within China. In late April, authorities in the city of Shiyan, Hubei Province, issued a notice to people in the surrounding county to prepare for evacuation as parts were expected to land in the area.

"The Long March 5B reentry is unusual because during launch, the first stage of the rocket reached orbital velocity instead of falling down range as is common practice," the Aerospace Corporation said in a blog post.

"The empty rocket body is now in an elliptical orbit around Earth where it is being dragged toward an uncontrolled re-entry."

The empty core stage has been losing altitude since last week, but the speed of its orbital decay remains uncertain due to unpredictable atmospheric variables.

It is one of the largest pieces of space debris to return to Earth, with experts estimating its dry mass to be around 18 to 22 tonnes.

The core stage of the first Long March 5B that returned to Earth last year weighed nearly 20 tonnes, surpassed only by debris from the Columbia space shuttle in 2003, the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station in 1991, and NASA's Skylab in 1979. Nikkei Asia

Details: East Africa; 07 May 2021; 917

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed addresses the lower house of Parliament in Mogadishu, Somalia May 1, 2021. Photo REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Somalia said on Thursday it was restoring diplomatic relations with neighbouring Kenya almost six months after severing ties, accusing Nairobi of meddling in politics.

Relations between the countries have also been tense over the ownership of potential oil and gas deposits, some of which lie off the coast of Jubbaland, one of Somalia's five semi-autonomous states.

"Now diplomatic relations are restored," deputy information minister Abdirahman Yusuf told a news conference in Mogadishu, saying the Gulf Arab state of Qatar had helped in the process.

Kenya's foreign ministry said that it took note of the Somali government's announcement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs "looks forward to further normalization of relations by the Somali authorities including with regard to trade, communication, transportation, people-to-people relations and cultural exchanges," it said in a statement. It also acknowledged the support of Qatar in particular in its efforts to normalize relations.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told Reuters that Doha had agreed with the presidents of both countries that they would work on strengthening bilateral relations and bringing them "back on track".

The minister said his special envoy for counterterrorism and mediation of conflict resolution, Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, had visited both countries.

"We believe that normalizing the relationship between the two neighbours is very important for political stability, especially in Somalia which is currently going through political turmoil ... and we look forward to the elections there," he said.

Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has directed the prime minister to prepare a parliamentary election. A delay led to a political crisis that raised fears al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents could exploit a security vacuum if state forces turn on each other.

State House in Nairobi tweeted that President Uhuru Kenyatta "received a special message" from Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani that was delivered by the foreign minister's special envoy.

In November, Somalia expelled Kenya's ambassador and recalled its own from Nairobi after accusing Kenya of interfering in the electoral process in Jubbaland.

In February 2019, Kenya recalled its ambassador after Mogadishu decided to auction oil and gas exploration blocks at the centre of their maritime rights dispute. The two countries had revived ties in November the same year.

The two are at present before the World Court to adjudicate the maritime boundary dispute. - Reuters

Climate to ravage Kenya’s tea production

Kiraitu Murungi’s long walk to Damascus

'Obsessed with winning'

China's African take-over: Beijing has built infrastructure, lent billions and located its first overseas military base there - now top US general warns they want to built an Atlantic naval base

Chinese rocket debris set for re-entry in coming hours- tracking centers

Somalia revives ties with Kenya after nearly six-month break

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