MOGADISHU, Somalia

The Somali National Army (SNA) claimed that it killed more than 50 al-Shabaab members, including two senior commanders, in an operation in the lower Shabelle region.

The military operation against the Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated terror group took place in Mushaani, Daniga, and Majabta, according to Somali military radio.

Military officials in the region who spoke to Anadolu Agency confirmed the operation.

Army Chief of Staff Odawa Yusuf Rageh told military radio Friday that the terrorist killed included Moalim Bukhari, the group's intelligence chief in lower Shabelle and Sheikh Hasan Ganeey, the commander in the region.

He said al-Shabaab training camps in villages were also destroyed.

At least 20 al-Shabaab terrorists were killed Thursday in a military operation in the region. Anadolu Agency

Party members have their temperature checked and sanitize their hands as a precaution against the coronavirus at the national congress of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in Dodoma, Tanzania, July 11, 2020. Photo AP

DODOMA, TANZANIA - Tanzania’s government insists there are no cases of COVID-19 in the country, but residents and doctors point to a growing number of illnesses and deaths. Opposition politicians say the government’s stance is endangering lives.

Nasa Kiwanga visits the grave of his daughter, Tully, who died earlier this month.

Tully passed away in a hospital in Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital, one week after falling sick.

Doctors told her family she died of pneumonia, but Tully’s father Nasa Kiwanga believes his daughter died of COVID-19.

What sent his daughter to the hospital, he said, was that she started having breathing difficulties when at home. After that, she was sent to the hospital on Saturday morning. Kiwanga said she lived for only two days with oxygen support, adding that, when the oxygen finished at the hospital, the life of my daughter ended there.

According to a doctor who asked not to be identified, Kiwanga is correct – his daughter died of COVID-19.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, Tanzania’s government has refused to admit the presence of the coronavirus in the country.

Instead, the country’s president John Magufuli has portrayed the pandemic as an economic opportunity.

This is our time as Tanzanians, as there is no COVID-19, Magufuli said. He added that Tanzanians should use the opportunity to grow many crops so that for countries that will experience famine, we will set the prices of the products and sell to them.

The government has not released any figures on coronavirus cases or deaths, making it impossible to gauge the true extent of the virus in Tanzania.

But a few weeks ago, the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania warned that COVID-19 cases have risen considerably in the country since January.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian opposition politicians, such as James Mbatia, the chairman of the National Convention for Construction and Reform are criticizing the government’s position on COVID-19.

Mbatia said he is one of the victims in his clan and their family. He said they had many deaths because of the problem; all of the symptoms are of the coronavirus. He added that they requested testing and the results come out positive that it’s the coronavirus. So, who are we deceiving? Mbatia asks, and why are we deceiving ourselves?

Tanzania’s health ministry has touted the use of traditional medicine in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases. The ministry also backs the president’s recent dismissal of COVID-19 vaccines.

“For now, the government has no plans to receive the COVID vaccine being distributed in other countries,” she said. 

Gwajima emphasizes that it should be known that the government, through the Ministry of Health, has its procedures to follow when you receive any health product. And this is done when the government is satisfied with the product, she added.

Meanwhile, Nasa Kiwanga and his family are collecting his daughter’s belongings, as they prepare to leave Dodoma for his home in the southern highlands of Tanzania.

Kiwanga said he worries about those who might suffer the same fate as his daughter, victims of COVID-19 that no one is allowed to admit. - Charles Kombe, Voice of America

UK's international trade minister Ranil Jayawardena and Kenya’s cabinet secretary for trade, Betty Maina, signed the deal in London on 8 December. Photo CityAM

The recently signed trade deal between the UK and Kenya will be extended to Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania, according to multiple media reports in Kenya.

The announcement follows weeks of threats by members of the House of Lords as well as Kenyan MPs not to ratify the trade agreement, which was signed in December of last year.

According to a report in regional newspaper The East African this weekend, the Economic Partnership Agreement agreed between the UK and Kenya will be open to all EAC member states.

This means that businesses from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania can export and offer their products into the UK on a no-tariff, no-quota basis, once the deal has been ratified.

Breakthrough after threats

This weekend’s ‘breakthrough’ – as several newspapers in East-Africa called the extension of the deal – followed weeks of threats on both sides of the Sahara not to ratify the deal.

In London, the House of Lords said two weeks ago it would need more time to ratify the agreement amid concerns the UK government had not addressed the potential impact of the pact on regional cohesion in the East Africa region.

The House of Lords accepted a proposal by its International Agreements Committee to postpone ratification by 21 days.

Meanwhile, a majority of MPs in Nairobi, Kenya, said late last week that they refused to ratify the economic partnership with the UK as they accused the government of “sneaking in documents that had not been tabled in [the Kenyan] Parliament,” according to newspaper Business Daily Africa this weekend.

The lawmakers reportedly said that, until they are fully aware of the details of the trade arrangements, the agreement cannot come into force.

Their main concern evolved around goods exported from the UK to Kenya, saying the types of products that would fall under an agreed clause – that some goods can be shipped into Kenya duty-free for a period of 25 years – had not been specified.

While it remains unclear that these issues have been fully addressed, cabinet secretary Betty Maina told The EastAfrican newspaper that “the UK is providing Kenya and all its EAC neighbours a secure, long-term and predictable basis for deepening their access to the UK market.”

UK-Kenyan trade deal

The UK-Kenyan Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in London on 8 December by UK’s international trade minister Ranil Jayawardena and Kenya’s cabinet secretary for trade, Betty Maina.

The deal provides Kenyan businesses duty-free access to the UK market, aimed at supporting jobs and economic development in Kenya, as well as to avoid disruption to UK businesses as they maintain tariff-free supply routes for Kenya’s high-quality flowers.

The UK is a major market for British and Kenyan exporters of tea, coffee, flowers and fresh vegetables.

According to UK government data, the biggest import to the UK from Kenya in 2019 were, coffee and spices, with a market value of around £121m, vegetables at £79m as well as live trees and plants, mostly flowers, for around £54m.

The UK market accounts for 43 per cent of total exports of vegetables from Kenya as well as at least 9 per cent of its cut flowers. In 2019, UK-Kenya trade was worth an estimated £1.4bn. - Michiel Willems, CityAM