REGIONAL DISCUSSIONS:

HokumA wrote:Russia is also laying claim to some inlands owned by Japan since 1855 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21364559

mogen wrote:Methinks this Mali maneno has taken away funding from the AU's unfinished business in Somalia and part of the reason is that the West wanted more control here than was granted by the AU. Not good news at all given that a resurgence of an emboldened al kebab is possible.

The Ministry of Finance has confirmed plans to revive the use of the southern route through Tanzania to end uncertainties Uganda faces while transporting goods from Kenya’s Mombasa Port into the country.

Finance minister Maria Kiwanuka yesterday said the Uganda and Tanzania governments have endorsed the plan, adding that all line agencies were in advanced stages to implement it. Ms Kiwanuka said there has always been a southern route through Mwanza or Mutula Town to Dar-es-Salaam, but noted that the current plan was not a short-term intervention in anticipation of the forthcoming elections in Kenya.

“It is important for Uganda to have at least two alternative routes for continuity in supply and efficiency of services,” she said, adding: “This is a long term plan because the most expensive good is one that does not reach or delays.”
The decision came after a joint ministerial meeting in Tanzania on January 25.
The meeting, the minister said was keen on ensuring smooth and rapid movement of goods through the route for both international and regional trade.
Ms Kiwanuka said the two countries also confirmed the availability of MV Kaawa, immediate dedication of MV Umoja for Uganda-destined cargo operation on Lake Victoria and the rehabilitation of Port Bell.
Junior Transport minister John Byabagambi said Kenya has been imposing non-tariff barriers, sometimes barring Uganda from using railway transport for bulk cargo.
“When you have one route and you are dictated upon by that particular country you are passing through, it is not good,” Mr Byabagambi said.

The Ministry of Finance has confirmed plans to revive the use of the southern route through Tanzania to end uncertainties Uganda faces while transporting goods from Kenya’s Mombasa Port into the country.

Finance minister Maria Kiwanuka yesterday said the Uganda and Tanzania governments have endorsed the plan, adding that all line agencies were in advanced stages to implement it. Ms Kiwanuka said there has always been a southern route through Mwanza or Mutula Town to Dar-es-Salaam, but noted that the current plan was not a short-term intervention in anticipation of the forthcoming elections in Kenya.

Spartan wrote:
The port is Tanga, not Dar es Salaam

mchoraji wrote:

Spartan wrote:
The port is Tanga, not Dar es Salaam

sawa @ spartan the more reason for msa to up it's game.competition is always welcome.

btw ON or spartan there is a map i saw a few weeks ago showing the proposed route for the proposed standard gauge rail in eastern africa.anyone with that map?? can't locate it

countersniper wrote:
This proposed new transit route is not good for kenya because it will kill the tourism industry by interfearing with annual migration routes for wild game between the serengeti plains and the mighty mara game parks.

Blackshark wrote:Russia is also laying claim to some inlands owned by Japan since 1855 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21364559

Risasi wrote:@ON the dominos are following exactly as I expected them to go.... a bit to earlier??? i feel those are warrning shoots
http://elections.nation.co.ke/news/US-restates-stance-on-Uhuru-and-Ruto-/-/1631868/1687986/-/t3uvm8/-/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEamWNUCsM
unasikia kizungu kilivyo badilishwa hapo na johny’s rep.

@balozi I will get back to you on the legality of Air strikes..your trailing on my 6 eehh ok.

mchoraji wrote:What guys do you think of this report in the east african.of course there is a lot of truth. i also believe if the report was done 5-10yrs ago kenya would have fared far worse.an interesting read though

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Graft-invades-military-and-defence-budgets/-/2558/1689610/-/198e7qz/-/index.html

Cycoh 'DUDUS' wrote:Dear Jesus! Is it that we Africans lack the necessary faith or embolded prowess to put our shamey-mischief behind us, or what goes on around? Just after a week after deployment we are busy in the sreets begging for food, in a hot theater. Ngai!

Nigerians please, style up don't be a let-down to Africa for goodness sake!

Cycoh 'DUDUS' wrote:@Olekoima
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/120000-exclusive-hardship-hits-nigerian-troops-in-mali-as-officers-solicit-food-from-locals.html

mogen wrote:
One passport for East Africans by end of 2013, wow! Plenty of stuff to chew here.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000077223&pageNo=1&story_title=Kenya-EAC-to-have-a-single-passport

Southern African leaders have agreed to allow a 4,000-strong regional peacekeeping force to engage directly with rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.

A regional peacekeeping force will be able to combat "whoever is trying to destabilise the situation in the eastern part of Congo," the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretary general Tomaz Salomao told AFP after a regional meeting late on Friday.

No deployment date has been fixed.

In an extraordinary summit in the Mozambique capital Maputo, leaders of the 14-member bloc decided on a separate command structure and rules of engagement for the force, though it would nominally fall under the United Nations.

The force still needs UN Security Council clearance.

"If we do not have this mandate we will be creating the impression we are invading," said Salomao.

Logistical issues such as repatriating injured or killed troops still need to be finalised, he added.

South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have already pledged troops for the regional force.

Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete hailed the decision reached at the summit, also attended by DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, saying it would lead to "a better situation in the Congo".

"It is a big leap forward for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo," said Kikwete, who heads the SADC's security wing.

Regional groupings have been trying since July to set up a neutral international force to break up the numerous militia groups that prey on civilians in eastern DR Congo.

But African leaders wanted assurances any peacekeepers they send will have the mandate to engage the rebels rather than simply enforcing peace as under the current UN mandate, diplomatic sources told AFP earlier.

The 17,000-strong force of the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) operates under a limited mandate that only allows it to protect civilians, not engage directly with rebel forces.

During the sacking of the key Dr Congo city of Goma in November by rebels from the Movement of March 23 (M23), UN peacekeepers were unable to step in and stop their advance.

Kabila's government and M23 rebels have been holding peace talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

The negotiations in Kampala are the latest in several bids to end a long-running conflict that has forced hundreds of thousands of people in eastern DR Congo from their homes.

mchoraji wrote:SADC had some tricks up it's sleeves last weekend.anyone with info on how far they've gone in the DRC force deployment?

United Nations, Feb 18 – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend a signing ceremony next week in Addis Ababa for an accord aimed at pacifying the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, his spokesman said Sunday.
Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, told AFP that invitations for the ceremony went out on Friday.

“He intends to be at the event on 24 February in Addis Ababa. All the invited presidents have committed to either be there or delegate power to sign,” he said.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, Congo, South Africa and Tanzania are expected to sign the framework agreement, after refusing to do so at an African Union summit in Addis last month.
UN officials have said that the disagreement had not been over the content of the agreement, but over procedural concerns.
Back-to-back wars ravaged Eastern DR Congo from 1996 to 2003. The region is home to a complex web of rebel groups and militias battling for its mineral wealth.
The security plan would toughen the existing UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo with a 2,500-strong “intervention brigade” to tackle the “March 23 Movement” — an insurgency that the United Nations says is backed by Rwanda and Uganda, which they deny.
The troops will be charged with tackling all armed groups that have terrorized the resource-rich region over the past 15 years, and with neutralizing the threat of the armed groups through targeted operations against command and control structures in specific sites.
The DRC’s mineral-rich east has long been caught up in strife among local and foreign armed groups. Since May, the army has been fighting the insurgency.
The M23 was founded by former fighters of an ethnic-Tutsi rebel group whose members were integrated into the regular army under a peace deal whose terms they claim were never fully delivered. The group’s main demand now is the full implementation of the March 23, 2009 accord.
The M23 controls part of the Rutshuru region, an unstable territory rich in minerals and agricultural produce that borders on Rwanda and Uganda. The M23 briefly seized the key city of Goma in November.
Several of its leaders have been hit by UN sanctions over alleged atrocities. The group has been accused of raping women and girls, using child soldiers and killing civilians.
The latest cycle of unrest in eastern DR Congo erupted last year when the rebels seized Goma, a mining hub, before pulling out 12 days later. Peace talks have been held in Uganda, but have made little headway.
The peacekeeping mission already deployed in DR Congo, MONUSCO, is one of the UN’s biggest. It currently has about 17,000 troops and, under its Security Council mandate, is allowed to have up to 19,800.

President Paul Kagame has launched a process that could finally end the debate on a third term for him, by tasking three senior members of his Rwandan Patriotic Front to come up with a “transition formula.

The president used the platform of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) on February 8 to task Tito Rutaremara, Joseph Karemera and Antoine Mugesera to come up with a formula that would deliver “change, continuity and stability” after 2017, when his constitutional term as president expires.

A senior RPF member, who spoke on condition of anonymity said President Kagame informed them that he was in a “dilemma” over the third term question.

Mr Rutaremara would not discuss if the options included proposing a third term for President Kagame, simply stating: “Those saying Kagame should go just because his term is finished are being lazy. We are responsible people we have to study everything. We must get a formula that shall give us maximum of change, continuity and stability.”

At the meeting, the source said, President Kagame briefly talked about the Congo issue, which has damaged relations between his government and development partners, and dedicated the better part of the discussion to the third term question.

Mr Rutaremara said, “The president has said he is not interested in the third term… but he also does not want to look like he is running away from responsibility — and by the way, he is not the one to decide.”