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Africa 2013: Oil, Diamonds, Religious Extremism and political violence
Despite her persistent and sometime open violent conflicts, Africa is looking forward to a relatively peaceful and prosperous 2013. From Mozambique to Somalia, huge reserves of oil and gas have been found on and offshore along the east coast of Africa. Africa has never had it so good!
But as I write this piece in the first full working week of 2013, bitter election related violence – perhaps worse than the 2008 inter-tribal infighting, is predicted in Kenya during the campaign period or after the elections on March 4. And Somalia’s and Congo’s situations are as precarious as ever. The newly found oil wealth in South Sudan has not yet paid dividends. And President Bashir of Sudan is still a wanted man by the International Criminal Court.
And while solid and plural democracy took firm root in West Africa where Ghana held her fifth successful presidential and parliamentary elections in late 2012, becoming a beacon of hope for Africa and particularly West Africa, the Egyptian people are still on and off Tahriir square as they yet have to show the way for the countries in the north of the Sahara. And Mali...oh my Mali: 2013 is going to be a ‘make or break’ year for its music loving inhabitants.
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A policeman helps Somali families to evacuate after their homes were broken into during the second day of skirmishes in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. — Reuters
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Five years on, is Kenya at the cross roads, again?
Looking back at 2012, the year was not a pleasant one for Kenyans and other non-indigenous African communities in Kenya. But particularly worst hit in 2012 are Somalis in Kenya. In November and December 2012, a number of hand-thrown grenades exploded in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi, a predominantly Somali trading borough. Initial bombings were directed at a commuter bus, a Church and a Kiosk which sells soft drinks, airtime top-ups and other everyday consumer items. On November 21, few days after three police officers were killed in Garissa, a Somali-Kenyan town in the north-east province of Kenya which borders Somalia by suspected Al Shabaab militants, large numbers of police force and what local witness sources described as a complete mechanised army brigade were sent into the town. Kenya Soldiers and the police beat and killed some residents. Following the incursions into Garissa, the undisciplined and poorly paid Kenya army and police went on the rampage, looting and burning local businesses. And in the second largest city in Kenya, Mombasa, a Church was bombed, killing a little girl and wounding several adults.Continued
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