As the clock ticks closer to the deadline for introducing a new Constitution in Kenya, Atsango Chesoni for one is filled with anticipation at the coming change. The women’s rights activist and official at Bomas Katiba Watch says the country’s existing Constitution discriminates against women, especially on the issue of property rights — and that change in this matter is long overdue.
Sudan’s government and main rebel group will on Wednesday sign key deals on the remaining political issues standing in the way of a final accord to end 21 years of civil war, the Kenyan foreign ministry said on Tuesday. ”The protocols represent a major step towards the achievement of a final comprehensive settlement to the conflict,” the ministry said in a statement.
Kenya’s government has announced a plan to cut more than 20 000 jobs in the civil service sector in order to make it more efficient, local media reports said on Thursday. Kenya’s National Security Minister Chris Murungaru said the layoffs will start next month and end in 2007.
Negotiators trying to patch together a peace deal to end Sudan’s 21-year war are working to resolve two last key issues before they can sign a final agreement, a rebel spokesperson said on Wednesday. The two issues were how to share political power in two disputed areas of central Sudan and what percentage of posts the rebels would get in the national government.
"The stability of any government is measured by the freedom it gives to the press," says Kenyan media activist Mitch Odero, adding that a "clean" government should not be worried about the press. But recent statements by Kenyan authorities indicate that they have a less sanguine view of the country’s journalists.
One million people are being denied basic health care in Burundi as a result of a cost-recovery system adopted in 2002, the relief organisation Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday. According to a survey by MSF, the system denies one-fifth of the population access to medical consultations.
The notion that the truth will set you free has enduring appeal in developing countries that are newly free of repressive governments. But Kenya is discovering that setting up a truth commission to probe human rights violations is less straightforward than it might appear.
Ministers from Africa’s Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions were on Tuesday due to give legal muscle to their commitments to stemming an alarming proliferation of small and light weapons. A Kenyan Foreign Ministry official said the regions’ 11 states would sign a protocol in Nairobi on Tuesday.
At least 50 000 people have been forced to flee their homes in southern Sudan because of militia attacks and fighting between government and rebel forces. The clashes over the past few weeks have occurred despite an October 2002 ceasefire between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
Rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region say government-backed Arab militias have broken a recent ceasefire agreement and as a consequence they may pull out of planned peace talks, media reports said on Friday. A rebel spokesperson said 32 civilians had been killed and several villages torched on Wednesday.
At least 114 people have been found dead following recent floods in Djibouti, the Red Cross said on Thursday. ”Two villages have been particularly affected. We estimate 10 000 people have lost their homes or their property,” Steve Penny of the International Red Cross Federation said.
Africa’s Anglican bishops were due to hold a two-day meeting in Nairobi from Wednesday to mull whether they can continue accepting donations from provinces that support the ordination of homosexual bishops, an official said on Tuesday. ”They might even refuse such cash,” an official said.
The President of the island-nation Seychelles, Albert Rene, stepped down on Wednesday, 27 years after seizing power in a coup. His successor, Vice-President James Michel, was to be sworn in later in the day, local media reported. Michel is the longest-serving minister in the government.
A high-profile Kenyan opposition lawmaker was on Wednesday charged in court with corruption in connection with a land transfer deal that cost a state firm 272-million shillings (about ,5-million), police said. William Ruto was charged together with a former commissioner of lands, Samuel Mwaita.
A mother of seven has been kept locked up in a Kenyan hospital for a year because she cannot pay her medical bill, local media reported on Tuesday. The woman was admitted to a hospital in the town of Meru last April after a domestic quarrel, and shortly after gave birth to twins.
Floods caused by heavy rains have forced an estimated 2 000 people out of their homes in western Kenya and claimed the at least four lives, officials said on Monday. The government and the Kenya Red Cross Society have advised people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher grounds.
The United Nations Security Council has given Secretary General Kofi Annan the go-ahead to plan for a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Central African country of Burundi, the UN News Service said. ”It is my intention to immediately begin preparations,” Annan wrote in a letter to the Security Council, released late on Monday.
A white zebra has been born in Nairobi’s national park, to the wonderment of visitors and researchers. The baby zebra was first discovered when a group of Masaai cattle herders living on the edge of the game reserve reported that a little calf was on the loose in the park.
The drafting of a new Kenyan Constitution that shifts considerable powers from the presidency to a yet-to-be-created post of prime minister formally ended on Tuesday after a six-year gestation, but opponents of devolution still have a few cards to play.
Civil servants in Kenya have threatened to go on their first-ever strike at the end of March if the government fails to award them a 600% pay rise. The Kenya Civil Servants Union, which has been in existence for a year, says it has been negotiating with the government on behalf of about 250 000 workers.
No image available
/ 25 February 2004
Connoisseurs have long appreciated the merits of Kenyan coffee, typically described as having a fruity, acidic flavour. But now coffee farm output has seriously declined — something attributed to rising production costs, mismanagement within cooperative ventures and poor policies on the part of the government.
No image available
/ 4 February 2004
The Church in Africa is concerned about United States pressure on African countries to introduce anti-terror legislation on pretext of fighting terrorism. The church is cautioning African governments against enacting such laws blindly, which it warns infringe on human rights.
No image available
/ 2 February 2004
The signing of a wealth-sharing agreement earlier this month between Sudanese officials and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army was hailed an important step towards peace in that country. Now, hopes are growing that the accord might also spell the end of another conflict: that in northern Uganda.
No image available
/ 15 January 2004
Kibera slum, near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is at a considerable distance from the Indian city of Mumbai, where the World Social Forum is scheduled to begin in just two days. Nonetheless, the 700Â 000 inhabitants of this slum, said to be Africa’s largest, will provide one of the summit’s talking points when it gets under way.
No image available
/ 12 January 2004
A decision by the guardians of 72 HIV-positive children to sue Kenya’s government for alleged discrimination in public schools appears to have struck a nerve in the East African country. Aids organisations say this trend may be widespread, and they are calling on the government to take action in the matter.
Rustlers shot and killed 10 people, including five children, in two raids in northern Kenya and set dozens of huts on fire before stealing thousands of goats and hundreds of camels, officials said on Thursday. Security forces were pursuing the two groups of attackers who were attempting to return to their home villages.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and other humanitarian agencies will this week launch the second phase of emergency aid distributions in northern Somalia, where tens of thousands of people are facing food shortages because of drought.
Rights groups in Kenya are faced with the daunting task of persuading the government of President Mwai Kibaki to adopt a truth, justice and reconciliation commission (TJRC). A task force found that 90% of Kenyans backed the formation of such a commission.
No image available
/ 16 December 2003
Under Kenya’s current Constitution, drafted during the colonial era, the president enjoys extensive powers. To reduce these powers — which have sometimes been abused — some Kenyans have called for the current process of constitutional review to allow for the post of prime minister. However, others disagree.
No image available
/ 12 December 2003
Rights groups in Kenya have criticised the government’s decision to introduce an anti-terror law to tackle terrorism. The groups say the proposed Bill has been imposed on Kenya by the United States government as a result of two terror attacks witnessed by the country in the past five years.
No image available
/ 12 December 2003
The Health Ministry of the Republic of Congo reported on Thursday that the current ebola outbreak in the country’s northwestern Cuvette Ouest Department is stabilising, with 29 deaths among 42 registered cases to date. Since December 2 no further deaths had been registered in the two worst-affected villages.
No image available
/ 10 December 2003
Sudan’s fledgling civil society organisations are demanding the setting up of a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) as soon as the final peace agreement between the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army is signed. The agreement seeks to bring to an end Africa’s longest-running conflict.