|
He has been charged with heinous crimes, accused of using a vast fortune to bankroll death squads that slaughtered women and children. His running mate also faces charges of crimes against humanity, and as Kenya's election drew closer, the Obama administration's top official for Africa issued a thinly veiled warning during a conference call about the vote, saying that Kenyans are, of course, free to pick their own leaders but that "choices have consequences." The New York Times
Kenya's electoral commission has said that a computer bug is to blame for a large number of rejected votes in the tallying of the presidential election. Issack Hassan said the computer was multiplying each rejected vote by a factor of eight. This led to huge disputes and allegations of fraud. Vote-tallying has been restarted by hand following this and other glitches but Uhuru Kenyatta still has a large lead over Prime Minister Raila Odinga. BBC
Britain was tonight forced to deny a "suspicious and rather animated involvement" in an emerging row over Kenya's election results. The accusations of interference in Monday's election, where votes are still being counted, came from the Jubilee coalition of electoral frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta, who called on Britain to explain "an upsurge" of its troops in the country. The Foreign Office described the accusations as "false and misleading", and said that British troops who arrived last week for training had been scheduled for the trip nine months ago. Mr Kenyatta's alliance also accused British high commissioner Christian Turner of behind-the-scenes lobbying. The Independant
Technology has failed Kenyans in the 2013 general election. Over the past few months, election officials and their friends in the media have raised public hopes for a fair election by hyping measures to modernize the voting system. But it's possible that these new reforms could instead become the cause of increased tensions In some areas, the much-anticipated biometric voter identification kits only started arriving in the early morning hours on election day. Given that polling was slated to start at 6:00 A.M., this left polling agents with hardly enough time to test the equipment, much less to charge its batteries. As a result, it came as little surprise when the kits began to fail just a few hours into voting. There were a number of reasons cited, including low battery life, the lack of electricity in certain areas, and polling officers' difficulties in accessing the central system. Foreign Policy
In Kenya, colorblindness may be contributing to more than just questionable sartorial combinations. Some observers say it may have something to do with the hundreds of thousands of spoiled ballots - a term for disqualified or invalidated votes - in Monday's presidential election, adding new delays to declaring a winner and raising the possibility of a costly and contentious runoff election in April. [...] Colorblindness affects an estimated 4 percent of African men. (It's twice as prevalent among Caucasian men.) That would mean some 300,000 men who voted in Monday's election were colorblind. NPR
[...] The past year has witnessed both positive developments and sobering reminders of the threats in the U.S. Africa Command Area of Responsibility. Many African partners are more capable of addressing national and regional security challenges today than they were a year ago, and we have strengthened both new and enduring partnerships. In Somalia, sustained operations by African forces, with enabling assistance from the United States and the international community, significantly weakened al-Shabaab, providing space for Somalia's transition to a constitutionally based government. We are deepening our relationship with the Tanzanian military, a professional force whose capabilities and influence increasingly bear on regional security issues in eastern and southern Africa and the Great Lakes region. Senegal and Ghana, anchors of regional stability in West Africa, held peaceful, democratic elections last year and remain important U.S. partners in efforts to counter transnational threats. Senate Armed Services Committee
A new Africa-focused Marine crisis response unit could soon be in place as part of a broader effort to beef up Africa Command's ability to confront emerging terrorism threats on the continent, its commander Gen. Carter Ham told a Senate committee on Wednesday. The Marine Corps has proposed a new Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force, which would be "specially tailored for crisis response in Africa," Ham said while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington. "We think that will be available in the relatively near future." Stars and Stripes
The editor-in-chief of a Mali newspaper has been detained after publishing a letter that denounced the salary of the man who led last year's coup. According to a journalist at The Republican newspaper, his editor, Boukary Daou, was taken away by agents from Mali's intelligence service on Wednesday. The paper had published a letter from an army officer that criticised the salary enjoyed by Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo while Malian troops die fighting militants in the north of the country. Sanogo, who seized power last March, was revealed two months ago to be drawing pay of 4m francs (£5,400). The Guardian
Niger is helping Mali to battle Islamists and Tuareg rebels and contributing several hundred troops. Niger's own security is also expected to benefit. Deutsche Welle
The mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) which was to expire on Thursday has been extended by a year by the United Nations Security Council. The 15-member committee passed a resolution on Wednesday that gives a lifeline to the regional peace keeping force mandated to support the Somalia government. The new Security Council Resolution 2093 (2013) is aimed at strengthening the newly elected federal government of Somalia headed by Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon in its efforts to stabilise the country and foster political dialogue and reconciliation. Business Daily
As Somalia emerges from civil war and the influence of Islamist insurgents al-Shabaab, it is women who are rebuilding the economy according to businesswomen in Mogadishu, and students and the rector of the University of Somalia, who says: 'It is the women the economy relies on. The men are there for fighting'. The Guardian
Many South Africans have decried the recent, terrible cases of rape. South Africa's pervasive culture of hyper-masculinity has been blamed for the problem, as has the patriarchal nature of its society, where men remain the central figures around which society is organised in spite of the country's constitutionally enshrined commitment to gender equality. But are these explanations adequate? Radical feminists tend to blame the problem on the continued existence of patriarchy, which doesn't shed much light on the subject, as this explanation fails to situate the problem in its historical context. It also often frames the problem in essentialist terms, as though men are automatically the enemy and all women, irrespective of their social position, have common experiences of oppression and a shared interest in fighting it. Unless a deep, historically situated, understanding of the problem is developed it will be impossible to develop lasting solutions. The South African Civil Society Information Service
In late February, 11 African nations signed a new 'vision document' for peace in the eastern Congo. Regional expert Meredith Hutchison breaks down what it could mean for the region's future. CS Monitor
Who will be Mozambique's next President? In the absence of a clear signal from the ruling party, succession battles are set to intensify. President Armando Guebuza is expected to step down after his second term ends in 2014. With the cash from coal and gas resources due to start flowing over the next decade, the battle to control them is underway. Several frontrunners have fallen by the wayside, including Guebuza's ever-loyal prime minister Aires Ali, who failed to garner enough support during key party polls in September. Africa Report
Four Euro MPs heading for a part of Western Sahara annexed by Morocco in 1975, were turned back at the border on Wednesday (06.03.2013). This is a reminder of a conflict that has been smoldering for decades. In northwest Africa, Morocco, which occupies 80 percent of Western Sahara, faces off against the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi national liberation movement. The two sides were once at war, but a ceasefire monitored by the United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been in force since 1991. Deutsche Welle
Algerian National Police Director-General Major General Abdelghani Hamel paid a working visit to the operational security installations in Bouira province on Wednesday (March 6th). Hamel recognised the role played by the police force in protecting citizens while emphasising in the same context the mandatory need to address all forms of criminality in the Kabylie region. Roughly 400 armed al-Qaeda militants are still active in the Kabylie region, security officials announced last week. Magharebia
The Cote d'Ivoire Republican Forces (FRCI), the UN peacekeepers and the French Licorne forces will provide security for the upcoming local elections in the West African country, officials said Wednesday. A tripartite meeting on the issue was held here Tuesday with the FRCI chief of general staff, general Soumaila Bakayoko, vowing "necessary measures" for voters. "We shall take necessary measures to ensure that all the forces can effectively participate in the elections," Bakayoko said. Xinhua
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said he was not ready to offer an amnesty to members of Islamist militant sect Boko Haram, brushing aside a proposal from the country's most senior Muslim spiritual leader. Jonathan spoke on his first state trip to the northeastern region worst hit by the group's more than three-year insurgency - the Christian southerner has been widely criticized for not visiting sooner. Reuters
United States has trained NEMA officials and other emergency response agencies on disaster management link with terrorism. The three days training commenced yesterday with a tabletop simulation exercise at the Institute for Security Studies, Abuja. The exercise centered on the use of vital assets as independent protective devices and chemical pollution level detection instruments. Declaring the training open, NEMA Director General, Mohammed Sani Sidi, said emergency rescue exercise has become necessary now that terrorism is on the rise in Nigeria and the entire West African sub-region. Daily Trust on allAfrica
Egyptian officials are worried that they are seizing only a fraction of the weaponry entering the Sinai Peninsula from Libya. And in contrast to earlier arms shipments, which were destined for the Gaza Strip, the final destination for many of the recent weapons shipments is the Sinai itself, where Salafi jihadists have a growing presence. The long War Journal
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), the government of Cape Verde and the U.S. Embassy in Cape Verde welcomed legal maritime experts to the Trans-Atlantic Maritime Criminal Justice Workshop for ECOWAS Zone G Countries (Cape Verde, Gambia and Senegal) in Praia, Cape Verde February 27-March 1, 2013. The three-day event provided a venue for representatives from various agencies responsible for maritime safety and security to evaluate the relationship between maritime crime, related criminal justice gaps and capacity building in West Africa. Africom
| 
