Kenya president hails athletes for winning global title

Yahoo – AFP, 30 Aug 2015

Gold medallist Kenya's Asbel Kiprop and silver medallist Kenya's Elijah Motonei
Manangoi celebrate after the final of the men's 1500 metres at the 2015 IAAF
World Championships in Beijing on August 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/Franck Fife)

Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday congratulated the country's athletes for their sterling performances at the world athletics championship in Beijing where Kenya won the global title for the first time.

Kenya topped the medal standings with a total of 16 medals, including seven golds, and beating athletics' heavyweights, Jamaica and the United States into second and third positions respectively.

"Our young people have once again shown that they are as good as the world's best and the brightest," said Kenyatta in a press statement.

He urged for the strengthening of the national youth development to empower as many Kenyan communities in order to make Kenya to be more competitive in future international competitions.

Kenya, which has been dominant in the middle and long distance events, achieved rare wins in the men's 400m hurdles and the javelin in Beijing for the first time.

In Kenya, Obama calls for greater rights for gay community

During a landmark visit to his father's homeland Kenya, US President Barack Obama has called for greater rights for the gay community in Africa. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said it was a "non-issue."

Deutsche Welle, 25 July 2015

During the US president's first full-day in Kenya, Barack Obama called for greater rights for the gay community in Africa, noting that he was "painfully aware of the history when people are treated differently under the law."

"I've been consistent all across Africa on this. When you start treating people differently, because they're different, that's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen," Obama said in a sign of open disagreement with his Kenyan counterpart.

"When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently those habits can spread. As an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of what happen when people are treated differently under the law. I am unequivocal on this," Obama said.

'Non-issue'

The subject of gay rights was a point of contention between to the two presidents at a joint press conference, where Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said that for Kenyans, it was a "non-issue."

"There are some things that we must admit we don't share. It's very difficult for us to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept. This is why I say for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue," Kenyatta said.

Many Kenyan politicians are opposed to gay rights in the country, where gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Obama noted that for "a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business, and working at a job and obeying the traffic signs and not harming anybody, the idea they will be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop."

Counter-terrorism in focus

The US president also added that the US and Kenya were boosting cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants based in Somalia, who have launched a number of deadly attacks in the East African country, including one on Nairobi's Westgate shopping center.

"We have systematically reduced the territory that al-Shabab controls. We have been able to decrease their effective control within Somalia and have weakened those networks operating here in East Africa. That doesn't mean the problem is solved," Obama said.

"We can degrade significantly the capacity of the terrorist organizations, but they can still do damage," the US president added.

Both presidents also highlighted the deadly civil war in South Sudan and the elections in Burundi, which Obama said "weren't credible."

ls/bw (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

Obama spends first evening in Kenya with extended family

US President Barack Obama has reunited with his extended family on the first evening of his trip to Kenya. In his first visit as US president, Obama is expected to discuss trade and counterterrorism strategies.

Deutsche Welle, 25 July 2015

 Barack Obama reuniting with his family

While the media has focused extensively on US President Barack Obama's family in Kenya, the US government has stressed that the aim of the president's visit is to highlight Kenya's ties with the US. Obama's trip is set to include talks on trade and counterterrorism strategies.

On Saturday, Kenya and the US are to discuss enhancing cooperation in the fight against the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militia, responsible for the 2013 bombing of Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall that killed 67 people. The group recently attacked a university near the Somali border, leaving 148 students and teachers dead.

Obama is also scheduled to open the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, visiting along with more than 200 US investors. Later on, he will meet with President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in a disputed 2007 election. The charges against Kenyatta were dropped in December.

This is Obama's first trip to his father's
homeland as US president

Last visit in 2006

After receiving a warm welcome by millions of Kenyans, Obama spent Friday evening reuniting with his extended family.

At his hotel in Nairobi, the president met with the woman he calls "Granny," also known as "Mama Sarah," who helped raise his late father. His half-sister Auma Obama and about three dozen other family members were also present. The family engaged in an amiable chat, sitting at the restaurant of the hotel where Obama was staying in the Kenyan capital.

Auma said her father would be proud to see his son as US president if he were alive today. "He'd be extremely proud and say, 'Well done'…But then he'd add, 'But obviously, you're an Obama," she said in an interview with CNN.

Kenyan heritage

"I don't think that Kenyans think of Obama as African-American. They think of him as Kenyan-American," EJ Hogendoorn, deputy program director for Africa at the International Crisis Group, told the Associated Press.

Obama is linked to Kenya through his father, Barack Obama Sr., who left the country as a young man to study in Hawaii, where he met the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. Obama Sr. left Hawaii when his son was just 2 years old, for Harvard, after which he went back to Kenya. The president met his father only once more in his life, when he was 10 years old. Obama Sr. would die soon after, in a car crash in 1982.

Obama Sr. was an economist who opposed the leader of his country at the time, then President Jomo Kenyatta, over tribal divisions and allegations of corruption. He was fired by the president and spent the rest of his life dealing with financial problems and heavy drinking.

mg/cmk (AP, Reuters)

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"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

Kerry in Kenya calls for unity to defeat terrorism

Yahoo – AFP, Nicolas Revise, 4 May 2015

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes hands with Kenyan President 

Uhuru Kenyatta following a meeting at the State House in Nairobi on May 4, 2015 

(AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Nairobi (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed support to Kenya on Monday in the battle against Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab, after calling for unity in the face of terror attacks.

"The US continues to stand resolutely with the government and people of Kenya in the effort to end scourge of violent extremism," Kerry said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks 

to Somali refugees from the Dadaab Camp

 via video in Nairobi on May 4, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Kenya is struggling to stop increased cross-border attacks by the militants even though it has thousands of troops in neighbouring southern Somalia as part of an African Union force, which Washington has funded by over half a billion dollars since 2007.

Last month Shebab gunmen massacred close to 150 people, mostly students, in a raid on a university in the northeastern Kenyan town of Garissa, the worst ever attack by the insurgents.

The raid followed a string of other massacres in the northeast and Muslim-majority coastal areas, and after the September 2013 siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi which left at least 67 dead.

Since the Garissa attack Kenya threatened to shut down the world's largest refugee camp complex in Dadaab and send 360,000 Somali refugees back home, but Kerry said after meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta that it would remain open.

"I'm confident Dadaab will remain open while we work through how they will be able to go home, by doing a better job of finishing our task in Somalia," Kerry said.

Kerry's trip to the east African nation is the first high-level visit since 2012, and comes after years of tensions surrounding Kenyatta after he was charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The ICC has since abandoned the case against Kenyatta over his alleged role in the 2007-2008 post-election violence, citing a lack of evidence and Kenya's failure to cooperate -- somewhat removing Kenyatta's pariah status.

Kenyatta told Kerry during their meeting that the country needs "support in terms of training, equipment and surveillance," as well as to "work more closely with the US to control financing of terrorism," a Kenyan government statement read.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L), stands next to Rukia Ali, a victim of 

the 1998 US embassy bombing, during a wreath laying ceremony at the

 August 7 Memorial Park, the bombing site in Nairobi, on May 4, 2015

(AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Obama to visit Kenya in July

Diplomats earlier said Kerry would raise human rights issues with Kenyatta, whose government has been accused of clamping down on civil society groups and the press.

The pair's meeting also came as Kenya's deputy president William Ruto reportedly told worshippers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality "violates our religious and cultural beliefs."

Kerry and Kenyatta met for around half an hour, with the Secretary of State saying it was a "good meeting". The US envoy also met opposition leaders.

Kerry's trip also comes ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to his late father's home country in July.

Earlier Kerry visited a memorial in Kenya to the 1998 bombing of the US embassy. The attack by Al-Qaeda was the worst carried out by Islamist militants against the east African nation, killing 213 people.

"The terrorists who struck on August 7, 1998 failed utterly in their purpose, which was to implant fear in the hearts of the Kenyan people and to divide America from the citizens of this country," Kerry said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, foreground, speaks to US Embassy

employees in Nairobi, on May 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"We do have however the power to fight back, not only with our military and law enforcement, but also through something that may be even more powerful and that may make a bigger difference in the end, and that is our unity and the character of our ideals," Kerry said.

Kerry, who arrived from Sri Lanka on Sunday afternoon, later heads for the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where the US has a major military base, and where refugees from war-torn Yemen are arriving.

Kerry then heads to Saudi Arabia and France for talks on regional security, as well as to take part in commemorations marking the end of World War II in Europe.

Related Article:

Obama plans first presidential trip to Kenya, father's homeland

Obama plans first presidential trip to Kenya, father's homeland

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew Beatty, 31 March 2015

Barack Obama will in July make a first presidential trip to Kenya (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama will make a long-awaited return to Kenya this July, visiting his father's homeland for the first time since becoming US president, the White House announced Monday.

During the much-delayed visit, Obama will attend a summit to encourage entrepreneurship and meet the country's controversial leader Uhuru Kenyatta.

Obama's late father was from a small village near the shores of Lake Victoria. He met Obama's white American mother in Hawaii, where they had a son before divorcing.

America's first black president has visited sub-Saharan Africa four times since taking office in 2009, but political scandal has blocked a presidential visit to his ancestral home.

Barack Obama greets his grandmother 

Sarah Obama at her rural home in Siaya

 near Kisumu in Kenya, on August 26, 

2006 (AFP Photo/Simon Maina)

For much of Obama's time in power, Kenya's president Kenyatta had been under investigation by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Kenyatta was indicted on five counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in 2007-08 post-election violence that killed an estimated 1,200 people.

The 53-year-old son of Kenya's founding father protested his innocence until the case was dropped in December.

Prosecutors complained that they had been undermined by a lack of cooperation by the Kenyan government, as well as the bribing or intimidation of witnesses.

A White House official told AFP that Obama and Kenyatta would meet during the visit.

The official, who asked not to be named, said the United States regularly raises "concerns with the Kenyan government about restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms."

View galleryBarack Obama greets his grandmother Sarah Obama at …

Barack Obama greets his grandmother Sarah Obama at her rural home in Siaya near Kisumu in Kenya, on  …

"The president's trip will create another opportunity for dialogue with the government and civil society on these issues."

Kenyatta had attended a US-Africa summit in Washington in 2014 but did not hold a bilateral meeting with Obama.

Kenya is seen as a front in the fight against global terror, following a series of deadly attacks that have been claimed by Somalia-based jihadist group al-Shebab.

Many Western governments have since warned tourists against visiting Kenya's stunning coastline, which draws in hordes of visitors and much-needed tourism revenue.

Forefathers and ancestry

The White House hopes that a visit will also do more to cement ties between the United States and the African continent, which has received billions in Chinese investment in recent decades.

"Just as President (John) Kennedy's historic visit to Ireland in 1963 celebrated the connections between Irish-Americans and their forefathers, President Obama's trip will honor the strong historical ties between the United States and Kenya – and all of Africa," White House advisors said in a blog.

Millions of Americans trace their ancestry to the African continent, and more than 100,000 Americans live in or visit Kenya each year, they said.

Obama had visited Kenya multiple times before entering politics and in 2006 as a US senator, when he visited his father's home village Nyang'oma-Kogelo and took a very public HIV test.

The president's heritage has spurred domestic controversy, with some hardline political foes claiming he was not born in the United States and so was ineligible to become president.

Obama allies say this is thinly veiled racism and the president has often made light of the controversy.

"If I did not love America, I wouldn't have moved here from Kenya," he recently joked.

Some Republicans accused Obama of trying to stir up controversy.

"I personally think he’s just inciting some chatter on an issue that should have been a dead issue a long time ago," John Sununu, who served as White House chief of staff for president George H. W. Bush, told Fox News.

On the July visit, Obama is expected to take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which is being held in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time.

"Hosting the GES is an opportunity for Kenya to showcase its economic progress," said the White House official.

"Kenya maintains enormous potential for economic growth, thanks to the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the Kenyan people."

Related Article:

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

Kenyan parties 'agree peace plan'

BBC News

Kenya's feuding leaders have agreed on a plan to end the political and ethnic violence gripping the country, former UN chief Kofi Annan has said.

"We have agreed an agenda covering both short-term issues and also long-term issues," Mr Annan said.

The deal was agreed by representatives of both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The announcement came after fresh outbreaks of fighting left at least 18 people dead in the west of the country.

Mr Annan said the rival parties had agreed a four-point framework for talks which should end the violence within the next two weeks.

The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says the deal is a good start which should have an impact on the level of violence on the ground.

But the two parties were still very, very far apart, he says, with President Kibaki saying he won December's disputed presidential election fair and square, and Mr Odinga claiming it was rigged.

Hate messages

The talks are due to last a month and items on the agenda include:

• ending the violence
• humanitarian situation
• resolving the political crisis
• land and historical injustices

"We believe within seven to 15 days, we should be able to tackle the first three agenda items," Mr Annan said.

"The first is to take immediate action to stop the violence."

Mr Annan said the parties had agreed on 18 action points to end the violence, including demobilising militia gangs, refraining from provocative speeches and ending text messages which have been inciting hatred.

His announcement followed a visit by his successor, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called on all sides in Kenya to stop the violence.

Poisoned

But there have been further reports of bloodshed, rioting and fighting in parts of the Rift Valley.

Police say a 3,000-strong mob armed with bows and arrows, spears, clubs and machetes, killed at least 10 people, including a policeman, in western Kenya.

Kalenjin man is discovered hiding in a house with poisoned arrows near the western Kenyan town of Kericho on 1 February 2008

Clashes have continued across Kenya despite talks

The incident took place in Anaimoi, a trading post in the Kericho district of western Kenya.

"People from the whole village attacked the policeman and killed him," says police commander Walter Aliwa.

The area's MP David Too was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday.

Police say the killing was the result of a domestic dispute but the opposition say he was assassinated.

In a separate incident, eight people were poisoned and hacked to death in an apparent revenge attack for the MP's killing.

Peacemaker Tutu slams Kenya elite

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu rounded on Kenya's ruling elite Friday, saying its people are sick of the corruption that has plagued the nation.

Tutu, in Kenya to try to mediate a solution to the violence that followed December 27 elections, said: "People have been incensed by the level of corruption."

He spoke to CNN as an uneasy calm hung over the Kenyan capital Friday, after almost a week of violence that, according to government figures, has left at least 300 people dead and up to 75,000 people internally displaced.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, added he was still hopeful a diplomatic solution could be found to ending the violence that accompanied the disputed election result. Video Watch Tutu assess Kenya's problems »

The opposition Orange Democratic Movement on Friday called for a new presidential election to be held.

Anyang Nyongo, secretary general of the ODM, said the country should start preparing "for a new election of the president."

"This is about a democracy and justice," Nyongo told The Associated Press. "We shall continue to defend and promote the right of Kenyans so that the democratic process should be fulfilled."

Kenya's electoral commission said President Mwai Kibaki had won the vote, but opposition leader Raila Odinga alleged it was rigged and international observations said it was flawed.

On Thursday, Attorney General Amos Wako called for an independent probe of the counting.

Odinga's ODM once again wanted supporters to join a demonstration Friday in Uhuru Park, but CNN's Kim Norgaard said a heavy police presence was preventing protesters from making their way to the site.

A rally the previous day had been prevented by police who blocked the way with tear gas and water cannons. Video Watch a report from the front lines »

The rally was banned by Kenya's government, which had prohibited political gatherings before the December 27 elections.

Many businesses remained closed Friday although some office workers were returning to work. In Kibera, the country's largest slum, shops remained shut and there were small groups of protesters gathering.

"We are trying to go to Uhuru Park today," said Joshua Okoth, standing with a group of young men by the smoking remains of a former food market. "Let people die and then there will be a change," he added.

Reports of violence, looting and fires were sporadic in Nairobi's sprawling slums, including Kibera.

Video from Nairobi's outskirts showed streets littered with broken glass, overturned Coca-Cola crates and, in some places, fires. One man carried a sign that read: "Shame on you Kibaki you raped our democracy."

The International Red Cross Friday said it was sending 15 staff to the country to assess how to give the Kenyan Red Cross enough provisions to sustain at least 100,000 people with basics for several weeks, AP reported.

Meanwhile, children's bodies piled up in a Nairobi morgue, churches burned and police on horseback chased pedestrians through the streets.

"What we have just seen defies description," Odinga told journalists after visiting one Nairobi morgue Thursday. "We can only describe it as genocide on a grand scale."

Earlier this week, the ODM posted on its Web site a call for Kibaki to protect all Kenyans.

Kibaki narrowly won re-election with 51.3 percent of the vote, while Odinga garnered 48.7 percent, the country's election commission announced Sunday.

Tutu said ethnic differences should not be allowed to split the country apart. "Our diversity is not something to divide us," he told CNN.

He met with Odinga and other opposition officials Thursday and with Kibaki on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also has sent diplomat Jendayi Frazer, who was to arrive in Kenya on Friday and meet with Kibaki, Odinga and other political leaders, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.