Category: Foreign

As the political landscape in Kenya continues to evolve, political analyst Herman Manyora has offered his insights into the ongoing talks between President William Ruto and opposition chief Raila Odinga.

The discussions gained significant attention over the weekend when it was revealed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had taken on the role of mediator between the two leaders.

The meeting between President Ruto and Raila, held in the presence of Obasanjo, has garnered intense speculation.

However, the details of the discussions have not been made public, leaving room for speculation and curiosity among the Kenyan public.

According to Manyora, the involvement of Obasanjo as a mediator might be driven by international pressure.

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He suggested that Obasanjo’s role goes beyond his individual influence and stature, hinting at the possibility that he could be representing broader international interests.

Similar situations have occurred in the past, such as in 2008, where influential figures stepped in to facilitate talks and resolutions in delicate political scenarios.

Manyora, during an appearance on K24, pointed out that Tanzanian President Samia Suluh had also made efforts to intervene in the situation.

However, he surmised that her efforts might not have been taken as seriously as Obasanjo’s due to the latter’s standing as a former general and head of state.

Obasanjo’s political experience and diplomatic track record likely add weight to his role as a mediator in the Ruto-Raila talks.

Drawing parallels to the tumultuous events of 2007, Manyora recalled how the late Koffi Annan’s mediation efforts played a pivotal role in easing political tensions in Kenya.

At that time, the country was on the brink of crisis, and it took the involvement of an esteemed and respected figure like Annan to compel the key political leaders, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, to engage in meaningful dialogue.

The involvement of external mediators in political disputes can often serve as a catalyst for progress.

When influential personalities with international recognition and experience step in, it can create an environment that fosters cooperation and meaningful dialogue among the concerned parties.

As the talks between President Ruto and Raila Odinga continue, the eyes of the nation are on the outcomes and potential implications for Kenya’s political future.

• IPAC seeks regional military command

The first image of Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum has been published online after an attempted coup, showing the leader smiling broadly and appearing to be in good health during a meeting with the President of neighbouring Chad Mahamat Idriss Déby.

Déby travelled to Niger as a diplomatic envoy to speak to the country’s democratically elected president – who is believed to be being held at the presidential residence – and the coup leaders.

Déby posted the photo on his Facebook page late on Sunday, saying he made the trip to Niger, “which is going through a major political crisis … to explore all the paths to find a peaceful exit to the crisis shaking this neighbouring country”.

He also posted a photo of himself with the coup leader, Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani, the head of Niger’s presidential guard, who is also smiling and wearing military fatigues.

Soldiers said they have removed the president from office but an intense power struggle is continuing. Neighbouring countries and international partners have refused to recognise the new leadership and demanded that Bazoum be reinstated.

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Bazoum has not been harmed and has continued to talk by phone to foreign governments.

Landlocked Niger, a former French colony, has become a pivotal ally for western powers seeking help to fight the jihadist insurgencies that have spread across the Sahel region from Mali over the past decade.

Bazoum’s election in 2021 was the first democratic transition of power in a state that has witnessed four military coups since independence from France in 1960.

The coup leaders, who seized power last week in Niger, have alleged that the toppled government had authorised France to carry out an attack on the presidential palace to try to free President Mohamed Bazoum.

The claims were made yesterday by Colonel Amadou Abdramane, one of the coup plotters, on state television. He said the authorisation was signed by Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou, acting as prime minister. The claims could not be independently verified.

France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, has condemned the coup and urged Bazoum to be reinstated but has not announced any intention to intervene militarily.

In response to allegations of authorising strikes, the French foreign ministry did not confirm or deny but instead said the only legitimate authority it recognised in Niger was Bazoum.

It also told Reuters news agency that “our priority is the security of our citizens and our facilities, which cannot be targeted by violence, according to international law.”

Paris also denied using lethal means to respond when supporters of Niger’s military government attacked the French embassy in Niamey on Sunday, France’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

The presidential guard, which seized power last week after blocking Bazoum inside the palace in the capital, Niamey, has previously warned against foreign attempts to extract the president, saying it would result in bloodshed and chaos.

Abdramane’s comments also come a day after the 15-nation regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that Bazoum be reinstated within a week at an emergency summit in neighbouring Nigeria.

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), an umbrella body of all registered political parties in Nigeria, has called for the establishment of a military command to check coups in West West Africa.

The National Chairman of the IPAC, Malam Yabagi Sani, made the call on Monday in Abuja.

Sani said there should be a formal arrangement for separate armies to work together for sustainable stability of polity in the region.

He also advised the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to take swift military actions in order to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.

“The chiefs of defence staff of ECOWAS should quickly commence deliberations on military options.

“IPAC the umbrella body of all registered political parties in Nigeria, unequivocally supports the resolution of the West African leaders under the able Chairmanship of President Bola Tinubu.

‘We call for extra protection for President Bazoum who has been held hostage by the junta.”

Ukraine attacked Russia with drones yesterday, damaging two office buildings just miles from the Kremlin and a pig breeding complex on the countries’ border.

The attacks, which Ukraine did not acknowledge in keeping with its security policy, reflected a pattern of more frequent and deeper cross-border strikes the Kyiv government has launched since starting a counter-offensive against Russian forces in June.

A precursor and the most dramatic of the strikes happened in May on the Kremlin itself, the seat of power in the capital, Moscow.

Yesterday’s was the fourth such strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, showing Moscow’s vulnerability as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.

 The Russian Defence Ministry said three drones targeted the city in an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime”.

Air defences shot down one drone in Odintsovo in the surrounding Moscow region, while two others were jammed and crashed into the Moscow City business district.

Photos and video showed that a drone had ripped off part of the facade of a modern skyscraper, the IQ-Quarter, 4.5 miles from the Kremlin.

When the drone hit, sparks, flames and smoke spewed from the building, with debris falling on to the street.

A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials. Russia’s Ria-Novosti news agency reported the building’s tenants included several government agencies.

Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, and the airspace over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed.

 President Vladimir Putin, who was in his home town of St Petersburg at the time of the attempted attacks for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration, was briefed, his spokesman said.

 Ukrainian officials did not acknowledge the attacks but President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address: “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

A Ukrainian air force spokesman also did not claim responsibility but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

 “All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ – it’s already touching them,” spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told journalists.

    “There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.”

• Saudi Arabia to host Ukraine talks early next month

Russian president Vladimir Putin has backed the African peace initiative on Ukraine.

 Speaking at the close of the Russia-Africa Forum in St Petersburg, Putin also praised China’s efforts at finding a solution to the conflict.

 “But in general, the initiative (African peace initiative on Ukraine, Ed.), in my opinion, can be the basis of some processes aimed at the search for peace, the same as others, such as for example, the Chinese initiative. Yes, they do not claim that their initiative contradicts or competes with others. In general, the conversation (with African leaders, Ed.) was long and substantive.

“We probably talked for an hour and a half. Everyone spoke on this issue. I want to emphasise once again that it was from an absolutely friendly position that it was a real, real, real search for some ways, some opportunities to somehow defuse the situation (between Russia and Ukraine, Ed.)”, said Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader also brushed away a question about why he will not be attending the BRICS forum in August in South Africa, claiming that his presence at the summit is irrelevant while making no mention of the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

Saudi Arabia is set to host talks in August about Ukraine, inviting Western states, Ukraine and major developing countries, including India and Brazil, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

The meeting would bring senior officials from up to 30 countries, including Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, Chile and Zambia, to Jeddah on Aug.5 and 6, the report said, citing diplomats involved in the discussion.

Ukraine and Western officials hope that the talks, which exclude Russia, can lead to international backing for peace terms favouring Ukraine, it said.

The Kremlin, which claims to have annexed around a sixth of Ukraine, has said it views peace talks with Ukraine as possible only if Kyiv accepts “

Among the invited countries, it is not yet clear how many will attend, although countries that took part in a similar round of talks in Copenhagen in June are expected to do so again, the report said.

Britain, South Africa, Poland and the EU are among those who have confirmed attendance and the U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to attend, it added.

Former President Donald Trump‘s mounting legal problems have become a fixture of the 2024 election cycle with leading Republican candidates divided over the merit of the federal government’s case against Trump.

Trump, who remains far and away the front-runner to win the Republican nomination, faced yet more criminal charges this week.

Federal prosecutors issued three more charges in the classified documents case bringing the number of charges he faces to 40.

He is the first president to have been impeached twice and to be criminally charged.

“This is bad stuff,” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told CNN. “You can’t say there was no underlying potential crime here. This was the withholding of confidential classified information from the government.

Christie has been a vocal critic of the former president and has often drawn his ire.

But other candidates remain steadfastly behind the former president.

Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, who made a name for himself in conservative circles by bashing liberal culture has said if elected he would pardon Trump.

“I intend to be the next president and yes I do believe I will move us forward and yes I think one of the right ways to do that is to pardon the former president of the United States from what is clearly a politicised prosecution,” Ramaswamy told CNN.

Nikki Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump struck a more neutral stance.

“I’ve said before that if these accusations are true, it’s incredibly dangerous to our national security,” Ms Haley told CBS. “But again, this is coming down from a Department of Justice that, frankly, the American people don’t trust. And so I think we have to wait and see what the evidence comes down as he’s got to defend himself. And we’ll wait and see as that comes together.”

A recent poll by Monmouth University shows that Trump still holds a commanding lead over what has become a crowded field.

Despite his legal challenges, 54 per cent of Republican-leaning voters said they supported the former President.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was a distant second in the poll with 22 per cent followed by Ramaswamy.

Trump has vowed to continue his bid for the Oval Office even if he is convicted of any of the charges he faces.

No fewer than 40 people were killed and over 130 injured when an explosion tore through a political rally in Pakistan‘s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province today, police said.

The police said there was no confirmation yet about the cause of the blast that took place at a gathering of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, known for its links to hardline political Islam, in the former tribal area of Bajaur.

“The JUI-F organised a workers convention in Khar town of Bajaur in which 40 people lost their lives and more than 130 were injured,” district police officer Nazir Khan told Reuters.

He said an emergency had been declared in the hospitals of Bajaur and adjoining areas where most of the injured were taken.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down.

However, most of the recent attacks have been on security forces and installations, rather than political gatherings.

The TTP pledges allegiance to, but is not directly a part of, the Taliban in western neighbour Afghanistan. Pakistan’s security forces say the TTP have sanctuaries in Afghanistan, which the Taliban run-administration there denies.

Afghanistan’s administration condemned the explosion in a statement by their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

The TTP are not the only militant group to carry out attacks in the area, which has also been hit by a local chapter of the Islamic State.