Musings From Abroad

Biden, Kenya’s Ruto vow to protect democracy in Africa

Published

6 months ago

May 25, 2024

During a state visit to the White House on Thursday, US President, Joe Biden, welcomed Kenyan President, William Ruto, and promised to establish new collaborations with him in technology, security, and debt relief. Ruto leads one of the most powerful democracies in Africa.

Ruto’s journey to the White House marks the first state visit by an African president since 2008. It is a sign of the importance of a continent that supports strong commercial relations with China, is home to one billion people, but is ranked lower on Washington’s agenda than the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

Ruto was the special guest of honor at a sumptuous state dinner on Thursday night, which was attended by a diverse group of people, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, singer-songwriter Don McLean, CEOs of Pfizer (PFE.N) and Walmart (WMT.N), former President Bill Clinton, and others. Before the dinner, former President Barack Obama, whose father was from Kenya, gave a quick speech.

“We may be divided by distance, but the same democratic values unite us,” Biden said as he greeted Ruto on the South Lawn of the White House. Biden reminisced about his own visits to Kenya as a young man, hailing 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries after Kenya’s independence.

“My visit takes place at a time when democracy is perceived to be retreating worldwide,” Ruto said, standing with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other cabinet officials. Earlier, he had met privately with Biden in the Oval Office.

“We agreed on the significant opportunity for the U.S. to recalibrate its strategy and strengthen its support for Africa radically,” Ruto said. Biden said he would designate Kenya as the first sub-Saharan African country to be a major non-NATO ally. Qatar, Israel and 16 other countries share that designation.

Nairobi and Washington work together to combat terrorism in Africa, maintain security in Haiti, and aid the Ukrainian people. The president of Kenya arrived in the US on Monday, travelled to Atlanta, and on Wednesday, had a meeting with business leaders at the White House. At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on Friday, he will talk with Vice President Kamala Harris about digital inclusion in Africa.

Although Washington has struggled to forge strong relationships, successive U.S. administrations have stated that they wish to provide African nations with a more democratic and durable option to relations with China and Russia.

A slew of military takeovers, conflicts, and unreliable elections have altered the political landscape of the continent in the last year, giving China and Russia more clout. Seen as a democratic bastion, Biden believes closer ties with Kenya will help stabilize the continent and further American interests.

In a joint statement, the two presidents requested the warring parties in Sudan to grant humanitarian access to aid and consent to a truce, and they pledged to cooperate with the Somali government in its battle against terrorism.

Related Topics:Featured Kenya President Joe Biden

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

9 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.