Integrated Armed Force, Joint Police Could Solve South Sudan Problems

• 

  Integration Could Be South Sudan’s Only Hope for Peace

  POLITICS

• Share this post
  AddThis Sharing Buttons

  171
• • 
  • Kajuju Murori

     Staff Writer
     Fri, Jul 15, 2016
• Having an integrated command force rather than different militaries operating in Juba could form a basis for unity among the troops loyal to the two leaders and hopefully, to the rest of the citizens.

• Renewed South Sudan attacks have left about 200 people dead and more than 20,000 stranded as they left their homes in search of security.

  The crossfire was reportedly instigated by clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of the first Vice President Riek Machar. The two leaders have been in a power struggle since the country gained its independence from Sudan in 2011.

  The world’s youngest country was marking the fifth anniversary of its independence this weekend. But instead of jubilation as a sovereign state, citizens remained indoors as the fear of looming war spread throughout the capital, Juba and across the nation.

  While there is some form of calm after the President and the Vice President appealed for a cease-fire, businesses have remained closed, foreigners evacuated, with Uganda sending its heavily-armed troops to evacuate citizens trapped in South Sudan’s capital. The US has also deployed 47 extra troops to protect its citizens and the US embassy following the outbreak of crisis which could escalate into war.

  Situation in South Sudan remains precarious

  On Tuesday the UN Security Council called for an immediate end to hostilities between the two forces of Kiir and Machar to thwart the spread of violence. The situation, although calm now, remains dangerous and could turn violent if not well handled, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council.
  “We remain very worried about the potential for the resumption of violence and spill-over into other parts of the country, as we have seen in the past,” he said.
  Due to the uncertainty of the matter, Machar is reported to have withdrawn with his troops to outside Juba, his spokesman said, even as a ceasefire entered its third day. Although in the hideout, Machar has reassured people that he and his army are not planning war as it was witnessed in 2013.
  “We had to move away from our base (in Juba) to avoid further confrontation,” Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak in Nairobi told Reuters, saying he was in contact with Machar's forces. “He is around the capital. I cannot say the location.”
  Speaking to the news agency, Gatdet Dak said Machar “is not returning to the bush nor is he organizing for war.” He added that the leader would return to Juba when ceasefire details were worked out.
  Many people fear that the current events might turn out like the December 2013 happenings, when a two-year civil war erupted in Juba, following the sacking of Machar as Kiir’s deputy. Machar withdrew his forces from Juba and launched a full-scale insurgency.
  Although, Machar is calling for an outside force to be deployed to act as a “buffer” between his and Kiir’s forces, he envisions that an implementation of a joint command, an integrated armed force and a joint police force securing Juba, as was enlisted in the peace deal but not yet implemented, would be a solution to South Sudan’s issues.
  In August 2015, Kiir and Machar signed the peace deal, which was not implemented immediately following disagreements over details. In a bid to cement the peace and unity process, Machar returned to Juba in April and was reinstated as Kiir's deputy.
  
  
  Image credit: Associated Press

Why Zimbabweans Are Not Giving Up Yet

• 

  Why Zimbabweans Are Not Giving Up Yet

  POLITICS

• Zimbabweans are not ready to let their country go down any further. They continue to hold nationwide demonstrations to call the government into action.

• In the recent past, Zimbabweans have gained voices and are fighting for their rights today more than ever before, calling on the government to take action to resolve the falling economy.

  From the Harare cleric who in May started a social media movement dubbed #thisflag to widespread street demonstrations in towns across the South African country, people have come up broadly to criticize the government that has been in power for almost four decades.

  Gone are the days when Zimbabweans suffered in silence. Since the 2008 election which was highly contested in the hope of finally removing the then, 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe, more and more citizens have found hope in airing out their views on the current regime.

  In a show of contempt for the government, on Wednesday (July 7), a number of protestors mobilized and succeeded in shutting down the main cities in what was seen as the bold and wide-spread demonstration.

  In a bid to contain the demonstrations, the Zimbabwe government blocked the WhatsApp service to its citizens as the country’s workers observed the ‘national shutdown’ to put pressure on the government, that has failed to pay civil servants.

  Dumisani Nkomo, spokesman for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the demonstration is “a sign of economic collapse which has left people with nothing more to sacrifice and nothing to lose.” He was speaking to AFP. “We are heading towards a tipping point as a country, where citizens will express their pain by any means,” he added.

  There has been unrest over the country’s failing economy with a currency shortage which has led to restrictions on imports, and extortion by policemen on roads.

  Zimbabwe is facing the worst economic meltdown which has been made worse by a severe drought affecting the agricultural sector.

  At least 80 percent of the Zimbabwean’s revenue is spent on state workers’ wages according to officials, while about 90 percent of the population is out of formal employment.

  The Wednesday strike left streets in the capital city of Harare deserted while youth in the outskirts of the city obstructed roads, leading to a running battle with the police. Motivated to stop the word of the strikes spreading, the government reportedly blocked WhatsApp throughout the country. People could not send or receive WhatsApp messages via a mobile network or wifi, African News Agency reported.

  Of course, this did not in any way deter the agitated citizenry. Using secure VPN services, Zimbabweans quickly embarked on distributing information about the strike.

  The strike not only paralyzed work but education too. With teachers failing to turn up to work, school going children had no option, but to head back home in the wake of the demonstrations.

  The government, however, denied cutting off the communication services blaming it on the network problem, instead. According to the minister for information, communication technology, and courier Services Supa Mandiwanzira, the government had no reason to ban or block the use of the service because of a few individuals who abused the platform,Mail and Guardian said.

  He argued that the government was actually trying not to give in to demands by the mobile operators to ban the platform and others such as Viber and Skype, which they believed were losing them revenue.

  “I as a minister and on behalf of the government have resisted these demands because we see their value to Zimbabweans. So there is no basis that I as minister or government will work up to ban them when we are on the forefront of denying the request by operators,” he said.

  “We know there are elements, very few of them, who abuse the platform but they must not be allowed to spoil its very good use by the majority of citizens,” he added.

  Ban or no ban, a government can only suppress its citizen for so long. Eventually, they will always find a way to express themselves to the rest of the world.

  
  

  Image credit: www.newsday.co.zw

Home World Politics Tech Entrepreneurship Business Markets Culture & Life Blogs About Us Angolans Are Asking: Where Did All The Oil Riches Go?

• 

  Angolans Are Asking: Where Did All The Oil Riches Go?

  BUSINESS

• The Angolan government failed to use revenues when the oil price was high to tackle massive social and economic challenges.
• A few years ago, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was on every ambitious investor’s lips. With large infrastructure and housing projects rapidly changing its appearance, the city seemed to be leaving behind the country’s 27-year civil war. But hopes for renewal are slowly dissipating as the price of the commodity on which Angola’s future was being constructed – oil – steadily declines.
  Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer. It is one of the countries that have been hardest hit by the fall in oil prices. The oil crash forced Angola to slash its 2015 budget by US$17 billion (a 25% reduction). Construction companies are having difficulties paying their workers, and the Angolan central bank has devalued the currency, the kwanza. Construction threatens to screech to a halt.
  The fantasy built on oil is crumbling, showing that its benefits were barely felt outside privileged sites of elite consumption. As criticism of the government mounts and Angolans begin to ask what actually happened to the glut of oil dollars, Luanda acts as a lesson that spectacle is no substitute for substantial political and economic change.

  The post-war oil boom

  Angola’s economic challenges appear especially dramatic given the optimism the country inspired following the end of its civil war(1975–2002). The war left Angola shattered. Infrastructure was destroyed, an estimated 4.1 million people were internally displaced, and the economy outside of the oil sector collapsed. When peace was announced in April 2002, Angola’s future was uncertain.
  This changed when the international price of crude oil rose from US$34.86 a barrel to US$146.12 at its peak in 2008. Combined with increased oil production, this meant that Angola went from financially fragile to stable.
  Eschewing the Bretton Woods institutions which tried to impose financial governance conditionalities on loans for post-conflict reconstruction, Angola initiated a system of oil-backed credit linespredominantly, but not only, with China. The deals involved the creditor extending a line of funding in return for Angola selling a fixed amount of future oil to the creditor. Amounting to billions of US dollars, these credit lines gave Angola access to the resources for reconstruction.
  The national reconstruction project outlined in the 2003-04 government program included initiatives for improved social services and poverty reduction. But the primary focus was on real estate and infrastructure.
  Luanda, home to 6.5 million people – just under one-quarter of Angola’s population – was the centre of these investments. Oil profits were sunk into a number of redevelopment plans, including:
  • state land reserves for urbanisation initiatives;
  • the construction of a large rehousing zone, Zango, for people forcibly removed for reconstruction projects;
  • the building of a satellite city, Kilamba, to eventually house 500,000 people; and
  • high rises in the city centre and real estate developments in the city’s southern areas aimed at high income earners.
  Prices went through the roof, leading to Luanda consistently being ranked as the most expensive city in the world for expatriates.

  No oil benefits for the poor

  For those living in the city centre and other wealthy areas, it really did feel like a new world was emerging. But for three-quarters of Luandans who live in informal settlements, nothing changed significantly. In fact, their urban status was increasingly uncertain.
  Central to the creation of the new Luanda was the mass demolition of slum areas, referred to locally as musseques or bairros, and the removal of residents to rehousing zones.
  Many of those affected were not rehoused. They simply lost their homes and land. There was little legal recourse, as the Angolan state is the ultimate owner of all land. A 2004 land law removed the legality of good-faith occupation, and it is extremely difficult to legally register land. Luanda’s fantasy was therefore being constructed on the increasing precarity of the majority.
  
  
  

  Members of the Patriotic Youth of Angola protest against irregularities in the election process in 2012. EPA/Paulo Novais

   

  Lack of economic and political transformation

  After the oil price crash Luandans are left wondering what was actually achieved. Between 2004 and 2014 Angola failed to diversify its economy significantly. Foreign reserves are drying up and inflation hit a three-year high of 10.4% in July 2015.
  This has been partially driven by a fuel price increase imposed after the fuel subsidy was slashed as a means of decreasing spending. This has led to a rise in food and consumer goods prices, negatively affecting even the small gains that the urban poor made during the boom years.
  Ever stronger evidence is emerging of financial mismanagement and large scale corruption in the administration of oil funds. A 2011 IMF report identified that public funds of US$32 billion linked to the state oil company, Sonangol, were unaccounted for. Although it later found that $US27.2 billion was due to unrecorded expenditure by Sonangol on behalf of the Angolan government, this left open the question of what had happened to the outstanding amount.
  China has also launched investigations into allegations of corruption involving its economic deals in Angola. This has led to the arrest of Su Shulin, former head of Sinopec, the Chinese state oil company responsible for oil investment in Angola, and of Sam Pa, the kingpin of the Queensway Group, who brokered many of the agreements between Angola and Chinese business.
  While Angola is now searching for new sources of financing, seen in its issuing of $US1.5 billion of Eurobonds, the general feeling is that its economic problems are set to continue.

  Political repression is on the increase

  A nascent urban youth movement emerged in 2011 calling for changes to the political system. Their demands included respect for civil liberties and the resignation of President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979. He leads the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which has been in charge since 1975.
  Their protests have been small but potent. These hesitant signs of a political opening up have been crushed as the government has sought to contain political dissent. Seventeen youth activists have been charged with attempting to overthrow the government. Fifteen have been detained for more than 100 days.
  But crushing political dissent will not solve the country or the city’s problems. To bring meaningful change, financial resources have to be orientated towards the needs of the majority.

  ---

  Image credit: Reuters. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Reporttaka: Mobile App That Could Rid Nairobi of Garbage

• 

  Reporttaka: Mobile App That Could Rid Nairobi of Garbage

  TECHNOLOGY

• A mobile application, Reporttaka, is working towards a clean and healthy Nairobi by allowing users to share photos of uncollected garbage.

• Garbage bins in the city center fill up to the brim and go unnoticed for a while by the Nairobi City Council, but a new mobile app is promising to bring to an end the menace.

  Reporttaka is a mobile application for crowd-sourced information on uncollected garbage around the city of Nairobi. The app allows Nairobians to report unattended garbage whenever and wherever they find it.

  It is no wonder the app won the #SmartCityNairobi challenge, a hackathon hosted byTwitter Inc. in partnership with iHub to promote innovative solutions using the Twitter’s application program interface (API).

  

  Reporttaka wins and takes home $10, 000. Image credit: http://innov8tiv.com/

  In April, the #SmartCityNairobi Challenge was launched and started receiving innovative ideas aimed at creating solutions to problems in Nairobi using Twitter’s API with the support of Twitter’s Developer Relations Team. By the end of the challenge, the winners would receive cash prizes and incubation.

  As the world moves to a colossal chain of manufacturing, consuming and discarding, the issue of refuse comes to play especially in the city centers and major towns where consumption habits are even more. The matter is made worse by the rapid economic growth, overcrowding, poor urban planning, destructive corruption, and political dysfunctional.

  A walk through Kenya’s capital will confirm that garbage collection, although it is done, requires better strategies to ensure that the piles of waste are collected on time.

  With better garbage management solutions in towns, issues of flooding in the streets and roads could be solved instantly. When it rains, the uncollected garbage accumulates and blocks water outlets, making roads and streets impenetrable. Diseases because of cross contamination increases through the rotting garbage. The aesthetic value of a town or city also wears off in the presence of huge heaps of refuse.

  How the app works

  The app- Reporttaka- allows users to take photographs of uncollected garbage and post to the app. The app then aggregates these reports and forwards them to authorities- in this case the Nairobi county council- for appropriate action. It also allows the users to enter the location of the refuse, giving the authorities more information on the garbage.
  Apart from informing the city council, it also posts on Twitter and tags the concerned authority’s handle, in a move to call to action the relevant authorities.
  With such solutions in place, it will ensure a clean city, unclogged drainages to help manage the flood menace in the city.
  “Through our android application or twitter handle, users can report garbage and leave the follow up to us,” the creators of the app say on their website.
  The application can also be used by the city council authorities to gather reports and information which would help them in tracking their garbage collection efforts. Such information could come in handy when the city council is making policies on garbage collection within or around the city.
  Reporttaka whose mission is to ensure a clean, healthy, and safe Nairobi city, took home $10,000 cash prize for their innovation.
  
  
  Image credit:Cynthia Misiki  

Was There Ever a Time When So Few People Controlled So Much Wealth?

• • 

    So Few People Controlling So Much Wealth

    BUSINESS

  • With an inflation adjusted fortune of $400 billion, Mansa Musa I of Mali is the richest human being in all history
  • By Eoin Flaherty, Queen's University Belfast.
    Oxfam’s latest report claims that income inequality has reached a new global extreme, exceeding even its predictions from the previous year. The figures behind this claim are striking – just 62 individuals now hold the same wealth as the bottom half of humanity, compared to 80 in 2014 and 388 in 2010. It appears not only has the financial crisis been weathered by the global elite, but that their fortunes have collectively improved.
    Our objections to inequality, the report notes, are not driven simply by a desire to improve our own material standard of living. Rising inequality is one of the surest signs of the failure of economic growth to make things better for us all. The accompanying decline in the income shares of the bottom 50% since 2010 suggests that although governments across the world have been quick to tout their role in bringing about a global “recovery”, its rewards have been very selectively spread.
    It would be foolish to pretend that wealth inequality is a product of the liberal capitalism of the past couple of hundred years. Peppered throughout recorded history are examples of exceptional wealth deriving from the spoils of empire and warfare – the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus is thought to have controlled the equivalent of $4.6 trillion – one fifth of the total wealth of the empire. The richest man in history, according to Time magazine was Mansa Musa, the king of Timbuktu – who ruled from 1280 to 1337 when his kingdom was the biggest producer of gold in the world. His wealth, says Time, is beyond calculation: “richer than anyone could describe”.
    Historical figures show how important military and legal force was for wealth accumulation, from the lands of Genghis Khan in the 13th century (once the largest empire in history), to Chinese emperor Shenzong, who possessed up to 30% of global GDP at the height of his power in the 11th century.
    Wealth accumulation in non-capitalistic societies was often predicated on forced seizure – a process known as “primitive accumulation”. The most famous instance was the Englishenclosure movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, which paved the way for the expansion of many great landed estates.

    Learning greed

    But is inequality inevitable in human society? In the late 19th century, evolutionary anthropologists such as Henry Maine and Lewis Morgan suggested that the human societies of their time may have evolved from less complex forms of clan-based societies, into more complex class-based societies. And in 2009, Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work on “common-pool” systems – societies in which resources were pooled for the good of the community, often at odds with our modern conception of private property.
    Ostrom’s work demonstrated that, where conditions were favourable, these systems, such as fisheries, irrigation systems, common grazing and forests, thrived – perhaps better than similar systems maintained through top-down organisation. Discussion continues today as to whether these forms of social organisation were widespread throughout much of human history and whether our more “unequal” forms of modern society may have evolved from this egalitarian base.
    The jury is also very much out on the question of whether human societies have always been capitalist. While many argue that certain features of capitalist societies were present throughout all of human history (Adam Smith’s famous statement on the human propensity to “truck, barter, and trade”) the institutions which together make up modern capitalism were not.

    

    The wealth of the richest 62 individuals continues to grow, while that of the poorest half of the world stagnates. Oxfam

    In feudal societies of the Middle Ages for example, the ability of any individual to accumulate material wealth was largely constrained by the amount of “things” they could reasonably possess. While there were forms of credit and developed money systems, there were nonetheless some “absolute” limits on what one could physically amass (usually depending on direct coercion).

    Paper money

    Today, the accumulation of wealth does not depend solely on material goods, or claims on real assets such as property, means of production such as industrial plant and infrastructure – or indeed people (in the US during slave-owning days the possession of slaves constituted a sizable portion of one’s capital).
    Economist Thomas Piketty points out that much wealth in classical literature seems to derive from rent-generating property in the hands of a limited number of people. But today, our fractional reserve banking systems mean that much of our money supply does not exist in physical form. Paper money is just a small portion of a bank’s balance sheet, with liabilities in the form of debt constituting much of the remainder.
    One of the chief innovations of the last century, and indeed one of the key culprits involved in rising inequality identified by Oxfam, is the growth of an industry of tradable intangible assets in the form of financial instruments. Indeed, deregulation of the financial industry has been one of the most significant processes feeding into rising inequality in recent years.
    The years after the great depression of the 1930s were also ones of regulatory reform. TheUS Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 kept commercial and investment banking largely separate,while tight controls were maintained on foreign transactions in many European countries.

    

    World’s richest billionaire: step forward Bill Gates. Reuters/Ruben Sprich

    But much of this was swept away during the late 20th century. Before the financial crisis, the repackaging of high-risk mortgages and their subsequent trading on financial markets, offered an ideal opportunity for capital-endowed investors to make sizable profits while ultimately hedging the immediate risk onto homeowners. Little is today beyond the reach of investment markets, from mortgages to carbon emissions, to speculation on the future performances of companies. Whether or not the world has ever been as unequal before, we can at least say that the opportunities for wealth accumulation today are radically different from those of the past.

    Time to take back control?

    Part of the problem in establishing precisely whether the world has ever been as unequal is that we simply lack the data. The best estimates derive from the World Top Incomes study, the earliest of which for the UK dates to 1918. On this basis at least – where data can be compared between countries and where methods of calculation are standardized – we can say that things have scarcely been this unequal since before World War II.

    

    Always on top: fluctuating fortunes of the UK’s super rich. World Top Incomes Study, Author provided

    But we should not compare on the basis of value alone. After all, we can scarcely argue that life under the direct coercion of feudalism, or wealth generated through the exploitation of natural resources by colonising empires was much preferable. But a backward glance through human history does confront some common myths about the society we inhabit today. Ours is not the only historical form of social organisation, nor is the current economic order beyond our control.
    If we can clearly identify how decisions taken by governments around taxation or financial regulation, for example, have facilitated rising wealth inequality, then we can be ever more certain that society has the potential to change this. Knowing the factors that continue to drive inequality today – and the myths which claim the world must inevitably be this way – means we can also challenge it.
    
    
    ___________________________________________________________________________________________
     This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Here Are World Economic Forum Top Five African Female Innovators

• 

  Here Are WEF Top Five African Female Innovators

  BUSINESS

• At the just concluded World Economic Forum in Kigali, five dynamic young female innovators were recognized as Africa’s Top Female Innovators making a difference in their communities.

• As the curtains came down in Kigali, which was hosting World Economic Forum, five winners of the conference’s challenge to find Africa’s Top Female Innovator were announced.

  The dynamic young women are innovators from a range of fields including health insurance, solar-powered vending carts, biomedical materials, IT training and food processing. They hail from Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

  Africa has the youngest population in the world and reports indicate that it will double by 2045. In regards to this, several global leaders have indicated that Africa’s future lies in the hands of its youthful population. The region’s start-up ventures are gaining confidence and scale with a number of them being recognized beyond the region’s borders. However, there is a need to create an enabling environment that allows entrepreneurs to flourish. This is particularly the case for women entrepreneurs, whose potential is far from being optimized. This was the reason for a World Economic Forum challenge to find Africa’s top women Innovators.

  “I strongly believe that the 21st century will be Africa’s century, that its young population has the potential to build the world where they are not only materially better off, but also where things are fairer, more sustainable and more tolerant than at any other time in history. But this will not be achieved unless women are able to make a full contribution. This is why we are showcasing Africa’s best female entrepreneurs in Kigali this week,” said Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum.

  The challenge required entrant companies to be less than three years old, be earning revenue for at least a year and have proven innovation and positive social impact. Here is the list of the winners of the Africa Top Women Innovators Challenge 2016:

  Audrey Cheng, Moringa School, Nairobi, Kenya

  Moringa School established by Audrey Cheng is aimed at enabling a whole generation to gain the skills they need to compete in the digital economy. For the past two years, graduates work in top tech companies in the region, earning on average 350 percent more than before they completed the coursework.

  Lilian Makoi Rabi – bimaAFYA, Tanzania

  Lilian Makoi’s bimaAFYA a mobile micro-health insurance is targeted to the low-income and informal sector dwellers. With its completely mobile, paperless solution, it offers reduced healthcare services. BimaAFYA plans to expand to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ghana by 2017.

  Nneile Nkholise – iMED Tech Group, Bloemfontein, South Africa

  iMED Tech Group’s goal is to design breast and facial prostheses for cancer and burn victims. The company only employs African women under the age of 30 with research backgrounds in mechanical engineering.

  Larissa Uwase – Carl Group, Kigali, Rwanda

  An agronomist by training, Larissa Uwase’s latest innovation, in partnership with the University of Rwanda, is to make spaghetti from sweet potato. Carl Group is improving the health of Rwandans by utilizing the nation’s staple crop.

  Natalie Bitature – Musana Carts, Kampala, Uganda

  Using economic innovation, Musana Carts develop environmentally friendly, solar-powered vending carts. With a price point of $400, each Musana Cart saves 3,000 tons of carbon emissions and improves the health of cities by eliminating pollution from charcoal and kerosene stoves.
  The following were also recognized:
  • Oyindola Honey Ogundeyi, FashPa Online, Nigeria
  • Mercy Kitomari, Nelwa’s Gelato, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Louisa Ofusuah Obimpeh, Pooparazzi, Accra, Ghana
  • Evelyn Namara, !nnovate Uganda
  • Elizabeth Nyeko, Mandulis Energy, Uganda

Why Kenya Is Between Chinese, Taiwanese Diplomatic Tiffs

• 

  Why Kenya Is Between Chinese, Taiwanese Diplomatic Tiffs

  POLITICS6

• Kenya has been caught in a diplomatic row between China and Taiwan for deporting some Taiwanese in China instead of Taiwan.

• China and Taiwanese have had diplomatic rows for a long time, but the latest scuffle where Kenya deported some Taiwanese to China has extended the rift between the two states.

  Taiwan accuses Kenya of "gross violation" of human rights for forcefully deporting some of its citizens to mainland China for no clear reason. On the other hand, China praised Kenya for supporting the ‘One China’ policy.

  In the past, China and Taiwan have had their own set differences with China viewing Taiwan as one of its renegade provinces. All through, their relationship has been mainly that of respect.

  But the latest development has brought forth their complicated relationship to international scrutiny.

  How did it all start?

  A group of Taiwanese and Chinese were accused of operating illegal communication and command centers and engaging in or intending to commit cybercrime in Nairobi.
  After being in jail for over a year, April 5, Kenyan authorities acquitted 23 Taiwan nationalswho had been arrested.
  For the Chinese Community in Kenya, this should have been a moment to make merry for the victory. But not so first. Later when the group went to pick their passports from a Nairobi police station “they were detained by police for no reason,” Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said.
  According to MOFA, this was a well-planned an “uncivilized act of extrajudicial abduction”, which it said was done by mainland China government. In an official statement, they demanded the release of the 23, only for them to be deported by Kenya, not to Taiwan but China.
  Kenyan Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka differed with the Taiwan claim. Hetold CNN that the Taiwanese were deported as they were in Kenya "illegally".
  "If they were here legally we wouldn't have deported them," he said.
  Njoka also refuted claims that the Taiwanese were forced out their cells by use of tear gas.
  "It's not true. Why would police tear gas their own station?" he wondered.
  Njoka noted that the Kenyan authorities followed proper protocol, adding that they followed international law by releasing them back to the court in which they came from.
  Kenya does not have a relationship with Taiwan as a country but has a relationship with China, he said.

  Retrial of Taiwanese in China

  China is seeking to try the Taiwanese prisoners, despite being acquitted in Kenya
  In a statement, China’s Ministry of Public Security said the “criminal syndicate” had carried out scams that cost Chinese people millions of yuan leading to the collapse of businesses and people to commit suicide. For that reason, and the fact that their victims are in China, they will be prosecuted in China.
  The Chinese authorities said that in the past, some Taiwanese telecom scammers have not been adequately punished.
  "Quite a few Taiwan suspects were released as soon as they were returned to Taiwan, and some resumed their wrongdoing soon after," China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan said, according to Xinhua.
  An said that following the ‘one China’ policy, China has the right to charge the accused fraudsters.
  But this was not well received by the Taiwan government.
  John Chen, a Taiwanese representative who is handling the case in Kenya, termed China’s plan as absurd.
  "For those who have been acquitted by the Kenyan court, they shouldn't be trialed again, because that would be kind of like double jeopardy," he said.
  According to China, Taiwanese officials have been invited to China to help with the investigation.
  “It’s hard to anticipate what will happen,” Chen said of the 40 more people, including five Taiwanese remaining in Kenya awaiting trial, according to Quartz.
  “It depends on whether China will continue using these illegal methods. China and Kenya are so close that whatever China wants to do, it probably can.”
  
  
  Image credit: AP