Kenya's Security Minister In The USA for Terror Talks

[Faarax-Brawn]

Why was this devil called to the whitehouse? I have a feeling that you will see some kind of "offensive" from the USA. C-130 gunships(Castro,this is a precursor i beleive)?

 

Surely,something major will happen,This guy is notoriously known to break rules to satisfy bosses. :mad:

 

Michuki off to the US for terror talks

 

Story by NATION Team

Publication Date: 4/23/2007

Internal Security minister John Michuki is leading a delegation to the United States for talks on insecurity as pressure mounts on the Kenya Government to enact an anti-terrorism law and crack down on drug trafficking.

 

 

Internal Security minister John Michuki (right) during a recent visit to the clash-torn Mt Elgon District.

Photos/ FILE

Mr Michuki left the country on Saturday night to brief the US State Department about Kenya’s progress in enacting the Bill, which has met stiff opposition from lobby groups including the Muslim community.

 

Sources close to the Government yesterday said Mr Michuki was asked to travel to America by officials of the US embassy in Nairobi.

 

The US ambassador to Kenya, Mr Michael Ranneberger, confirmed Mr Michuki was off to the United States, adding that issues of insecurity in Kenya would be discussed.

 

Requested dialogue

 

“The Kenya Government requested to dialogue with the US Government on how to combat insecurity in the country,” Mr Ranneberger said in Kisii Town.

 

He said Mr Michuki would hold talks with key US officials on how America can support Kenya in fighting insecurity.

 

The Anti-Terrorism Bill, which was first published in 2003, was shelved last year by the Parliamentary Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs and little has been heard about it since.

 

The committee is chaired by Kabete MP Paul Muite.

 

Mr Michuki left Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, accompanied by officers from the anti-terrorism and narcotics police units and the Attorney-General’s chambers.

 

He did not reveal the reason behind the visit. Accompanied by several bodyguards, Mr Michuki was ushered through an entrance reserved for VIPs.

 

The US embassy press attache, Ms Jeniffer Barnes, also confirmed that Mr Michuki had travelled to America, but did not give details on the trip.

 

“I can confirm that the minister has, indeed, travelled to the US, but I don’t have any other details about the trip,” she said.

 

But independent sources said Mr Michuki, who travelled on a British Airways flight, was to make a stopover in London before proceeding to the US for the three-day official visit.

 

Mr Ranneberger said that among other things, the Internal Security minister will be informing US officials on steps the Kenya Government had taken to combat insecurity.

 

He described the meeting as one between two friendly countries, which, he said, had co-operated in combating insecurity in the region.

 

Anti-terrorism law

 

Though the US has publicly stated that it was Kenyans and nobody else who would determine the type of anti-terrorism law to be passed by Parliament, it has at the same time expressed concern about the slow pace in enacting the law.

 

“The US wanted to know what the Government was doing to enact an anti-terrorism law, since it had committed itself to have a law in place to check the heinous act, but so far it has not done enough,” the source said.

 

Mr Michuki’s visit comes only a few weeks after a terrorism suspect, Mr Abdulmalik Mohammed, was moved to Guantanamo Bay, a US military prison for terror suspects.

 

Mr Mohammed, according to the US and Kenya governments, is linked to the terror attacks on an Israeli airliner and Kikambala Paradise Hotel in Mombasa in 2002.

 

Though the two governments have said that the 34-year-old is a foreigner, his family in Mombasa insists that he is Kenyan.

 

The source said Mr Michuki was also scheduled to meet Home Office officials in London on his way back to Nairobi and the two topics are expected to be discussed.

 

A source at the British High Commission said that the UK was also interested in the contents of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, and would like to see it passed to help the West fight international terrorism.

 

Accepts responsibilty

 

Contacted yesterday, Mr Muite’s committee said the Bill would not be debated until the US accepts responsibility for attacks on American interests in Kenya.

 

Nominated MP Amina Abdalla, while announcing the position of the committee, said the Bill violated the rights of Kenyans as enshrined in the Constitution.

 

Among the contentious proposals in the Bill are the vague and broad definitions of “terrorism” and “terrorist” act, the extensive powers given to the police and Customs officers to stop, search, seize, detain and arrest an individual.

 

Yesterday, Mr Muite said that the contents of the Bill, which Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua said was under discussion, were not acceptable.

 

“The Bill nullifies the rule of law such as the presumption that one is innocent until proved guilty,” he said.

 

The proposals to give powers to the Internal Security minister to declare an individual or an organisation a terrorist was also likely to be abused.

 

“It gives the minister, in this case Mr Michuki, the powers to declare any individual or any organisation a terrorist,” Mr Muite said. He blamed the actions of President George Bush’s administration for the rising terrorism in the world and said the US should pay for its actions.

 

“Nobody supports terrorism, but what the United States is trying to do is to relocate the theatre of action in the war on terrorism as far as possible away from the US.

 

“And it has escalated because of the right wing Bush policies such as the invasion of Iraq,” he said.

 

Fund projects

 

The Safina MP urged the Government to bargain seriously and demand that the US funds some of its projects as Kenya assists Washington in dealing with alleged terrorist cells in neighbouring Somalia.

 

“Kenya should drive a hard bargain and the US should preferably donate forensic laboratories to the country for quicker tests. The US should know that Kenya’s priority is not terrorism; it is insecurity,” he said.

 

On narcotics, Kenya has in the recent past been mentioned as one of the transit points by drug traffickers. In 2003, the British minister of State for Counter-Terrorism, Dr Kim Howells, said Kenya had become a transit point for cocaine destined for Europe.

 

Dr Howells claimed that Mombasa Port “was becoming the fastest growing route for cocaine entering Europe” and described the seizure of Sh6 billion cocaine as “a tip of the iceberg”.

 

The drugs have since been destroyed and a man jailed for 20 years in connection with the haul. Other suspects in the case were freed.

[Faarax-Brawn]

Nominated MP Amina Abdalla, while announcing the position of the committee, said the Bill violated the rights of Kenyans as enshrined in the Constitution.

 

Among the contentious proposals in the Bill are the vague and broad definitions of “terrorism” and “terrorist” act, the extensive powers given to the police and Customs officers to stop, search, seize, detain and arrest an individual.

 

Yesterday, Mr Muite said that the contents of the Bill, which Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua said was under discussion, were not acceptable.

 

“The Bill nullifies the rule of law such as the presumption that one is innocent until proved guilty,” he said.

 

The proposals to give powers to the Internal Security minister to declare an individual or an organisation a terrorist was also likely to be abused.

 

“

It gives the minister, in this case Mr Michuki, the powers to declare any individual or any organisation a terrorist,” Mr Muite said. He blamed the actions of President George Bush’s administration for the rising terrorism in the world and said the US should pay for its actions.

 

“Nobody supports terrorism, but what the United States is trying to do is to relocate the theatre of action in the war on terrorism as far as possible away from the US.

 

“And it has escalated because of the right wing Bush policies such as the invasion of Iraq,” he said

[Ana_Juwa2]

Something interest to read and perhaps shades further light to teh extent to which the US is prepared to get involved in securing East Africa in its on going "war of terror"

 

Yesterday, Mr Muite said that the contents of the Bill, which Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua said was under discussion, were not acceptable.

 

“The Bill nullifies the rule of law such as the presumption that one is innocent until proved guilty,” he said.

 

The proposals to give powers to the Internal Security minister to declare an individual or an organisation a terrorist was also likely to be abused.

 

“It gives the minister, in this case Mr Michuki, the powers to declare any individual or any organisation a terrorist,” Mr Muite said. He blamed the actions of President George Bush’s administration for the rising terrorism in the world and said the US should pay for its actions.

 

“Nobody supports terrorism, but what the United States is trying to do is to relocate the theatre of action in the war on terrorism as far as possible away from the US.

 

“And it has escalated because of the right wing Bush policies such as the invasion of Iraq,” he said

This is one of the reasons why organisations such as IGAD & the UN in its duel capicity these days as a warmongering machine and a aid agency continue to be devasting tools for any chance of peace and stability in Somalia and the horn of africa in general.

 

When the Agenda is set and based upon such policies that by-pass and abuses every basic human rights laws to achieve "a western style goverment" then there is little hope for progress.

 

The EU continues, not unlike the lead up to teh war in Iraq to be a discenting voice, but nothing more.

 

At least thats better than nothing.

[Castro]

This is what PINR wrote on April 12 (before this latest round of fighting):

 

Having engineered the conventional military defeat of the I.C.C., Addis Ababa and Washington now face a militant Islamist insurgency, an overt ****** opposition and an I.C.C. political wing backed by Eritrea. The T.F.G. remains weak and unpopular, the Europeans are becoming disenchanted with the T.F.G., Uganda is out on a limb, Kenya is out of action, potential contributors to AMISOM are lying back, and the regional and international players are divided on the definition of reconciliation and the advisability of an Ethiopian withdrawal. There are no honest brokers -- every actor is compromised -- and the domestic players will only pursue reconciliation on their respective terms.

You can easily see the US is the only one capable of taking care of business since all the others players are, more or less, frozen with ineptitude.

 

Kenya is the second worst neighbor any country could have. Uff!

[Xudeedi]

“The Bill nullifies the rule of law such as the presumption that one is innocent until proved guilty,” he said.

 

 

This is indeed a radical departure from the rights of Kenyans enshrined in their constitution. The bill will sure backfire before it is approved as law.

 

The profilic columnist Jay Bookman wrote this in reference to a congressional report in 2002.

 

To address the terrorism threat, the president's report lays out a newly aggressive military and foreign policy,

embracing pre-emptive attack against perceived enemies.

It speaks in blunt terms of what it calls

"American internationalism,"

of ignoring international opinion if that suits U.S. interests. "The best defense is a good offense," the document asserts.

 

It dismisses deterrence as a Cold War relic and instead talks of "convincing or compelling states to accept their sovereign responsibilities."

 

In essence, it lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic domination of every region on the globe, unfettered by international treaty or concern. And to make that plan a reality, it envisions a stark expansion of our global military presence.

 

"The United States will require bases and stations within and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia," the document warns, "as well as temporary access arrangements for the long-distance deployment of U.S. troops."