Somalia Challenges Kenya Over Oil Blocks

Nairobi, Kenya, July 7, 2012 – Somalia's government accused Kenya on Friday of awarding offshore oil and gas exploration blocks illegally to multinationals Total and Eni because the concessions lie in waters claimed by Somalia.
The spat between Kenya and its war-ruined neighbor could complicate the hunt for resources along a part of the East African coastline, rapidly emerging as one of the world's hottest oil exploration prospects.

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Beijing, China, July 7, 2012 – China is closely cooperating with the navies of Japan and India in patrolling against piracy off Somalia as the country shows more willingness to work with other nations in safeguarding global trade.
The effort also comes despite mixed sentiments among Chinese toward the country's main Asian rivals.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Sunday became the lead navy among the three aiming to synchronize patrols and best allocate their ships.

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London, UK, July 7, 2012 — Last month when Mo Farah, a British athlete of Somali origin, won the European 5,000m crown, he became the first man in history to successfully defend it. The victory, coming just before the London Olympic Games, would be a confidence-booster for him.
Farah was born in Mogadishu in war-torn Somalia. At the age of eight he moved to a west London suburb along with his father, who was a British citizen. Alan Watkinson, his physical education teacher in school, was the first to spot his talent. At the schools’ cross-country championship in England in 1996, when he was barely 14, he finished second, and that too, after he had started running in the wrong direction. Watkinson immediately realized that he was dealing with someone special.

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Dakar, Senegal, July 7, 2012 – From east to west Africa, a rise in Islamic extremism has led to a surge in deadly attacks and kidnappings by groups linked to Al-Qaeda, sparking fears of a new “arc of terror” on the continent.
While these groups are mostly occupied with domestic issues, their anti-western rhetoric and targeting of foreigners pose a wider challenge. So too does growing evidence of ties between armed groups from the Sahel and east Africa and Nigeria, observers say.

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Mogadishu, Somalia, July 7, 2012 – African Union forces in Somalia have pushed al-Shabaab militants to the outskirts of Mogadishu, retaking several key areas in the past few weeks.
African Union forces patrol the streets of Balad, Somalia after seizing the town a little more than a week ago.
This farming community, some 30 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu, had been under al-Shabaab control for nearly five years. But now, residents say life has returned to normal.
Mohammed Ali sells cigarettes on the streets of Balad, an activity that was illegal under al-Shabaab’s strict Islamist rule.

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Accra, Ghana, July 7, 2012 – Former President Jerry John Rawlings has condemned illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste on parts of the Somali coastline which has caused extensive damage including fish contamination and birth abnormalities to humans.
He called on the international community to strive to trace, apprehend and prosecute those responsible for such despicable acts with the same urgency as the arrest and transfer of leading African citizens to the ICC in The Hague.

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Washington, July 7, 2012 - The United States imposed sanctions on two Eritrean government officials on Thursday, saying they had assisted Islamist militants including the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab in the lawless neighboring state of Somalia.
The U.S. Treasury included the two Eritreans on a list of six people newly placed under sanctions for their role in the Somalian conflict, which U.S. officials see as a growing threat to regional stability across East Africa.

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Nairobi, Kenya, July 7, 2012 – Kenya risks being penalized if it sees through an oil deal with Iran which would breach U.S. and European union sanctions to deprive funding for the Iranian government and what is believed to be an effort by Iran to build nuclear weapons.
The U.S. announced late May that it will penalize banks that do oil deals with Iran. These measures were announced in December and January, but countries and the oil markets were given until the end of May to adjust.

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Ed Krayewski
The East African country of Somalia has not had an internationally recognized government since that of Siyad Barre collapsed in 1991. Since then, a number of statelets have arisen across the country, most notably that of Somaliland. More than a decade of internecine conflict in the former capital of Mogadishu followed the collapse of the government. A transitional federal government was formed in 2004, with a president and a prime minister and all the trappings of a central government.
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