She is an excellent strategist and visionary anticipating the management needs of every organization she has been involved with. With her profound knowledge of the WTO and her strong managerial skills, Ambassador Amina Mohamed has all the required competencies to lead the WTO into the future.

She is fluent in English, Russian, Swahili and has a working knowledge of French.

A Distinguished African Diplomat

Ambassador Amina Mohamed has had a distinguished diplomatic career since 1986 and rising through the ranks to become Ambassador/Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission to the Republic of Kenya at Geneva in 2000. As the Permanent Representative, she represented Kenya in the UN system, and the WTO among other international organizations. Her strong interpersonal skills in negotiations, developed during her career in the multilateral fora, enabled her to effectively articulate Kenya’s interests in the WTO. She participated in drafting and interpretation of International Trade Treaties.

An Expert in Public Sector and Institutional Reform

Ambassador Amina Mohamed was instrumental in restructuring, reforming and rationalizing the Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Missions abroad. She chaired the team that drafted Kenya’s foreign trade policy focusing on economic and commercial diplomacy. As Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, she supervised the drafting, negotiation, national referendum and promulgation of the new Constitution of Kenya 2008- 2010, including institutional reforms on elections, ethics and integrity, access to justice and the development of a national cohesion policy. At UNEP, Ambassador Amina Mohamed has spearheaded the implementation of UNEP’s Medium Term Strategy and Programmes as well as on-going reforms. Most recently she has been actively engaged with intergovernmental processes in implementing the RIO+20 outcomes and support efforts to enhance the funding base of the organization.

A Distinguished Legal Practitioner

Through her experience in the multilateral fora, she has provided legal advice during Kenya’s tenure in the Security Council, negotiations in the WTO, particularly in launching the Doha trade talks and contributed texts in the Kenya’s constitution where foreign trade has been integrated with Foreign Affairs.

Result-oriented Team Leader

Throughout her career, Ambassador Amina Mohamed has demonstrated solid leadership and proven negotiations skills. She chaired three key WTO bodies: the Dispute Settlement Body, the Trade Policy Review Body and the General Council during her tenure in Geneva. During which important decisions and recommendations were made. Under her leadership as the General Council Chair, the accession of Saudi Arabia was concluded; she guided the negotiations and preparation for the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Conference where substantial progress was made on Doha Development Agenda; the LDC’s waiver on market access was successfully concluded and members agreed to amend the TRIPS agreement to legally allow WTO members without capacity to produce pharmaceutical products to import and address public health concerns. At UNEP she has been instrumental in enhancing the capacity of the institution and seeking additional resources to initiate new goals and action plans.

Key Positions Held

2011-To date:

United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director, UNEP

2008- 2011:

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs

2010-2011:

President of the United Nations Conference on Transnational Crime, Vienna

2006- 2007:

Director, Europe and Commonwealth Countries and Director for Diaspora matters

• Chairman the Task Force Sub – Committee on Strengthening and restructuring of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs

2000- 2006:

Ambassador Permanent Representative, Kenya Mission to the UN and other International Organizations at Geneva.

• Chairman, Coordinator and the Spokesperson for the African Group in the WTO, Human Rights Commission

• Served as President of the Conference on Disarmament in 2002

• Chairman the International Organization for Migration in 2002

• Chairman the Trade Policy Review Body in 2003

• Chairman Dispute Settlement Body in 2004

• Chairman General Council in 2005

• Member of the Executive Boards and Committees of the WHO, UNHCR, WIPO, ILO, UNCTAD AND UNAIDS 2001-2005

1990-2000:

Kenya’s Legal Advisor in various Missions abroad, including the 6th Committee of the UN

1986-1990:

Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Honours

National Award of Chief of Burning Spear (CBS)

Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della solidarieta italian a

Life Member, Red Cross Society

Member of the Life and Peace Institute International Advisory Council, Sweden

Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arctic

Member of the Strathmore Law School Advisory Board, Kenya

Education

LLM University of Kiev

Kenya School of Law

Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations, Oxford University

UNITAR Fellow

Source:  http://aminamohamed.org/index.html

A Human Rights organization has criticized the ongoing security operation in Garissa. The Northern Forum for Democracy has accused police officers of violating human rights during the operation to flush out terrorists in the county.

Khalif Abdi Farah, the organization’s coordinator alleged that police are harassing, beating locals and even looting their property under the guise of looking for criminals.

“It is very unfortunate that whenever something happens in Garissa and security officers decide to carry out an operation, it is the innocent people who end up  suffering  while the real  culprits roam freely.How do they expect to win the confidence of the people to provide them with information if they continue doing this,”said Khalif.

North Eastern PPO Charles Mureithi  has however dismissed the accusation stating that police officers have acted humanely while carrying out the operation.

The government announced the massive operation following the killing of ten people in a hotel in Garissa on Thursday last week. Four people were also injured during the incident.

Speaking during a tour of the area with top security officials on Saturday, Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Mutea Iringo said the operation will be carried out in a bid to restore order in the town.

Irigo also announced the interdiction of security and administrative officers in Garissa . Iringo said the officers are suspected to have been involved in unlawful activities in the area and have been removed from office to pave way for investigations.

“Similar action will be taken against customs officers involved in illegal activities,” warned Iringo after returning to Nairobi from Garissa where he led a high level security team to assess the growing levels of insecurity.

A curfew has also been imposed in the town with boda boda operators and taxi-drivers only being allowed to operate only between 6am and 6pm.

The government is also offering  a cash reward of between Sh50,000 to Sh100,000 to any member of the public who can provide information on criminal gangs operating in the town.

Police have arrested over 100 people in a major police operation in Garissa to flush out criminal gangs accused to be behind a series of bombings and killings in the town.

Hundreds of policemen from the General Service Unit, the Rapid Deployment Unit, Administration and regular police began combing the town with some manning the borders in search of militants who have been terrorizing the region.

On Sunday, the head of Criminal Investigations Department in Garissa was interdicted together with nine other government officials including Customs officers and chiefs, after being linked to al-Shabaab activities in the town.

The officers from the General Service Unit (GSU) and the Rapid Deployment Unit of the Administration Police began an operation to flush out suspects and search for illegal weapons.

The operation follows a directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta who ordered the crackdown after unknown gunmen attacked a restaurant known as Kwa Chege last Thursday and sprayed patrons with bullets indiscriminately, killing 10 people and seriously injuring three others.

Police say they will carry on with the operation until residents of Garissa can live in peace. Many homes and business premises were not spared as the heavily armed security officers engaged in a door-to-door search.

Police have blamed the killings on sympathisers of Al Shabaab and corrupt elements with links to the force and some powerful businessmen out to settle scores.

Security Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo said the Government would streamline and closely monitor operations of taxi and boda- boda operators, including limiting the latter’s working hours to between 6.00am and 6.00pm.

There were reports that some residents were fleeing the town fearing possible harassment by the officers.

Most of the suspects of Somali origin have been staying in the country illegally and are blamed for the increased crime rate in the region. Over 50 aliens arrested during Monday’s crackdown were expected in court later on Tuesday. Police say they had lined up various charges against the suspects. Some residents started fleeing areas where deadly attacks occurred recently to settlements on the outskirts of the town.

On Saturday (April 20th), the National Advisory Security Committee (NASC), which is investigating a series of violent attacks in Garissa, met with leaders and residents in town hall meetings.

The meetings took place a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered top security officials to investigate last week’s shooting at the Holiday Inn Hotel that killed 10 people.

Since Kenya sent troops to Somalia in October 2011, numerous al-Shabaab attacks in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera have often targeted citizens and religious leaders.

Community leaders told the NASC — headed by Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo — that a solution to the rampant attacks may include the deployment of local security agents.

Security agents from the northeast stationed in other parts of the country should be reassigned for duty in their hometowns to help nab criminal elements within the community, according to Farah Maalim Mohamed, former deputy speaker of Kenya’s National Assembly who also represented the Lagdera Constituency in Garissa County.

Locals would not raise suspicion when eating and praying with their community, he said at the meeting.

Mohamed said ethnic Somalis are a close-knit community and only security agents from that community would be able to go undercover to gain vital information.

“Non-natives do not understand the community’s language, culture and social lifestyle, making it difficult to gather intelligence,” he said. “The government should invest in intelligence gathering and infiltrate the group.”

Security crackdown

After last week’s attack, Kimaiyo ordered a major security operation in Garissa aimed at flushing out illegal migrants, criminals and illegal firearms.

By Tuesday, more than 100 people had been detained and questioned in the operation, officials told Sabahi.

As Christians around the country thronged churches on their day of worship, many faithful in Garissa town chose to stay away from churches for fear of insecurity.

A spot check by the Star revealed that the attendance at most of the churches in Garissa was below half the capacity as many Christians chose to attend services via their television sets at home for fear of reprisal attacks from assailants who have in the past attacked churches in the town.

The churches also had a heavy presence of armed security personnel and many conducted their services behind locked gates. Speaking to the press yesterday, Rev George Owino the curator in charge of the Garissa ACK church said that the frequent attacks on people of non-Somali origin in the area had planted fear in the hearts of many who used to church services in the town.

This comes a day after the national security committee led by the Inspector General David Kimaiyo visited the town on the orders of President Uhuru Kenyatta and assured residents that they would get to the root cause of the frequent attacks.

He called on the security agencies in the country to walk the talk and ensure the frequent attacks in the town became a thing of the past. Many of those who chose to attend today church services said they did so in order to pray to God to bring sanity in the town.

Mzee Joe Kahengeru said that most of those he usually came to church with had chose to remain at home over concerns for their safety. His sentiments were echoed by Allan Wanjau a youth leader at the ACK church who said he chose to attend the services because he was trusting God to see them through the service safely. A faithful Lucy Wangare called on those who stayed at home to join the rest cme next Sunday fir the services in order to encourage one another.

Source: The Star

Nineteen people have been held in the ongoing police operation aimed at finding those responsible for the recent incidents of security in the town. The North Eastern police boss Charlton Mureithi said the 19 were foreigners who did not have documents to be in the country and would be charged in court this morning.

He did not explain how the police operation which is targeting undocumented immigrants, will enhance security in the town since the police have said they have no idea who is behind the recent incidents,including last week’s shooting at a local hotel where ten people were killed.

The operation, carried by the GSU and members of the Rapid Deployment Unit, has caused panic in the town with many residents leaving their homes to settle on the outskirts of the town.

The residents fear being caught up in the operation where the police have indiscriminately beaten and according to some of the local leaders, even raped residents under the guise they are pursuing suspects.

The operation is being conducted without the involvement of top security and administration officials who have been sent home following an upsurge in the incidents which have cost dozens of lives in the last two years.

Some of those sent home have attributed the insecurity to alleged smuggling of activities. Unconfirmed reports indicate that some of those interdicted were themselves involved in the sugar smuggling and other illegal activities.

Their removal from office is expected to pave way for investigation into these allegations. Internal Security permanent secretary Mutea Iringo who led a high-powered delegation to Garissa warned that any civil servant found to be engaged in illegal activities would face severe disciplinary action.

The identities of those interdicted have yet to be made public. However, sources within the police indicated they also included customs officers who have gained a notorious reputation in the town.

During a Sunday night swoop conducted by a contingent of regular and administration police, 80 people were arrested and bundled into a lorry for not having identification documents. Out of the 80 arrested, only 19 will be taken to court and charged with being in the country illegally.

An unofficial curfew has also been imposed in the town with boda boda operators and taxi-drivers being allowed to operate only between 6am in the morning to 6pm in the evening.

Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Maalim said the Kenya Defence Forces had also closed the Kenya-Somalia border to prevent ‘criminal elements’ from fleeing into Somalia.

“Our forces have sealed off the border with Kenya so that the gangs who are behind the spate of bloodletting cannot get an avenue to escape. Every effort is being done to crackdown on them”, said Maalim.

The government has offered a cash reward of between Sh50,000 to Sh100,000 for any information that will lead to the arrest of the criminal gangs operating in the town.

Maalim and the police were not forthcoming on whether they will be investigating claims by residents that those behind the attackers have been targeting business premises and establishments owned by non-locals.

The business community had in a previous meeting with the local security and administration officials expressed their concerns about they described as ‘targeted attacks’ and warned that unless they are contained, the deepening suspicion might erupt into violence.

Nairobi, Kenya:

“It is, indeed, likely that the acquisition was marked by competing interests involving impropriety, or even criminality. We recommend that this matter be entrusted to the relevant State agency for further investigation and possible prosecution of the suspects,” said the court.

In their long-awaited 113-page judgment made public yesterday, the judges also explain why they dismissed two petitions challenging the election of Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta as Kenya’s fourth President. The electronic devices failed countrywide during the March 4 General Election, forcing the IEBC to resort to printed voter registers known as Green Books.

Although acknowledging that there were several discrepancies in the elections and the results released on March 9, the judges are unanimous in their ruling that they were not of a scale to render the outcome invalid.

It is now up to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko to decide whether to act on the recommendations of the highest local court.

Votes cast

The six judges led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said there was evidence the procurement of the poll equipment was marred with impropriety and even criminal activity.

They observed that acting on their own motion (suo motu) they ordered a re-tallying of votes cast in 22 stations and found that five polling stations had discrepancies as to the number of votes cast and those reflected in Forms 34 and 36.

“Although, as we find, there were many irregularities in the data and information-capture during the registration process, these were not so substantial as to affect the credibility of the electoral process,” said the Supreme Court.

“And besides, no credible evidence was adduced to show that such irregularities were premeditated and introduced by the 1st Respondent (IEBC) for the purpose of causing prejudice to any particular candidate,” they noted.

The judges said there was evidence that the electronic equipment used in the electoral process at the beginning failed.

Somalia has now denied opposing funding for Kenya’s navy to fight Al-Shabaab. Read (Somalia opposes Sh870m funding for Kenya navy)

Heshiiskan oo ka kooban toddoba qodob ayaa waxaa ka mid ah in Soomaaliya iyo Somaliland ay wadaagaan deeqaha dibadda laga helo iyo inay kawada shaqeeyaan ammaanka deegaaannada ay ay ka kala taliyaan.

Qodobbada lagu heshiiyay ayaa waxay kala ahaayeen:

1. In lasii wado wadahadallada u dhexeeya labada dhinac
2. In qodobbadii kasoo baxya shirarkii London iyo Dubai ee horay loo gaaray la dhowro
3. Inay sii socdaan wadahadallada u dhexeeya dowladda federaalka Soomaaliya iyo dowladda Somaliland, beesha calaamku ay ka taageerto dhinaca fududeynta haddii loo baado.
4. In labada dhinac ay wadaagaan deeqaha caalamka laga helo, gaar ahaan kuwa ay Soomaaliya hesho iyo in la dhiirrigeliyo horumarinta Somaliland.
5. In si wadajir ay dhinacyadu uga shaqeeyaan sugidda ammaanka, tababarrada, dagaalka lagula jiro argagaxisada, is-dhaafsiga xogaha, la dagaalanka burcadbadeedda, kalluumeysiga sharci-darrada ah, ka hortagga sunta lagu shubo badaha, dambiyada badaha ka dhaca iyo dambiyada waaweyn.
6. In saddex bilood gudahood lagu qabto Istanbuul shir kale oo lagu dhameystirayo qodobbadii la isku afgaran waayay intii uu shirku socday.
7. In labada dhinac ay joojiyaan hadallada xanafta leh ee wax u dhimi kara qodobbadan lagu heshiiyay iyo sii socoshada wadahadallada.

Heshiiskan oo lagu saxiixay madaxtooyada dalka Turkiga ayaa waxaa dhinaca dowladda Soomaaliya u saxiisay wasiirka arrimaha gudaha iyo amniga Qaranka, C/kariin Xuseen Guuleed, iyadoo dhinac Somaliland uu u saxiixay wasiirka arrimaha dibadda, Maxamed Cabdullaahi Cumar.

Intii uu shirku socday ayaa waxaa labada dhinac ay isku mari waayeen dhowr qodob, kuwaasoo aan la shaacin, waxaase warar hoos ay sheegayaan in qodobbadaas ay ka mid ahaayeen midnimada Soomaaliya oo ay Somaliland kasoo horjeesatay.

Saxiixa heshiiskan iskaashi ee ay wada gaareen Soomaaliya iyo Somaliland ayaa waxaa goobjoog ka ahaa, madaxweynaha dalka Turkiga, Cabdalla Gul iyo wasiirka arrimaha dibadda dalkaas, Axmed Da’ud Oogle oo isagu si gaar ah goobjoog uga ahaa wadahadallada labada madaxweyne.

Maxamed Xaaji Xuseen, Hiiraan Online

Capitol Hill Building ,Washington DC.

If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. That’s why they call it, the dummy copy. This, of course, is not the real copy for this entry. Rest assured, the words will expand the concept. With clarity. Conviction. And a little wit.

In today’s competitive market environment, the body copy of your entry must lead the reader through a series of disarmingly simple thoughts.

All your supporting arguments must be communicated with simplicity and charm. And in such a way that the reader will read on. (After all, that’s a reader’s job: to read, isn’t it?) And by the time your readers have reached this point in the finished copy, you will have convinced them that you not only respect their intelligence, but you also understand their needs as consumers.

As a result of which, your entry will repay your efforts. Take your sales; simply put, they will rise. Likewise your credibility. There’s every chance your competitors will wish they’d placed this entry, not you. While your customers will have probably forgotten that your competitors even exist. Which brings us, by a somewhat circuitous route, to another small point, but one which we feel should be raised.

Long copy or short – You decide

As a marketer, you probably don’t even believe in body copy. Let alone long body copy. (Unless you have a long body yourself.) Well, truth is, who‘s to blame you? Fact is, too much long body copy is dotted with such indulgent little phrases like truth is, fact is, and who’s to blame you. Trust us: we guarantee, with a hand over our heart, that no such indulgent rubbish will appear in your entry. That’s why God gave us big blue pencils. So we can expunge every example of witted waffle.

For you, the skies will be blue, the birds will sing, and your copy will be crafted by a dedicated little man whose wife will be sitting at home, knitting, wondering why your entry demands more of her husband‘s time than it should.

But you will know why, won‘t you? You will have given her husband a chance to immortalize himself in print, writing some of the most persuasive prose on behalf of a truly enlightened purveyor of widgets. And so, while your dedicated reader, enslaved to each mellifluous paragraph, clutches his newspaper with increasing interest and intention to purchase, you can count all your increased profits and take pots of money to your bank. Sadly, this is not the real copy for this entry. But it could well be. All you have to do is look at the account executive sitting across your desk (the fellow with the lugubrious face and the calf-like eyes), and say ”Yes! Yes! Yes!“ And anything you want, body copy, dinners, women, will be yours. Couldn’t be fairer than that, could we?