Saturday 15, March 2025 {HMC} A British man has been killed in a hit-and-run incident involving a vehicle in the motorcade of Kenyan President William Ruto.

The man, who has been named as 79-year-old Edgar Riches, died on Thursday after being struck in the accident on a main road in the capital, Nairobi.

Police detained a driver, who has since been released on bail.

They say he was driving a support vehicle that was travelling at the rear of President Ruto’s official convoy.

According to the police, the president’s detail had passed by the time the accident occurred.

Police spokesman Michael Muchiri told the BBC that Mr Riches had been visiting Kenya to see his sister and nephew who are residents of the country.

Kenya’s police initially gave his name as Edgar Charles Frederick – using his middle names.

A post-mortem found he had suffered multiple trauma, including severe injuries to the chest and head.

He was a charity worker from Poole in Dorset, who had regularly raised money for projects Kenya.

The police said the driver, who failed to stop after the incident, would appear in court following an investigation.

There has been an uproar on social media following Thursday’s incident.

While Kenyans are accustomed to roads being cleared for the presidential motorcade, this time around some have questioned why the convoy was so big and moving at such speed.

This not the first time a president’s or deputy president’s motorcade has killed or injured a pedestrian, and in a number of cases, members of the president’s travelling party have died.

But some believe more attention is being paid to this latest case because the victim is a foreigner.

A spokesperson for the UK High Commission said officials were aware of the reports and were seeking more information.

Videos posted on social media show a man in blue jeans and a light-coloured shirt lying bleeding on the road outside a busy shopping area.

Other pictures show the victim covered in a checked shawl, known locally as a Maasai Shuka.

Mr Muchiri told the BBC the vehicle belonged to the regional administration and was providing support to the presidential detail.

President Ruto held events in the vicinity of the scene on Thursday as part of ongoing political engagements with the public in the capital.

Source BBC 

Saturday 15, March 2025 {HMC} Sudanese officials say they have rejected a request from the US to discuss taking in Palestinians displaced from Gaza under Donald Trump’s plan to turn the territory into a “Riviera on the Mediterranean”.

According to an Associated Press report, the US and Israel contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland about resettling uprooted Palestinians. The contacts suggested both countries are determined to press ahead with Trump’s proposal despite international outrage and massive practical difficulties – or at least use the plan to force other actors in the region to come up with their own ideas for Gaza when hostilities finally end.

Two officials from war-torn Sudan confirmed to the Associated Press that the Trump administration had approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians.

One said the contacts began even before Trump’s inauguration with offers of military assistance in the army’s fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives. Both officials said the Sudanese government rejected the idea. “This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,” said one official. “No one opened this matter again.”

Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, Somalia’s foreign minister, did not confirm or deny any requests from Israel or the US but said Somalia rejected any plan that would involve the use of its territory for the resettlement of other populations or would undermine the Palestinian people’s right to live peacefully on their ancestral land.

Under Trump’s plan, Gaza’s more than 2 million residents would be permanently displaced to allow massive reconstruction as a high-end “international” leisure and business destination. Experts said any forced resettlement was illegal under international law.

Initially, Egypt and Jordan were suggested as destinations for displaced Palestinians, but both strenuously opposed the plan.

Palestinians in Gaza have also rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have offered an alternative multibillion-dollar reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place.

The White House says Trump “stands by his vision”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials also described to the Associated Press news agency contacts with Somalia and the breakaway Somaliland region. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place.

Outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan, according to the US officials, who said that Israel was taking the lead in the discussions.

Israeli officials and the White House have declined to comment on the efforts. The offices of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister who has been leading Israel’s postwar planning, also had no comment.

Netanyahu has hailed Trump’s proposal as a “bold vision”, while Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister and a longtime advocate of what he calls “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians, has recently said that Israel was working to identify countries to take in Palestinians.

International legal experts have told the Guardian that, given the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, any such emigration could be unlawful and potentially constitute a war crime.

Sudan was among the four Abraham accord nations that agreed to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 but was plunged almost immediately into a civil war marked by widespread atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups.

US officials, seemingly aware that few Palestinians would be keen to relocate to such a precarious state, attempted to sweeten any deal by offering a range of incentives to Sudan’s government, including an offer of assistance to the army in its fight against the RSF which, in turn, is backed by the United Arab Emirates, a significant US ally.

The proposal, if accepted, would have meant the US backing a side it has accused of war crimes and joining the same side in the conflict as Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin is contemplating the American proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Before the revelations, Sudan had already indicated it would not entertain any attempt to resettle Palestinians in a country coping with the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The head of Sudan’s army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – subject of the US sanctions – last week told a summit in Cairo that his country “categorically rejects” any plan that aims to transfer “the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name”.

The Guardian has contacted Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs for comment.

Somaliland, a territory of more than 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but it is not internationally recognised as an independent state.

An American official involved in the efforts confirmed to the Associated Press that the US was “having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition”.

An official in Somaliland, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said his government had not been approached and was not in talks about taking in Palestinians.

Somalia is an even more unlikely destination. Mogadishu has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians, and joined the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump’s plan. A Somali official told the Associated Press the country had not been approached about taking in Palestinians from Gaza and there had been no discussions about it.

In recent years, Somalia has developed strong ties with Arab states and with Turkey. Much of the country is ruled by al-Shabaab, an extremist Islamist militia allied with al-Qaida.

Saturday 15, March 2025 {HMC} Somali government is working to overturn death sentences imposed on nearly 40 Somali nationals currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia as part of an effort to secure legal protections for its citizens abroad.

Somali Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Hassan Moalim announced on Friday that he had discussed the matter with the Saudi Ambassador to Somalia. Their talks focused on ensuring Somali nationals have access to justice, as well as establishing judicial cooperation between the two countries.

“I discussed with the Saudi ambassador the cessation of executions of Somali youth, and he accepted our request. We also discussed establishing a relationship of cooperation in the field of justice and judicial cooperation,” said Minister Moalim.

The minister further proposed a prisoner exchange agreement with Saudi Arabia, allowing convicted Somali citizens to serve their sentences in Somalia.

“We are making efforts to extradite Somali citizens who are serving sentences in Saudi Arabia so they can serve their terms in Somalia. We have submitted the agreement on the matter and are awaiting a response from the Saudi Ministry of Justice to finalize the agreement,” he added.

The diplomatic push follows the execution of Somali national Mohamed Nur Hussein in February 2025. He was convicted of drug smuggling and executed by beheading, in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s capital punishment laws. However, his family accused Saudi authorities of denying him a fair trial, stating that he lacked due process, had limited access to legal representation, and was deprived of the opportunity to appeal his sentence.

Following Hussein’s execution, families of other Somali prisoners on death row staged protests in Mogadishu, urging the Somali government to intervene on behalf of their relatives.

The government’s current negotiations with Saudi authorities seek to prevent further executions and provide a legal framework for the transfer of Somali prisoners back to their home country.

Source Hiiraan online