Kenya Insights

Tag: UAE

  • Suspected Gold Smuggling And USD8M Cash For Rebels Behind Kenya Airways Employees Detention In DRC

    Suspected Gold Smuggling And USD8M Cash For Rebels Behind Kenya Airways Employees Detention In DRC

    A multiagency team consisting of detectives from the DCI Transnational Organised Crime and Interpol have taken up the case in which two Kenya Airways (KQ) employees have been detained since February 19 2024 by the Congolese Military Intelligence Unit Militaire des Activities Anti Patrie (DEMIAP).

    In a situation that is now fueling tensions between Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who already have a strained relationship, Kenya Insights has learned of unspecified amount of gold that is suspected to have been smuggled from the mineral rich country and cash going to reveal a lightly kept secret in the fiasco.

    The airline’s employees were detained for allegedly failing to complete customs documentation for the valuable cargo. Despite a military court’s order for their release, they remain in custody, complicating the situation further.

    While making the initial announcement explained that the said cargo was not uplifted or accepted by KQ due to incomplete documentation asserting that duo was illegally detained.

    “This cargo was still in the baggage section undergoing clearance when the security team arrived and alleged that KQ was transporting cargo without customs clearance,” he said, adding that all efforts to explain to the military officers that KQ had not accepted the cargo because of incomplete documentation were unsuccessful.

    Cash

    Kenya Insights now has information that the detainees, a Kenyan Lydia Olando Maloba and her Congolese colleague Olivier Lufungula were apprehended for their involvement in an incident concerning the attempted export of $8 million (Sh1billion) in banknotes, purportedly unfit for circulation.

    The funds were destined for the reserve federal office in New York but were intercepted by Congolese security forces at N’djili International Airport, reportedly concealed in crates.

    The military intelligence is reportedly suspecting that the cash was destined for funding rebels in the country.

    Gold smuggling ring

    Kenya Insights has also learned of an active investigation by the DCI and Interpol into a gold smuggling syndicate that allegedly involved the detained employees.

    Behind the scenes, detectives familiar with the happenings in Kinshasa says that military intelligence in Kinshasa has also questioned the two staff over the shipment of three tonnes of gold at different times which was earlier moved to Kenya and then to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sources say that happened sometime in November 2023 without proper documentation.

    The consignment is said to have gone missing at JKIA customs with the help of an elaborate team of agents and top staff of a respected humanitarian agency, aviation operatives have been linked to the disappearance of the cargo.

    Consequently, security agents consisting of intelligence officers and Interpol have been dispatched to the UAE to unearth the smuggled goods whose proceeds are suspected to be used to fund rebel groups (namely M23 and/or the Alliance Fleuve Congo Group) in DRC. The sources claimed that unscrupulous buyers were behind the disappearance of the cargo and at one time visited Kenya. The said cartels are operating majorly in the UAE and are well-connected.

    Reports also indicate that Foreign Affairs Ministry said the Kenyan delegation dispatched to DRC will be negotiating for the release of the detained KQ staff while Kenyan investigators will help probe the missing cargo that originated from Nairobi.

    Korir Sing’oei, the principal secretary at Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry, emphasized Kenya’s commitment to protecting its citizens abroad and stated that the government was actively engaging with the situation.

    Suspension of flights to Kinshasa

    In a move reflecting deepening diplomatic tensions, Kenya Airways on Monday announced the suspension of its flights to Kinshasa, effective April 30, 2024.

    The decision follows unresolved issues related to the detention of two airline employees. The airline said it had resorted to suspending flights to Kinshasa as its operations were suffering due to lack of adequate support.

    Kenya Airways, in its statement, cited the ongoing detention and the broader geopolitical tensions as key factors in its decision to suspend flights. “The safety and well-being of our employees are paramount, and the current diplomatic environment has made it challenging to operate effectively in Kinshasa,” said a spokesperson for Kenya Airways.

    This development coincides with escalating regional tensions, notably due to the formation of a controversial Congolese military alliance in Nairobi, which includes the M23 rebel group.

    Diplomatic tensions

    The crisis unfolds against a backdrop of increased friction between Kenya and the DRC, following recent political maneuvers. Congolese politicians and groups, including the M23 rebels, launched the Congo River Alliance in Nairobi. The alliance aims to unify various Congolese armed groups and political organizations. The inclusion of the M23 rebels, who are active in the eastern DRC and have been implicated in territorial conflicts, has particularly strained relations.

    This move prompted the DRC to recall its ambassador from Kenya, underscoring the severity of the diplomatic rift. The DRC’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Alain Tshibanda, announced the recall on the X social media platform, highlighting the contentious nature of the newly formed military alliance hosted by Kenya.

    As the situation develops, regional stakeholders are keenly observing the impact on diplomatic and economic relations within the East African Community. Kenya Airways has committed to closely monitoring the situation and resuming flights when conditions permit.

    Meanwhile, at least 12 people, including children, have been killed in twin bomb blasts that hit two camps for displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to government officials, the United Nations and an aid group.

    Friday’s explosions targeted the camps in Lac Vert and Mugunga, near the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, the UN said in a statement.

    The attacks, in which at least 20 people were injured, were a “flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime”, it said.

    The Congolese military and the United States accused the military in neighbouring Rwanda and the M23 rebel group of being behind the attacks.

    French President Emmanuel Macron said Rwanda must halt its support for M23, during a joint news conference with Tshisekedi in Paris this week.

    About six million people have been killed since violence erupted in 1996. It has also displaced about seven million people, many beyond the reach of aid.

    Additional reports by Agencies.

     

  • DP World’s Past Port Operation Deals Makes It A Risky Gamble

    DP World’s Past Port Operation Deals Makes It A Risky Gamble

    In the recent past, atleast 22 people have been threatened or detained for criticising a deal between Tanzania and Dubai that covers the management of a Tanzanian port by Emirati logistics company DP World, according to Human Rights Watch.

    Amnesty International said a number of dissents have been detained after speaking out publicly against the ports deal signed last October by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

    The agreement paves the way for DP World, a logistics company controlled by the emirate of Dubai in the UAE, to manage all the ports in Tanzania in consultation with the government.

    The agreement was signed after a visit to Dubai by Tanzania’s president Samia Suluhu Hassan at which 37 memoranda of understanding were concluded. Hassan has sought to portray Tanzania as open for investment since becoming president in 2021 following the death of John Magufuli. It was ratified by parliament in June.

    Critics of the deal say it poses a threat to Tanzanian sovereignty and security,

    The agreement contained several unusual clauses that weakened Tanzania’s ability to change laws, annul contracts or seek competitive bids, said lawyers.

    Clauses that have raised concern include one that prevents withdrawal from the deal “in any circumstances, including in the event of material breach, fundamental change of circumstances, severance of diplomatic or consular relations”.

    However, the government has defended the accord, arguing that it will improve efficiency, cut costs and increase revenues.

    “The Tanzanian authorities’ crackdown of critics of the UAE port deal reveals their growing intolerance to dissent,” Amnesty’s east and southern Africa director, Tigere Chagutah, said.

    The accused could face treason charges — a non-bailable offence that carries a death penalty — Amnesty said, citing the defence lawyers.

    President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

    Hassan came to power in March 2021 after the sudden death of her autocratic predecessor John Magufuli.

    Although she has reversed some of Magufuli’s most controversial policies, critics labelled her a “dictator” after Freeman Mbowe, leader of the Chadema opposition party, was arrested on terrorism charges in July 2021 before being released.

    Chadema is among those opposing the deal, which gives DP World exclusive rights for a period of 12 months to negotiate with the government on how best to manage the country’s 80 ports.

    Kenya Deal

    Dubai Port World, the UAE-based firm is also seeking to develop, operate and manage four Kenyan ports, has a controversial record.

    In February, 2006, an announcement by DP World that it was taking over management of six US ports in a $3.7 billion (Sh436 billion) deal kicked up controversy in Congress, mainly on security considerations. Under pressure and public scrutiny, Dubai Ports dropped the deal.

    In 2012, Djibouti filed an arbitration case in London against DP World, claiming that the firm bribed an official to secure concession to run Dolareh – the largest container terminal in Africa.

    Though Djibouti lost, the case revealed insights into dealings between corrupt elites and global concession operators.

    Former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani had invited DP World during the past regime of President Uhuru Kenyatta to submit commercial proposals for four projects. They include deploying its money to build three berths at Mombasa port, develop cold storage supply chains in Kisumu and Naivasha and to build a special economic zone in Lamu.

    Treasury had also extended an invitation to submit a commercial proposal to equip and operate the three completed berths in Lamu.

    By stating that the government has signed a contract to sell three ports to DP World, Kenya Kwanza leaders got it wrong. What is on the table is an offer to an investor to develop a project, and not sell the ports.

    Questions, however, arose. Why is the government of the day was offering such sweet deals to DP World? Were procurement regulations breached?

    Mr Yatani ought to have prepared a prospectus for these projects and put it out there for investors to come up with expressions of interest.

    The flip side of this, however, is that having prior  introduced an amendment to the PPP Act that allows investors to present and engage the government on unsolicited project proposals and without subjecting such projects to open tenders, the fact that the competitive bidding has been breached in gifting the projects to DP World may be a moot point.

    Dubai World has displayed dubious tactics since first expressing interest in a port concession in Kenya in 2006.

    Political fortunes
    American economic historian Fred Cooper described the African state as the “gate keeper” where elites are perpetually fighting to earn corruptly acquired money through control of ports, customs centres and other interfaces between their countries and the rest of the world.

    The DP World saga appears to be the latest in the scramble by corrupt elites to control the gate. The scramble has assumed global dimensions in Kenya in the past one year.

    International ports and transport logistics operators are involved in battles over ownership and control of port concessions or control over profitable projects involving development and building storage and logistics facilities along main transport corridors. It is a vicious fight where only players enjoying patronage of powerful godfathers succeed.

    Public litigation actors have already – at the behest of a global shipping group – lodged a legal battle where they have injuncted a plan by the government to shift control and ownership of the Japanese-built ultra-modern second container terminal to a consortium compromising the state-owned Kenya National Shipping Lines (KNSL) and Portuguese player – Mediterranean Shipping Lines (MSL).

    The timing of the case, came just as the government had concluded plans to hand over management of the terminal to an entity effectively under the control of MSL, would appear to suggest shipping lines opposed to this deal calculated that they would rather have the deal postponed until after the elections.

    Political undercurrents

    They hedged their bets on the possibility that the new government will be inclined to block the deal.

    Dubai Ports first entered the Kenyan fray in 2014 when the government floated an international competitive tender to concession the second container terminal in Mombasa.

    Port operators from China, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands and several other countries participated in the tender.

    The Chinese group, PSA International, which had partnered with local firm, Multiple Hauliers, had the highest marks, with DP World emerging second.

    The process was then cancelled amid political undercurrents. Having lost in the open tender, DP World devised another approach.

    In October 2016, the UAE quietly signed a bilateral agreement where it committed to lend Kenya $275 million (Sh32.4 billion) for expansion of the second container terminal on condition that Kenya allowed DP World to take control of the terminal.

    Two months later, the UAE ambassador wrote to the National Treasury.

    What happened next is still difficult to decipher. It seems political fortunes of DP World and its backers took a nosedive. Transferring the second terminal to DP World no longer enjoyed the support of the political elite.

    In August 2018, the Cabinet decided to transfer the operations and management to the State-owned and almost moribund KSNL in a deal that included a new shareholding arrangement between that parastatal with MSL.

    Effectively, the power and control of the terminal had been transferred to the Portuguese firm.

     

  • Twitter Bans And Suspends Fake News Accounts

    Twitter Bans And Suspends Fake News Accounts

    In yet another series of twitter purges and suspensions, Jack Dosier’s platform has permanently cleared off thousands of accounts from its platform for spreading misinformation, fake news, anti-government messages, and pro-propaganda war.

    According to twitter’s official blog, the purge affected pro-Saudi accounts coming from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates directed at Qatar and Yemen as well as others from China seeking to sow discord among protesters in Hong Kong.

    Twitter has also flagged off additional fake accounts in Spain and Ecuador. Ths move comes after a series of actions by social media giants such as Facebook and now Twitter cracking down on manipulation, often by state-controlled entities disguising their identities.

    Last month, Facebook removed fake accounts based in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for posting misinformation about Middle East hotspots and others involved in coordinated inauthentic behaviour focused on Hong Kong.

    Twitter removed 273 accounts working in concert in a multi-faceted information operation to target Saudi rivals Qatar and Iran among other countries, as well as amplify pro-Saudi government messaging. These accounts were created and managed DotDev, a technology company based in the UAE and Egypt.

    “We have removed a network of 273 accounts originating in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. These accounts were interconnected in their goals and tactics: a multi-faceted information operation primarily targeting Qatar, and other countries such as Iran. It also amplified messaging supportive of the Saudi government. We also found evidence that these accounts were created and managed by DotDev, a private technology company operating in the UAE and Egypt. We have permanently suspended DotDev, and all accounts associated with them, from our service.” Reads part of Twitter statement on their blog. 

    Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt, has enforced an economic boycott of Qatar since June 2017, accusing the Gulf nation of links to extremist groups and being too close to Iran. Twitter also notably shut down the account of Saudi royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani.

    The close confidant of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ran Riyadh’s media center and managed an electronic army unabashedly defending its image, was implicated in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 but was never formally charged.

    Twitter also suspended a separate group of 4,258 accounts operating from the UAE, with messaging mainly targeting Qatar and Yemen.

    “Additionally, we suspended a separate group of 4,248 accounts operating uniquely from the UAE, mainly directed at Qatar and Yemen. These accounts were often employing false personae and tweeting about regional issues, such as the Yemeni Civil War and the Houthi Movement.” Twitter said.

    Six accounts linked to Saudi Arabia’s state-run media were also flagged by Twitter for being engaged in coordinated efforts to amplify messaging that was beneficial to the Saudi government.

    “Our investigations also detected a small group of six accounts linked to Saudi Arabia’s state-run media apparatus which were engaged in coordinated efforts to amplify messaging that was beneficial to the Saudi government. While active, the accounts in this set presented themselves as independent journalistic outlets while tweeting narratives favourable to the Saudi government.  Separately, we have also permanently suspended the Twitter account of Saud al-Qahtani for violations of our platform manipulation policies. This account is not included in the archives disclosed today.” Twitter said.

    This follows the identification in August of more than 200,000 fake accounts in China engaged in fuelling public discord in Hong Kong. Twitter and Facebook are both banned in mainland China. Hong Kong has seen months of unrest as citizens protest what they say is an erosion of freedoms under Beijing’s tightening grip. While Beijing has not intervened directly, its powerful media machine has steadily ramped up a war of words.

    “In August, we disclosed that we had identified a network of more than 200,000 fake accounts based in the PRC which were attempting to sow discord about the protest movement in Hong Kong. Today, we are publishing additional datasets relating to 4,301 accounts which were most active in this information operation to further public awareness and understanding. ” Twitter said. 

    Twitter said it removed 259 accounts operated by the conservative Partido Popular that were active for a relatively short period and consisted primarily of fake accounts engaging in spamming or retweet behaviour to increase engagement.

    “We have removed 259 accounts we identified as falsely boosting public sentiment online in Spain. Operated by Partido Popular, these accounts were active for a relatively short period, and consisted primarily of fake accounts engaging in spamming or retweet behaviour to increase engagement.” Twitter posted. 

  • UAE Freezes Funds To Expand World’s Largest Airport

    UAE Freezes Funds To Expand World’s Largest Airport

    Plans to expand Dubai’s Al Maktoum airport, the Emirate owned and designed to be the world’s biggest and busiest Airport has hit a dead-end after funds running the project were frozen indefinitely.

    According to sources speaking to the media, The expanded Al Maktoum was to have an annual capacity of more than 250 million passengers. Insiders state that the move to expand the airport was put on hold as Gulf Arab economies oscillate.

    People involved in the project spoke to the media on anonymity stating that the set-aside and budgeted construction activity has been halted and finances for expansion frozen until further notice.

    The completion date for the first phase of the airport envisaged as a $36 billion super-hub allowing locally based airline Emirates to consolidate its position as the world’s No. 1 long-haul carrier, had already been pushed back five years to 2030 in October.

    In a statement to the media, Dubai Airports said it’s reviewing the long-term master plan stating that the exact timelines and details of next steps are not as yet finalized. The statement further said that it aims to ensure development takes full advantage of emerging technologies, responds to consumer trends and preferences, and optimizes investment.

    According to Forbes records, Dubai’s economy slowly grew since 2010, and last year as the Gulf’s chief commercial center grappled with fallout from geopolitical tensions and a low oil price.

    Even though the Emirates remains based at the original Dubai International hub as it mulls how best to develop its strategy of carrying passengers between all corners of the globe, tourism has been stagnant since 2017 because the company is finding it tougher to add profitable new routes, and it is reworking its fleet plans with the cancellation of the Airbus SE A380 super-jumbo.

    The Capacity of Al Maktoum was to increase to 130 million passengers on completion of its first phase of expansion, according to the October update. The design ultimately calls for the hub to handle 260 million, based on prior statements, more than twice the customer total at the world’s busiest airports today.

  • How Nairobi Girls Are Lured Into Prostitution On Instagram

    How Nairobi Girls Are Lured Into Prostitution On Instagram

    The society has been filled with ‘get rich quick’ mentality. Many of young generation are doing whatever they are capable of doing to ‘prosper’.

    Our desk has received information of couple of Instagram accounts that are luring girls into prostitution.  Nairobi girls are being lured into sex for cash business in what is termed as private parties and businesses in foreign countries.

    The Instagram Direct message post says an agency in Nairobi has orders from sponsors who offer cash for sex.

                         Instagram Direct Message screenshot     Photo|Christine_rence

    They even claim to have a quotation of  Ksh 50 thousands for a single sex session. They convince unsuspecting girls that they conduct vital tests before joining the agency.

    Instagram has been flooded by photo maniacs’ celebrities and fake Socialites who are actively promoting prostitution.

    Socialites have taken over the Instagram app.  Currently majority of gram users are Posting and sharing travel pic and the Porsche lifestyles.

    Instagram is now a certified prostitution platform.  The platform has verified sex for cash accounts that have misled the entire generation.

    Young girls are tricked to joining agencies that later connect them to sex addicts in Dubai, Qatar, UAE and many other destinations.

    Fake lifestyles posts and big currency quotation are key things these slavery agencies invest in to lure young naive girls.  With some posting fake ownership of businesses on some of the world’s greatest destinations.

    Many cases of sexual assault and abuse have been reported by Kenyans working in diaspora. Some who Kenyan embassy had no idea they were in the respective foreign countries.

    So many young naive girls’ minds have been besmirched by fake travel pics and lifestyles on Instagram. Majority have been enticed to travel to foreign countries like Dubai, Qatar and other Middle East countries only to get sexual abused and assault.

    Instagram has turned a blind eye on the increased sex for cash and sexual slavery promoting agencies on its community.

    They also have verified socialites with fake lifestyles. The same people who are alluring girls into prostitution in foreign countries.

    This makes them accomplices in the now most famous activity on their platform.

    Here’s A Facebook post of Oge Nwabueze elucidating her awful sexual experience in Foreign terrestrial