Vitaly Churkin

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 30, updated below — After a draft resolution to impose more UN Security Council sanctions on Eritrea was “put in blue” at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, the Council delayed a planned 10 am open debate on its Working Methods to fight behind closed doors about voting on the sanctions.

As Inner City Press exclusively reported Tuesday night, US Ambassador Susan Rice said the vote should take place Wednesday since Gabon, Nigeria and the regional IGAD group want the sanctions.

But the other African member of the Council, South Africa, questioned the rush to vote. Eritrean president Afwerki as asked to speak to the Council. Ambassador Rice put on a block, and as of now no other member has (“dared to”) call for a procedural vote, which it is predicted Rice would lose.

Most Council members spoken to by Inner City Press feel that if any head of state wants to speak with the Council, especially before sanctions are imposed, it should be allowed as a matter of due process and precedent.

On Wednesday morning sources told Inner City Press that Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there should be no vote on the Eritrea draft today. South Africa has amendments. Experts will meet — but will Rice get her way?

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Eritrea’s ambassador to Kenya says his country isn’t able to fly three planeloads of weapons to al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia.

Kenya last week said that three planeloads of weapons had been flown into southern Somalia to arm al-Shabab militants being pursued by Kenyan troops. Kenya’s foreign minister summoned Eritrea’s ambassador and “raised concern” over the possibility Eritrea was behind it.

Eritrean Ambassador Beyene Russom told The Associated Press on Friday that there is no evidence to support the accusations.

Russom says the accusations fit into a pattern of misinformation against his country, which he blamed on Ethiopia, Eritrea’s longtime enemy.

(AP)  The Associated Press.

JetLink Express

Kenya’s second-largest airliner by jet-size fleet, Jetlink Express, has announced an ambitious expansion programme that will see it acquire a new jet to service new routes from mid this month.

The company plans to launch direct flights to Mwanza, Tanzania on November 15, and has applied to the Eritrean Government for air traffic rights to operate direct flights to Asmara.

The MD of Jetlink Express, Captain Elly Aluvale, says they are hopeful the licence will be granted and the airliner will become the first local air company to operate direct flights to Asmara.

“We have a large fleet that comprises up to nine modern jets. This means that we can do several flights in a day. We mainly target business travelers, and we hope to grow our customer base even further by serving the new routes diligently,” says Captain Aluvale.

The company’s focus on business travellers, targeted expansion of fleet, and strict adherence to time schedules has guaranteed phenomenal growth for the airline, which saw it defy recent global recession to increase its turnover by more than 100 per cent last year.

Newer routes

The delivery of the new jet will help it serve the newer routes. The company, however, admits that recent huge increases in fuel prices have been a challenge, but says it will always do its best to navigate the problem in order to keep its fares affordable to its customers.

Currently, Jetlink flies six times to Mombasa. It also flies daily to Eldoret and Kisumu. Mwanza will be its third international destination after Juba and Khartoum where it also flies scheduled flights.

“We hope the coming into effect of the East African Customs Union will help expedite the process of acquiring air traffic rights and open up the region to more direct flights,” said Aluvale.

Source: The Standard

Boston Marathon

More than 26,000 runners were lining up for the Boston Marathon 2010. Pressure was high on New York City Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi and fellow American Ryan Hall as they were expected to give the United States its first men’s win since 1983.

After leading most of the first 10 miles Ryan Hall fell back letting Deriba Merga and Chala Dechase of Ethiopia move forward only to come back and regain the lead 15 minutes later.

Approaching route 128 and the Wellesley-Newton line the leading group of athletes was down to seven consisting of Meb Keflezighi, Robert Cheruiyot, Tekeste Kebede, Deriba Merga, Moses Kigen, Abderrahim Goumri and Gilbert Yegon at the 15-miles mark.

Shortly after the 20-miles mark Kenyan athlete Robert Cheruiyot and Deriba Merga and Tekeste Kebede from Ethiopia opened the lead increasing the gap between them and the remaining group.

Finally, Robert Cheruiyot finished first with a new course record of 2:05:51 followed by Ethiopian Tekeste Kebede finishing second 2:07:23 and Deriba Merga finishing third in 2:08:39. Ryan Hall finished fourth in 02:08:41 the fastest time ever by an American and Mebrahtom Keflezighi fifth in 02:09:26. Robert Cheruiyot will take home the Boston Marathon winning prize of up to $150,000.

Berlin 10000 m

IAAF – The IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz will mark the end of an era, because for the first time since 2001 we will see neither Kenenisa Bekele nor Zersenay Tadese on the medal podium.

Those two titans of cross country running dominated this race throughout the noughties but now Bekele is injured while Tadese – as we saw so spectacularly at the Lisbon Half Marathon – is prioritising road racing. Without this pair, there’s never been a better time for a Kenyan victory in the big race.

Ten championships have now passed since an individual Kenyan man won the long race at the World Cross Country Championships, the blue riband event of distance running. That man was Paul Tergat in Belfast 1999. Now a new Paul might be the one to resume that sequence.

Paul Tanui, just 19, will come to Bydgoszcz having won the next toughest race in the world – the Kenyan Championships – by the yawning margin of 30.2 seconds. The progress of Paul Kipngetich Tanui, to give his full name, has been frightening. He was fourth in the junior race in Amman before transferring to Fukuoka where he has thrived in the Japanese corporate system with fast times on the track and Ekiden circuit.

Of course, victory in the trials is one thing, preserving that form to the championships is another and Tanui’s vastly experienced compatriots will know all about that process.

Leonard Komen has finished 2nd-4th-2nd-4th at the past four world championships, as a junior then a senior. Joseph Ebuya was fourth in 2008 and won at Edinburgh in January where Kenenisa Bekele was fourth. Hosea Macharinyang was fifth in 2007. Richard Matelong has Olympic and world steeplechase medals from each of the past three years.

Yet this quartet was all beaten in their trials by Tanui and another 19 year-old, Lucas Rotich. Like Tanui, we know he’s good, but we won’t know just how good until the race unfolds in Bydgoszcz.

Gebremariam leads Ethiopia’s charge

The world cross does not seem to be as much of a priority these days for Ethiopia’s men, yet they still ended up with the champion in 2009 through Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam. He is back, but after four big wins before Christmas he lost both his IAAF Permit races in 2010. One of those was to compatriot Hunegnaw Mesfin who also triumphed at the Five Mills on his 21st birthday and may be ready for a breakthrough in Poland after a disappointing 2009.

Last year’s junior winner Ayele Abshero is on this year’s senior team, but there is no Bekele, Sihine, Cherkos, Fikadu or Jeylan. Ethiopia however may have its own Paul Tanui in Azmeraw Bekele. He was a clear-cut winner of the Ethiopian trial race and won the Marrakech half marathon, but at the time of writing we don’t even know how old he is. Clearly he has minimal international experience and that will be a disadvantage.

If any Eritrean is going to take over Tadese’s mantle on the country, it will be his training partner, the tall Samuel Tsegay. He impressed with his fifth place at the World Half Marathon Championships and looks set to climb much higher than his 16th place finish in Amman. The world will be looking at athletes like him who can crack the domination of “KenEth”, and another in that category will be Uganda’s Moses Kipsirio who was so near to winning in 2009. One more returning from that leading pack in Amman is Chakir Boujattaoui (MAR), who has quietly progressed since his eighth place last year.

One day, a man born outside of Africa will cause a sensation and win the World Cross Country Championships again. Bydgoszcz 2010 may be a bit soon for that, so there will be some interest not only in the first finisher from outside of Africa, but also the first European and the first without African heritage.

One in eight of the entrants for this year’s senior race are migrants or transferees from Africa. In this category are the leading Europeans Alemayehu Bezabeh (ESP) and Mohamed Farah (GBR). Farah worked his way through to 11th in the tough conditions at Mombasa 2007 and is targeting the championships for the first time since then.

One European entered who has already defeated the best of Kenya and Ethiopia this year is another Spaniard, Sergio Sánchez. He was world indoor silver medallist at 3000m in Doha, but surely it’s too much to ask for the same sort of result over four times that distance.

The leading European in 2009 was Spain’s Carles Castillejo in 28th place. He is entered again so it looks as if Spain will be the team to beat for the likes of Australia, Britain, France, Portugal, the United States, Japan and Poland. The Poles have one of the most interesting entries, Jaroslaw Cichocki (38). He last competed in the World Cross Country Championships as a junior in 1990. At a time when the possible winner of this year’s race wasn’t even born.

Junior race – Uganda’s Golden Opportunity

There is a possibility that for the first time since 1991, the gold could go somewhere other than Ethiopia or Kenya. The two men who finished ahead of Uganda’s Moses Kibet in Amman are now seniors. Kibet performed impressively against seniors in Seville and Elgóibar then retained his national junior title. Can he become only the fourth Ugandan to win a world gold?

If not, the title could go to a 16-year-old for the first time in a decade. Apart from Kibet, Japheth Korir is the highest-placed returnee from Amman, having finished fifth in 2009. He was fourth in this year’s Kenyan trial which was won by the experienced Charles Kibet, a junior team gold medallist at the last two World Championships. Kenya has now won the last 10 team titles and 20 of the last 21, losing only to Ethiopia in Marrakech 1998.

In Bydgoszcz the Ethiopian team will be spearheaded by Biftu Gashaw and Woldsenbet Debebe who were seventh and eighth in Amman but just sixth and seventh in their own country’s trial race.

Perhaps Eritrea can again upset the Kenyan/Ethiopian duopoly as they did with their team silvers in 2007. They bring back three top 20 finishers from last year including 16 year-old Goitom Kifle.

The junior race can hold a special level of excitement because individual reputations do not count for so much. There’s no telling how good an athlete might be at this stage of their development, though obviously it helps to come from Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea or Uganda.

There will be a race within a race to see who can be the first finisher from outside this bloc. In 2009 that honour went to the USA’s German Fernandez who was a brilliant 11th. That might be a bit too much to expect of this winter’s US number one Trevor Dunbar who hails from Kodiak in Alaska, so at least he will be unworried by the much colder conditions Bydgoszcz will provide in comparison with 2009. Another used to the cold will be Norway’s Sondre Nordstad Moen, a former cross country ski champion who surely will improve on last year’s top European placing of 50th.

Sadly the number of European entrants in this race is falling. Twenty years ago in?Aix-les-Bains, 73 of the 126 finishers represented countries from Europe. In 2010 the provisional total for Europe is half of that including just five scoring teams compared with 12 in 1990. One of those 12 became the last European junior men’s team to stand on the podium. They were the Italians who were led by 18 year-old Stefano Baldini.

Much better placed to challenge for team medals this time round are Japan. Their great strength in depth may pay dividends as that country fields three sub-29 minute 10,000m runners. Traditionally it has been the Japanese junior women who have grabbed team bronzes but actually their junior men were the first to achieve this feat … in 1987 when the World Championships last came to Poland.

Antrim, UK – Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Boniface Kiprop may be a late withdrawal, but there is still a formidable field for the Antrim International, the sixth IAAF Cross Country Permitrace of the season, which takes place on Saturday (23).

The 24-year-old star was one of the favourites to take the senior men’s title after setting the pace in last year’s event, only to have the misfortune of losing his shoe after four miles and conceding valuable seconds to Imane Merga of Ethiopia.

Having recovered the shoe, Kiprop made the fatal mistake of closing the gap on the leaders too quickly. An exhausted Kiprop was then unable to cover Merga’s sprint finish who won by two seconds over the disgruntled Ugandan.

Despite Kiprop’s absence due to an illness which also sidelined him from the Edinburgh fixture two weeks ago, the race still boasts a high class field, with two of Britain’s top three finishers in the senior men’s event at the recent Europeans in Dublin confirming that they will compete at the Greenmount Campus in Antrim this weekend.

Blackheath’s Mike Skinner was overtaken in last month’s event in Dublin by Andy Vernon, the pair finishing 13th and 12th respectively behind their countryman Mo Farah who claimed second.

Skinner is in a rich vein of form coming in to Saturday’s event, with victories at Gateshead and Liverpool already this season. His performance in Dublin helped the British side to the silver team medals behind winners Spain.

Aldershot native Vernon is equally at home on both cross country and track. A silver medallist at the European Under-23 Championships in 2008, he captured the national 10,000m track title in July to add to a 5000m victory from the previous year.

Other athletes hoping to impress in the Antrim 9km challenge are Mike Clohisey, Tseqi Tewelde of Eritrea, Kenyan Mike Kigen and Youssef El Kalai of Morocco along with local hopefuls Stephen Scullion, Joe McAllister and Ed McGinley.

Focus on Yelling – women’s race

The Women’s 5.6km event is shaping up to be a battle between some of this season’s top international cross country stars, with new European Cross Country champion Hayley Yelling among those set to compete at Greenmount.

Yelling turned 36 this week, and will be hoping for more to celebrate after she caused the biggest European Cross Country upset in years by taking gold at Santry in Dublin.

An elite field of runners was decimated by a devastating display of front running from the Dorchester-born teacher as she secured a memorable seven-second victory over runner-up Rosa Morato of Spain.

Yelling’s achievement was all the more astonishing as she was only back in training for four weeks, having previously announced her retirement in 2008 at the European Championships in Brussels. Yelling’s first place finish and a strong display by her teammates ensured Britain notched a team silver behind Portugal.

Ana Dulce Felix was a member of that all-conquering Portuguese line-up, and travels to Antrim following a sixth place individual finish in Dublin. The 27-year-old is aiming to build on her 2009 success which saw her record 10 personal bests over a range of distances. She was also an impressive 15th in the World Cross Country Championships in Amman.

Meanwhile, a win for European indoor bronze medallist Mary Cullen would bring glory to Ireland for the first time in 16 years. The Sligo athlete is bidding to bounce back from a disappointing 12th place finish in last month’s Europeans before an expectant home crowd in Dublin.

The run was particularly frustrating as Cullen’s previous form showed medal potential. This included a fourth place in the Europeans in Brussels, an Irish indoor 3000m record of 8:43.74 in Boston and a bronze medal in the European indoors in Turin.

In Antrim, Cullen will be targeting both Yelling and Felix in the hope she can improve upon her previous best at the event, a fourth place finish in Stormont four years ago.

Recently-crowned European junior Cross Country bronze medallist Kate Avery will lead the charge in the junior race. The Durham athlete is currently on a high following an unexpected third place in the Dublin event behind Norwegian winner Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal.

Avery also won silver in the 3000m at the European Juniors and joining her at Greenmount is Delilah Dicrescenzo of the USA who was fourth in her national championships this year. She also finished a respectable 33rd in the World Cross Country in Amman.

The Belfast International meeting began in 1977 and has seen some of the world’s top athletes take victories at the event over the years. Notable names have included Paula Radcliffe, Paul Tergat, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, John Treacy, Khalid Skah, Sergey Lebid, Liz McColgan and Brendan Foster, plus a host of other world class Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes. Source: (IAAF)

The European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) has raised a red flag over the worsening food security situation in the Horn of Africa.

Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner in charge of development and humanitarian aid, attributes the disastrous situation to the terrible potential of climate change.

“Large parts of the Horn of Africa have had less than 75 percent of normal rainfall this year, having already endured a series of severe droughts. The population can no longer cope with such extreme and protracted hardship which often comes on top of conflict situation. As a result, more than 16 million people desperately need help,” he said in a statement released by ECHO.

Initial optimism occasioned by forecasts of El Niño rains were thwarted when November proved largely dry. El Niño refers to a periodic warming of temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, far from East Africa’s shores but with impacts on the country’s rainfall and weather patterns.

Samuel Mwangi, acting assistant director of Kenya’s national weather forecasting services explains that El Niño has been linked with greater rainfall during the annual “short rains” in East Africa, between October and December.

ECHO warns that if the December rains are below average, parts of Kenya may suffer irreparable damage.

ECHO regional information officer Daniel Dickinson told IPS, “In the face of the unfolding drought situation, ECHO is providing 50 million euros in humanitarian aid to vulnerable drought-affected people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The rains have failed and people have exhausted the coping mechanisms which they had and urgently need help.”

Kenya’s minister for special programmes, Naomi Shaban, issued a similar warning in mid- December over the worsening food security situation across the country.

Speaking as she flagged off relief food worth $80,000 donated by Telkom Kenya and World Vision Kenya, Shaban said ten districts across the country are facing an imminent crisis in relation to food insecurity.

“Unfortunately, the country has experienced another season of failed rains which is expected to increase the current levels of food insecurity. Although Kenya’s food security is still on the borderline, many districts are at risk of sliding into an acute food and livelihood crisis. This situation is made worse by high food prices,” Shaban explained.

In Kenya, Dickinson says it is estimated 3.8 million people currently rely on humanitarian aid and the situation is worsening. with acute malnutrition above 20 percent in five districts.

The government of Kenya has increased its monthly spending on relief food to $1.3 million per month to assist those facing starvation. In early 2009, the government declared the unfolding food security situation a national disaster, stating that 10 million Kenyans were unable to access food.

In Ethiopia, ECHO reports indicate with several consecutive crop failures, the nutritional situation in that country has deteriorated badly and is expected to worsen further.

The story unfolding in Somalia is similar, with the situation aggravated by ongoing conflict. In Uganda, ECHO indicates 2.2 million people in northern Acholi and Karamoja regions face food insecurity.

According to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (which issues alerts on food insecurity) poor rains in November have revised prospects for widespread food security improvements that were expected to manifest toward the end of December in Kenya.

Those set to be adversely affected include pastoral households who already face unrelenting prices for food, an outbreak of cholera and heightened conflict over limited pasture and water in drought conditions.

However, Mwangi says sections of the country have experienced increased rainfall as predicted, which means good harvests will be recorded in certain areas.

“It must be pointed out that the poor performance of rainfall is not widespread across the country. There are areas that will still record good harvests from the rainfall received during the season.

In Coast, Northeastern, Eastern and Central Provinces, the rainfall was characterised by heavy storms in the second half of the month. This significantly enhanced the total rainfall amounts recorded in these provinces,” Mwangi says.

It is not clear whether good harvests in these areas will cover the predicted shortfalls in the rest of the country. Source: (IPS)

By Cyrus Ombati

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has granted the 12 members of the Eritrean national soccer team asylum.

They were granted passes to allow them stay in Kenya as UNHCR works on their cases.

The players were interviewed by the Ministry of Immigration officials on Wednesday night and later granted asylum after being cleared by UNHCR.

After being given the stickers, which will last for three months, they were escorted to an undisclosed place in the city.

“They are under the UNHCR and cannot be arrested,” said an official at the UNHCR offices who sought anonymity.

Swore affidavits

The players are said to have displayed affidavits they swore before departing Asmara, saying they would not go back because of harassment in their country.

There was drama at the immigration offices as the players roughed up journalists who had camped there awaiting their arrival.

They later apologised saying they thought the journalists were police planning to arrest them.

The players resurfaced at the UNHCR offices in Nairobi days after they went missing to seek asylum status.

They arrived at the UNHCR offices in Westlands, Nairobi, in a hired car and went into a meeting with officials before being referred to the refugee offices at the Ministry of Immigration headquarters at Nyayo House, where their case was heard.

They made up nearly half the 25 players and coaches Eritrea sent to the soccer tournament for nations from East and central Africa.

Team organiser Nicholas Musonye alerted police when only 13 team members departed after the tournament ended on Sunday.

Police said they launched investigation and learnt none of the 12 players had a visa to remain in Kenya. Source: (The Standard)

By Olad Hassan

Most of the Eritrean national football squad has disappeared in Nairobi- Kenya, according to Nicholas Musonye- Secretary of the Counsil of East and Central Africa Football Assocoations (CECAFA) on Monday.

The Eritrean players were among twelve Cecafa teams arrived in Nairobi to participate the 33rd addition of Cecafa tournament, and they were expected to go back home on Saturday night after they were eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-final stage by Rwanda.

“No single player was in the hotel in the last minutes of their departure, very view of them including the Coach could be seen on board their bus to the airport.”, said one of the workers of Gulf Palace Hotel- where they where resided after they knocked out from the competition.

Sources indicate, the head coach Negash Teklit and an army colonel who accompanied the national team are the only people who returned back to Eritrea. According to different sources 12 players are reported to be hiding in Nairobi with the target of seeking asylum in Kenya.

Uganda

By Olad Hassan

The Cranes of Uganda, defending Cecafa Champions, have again retained their regional tittle and 11th cecafa Senior challenge after beating Rwanda in the final of the tournament on sunday.

Dam Wagaluka opened the scoring deadlock of the final for Uganda 4 minuts before the half time and Emmanuel Okwi scored an other fantastic goal for uganda in the 73rd minuts, to give the win of cecafa in their consecutive two years.

Less than 5,000 fans have attended to watch the regional final, that looked poor attendence of a such high profile game of the region,this came after the hosts Harambee stars eleminated from the competition in the quarter final stage.

Uganda are considered to be the best team in the region, cranes have reached 15 finals of the Cecafa cup winning 11 of them.

Ugandan Scotish coach Bobby Williamson told the media after the game, that his player played their best and he that he was already expecting to win the cup.

Earlier Zanzibar defeated mainland Tanzania 1-nil to finish third in the regional competition.

Eritrea’s Red Sea Boys beat Somalia 3-1 in Group “B” of the Orange CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup in Kenya. The victory over Somalia ensures that Eritrea goes through to the quarterfinals of the competition.

The return of the The Red Sea Boys is evidence that a good team can always learn and build up its strengths after loosing a match. It is never too late as long as the team spirit is kept high. Brazilian soccer champ Pelé once said, “I am constantly being asked about individuals. The only way to win is as a team. Football is not about one or two or three star players.“

Somalia’s defeat means that the national team dropped out of the competition flying back home on Monday. Eritrea finished second in the group and will play on Tuesday against Tanzania in the quarterfinals. Thumbs up to the Read Sea Boys- The whole nation is beside you.

Surprise package Eritrea held Cosafa Challenge Cup champions Zimbabwe to a goalless draw in a Group B match in Nairobi at the on-going Cecafa Orange Senior Challenge Cup.

The draw means Rwanda who beat Somalia 1-0 in the opening group game lead the group with three points, while Zimbabwe and Eritrea are at one point apiece. Source: (CAF)

In the sugarcane growing town of Mumias, Tanzania recovered from their 2-0 loss to defending champions Uganda to silence Zanzibar 1-0 in a game that ended with each team one man-less. Mrisho Ngassa scored in the 18th minute, but the Kilimanjaro Stars looked for a second goal but to no avail.

Zanzibar had their goalkeeper Ali Mwadin sent off towards the final whistle, while Tanzania’s Kiggi Makasi received a second caution in the 44th minute.

Tomorrow Ethiopia will be up against Chipolopolo of Zambia, while hosts Kenya line-up against Djibouti and Burundi battle 10-time winners Uganda Cranes.