World Leaders to Discuss Somalia

London--World leaders are meeting in London with members of the Somali government to structure approaches to deal with piracy, poverty and famine alongside discussions to end the country’s long-standing civil war.

Over 40 states have confirmed their participation in the Thursday’s conference which will attract participants from the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League. Also in attendance will be the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US secretary of State Hilary Clinton, neighbouring Ethiopia leader Meles Zenawi and leader of the breakaway Somaliland region.

Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, the prime minister of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) said ahead of the meeting that his country was "moving into an era of peace, stability and normalcy", adding that he was clueless about what the “huge Marshall Plan for Somalia” carried.

The UK Foreign Office said the one-day international conference could build on comprehensive international approach to Somalia covering politics, development, security as well as combating terrorism and piracy in the lawless state.

UK says its increased focus on Somalia is justified as activities of militant groups and pirates operating off the Somali coast pose direct threat to its interests in the region and to both regional and global security.

The conference comes after the UN Security Council passed a resolution on the eve of the London meeting to increase the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, AMISOM force to 17,731troops, from 12,000.

The boost which will incorporate Kenyan troops into the mission is to benefit the Somali TFG weakened by militant group al-Shabab offensive and to also create space for a political solution to the conflict.

Somali leaders have said the country’s challenges cannot be solved by military means alone but also parallel focus is needed to boost humanitarian aid, education and law and order.

Al-Shabab which recently joined ranks with international terror ring, al-Qaeda has termed the London conference as “another attempt” to colonise Somalia saying that “Britain must realise that the Muslims have long rejected British imperialism and the futility of their renewed attempt is obvious".

The Islamist group has recently faced great offensive from the joint AU and government forces that drove them from pockets it controlled in the capital, Mogadishu. An incursion into Somali territory by the Kenyan troops seeking the rebels it accuses of kidnappings in its territory has added to its woes.

Somalis are expecting real progress from the talks which analysts have cited having so many external actors driving different agendas, whose success they say would lie on unified stance.

There have been 20 international conferences on Somalia since collapse of the central government in 1991, which have failed to end the two-decades of conflict.

Juba, South Sudan

South Sudan Expels Chinese Oil Firm Boss

South Sudan has expelled head of a Chinese-Malaysian owned oil company following allegations of conspiring with neighbouring Sudan to steal South’s oil.

Liu Yingcai a Chinese national and president of Petrodar was asked to leave the country on Monday within 72 hours by the South Sudan government following inventions linking the firm into the Khartoum theft of oil worth $815m syndicate.

South Sudan's Minister of Information said that a government investigation found that he was involved with the government of Sudan "in the conspiracy of getting the oil of South Sudan."

Petrodar, a consortium of Chinese and Malaysian national oil corporations which recently relocated its headquarters from Khartoum to Juba, operates oil fields in South Sudan, as well as maintains and operates one of the two pipelines owned by north’s government.

The Juba government announced on Wednesday that it was reviewing all oil deals signed before its independence last year. Earlier this week Juba announced halving on its spending except government salaries, in efforts to compensate for the loss of oil revenue.

In January South Sudan ordered the shutdown  of its production following seizure of its oil by Sudan over claimed unpaid transit fees, saying that it would levy an unspecified percentage of the oil as an in kind payment for the arrears.

South Sudan depends entirely on the north for its pipeline and export facilities, but the two countries have engaged in bitter spite, with the South accusing the Khartoum government of forcing foreign oil companies operating in the region to fleece its oil.

South’s Vice-President Riek Machar has said that loss of oil revenue would mean suspension of development projects for several years, but basic services would remain unaffected. South Sudan depends on oil for 98 per cent of its budget make up.

Negotiations on sharing oil revenues and other outstanding issues including border demarcation and citizenship of the disputed Abyei region have strained further relations between the two states since the south seceded from the north.

South Sudan became independent in July last year after a successful referendum in January in favour of the breakaway from the north. The referendum formed  the climax of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005, ending decades of north-south civil war in which over 1.5 million people died.