Kenya: Violence Mars Coastal City over Cleric Killing

Nairobi, Kenya

Violent protests in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa continued for the third day following murder of a radical Islamic cleric on Monday.

Aboud Rogo Mohammed who is blacklisted by the US and the UN for allegedly backing Islamist fighters in Somalia was killed in a drive-by shooting. The cleric was traveling in a van with his wife, children and father-in-law when unidentified gunmen attacked.

Following his death protesters, mainly youths have been rioting in the streets of Mombasa, attacking government vehicles, businesses and churches in the busy tourist city. The protesters have been engaging the police in running battle, barricading roads with stones and burning tyres, as they looted shops and torched several churches.

Two people, one police officer and a protester are reported to have died on Monday as several other protesters and policemen injured in the protests. A grenade hurled at a police vehicle by protesters on Tuesday killed two police officers, leaving 16 others injured.

The police say Rogo’s murder was a “well-planned attack” by members of the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab, to gain sympathisers, denying claims by his supporters that the cleric had been a victim of “targeted assassination” by the authorities.

"They have attacked our officers... Two people are dead, one of them is an officer, the other is a civilian," said police spokesman Charles Owino.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga who appealed for calm warned that the country should not get into inter-religious fighting, promising that the matter will be probed. "We urge Muslims and Christians not to fight. Let's act with restraint as law enforcement agencies get to the root of the matter," he said.

Somalia’s Islamist militant al-Shabab group has condemned Mr Rogo’s killing, calling on Muslims in Kenya to boycott next year’s presidential election.

Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the Kaffir [non-Muslims] and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honour, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam," the group said in a statement.

Mr Rogo becomes the second cleric on a terrorism watch list to be killed in Mombasa this year, after Samir Hashim Khan an Islamic preacher was abducted in April along with a blind colleague and his mutilated body later found in a national park.

The UN Security Council had imposed a travel ban and freeze on Rogo’s assets in July over his implied support to al-Shabab being the “main ideological leader” of Kenya’s al-Hijra group also known as the Muslim Youth Centre, viewed as a close ally of al-Shabab.

Mohammed "used the extremist group as a pathway for radicalisation and recruitment of principally Swahili-speaking Africans for carrying out violent militant activity in Somalia," the UN said.

Earlier this year the cleric was cleared of charges after an arms cache was impounded in his home. In 2005, Mr Rogo was cleared on murder charges over the 2002 attack on a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying, which killed 12 people.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Archbishop Tutu Boycotts Event with Blair

 South Africa’s retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he will skip to attend an event in Johannesburg in protest at sharing a stage with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, over his support of the US-led Iraq invasion.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said Tuesday that  he was withdrawing as speaker in the Thursday’s one-day leadership summit in South Africa’s second capital over what he termed as would be "inappropriate and untenable" for him to share a platform with Blair.

"Ultimately, the archbishop is of the view that Mr Blair's decision to support the United States' military invasion of Iraq, on the basis of unproven allegations of the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, was morally indefensible," Tutu's office wrote to organisers.

However, Blair has expressed sorrow at Archbishop Tutu’s decision to pull out, citing massacre on thousands of people using chemical weapons by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Iran-Iraq war as reasons for his decision to join the 2003 invasion.

"As far as Iraq is concerned, they have always disagreed about removing Saddam by force. Such disagreement is part of a healthy democracy," a statement from the former British premier said.

The organizers of the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit have expressed regrets at Tutus unexpected withdrawal saying his contribution would have been invaluable.

Tutu’s office added that the Archbishop regretted "inconveniencing and disappointing" the summit organizers, saying that he had “spent considerable time over the past few days wrestling with his conscience and taking counsel from trusted advisers with respect to his attendance at the event.”

Muslim political party Al Jama-ah said on Monday it plans to hold protest outside the convention centre against Blair whom it’s calling to be arrested and charged for crimes against humanity relating to the invasion of Iraq.

Other speakers expected at the summit include former chess grandmaster and Russian opposition politician Garry Kasparov and South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.