Africa Week in Review - June 27, 2014 Share This /

This week the U.S. Department of State released the 2014 Trafficking in Persons report and allocated an additional $51 million towards humanitarian relief to the Central African Republic. Read more on these stories and other news highlights from the African region below. 

• U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert F. Godec noted that Kenya requires extensive strengthening of their security forces to fight terrorism. Godec stated that the U.S. has “funded over KSH 3.8 billion in civilian counterterrorism assistance to Kenya over the last four years, making Kenya the fourth largest recipient of such assistance worldwide”. Therefore, the United States has committed to providing more counterterrorism support to Kenya and also urged for an active cooperation among Kenyan political leaders.

• As a result of the recent violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), the U.S. announced that it would provide an additional $51 million in humanitarian aid to support those affected by the conflict. Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf noted that the U.S. “remains deeply committed to stopping human suffering in CAR and is the leading donor of humanitarian assistance to the crisis”. This new assistance will amount to a total of $118 in U.S. humanitarian aid to CAR.

• Last week the U.S. imposed sanctions on Uganda for their enactment of the “Anti-Homosexual Act” including travel restrictions for some Ugandan officials and the freezing of certain funds for government health and policing programs. The Ugandan government’s response to the U.S.’s announcement suggests that they are holding firm to their anti-gay laws.  Ugandan Foreign Affairs minister and newly elected U.N. General Assembly president, Sam Kutesa stated that the sanctions “will affect the most vulnerable people that the US government purports to support and aims to protect."

• The U.S. Department of State released the 2014 Trafficking in Person report. Amongst the African countries featured, Liberia ranked poorly despite their efforts in fighting human trafficking and Somalia was listed as a Special Case for the twelfth consecutive year due to their failure to address and report cases of trafficking.

• The African Union Summit is being held this week in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea with the official theme “Agriculture and Food Security in Africa.” African heads of state, government officials, ministers and development partners have been gathering to discuss policies that can be implemented at the national and continental level to address issues of nutrition, agriculture and climate change.

• Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a national dialogue by July 7, 2014 to address Kenya’s security failings, corruption and the country’s economy. As a result of the recent attack in the Kenayan town of Mpetekoni, Odinga also demanded for a clear timetable to be established detailing when and how Kenyan troops would be removed from Somalia.