Central Bank chief says inflation under control
Kenya’s inflation is under control despite a food prices-driven uptick in June and pressure from recent increases in the fuel tax, the governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said on Tuesday. The year-on-year rate of inflation rose to 5.80 percent in June from 5 percent in May. The retail prices of fuel went up on July 15, ushering in more pressure on the rate.
“The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) was quite comfortable with the dynamics,” Governor Patrick Njoroge told a news conference. Policymakers left the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 10.50 percent on Monday saying the pressure on inflation was temporary.
FIFA chief wants two more Africa slots in World Cup
Africa should be given two more places at the World Cup finals if the tournament is expanded to 40 teams, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino told reporters on a brief trip to Nigeria on Monday. Infantino repeated his presidential election manifesto pledge to push for the World Cup to grow by eight teams to 40 and wants Africa to get at least two extra slots from 2026.
“I believe for the World Cup 2026 – because the 2018 and 2022 finals are already decided – there should be 40 teams… and out of the eight more there should be at least two slots for African teams,” he told reporters. “This is what I declared during my campaign and as you know I’m not a dictator but a democratically elected FIFA president, so I have to speak to everyone and listen to everyone as well,” he added in Abuja.
An expanded World Cup was one of the key points in the election manifesto of Infantino, who was voted in as the president of world soccer’s governing body in February.
The next two World Cup tournaments have a field of 32 teams with Africa having had five places since the last increase in 1998, except for 2010 when, with the tournament hosted in South Africa, there were six African nations at the finals.
Suicide bombers kill 7 at peacekeeping base in Somalia
Suicide bombers killed at least seven people as they tried to blast their way into the African Union’s main peacekeeping base in Somalia’s capital on Tuesday, police said. The force of the explosions shattered windows at Mogadishu’s nearby airport, showering arriving passengers with glass, said witnesses.
Al Shabaab, the Islamist militant group fighting to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people. It regularly reports higher death counts than the authorities.
Police said the first attacker detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. “We understand at least seven from a private security firm died,” said Ali Farah, a police officer.
The guards were caught in the blast at the gate as they escorted U.N. personnel into the base, which is known as Halane, he added.
South Sudan president replaces Machar as deputy
South Sudan President Salva Kiir replaced his vice president and rival Riek Machar on Monday, a move that could potentially undermine last year’s peace deal and reignite war in Africa’s youngest nation. Machar was sworn in as first vice president only last April, eight months after a peace agreement that ended two years of fighting that broke out the last time that Kiir sacked him as his deputy in 2013.
But the rivalry between the two men led to violence in the capital Juba early this month as forces from both sides battled each other with tanks, helicopters and other heavy weapons. Machar, from the minority Nuer ethnic group, left Juba with his troops, saying he would only return when an international body had to set up a buffer force between his fighters and those supporting Kiir, leader of the dominant Dinka group.
Kiir had issued an ultimatum last week, saying Machar had 48 hours to contact him and return to Juba to salvage last year’s peace deal, or face replacement.
He made good on that threat on Monday when he issued a decree “for the appointment of the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan”, naming General Tabal Deng Gai to the post.
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