LATEST NEWS

Somalia
A big explosion was heard in the heart of Somali’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, with clouds of smoke seen above the scene of blast, a Reuters witness reported.

It was not clear who was responsible for the blast although Islamist group al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in the Horn of Africa country.

Witnesses said the blast was heard close to the headquaters of the Somali intelligence agency in the capital.

Somali police is yet to give more information on the blast.

Islamic extremist group has been fighting for years in the area to take power and create an Islamic state in the region

Rwanda
Rwandan judicial authorities on Friday sentenced 13 people to five years and two others to ten years in jail after convicting them of belonging to extremist groups including al Shabaab and Islamic State and providing them support.

The high court in Rwanda’s southern Nyanza area acquitted 25 others after the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in extremist acts.

Police in the central African country arrested the 40 in January 2016, less than a week after they killed Muhammad Mugemangango, a preacher accused of encouraging youths to join extremist groups.

Security personnel also seized jihadist materials such as books, CDs and social network messages.

One of those convicted, Salim Fundi, participated in “coordinating people in Rwanda who wanted to join terrorist group of al Shabaab in Somalia,” said Judge Eugene Ndagijimana while delivering the ruling.

Those convicted included three women, two of them arrested at the airport in Kigali while en route to Syria and another convicted of helping them with $1,000 for flight tickets.

As Joe Biden gears up for a likely presidential run, CNN reports that he is considering “the early selection of a running mate, which one aide said would help keep the focus of the primary fight on the ultimate goal of unseating Trump.”

That makes some sense as a campaign gimmick, but on the merits, it makes very little sense.

The selection of a vice president is one of the most substantively important decisions a president makes. You want to draw from the broadest possible talent pool, and making the selection early is antithetical to that on a whole number of levels — most importantly because a lot of key talent won’t necessarily be willing to embrace your cause so early. (Including the rest of the field running for the nomination.)

Locking yourself into the relatively narrow category of “politicians who are willing to make an early Joe Biden endorsement” ends up excluding a huge number of people, could prove tactically disadvantageous during a general election, and would be a blown opportunity to improve governance if Biden won.

Joe Biden’s plan would have made his vice presidency impossible
One good way for Joe Biden to think about this would be to consider how it was that he came to be vice president.

Biden probably thinks his selection was a pretty shrewd decision on Barack Obama’s part. It brought to the table a contrasting campaign style that was better-calculated than Obama’s personal story to appeal to a crucial bloc of white working-class Northerners. But it also offered assurances to the party’s veteran congressional barons that Obama’s operation was legit. Last, Biden was a better-known figure than Obama to the international community — providing a reassuring signal to allies around the world.

The Biden pick was so strong, in fact, that both Paul Ryan’s selection in 2012 and Mike Pence’s in 2016 followed the same basic template — add a Midwesterner with strong ties to the congressional party for both electioneering and governance purposes.

And in an important sense, adding Biden to the ticket earlier could have helped Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary for many of the same reasons that he was a good general election pick. But Obama couldn’t have picked Biden early because Biden was running for president too. And even once Biden dropped out, he wasn’t prepared to immediately back Obama over Hillary Clinton for the nomination. And, indeed, the fact that Biden wasn’t squarely in Obama’s corner from day one was part of what made him a good pick, helping to expand his coalition beyond what it could have been at an earlier time.

Many of Biden’s best options are off the table for now
There are times when this kind of consideration might not be decisive.

Clinton had such overwhelming party support in 2016 that she could have chosen from essentially the entire field of people she was willing to consider early in the process.

But the supersize 2020 primary field is essentially the opposite of that. Someone like Beto O’Rourke, whose charisma and campaign skills are a key rationale for his candidacy, would be a very live possibility as a Biden VP choice were Biden to secure the nomination. So would Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who are currently running for the nomination themselves. Biden also might want to reconsider Clinton’s approach to the Bernie wing of the party and consider a unity pick like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who’s one of Sanders’s national campaign co-chairs. Other potentially appealing options like Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) likely won’t want to endorse anyone at all.

Generally, part of what presidents often try to accomplish with a VP selection is to get someone who isn’t a natural supporter of theirs in order to broaden the coalition — something that will be extremely hard for anyone to pull off in the current crowded primary field.

Taking the standard tack of deferring any running mate selection until Biden hypothetically wrapped up the nomination would, of course, be boring. And the desire to make a big splash is understandable especially because, as best we can tell, Biden’s policy agenda is not especially flashy. That said, sometimes standard boring conduct becomes standard and boring because it is the correct way to proceed.

As Joe Biden gears up for a likely presidential run, CNN reports that he is considering “the early selection of a running mate, which one aide said would help keep the focus of the primary fight on the ultimate goal of unseating Trump.”

That makes some sense as a campaign gimmick, but on the merits, it makes very little sense.

The selection of a vice president is one of the most substantively important decisions a president makes. You want to draw from the broadest possible talent pool, and making the selection early is antithetical to that on a whole number of levels — most importantly because a lot of key talent won’t necessarily be willing to embrace your cause so early. (Including the rest of the field running for the nomination.)

Locking yourself into the relatively narrow category of “politicians who are willing to make an early Joe Biden endorsement” ends up excluding a huge number of people, could prove tactically disadvantageous during a general election, and would be a blown opportunity to improve governance if Biden won.

Joe Biden’s plan would have made his vice presidency impossible
One good way for Joe Biden to think about this would be to consider how it was that he came to be vice president.

Biden probably thinks his selection was a pretty shrewd decision on Barack Obama’s part. It brought to the table a contrasting campaign style that was better-calculated than Obama’s personal story to appeal to a crucial bloc of white working-class Northerners. But it also offered assurances to the party’s veteran congressional barons that Obama’s operation was legit. Last, Biden was a better-known figure than Obama to the international community — providing a reassuring signal to allies around the world.

The Biden pick was so strong, in fact, that both Paul Ryan’s selection in 2012 and Mike Pence’s in 2016 followed the same basic template — add a Midwesterner with strong ties to the congressional party for both electioneering and governance purposes.

And in an important sense, adding Biden to the ticket earlier could have helped Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary for many of the same reasons that he was a good general election pick. But Obama couldn’t have picked Biden early because Biden was running for president too. And even once Biden dropped out, he wasn’t prepared to immediately back Obama over Hillary Clinton for the nomination. And, indeed, the fact that Biden wasn’t squarely in Obama’s corner from day one was part of what made him a good pick, helping to expand his coalition beyond what it could have been at an earlier time.

Many of Biden’s best options are off the table for now
There are times when this kind of consideration might not be decisive.

Clinton had such overwhelming party support in 2016 that she could have chosen from essentially the entire field of people she was willing to consider early in the process.

But the supersize 2020 primary field is essentially the opposite of that. Someone like Beto O’Rourke, whose charisma and campaign skills are a key rationale for his candidacy, would be a very live possibility as a Biden VP choice were Biden to secure the nomination. So would Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who are currently running for the nomination themselves. Biden also might want to reconsider Clinton’s approach to the Bernie wing of the party and consider a unity pick like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who’s one of Sanders’s national campaign co-chairs. Other potentially appealing options like Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) likely won’t want to endorse anyone at all.

Generally, part of what presidents often try to accomplish with a VP selection is to get someone who isn’t a natural supporter of theirs in order to broaden the coalition — something that will be extremely hard for anyone to pull off in the current crowded primary field.

Taking the standard tack of deferring any running mate selection until Biden hypothetically wrapped up the nomination would, of course, be boring. And the desire to make a big splash is understandable especially because, as best we can tell, Biden’s policy agenda is not especially flashy. That said, sometimes standard boring conduct becomes standard and boring because it is the correct way to proceed.

Eritrea
Eritrea continues its political diplomacy with respect to Ethiopia and opposition movements. The latest being reconciliation agreements between Ethiopia and opposition from the Afar and Gambella regions.

“The separate Reconciliation Agreements provide / spell out frameworks for both movements to pursue their political objectives through peaceful means,” Eritrea information minister Yemane Meskel said on Twitter.

Ethiopia’s Defence Minister, Aisha Mohammed and the Deputy President of Afar Region signed the agreement with the Afar Liberation Movement while ALM’s Chairman & the Head of Political Office were the co-signatories.

The Gambella agreement was signed by the President of Region and the Chairman of opposition movement, GPIM. Details of the said deals have yet to be made public.

This is the first such event this year even though about half a dozen deals were signed in 2018 after the Ethiopia – Eritrea peace deal was signed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki.

Most of the peace talks Asmara has hosted involve Ethiopia’s federal and regional governments on one side and ex-rebels from the Oromia, Somali, Amhara and Tigray regions.

In the days of hostilities, Ethiopia and Eritrea routinely accused each other of habouring rebels. Eritrea dismissed the claims whiles Ethiopia also announced arresting such rebel elements.

In the wake of peace, however, it has become clear that Eritrea did indeed host rebel groups even though Ethiopia has yet to mediate between Asmara and any rebel group.