Wednesday, September 25, 2013

SIKILIZA MOJA WA MATEKA WA MKASA WA WESTGATE WANAVYOELEZEA

KENYA YATANGAZA SIKI 3 ZAMAOMBOLEZO






Kenya inaanza siku tatu za maombolezi ya kitaifa kwa waathiriwa wa mashambulizi ya kigaidi yaliyofanyika katika jengo la kibiashara la Westgate mjini Nairobi.
Rais Uhuru Kenyatta pia ameseama kuwa bendera zitapeperushwa nusu mlingoti kwa heshima ya waliopoteza maisha yao katika mashambulizi hayo.
Watu 67 wameuawa ikiwemo wanajeshi kadhaa wa usalama, ingawa kuna hofu kuwa idadi ya waliofariki huenda ikaongezeka.
Maafisa wa uchunguzi wa kimataifa wanaungana na wale wa Kenya kujaribu kuondoa mili ambayo imenaswa kwenye vifusi vya jengo hilo ambalo sehemu yake iliporomoka jana. Nia ni kujaribu pia kutambua uraia wa washambulizi hao.
Baraza la usalama wa kitaifa linatarajiwa kukutana leo kudadisi yaliyotokea na kujiandaa kwa mkakati mpya wa kigaidi.
Magaidi watato wa kundi la Al Shabaa lililokiri kutekeleza mashambulizi hayo,waliuawa katika shambulizi hilo lililodumu siku nne na kuwa washukiwa wengine 11 walikamatwa wakijaribu kuondoka nchini.
Katika hotuba yake kwa taifa siku ya Jumatano , Rais Uhuru Kenyatta alisema kuwa alihisi uchungu mkubwa na kuwa Kenya imejeruhiwa vibaya,lakini alielezea matumaini kwa kuwa shambulizi limeisha na kusema kwamba waliohusika watakiona cha mtemakuni.
Wakati huohuo, afisaa mmoja mkuu wa serikali ya Somalia, amesema kuwa hakuna suluhu la kijeshi kwa kundi la wanamgambo wa Al Shabaab nchini humo. Wanamgambo hao wameitikia kuhusika na mashambulizi ya kigaidi nchini Kenya ambao watu zaidi ya sitini wameuawa.
Akizungumza na mjumbe wa nchi hiyo katika Umoja wa Mataifa, Yusuf Mohamed Ismail Bari Bari, alisema kuwa serikali yake na jamii ya kimataifa inapaswa, kungazia zaidi mizizi ya tatizo la magaidi hao, upatikanaji wa rasilimali pamoja na uwakilishi wa kisiasa.

SKorea rejects Boeing, says F-15 not good enough



South Korea rejects Boeing, the sole remaining bidder, in $7.7B project for 60 fighter jets

 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea on Tuesday rejected Boeing Co.'s bid to supply 60 fighter jets in the country's largest-ever weapons purchase even though it was the sole remaining bidder, and said it would reopen the tender.
Boeing had offered its F-15 Silent Eagle, but South Korean critics have said the warplane lacks state-of-the-art stealth capabilities and cannot effectively cope with North Korea's increasing nuclear threats.
Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said officials decided at a meeting Tuesday to delay naming a winning bidder for the 8.3 trillion won ($7.7 billion) purchase, and would restart the bidding process at an early date.
He said South Korea must have better air power in line with an international trend to develop "fifth generation" fighters, and said the rejection of Boeing's bid was made in consideration of North Korea's nuclear weapons program and other factors. Ministry officials said he was referring to a warplane with cutting-edge radar-evading stealth functions which Boeing's plane does not have.
Boeing said in a statement that it was "deeply disappointed" by Tuesday's decision, adding it "rigorously" followed the South Korean arms procurement agency's instructions throughout the entire process.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon earlier competed in the bidding process but were eliminated for exceeding Seoul's budget cap.
The F-35 jet, which has been plagued by schedule delays and cost overruns, is widely regarded as a much more advanced and capable aircraft than its predecessors.
Japan announced in 2011 that it would buy 42 F-35 jets in a deal expected to cost more than $5 billion. Japan hopes to receive its first F-35s in 2016, at a cost of about $120 million per plane. But last year it threatened to cancel the multibillion-dollar deal if prices continue to rise or delays threaten the delivery date.
South Korea has traditionally favored importing fighter jets and other weapons from the U.S., which stations 28,500 troops in the country as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea.
This spring, tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply, with Pyongyang threatening nuclear wars to protest toughened U.N. sanctions after its third nuclear test in February. The U.S. took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes — B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers — to drills with South Korea in a show of force. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
In recent days, South Korean media, retired generals and weapons experts had pressed the government not to pick the F-15 Silent Eagle, arguing better stealth capabilities were needed.
"Only with stealth capabilities can (warplanes) covertly infiltrate North Korea and get rid of its nuclear threats," a group of 15 former air force chiefs of staff said in a recent letter addressed to President Park Geun-hye.
The rivals Koreas have hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops along a heavily armed border as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea's air force is relatively old and ill-prepared, but has a large number of aircraft that could be a factor if a conflict were to break out