(GIN)—Spoken word artist Julie Wang’ombe—a Duke University undergraduate—has been credited as the author of the victory speech read by President-elect Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.
The 22-year-old Kenyan-born poet is a familiar face at SLAM Africa events, open mic nights and other events around Nairobi. She comes from a writer’s family—her father is CEO of Kenya’s Nation Media Group.
The gala inauguration ceremony, which took place April 9, drew presidents from around the continent, including Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni, Goodluck Jonathan, Salva Kiir, and dignitaries, including Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Long before dawn, buses packed with supporters arrived from central Kenya and the Rift Valley, heartlands of Kenyatta’s Kikuyu people and of his soon to be vice-president William Ruto.
Kenyatta loyalists, dressed in the red colors of his Jubilee Coalition party, waved farewell to outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, 81, retiring after more than a decade in power.
One of Africa’s richest men, Kenyatta, 51, won the March 4 polls by about 8,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival, outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
In his inaugural speech President  Kenyatta promised to abolish all maternity care fees and make government dispensaries and health centers free of charge within 100 days. Funds reserved for an election run-off would be redirected to a new Youth and Women Fund, and within the first 100 days, measures would be taken to ensure that all public school students joining class one next year would receive a laptop. “We believe that early exposure to technology will inspire future innovation and be a catalyst for growth and prosperity,” he said.
Before the election, the U.S. and Europe sought to persuade Kenyans to reject Kenyatta, who faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, charges which will be presented in July. Britain warned it would maintain only essential contact, noted Hadley Muchela, of IMLU, a Kenyan human rights group.
But the west has since softened its stance, Muchela said. “Is there honesty in these dealings, or is it always just about our interests in other countries in the world?” Diplomats from the U.K. and the U.S. both attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Meanwhile, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said: “I want to salute the Kenyan voters on ... the rejection of the blackmail by the International Criminal Court… The usual opinionated and arrogant actors” tried to use the court to “install leaders of their choice in Africa.”
A congratulatory message from Pres. Barack Obama to the Kenyan leaders read: “Now that your election has been confirmed, you have the opportunity to build on the promise of Kenya’s Constitution and solidify its place as a vibrant and prosperous democracy centered on the rule of law.” The message was relayed by the new U.S. Ambassador, Robert Codec, who replaces State Dept. Africa chief Johnnie Carson who formally retired March 29, ending a 44-year career.

BOLLYWOOD STAR-- In this June 6, 2012 photo, Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor poses for the media during a promotional event in Mumbai, India.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor says the portrayal of women in Indian cinema is changing and increasingly film directors are creating more meaningful roles for them.

(GIN)—While the public service record of Baroness Margaret Thatcher is praised to the skies in most western news accounts, the former U.K. Prime Minister was recalled more critically among many South Africans.
For starters, the British Prime Minister, known as the Iron Lady, was a warm friend of South African dictator PW Botha who was welcomed by her in 1984. With this, Botha became the first leader of the Apartheid regime accorded the privilege of a state visit to U.K. since 1961—the year South Africa left the Commonwealth over their refusal to end White minority rule.
She also labeled Nelson Mandela and those opposed to White minority rule “terrorists.”

Thatcher’s rule began in 1979 and encompassed critical years before Nelson Mandela’s release and the collapse of the racist apartheid regime. While she claimed to oppose apartheid, many faulted her government’s efforts as not enough.
Years later, David Cameron, the current British prime minister, apologized for Thatcher’s policies on apartheid when he visited South Africa in 2006. Cameron said his Conservative party had made “mistakes” by failing to introduce sanctions against South Africa, and that Thatcher was wrong to have called the ANC “terrorists.”
Thatcher, the Conservative Party leader, died on April 8, following a stroke. She was 87.
“The apartheid government thrived in her presence,” Political commentator Susan Booysen said. “That type of international support really gave the National Party government a few extra years of life … I think she also felt a type of brotherhood with very conservative elements in international politics.”
“We are aware that she had not been well for a long time so on that personal empathy level one can empathize with that,” Booysen said. “It’s the end of an era. Her type of politics has long ended. It’s an exit for a person whose time has long passed.”

According to journalist Alistair Sparks, Ms. Thatcher had allowed a series of underground meetings that led to secret meetings between the South African intelligence service and Mandela in prison.

“I wouldn’t want to exaggerate the role [of the group], but it did start a process,” he said.

“All of that, I must add, was never in Margaret Thatcher’s mind. I think it was an unintended byproduct of what she had intended – avoiding a campaign of sanctions in South Africa.”

Former minister Pallo Jordan was less forgiving. “I say good riddance.. She was part of the rightwing alliance with Ronald Reagan that led to a lot of avoidable deaths. In the end, she knew she had no choice. Although she called us a terrorist organization, she had to shake hands with a terrorist and sit down with a terrorist. So who won?”

Among those with kinder words was former South African President FW de Klerk, the country’s last white leader and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a rival of the ANC, who posthumously praised his “dear friend” Thatcher as a voice of reason during apartheid.

Dali Tambo (son of late ANC leader, Oliver) disagreed. “I don’t think she ever got it that every day she opposed sanctions, more people were dying, and that the best thing for the assets she wanted to protect was democracy.”

MOVIE YANKED--Actor Leonardo DiCaprio poses for a photo call during a press conference to promote his new film "DJango Unchained" in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

by Didi Tang

BEIJING (AP) — "Django Unchained" became "Django Unscreened" on Thursday as Quentin Tarantino's violent slave-revenge saga was pulled from Chinese theaters on its opening day, with the importer blaming an unspecified technical problem.