African Union Deepens Ties with Germany as Kenya’s Kipchumba Murkomen Leads Mining Enforcement Restructuring with Hassan Ali Joho

The African Union (AU) and Germany continue to strengthen their cooperation, focusing on health security and peace initiatives, as evidenced by a meeting between AU Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf and Germany's Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Development, Niels Annen. Concurrently, the AU Chairperson engaged with various diplomats and officials, including Sudan's Permanent Representative to Ethiopia, the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Observer to the AU, Djibouti's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic's Foreign Minister, and Nordic ambassadors from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, discussing regional cooperation, peace, security, and continental priorities such as financing the Union. In Kenya, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen highlighted the challenges posed by illegal mining, noting its negative impact on revenue, investor confidence, environmental degradation, resource conflicts, health hazards, child labor, and human safety. To address these issues, Murkomen and other officials, including Mining PS Harry Kimtai and Cabinet colleague Hassan Ali Joho, convened with top security chiefs to develop a roadmap for enhancing compliance in the mining sector. They agreed to restructure the coordination of enforcement activities, strengthen the specialized police unit attached to the State Department for Mining, build capacity among officers, sensitize mining communities, and involve mining stakeholders. Additionally, Joho met with Moses Engadu, Secretary-General of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), to discuss initiatives aimed at fostering a unified African approach and consensus on mineral resource management.