The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia (north), Somalia (northeast), Tanzania (south), Uganda plus Lake Victoria (west), and Sudan (northwest). The capital city is Nairobi, 2nd largest in Africa (after Cairo). Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas. The population has grown rapidly in recent decades to nearly 38 million. Kenya has numerous wildlife reserves, containing thousands of animal species.

The country is named after Mount Kenya, a very significant landmark and the second among the highest mountain peaks of Africa, and both were originally usually pronounced /ˈkiːnjə/ in English although the native pronunciation and the one intended by the original transcription Kenia was [ˈkenia]. During the presidency of Jomo Kenyatta in the 1960s, the current pronunciation /ˈkɛnjə/ became widespread in English because his name was pronounced according to the original native pronunciation. Before 1920, the area now known as Kenya was known as the British East Africa Protectorate and so there was no need to mention mount when referring to the mountain.

MOGADISHU, May 7  — The Somali government on Wednesday again defended a maritime agreement signed with Kenya last month that caused huge controversy in the war-torn east African country.

The two governments last Month signed a memorandum of understanding on their maritime boundary which the two countries say will facilitate the presentation of both country’s submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by May as required under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“This (memorandum of understanding) is not about the government giving other country a span of our land or sea. It is about Kenya and Somalia granting each other non-objection in respect of their submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf to the Commission,” Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar, Somali foreign minister, told reporters in Mogadishu.

However, the maritime agreement between Somalia and its southern neighbor has caused an uproar in Somalia and is increasingly being seen by many including some officials within the Somali government as being compromising the territorial integrity and ceding land to Kenya.

The deal is expected to be brought before the Somali parliament soon with some ministers to be questioned regarding the maritime agreement with Kenya.

Meanwhile, the Somali foreign minister accused some foreign ships of “illegal fishing and of dumping industrial waste into Somali waters,” saying that helps piracy by providing bandits excuses to launch attacks off the Somali coast.

Piracy is rife in the Somali coastal waters and in the Gulf of Aden. Nearly 20 ships with nearly 250 crew members are being held hostage for ransom by Somali pirates who operate in an ever increasingly widening area in the Indian ocean.

Several countries have deployed warships in the troubled east Africa waters to protect ships from hijacking by local pirates, who claim to be protecting Somali waters from foreign ships involved in illegal fishing and the dumping of dangerous industrial waste into the coast.

Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for nearly two decades, does not have the navy or a strong army to protect its territorial waters from the rampant piracy, illegal fishing and the dumping of industrial waste by foreign ships.

A Kenyan fan of English football club Arsenal has hanged himself after his team’s defeat by Manchester United.

The north London club was beaten 3-1 in the European Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday evening.

Suleiman Omondi, 29, who was watching in a bar in the capital, Nairobi, was incensed by the club’s poor showing.

He left at half-time after arguing with a Manchester United fan and was found hanging from a rope in his house, still dressed in an Arsenal shirt.

‘Broke down’

The BBC’s Josphat Makori in Nairobi says the unprecedented incident has shocked football fans in Kenya.

According to his friends, Mr Omondi was in good spirits at the beginning of the match and even when Arsenal conceded the first goal, he did not seem to be affected.

But things changed when the team conceded a second goal 11 minutes into the game.

A woman, who sat next to him in the bar, said Mr Omondi was so disappointed by Arsenal’s poor performance that he broke down during half-time.

Another eyewitness told journalists that it was at this point that a Manchester United fan started taunting him.

“Suleiman got hold of him angrily by the neck and started pressing him so hard,” he said.

“We quickly intervened and asked him to stop. Suleiman then stopped but he was so angry that he left in a rage.”

His body was found on Wednesday morning.

Police officer David Bunei told the BBC the incident was being investigated.

A week-long effort by Kenyan women to withhold sex in the hope of spurring political leaders to resolve their disputes and undertake reforms comes to an end Wednesday. Leaders of the women’s groups that organized the campaign called it a success, but there has been little indication that tensions between the country’s leaders have eased.

The sex boycott called by a coalition of women’s organizations a week ago has without a doubt succeeded in capturing the country’s attention. For days, the country’s newspapers and television programs have been filled with debate about the merits of the protest.

Pundits, more often than not men, have weighed in to ridicule the campaign as a misguided stunt, with some suggesting it will drive married men into the arms of prostitutes. Others have defended it as a canny tactic to make leaders take notice. The protest made international headlines when Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wife Ida announced that she would join in.

At an event in Nairobi marking the end of the campaign, one of the organizers, Women’s Development Organization chairwoman Rukia Subow, said the protest has been a success.

“It has worked. We are calling off today but the message was heard. The issue is putting pressure and we have seen what pressure has brought. It is confirmed now that the two principals are talking together, we are going to get the reforms soon. Whether we like it or not, that pressure, worked,” she said.

On Monday, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who lead the two parties in Kenya’s fractious coalition government, met to discuss a dispute between the two sides about who should head a key committee in parliament. The argument has brought business in parliament to a standstill and the cabinet has not held its weekly meeting for the past month.

Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi also described the meeting of the president and prime minister, who pledged to accelerate the pace of reforms, as a victory for the women.

“We all know that Kenyans, and especially the women, are fed up with our endless political wrangles and the bickering among our political leaders … I hope there will be no cause for the women of Kenya to go back to that boycott again. We heard the message, we acted on it,” Murungi said.

But despite their meeting, Kenya’s leaders appear as divided as ever.

On Tuesday, the prime minister’s Orange Democratic Movement party accused the president’s Party of National Unity of thwarting efforts to set up a mechanism for resolving disputes within the coalition government. The Orange Democratic Movement also complained that President Kibaki did not consult the prime minister in appointing a new justice minister.

The parliamentary committee at the heart of the latest dispute was allowed to begin its work this week after the speaker of parliament said he would temporarily serve as its leader. But the first scheduled meeting was canceled when not enough of the members showed up.

The organizers of the sex boycott have announced a 90-day follow up campaign to monitor the progress of Kenya’s leaders in implementing reforms, including a revision of the constitution and improvements to the judicial system. But the organizers say this effort will stay out of the bedroom.