africom related news clips august 31, 2011

8/4/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips August 31, 2011

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Top News related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa

Sudan bombing Nuba civilians (AFP)http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Sudan-bombing-Nuba-civilians-20110830By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011- New York - The Sudanese armed forces have carried out deadly

air raids on civilians in rebel-held areas of the Nuba Mountains that mayamount to war crimes, two leading human rights groups said on Tuesday.

Gaddafi still commanding troops, NATO says (AFP)http://www.france24.com/en/20110830-libya-gaddafi-still-commanding-troops-nato-bombing-loyalists-threat-civiliansBy: Unattributed Author30 August 2011 - NATO vowed Tuesday to keep bombing Moamer Kadhafi forcesuntil they stop attacking civilians, warning that the elusive Libyan leaderwas still commanding some troops.

What does Gaddafi's fall mean for Africa ? (Al Jazeera)

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201182812377546414.htmlBy: Mahmood Mamdani30 August 2011- As global powers become more interested in Africa ,interventions in the continent will likely become more common.

Algeria defends taking in Gaddafis Col Gaddafi's wife, two of his sons andhis daughter are in Algeria (BBC)http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14714340By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011 - Algeria's UN envoy has defended his country's decision togrant refuge to the wife and three children of fugitive Libyan leader leaderMuammar Gaddafi.

UN to Lead Initial Post-Gadhafi Phase in Libyahttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/UN-to-Lead-Initial-Post-Gadhafi-Phase-in-Libya-128716518.html

By: Margaret BesheerAugust 30, 2011 - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that thereis broad international consensus that the United Nations should lead thepost-Gadhafi phase in Libya. Mr. Ban told the U.N. Security Council thatthe National Transitional Council, or NTC, appears to be largely in controlof the capital, Tripoli, and that he believes a quick conclusion to theconflict is in sight.

After Qaddafi, Arabs Tell NATO: Thanks, Now Please Go (Bloomberg)http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-29/after-qaddafi-arabs-tell-nato-thanks-now-please-go-noe-raad.htmlBy: Nicholas Noe and Walid Raad29 August 2011 - After Muammar Qaddafi's regime fell in Libya , even Mideastand North African commentators normally critical of Western policies in theregion generally affirmed the positive role played by NATO.

Deadly Christian-Muslim clash in Nigeria (Al Jazeera)


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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011829234530849589.htmlBy: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011 - Ramadan gathering attacked in Jos in purported revenge forChristmas Eve bomb attacks.

Al Qaeda Ties Seen for Nigeria Group (The Wall Street Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904332804576540501936480880.htmlBy: Will Connors30 August 2011 -LAGOSMembers of Boko Haram, the group believed responsiblefor last week's suicide bombing of a United Nations' building in Nigeria,have received training from al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Afghanistan and

Algeria, according to a recent internal Nigerian intelligence report.

Al Qaeda link feared in U.N. building blast (Washington Times)http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/30/al-qaeda-link-seen-in-un-bombing/print/By: Shaun Waterman30 August 2011 - An al Qaeda North African affiliate group likely trained

the terrorists who carried out the deadly suicide attack on the U.N.headquarters in Nigeria.

A Nigerian strongman would only compound the damage of the bombings (TheGuardian)http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/nigeria-bombings-boko-haramBy: Remi Adekoya29 August 2011 - The radical Islamists of Boko Haram make President GoodluckJonathan look weak which bodes badly for the nation

How the US-Ugandan strategy of chasing the LRA backfires (Christian ScienceMonitor)

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/404800By: Philip Lancaster23 August 2011 - While the Ugandan and US strategy of chasing the brutalLord's Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony, has produced some attrition, ithas also generated a massive recruitment campaign by the LRA.

Corruption, the war on terror hindering food aid to southern Somalia (iwatchNews)http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/08/30/6032/corruption-war-terror-hindering-food-aid-southern-somaliaBy: Malik Siraj Akbar30 August 2011 - As the famine in southern Somalia worsens, aid experts fear

that corruption and the politics of terrorism are crimping the flow ofhumanitarian relief to areas where starvation is worst.

Sisulu to Talk Defence Policy (defenceWeb)http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18456:sisulu-to-talk-defence-policy&catid=55:SANDF&Itemid=108By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011 [South African] Minister of Defence and Military VeteransLindiwe Sisulu will today announce a total defence policy review for South


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Africa , her office says. The last policy update and review was done in 1996and 1998 respectively.

Malema supporters clash with S.Africa police(Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77T0EO20110830By: Marius Bosch and Jon Herskovitz

30 August 2011 - JOHANNESBURG - South African police used stun grenades andwater cannon on Tuesday to disperse supporters of outspoken ANC Youth Leagueleader Julius Malema, who was locked in a party disciplinary hearing thatcould derail his political career.

Cameroon to hold presidential election on October 9 (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77T0LD20110830By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011 - YAOUNDE - Cameroon will hold its presidential election onOctober 9, national radio said on Tuesday, citing a decree signed byPresident Paul Biya.

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UN News Service Africa Briefshttp://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA

Full Articles on UN Website

Security Council voices concern over maritime piracy in West Africas Gulfof Guinea30 August The Security Council today voiced concern over increasingmaritime piracy, armed robbery and reports of hostage-taking in the Gulf ofGuinea, saying the crimes were having an adverse impact on security, trade

and other economic activities in the sub-region.

Over 200,000 could face catastrophe in Sudanese state as Government bars aid UN30 August More than 200,000 people affected by recent fighting in SudansSouthern Kordofan state face potentially catastrophic levels of malnutritionand mortality after the Governments refusal to let aid agencies replenishstocks and deploy personnel, the United Nations warned today.

UN re-assesses security threats in wake of deadly attack in Nigerian capital30 August The United Nations will soon conduct a global threat review inthe wake of the deadly attack against the UN compound in the Nigerian

capital, Abuja, which has claimed the lives of at least 23 people, accordingto Government reports.

UN refugee agency to airlift aid into Somalia for Eid al-Fitr holiday.30 August The United Nations refugee agency today said it will airlift 240tons of aid from Saudi Arabia to Somalia during the Eid al-Fitr holiday toensure that those facing the severe food crisis in the Horn of Africacountry have enough to eat during the special occasion, which marks the endof the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.


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International Criminal Court case against Kenyan officials to proceed.30 August The International Criminal Court (ICC) today dismissed an appealby the Kenyan Government to throw out the cases against six high-rankingnational officials, including a deputy prime minister, two ministers and apolice chief, for possible crimes against humanity in post-electoral

violence more than three years ago.

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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

1 SEPT 2011

WHEN: September 1, 2011, 5:45 p.m. 7:30 p.m.WHAT: The Long Shadow of 9/11: America s Response to TerrorismWHO: Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Adviser to the President of RAND

WHERE: RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St. , Santa Monica , CACONTACT: [email protected]. Media contact:http://www.rand.org/events/2011/09/01.html

8 SEPT 2011

WHEN: September 8, 2011, 12:00 p.m. 1:30 p.m.WHAT: Ten Years Later Public Diplomacy and the Arab World, Center onPublic Diplomacy at the Annenberg School , Conversations in Public DiplomacyWHO: Several Panelists (see website)

WHERE: USC; Tutor Campus Center ForumCONTACT: [email protected] Media contact:http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/events/events_detail/16973/

20 SEPT 2011

WHEN: September 20, 2011, 12:00 p.m.WHAT: Pakistan , the U.S. and Public Diplomacy with Consul General RiffatMasood CPD Conversations in Public DiplomacyWHO: Riffat Masood, the Consul General of Pakistan

WHERE: USC; SOS B40CONTACT : [email protected] Media contact:http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/events/events_detail/17070/

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Sudan bombing Nuba civilians (AFP)http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Sudan-bombing-Nuba-civilians-20110830


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By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011

New York - The Sudanese armed forces have carried out deadly air raids oncivilians in rebel-held areas of the Nuba Mountains that may amount to warcrimes, two leading human rights groups said on Tuesday.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that during a week-longvisit to the region their researchers saw almost daily bombing raids bygovernment aircraft on villages and farmland.

On August 14, an air strike near the village of Kurchi , 70km east of theSouth Kordofan state capital Kadugli, destroyed the home and possessions ofWazir al-Kharaba, the rights groups said.

On August 19, the researchers photographed three bombs falling from anAntonov aircraft near Kurchi, and on August 22, another air strike seriouslywounded a man in the leg and an elderly woman in the jaw and damaged a

school.

The rights groups said that the researchers had investigated a total of 13air strikes in the Kauda, Delami and Kurchi areas which had killed at least26 civilians and wounded more than 45 since mid-June.

Ceasefire

No evident military targets were visible near any of the air strikelocations the researchers visited.

"The relentless bombing campaign is killing and maiming civilian men, women

and children, displacing tens of thousands, putting them in desperate needof aid and preventing entire communities from planting crops and feedingtheir children," said Human Rights Watch's Africa director Daniel Bekele.

"The international community, and particularly the UN Security Council, muststop looking the other way and act to address the situation.

"Indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas and restrictions on humanitarianaid could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," said Amnesty'ssenior crisis response adviser Donatella Rovera.

The research team completed its visit before the announcement by Sudanese

President Omar al-Bashir on August 23 of a unilateral two-week ceasefire bygovernment forces.

But the rights watchdogs said that reports from on the ground suggested thatthe government was continuing to bomb civilian areas.

South Kordofan remained part of the north when South Sudan becameindependent in July and fighters from the state's indigenous Nuba peopleswho fought alongside southern forces in the 1983 - 2005 civil war have been


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locked in conflict with government troops since early June.

On Thursday, the US urged the rebels, now renamed the Sudan People'sLiberation Army-North, to reciprocate the truce announced by the governmentand clear the way for talks on the future of both South Kordofan and BlueNile , another former southern rebel stronghold in the north.

But the same day, campaign group the Enough Project quoted reliable sourcesas reporting a government air raid near the South Kordofan town of Ungarto .

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Gaddafi still commanding troops, NATO says (AFP)http://www.france24.com/en/20110830-libya-gaddafi-still-commanding-troops-nato-bombing-loyalists-threat-civiliansBy: Unattributed Author30 August 2011

NATO vowed Tuesday to keep bombing Moamer Kadhafi forces until they stopattacking civilians, warning that the elusive Libyan leader was stillcommanding some troops.

While rebels sought to talk Kadhafi troops into surrendering in their laststronghold of Sirte, the Western military alliance said its air strikes werenow focused near the town, which is the birthplace of the runaway colonel.

"Despite the fall of the Kadhafi regime and the gradual return of securityfor many Libyans, NATO's mission is not finished yet," Colonel RolandLavoie, the operation's military spokesman, told a news briefing viavideolink from his headquarters in Naples, Italy.

"We remain fully committed to our mission and to keeping the pressure on theremnants of the Kadhafi regime until we can confidently say that thecivilian population of Libya is no longer threatened," he said.

While the whereabouts of Kadhafi remain a mystery, Lavoie said the veteranstrongman was still able to direct the movement of troops and weapons,operate radars and fire munitions such as surface-to-surface missiles."Essentially, he is displaying a capability still to exercise some level ofcommand and control," the spokesman said days after rebels took control ofTripoli.

"The pro-Kadhafi troops that we see are not in total disarray, they areretreating in an orderly fashion, conceding ground and going to the secondbest position that they could hold to continue their warfare," he added.

NATO civilian spokesman Oana Lungescu said any decision to end the missionwould be in the hands of the alliance's decision-making body, the North

Atlantic Council, based on the advice of commanders.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is a member of NATO but


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refused to participate in the mission, said he wanted the end of the war tobe declared on Thursday at an international conference on Libya in Paris.

The alliance has shown no let-up against regime diehards and appears to havestepped up attacks in recent days around Sirte, 360 kilometres (225 miles)east of Tripoli.

In a daily operations update, NATO said it had destroyed 22 vehicles mountedwith weapons, four radars, three command and control nodes, oneanti-aircraft missile system and one surface-to-air missile system nearSirte on Monday.

"Our main area of attention is now the corridor between Bani Walid and theeastern edge of Sirte where pro-Kadhafi forces are maintaining a varyingpresence in several coastal cities and villages," Lavoie said.

Targets in Bani Walid, a town south to Tripoli, were also struck on Monday:two command and control nodes and one ammunition storage facility.NATO welcomed the negotiations rebels have launched in a bid to convince

Kadhafi loyalists to peacefully surrender in Sirte."We see these discussions as certainly an encouraging sign and we'll see howthey evolve over the coming days," Lavoie said."I would not dismiss the possibility of a peaceful resolution in Sirte or inthe villages around Sirte."

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What does Gaddafi's fall mean for Africa ? (Al Jazeera)http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201182812377546414.html

By: Mahmood Mamdani

30 August 2011

As global powers become more interested in Africa , interventions in thecontinent will likely become more common.

"Kampala 'mute' as Gaddafi falls," is how the opposition paper summed up themood of this capital the morning after. Whether they mourn or celebrate, anunmistakable sense of trauma marks the African response to the fall ofGaddafi.

Both in the longevity of his rule and in his style of governance, Gaddafimay have been extreme. But he was not exceptional. The longer they stay in

power, the more African presidents seek to personalise power. Their successerodes the institutional basis of the state. The Carribean thinker C L RJames once remarked on the contrast between Nyerere and Nkrumah, analyzingwhy the former survived until he resigned but the latter did not: "Dr JuliusNyerere in theory and practice laid the basis of an African state, whichNkrumah failed to do."

The African strongmen are going the way of Nkrumah, and in extreme casesGaddafi, not Nyerere. The societies they lead are marked by growing internal


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divisions. In this, too, they are reminiscent of Libya under Gaddafi morethan Egypt under Mubarak or Tunisia under Ben Ali.

Whereas the fall of Mubarak and Ben Ali directed our attention to internalsocial forces, the fall of Gaddafi has brought a new equation to theforefront: the connection between internal opposition and external

governments. Even if those who cheer focus on the former and those who mournare preoccupied with the latter, none can deny that the change in Tripoliwould have been unlikely without a confluence of external intervention andinternal revolt.

More interventions to come

The conditions making for external intervention in Africa are growing, notdiminishing. The continent is today the site of a growing contention betweendominant global powers and new challengers. The Chinese role on thecontinent has grown dramatically. Whether in Sudan and Zimbawe, or inEthiopia , Kenya and Nigeria , that role is primarily economic, focused on

two main activities: building infrastructure and extracting raw materials.For its part, the Indian state is content to support Indianmega-corporations; it has yet to develop a coherent state strategy. But theIndian focus too is mainly economic.

The contrast with Western powers, particularly the US and France , could notbe sharper. The cutting edge of Western intervention is military. France 'ssearch for opportunities for military intervention, at first in Tunisia,then Cote d'Ivoire , and then Libya , has been above board and the subjectof much discussion. Of greater significance is the growth of Africom, theinstitutional arm of US military intervention on the African continent.

This is the backdrop against which African strongmen and their respectiveoppositions today make their choices. Unlike in the Cold War, Africa'sstrongmen are weary of choosing sides in the new contention for Africa .Exemplified by President Museveni of Uganda , they seek to gain frommultiple partnerships, welcoming the Chinese and the Indians on the economicplane, while at the same time seeking a strategic military presence with theUS as it wages its War on Terror on the African continent.

In contrast, African oppositions tend to look mainly to the West forsupport, both financial and military. It is no secret that in just aboutevery African country, the opposition is drooling at the prospect of Westernintervention in the aftermath of the fall of Gaddafi.

Those with a historical bent may want to think of a time over a century ago,in the decade that followed the Berlin conference, when outside powerssliced up the continent. Our predicament today may give us a more realisticappreciation of the real choices faced and made by the generations that wentbefore us. Could it have been that those who then welcomed externalintervention did so because they saw it as the only way of getting rid ofdomestic oppression?


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In the past decade, Western powers have created a political and legalinfrastructure for intervention in otherwise independent countries. Key tothat infrastructure are two institutions, the United Nations SecurityCouncil and the International Criminal Court. Both work politically, thatis, selectively. To that extent, neither works in the interest of creating arule of law.

The Security Council identifies states guilty of committing "crimes againsthumanity" and sanctions intervention as part of a "responsibility toprotect" civilians. Third parties, other states armed to the teeth, are thenfree to carry out the intervention without accountability to anyone,including the Security Council. The ICC, in toe with the Security Council,targets the leaders of the state in question for criminal investigation andprosecution.

Africans have been complicit in this, even if unintentionally. Sometimes, itis as if we have been a few steps behind in a game of chess. An AfricanSecretary General tabled the proposal that has come to be called R2P,

Responsibility to Protect. Without the vote of Nigeria and South Africa ,the resolution authorising intervention in Libya would not have passed inthe Security Council.

Dark days are ahead. More and more African societies are deeply dividedinternally. Africans need to reflect on the fall of Gaddafi and, before him,that of Gbagbo in Cote d'Ivoire . Will these events usher in an era ofexternal interventions, each welcomed internally as a mechanism to ensure achange of political leadership in one country after another?

One thing should be clear: those interested in keeping external interventionat bay need to concentrate their attention and energies on internal reform.

Mahmood Mamdani is professor and director of Makerere Institute of SocialResearch at Makerere University , Kampala , Uganda , and Herbert LehmanProfessor of Government at Columbia University , New York . He is the authormost recently of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America , The Cold War and theRoots of Terror, and Saviors and Survivors: Darfur , Politics and the War onTerror.

Algeria defends taking in Gaddafis Col Gaddafi's wife, two of his sons andhis daughter are in Algeria (BBChttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14714340By: Non-Attributed Author

30 August 2011 - Algeria's UN envoy has defended his country's decision togrant refuge to the wife and three children of fugitive Libyan leader leaderMuammar Gaddafi.

Mourad Benmehidi told the BBC that in the desert region there was a "holyrule of hospitality".

A rebel spokesman called the move an "act of aggression against the Libyanpeople" and said they would use all legal means to compel them to return.


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Meanwhile, more details have emerged about recent mass killings in Libya .

According to the NTC's Justice Minister Mr Mohammed al-Alagi, four massgraves have been discovered across Libya - including one at Ain Zara insouth-east Tripoli, situated behind the barracks of the so-called Khamis

Brigade, whose commander was Col Gaddafi's son, Khamis.

Libyan rebels seized most of the capital Tripoli on 21 August, but fightingstill goes on in pockets of the country - notably around Col Gaddafi'shometown of Sirte.

Col Gaddafi's own whereabouts are unknown, and are the subject of intensespeculation, with rumours variously placing him in Sirte, inregime-controlled Bani Walid south-east of Tripoli, and in Tripoli itself.

'Act of aggression'

A foreign ministry statement said Col Gaddafi's wife Safia, daughter Aishaand sons Muhammad and Hannibal crossed the border between Libya and Algeriaat 0845 local time (0745 GMT) on Monday.

Details are emerging of the horrific discovery of charred human remains insouth-eastern Tripoli But the BBC's Jon Leyne in the eastern Libyan city ofBenghazi said first word of such a move had already come from Libyan rebelheadquarters two days ago, and that at the time, Algerian authorities deniedthat a convoy of six heavily armoured vehicles had crossed the border.

Algeria is an obvious refuge for the Gaddafi family as the two countrieshave a long border and the Algerian government has still not recognised the

rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), our correspondent says.

The confirmation of the Gaddafis' escape caused fury at the rebel NTC, wherespokesman Mahmoud Shamman said: "This would be an act of aggression againstthe Libyan people and against the wishes of the Libyan people.

"We will use all legal means to seek the return of these criminals and tobring them to justice in Libya ."

In an interview with news agency Reuters, Mr Shamman added: "We are warninganybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them... tofind them and arrest them."

"We have heard that Algeria will harbour them till they go to anothercountry. They are trying to go to another country, possibly an east Europeancountry," he said.

But in an interview with the BBC World Service, Ambassador Benmehidiinsisted that his country had a duty to provide assistance, "and in fact inmany parts of the Sahara region it's mandatory by law to provide assistanceto anyone in the desert".


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He said Algiers had quickly informed both the UN secretary general and theLibyan rebels of the arrival of the Gaddafis - pointing out that none ofthose who had entered Algeria were the subject of arrest warrants from theICC. Algeria has signed the Rome Statute of the International CriminalCourt, but has not ratified the treaty.

He pledged his country would fulfill its international obligations.

Meanwhile rebels said they had uncovered four mass graves in recent days.

The BBC's Andrew Hosken visited one of the sites in south-east Tripoli ,near the barracks of the army brigade headed by Col Gaddafi's son Khamis.

The charred remains of the bodies of about 50 people were found here - manyare believed to be army officers who refused to fight for Col Gaddafi.

But one witness told our correspondent he had personally seen between 150

and 160 people shot inside and outside the barn, and added that Khamishimself had personally supervised some of the killings. Work is under way totry to uncover bodies believed to have been buried around the barn.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch has representatives at thescene, collecting data and witness information, in the hope that the casecould go to the ICC.

On Monday, rebel Col al-Mahdi al-Haragi was quoted as saying Khamis, who leda feared army unit, had died after being badly wounded in a clash.

Rebel military spokesman Ahmed Bani said bodies in a convoy destroyed during

the clash were burnt beyond recognition, but captured soldiers said theywere Khamis' bodyguards.

He also said Col Gaddafi's brother-in-law and the head of his intelligenceservices, Abdullah al-Sanussi - wanted by the ICC - were "almost certainly"killed in the same confrontation.

Leaked UN document

There were reports earlier in the conflict that Khamis had been killed in anair strike, though those reports were later questioned.

Claims earlier this month that rebels had detained Col Gaddafi's mostprominent son, Saif al-Islam, turned out not to be true.

Rebel fighters are moving on Sirte from west and east, and on Monday tookthe small town of Nofilia on their way to the city.

Meanwhile, a leaked document that appears to outline UN proposalsforpost-conflict Libya calls for up to 200 military observers and 190 UNpolice


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to help stabilise the country.

The deployment would follow a UN mission with a core staff of 61 civiliansfor an initial three month period, according to the report on the websiteInner City Press.

Any such plan would be implemented only if requested by the Libyantransitional authorities and approved by the Security Council, it said.

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UN to Lead Initial Post-Gadhafi Phase in Libyahttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/UN-to-Lead-Initial-Post-Gadhafi-Phase-in-Libya-128716518.htmlBy: Margaret Besheer

August 30, 2011

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that there is broad

international consensus that the United Nations should lead the post-Gadhafiphase in Libya. Mr. Ban told the U.N. Security Council that the NationalTransitional Council, or NTC, appears to be largely in control of thecapital, Tripoli, and that he believes a quick conclusion to the conflictis in sight.

Mr. Ban told the 15-member council that he has spoken several times duringthe past week with the Chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Abdel Jalil. He saidthey discussed the U.N.s role in Libya during the coming months in areassuch as election assistance, justice, security enforcement and humanitarianassistance.

The secretary-general said the Libyan people are looking to theinternational community for help and that the National Transitional Councilwill outline its specific needs in the coming days.

Mr. Ban noted that the heads of regional organizations, including theEuropean Union, the African Union and the Arab League, also support theUnited Nations leading post-conflict efforts.

My aim is to get U.N. personnel on the ground absolutely as quickly aspossible, under a robust Security Council mandate, he said.

Mr. Ban's special advisor on post-conflict planning, Ian Martin, told

reporters after the councils meeting that U.N. assistance would not be inthe form of peacekeepers deployed to the country, but that the NTC mightconsider U.N. assistance in training Libya's future police force.

In our discussions with the NTC, it is very clear that the Libyans want toavoid any military deployment by the U.N. or others. They are veryseriously interested in assistance with policing to get the public securitysituation under control and gradually develop a democratically accountablepublic security force, Marten said.


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Also Tuesday, the U.N. Security Councils sanctions committee on Libyaapproved the release of a little more than a billion dollars in frozenLibyan assets from British banks.

Britains Foreign Secretary William Hague said the money would go to help

address urgent humanitarian needs, pay the salaries of key public sectoremployees and free up cash in the Libyan economy. Those funds are inaddition to the $1.5 billion held in U.S. banks that the committee unfrozelast Thursday.

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After Qaddafi, Arabs Tell NATO: Thanks, Now Please Go (Bloomberg)http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-29/after-qaddafi-arabs-tell-nato-thanks-now-please-go-noe-raad.htmlBy: Nicholas Noe and Walid Raad29 August 2011

After Muammar Qaddafi's regime fell in Libya , even Mideast and NorthAfrican commentators normally critical of Western policies in the regiongenerally affirmed the positive role played by NATO.

At the same time, some worried that NATO's triumph, in supporting the rebelswho overthrew the regime, would encourage a new colonialism. Libya and other

Arab states that are in crisis, they argued, are vulnerable to exploitationof their natural resources by the West and to calls for outside militaryintervention or another round of it.

Wrote Ibrahim al-Amine, chairman of the board of the Beirut-based Al-Akhbar,

a leftist daily opposed to U.S. policy in the Middle East that also runspieces critical of the Syrian regime and the militant Lebanese Shiitemovement Hezbollah:

The Libyans got rid of Muammar Qaddafi -- this will be the story carried byhistory. But the king of the African kings did not fall because of thebullets of his own people. His people do not like him, they do not want himand no one can doubt that. However, these people needed some help. Thistime, the West, i.e. the colonizer itself, was the helper.

He continued:

It will be hard for any Libyan citizen, (even one) who has been oppressed byQaddafi and his aides, to come out and yell: "I do not want NATO here."

Al-Amine warned of the "harsh truth" that colonialism will return under anew form and with new faces. Western leaders who had embraced Qaddafi andhad plunged their hands in his pocket, which was full of the wealth of hispeople, are the same leaders who are now embracing the rebels and extendingtheir hands directly towards the nation's wealth.


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This will have larger implications for the region, Al-Amine predicted.Having been caught unprepared by the Arab uprisings, he wrote, the West hasnow taken the initiative, which can mean only one thing:

We must expect some additional madness among some of those who think theyare leading revolutions, including leaders, media personalities and

intellectuals. These people will now increase their calls for externalinterference in Yemen and Syria under the pretext of supporting theprotesters there.

Sateh Noureddine, a columnist for the Beirut-based daily As-Safir, took asomewhat different view. He agreed that outsiders played a vital part in theimportant overthrow of Qaddafi's government. The shame is about to beerased off the face of Libya and the (Arab) nation, he wrote, and the"European West," a formulation that inexplicably left out the U.S. , scoreda definite moral victory through its contribution.

However, Noureddine separated himself from blanket assertions made by other

commentators that the West was preparing to plunder Libya 's oil wealth. Hewrote that Egypt 's recent experience points to a different story. In thewake of its revolution, he said, Egypt has regained many of its rights andis in the process of reclaiming more income from its gas resources. TheLibyan rebels must therefore quickly prove that they are now masters oftheir decisions, which means, first and foremost, asking the Europeans torapidly end their interference in Libya .

Noureddine expressed great confidence in the Libyan rebels. He said theypresented themselves "in an attractive manner even at the pinnacle of thestreet wars, which seldom broke the honor and rules of fighting, and whichdid not collapse into a civil war similar to the Lebanese or Iraqi

experience, in spite of many provocations and traps.

Noureddine, who is Lebanese, wrote that the behavior of the Libyan rebels istestimony that the Arabs of North Africa are classier than their brothersliving in the Levant and Persian Gulf . This latter group, he said, canteven manage to proceed with moderate reforms -- such as those recentlyproposed by the King of Morocco, establishing a constitutional monarchy --without civil wars, mutual accusations and lies that Israel is on the sideof the opposition or that change in any Arab country is a free favor offeredto the Israeli enemy or other enemies of the nation.

Those worried about outside interference had an ally in Abdel-Bari Atwan,

one of the leading critics of Western policy in the region. In theLondon-based Al-Quds al-Arabi, Atwan wrote that NATO's rush to implementthe UN-supported no-fly zone was understandable when the tanks of ColonelQaddafi were marching towards the city to commit a massacre.

But he asked why NATO continued its air raids and military operations evenafter the collapse of the regime, transforming itself into a police force tohunt down the toppled dictator with the aim of assassinating him.


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Referring to recent UK news reports of British and French troops and Britishsecurity contractors on the ground in Libya, as well as discussions about apossible deployment to Libya of a European peacekeeping force, Atwan chargedthat NATO is behaving as if it is on a mission of permanent occupationrather than engaged in an intervention bound by a specific time limit.

Atwan wrote that Arab satellite TV stations like Al-Jazeera were no longerperforming the vital role of critics of and checks on Western intervention-- now rarely showing the victims of NATO bombings, for example. And withthe rebel leadership calling for Qaddafi's extra-judicial killing, thecountrys sovereignty, not to mention the rule of law, is being gravelyundermined, he argued.

For the NATO forces, without whom the Libya rebels arguably would not haveprevailed, the commentary was a good lesson in the limits of alliances, andthe long, bitter taste of colonialism.

###

Deadly Christian-Muslim clash in Nigeria (Al Jazeera)http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011829234530849589.htmlBy: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011

Ramadan gathering attacked in Jos in purported revenge for Christmas Evebomb attacks.

Jos lies in the so-called Middle Belt between the country's mostly Muslimnorth and the predominantly Christian south

Gangs of armed youths in the Nigerian city of Jos attacked Muslims as theygathered to celebrate the last day of Ramadan, killing a number of them andburning their cars, witnesses and the military said.

"The Muslim faithful went for their Eid prayers and on completion of theprayers they were trapped by the youths in that area," Brigadier GeneralHassan Umaru, commander of the military Special Task Force keeping securityin Jos, told Reuters news agency on Monday.

"They burnt some cars, quite a number of cars. The number of people killed,I can't give that yet. We are still checking with local hospital sources,"he said.

The head of a search-and-rescue team for the Muslim community reported ninedead and 106 people wounded.

"Most of the wounds were from ... thrown missiles, machete cuts and fromarrows. Twenty parents have so far reported their underage childrenmissing," said Shitu Mohammed.

Witnesses said Christian youths set up road blocks and attacked Muslims as


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they gathered in Jos's Gada Biu and Rukuba areas, shooting a number of themdead.

Christians involved in the clashes spoke of revenge for a string of bombsthat exploded in Jos on Christmas Eve last year that left at least 80 peopledead.

Nigeria has a roughly equal Christian-Muslim mix.

More than 200 ethnic groups live side by side in the West African country.Though generally peaceful, Nigeria has seen periodic bouts of religiousviolence, with Jos in particular showing a tendency to flare up.

The region lies in the so-called Middle Belt between the mainly Muslim northand predominately Christian south of Africa 's most populous nation.

If the violence worsens or triggers reprisals, it may prove another majorheadache for President Goodluck Jonathan, whose security forces are already

stretched by daily attacks from an Islamist sect in the northeast, whichalso claimed Friday's deadly bomb attack on the UN offices in Abuja thatkilled 23.

###Al Qaeda Ties Seen for Nigeria Group (The Wall Street Journal)http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904332804576540501936480880.htmlBy: Will Connors30 August 2011

LAGOSMembers of Boko Haram, the group believed responsible for last week's

suicide bombing of a United Nations' building in Nigeria, have receivedtraining from al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Afghanistan and Algeria,according to a recent internal Nigerian intelligence report.

The report by the State Security Service, Nigeria's leading agency forinternal intelligence, was submitted to senior government officials in June,a person familiar with it said. That marked roughly the beginning of astring of attacks this summer attributed to the group here in Africa's mostpopulous country, an important oil exporter.

Nigeria's latest attack, a suicide bombing Friday at the U.N. compound inthe capital, Abuja, marked what is believed to be Boko Haram's first assault

on an international target. The bombing killed at least 23 people andinjured more than 80, according to a U.N. spokesman.

The June report, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, didn'tappear to contain specific intelligence on future attacks. But critics saythe bombing attempts that followed its submission to top officialspairedwith mounting evidence that some Boko Haram members are pursuing higherprofile al Qaeda-style attacks on international targetshighlights what theysay is an intelligence service hobbled by poor coordination and corruption


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within its ranks.

These people point in particular to a finding in the report that four of thefive top members of Boko Haram have been in police custody at least once inrecent years but have been released. The report doesn't state reasons forthe releases.

A spokesman for Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan didn't respond torequests for comment about the report. A spokeswoman for the state securityservice declined to speak about the report or Boko Haram.

Several of the report's findings were confirmed by other Nigerian andWestern security officials.

The report presents a more detailed picture of foreign terror links than thegovernment has acknowledged. It portrays Boko Haram as an Islamist groupwith Jihadist aspirations and more substantial international connectionsthan previously believed.

It says group members began traveling abroad for weapons training as earlyas 2002, with a trip that included several members heading to Mauritania. In2007, the report says, members of Boko Haram traveled to Afghanistan toreceive training in the making of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, andin suicide-bombing techniques.

The report names a man from Nigeria's Adamawa state it says "led a group ofmembers to Afghanistan for training on IEDs and on their return theyimparted their knowledge to others."

A Nigerian undercover security official in the country's north confirmed

that Boko Haram members have received training in Afghanistan. "They usuallyfly there from neighboring countries, like Niger or Chad," the officialsaid.

The report also says Boko Haram members received combat and bombmakingtraining in Mauritania and in Algeria with members of al Qaeda's north

Africa branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM.

Algeria-based AQIM has claimed credit for several killings and kidnappingsof foreigners in west Africa, including a Friday suicide bombing of an

Algerian military academy that killed 18 people. The group still has atleast four French hostages kidnapped last September in Mali.

A U.S. official said it was unlikely that Boko Haram was active enoughbefore 2009 to send people in considerable numbers to train elsewhere.But by 2009, this official said, Boko Haram made contacts and establishedrelationships with members of AQIM. In 2010, they began training alongsideelements of AQIM in northern Mali.

"Within the last year, they've established more contacts and trainingopportunities with AQIM," said the U.S. official. "What we're seeing now is


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probably the result of the additional radicalization of their viewpoints andthe training."

The official said Boko Haram is estimated to number a few hundred people."This is not a widespread, huge movement," the U.S. official said.Many inside Nigeria's government criticize Mr. Jonathan and the security

agencies for not preventing the recent attacks thought to have been carriedout by Boko Haram. The group is blamed for the June bombing of a northernNigeria beer garden that killed 25 people, and a bombing at the Nigerianpolice headquarters in Abuja that same month.

There is no indication that the Boko Haram members who received trainingabroad are those responsible for last week's bombing.

A man claiming to be a Boko Haram member took credit for last week's U.N.bombing, in a phone interview Saturday with The Wall Street Journal that wasarranged in an intermediary in northeastern Nigera, where the group isbased. The claim hasn't been independently confirmed.

Late Monday, the Nigerian police said they made several arrests of suspectsbehind the bombing but didn't release any additional details. The Nigeriangovernment hasn't issued any statements assigning blame for the attack.

On Tuesday, President Jonathan said he directed the security services to"implement additional security, intelligence-gathering and counterterrorismmeasures, including greater cooperation with other nations engaged in theglobal war on terrorism."

While Nigerians commonly refer to their largest homegrown terrorist group asBoko Haram, which roughly means "Western education is sin" in the local

Hausa language, the group officially calls itself Jama'atul ahlul SunnaLidda'awa Wal Jihad, which means "Brethren of Sunni United in the Pursuit ofHoly War." It has existed in various forms, and under various leaders, sincethe late 1990s, according to the report.

Members demand a wider implementation of Sharia law in Nigeria, thecessation of attacks against its members and the end of Western-styleeducation promoted by the Nigerian government.

After a series of confrontations with local police in 2009, the groupattracted more recruits and sent more members abroad for training. After aprison break in 2009 freed some 800 convicts, including several suspected

Boko Haram members, some members fled to Algeria and were trained by AQIM,according to the report.

The group has a long list of those it aims to attack: "local governmentinstitutions and security agencies, moderate Muslims, non-Muslims thought tobe responsible for social, economic and political misfortune against thenorth [of Nigeria], certain clerics, churches, Christian businesses, andrelaxation spots," according to the report. It doesn't offer details of howit would attack these targets.


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Several northern Nigerian leaders have suggested amnesty for Boko Harammembers, arguing that if Mr. Jonathan can give amnesty to Niger Deltamilitants, he can do the same for northern militants.

###

Al Qaeda link feared in U.N. building blast (Washington Times)http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/30/al-qaeda-link-seen-in-un-bombing/print/By: Shaun Waterman30 August 2011

An al Qaeda North African affiliate group likely trained the terrorists whocarried out the deadly suicide attack on the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria.

A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives through a securitybarrier and into the lobby of the U.N. headquarters building in Abuja, the

Nigerian political capital on Friday, killing 23 people and wounding 76more.

A Nigerian Muslim extremist group called Boko Haram took responsibility forthe attack, and a U.S. official said intelligence reporting revealed thatmembers of the group had trained at al Qaeda camps in nearby Mali.

"Some Boko Haram members trained with AQIM [al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,the group's North African affiliate] which probably contributed to this moreviolent attack," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymityin discussing intelligence matters.

Nigerian news media reported this week that some of those arrested inconnection with the bombing attack were graduates of al Qaeda camps in Malior of training from the extremist insurgent group al Shabab in Somalia.

The U.S. official declined to comment on the reports.

The Nigerian government has not made any official comments about thearrests, but President Goodluck Jonathan promised an overhaul of thecountry's security apparatus, including, according to one report, compulsorybiometric registration for all foreigners living in the country.

If the report that the bombing was linked to extremists trained in AQIM

camps is confirmed, it will be "an important data point," said AndrewLebovich, a policy analyst with the New America Foundation.

"It is one of the pieces of hard evidence we have been waiting for"outlining links between the Nigerian group and the global extremist networkfounded by Osama bin Laden, he said. But he cautioned that the arrest oftraining-camp graduates "doesn't necessarily tell us how extensive or strongthe linkages are" between the groups.


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Earlier this month, after meeting senior Nigerian officials in Lagos, thecommander of the U.S. military's Africa Command, Army Gen. Carter F. Ham,said "multiple sources" of intelligence indicated there are growing tiesbetween Boko Haram and AQIM and al Shabab.

"What is most worrying at present is, at least in my view, a clearly stated

intent by Boko Haram and by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to coordinateand synchronize their efforts," the general told Associated Press. "I'm notso sure they're able to do that just yet, but it's clear to me they have thedesire and intent to do that."

Mr. Jonathan is pursuing talks with Boko Haram, but it is unclear what thefuture of that initiative is likely to be in the wake of Friday's bombing.If AQIM is indeed behind the U.N. bombing, the Nigerian president may facepressure to break off his attempts at dialogue with the group. (The largestof its own attacks was the 2007 double-suicide car bombing of another U.N.headquarters, in Algeria.)

A successful entry into Nigeria by al Qaeda would represent a new theater ofwar for the group in a country that has one of the largest Muslimpopulations and is one of the largest oil producers in the world. It alsowould be a much-needed boost to the terror network, whose central leadershipin Pakistan has been reduced repeatedly by U.S. drone strikes.

Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden by Islam" in the Hausadialect, which is spoken in the majority-Muslim north of Nigeria. The group,formed in 2003, advocates the establishment of a Taliban-like Islamic lawregime in all of Nigeria. It is active in several of the 12 northern stateswhere some form of shariah, or Islamic jurisprudence, is already in force.

About half of the population in this vast and diverse country of 155 million

are Muslims and 40 are percent Christian.

###A Nigerian strongman would only compound the damage of the bombings (TheGuardian)http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/nigeria-bombings-boko-haramBy: Remi Adekoya29 August 2011

The radical Islamists of Boko Haram make President Goodluck Jonathan lookweak which bodes badly for the nation

The radical Islamist group Boko Haram (meaning "western education isforbidden [under Islamic law]") has claimed responsibility for last Friday'sbombing of the UN headquarters in the capital city, Abuja, which killed atleast 21 people and injured many others. At the moment, the Nigeriangovernment looks incapable of halting Boko Haram's campaign.

In June Boko Haram bombed the headquarters of the Nigerian police in Abuja(supposed to be the safest city in Nigeria ), nearly killing the nation's


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police chief. Police stations have been regular targets, as the groupconsiders Nigerian policemen enforcers of a corrupt and morally bankruptestablishment. This is a sentiment shared by many Nigerians, which hashelped the group gain traction among some in the populace.

Still, recent activity marks a shift in Boko Haram's role and influence. No

group has ever launched attacks on this scale against the Nigerianestablishment. Even the infamous Niger delta militants have usually stuck tokidnapping foreigners for ransom money or sabotaging oil refineries via bombattacks. While the delta groups "only" appeared willing to risk their livesfor money, Boko Haram seems to act out of purely ideological motives.

The Nigerian government was able to silence most of the delta groups bybuying off their leaders, granting them "amnesty". But Boko Haram is a muchtougher nut to crack: so far it has rejected all overtures from the Nigerianestablishment.

President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a statement calling last Friday's

attacks "barbaric", but that didn't impress anyone. The Nigerian authoritiesreacted in their usual haphazard way: policemen ran helter-skelter in thecity, mounting road blocks, barking orders at innocent citizens and tryingto look tough.

The truth is that the attacks have made the Nigerian state look frail andweak. Nigeria 's notoriously corrupt police are tough when harassing theunarmed citizens they are supposed to be protecting, but decidedly meeker inthe face of the superior terrorist firepower.

Should the government listen to Boko Haram's demands? It's hard to see how.Its followers hold on to the Qur'anic phrase that says that "anyone who is

not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors". Theybelieve it is forbidden for Muslims to take part in any political or socialactivity associated with western society (a pretty broad spectrum) andregard the Nigerian state as being run by unbelievers. In fact, the groupissued the same demands even when Nigeria had a Muslim president, MusaYar'Adua, who died in 2010 while in office.

Since the Sokoto caliphate, which ruled parts of what is now northernNigeria , fell to British control in 1903, there has been resistance amongmany of the area's Muslims to western education. But Boko Haram is notcontent with just rejecting western education it wants to create anIslamic state along Taliban lines in Afghanistan before they were ousted in

2001.

When its first leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in 2009, Nigerian policeparaded his dead body on national television, saying the group was finished.But its fighters have obviously regrouped under a new leader and are growingin strength. Although it is unlikely that they could take over the wholecountry (about half of Nigerians are Christians), it is not all thatimprobable that they could be eventually co-opted by politicians in thelargely Muslim north of the country, who would let them have a role in


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governance in return for their "muscle".

Boko Haram's rise had considerably harmed the image of Goodluck Jonathan. Hehas often been called weak and indecisive by his detractors, and hisgovernment's helplessness in this situation has only fortified that beliefamong a growing number of people creating the danger that, in the face of

such terror, Nigerians might start yearning for another "strong leader",presumably a military man who would crush the group and bring about somesemblance of order.

For Nigeria , that would be the worst possible option: experience has proventhat military strongmen have a habit of growing fond of power. The country'syoung democracy is still fragile and unstable: it's not hard to imagine itbeing thrown back into a military dictatorship overnight. But if PresidentJonathan doesn't act fast to prove he won't let Nigeria be transformed intoan Afghanistan or an Iraq , then that is not as unlikely a scenario as itmight seem today.

###

How the US-Ugandan strategy of chasing the LRA backfires (Christian ScienceMonitor)http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/404800By: Philip Lancaster23 August 2011

While the Ugandan and US strategy of chasing the brutal Lord's ResistanceArmy leader, Joseph Kony, has produced some attrition, it has also generateda massive recruitment campaign by the LRA.

Given yet another famine emergency in the Horn of Africa, seemingly endlessviolence in the Middle East, and the number of wobbling economies in bothEurope and North America, it is understandable that concern about an obscuregroup of African bush fighters seems limited to a small band of Africanerds. But the surpassing indifference to the plight of the Azande people,who appear to have been left to the tender mercies of the Lords Resistance

Army (LRA), is so far below the low standard of response common to thesesorts of problems that it simply cant be allowed to pass without comment.

In addition to a long running insurgency that savaged northern Uganda forover 20 years, the murder and mayhem caused by the LRA across south easternCentral African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of

Congo (DRC) over the past few years was serious enough to bring both housesof the American Congress to set aside partisan politics long enough to agreeon legislation.

At about the same time, in August 2010, an international working groupcomprised of the US, UK, and EU governments with participation from theUnited Nations Department of Peacekeeping and the World Bank, alarmed at thereports of LRA atrocities, assembled around consensus on the need foreffective coordination across all the agencies and governments involved.


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The UN Security Council weighed in again in July 2011 with a secondresolution calling for the LRA to disarm and praising the actions taken sofar by governments, international agencies and NGOs to address the harmsinflicted by the LRA. The Security Council particularly praised the effortsof the AU to organize a coordinated military and diplomatic response.

But what, exactly, has been accomplished?

More press releases, more declarations of intent to capture or kill JosephKony, more empty assurances of imminent victory and yet another round ofsearch and destroy operations led by the Ugandan Army. None of this is newand all of it has failed in the past.

The Azande people, an historically marginalized ethnic group of hunters,herders, and farmers living in the border regions of the Central AfricanRepublic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan have beentargeted for special attention by the LRA, are caught in the yawning gap

between rhetoric and action. I am reminded of the feeling of abandonmentfelt by the few who stayed on the ill-fated UN Peacekeeping Mission inRwanda as the outside world decided that their reports of genocide mustsomehow be exaggerated. Have we all become so cynical that we will let awhole people suffer like this again?

While the challenges of taking effective action in such a complexenvironment are indeed daunting, it is the shallow understanding of themilitary dimensions of the problem that is so disappointing. We have ampleevidence from reports of the past 20 years that the LRA are a force to bereckoned with. Ruthless as they are, their tactics are well adapted to theterrain and the nature of the forces they face. And yet the proposed

military responses under the new AU offers no new troops, no new thinkingand no sign of serious military technical analysis. A cynic might be led tothink that no one really wants to look at the problem carefully out of fearof being called to do more than they might want to.

The LRA make deliberate use of terror to tie up military forces and surviveby hit and run attacks that are well-planned and f lawlessly executed. Themilitary response from UN Peacekeeping and national forces has been totallyinadequate insofar as they focus on providing limited static defense of asmall number of civilian settlements. The LRA just find the ones that arentprotected. Since none of the armies deployed have a policy of pursuit afterattack, the LRA consistently escape with loot and abducted recruits.

Chasing the leaders, which seems to be the strategy preferred by both theUgandan Peoples Defence Force and the US military, is a hit or missapproach that will call down more attacks on unprotected civilians as theLRA instrumentalise them to send their twisted message and replacebattlefield losses by abducting new fighters. While the Ugandan/US strategyhas produced some attrition, it has also generated a bloody response and amassive recruitment campaign that seems to have gone unnoticed.


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During interviews conducted as part of some recent research on this subject,UPDF officers presented slides showing the numbers of LRA killed or capturedbut nothing about the numbers recruited. Subsequent questions revealed thatthe UPDF were not really interested in recruitment. One suspects arepetition of the victory by body count strategy that failed sospectacularly in Vietnam .

It is clear that there will be huge difficulties in finding the right kindsand numbers of troops that would probably be needed to be effective againstthe LRA. However, it is also clear that repeating failing strategies, nomatter whether through the AU or some other agency, will not work unlessexceedingly lucky and Kony and his key leaders are all killed at once.

As a matter of simple logic, and as a first step, the question of who needsto act should be informed by an analysis of what kinds of action are likelyto succeed. This could be achieved by competent technical research conductedby one of the military forces involved and it would cost very little whencompared with the cost of poorly aimed military strikes. Yet, it doesnt

seem to have been done. Even the wealth of intelligence available from theUPDF has not been shared with the other armies now engaged and so each ofthem, including the UN Peacekeeping forces, are learning about the LRA thehard way. And learning very slowly.

Nor does anyone appear to have conducted a formal command estimate of theLRA problem. Normally, no serious army would take on any mission withoutanalysis and yet the forces engaged against the LRA seem to be operating onthe premise that its easier to fight than to think. Surely this must havesomething to do with political interference with what should be a normalmilitary staffing action. Isnt it time they are allowed to devote somethought to the battle plan before more civilians pay the price for the

inevitable next round of blunders?

As frustrating as the problem of the LRA is, it is also a fascinating mirrorreflecting political dynamics in the West. The nub of the political problemcould be understood as a manifestation of the hypocrisy of our times. It isas simple as the old childrens story about a village of mice deciding thatthe solution to their cat problem is to make it wear a bell. The problemseems solved until one of them asks who is going be the brave soul to hang abell on the cat. In the LRA case each affected state has other prioritiesand no third party state is willing to commit political or militaryresources to give either the UN or the AU a real hope of success.

But everyone involved is too polite to point out that neither organizationhas the capacity it needs and wont unless someone steps up to take theresponsibility to ensure that it does.

Who shall bell the cat? But, it would seem, in this case, we havent evenstarted looking for a bell.

###


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Corruption, the war on terror hindering food aid to southern Somalia (iwatchNews)http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/08/30/6032/corruption-war-terror-hindering-food-aid-southern-somaliaBy: Malik Siraj Akbar30 August 2011

As the famine in southern Somalia worsens, aid experts fear that corruptionand the politics of terrorism are crimping the flow of humanitarian reliefto areas where starvation is worst.

Abundant U.S. aid targeted for the Horn of Africa cannot directly reachstarving people in southern Somalia because its blocked by Al-Shabaab, an

Al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist group labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.State Department. That tag, in turn, also prevents any U.S. citizen fromconducting business or distributing materials that could benefit suspectedterrorists.

Right now, $580 million in aid designated for the Horn of Africa by the U.S.government the most from any one country is directed at the Somalirefugees who have migrated to camps in Kenya and Ethiopia . The aid isdistributed by a variety of international aid groups.

Help is also being trucked into Somalia via United Nations and non-alignedhumanitarian programs but a lot of the foodstuffs and other material aresiphoned off by theft and corruption by officials in the countrys nominalgovernment, according to aid experts.

Mutual distrust between the U.S. and Islamist militants has made mattersworse.

EJ Hogendoorn, International Crisis Group [3] project director for the Hornof Africa , said corruption is widely acknowledged as a problem, but itshould not be the main debate at the peak of the famine.

Now the challenge is how to minimize corruption so that at least someassistance goes to those who urgently require it, he said.

Al-Shabaab is not the only threat in Somalia . Even if the FederalTransitional Government (FTG), whose powers are restricted barely to thecapital city, Mogadishu , gains full control of the relief assistance, thepossibility of corruption in distribution will still remain there,

Hogendoorn said.

Hogendoorn added that Al-Shabaab is not as powerful as depicted in themedia. The organization is internally divided, he said, between hardlinerswho spurn international aid and more pragmatic leaders who seek foreignassistance.

The best way to operate in that country is to build partnership with thelocal authorities rather than working in isolation, Hogendoorn said.


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Al-Shabaab is a splinter from a larger militant faction forced out of powerin Somalia by Ethiopian and African troops a few years ago. Militant powerin Somalia grew rapidly after the United States withdrew the forces it hadsent to Somalia to protect food distribution in the early 1990s. U.S. troopsleft a power vacuum in the wake of clashes that led to a bloody shootout

made famous by the Black Hawk Down book and movie.

Al-Shabaab is suspected of carrying out a terrorist attack in Uganda in 2010and of being associated with the authors of other bombings in Kenya andEthiopia . A U.S. military drone strike this summer was aimed at leaders ofthe militant group. U.S. Special Forces also have targeted Al-Shabaab.

U.S. government officials say the blame for delays in relief efforts must beput on Al-Shabaab, which has not allowed enough aid to enter territory itcontrols.

At this point, Access remains the number one obstacle to providing

life-saving assistance to more than 2.8 million people in southern Somalia, said Matthew Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID). It is the presence of Al-Shabaab that prevents aidfrom flowing into Somalia , not U.S. sanctions.

Last week, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) saiddeath rates among new refugees coming from Somalia to Ethiopia had reachedalarming levels. Since June when the Kobe refugee camp in Ethopia wasestablished, at least 10 children under the age of five have died every day.The death rate has been compounded by an outbreak of measles.

According to U.S. government estimates, at least 29,000 children under age

five have died in the past three months since famine reached acute levels inthe Horn of Africa. Some 12 million people are facing starvation while 3.2million Somalis are in immediate need of assistance. The UN says itrequires $2.4 billion in aid supplies to assist drought victims, while anadditional $1.4 billion is needed to contain the famine. But the UN has onlyreceived $1.1 billion in response to its appeals.

Whats the hold up?

U.S. officials recently hinted at softening the restrictions it has placedon direct aid to parts of Somalia, under the Office of Foreign AssetsControl (OFAC). That rule forbids Americans from doing business with

designated terrorist individuals and organizations. But the restrictionremains and the pace of providing assistance to the famine victims hasfrustrated many in the aid community.

Critics of U.S. policy point to the International Committee of Red Cross,which is active in the famine zone. The organization says it has not beenthreatened by Islamic extremist groups. The ICRC has managed to reach to162,000 starving people in areas controlled by Al-Shabaab.


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Yves van Loo, an ICRC official based in Somalia , said his organization madesure to include local leaders in setting aid plans, emphasizing theorganizations principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.

ICRCs security was insured by the ICRC itself. Our main protection is theacceptance by all, van Loo said.

It is not enough, though, to convince U.S. officials that Al-Shabaab wontsabotage relief efforts.

Al-Shabaab has given mixed signals on whether it is lifting its ban onhumanitarian agencies, said USAIDs Johnson.

Whats clear, other U.S. officials said, is that Al-Shabaab is the problemin this crisis. Despite promises to improve access for aid workers,

Al-Shabaab continues to block humanitarian assistance to the hungriest andneediest in Somalia , said Hilary Fuller Renner, press and public affairsofficer at States Bureau of African Affairs. The answer [to the current

situation] is not to further militarize Somalia . The answer is forAl-Shabaab to put down its weapons and allow food to reach the hungry.

U.S. officials said aid restrictions to Somalia are in place to preventdiversion of relief assistance. They fear that Al-Shabaab will furtherconsolidate its grip over the region if it gains control of internationalrelief supplies.

While the U.S. has withheld some funds from the U.N. relief agency, theworld body has moved forward with aid to Somalia , policing its distributionthrough an internal mechanism called post-distribution monitoring, ratherthan strictly follow American rules on aid.

Spokesman Andreas Needham said the UNs accountability and transparencymeasures fulfill U.S. government requirements.

We are hopeful that there will be U.S. funding for UNHCR Somalia in thecontext of the current emergency, Needham told ICIJ.

###

Sisulu to Talk Defence Policy (defenceWeb)http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18456:sisulu-to-talk-defence-policy&catid=55:SANDF&Itemid=108

By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011

[South African] Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisuluwill today announce a total defence policy review for South Africa , heroffice says. The last policy update and review was done in 1996 and 1998respectively.

The review of South African defence policy seeks to update the current


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policy in line with defence challenges and opportunities of the 21st centuryin SADC, Africa and across the world, Sisulu's office added.

The review will look at how the South African Defence policy can respond tochallenges of the 21st century and also the role of the SANDF in adeveloping state with many developmental and social challenges.

The minister will also announce a Defence Review Committee and outline theprogramme of action towards a draft Defence review and Policy for furtherconsultation. The Afrikaans daily, Beeld, reported earlier this month thatSisulu had appointed a heavy-weight committee to review the latest finaldraft of the Defence Review. The committee, chaired by former National Partydefence minister and long-time Armscor director Roelf Meyer, was said toinclude defence analyst Helmoed-Rmer Heitman as member. It reportedly hasuntil November to report.

Others serving on the committee include South African Navy Flag OfficerFleet Rear Admiral Philip Schultz, until recently chief director of

operations for the South African National Defence Force at the JointOperations Division. Political appointees include African National Congressdeputy secretary general Thandi Modise. Currently also North West Provincepremier, she was for several years a formidable chair of the PortfolioCommittee on Defence. Also on the committee is Tony Yengeni, a former ANCchief whip and noted uMkhonto we Sizwe commander. He is currently also an

ANC National Executive Committee member.

Sisulu in in April said an update of the 1996 White Paper on Defence and1998 Defence Review had been completed and was ready for Parliamentary andpublic discussion. We promised to deal with a number of issues of policyreview and we have done that, she said in her annual budget vote. The long

overdue Defence Review is here. We have a draft that we would like topresent to the Parliamentary Committees at their earliest opportunity.Thereafter we would like to embark on a public consultative process beforewe submit the final Defence Review to Parliament.

It is not clear why the latest draft, as prepared by the Department ofDefence needs external revision.

Various ministers of defence have promised an update since 2004 but nonehave reached Parliament. Heitman has said that various efforts have beenmade over the years, with the latest produced just before Sisulu'sappointment. But this, he says, blithely skipped over core strategic

issues, ignored already approved army and navy force designs and containederrors of fact. Heitman wrote in Janes' Defence Weekly in April last yearthat the draft had been written by advisers with nave notions ofinternational politics and little understanding of defence and who focusedon peripheral issues.

Sisulu in her second annual budget in May last year noted major changes,both dramatic and evolutionary, have taken place in the defence environmentover the past 15 years. The policy review and strategy would of necessity


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take this into consideration and will be informed by a clear-eyed assessmentof what we want our foreign policy to achieve, the potential threats facingus, and socio-economic interests in what is a very uncertain era of growingcompetition among new major powers. The new environment requires newthinking and new approaches, Sisulu said.

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Malema supporters clash with S.Africa police(Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77T0EO20110830By: Marius Bosch and Jon Herskovitz30 August 2011

JOHANNESBURG - South African police used stun grenades and water cannon onTuesday to disperse supporters of outspoken ANC Youth League leader JuliusMalema, who was locked in a party disciplinary hearing that could derail hispolitical career.

Scores of Malema supporters hurled rocks and beer bottles at police andburned African National Congress (ANC) flags and posters of President JacobZuma outside the party headquarters in central Johannesburg .

Malema's disciplinary hearing is a gamble for Zuma. Malema helped him riseto power but has in recent months been courted by Zuma's rivals and is seenas a potential future leader. If he is exonerated, Zuma could be fightingfor his political life.

The violence, in which at least one policeman and several journalists werehurt, was the worst near the headquarters of South Africa 's ruling partysince apartheid ended in 1994, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said.

"We are not intimidated. If this is an attempt to intimidate, it is notworking," Mantashe said, blaming the Youth League for the violence. "Whoeverbrought this crowd here will have to take responsibility."

If found guilty of sowing discord in party ranks by the hearing -- Malema'ssecond disciplinary hearing in just over a year -- the firebrand youthleader could be suspended from the party for several years.

Explusion would silence his calls for nationalisation of the mining sector,to the relief of investors, but would anger thousands of his supporters.

By midday, police had contained the several thousand protesters -- includingchildren in school uniforms -- behind razorwire barricades near the ANCbuilding.

"KILL FOR MALEMA"

At least one police officer was hit by a brick, a police spokesman said, andthe domestic eNEWS channel said one of its television crews was attacked.Two photographers were also attacked with rocks, the SAPA news agency


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reported.

Mantashe told reporters Tuesday's violence outside the party headquarterswas the worst since 1994 when several people were killed during a march onthe building by supporters of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party.

The protesters earlier tried to break through the police barricades towardsthe building in downtown Johannesburg where the hearing was taking place.

They waved placards saying: "Hands off Julius Malema" and one reading: "Weare prepared to take arms and kill for Malema". Another placard read: "Zumais a liability for Africa ".

Although Malema called for restraint from supporters on Monday, analystssaid the violence may have been orchestrated.

"If anyone thinks what is happening on the streets of Johannesburg isspontaneous combustion, well that is just rubbish," said Nic Borain, an

independent political analyst.

"Malema is prepared to gamble everything on making his disciplining andremoval from the party as costly as possible."

The hearing is as risky for Zuma, who hopes to be re-elected ANC leader at aparty meeting in December 2012, as it is for Malema, who party insiders sayultimately wants the country's top job.

Analysts said the ANC waited too long to rein Malema in.

"Today is therefore a show of power by Zuma and the current ANC leadership

against them -- which they need to win and make up for letting this drag onfor so long," said Nomura International emerging markets economist Peter

Attard Montalto.

Zuma is on a state visit to Norway this week.

The disciplinary panel is led by senior ANC member Derek Hanekom andincludes mines minister Susan Shabangu, who has criticised Malema's callsfor nationalisation.

In another sign of the party turning against him, former ANC guerrillasissued a statement condemning the violence.

"We who have fought against apartheid take a stand that we shall never allowour country to slip into the dark days of war," the Umkhonto Wesizweveterans groups said.

Malema, 30, and the top five members of the youth wing have been chargedwith sowing division in the party that has ruled South Africa for nearly twodecades.


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Cameroon to hold presidential election on October 9 (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77T0LD20110830By: Non-Attributed Author30 August 2011 - YAOUNDE - Cameroon will hold its

presidential election on October 9, national radio said on Tuesday, citing adecree signed by President Paul Biya.

Biya, 78, one of the continent's longest-serving leaders, is expected toseek another term, having ruled the oil producing Central African nation fornearly 30 years.

He would face a divided and weak opposition that has not been able tochallenge him in the last two elections.

Biya's ruling party, the CPDM, plans to hold a congress on September 15-16,when it is expected to name him as its candidate.

Opposition parties and some analysts have argued that a constitutionalreform, enacted by Biya's government to remove term limits and clear the wayfor him to run, has instead barred him from seeking another term.

The opposition have vowed to ask the court to rule on the matter if Biyadecides to run.

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