United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

20 April 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Africa Reboots (International Herald Tribune)

I spent March with a delegation of activists, entrepreneurs and policy wonks roaming
western, southern and eastern Africa trying very hard to listen — always hard for a big-
mouthed Irishman. With duct tape over my gob, I was able to pick up some interesting
melody lines everywhere from palace to pavement ...

Obama's African Rifles – Partners/Surrogates/Proxies (Modern Ghana)

In the words of a senior US military officer assigned to AFRICOM, the United States
seeks to enhance regional military forces because, ―We don't want to see our guys going
in and getting whacked . . . We want Africans to go in.‖

U.S. Army Trains Darfur Bound RDF Troops (The New Times)
KIGALI, Rwanda — The US army is carrying on with training of Rwandan troops set
for deployment in Darfur as part of the United Nations/African Union Hybrid Mission
(UNAMID) peace support operations.

Kenya Becomes Difficult US Ally in Troubled Horn of Africa (Voice of America)

WASHINGTON - As the United States government tries to help improve the volatile
situation in the Horn of Africa, it has also had a difficult time with the regional
heavyweight Kenya. VOA reports on what American analysts are calling a frayed, but
not broken, relationship with a long-standing ally.

US urges Sudan to tackle election rows 'impartially' (AFP)

WASHINGTON — The United States, Britain and Norway on Monday urged Sudan's
election body to tackle "effectively and impartially" disputes from the country's first
multi-party poll in 24 years.

U.N. fears Congo pullout will hurt fight against rape (Reuters)
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Congolese laws against sexual violence
are not being implemented and a withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the
country would make the struggle against endemic rape "a lot more difficult," the U.N.
said.
5,000 Kenyans out of work due to volcano (Associated Press)
NAIROBI, Kenya - Daniel Oyier has been eating only once a day since an ash-belching
volcano more than 5,000 miles away caused him to be laid off from his $4-a-day job
packing red roses and white lilies for export to Paris and Amsterdam.

West Africa: Ecowas Defence Chiefs Reject Military Coup in Sub-Region (AllAfrica)
LAGOS — The 27th ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) meeting
has ended in Cotonou, Benin Republic with a resolution that "enough is enough with
regards to military intervention in the politics of member nations."

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Violence hampering aid deliveries in mountainous part of Darfur, UN official
says
Anti-malaria efforts in Africa bearing fruit, but challenges remain – UN
UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie appeals for safety in Somalia
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 21; 12:30 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies: In Defense of Competition:
The Cost of Coalition in Africa
WHO: Nic Cheeseman, lecturer in African studies at the University of Oxford
Info: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, April 22; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Africa Business Initiative Discussion on emerging
opportunities for trade and business investment with commissioners of the African Union
WHO: United States Ambassador to the African Union, Michael Battle; Jean Ping, Chairman of
the African Union Commission; Scott Eisner, Executive Director of the Africa Business
Initiative at USCC: Greg Lebedev, Chairman of CIPE and Senior Adviser to the President of
USCC; Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairman at the African Union Commission; Assistant U.S.
Trade Representative for Africa Florie Lisner; and Bill Clontz, Vice President of MPRI.
Info: http://fpc.state.gov/events/124193.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, April 23; 12:00 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Center for Global Development and The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies: In Defense of Competition: The Industrial Organization of Rebellion: The
Logic of Forced Labor and Child Soldiering
WHO: Christopher Blattman, Yale University; James Habyarimana, Georgetown University
Info: http://www.cgdev.org/content/calendar/detail/1424065/

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday through Thursday, April 27-29; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Corporate Council on Africa: U.S.-Africa Infrastructure Conference
WHO: Top U.S. and African government officials, seasoned business executives, sector experts
and financiers convene at the U.S. Africa Infrastructure Conference.
Info: http://www.africacncl.org/(xtahp03q0g1wdb55d42z1w55)/Default.aspx

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 28; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: U.S.-Relations with the Muslim World
WHO: This event will examine U.S. relations with the Muslim world one year after President
Obama's pivotal speech at Cairo University. Speakers include Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan,
Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, and U.S. Special Envoy to the
Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain. USIP specialists Abiodun Williams,
Daniel Brumberg and Mona Yacoubian will also participate in the event.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/us-relations-the-muslim-world-one-year-after-cairo
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Africa Reboots (International Herald Tribune)

I spent March with a delegation of activists, entrepreneurs and policy wonks roaming
western, southern and eastern Africa trying very hard to listen — always hard for a big-
mouthed Irishman. With duct tape over my gob, I was able to pick up some interesting
melody lines everywhere from palace to pavement ...

Despite the almost deafening roar of excitement about Africa’s hosting of soccer’s
World Cup this summer, we managed to hear a surprising thing. Harmony ... flowing
from two sides that in the past have often been discordant: Africa’s emerging
entrepreneurial class and its civil-society activists.

It’s no secret that lefty campaigners can be cranky about business elites. And the
suspicion is mutual. Worldwide. Civil society as a rule sees business as, well, a little
uncivil. Business tends to see activists as, well, a little too active. But in Africa, at least
from what I’ve just seen, this is starting to change. The energy of these opposing forces
coming together is filling offices, boardrooms and bars. The reason is that both these
groups — the private sector and civil society — see poor governance as the biggest
obstacle they face. So they are working together on redefining the rules of the African
game.

Entrepreneurs know that even a good relationship with a bad government stymies
foreign investment; civil society knows a resource-rich country can have more rather
than fewer problems, unless corruption is tackled.

This joining of forces is being driven by some luminous personalities, few of whom are
known in America; all of whom ought to be. Let me introduce you to a few of the
catalysts:
John Githongo, Kenya’s famous whistleblower, has had to leave his country in a hurry a
couple of times; he was hired by his government to clean things up and then did his job
too well. He’s now started a group called Inuka, teaming up the urban poor with
business leaders, creating inter-ethnic community alliances to fight poverty and keep
watch on dodgy local governments. He is the kind of leader who gives many Kenyans
hope for the future, despite the shakiness of their coalition government.

Sharing a table with Githongo and me one night in Nairobi was DJ Rowbow, a Mike
Tyson doppelgänger. His station, Ghetto Radio, was a voice of reason when the volcano
of ethnic tension was exploding in Kenya in 2008. While some were encouraging the
people of Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa, to go on the rampage, this scary-
looking man decoded the disinformation and played peacemaker/interlocutor. On the
station’s playlist is Bob Marley and a kind of fizzy homespun reggae music that’s part
the Clash, part Marvin Gaye. The only untruthful thing he said all evening was that he
liked U2. For my part, I might have overplayed the Jay-Z and Beyoncé card. ―They are
friends of mine,‖ I explained to him, eh, a lot.

Now this might be what you expect me to say, but I’m telling you, it was a musician in
Senegal who best exemplified the new rules. Youssou N’Dour — maybe the greatest
singer on earth — owns a newspaper and is in the middle of a complicated deal to buy
a TV station. You sense his strategy and his steel. He is creating the soundtrack for
change, and he knows just how to use his voice. (I tried to imagine what it would be
like if I owned The New York Times as well as, say, NBC. Someday, someday...)

In Maputo, Mozambique, I met with Activa, a women’s group that, among other things,
helps entrepreneurs get seed capital. Private and public sectors mixed easily here,
under the leadership of Luisa Diogo, the country’s former prime minister, who is now
the matriarch in this mesmerizing stretch of eastern Africa. Famous for her Star Wars
hairdo and political nous, she has the lioness energy of an Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala or a Graça Machel.

When I met with Ms. Diogo and her group, the less famous but equally voluble women
in the room complained about excessive interest rates on their microfinance loans and
the lack of what they called ―regional economic integration.‖ For them, infrastructure
remains the big (if unsexy) issue. ―Roads, we need roads,‖ one entrepreneur said by
way of a solution to most of the obstacles in her path. Today, she added, ―we women,
we are the roads.‖ I had never thought of it that way but because women do most of the
farming, they’re the ones who carry produce to market, collect the water and bring the
sick to the clinics.

The true star of the trip was a human hurricane: Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese entrepreneur
who made a fortune in mobile phones.
I fantasized about being the boy wonder to his Batman, but as we toured the continent
together I quickly realized I was Alfred, Batman’s butler. Everywhere we went, I was
elbowed out of the way by young and old who wanted to get close to the rock star
reformer and his beautiful, frighteningly smart daughter, Hadeel, who runs Mo’s
foundation and is a chip off the old block (in an Alexander McQueen dress). Mo’s
speeches are standing-room-only because even when he is sitting down, he’s a
standing-up kind of person. In a packed hall in the University of Ghana, he was a
prizefighter, removing his tie and jacket like a cape, punching young minds into the
future.

His brainchild, the Ibrahim Prize, is a very generous endowment for African leaders
who serve their people well and then — and this is crucial — leave office when they are
supposed to. Mo has diagnosed a condition he calls ―third-termitis,‖ where presidents,
fearing an impoverished superannuation, feather their nests on the way out the door. So
Mo has prescribed a soft landing for great leaders. Not getting the prize is as big a story
as getting it. (He doesn’t stop at individuals. The Ibrahim Index ranks countries by
quality of governance.)

Mo smokes a pipe and refers to everyone as ―guys‖ — as in, ―Listen, guys, if these
problems are of our own making, the solutions will have to be, too.‖ Or, in my
direction, ―Guys, if you haven’t noticed ... you are not African.‖ Oh, yeah. And: ―Guys,
you Americans are lazy investors. There’s so much growth here but you want to float in
the shallow water of the Dow Jones or Nasdaq.‖

Mr. Ibrahim is as searing about corruption north of the Equator as he is about

corruption south of it, and the corruption that crosses over ... illicit capital flight, unfair
mining contracts, the aid bureaucracy.

So I was listening. Good for me. But did I actually learn anything?

Over long days and nights, I asked Africans about the course of international activism.
Should we just pack it up and go home, I asked? There were a few nods. But many
more noes. Because most Africans we met seemed to feel the pressing need for new
kinds of partnerships, not just among governments, but among citizens, businesses, the
rest of us. I sense the end of the usual donor-recipient relationship.

Aid, it’s clear, is still part of the picture. It’s crucial, if you have H.I.V. and are fighting
for your life, or if you are a mother wondering why you can’t protect your child against
killers with unpronounceable names or if you are a farmer who knows that new seed
varietals will mean you have produce that you can take to market in drought or flood.
But not the old, dumb, only-game-in-town aid — smart aid that aims to put itself out of
business in a generation or two. ―Make aid history‖ is the objective. It always was.
Because when we end aid, it’ll mean that extreme poverty is history. But until that
glorious day, smart aid can be a reforming tool, demanding accountability and
transparency, rewarding measurable results, reinforcing the rule of law, but never
imagining for a second that it’s a substitute for trade, investment or self-determination.

I for one want to live to see Mo Ibrahim’s throw-down prediction about Ghana come
true. ―Yes, guys,‖ he said, ―Ghana needs support in the coming years, but in the not-
too-distant future it can be giving aid, not receiving it; and you, Mr. Bono, can just go
there on your holidays.‖

I’m booking that ticket.

In South Africa, with Madiba, the great Nelson Mandela — the person who, along with
Desmond Tutu and the Edge, I consider to be my boss — I raised the question of
regional integration through the African Development Bank, and the need for real investment in
infrastructure ... all the buzzwords. As Madiba smiled, I made a note to try not to talk
about this stuff down at the pub — or in front of the band.

―And you, are you not going to the World Cup?‖ the great man chided me, changing
the subject, having seen this wide-eyed zealotry before. ―You are getting old and you
are going to miss a great coming-out party for Africa.‖ The man who felt free before he
was is still the greatest example of what real leadership can accomplish against the
odds.

My family and I headed home ... just in time, I was getting carried away. I was going
native, aroused by the thought of railroads and cement mixers, of a different kind of
World Cup fever, of opposing players joining the same team, a new formation, new
tactics. For those of us in the fan club, I came away amazed (as I always am) by the
diversity of the continent ... but with a deep sense that the people of Africa are writing
up some new rules for the game.
--------------------
Obama's African Rifles – Partners/Surrogates/Proxies (Modern Ghana)

I have included some current pictures of partner/surrogate/proxy military in Africa,

and some historic pictures as well. It is important not to forget the history and the
heritage of this relationship. Uganda President Museveni's name means ―Son of a man
of the Seventh‖, in honour of the Seventh Battalion of the King's African Rifles, the
British colonial army in which many Ugandans served during World War II.

I found one picture of C Company of the 7th Battalion KAR taken in Mogadishu in
1941. It is interesting to note that Ugandan soldiers are currently embroiled in
Mogadishu as partners/surrogates/proxies for the United States. The middle picture
above is Ugandan soldiers from the current AMISOM mission in Mogadishu.
Below are pictures of the Kings African Rifles, KAR, during the riots and disturbances
in Nyasaland, which marked the end of colonial rule. The KAR acted as
partners/surrogates/proxies for British colonial rule. I also added a few pictures of riot
control training from a recent AFRICOM partner/surrogate/proxy training exercise in
Benin for visual comparison. Experience tells us that in many countries these skills are
likely to be used for internal counter insurgency operations and to quell legitimate
political dissent, not unlike some domestic assignments given the former Kings African
Rifles, who also served heroically in World War II.

Maj Shawn T. Cochran wrote Security Assistance, Surrogate Armies, and the Pursuit of
US Interests in Sub-Saharan Africa published in the U.S. Air University's Strategic
Studies Quarterly Spring 2010 v.4 #1 (PDF). He is quite interesting on the subject of US
surrogates and partners in Africa, and on historic and current US efforts to create and
use African partners/surrogates/proxies.

In the words of a senior US military officer assigned to AFRICOM, the United States
seeks to enhance regional military forces because, ―We don't want to see our guys going
in and getting whacked . . . We want Africans to go in.‖

One thing he points out early on is:

There is no official DoD definition for surrogate force, the second key concept. For
many, the term proxy may be more familiar. Within the military realm, the terms proxy
and surrogate are largely interchangeable. The use here of the latter reflects a desire to
establish a degree of distance from the related, yet viscerally more contentious, concept
of proxy war. Given the African experience, any allusion to proxy war will likely elicit
recollections of how external powers, both in the colonial and Cold War eras, competed
by initiating, escalating, and exploiting local conflicts. Today, many who wish to
denigrate a given foreign policy in Africa simply apply the label ―proxy war‖ for
dramatic effect

I am one of those who uses the label proxy war not just for dramatic effect but to keep
in mind an accurate historic context for viewing current US military adventurism in
Africa.

… a surrogate force is defined as an organization that serves the needs or interests of a

secondary actor—the sponsor—by employing military power in place of the sponsor's
own forces. Implicit within this definition is the requirement for the sponsor to fund,
equip, train, or otherwise support the surrogate. The sponsor also must exercise at least
some form of control or influence over the surrogate.

Cochran discusses the term partnership:

US policy makers and defense personnel alike speak regularly in terms of ―building
partner capacity.‖ The dialogue surrounding the standup of AFRICOM certainly
follows this trend. This is probably more palatable than the notion of developing
surrogates, but the palatability comes with a downside. Bertil Dunér outlines the three
dimensions of a surrogate relationship as

compatibility of interests, material support,and power.

Of the three, power, or influence, exerted by the sponsor is most critical.

By analyzing, strategizing, and implementing security assistance in terms of a

partnership instead of a sponsor-surrogate relationship, one is perhaps more likely to
marginalize the critical, albeit controversial, factor of donor influence and control.

Such marginalization may affect adversely the degree to which security assistance
programs achieve US objectives.

Cochran uses two case studies to explore US surrogacy in Africa, the Nigerian
intervention in Liberia in 2003, and the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006 and its
aftermath.

The surge in US security assistance to Nigeria from 2000 to 2003 was closely tied to the
US government's expectation of Nigeria as a lead contributor to subregional and
regional peace support operations. From the US point of view, Nigeria's hesitancy to
respond to the Liberian crisis and attempt to pressure the United States into committing
its own forces represented a degree of ―shirking,‖ defined within agency theory as not
doing all that was contracted or not doing the task in a desirable way.

Beyond the factor of conflicting goals, shirking is also more likely in situations where
there is significant outcome uncertainty and thus significant risk.

Particularly noteworthy to the role of partner/surrogate/proxy is this point that

Cochran notes:

Nigerian lack of enthusiasm for the mission stemmed in part from the inculcation of
democratic practices. In a democracy, the state military ultimately serves as an agent of
the people. Where Nigerian dictators had been able to employ the military whenever
and however they saw fit, the democratically elected leadership, accountable to
Nigerian public opinion, found it increasingly difficult to justify and garner public
support for the expenditure of troops and national treasure in external conflicts.

Democracy is likely to discourage military surrogacy. When the people in a country

have a say, they must see a good reason and a potentially positive outcome to be willing
to spend national blood and treasure. Democracy was at work preventing Nigeria and
Ghana from participating in the disastrous US exercise in Somalia. Uganda and
Rwanda, being only nominally democracies, and actually run as military governments,
make much better surogates and are favorites of the US Africa Command and
significant recipients of US military funding. Uganda has contributed a great many
soldiers to the Somali exercise. The development of military
partners/surrogates/proxies is an enemy of democratic governance.

Cochran also includes the following quote, which has continent wide implications. In
the Cold War you called your enemy a communist in order to get military assistance,
only the word has changed.

―The new game in Somalia is to call your enemy a terrorist in the hope that America
will destroy him for you.‖

The US put considerable pressure on Ghana and Nigeria to contribute to the Somali
disaster.

… the failure of Ghana and Nigeria to respond is of particular interest. Both received
substantial US security assistance funding in 2005 and 2006. Both, at the urging of the
United States, pledged troops to AMISOM and in return were promised additional US
training and equipment tailored specifically for the operation. The United States also
agreed to provide logistical support. Still, despite significant US diplomatic pressure,
neither country ever deployed its forces to Somalia, each offering a continuous litany of
reasons for the delay. When asked to explain this lack of response despite previous
pledges, a senior US military official in the region opined that Somalia ―scared the . . .
out of them‖ and that they had no direct interests related to the mission. In other words,
―Why would Ghana care about Somalia?‖

And that is the key question. There is no reason on earth that benefits Ghana why
Ghana should become involved in Somalia. I think Ghana has shown great wisdom.
Ghana should be wary, it has received quite a bit of ―assistance‖ through the ACOTA
program.

Why invest long term without any guarantee of return? Why not just wait until the
need arises and then tailor security assistance to provide only the willing actors with
what is necessary for a specific intervention? This would ostensibly eliminate some of
the uncertainty inherent in screening and mitigate agency loss from shirking behavior.
The United States, in fact, has moved in this direction over the past few years. ACOTA,
in particular, has been utilized repeatedly for such ―just in time‖ security assistance.

Summing up the US approach to partnerships/surrogates/proxies Cochran writes:

From the case studies, it is apparent that the United States takes two broad approaches
to developing surrogate forces in Africa. The first derives from the perceived strategic
potential of a key actor. It consists of a longer-term security assistance relationship not
tied directly to any specific intervention. …

The second can be characterized as a ―fire brigade‖ approach. This is more ad hoc and
involves a short-term use of security assistance to generate support for a specific
intervention and preparing willing participants just prior to deployment.

He has the grace and intelligence to tell us:

One should not take from this discussion that Africa's problems or threats to US
strategic interests in Africa are best dealt with through military means. In most cases,
military force, even if employed by a surrogate, is not the answer but sometimes it is.
Given the nature of the African security environment, it is sometimes impossible to
pursue broader economic, political, and humanitarian aims without a concomitant
threat or application of arms.

With the gigantic imbalance between military and civilian spending, and the huge
presence and activity of the Africa Command around the continent, and the US not
doing much else, all African problems as viewed by the US are likely to be treated like
nails requiring a military hammer. With the present imbalance in military to civilian
spending, a military hammer is about the only tool on offer from the US.

Through its various security assistance programs, the United States now seeks to build
both the capability and willingness of African states to employ military force
throughout the region in a manner that supports US strategic interests and precludes
the requirement for direct US military intervention. The United States, in effect, is
seeking to develop surrogates.

―We don't want to see our guys going in and getting whacked . . . We want Africans to
go in.‖

Koranteng writes:

I have many memories of the two coups I lived through in Ghana …The safe detail that
lingers, however, is of the martial music that consumed the radio, and then the TV,
airwaves in the ensuing days. … Suffice to say that I have a visceral reaction to military
strongmen and their rhetoric – I am blinded by the accompanying blood.

The martial music of our coups all had this alien, otherworldly aura – as if to remind the
listener that the military in Africa were one of the most ruinous of our colonial
inheritances.
The US Africa Command and the military contractors continue that ruinous colonial
tradition, the latest manifestation of that ruinous colonial inheritance.
--------------------
U.S. Army Trains Darfur Bound RDF Troops (The New Times)

KIGALI, Rwanda — The US army is carrying on with training of Rwandan troops set
for deployment in Darfur as part of the United Nations/African Union Hybrid Mission
(UNAMID) peace support operations.

This was highlighted in a brief from the American Embassy in Kigali, written by US
Navy Commander, William "Mitch" Darling, the Mission Commander for the Africa
Contingency Training and Assistance (ACOTA) mission in Rwanda.

Army spokesperson, Maj. Jill Rutaremara, confirmed the development, saying that the
US officers in Gako military camp usually first train a group of Rwandan army officers
before carrying on with a whole battalion.

"The training is in progress and they are now training a battalion in the normal routine
preparations for the next rotation exercise," said Maj. Rutaremara.

ACOTA is a US program to train military trainers and equip African national armies to
conduct peace support operations and humanitarian relief under the auspices of the
Africa Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), or regional security organizations.

In the US Embassy brief, Darling notes that the training is one of several bilateral
mentoring engagements that have taken place over the past years in "the very
successful" ACOTA Program.

"The participants will use computer-aided tools during the command post exercise to
augment their training. This will be the first time this type of training has been used by
some of the participating officers," reads part of Darling's brief.

RDF forces have been deployed in Darfur since 2004 and Rwanda has had four
battalions deployed under UNAMID.

Since 2004, ACOTA has trained approximately 45,000 African soldiers and 3,200 African
trainers, who have supported deployments to peacekeeping operations worldwide.

Rwanda is a prime illustration of ACOTA's success because its forces in Darfur are
recognized as a capable and highly affective military unit.

Nearly all new Rwandan peacekeeping forces are trained by ACOTA-trained

instructors.
--------------------
Kenya Becomes Difficult US Ally in Troubled Horn of Africa (Voice of America)

WASHINGTON - As the United States government tries to help improve the volatile
situation in the Horn of Africa, it has also had a difficult time with the regional
heavyweight Kenya. VOA reports on what American analysts are calling a frayed, but
not broken, relationship with a long-standing ally.

The ongoing violence in Somalia, as well as persistent piracy in the Gulf of Aden,
troubled election processes in Sudan and Ethiopia, and peace deals not being
implemented, are some of the many issues the U.S. government is involved in in the
Horn of Africa, either through military or diplomatic pressure.

Analysts say Kenya is supposed to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.

But recently senior U.S officials raised concerns that refugees in eastern Kenya were
being recruited to fight in Somalia, and Kenya's government is turning away captured
pirates because it says it is not getting enough international money to boost its judicial
system.

The U.S. government has also expressed its frustration with Kenya's national unity
government over its slow pace of reform.

At the same time, Washington-based Africa expert Steven McDonald says Kenya
remains an important U.S. ally, which receives lots of American aid.

A recent example is the United States committing $2.7 billion for the next five years to
help fight HIV infection in Kenya.

"It is a little bit of a schizophrenic approach that we have here because Kenya has been a
valued partner in many ways from trade and investment, to tourism, to the fight on
international terrorism," said Steven McDonald.

Kenya's government has also been critical of U.S. policies. Following a U.S. raid that
killed a Kenyan-born alleged Islamic extremist in Somalia last year, Kenya's foreign
minister said his country had not been warned about the operation. Moses Wetangula
said at the time it was a manifestation of what he called "Lone Ranger behavior."

There has been progress on reform. Kenyan lawmakers recently approved a new
constitution that will be submitted to a referendum. If approved, it would eliminate the
position of prime minister, create a Senate, and give more power to regions.
But McDonald, the Africa director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, says many questions still remain on how the U.S. government should deal
with Kenya.

"How tough do you get with Kenya? How valuable is it as a partner? I do not get the
feeling that that is a decision that has been fully made within the administration as to
how to proceed on Kenya, how tough to get with Kenya," he said. "And, the Kenyans,
of course, are not helping the situation by being very defensive, by even openly being
critical of people like the Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton] and Ambassador Johnnie
Carson when they have come with firm messages, but always messages intended to
indicate the value we give to the relationship."

During an African trip by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year, Kenya's Prime
Minister Raila Odinga said U.S. officials should not lecture Kenyans. Many Kenyans
also hoped President Barack Obama, whose late father was a Kenyan, would visit
instead, and that his administration would be particularly helpful to Kenya. Instead,
they have gotten different signals.

A senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Kenyan Mwangi Kimenyi, thinks U.S.
travel sanctions, which have been placed on more than a dozen senior Kenyan officials
for allegedly trying to block reform, are misguided.

"The United States needs to be more strategic in dealing with Kenya, " said Mwangi
Kimenyi. "I think there have been some missteps. A lot of the changes will have to come
from the country itself. I know that one of the main things the United States has done is
to ban some visas of some government officials but I do not think that is the best way to
go."

That is just one problem senior figures in Kenya face.

The International Criminal Court will begin investigations later this year into the
deadly violence that followed Kenya's election in 2007. Trials against major political
leaders accused of being behind the violence could start in 2012, which is when the next
election is scheduled.

Tom Hull, a long-time high-level American diplomat in Africa, says the issue of an
African ally with internal problems is nothing new.

"If we go back over the past few decades in Africa, we always come up against this
conundrum, countries that are important to us in a bilateral relationship, but are not
performing in terms of good governance the way we would hope they would," said
Tom Hull. "So this is a chronic problem and it is not unusual. All we have to do is try to
be persistent, and focusing on our long term objectives in terms of democracy and one
day these things may change."

Critics of this approach say African countries with important security or economic
value are repeatedly given a pass by U.S. administrations on their internal
shortcomings, and that strategic and financial interests always trump other
considerations.
--------------------
US urges Sudan to tackle election rows 'impartially' (AFP)

WASHINGTON — The United States, Britain and Norway on Monday urged Sudan's
election body to tackle "effectively and impartially" disputes from the country's first
multi-party poll in 24 years.

International observers said the polls -- which much of the Sudanese opposition had
boycotted amid charges that they had been rigged by the ruling party -- had failed to
meet international standards.

In a statement on behalf of the troika of the United States, Britain and Norway, the State
Department said it noted the verdict of the international observers from Europe and the
United States.

"We are reassured that voting passed reasonably peacefully, reportedly with significant
participation, but share their serious concerns about weak logistical and technical
preparations and reported irregularities in many parts of Sudan," it said.

It also noted "the limited access of observer missions" in the western conflict-torn region
of Darfur.

"We regret that the National Elections Commission (NEC) did not do more to prevent
and address such problems prior to voting," the statement said.

"We strongly encourage the NEC to address in good faith any legitimate disputes
effectively and impartially," it said.

The NEC said on Monday that results from the election, which had originally expected
on Tuesday, would be delayed.

The Sudanese people had five days to vote for their president as well as legislative and
local representatives in the country's first multi-party election since 1986 which ended
on Thursday.
The election is likely to see the return to power of President Omar al-Beshir, who seized
control of Africa's largest country in a military coup backed by Islamists in 1989.

A significant part of the opposition had boycotted the election, accusing Beshir's ruling
National Congress Party of rigging the vote, which was marred by delays and logistical
problems.

International observers from the Carter Center and the European Union said on
Saturday that the polls had failed to reach international standards.
--------------------
U.N. fears Congo pullout will hurt fight against rape (Reuters)

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Congolese laws against sexual violence

are not being implemented and a withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the
country would make the struggle against endemic rape "a lot more difficult," the U.N.
said.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is

visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to
persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force.

Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual

violence but Wallstrom said the country's capacity to implement it was "near zero."

"How will it help if (the U.N. peacekeeping mission) withdraws? Will it help the
situation here? I think not ... I have a lot of fears," she added in Kinshasa Monday.

Aid agencies and rights groups accustomed to the violence and suffering during and
since Congo's 1998-2003 war, which left millions dead, have been shocked by reports of
the scale and brutality of the rapes by rebel and government forces alike.

The U.N. warning echoes a call last week by UK rights group Amnesty International,
which called the situation scandalous.

With celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections next,
Congo is keen for the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing
within months and wants the last blue helmet out in 2011.

But Wallstrom said the peacekeepers, who are often criticized for not doing enough,
were making a difference.
"Women used to be scared to go to the market ... Now a lot of people go, and
peacekeepers go with them. It has brought economic development to the region," she
said, referring to North Kivu province.

Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende said keeping peacekeepers in the

country would not end problems of rape and said impunity for government forces who
commit crimes was becoming "rarer and rarer."

Accurate figures for sexual violence are hard to come by as many rapes are unreported
but the U.N. said at least 5,400 women had reported being raped in neighboring South
Kivu in the first nine months of 2009 alone.

Government forces as well as a plethora of rebel forces are accused of the abuse. Last
year, the U.N. Security Council gave the government a list of officers known to have
raped women and girls.

"Three of (the officers) are still free. Cases have been opened, people punished, but too
low -- soldiers, not officers," Wallstrom said.
--------------------
5,000 Kenyans out of work due to volcano (Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya - Daniel Oyier has been eating only once a day since an ash-belching
volcano more than 5,000 miles away caused him to be laid off from his $4-a-day job
packing red roses and white lilies for export to Paris and Amsterdam.

Some 5,000 day laborers in Kenya who have been without work since the ash cloud
from Iceland shut down air traffic across Europe, showing how one event can have
drastic consequences in distant lands in today's global economy.

"If this goes on for a week it will be really bad for us," said Oyier, 23, who sat against a
fence most of Monday near Nairobi's international airport, hoping his employer would
call him in. "I don't know how I will make rent."

Kenya has thrown away 10 million flowers — mostly roses — since the volcano
eruption. Asparagus, broccoli and green beans meant for European dinner tables are
being fed to Kenyan cattle because storage facilities are filled to capacity.

The horticulture industry is Kenya's top foreign exchange earner, making $922 million
last year. Kenya exports 1,000 tons a day of produce and flowers — including roses,
carnations and lilies, said Philip Mbithi, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters
Association of Kenya.
Mbithi warned of a cascading series of losses if the travel ban lasts much longer. Small-
scale farmers who fund their operations through bank loans will begin defaulting on
payments and won't be able to get funding for next season if exports don't resume, he
said.

Some businesses in Europe will be increasingly affected by a lack of imports, but as long
as the disruption is not too lengthy it shouldn't be a major issue, according to analysis
firm IHS Global Insight.

"The main problem concerns goods that are perishable. Imports of items such as exotic
fruit and flowers are being affected and this could lead to a marked spike in prices for
these goods," IHS Global Insight said.

Mbithi said at least 10 million flowers have been thrown away because the local market
could not absorb them. Kenyans mostly buy flowers during Valentine's Day, Mbithi
said. Even if farmers attempted to sell them domestically at throw-away prices many
Kenyans would not buy them.

Farmers have been forced to find alternative routes to get their products to market —
even at a loss. They flew 1,000 metric tons of flowers to Spain on Monday, from where it
would be transported by road to Paris and Amsterdam.

"This cuts 60 percent off our profit margin. But it is better than nothing," Mbithi said.
"We have clients to keep and consumers to feed."

Other flower-growing regions have seen sales fall because of the eruption.

"This has affected us 100 percent," said Willem Verhoogt, managing director of
Bergflora, a flower- exporting agency based in Cape Town, South Africa's airport. "We
haven't been exporting for four days."

Israeli flower growers suffered two days of disrupted deliveries, but most flowers were
preserved in coolers, said Shira Kuperman, a spokeswoman for Agrexco, Israel's biggest
agricultural exporter. Deliveries were set to resume later Monday, to either Madrid or
Athens, where trucks would take them to other points in Europe, she said.

Verhoogt said that the company was supposed to export 11,000 pounds of fresh cut
flowers mainly to Europe, and to the U.S. via flights through Europe.

"All together, it could be between 10 to 15 tons that won't go in the end," he said. "We've
advised farmers to not pick flowers anymore."
--------------------
West Africa: Ecowas Defence Chiefs Reject Military Coup in Sub-Region (AllAfrica)
LAGOS — The 27th ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) meeting
has ended in Cotonou, Benin Republic with a resolution that "enough is enough with
regards to military intervention in the politics of member nations."

Towards giving teeth to the resolution, the ECOWAS Defence Chiefs decided to send
the Chiefs of Defence Staff of Ghana, Liberia, Togo and Cape Verde to Guinea Bissau,
which has been having continuing disruption of democratic governance by its military,
"to express our unhappiness and misgivings at the consistent military interventions in
the country."

The body stressed that "any further disrespect for political authority must be
condemned in the strongest terms" and "military government is no longer in vogue and
we must move ahead with the times."

Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief
Marshal Paul Dike, who is the chairman of the CCDS, announced that the next
quarterly meeting of the body would be held in Guinea Bissau "to make collective
strong representation to the military so that they fall in line as other militaries in the
region."

He also said that the body resolved that "pro-active steps will be taken to counter the
activities of extreme religious groups prevalent in the Sahel region of West Africa."

It therefore tasked the Chiefs of Defence Staff of Mali and Niger to study the problem of
religious extremists and ways to tackle them and report to the next meeting of the body.

In the same vein, the body tasked the Chiefs of Defence Staff of Nigeria and Ghana to
study the problems of maritime security and the ways to handle them effectively and
report to the next meeting.

The ECOWAS Defence Chiefs were during the meeting briefed and they reviewed
situations in Nigeria (Niger Delta), Niger, Mali, Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau
and Guinea-Conakry. In addition, they were briefed and took position on the issue of
proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs).

Dike further told newsmen that "henceforth, there will be greater vigilance in search of
Small Arms and Light Weapons while border agents will exhibit zero tolerance for such
Small Arms and Light weapons. Also, increased information sharing will be in place for
all Forces in the region."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
Violence hampering aid deliveries in mountainous part of Darfur, UN official says
19 April – Increasing violence has cut off aid deliveries to the mountainous area of
Darfur and the living situation for the estimated 100,000 people there will worsen as the
dry season comes to an end, the top United Nations humanitarian official in Sudan
warned today.

Anti-malaria efforts in Africa bearing fruit, but challenges remain – UN

19 April – Significant progress has been made in combating malaria in Africa, but more
remains to be done as the end of the decade dedicated to making control methods and
treatments universally available approaches, the United Nations-led global partnership
for coordinated action against malaria said today.

UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie appeals for safety in Somalia

19 April – United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and award-winning actress Angelia
Jolie is calling for more international attention and assistance for thousands of Somalis
trapped in the country’s capital of Mogadishu by some of the deadliest violence to date.