United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

27 April 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

U.N. approves $2.1M to fight piracy off African coast

A $2.1 million series of projects to help Somalia and neighboring countries prosecute
pirate suspects was approved Friday by a 10-nation board in charge of a new U.N. trust
fund for the fight against piracy.

Obama to Host East African Muslims At 2-Day U.S. Summit (The East African)
As part of his effort to improve US relations with Muslims in East Africa and
throughout the world, President Barack Obama is hosting an entrepreneurship summit
this week designed to encourage grassroots economic development that can lead to
political reforms.

U.S. Comes to the Rescue of Country's Troubled Health Sector (The East African)
NAIROBI, Kenya — Rural Ugandans without the means to access proper health care
can now sigh with relief. An ongoing project dubbed IntraHealth has promised to
improve staffing levels in selected districts, from 48 to 65 per cent over the next five
years.

Japanese Military Joins U.S. And NATO In Horn Of Africa (Eurasia Review)
Japanese navy commander Keizo Kitagawa recently spoke with Agence France-Presse
and disclosed that his nation was opening its first overseas military base - at any rate
since the Second World War - in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

Morocco dismantles Al-Qaeda linked cell: authorities (AFP)

RABAT, Morocco – Moroccan security services have arrested 24 people and dismantled
an Al-Qaeda linked network which was preparing to carry out attacks, the interior
ministry and police said Monday.

Sudan's Bashir Retains Presidency (Voice of America)

Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been announced the winner of the nation's
first multi-party vote in 24 years. Opposition parties have rejected the results, which
they say were rigged, but all eyes likely now focus on a southern independence
referendum eight months away.
Niger's Consultative Council Calls for 11-Month Transition to Civilian Rule (Voice of
America)
A consultative council appointed by Niger's military rulers says civilian government
should be re-established by March of next year.

EU warship destroys pirate vessels (Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Kenya - European Union Naval Force said on Monday its warship ESPS
Victoria intercepted a pirate action group (PAG) comprising one mother ship, a Whaler,
and two skiffs.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Four abducted UN-AU blue helmets released in Darfur
UN envoy calls on Somali Parliament to resolve internal disputes
ICC rejects appeal against dismissal of charges against Darfurian rebel leader
UN food agency steps up response amid growing food crisis in Niger
South Africa launches massive UN-backed HIV prevention drive
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

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, 7:45 p.m.; Lexington, VA

WHAT: Secretary Clinton’s remarks will discuss smart power one year later, and how the United
States is integrating diplomacy, defense, and development together into its day to day foreign
policy. Secretary Clinton will also receive VMI's Distinguished Diplomat Award.
WHO: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Info: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/04/140745.htm

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

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, April 30, 2:00 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: Creating Long-Term Peace in Cote d’Ivoire
WHO: Patrick N'gouan, The Civil Society Collective; Andre Kamate, Ivorian League of Human
Rights; Paola Piscitelli, Community of Sant'Egidio, USA; Dorina Bekoe, Moderator,
Senior Research Associate (Africa), U.S. Institute of Peace
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/creating-long-term-peace-in-cote-divoire

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, May 13, 9:30 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: Threats to Maritime Security
WHO: Donna L. Hopkins, U.S. Department of State; Bruce Averill, Ph.D., Strategic Energy
Security Solutions; Michael Berkow (invited), Altegrity Security Consulting; Robert Perito,
Moderator, U.S. Institute of Peace
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/threats-maritime-security
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

U.N. approves $2.1M to fight piracy off African coast

A $2.1 million series of projects to help Somalia and neighboring countries prosecute
pirate suspects was approved Friday by a 10-nation board in charge of a new U.N. trust
fund for the fight against piracy.

Four of the projects will help strengthen institutions in the Seychelles, which serves
alongside Kenya as a regional center for the prosecution of suspected pirates, according
to the U.N.

The initiative, which also involves the regions of Puntland and Somaliland, will include
mentoring of prosecutors and police, constructing prisons, reviewing domestic
legislation on piracy and enhancing the capacity of the courts.

The U.N. also is planning a public awareness project designed to spread an anti-piracy
message within Somalia. The 10-nation U.N. board includes Djibouti, Egypt, France,
Germany, Greece, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Norway, Somalia and the United States.

The U.N. board also has established an emergency fund to offset the costs involved in
prosecuting piracy suspects arrested at sea, including travel for witnesses, court
equipment and the transportation of suspects.
--------------------
Obama to Host East African Muslims At 2-Day U.S. Summit (The East African)

As part of his effort to improve US relations with Muslims in East Africa and
throughout the world, President Barack Obama is hosting an entrepreneurship summit
this week designed to encourage grassroots economic development that can lead to
political reforms.
Four Kenyans are among more than 200 mostly Muslim delegates from 50 countries
invited to the event taking place in Washington on Monday and Tuesday.

Mr Obama is expected to address the summit which, organisers say, will focus on topics
such as "fostering a culture of entrepreneurship" and promoting innovation.

Some Muslims see the meeting as a sign of a significant shift in Washington's approach,
which was first signaled in President Obama's policy speech in Cairo last June.

"What has also changed -- beyond tone and rhetoric -- is the departure from the world
view of his neo-conservative predecessors that freedom and progress in the Muslim
world was a top-down project: You change the regime and the democratic effect would
somehow filter down," Asim Siddiqui, founder of a British Muslim debate forum, wrote
recently in London's Guardian newspaper.

Mr Obama's is instead projecting the perspective that "trade, not force, may drive
democratic reform in that part of the world," Mr Siddiqui observed.

Influential analysts in the US, such as New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman,
argue that economic underdevelopment in Muslim societies fuels isolation and
resentment on the part of young men unable to find jobs.

Some of them turn to radical Islamist groups hostile to American interests and values,
Mr Friedman and other commentators say.

It is thus suggested that the United States can most effectively help foster political
moderation and spur democratic reforms by working to integrate Muslim communities
into the global capitalist economy.

The summit will "celebrate the risky, exhilarating life of entrepreneurship," according to
promotional materials for the event.

The Kenyan Muslims invited to Washington were chosen on the basis of their
"commitment to community service, and gender, geographic and urban/rural
diversity," the summit organisers say.

Yusuf Keshavjee, a co-founder of a yoga hotel in Diani Beach, is chairman of White Rose
Drycleaners, East Africa's largest chain of dry-cleaning franchises. Mr Keshavjee also
serves as board chairman of Honey Care Africa Ltd, a social enterprise that is said to
have lifted 9,000 smallholder farmers out of poverty.
Also taking part from Kenya is Rehema Dida Jaldesa, managing director of Yashar
Distributors. Ms Jaldesa's construction business has drilled boreholes in northern
Kenya.

Salim Amin, another summit attendee, owns Camerapix Ltd, which employs 30 media
professionals at its Nairobi headquarters and in a London office. Camerapix, founded in
1963 by renowned cameraman Mohamed "Mo" Amin (Salim's father), now provides
clients with television production, photography and publishing services.

Nuria Sheikh Farah, the owner of Risala Enterprises Ltd, will also be at the summit this
week. Ms Farah's company has a fleet of lorries that transport petroleum products and
household goods throughout East Africa. She also runs Gargaar Kenya, an NGO in
northeastern Kenya that promotes the education of girls.

The two-day summit to be attended by about 250 delegates from more than 50 Muslim
countries is seen as an opening for Africa's economic boom.
--------------------
U.S. Comes to the Rescue of Country's Troubled Health Sector (The East African)

NAIROBI, Kenya — Rural Ugandans without the means to access proper health care
can now sigh with relief. An ongoing project dubbed IntraHealth has promised to
improve staffing levels in selected districts, from 48 to 65 per cent over the next five
years.

The project, funded by the USAID to the tune of $11 million, will help the Ministry of
Health advance recruitment and retention rates for health staff by setting up better
payroll management systems and promote a healthy work environment.Uganda's
decentralised health system has been facing mounting criticism for tribalism and erratic
staffing levels that is putting the lives of citizens at risk. The ratios vary widely across
districts.

The Minister of Health, Steven Malinga said rampant nepotism at the district level had
compromised health services delivery.

"We can decentralise all other systems but not health. Some districts do not attract
health workers and officials end up employing their relatives," said Mr Malinga. He
said the biggest challenge was the geographical factor."Health workers prefer urban
settings hence the relatively few health workers in the country serve only 12 per cent of
the population leaving the rural areas widely neglected."

Rural populations are thus forced to travel long distances to access health care.
Reports from the Ministry of Health show that Uganda's doctor-to-population ratio
stands at 1:36,000, nurse to population ratio is 1:5,000 and the midwife-to-population
ratio is 1:10,000. Uganda's health workforce is also beset with several challenges that
include job dissatisfaction and poor working conditions.

These are linked to inappropriate deployment, low salaries, inadequate supervision,

excessive workloads and poor job security. For example, for the year ended June 2009,
nursing officers and bedside nurses who handle the bulk of work in hospitals were
earning $200-$450 and $130 respectively before taxes per month. A senior medical
consultant in Uganda earns $1,000 while a medical officer $300-$600 per month before
taxes. This is a drop in the ocean compared with $7,500 that Members of Parliament
pocket every month after taxes in salary and benefits.

The low earnings for health workers are in spite of long training periods. Graduate
nurses, pharmacists, dentists and doctors spend five to six years training, including
internships while specialists have to add three to five more years. Posts for medical
officers, dispensers, lab technicians and anaesthetic officers remain vacant particularly
in rural health facilities. The IntraHealth project will increase allowances and incentives
for health workers posted to remote regions.It will also reduce to half the cycle of the
recruitment period, which usually takes a full year and establish a database for all
applicants.

The project also wants to emulate Rwanda where salaries of health workers in HIV
projects are aligned with those of government staff. That way the exodus from
government health facilities to HIV projects, which pay handsomely, will be minimised.

"Some senior health workers were ready to work in remote areas but Aids/HIV projects
took them away," said Dr Grace Namaganda, the senior advisor human resource
manager at the Ministry of Health.USAID is working with the Ministry of Health, line
ministries and professional councils in collaboration with Makerere University School
of Public Health, Gulu University and Uganda Management Institute.
--------------------
Japanese Military Joins U.S. And NATO In Horn Of Africa (Eurasia Review)

Japanese navy commander Keizo Kitagawa recently spoke with Agence France-Presse
and disclosed that his nation was opening its first overseas military base - at any rate
since the Second World War - in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

Kitagawa is assigned to the Plans and Policy Section of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense
Force, as his nation's navy is called, and is in charge of the deployment.
AFP quoted the Japanese officer as stressing the unprecedented nature of the
development: "This will be the only Japanese base outside our country and the first in
Africa." [1]

The military installation is to cost $40 million and is expected to accommodate Japanese
troops early next year.

Djibouti rests at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, across from strife-
torn Yemen, and borders the northwest corner of equally conflict-ridden Somalia. The
narrow span of water separating it from Yemen is the gateway for all maritime traffic
passing between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal, the
Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

Naval deployments to the Gulf of Aden by several major nations and alliances - the
U.S., NATO, the European Union, China, Russia, India, Iran and others - are designed
to insure the free passage of commercial vessels through the above route and to protect
United Nations World Food Programme deliveries to Somalia. The second concern in
particular led to the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1838 in
2008, which requests that nations with military vessels in the area suppress the capture
of ships and their crews for ransom. An anti-piracy mission.

However, the above-mentioned Japanese naval officer was more direct in identifying
his nation's interest in establishing a military base in Africa. Kitagawa also told AFP
that "We are deploying here to fight piracy and for our self-defence. Japan is a maritime
nation and the increase in piracy in the Gulf of Aden through which 20,000 vessels sail
every year is worrying."

The term self-defense is not fortuitous. Article 9 of the 1947 Japanese Constitution
explicitly affirms that "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of
the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. To
accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as
other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will
not be recognized."

As such, in the post-World War Two period the nation's armed forces have been called
the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF).

The Constitution also expressly prohibits the deployment of military forces outside of
Japan, stating that it is "not permissible constitutionally to dispatch armed troops to
foreign territorial land, sea and airspace for the purpose of using military power, as a
so-called overseas deployment of troops, since it generally exceeds the minimum level
necessary for self-defense."
That notwithstanding, in the years following the Cold War all post-Second World War
proscriptions against the use of military force by the former Axis nations have been
disregarded, [2] and in February of 2004 Japan dispatched 600 troops, albeit in a non-
combat role, to Iraq shortly after the U.S. and British invasion of the country. The
nation's navy, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, supplied fuel and water in
support of the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom campaign in Afghanistan from 2001-
2007 and again from January of 2008 to the beginning of this year, thereby violating
another basic tenet of its constitution, the ban on engaging in what the document refers
to as collective self-defense, the relevant section of which reads:

"Japan has the right of collective self-defense under international law. It is, however, not
permissible to use the right, that is, to stop armed attack on another country with armed
strength, although Japan is not under direct attack, since it exceeds the limit of use of
armed strength as permitted under Article 9 of the Constitution."

However, a 2007 Defense White Paper left the door open to further military
deployments with a provision on "international peace cooperation activities."

It is in the spirit of that elastic and evasive phrase that Japan resumed support for the
war in Afghanistan in 2008 and has now secured a military base on the African
continent.

The Japanese official presiding over the latter project also said that "A camp will be built
to house our personnel and material. Currently we are stationed at the American base."
Kitagawa added that "We sent military teams to Yemen, Oman, Kenya and Djibouti. In
April 2009, we chose Djibouti."

A year earlier, the Kyodo News cited an official of the Foreign Ministry as confirming
that "Japan and Djibouti reached a status of forces agreement" on April 3, 2009,
"stipulating the terms of operations and legal status for the Japanese Maritime Self-
Defense Force and related officials who will be based in the African nation during the
current antipiracy mission in waters off Somalia." [3]

The agreement was signed on the same day by Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu
Hamada and the foreign minister of Djibouti, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, in Tokyo. The
month before Japan sent two destroyers to the Gulf of Aden.

Two months later Japan deployed two new destroyers, the 4,550-ton Harusame and the
3,500-ton Amagiri, off the Horn of Africa. Also last July the Japanese press disclosed
that "The U.S....asked Japan to build its own facilities to carry out full-fledged
operations," and that at the time "about 150 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force
and MSDF [Maritime Self-Defense Force] stationed in Djibouti live in U.S. military
lodgings near an airport." [4] The Japanese military announced plans to construct a
runway for Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance planes and barracks for its
troops.

Although Russian, Chinese, Indian and Iranian ships in the Horn of Africa are there to
protect their own and other nations' vessels and their missions are understood to be
limited to anti-piracy operations and to a prescribed duration, Japan and its American
and NATO allies have established permanent land, naval and air bases in the region for
use in armed conflicts on the African continent.

In early 2001 the U.S. started negotiations with the government of Djibouti for setting
up its first major military base in Africa at the former French Foreign Legion base Camp
Lemonnier. (Until recently spelled Lemonier by the Pentagon.)

This was several years before combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden became the
rationale for U.S. and NATO deployments in the region.

Djibouti is the last territory on the African continent to achieve independence

(excepting Western Sahara, seized by Morocco in 1975 with the connivance of Spain's
General Franco), only being granted what independence it has by France in 1977. Its
population is less than 900,000.

France still maintains its largest overseas military base in the world in the nation and
has approximately 3,000 troops stationed there.

Since the Pentagon moved into and took over Camp Lemonnier in 2003, it established
its Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) on the base and has an
estimated 2,000 troops from all four branches of the U.S. military - Army, Air Force,
Navy and Marine Corps - stationed there.

The Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa's area of operations incorporates
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen and
increasingly the Indian Ocean island nations of Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius.

As the U.S. was transferring the CJTF-HOA command from the Marine Corps to the
Navy in 2005 - to free up Marines for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the then
commander, Major Marine General Timothy Ghormley, acknowledged that "U.S. forces
have been working with militaries in Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan,
Uganda, Kenya and Comoros" [5] and "operate throughout Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea,
Djibouti, Yemen and Ethiopia." [6]

France has used its base in Djibouti for deadly military interventions in Cote d'Ivoire
and Chad and, because of the nation's topography, Djibouti has also been used for
training French troops for the war in Afghanistan, where the nation's contingent is the
fourth largest serving under NATO command.

Last December the commander of the French army in the country, Commandant
Etienne du Fayet, said that "French officers are going to be training a contingent in
Uganda next February and we are also going to Ethiopia." [7] During deadly border
clashes between Djibouti and Eritrea in June of 2008 France deployed additional troops,
warships and aircraft to the region.

The U.S. base has been used for military operations in Somalia and Uganda. In 2008 the
deputy commander of U.S. forces in the country was cited as revealing that "the
Djibouti base facilitates some other military activities he won't talk about.

"There have been reports of U.S. special operations forces working from the base on
counter-terrorism missions in Somalia and elsewhere....[T]hat approach is the model for
the new United States Africa Command...."

At the same time Rear Admiral Philip Greene took over as commander of the
Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and, speaking over nine months before the
formal activation of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), said "There is, I think, great
synergy between what CJTF-Horn of Africa does now and what we're about and what
AFRICOM will represent as a combatant command."

To indicate the range of the operations he envisioned, Greene also said he would "be
watching some of the region's hot spots for potential seeds of instability," including "the
situations in Kenya, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur region, as well as tension on the
Ethiopia-Eritrea border and piracy along the Indian Ocean coastline." [8]

In 2006 a Kenyan daily newspaper wrote that (as of four years ago) "direct US arms
sales to East Africa and the Horn of Africa countries – Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia – have shot up from under one million dollars in 2003 to
over $25 million in 2006. Djibouti leads the list with nearly $20 million in direct arms
purchases in 2005 and 2006." [9]

The same feature described broader U.S. plans for the Horn of Africa region and further
afield being hatched from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti:

"Overall, direct US weapons sales [to Africa] increased from $39.2 million in 2005 to
nearly $60 million in 2006. In both years, East Africa and the Horn accounted for nearly
40 percent of US weapons sales to Africa, and this demonstrates the US military’s
strategic shift to the region.
"Access to strategic airfields and ports has also increased for the US military. Beyond
Camp Lemonier in 2003, the US had an agreement with Kenya that allowed it access to
the port of Mombasa and airfields at Embakasi and Nanyuki.

"Zambia and Uganda have joined Kenya in this unique arrangement. At Entebbe, the
US has constructed two K-Span steel buildings to house troops and equipment. The so
called 'Lily Pad' arrangement will allow the US

military to use the base when needed in times of conflict or as a staging area for a
conflict within the region."

The article also stated, "Strategically, the US military has developed a regional
operations plan that centres on Djibouti to support the Horn countries. It anchors the
southern flank with bases in Kenya, Zambia and Uganda to the west....[L]ike in Nigeria,
it can be used to ensure an uninterrupted flow of oil from the newly discovered fields of
Uganda and Kenya, and it opens the door to the construction of a well-protected oil
pipeline carrying oil from the interior of Central Africa to the port of Mombasa. It also
provides a strategically located airbase to support future military operations to the
north in Sudan or to the west." [10]

In 2006 the Pentagon expanded Camp Lemonnier by almost five times its original size,
from 88 to 500 acres. Late last year it completed an airfield project in the country to
provide parking spaces for C-130 Hercules and CV-22 Osprey aircraft and to support C-
17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy military transport planes.

Four years ago the Reuters news agency reported "the United States is already
providing Ethiopia and Kenya with logistical support and U.S. special forces had been
observed on the Kenya-Somalia border," [11] and shortly afterward the U.S. Air Force
divulged that U.S. airmen were operating out of Contingency Operating Location Bilate
(also known as Camp Bilate) in Ethiopia in conjunction with the the Combined Joint
Task Force - Horn of Africa headquarters at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. [12]

The U.S. military headquarters in Djibouti is in charge of three smaller downrange

bases, known as Contingency Operating Locations, at Bilate and Hurso in Ethiopia and
Manda Bay in Kenya.

An Ethiopian newspaper revealed at the time that "The United States would continue
providing training and other assistance to the Ethiopian Defence Forces as per the
Ethio-US bilateral cooperation" [13] during the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006.

Ethiopian troops were being trained in infantry tactics by soldiers with the U.S. Army's
1st Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment at the Training Academy in
Hurso as jets from the country bombed the Somali capital and ground forces invaded
their eastern neighbor. The U.S. Army conducted training at the base starting no later
than 2003. "U.S. military personnel with the Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of
Africa...have spent the last four years training the Ethiopian National Defense Forces in
basic military tactics." [14] The effects of that preparation were seen in the 2006 invasion
of Somalia.

The Pentagon's role in Somalia was not limited to training and arming Ethiopian
invasion forces, as in early 2007 it was reported that "recent military operations in
Somalia have been carried out by the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command,
which directs the military's most secretive and elite units, like the Army's Delta Force.

"The Pentagon established a desolate outpost in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti in
2002 in part to serve as a hub for special missions...." [15]

As U.S. special forces were operating in Somalia and Washington's military client was
launching air and ground attacks there, the U.S. deployed the USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower aircraft carrier, which "has an air wing of about 75 aircraft, including F/A-
18 Hornet and SuperHornet strike fighters, E-2C Hawkeyes, EA-6B Prowlers, and SH-60
Seahawks," [16] to join the the guided-missile cruisers USS Bunker Hill and USS Anzio
and the amphibious landing ship USS Ashland off the coast of Somalia.

An "AC-130 gunship, operated by the Special Operations Command, flew from its base
in Djibouti to the southern tip of Somalia" [17] where it "rained gunfire on the desolate
village of Hayo" on January 8. A local official was quoted as saying "There are so many
dead bodies and animals in the village." [18]

"Officials with CJTF-HOA, based in Djibouti, declined...to comment on the reported

AC-130 attacks; media reports said the plane was based at Camp Lemonier." [19]

Also in early January of 2007 a major Kenyan newspaper reported "The US counter-
terrorism task force based in Djibouti acknowledges that American troops are on the
ground in northern Kenya and in Lamu," the latter on the Indian Ocean. [20]

In March of the same year two U.S. soldiers were killed in Ethiopia in what was
attributed to an accident. They were assigned to a unit that was "part of the U.S.-led
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, headquartered at Camp Lemonier,
Djibouti." [21]

Late last year U.S. Africa Command deployed lethal Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles
(drones), 133 military personnel and three P-3 Orion anti-submarine and maritime
surveillance aircraft to Seychelles in the Indian Ocean east of Kenya. The Pentagon now
has its second major African military base.
In addition to the 5,000 U.S. and French troops stationed there, Djibouti also has been
home to what in 2005 Agence France-Presse disclosed were "several hundred German,
Dutch and Spanish soldiers." [22]

That is, the diminutive state is for all practical purposes not only the headquarters for
U.S. Africa Command but also for NATO in Africa.

In late 2005 Britain announced that it was also deploying troops to Djibouti.

Starting in March of 2009 NATO started rotating its Standing NATO Maritime Group 1
(SNMG 1) and Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG 2) warship fleets off the coast
of Somalia, first with Operation Allied Provider until August of last year and since with
Operation Ocean Shield, which continues to the present day and which in March was
extended until the end of 2012. The current fleet consists of warships from the U.S.,
Britain, Greece, Italy and Turkey. Its area of operations includes one million square
kilometers in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin. (The current name of the naval
groups are NATO Response Force Maritime Groups 1 and 2.)

NATO does not intend to leave the area soon if at all.

Even before the NATO Allied Provider and Ocean Shield operations began, the Italian
destroyer MM Luigi Durand De La Penne, "a 5,000-ton multi-role warship capable of air
defence, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare operations," [23] part of the Standing
NATO Maritime Group 2, at the time comprised of warships from the U.S., Britain,
Germany, Greece and Turkey, visited the Kenyan port city of Mombasa in October of
2008.

Of the current NATO deployment, last December then German Defense Minister Franz
Josef Jung said that it was "the most robust mandate we have ever had," adding, "There
may be combat situations, and in this respect it would of course be a combat
deployment." [24]

The NATO flotillas joined warships of the U.S.-led Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150)
with logistics facilities in Djibouti. Formerly the U.S. Navy's Task Force 150, starting in
2001 it became a multinational operation with the inclusion of NATO allies and those
from an emerging Asian NATO. Full participating nations are the U.S., Britain, Canada,
Denmark, France, Germany and Pakistan, and others who have been involved are
Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain and Turkey.
CTF-150 has 14-15 warships near Somalia at any given time and is coordinated with the
U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, under the Combined Forces Maritime Component
Commander/Commander US Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.
In January of 2009 the U.S. Navy inaugurated Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151),
which will include warships from 20 nations, NATO and Asian NATO states.

European NATO nations are also "double-duty" participants in the European Union
Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta, the first naval operation conducted by the
EU and run under the auspices of the European Security and Defence Policy. It was
launched in December of 2008 and is based at the Northwood Operation Headquarters
in Britain, which also houses NATO's Allied Maritime Component Command
Northwood. Current participants in Operation Atalanta are Britain, Belgium, France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, and "a
number of Cypriot, Irish, Finnish, Maltese and Sweden military personnel supplement
the team at the Northwood Operation Headquarters." [25]

Starting no later than September of 2009 NATO commanders have visited and in
essence established a headquarters in Somalia's autonomous Puntland state. Last
autumn British Commodore Steve Chick, commander of Standing NATO Maritime
Group 2, met with Puntland authorities on board the HMS Cornwall. "The talks ended
successfully with NATO and Puntland officials agreeing to cooperate in combating
pirates operating along the Somali coast." [26]

This January Admiral Pereira da Cunha, commander of Standing NATO Maritime

Group 1, hosted Puntland officials on the Portuguese flagship Alvares Cabral, and the
meeting "focused on human intelligence gathering, capacity building and counter
piracy cooperation between NATO and Puntland authorities."

"NATO...has established a close working relationship with the Puntland

Coastguard....This is just a start. With 60 years of experience and coalition building,
NATO is well placed to make things happen." [27]

In March ministers of the Puntland government met with Standing NATO Maritime
Group 2 commander Commodore Steve Chick on board the HMS Chatham, current
flagship of the NATO naval group in the region. The talks "covered ways in which
further cooperation between NATO and the Puntland authorities could be developed in
the future." [28]

According to a Puntland news source, NATO's activities aren't limited to operations in

the waters off Somalia: "NATO has a working relationship with Puntland authorities in
a bid to enhance its fight against the piracy scourge along the lawless waters of the
Horn of Africa. Puntland has offered its help in terms of dealing with the gangs in the
mainland." [29]
The European Union will soon begin training 2,000 Ugandan troops for deployment to
Somalia to aid the Transitional Federal Government, which is fighting for its life even in
the nation's capital.

Last October a Kenyan newspaper announced that Kenyan troops sailed to Djibouti to
receive military training along with the armed forces of other regional nations. At the
same time military officers from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden were in
Kenya to "assist the region in the ongoing establishment of a united military force to
deal with conflicts on the continent."

"The experts from the European countries, which are part of the Nordic Bloc, are based
at the EASBRIG headquarters, at the Defence Staff College in Karen, Nairobi." [30]

EASBRIG, the East African Standby Brigade, "will be deployed to trouble spots within
14 days after chaos erupts, to restore order....The brigade will have troops from 14
countries....The military unit will comprise 35,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers plus
1,000 civilian staff. Kenya is already training 2,000 soldiers to be seconded to the force
once it is in place." [31]

Japan's destroyers off the coast of Somalia and the nation's first foreign military base in
the post-World War Two era in Djibouti are in line with the geostrategic plans of
Tokyo's allies in North America and Europe.

Plans which are embodied most fully in the creation of the first U.S. regional military
command outside North America in a quarter of a century, Africa Command. Long
after pirates, al-Qaeda affiliates and other threats have ceased to serve as their
justification, the Pentagon, NATO and Japan will retain their military footholds in
Africa.
--------------------
Morocco dismantles Al-Qaeda linked cell: authorities (AFP)

RABAT, Morocco – Moroccan security services have arrested 24 people and dismantled
an Al-Qaeda linked network which was preparing to carry out attacks, the interior
ministry and police said Monday.

"The security services have recently dismantled a terrorist network linked to Al-Qaeda
and composed of 24 members," the north African kingdom's interior ministry said in a
statement.

It said the network "was preparing to commit crimes and acts of sabotage against the
security services and interests of Morocco."
The arrests took place around mid-April in several towns, notably Casablanca, about
100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Rabat, according to a police source contacted by
AFP.

The group recruited Moroccan "activists" to send to locations such as Afghanistan, Iraq,
Somalia and the Sahel-Saharan zone, the ministry said, citing initial details from an
inquiry led by a prosecutor.

"Candidates were preparing to leave for these regions," the ministry said.

Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is active in the Sahel-Saharan region, a vast
desert territory covering the south of Algeria and the north of Mali and Niger, as well as
northeastern Mauritania.

AQIM is notorious for seizing Western hostages and killed one of them, Edwin Dyer, on
May 31 last year when Britain refused to pay a ransom.

Some suspects were found in possession of a pistol and ammunition that they had taken
after attacking a police officer in Casablanca, the statement said. Police also seized
knives.

The network included four Moroccan former detainees convicted of acts of terrorism in
the kingdom, the statement said, without giving details on the other suspects.

The detainees will be transferred before the anti-terrorist tribunal at the end of the
inquiry, the ministry said.

Since March 2, Moroccan security services have reported the arrest of 30 suspected
terrorists, including those announced on Monday.

Generally, Islamic activists arrested in Morocco belong to the extremist movement,

Salafia Jihadia, according to local press reports. However, the six presumed terrorists
whose arrest was announced on March 2 were reportedly Takfirists.

The Takfirist ideology is upheld by a violent Islamist movement forming a tiny

minority in Morocco, who argue that society and its rulers have strayed from the true
path. Takfirism first appeared in Egypt in the 1970s.

More than 2,000 Islamists have been arrested and sentenced in Morocco since the
Casablanca bombings of May 16, 2003. Five separate suicide bomb attacks, the most
deadly inside a restaurant, claimed 45 lives, including those of 12 bombers, and
wounded many people in the northern port city.
--------------------
Sudan's Bashir Retains Presidency (Voice of America)

Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been announced the winner of the nation's
first multi-party vote in 24 years. Opposition parties have rejected the results, which
they say were rigged, but all eyes likely now focus on a southern independence
referendum eight months away.

Sudan's election commission says Mr. Bashir won 68 percent of the nation's votes.
Under electoral law, he needed to surpass 50 percent in order to avoid a run-off vote
against his nearest competitor.

Yasir Arman, the northern secular Muslim slated by the southern-based Sudan People's
Liberation Movement to challenge Mr. Bashir, came in second with 22 percent, most of
which came from the southern states. His strong showing was made despite
announcing his withdrawal from the race days before polling began, citing electoral
fraud.

In Southern Sudan, the president of the semi-autonomous region and head of the
SPLM, Salva Kiir, retained his seat with 92 percent of the votes from the region.

Some international observers, such as the Atlanta-based The Carter Center, have said
the election will fall short of international standards. Northern opposition groups
widely boycotted the elections, citing what they called an unfair campaign environment
and allegations of vote rigging. Following the five days of chaotic polling, the charges
of vote rigging have only escalated from the opposition forces.

But with the results final, the international community has indicated its efforts will be
focused on securing the final implementation of a 2005 peace deal signed between
Bashir's government and the southern SPLM rebels. The accord includes a January
referendum in the South on whether to remain part of the country or to secede and
form its own state.

The lead-up to the referendum is contentious, with a number of outstanding issues

analysts warn could derail the peace process.

With no major change in the leadership of either of the two peace parties, these
negotiations are expected to begin hitting their final sprint, and logistical planning for
the referendum starts almost immediately.
--------------------
Niger's Consultative Council Calls for 11-Month Transition to Civilian Rule (Voice of
America)
A consultative council appointed by Niger's military rulers says civilian government
should be re-established by March of next year.

After more than one week of debate, Niger's 131-member Consultative Council called
for the return of democratic rule by March 1, 2011.

Council President Marou Amadou now passes on that proposal to the military's ruling
Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, which toppled President Mamadou
Tandja in a February coup.

Military rulers are likely to accept that proposal since they are represented on the
consultative council and have already pledged to restore civilian rule within a year.

The council made no formal recommendation on the dates of presidential and

parliamentary elections, but Amadou says a referendum on a new constitution should
come sometime in October.

Maman Nassirou Garba, a member of the council's political commission, says it is not
necessary to have a long transition to civilian rule. He says the council thinks it is
essential that this happen in the shortest possible time to restore democracy and return
to constitutional order.

Garba says the council will propose having a national independent electoral
commission in place by May 5. There will then be a review of the voter lists and
registration of voters living outside Niger.

Military ruler Major Salou Djibo last week established a committee to draw up a new
constitution within 45 days and named an 11-member council to ensure the
"transparency and sincerity" of the constitutional referendum and presidential and
legislative elections.

Mr. Djibo has appointed a civilian prime minister and says no one in the transitional
government or on the ruling military council will be eligible to run in the next election.

Regional diplomats believe he is serious about returning to democracy, in part, because

many of the soldiers behind this coup were also involved in a 1999 coup that organized
elections won by former President Tandja.

Garba says Niger has past experience with this process following the 1999 coup that
also restored civilian rule within one year. He says restoring internal and external
credibility means having a transition of no more than 12 months.
Niger's external credibility was badly damaged by President Tandja, who refused to
step down at the end of his second five-year term last December. He organized a
constitutional referendum to remove term limits and give himself another three years in
office. When Niger's parliament and constitutional court said that was illegal, he
dismissed both bodies and ruled by decree.

Since the February coup, the former president has been under house arrest in Niamey.
--------------------
EU warship destroys pirate vessels (Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Kenya - European Union Naval Force said on Monday its warship ESPS
Victoria intercepted a pirate action group (PAG) comprising one mother ship, a Whaler,
and two skiffs.

EU Naval Force spokesman John Harbor said the suspected pirates were detected by
the frigate's helicopter, about 40 miles from the Somali coast northwest of the Seychelles
on Sunday.

Harbor said the helicopter crew saw that the mother ship was carrying a large number
of fuel drums, and also the normal paraphernalia for hijacking ships (ladders, hooks,
among others) as there was no fishing gear on board. "EU NAVFOR warship closed the
PAG position and, following the orders of the EU NAVFOR Force Commander Jan
Thornqvist, a search was conducted with no opposition from the pirates," Harbor said a
statement.

He said the boarding party confirmed the suspicions that these vessels were being used
with the intent to carry out acts of piracy.

"All the suspects were then put into one of the skiffs and given the necessary equipment
to reach the Somali coast. Victoria then proceeded to destroy the other vessels," he said.

The incident came barely a week after the Somali pirates hijacked three Thai vessels
almost 600 miles outside the normal operation area for the EU Naval Force.

The Somali pirates have expanded their range south and east in response to an increase
in patrols by European and American warships off the Somali shore.

This was the second event in four days of patrolling in the area. Two whalers were
lifted on board of Johan de Witt and five crew members of the whaler were sent safely
back to the shore.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red
Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.
The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a
functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed
Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the
world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and
the Arabian Sea.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Four abducted UN-AU blue helmets released in Darfur

26 April – Four peacekeepers serving with the joint African Union-United Nations
Mission in the war-ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur (UNAMID) were released today
after having spent more than two weeks in captivity.

UN envoy calls on Somali Parliament to resolve internal disputes

26 April – The top United Nations envoy to Somalia today appealed to members of the
nation’s Parliament to put aside their infighting and to instead focus on meeting the
population’s needs and bolstering security.

ICC rejects appeal against dismissal of charges against Darfurian rebel leader
26 April – The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected
an appeal by prosecutors to overturn an earlier decision declining to confirm charges
against a rebel leader accused of directing the September 2007 attack that killed a dozen
African Union peacekeepers in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region.

UN food agency steps up response amid growing food crisis in Niger

26 April – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it will more
than double the number of hungry people it feeds in Niger, despite its own funding
gap, as the food crisis in the African country worsens.

South Africa launches massive UN-backed HIV prevention drive

26 April – South Africa – home to the one-sixth of the world’s population living with
HIV – today unveiled an ambitious campaign to prevent and treat the virus, a move
hailed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).