United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

20 May 2010

USAFRICOM -related news stories

From and About Africa

TWO INJURED IN EXCHANGE OF FIRE BETWEEN TWO RIVAL SECURITY FORCES IN

MADAGASCAR
ANTANANARIVO - At least two people were said to have been injured on Thursday in the exchange of
fire between members of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Force (FIGN) and the Special
Intervention Forces (FIS) in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, a Xinhua correspondent has
learned. It was not known that which side inflicted the injuries.

LIBYA RECEIVES DARFUR REBEL LEADER AFTER CHAD DENIED ENTRY

Tripoli — Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement returned
Wednesday evening to Tripoli after Chad’s refusal to allow him entry to join his troops
in the troubled region of Darfur. Following his arrival today morning to Ndjamena on a
Libyan Afriqiyah airlines plane from Tripoli, the Chadian authorities bared Khalil from
entering into the country and confiscated Chadian passports he and his aides had in their possession.

SUDAN PRO-SAUDI COLUMNIST ACCUSES SUDAN OF HARBORING

UNITS FROM IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD
A Saudi columnist today lashed out at the Sudanese government accusing it of
hosting members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard along with secret weapon
manufacturing factories. This week Sudanese authorities arrested Islamist
opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi and closed down his party’s newspaper after
publishing a report alleging that Iran had constructed a weapon factory in the
country aiming at supplying Islamic insurgents in Somalia and Yemeni Shiite rebels as well as Islamist
Palestinian movement Hamas

FRANCE AFRICA SUMMIT MAY 31-JUNE 1 IN NICE

France on Tuesday invited the leader of a February 18 military coup in Niger to its Africa summit later
this month, welcoming his promise to hand over power of the uranium-producing state within a year.
The invitation for junta leader General Salou Djibo to attend the May 31-June 1 summit in Nice was
announced on Nigerien state television by Andre Parant, a diplomatic aide to President Nicolas Sarkozy
in the capital Niamey. "We welcomed the May 5 decision on the transition (to civilian rule) and I told
(Djibo) that France was ready to help with this transition," Parant said of a junta pledge earlier this month
to hand back power to civilians within 12 months.

NIGERIA'S EX-MILITANTS MAKE PEACE PLEDGE FOR NIGER DELTA

"Now that the person who is at the helm of affairs is one of our own, we have no choice but to support
and consolidate on what we started with President Yar'Adua," said militants spokesman, Chris Ekiyor.
"There is total peace in the Niger Delta now. The President can go to sleep...he has everybody supporting
the process of national unity," Ekiyor, a leader of the Ijaw Youth Council, a Niger Delta ethnic lobbyist
group said.

KENYA WANTS EU TO SHARE PIRACY BURDEN

Nairobi - Kenya has held its ground on the trial of piracy suspects captured off the Somali coast, saying it
would only do so if supported by countries whose vessels are affected. Even though Kenya had a duty to
combat piracy, its strategic interests and security were paramount, Foreign Affairs minister Moses
Wetang’ula yesterday told European countries. “We will meet our international obligations, but the
burden of piracy must be shared,” he told a press conference addressed by Baroness Margaret Ashton,
the vice-president of the European Commission.

GUINEA ARMY CHIEF URGES CALM DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Conakry - Guinea's army chief of staff on Wednesday urged "calm and serenity" among politicians for the
June 27 presidential poll, warning the army would not hesitate to step in and quell unrest. "The campaign
has started. We want each person to take responsibility, to keep in mind that peace has no price. We
demand calm and serenity for the people of Guinea," said Colonel Nouhou Thiam. He was speaking
during a meeting between army staff and political leaders and their representatives in the national
assembly.

MOROCCAN-BORN US MAN AIDED AL-QAEDA

Washington - A Moroccan-Born used car dealer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to provide
material support to Al-Qaeda, admitting to sending it at least US$23,000 (S$32,108), the US Justice
Department said. Khalid Ouazzani, 32, also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money-laundering charges
before a federal judge in Kansas City, Missouri after waiving his right to a grand jury, US Attorney Beth
Phillips said. 'Ouazzani had conversations with others about various ways to support Al-Qaeda,
including plans for them to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia,' the Justice Department said. It said he
paid Al-Qaeda US$23,000 of his own money through intermediaries, raising part of it through the sale of
his used car and auto parts business and the rest through profits from the sale of an apartment in Dubai.

SUDAN CENSORS TWO NEWSPAPERS

Sudanese security officers stormed two newspapers on Wednesday tearing up articles ready for printing,
employees said, despite a 2009 presidential decree promising to lift press censorship. Authorities went to
the offices of the Ajras al-Hurriya, which is linked to the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation
Movement and the independent daily Al-Sahafa, and confiscated articles.

ANGOLAN COPS DENY DEATH SQUADS

Luanda - Angolan police said on Wednesday several of its officers were responsible for killing three
young men in the capital Luanda last week but denied the existence of death squads in the country.
Angolan police have been under fire in recent months for a series of unrelated killings of suspected gang
members in Luanda, whose crime rate and prison population have soared in recent years amid
widespread poverty.

UNICEF CONDEMNS WES KILLINGS, CALLS FOR ANTI-LRA STRATEGY

Regional governments and members of the international community must expedite the process of ending
Joseph Kony-led Lords Resistance Army (LRA) havoc on innocent civilians, United Nations Children
Education Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement released yesterday. The organization, currently active in
more than 150 countries, strongly condemned the May 16 killings of officials from Western Equatoria
State (WES) Ministry of Education, by suspected LRA rebels near Tambura County. Among the
murdered officials, said UNICEF, were William Baabe, Director of Non-Governmental Organization Co-
ordination and Alternative Education and his colleague Gabriel Makana, Director of Planning.