United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

27 May 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Covert U.S. operations authorized in secret order (Reuters)

(Washington) A senior U.S. military commander issued a secret order last year that laid
the ground for an escalation of covert operations across the Middle East and the Horn
Africa, officials said on Monday.

U.S. trains Mali army to fight Al Qaeda (Tucson Sentinel)

(West Africa) This is Flintlock: The time each year since 2005 when U.S. and European
military drill sergeants come to Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso — all across Africa's
sandy top — to train in counterterrorism blitzes with African armies.

Ellen, Obama Meet Face-2-Face Thursday (The Informer - Monrovia)

(Liberia) For the first time United States President Barack Obama will on Thursday,
May 27, welcome Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the White House.

US says Ethiopia ties depend on electoral changes (AFP)

(Ethiopia) The United States vowed Wednesday to press the Ethiopian government to
make future elections more inclusive and warned that US-Ethiopian ties depended on
tackling the problem.

Hold credible polls next year, senior US official tells Nigeria (AFP)
(Nigeria) Nigeria should turn a page on its tainted electoral record when it holds next
year's presidential vote, US Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria
Otero urged on Wednesday.

Obama commits US to helping hunt for LRA leader Joseph Kony (Christian Science
Monitor)
(Central Africa) President Obama signed a new law to help four African nations hunt
down LRA leader Joseph Kony, who's followers have brutalized thousands over the
past 23 years.
Former Exile Holds Power in West African Nation (New York Times)
(Guinea-Bissau) For months, as the United States Treasury Department prepared to
declare him a drug kingpin and a major figure in the international narcotics trade, Rear
Adm. José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto was hiding out in the unlikeliest of places — living
in the United Nations building in Guinea-Bissau.

Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, a proponent of change, may one day lead Libya (Washington
Post)
(Libya) Saif Gaddafi, the leader's second-eldest son, is widely considered a possible
successor to his 68-year-old father, who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years.

Africa's Local Champions Begin to Spread Out (Wall Street Journal)

(Pan Africa) Foreign consumer-goods companies including Coca-Cola Co., Nestlé SA
and Unilever PLC have been in Africa for decades without much competition from local
players. Now, home-grown companies are expanding aggressively across the continent,
eager to accommodate a growing middle-class among the billion-person population.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website

· Ban urges Ivorians to revive stalled electoral process, resolve outstanding issues

· Football World Cup in South Africa underlines ‗African renaissance‘ – UN envoy

· Chad reassures UN on protection of civilians after peacekeepers withdraw

· ICC sends Sudan‘s failure to honour arrest warrants to Security Council

· UN relief chief welcomes US move against Ugandan rebel group

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, June 2, 9:30 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: Threats to Maritime Security

WHO: Donna Hopkins, Director, Office of Plans, Policy and Analysis, Bureau of
Political Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Bruce A. Averill, Ph.D., Founder and
Senior Partner, Strategic Energy Security Solutions; Michael Berkow, President,
Altegrity Security Consulting;

Robert M. Perito, Moderator, Director, Initiative on Security Sector Governance, U.S.

Institute of Peace

Info: http://www.usip.org/events/threats-maritime-security

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, June 11, noon; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Cato Institute: Sudan After the Elections: Implications for the Future and
American Policy Options

WHO: Sean Brooks, Save Darfur Coalition; Marc Gustafson, Marshall Scholar, Oxford
University; Jon Temin, U.S. Institute for Peace; moderated by Justin Logan, Associate
Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

Info: http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=7192

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Article Text

U.S. trains Mali army to fight Al Qaeda (Tucson Sentinel)

KATI, Mali — Meet Cmdr. Alou Ongoiba's special forces company of 40 men in
mismatched uniforms and doo-rags sheared from actual rags — soldiers charged with
scattering terrorists from the bleak Malian badlands that begin about 600 miles
northeast of this practice battlefield.

On a Monday, in 105 degrees Fahrenheit, Ongoiba's troops and their American trainers
were supposed to be shinnying down from helicopters and ambushing a make-believe
Al Qaeda bivouac.

"But a helicopter requires four or five hours of maintenance for every hour of use,"
explained a U.S. military official, who insisted on anonymity, so no chopper. Instead,
Ongoiba's commandos spent their morning learning how to jumpstart a car. Tk-tk-tk-
vroom.

Their Senegalese counterparts napped underneath some trucks.

This is Flintlock: The time each year since 2005 when U.S. and European military drill
sergeants come to Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso — all across Africa's sandy top —
to train in counterterrorism blitzes with African armies.

Well north of the military vehicles stalled in Kati, across the dunes of the Sahara desert,
grows a threat that worries U.S. strategists: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The
annual training by Western military units is designed to get African armies, like Mali's,
to neutralize the threat from Islamic radicals.

The world's biggest name in terrorism has opened a highly profitable West African
franchise kidnapping tourists and aid workers and raking in ransoms that experts
worry will bankroll more terrorist activities.

In addition to abducting sightseers, the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb regularly

ambushes Algeria's army and nearly blew up its president in 2007. They're increasingly
linked to West Africa's booming cocaine trade and Tuareg rebels — anti-government
operations sprawled across ancient caravan routes in the world's largest desert.

"These deepest areas of the Sahara are providing safe havens," Special African
Operations Lt. Col. Chris Schmidt said, bringing back a buzzword from the early days
of the war in Afghanistan. In some ways, the Sahara is Afghanistan — another craggy
and history-steeped Islamic hinterland where militias rove a vast territory of
unpatrolled, government-free barrens.

Africa's western bulge is fast becoming a chessboard of disparate rebellions to check,

from conflicts a generation old — like oil bandits in Nigeria, separatists in Senegal's
Casamance and Tuareg resistance in Niger and Mali — to fresher worries, like religious
pogroms in northern Nigeria, a smoldering cocoa-funded conflict in Ivory Coast, recent
coups in Mauritania, Guinea, Niger, trouble in Guinea-Bissau and cocaine smuggling all
over.

America's Flintlock program is small scale. It involves about 1,200 troops across West
Africa, from Ongoiba to the army bureaucrats mingling around Kati clutching
clipboards.

"It's got to be driven by them, not by us," Schmidt said, explaining the operation's
bargain $10 million price tag purchases, among other logistics, 28,000 bottles of water,
Kevlar vests for Ongoiba's men and 42 four-wheel-drive vehicles for the Malian border
control.
The vehicles are to patrol 4,500 miles of borders and one plane is to fly over 479,000
square miles.

Back in Kati, the even trickier question concerns the human element. After five years of
the training sessions, American military leaders wonder how ready the Mali military is
to confront Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

"We're teaching them basic soldier tasks," said Army Special Forces Capt. Shane West,
trainer for Ongoiba's company, cautioning that his soldiering 101 curriculum isn't
necessarily a reflection of their skill level.

Some American military trainers say privately that they have doubts about the whether
the Mali soldiers are up to the task of countering the Islamist threat. But the Africans
assert that they are.

"Right now, we already have the capacity, we're ready" said Ongoiba. "One unit
patrolling Mali's north, I think it's enough. We don't need anymore. This unit will be
able to face the challenges we have."
--------------------

Ellen, Obama Meet Face-2-Face Thursday (The Informer - Monrovia)

For the first time United States President Barack Obama will on Thursday, May 27,
welcome Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the White House.

An Executive Mansion release Tuesday, quoting a White House Statement said, the
United States greatly values its historic bonds with Liberia.

Liberia, the White House said, is an important democratic partner of the United States
that has made tremendous strides in consolidating stability, improving governance, and
contributing to regional peace and development in recent years, according to the
Executive mansion.

"The American people have maintained our links to the Liberian people through some
of the country's most challenging times, and we remain deeply engaged now as Liberia
continues to look to its future," the statement noted, adding, "President Obama
welcomes the opportunity to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues of mutual
importance with President Sirleaf."
Since his election two years ago, tomorrow is the first time President Sirleaf with have
the opportunity to hold one-on-one talk with the President of the world super power
and Liberia traditional ally.

President Sirleaf is expected to brief President Obama about progress of her

administration and the country in general including the political and economic and the
path to the 2011 presidential elections. The Liberian leader will likely also touch on the
gains and challenges on the war against corruption, a major campaign promise facing
her administration, the country's poverty reduction strategy, among others.

In addition, President Sirleaf is also expected to laud the US invaluable support to

Liberia's development progress and seek additional support in that direction.

--------------------

US says Ethiopia ties depend on electoral changes (AFP)

WASHINGTON – The United States vowed Wednesday to press the Ethiopian

government to make future elections more inclusive and warned that US-Ethiopian ties
depended on tackling the problem.

The US government has already indicated it was "concerned" that Sunday's elections --
which gave long-time ruler Meles Zenawi a landslide win -- appeared to fall short of
global standards, even if they were largely peaceful.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley renewed pressure, urging the Ethiopian
government to address not only the circumstances of the weekend elections but also
years-long corruption.

"We have a broad and comprehensive relationship with Ethiopia, but we have
expressed our concerns on democracy and governance directly to the government,"
Crowley told reporters.

"Measures the Ethiopian government take following these elections will influence the
future direction of US-Ethiopian relations."

He urged Addis Ababa to strengthen its democratic institutions and offer a "level
playing field" to electoral candidates free from intimidation and favoritism in order to
ensure "more inclusive results."

"To the extent that Ethiopia values the relationship with the United States, then we
think they should heed this very direct and strong message," Crowley said.
"We will continue to engage this government, but we will make clear that there are
steps that it needs to take to improve democratic institutions."

The State Department spokesman also expressed disappointment with pro-incumbent

trends leading up to the elections that favored Meles's party.

"A number of laws, regulations and procedures implemented since the previous
parliamentary elections in 2005 created a clear and decisive advantage for the ruling
party throughout the electoral process," he said.

Meles earlier dismissed calls for a re-run after the main opposition bloc Medrek said
Sunday's polls were riddled with fraud and demanded fresh elections.

Medrek has so far won only one seat, according to preliminary polls that showed
Meles's ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party had
taken 499 seats, in results from 536 constituencies.

The vast Horn of Africa nation has a 547-seat lower house and final results are to be
released on June 21.

--------------------

Hold credible polls next year, senior US official tells Nigeria (AFP)

ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria should turn a page on its tainted electoral record when it
holds next year's presidential vote, US Under Secretary for Democracy and Global
Affairs Maria Otero urged on Wednesday.

"The flawed elections in 2007 are something that we don't want to see to be the order of
the day," she told a meeting of selected civil society groups in the capital Abuja.

Africa's most populous nation goes to the polls next year to choose a president and state
governors in elections the US expects to be "free, transparent and fair".

"There is no question about that," she said.

On Wednesday Otero, who is on a three-day visit, will alongside Nigerian Foreign

Minister Odein Ajumogobia, co-chair a US-Nigeria commission working group
meeting.
The group is to discuss ways to create an environment for credible polls next year,
progress and implementation of electoral reform, and boosting anti-corruption efforts.

The commission is part of a new strategic partnership to bolster bilateral ties on energy,
regional security, good governance and a range of other issues.

Nigeria is the first African nation to be afforded such a status under the Barack Obama
administration.

"The US will work with Nigeria by providing assistance and support to the government
to meet the challenges of governance and allow Nigerians the unique opportunity to
move forward," she said.

Nigeria is attempting to implement wide-ranging reforms after the 2007 vote which the
US has called "seriously flawed" and marred by "malfeasance and vote-rigging."

The vote was also criticized by the opposition, as well as local and foreign observers,
including the European Union.

New leader Goodluck Jonathan has promised that his government would do its best to
stage a peaceful and violence-free electoral process next year.

"Being able to have another peaceful transition to civil rule is something we look
forward to," said Otero.

--------------------

Obama commits US to helping hunt for LRA leader Joseph Kony (Christian Science
Monitor)

President Obama signed a new law to help four African nations hunt down LRA leader
Joseph Kony, who's followers have brutalized thousands over the past 23 years. Kony
has been indicted for war crimes by an international court.

One of the world's most wanted rebel chiefs, Joseph Kony (l.) of the Lord's Resistance
Army, seen in Nairobi, May 24, 2006. President Obama has committed to help hunt for
the LRA leader.

Lying on her hospital bed with her left arm heavily bandaged, three-year-old Suza
Anipkidu is one of the Lord‘s Resistance Army‘s most recent victims.
Four days earlier, Suza, was following her grandfather, Samuel Mizalogbe, into the
fields outside their village. That was when they came across the rebels.

Immediately they shot and killed her grandfather and another elderly man
accompanying him. When Suza instinctively ran over to her grandfather‘s body they
spotted her and then shot her.

―They thought she was dead and so they left,‖ says her mother, Modestine
Ngbadulezele, as she watches over her daughter as she recovers from the bullet wound.
For the family, it‘s not the first encounter with the LRA. In March, two relatives were
abducted when the LRA attacked the village.

Attacks, such as this one, for the past 23 years, are why President Barack Obama signed
a law Monday that commits the US to helping four African nations to bring an "end to
the brutality and destruction," said Mr. Obama in a statement. "By any measure, [the
LRA's] actions are an affront to human dignity."

Kony's trail of tears

Originally from neighboring Uganda, the LRA is led by Joseph Kony, self-proclaimed
prophet who was indicted in 2005 for war crimes by the International Criminal Court
(ICC). His followers have become infamous for mutilating their victims and abducting
children to be used as porters, fighters, and sex slaves.

In December 2008, after Kony failed yet again to sign a peace deal with the Ugandan
government, the Ugandan army spearheaded an all-out attack on the LRA‘s bases deep
in the jungles of northeast Congo.

The attack, partly funded and planned by the US, failed to kill Kony or his top
commanders and the LRA splintered into small groups, surviving over the next 18
months by spreading into Central African Republic and Sudan – even reaching as far as
Sudan‘s Darfur region according to some reports.

Since then, the UN says, at least 1,616 people have been killed, many hacked to death
with machetes, and over 1,800 people abducted in Congo alone.

While governments in the region claim that the ongoing military operations have
severely weakened, if not destroyed, the LRA, recent attacks in Congo suggest the
rebels retain some co-ordination, equipment and the ability kill on a large-scale.
Estimates of the numbers of fighters left range from 100 to over 400.
Over four days of brutality in mid-December more than 321 people were killed and 250
abducted, Human Rights Watch says. 100 people were killed in January, according to
the UN, and reports of more massacres in February are still being investigated.

Very month at Dungu hospital here, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a
steady stream of badly injured LRA victims arrive.

Since the end of last year these have included mutilated men, women and children;
their lips, ears and noses sliced off as a warning to the local communities, says Jean
Claude Amundala, a doctor at the hospital.

―These things sound unimaginable but they are a reality not science fiction. We have
seen them,‖ says Dr. Amundala.

While Monuc, the UN‘s billion-dollar-a-year peacekeeping operation in Congo, has

boosted the number of its troops in the region to more than 1,000, LRA attacks continue
to happen within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the main base.

Still hunting the LRA

The Congolese Army, nominally charged with protecting civilians, has around 6,000
soldiers in the area but since elite troops were rotated out last year accusations of rapes
and robberies by the army have rocketed and clashes between the military and LRA
gone down. Elsewhere the Ugandan Army, while having officially ended operations in
Congo and moved to Central African Republic, is still hunting the LRA down in the
forests and vast expanses of Congo.

As the region's military try to succeed where others have repeatedly failed in capturing
or killing Kony, one ray of hope is the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and
Northern Uganda Recovery Act signed Monday by Obama. Passed by Congress earlier
this month, the law would oblige the US to come up with a multi-faceted plan to stop
the LRA threat. Africom, the US military's African command, has provided logistical
support and intelligence to the Ugandan Army effort to hunt down the LRA.

While proponents argue that the law would place more emphasis on civilian protection
and could see a more surgical attempt to take out Kony, skeptics claim it could help
prolong current military operations and the suffering of the people on the ground.

But one thing almost everyone agrees on is that it‘s time for a new strategy.
―Continuing with only this military strategy as it is will lead to nothing,‖ says Abbot
Benoit Kinalengu, the head of a local church-based organisation for justice and peace
back in Dungu. ―Violence has and will only lead to violence.‖

[Editor's note: "Lightning Thunder," a military operation lead by Ugandan forces, to

capture Joseph Kony occurred in Dec. 2008. The original article had the wrong date]

--------------------

Former Exile Holds Power in West African Nation (New York Times)

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — For months, as the United States Treasury Department

prepared to declare him a drug kingpin and a major figure in the international narcotics
trade, Rear Adm. José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto was hiding out in the unlikeliest of
places — living in the United Nations building here, sleeping on a mattress on the floor
of a United Nations office and sometimes eating in the canteen.

All the while, a coup was hatching, possibly by his hand. Last month, soldiers loyal to
Mr. Na Tchuto stormed the United Nations building as he was eating breakfast and also
seized his political enemies — including the nation‘s prime minister and its army chief
— to make it safe for him to leave.

Now Mr. Na Tchuto rides around this crumbling West African capital in an outsize
pickup truck flanked by a personal guard of soldiers, offering his booming greeting to
well-wishers. The president is still nominally in charge, but officials in the region worry
that the nation has effectively fallen into the hands of a drug baron.

―Bubo Na Tchuto is actually the force behind the forces,‖ said Dr. Abdel Fatau Musah,
the political director for the Economic Community of West African States, a regional
bloc of nations. ―The fact that he is controlling things is very unpleasant for the region.‖

In the eyes of the American government, Mr. Na Tchuto is a trafficking mastermind in a

country that has become a global narcotics hub: the point man, for instance, when
hundreds of pounds of cocaine were unloaded from a plane at the minuscule local
airport two years ago.

On April 8, just a week after the coup, the Treasury‘s Office of Foreign Assets Control
listed him and the air force chief of staff as drug lords and froze whatever assets they
might have in the United States.

―We‘ve been looking at these individuals for months,‖ said Adam J. Szubin, the
agency‘s director.
And yet, as Mr. Na Tchuto took refuge at the United Nations building, the secretary
general‘s representative in Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, was reassuring the Security
Council in New York that ―conditions were now in place for political stability‖ in the
country and that Guinea-Bissau was on a ―journey towards peace, democracy and
prosperity,‖ according to a Security Council announcement from March 5.

In an interview, Mr. Mutaboba said his fugitive guest, who was wanted by the
government here for treason, had been given sanctuary only reluctantly. The United
Nations said at the time that Mr. Na Tchuto stepped onto the compound uninvited and
declared that his life was in danger, making it ―mindful of international human rights
obligations governing such situations.‖

Mr. Mutaboba said there was ―no sign‖ that Mr. Na Tchuto was plotting a coup inside
the building and that his cellphones had been confiscated to prevent trouble. Still, he
acknowledged that it was possible that Mr. Na Tchuto had made contact with the
outside.

―You cannot read deeply into what the military are up to, especially when you have
shifting, opportunistic alliances,‖ Mr. Mutaboba said.

Now a free man, Mr. Na Tchuto also denied spending his time under the auspices of the
United Nations plotting the April 1 coup. But in an interview at his lawyer‘s office here,
he noted: ―I am a former guerrilheiro. I have the strength to transform difficult
situations into something favorable.‖

Still, the sudden onslaught of soldiers had taken him by surprise, he said, as have the
American government‘s allegations of drug trafficking.

―There‘s no material proof that I was involved in drugs,‖ he said angrily. ―Proof, proof,
proof, proof. People say I am a criminal! I am a patriot!‖ he said, boasting about his
service during the country‘s war of liberation against the Portuguese in the 1960s and
1970s, which he said he joined at the age of 14.

For the United Nations, his presence in the multistory headquarters on a rutted road
here has been a source of discomfort, both before and after the coup.

―The whole international community here was astonished at the U.N. behavior,‖ a
Western diplomat in Bissau said. ―They didn‘t understand why they were harboring
such a character. He was not just sitting there watching television.‖
Paulo Gorjão, director of the Portuguese Institute of International Relations and
Security in Lisbon, goes even further: ―He was under the protection of the U.N.,
planning a coup against the government. It was perfect.‖

Hours after the coup, Mr. Na Tchuto appeared with his ally, Gen. Antonio Indjai, the
new army chief, at a news conference introducing the country‘s new bosses. Mr. Na
Tchuto, who had been navy chief of staff under a previous government, did not get his
old job back, but he still plays a very influential, if officially somewhat nebulous, role.

It was a stunning reversal for a man who had spent over a year in exile in Gambia,
accused by those then leading Guinea-Bissau of plotting a coup against them. Mr. Na
Tchuto sneaked back into the country on a fishing boat shortly after Christmas last year.

By turns genial and explosive, Mr. Na Tchuto appeared hurt by the American
accusations, insisting that he admired America deeply, had dreamed about President
Obama and had a large American flag in his living room.

―I ask the Americans to help establish justice and peace in this country,‖ he said, noting
the history of instability here. There have been at least seven successful or attempted
coups since independence in 1974, and in the last 12 years 4 presidents, 4 acting
presidents and 11 prime ministers.

Mr. Na Tchuto deflected a question about whether he was now the real boss in Guinea-
Bissau, saying through his lawyer that he ―didn‘t want to offend‖ the current president
and army chief of staff by responding.

Others here are more blunt. ―Bubo Na Tchuto has power, and he has money — and we
know he has money from drugs — and he has a lot of people behind him,‖ said Idrissa
Djaló, a leading businessman and former presidential candidate. ―And so the situation
is uncontrollable.‖

At his hearing on the lingering treason charges last week, Mr. Na Tchuto looked
relaxed, showing up with his military guard and joking on the front porch of the
military tribunal building with the officers who were going to judge him. It was all a
mere ―formality,‖ he said later.

A small crowd gathered across the street to stare at Mr. Na Tchuto in his navy blue
admiral‘s uniform. Everybody knew who he was. ―He is a great chief,‖ murmured a
man looking on, Do Geloso, a tailor. ―He‘s got the power.‖

--------------------
Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, a proponent of change, may one day lead Libya (Washington
Post)

TRIPOLI, LIBYA -- Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi relaxed in an opulent suite in a swank new
hotel where, just two hours earlier, he had defied Libyan hard-liners by announcing the
release of 214 Islamist militants in an effort at national reconciliation.

The broad-shouldered 37-year-old has no official position in government. His power

comes from one source: his father, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Like so many of
the younger Gaddafi's initiatives in this North African nation, the releases brought into
question just how much change his father and his influential clique will tolerate. After
all, those freed included the leaders of a group that tried on three occasions to kill the
Libyan leader.

Saif Gaddafi, the leader's second-eldest son, is widely considered a possible successor to
his 68-year-old father, who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years. He is competing
with two brothers for the leadership, but many Libyans say he is the favorite, not least
because of his commitment to political freedoms and free-market reforms.

Still, Saif Gaddafi faces stiff resistance from an older generation of conservatives,
including members of his own family and influential clans. Many of his ideas -- such as
creating a constitution and embracing the West -- challenge his father's vision. Even his
supporters say he faces a lone and delicate balancing act in modernizing Libya while
preserving his father's legacy.

Confident, charismatic, outspoken -- those are the words many here use to describe Saif
Gaddafi. Others say he is quixotic, even naive, and his critics question whether he has
the power and will to stand up to his father, who is known here as the Brother Guide or
simply the Leader.

Saif Gaddafi says he is merely the messenger carrying the hopes of average Libyans.

"It's not my project, it's not my ideas. It's not about Saif," he said while sipping a fruity
cocktail. "It is the desire and wish of all Libyans to see Libya going forward."

Educated in Europe

Saif Gaddafi's views were shaped by the hardships Libyans endured under U.S.-led
sanctions imposed on the country in the 1980s and 1990s for terrorism, close associates
and analysts said. He was also affected by Libya's pariah status after the country was
implicated in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

In Europe, where he earned an MBA and a doctorate, his support for democratic
principles grew, they said. He was also deeply concerned about Libya's societal
problems, such as drug abuse and the immense poverty afflicting the country despite its
oil riches.

"This country must embark on change out of necessity, if not out of conviction," said
Youssef Sawani, who heads the Gaddafi Foundation, an influential nongovernmental
body.

Analysts and Saif Gaddafi's associates say he played an important role in persuading
his father to give up Libya's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons program in 2003,
ending Libya's diplomatic isolation. The United States no longer brands Libya a state
sponsor of terrorism, and at the end of 2008, it posted its first ambassador to Tripoli in
37 years. U.S. oil companies have poured in, and luxury hotels are being built as high
oil prices bring in new wealth.

"From all indications, Saif sees a good relationship with America and the West as being
in Libya's interest," said Gene A. Cretz, the U.S. ambassador to Libya. "To what extent
he will be forceful -- and advocate that in inner decision-making circles -- I don't know."

Saif Gaddafi, though, is far from pro-Western. Last year, he negotiated the release of
Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and brought him back from Scotland to
a hero's welcome. He declared Megrahi innocent, angering the United States and Britain
but burnishing his popularity in Libya.

"Being pro-Western is a double-edged sword in the Middle East," Sawani said. "He'd
rather be associated with Western ideas than Western designs and Western politics."

Saif Gaddafi has proposed new penal codes, an independent judiciary and tax-free
investment zones. But plans for a constitution have floundered in Libya's political
bureaucracy -- his father annulled the 1951 constitution. The government also has
restricted the activities of two newspapers backed by the younger Gaddafi.

"There is huge opposition to Saif's plans. What you got is a bunch of people with vested
interests in the system," said Mustafa Fetouri, a Libyan political analyst. "They want to
see change, but only in their own way."
'No' to government job

Gaddafi turned down his father when he offered him the second-most powerful post in
the government. "We want to see a constitution to create a more democratic and
transparent political game in Libya," he said. "Until that time, I am not interested in
being part of the government."

Gaddafi's biggest rivals are his brothers -- Mutassim, Libya's national security adviser,
and Khamis, a military commander. Unlike Saif, both reportedly have strong power
bases in the military, whose support is essential to hold power, analysts say. Mutassim
also appears to be close to the hard-liners who oppose Saif's reforms.

One potential weapon Saif Gaddafi holds is Libya's youth. In a nation where an
estimated 70 percent of the population is younger than 30, he views himself as the
champion of a generation longing for change. "I embody the dream of the young
people," he said.

His popularity is visible on the streets of Tripoli. In cafes, young Libyans openly declare
their support for him and credit him with gaining them more freedom to speak openly.
But there is also frustration that they have not benefited from Libya's oil wealth.

"The ordinary Libyan needs job opportunities. Before a road, he needs a car," said
Ibrahim Ali Mugasavi, 36, a businessman. "Dr. Saif's reforms, up to now, they are just
media. We have not seen something concrete, yet."

--------------------

Africa's Local Champions Begin to Spread Out (Wall Street Journal)

Foreign consumer-goods companies including Coca-Cola Co., Nestlé SA and Unilever

PLC have been in Africa for decades without much competition from local players.
Now, home-grown companies are expanding aggressively across the continent, eager to
accommodate a growing middle-class among the billion-person population.

Among the most prominent of these consumer upstarts: African retailers such as
Nakumatt Holdings Ltd. of Kenya, the top supermarket chain in East Africa, MTN
Group Ltd., Africa's largest cellphone provider, and South African restaurant chain
Spur Corp. Nakumatt has expanded into three neighboring countries while 348-
restaurant chain Spur has opened in seven other African countries.
Mosa Qabaza, 13, played soccer in the street in the middle-class neighborhood Protea
North in Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa May 24, 2010.

Nakumatt chose to emulate an American icon: Kmart. On a visit to Florida in the 1980s,
founder Atul Shah, a former mattress salesman, wandered into a Kmart and marveled
at its cleanliness. He was so impressed at how the store sold food, household goods and
furniture under one roof that he hung out there for hours a day for eight months. He
became such a fixture that customers asked him for assistance. "Everybody was happy
to be assisted by me," said Mr. Shah.

When Mr. Shah returned to Kenya, he opened Mega, a small shop that offered food and
some household wares. The shop was clean and had wide aisles for easy browsing,
unlike the cramped stores that populated his home country. Each year he added a few
more product lines, including furniture.

Mr. Shah is Africa's Sam Walton, who drew early inspiration for his Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. from Kmart. Mr. Shah is furiously expanding Nakumatt—opening five new stores
in just the last three months—where it today is the dominant supermarket in Kenya. Its
24 stores appeal to a middle-class that wants Kenyan-made products as well as imports
from Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Revenue last year was about $350 million, up 76% from
2006, the company said.

Mr. Shah has expanded across Kenya and has one store each in Rwanda and Uganda.
He soon plans to open Nakumatts in several cities in Tanzania, as well as Burundi. He
see the Burundi store serving as a trading post for customers from neighboring
Democratic Republic of Congo. "We'd benefit from the trade of those neighboring
countries," he said.

Aiding Nakumatt and others' cross-border expansion is an African gross domestic

product expected to grow 4.3% this year from just under $1.5 trillion in 2009, according
to the International Monetary Fund, a clip that trails only China and India among the
world's massive emerging markets. The growing investment and trade, from African
companies in African countries, has helped cushion the continent from the shocks of the
global economic crisis.

Commercial growth also is being fueled in part by the rise of young African banks that
have opened branches across the continent, providing much-needed capital to local
companies. Ecobank, from Togo, now has branches in 27 African countries and $9
billion in assets. In Nigeria, 10-year-old Guaranty Trust Bank PLC operates in five
English-speaking West African countries.
Another local champion tapping Africa's youth market is South African media group
Strika Communications, a private company that produces comic book SupaStrikas,
about a fictional soccer team. It has grown in circulation from under 50,000 as a local
newspaper insert to now selling more than two million copies a month in 21 countries,
mainly due to advertisements placed inside the comic panels from African and foreign
companies.

Big obstacles for businesses remain. Weak infrastructure means higher energy costs and
trouble moving goods between countries. Cumbersome trade tariffs deter investment in
new African markets. And the majority of people in African countries live well below
the poverty line, limiting their spending power.

Yet many African companies are finding ways around these barriers. Nigerian fertilizer
company Notore Chemicals Ltd., for example, has gone straight to governments to
pitch the benefits of improved regional trade, and recently established a distribution
chain that the company hopes will stretch across the 20 nations of Francophone Africa.

"There is a sense of solidarity within Africa," said Kola Masha, chief executive of
Notore, which had about $35 million in revenue in 2009 and after a ramp-up in
production expects 2010 revenue of $200 million. "Governments would like to provide
patronage to other African companies."

Spur waitress Thotho Mavuka served patrons at a Spur Steakhouse in Soweto's

Maponya Mall in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 21, 2010.

Several countries are taking steps to reduce trade barriers. East African nations have
agreed to create a regional trade zone, which should take effect this year, reducing the
cost of cross-border trade. Johannesburg-based restaurant franchiser Spur, with $22.8
million in sales last year, has pushed north into resort areas of Namibia, Kenya and into
the capital of Botswana.

MTN Group, Africa's largest cell phone-network provider, has become a regional
powerhouse, with a presence in 17 African countries, in large part because it is based on
the continent and was able to recognize and take advantage of fast cell phone growth. It
has 116 million subscribers in 21 countries.

MTN's 2009 revenue were up 9% from the year-earlier to around $15 billion. To tighten
its grip on the African market, MTN recently bid for the assets of Egyptian rival
Orascom Telecom Holding.

--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website

Ban urges Ivorians to revive stalled electoral process, resolve outstanding issues

26 May – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all parties in Côte d‘Ivoire to
resolve the ongoing impasse in the country, revive the stalled electoral process and
tackle the root causes of the conflict, warning that further violence remains a real threat.

Football World Cup in South Africa underlines ‗African renaissance‘ – UN envoy

26 May – This year‘s football World Cup, which kicks off in South Africa in two weeks,
presents the country and the rest of the continent with an opportunity to harness the
power of the international event to project Africa‘s potential for peace and
development, a United Nations envoy said today.

Chad reassures UN on protection of civilians after peacekeepers withdraw

26 May – Chadian President Idriss Déby today reiterated assurances that his
Government will take responsibility to protect civilians, including the humanitarian
community, as the United Nations prepares to end its peacekeeping mission there by
the end of the year.

ICC sends Sudan‘s failure to honour arrest warrants to Security Council

26 May – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has referred to the Security Council
Sudan‘s failure to cooperate in arresting a former minister and a pro-Government
militia chief charged with war crimes in the Darfur conflict, including the murder of
civilians and rape.

UN relief chief welcomes US move against Ugandan rebel group

26 May – Citing the horrors he himself witnessed during a recent African tour, the
United Nations humanitarian chief today praised United States legislation seeking to
protect civilians from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the notorious Ugandan rebel
group.