United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

18 June 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

230 UN peacekeepers begin Congo withdrawal (AP) KINSHASA, Congo A United

Nations official in Congo says the first group of U.N. peacekeepers scheduled to withdraw from
the chaotic Central African country is leaving.

Disarming the Strategy of Conscription - Children of AFRICOM (Pambuzaka News)

(Pan Africa) By 2015 America will extort sufficient oil from Africa to satisfy 25 per cent
of its domestic needs, thus the creation of AFRICOM (US Africa Command).

US Funds Training of Guinea Presidential Guard (AP)

(Guinea) The United States is funding a $1 million program to train Guinea's
presidential guard as the volatile West African nation gears up for its first free election
in half a century.

American in Rwanda Freed, But Still Faces Genocide Denial Charge (Christian
Science Monitor)
(Rwanda) Peter Erlinder, an American lawyer accused of denying the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda, has been granted an unconditional release by a Rwandan Court in Kigali
today.

Activists Demand End to Funding Cuts (IRIN)

(South Africa) AIDS activists are to march on the US Consulate in Johannesburg on 17
June to protest against the deaths they say will result from President Barack Obama's
"anti-treatment policies".

U.S. Firm Eyes Multi Opportunities in East Africa (Xinhua)

(Kenya) An American company, Nova Energy, is making several investments in Kenya
with an eye on using the country to expand its investments in the rest of the East Africa
region, its officials said on Thursday.

Nigeria Gold Hunt Kills Children (Al Jazeera.Net)

(Nigeria) More than 160 children have died of lead poisoning in Nigeriain recent weeks,
and more deaths are expected to follow.

Two Darfur Rebel Leaders Appear Before ICC (Reuters)

(Sudan) Two Sudanese rebel leaders who surrendered to the International Criminal
Court on suspicion of orchestrating the killing of peacekeepers in Darfur urged others
to come forward to clear their names.

Dutch Court Sentences 5 Somali Pirates to 5 Years (AP)

(Somalia) Five Somali men were sentenced to prison Thursday for attacking a Dutch-
Antilles-flagged cargo ship with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade, in
the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe in modern times.

Kenya 'Hate Speech' Minister Machage Suspended (BBC News)

(Kenya) Kenya's Assistant Roads Minister Wilfred Machage has been suspended by
President Mwai Kibaki a day after being charged with inciting hatred.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Top UN envoy bids farewell to first batch of blue helmets leaving DR Congo
Disarmament process begins in northern Cte dIvoire, UN reports
More than 120 million West Africans at risk of yellow fever, UN agencies warn
UN extols Sudanese peace pact partners on forming a new Government
UN agency marks Day for African Child with call for more resources in Somalia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, June 23, 9:00 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Center for Strategic and International Studies: Somalias Political Transition
WHO: Hon. Hassan Warsame; Hon. Ibrahim Issac Yarow; Jennifer Cooke, Director, Africa
Program, CSIS; Dr. Keith Jennings, Regional Director, Southern and East Africa, NDI.
Info: http://csis.org/event/somalias-political-transition

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, June 25, 2:00 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: USIP From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Ethnic Conflicts since 1945 and the
Impossibility of their Future Prevention
WHO: Andreas Wimmer, Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow, USIP; Jack Goldstone, Virginia E.
and John T. Hazel Jr. Professor and Director of the Center for Global Policy, George Mason
University; Philip Keefer, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank;
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, Associate Vice President, USIP.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/afghanistan-zimbabwe-ethnic-conflicts-1945-and-the-
impossiblity-their-future-prevention

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, July 1, 10:15 a.m.; Webcast

WHAT: Preventing Violent Conflict: Principles, Policies, and Practice
WHO: Panel Chairs - AMB Marc Grossman, Vice Chairman, Cohen Group; AMB Nancy
Soderberg, President, U.S. Connect Fund; Tara Sonenshine, Executive Vice President, USIP;
Conclusions Dr. Abiodun Williams, Vice President, Center for Conflict Analysis and
Prevention, USIP.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/preventing-violent-conflict-principles-policies-and-practice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Disarming the Strategy of Conscription - Children of AFRICOM (Pambuzaka News)

In 2006 at least 15 per cent of America's oil needs were provided by Africa and it has
been projected that by 2015 the figure will be 25 per cent. No, wait, let me rephrase that
- by 2015 America will extort sufficient oil from Africa to satisfy 25 per cent of its
domestic needs, thus the creation of AFRICOM (US Africa Command).

AFRICOM was brought into existence by George W. Bush's approval of a Pentagon

plan in January 2007 to set up an Africa command centre with the intention of going
live by the end of September 2008. Robert Gates, the incumbent secretary of defense
under the Obama administration, whilst serving in the same position under the Bush
administration, revealed that: 'The main purposes of the Africa Command Centre
would be to fight the war on terror, cooperation, provide humanitarian aid, building
partnership capability, oversee security, defence support to non-military missions, and
if directed, military training operations designed to help local governments.' Given the
vast natural resources that have yet to be plundered across Africa, we certainly would
be stupid if we believed that crap.

Meanwhile, in early 2010, South African 'Minister of War' Lindiwe Sisulu told
parliament that she wanted the defence force to provide a rite of passage for young
people 'leaving school with no skills and no prospect of being absorbed into a labour
market that is already glutted. Every culture known to men has a process of coming of
age. This includes some initiation into responsible adulthood, where the line is drawn
from childish ways to purposeful, responsible adult behaviour. We can do that for this
country, because that is the one thing we need, to build a future for our development
and prosperity. A place where the young unemployed can find skills, dignity and
purpose. Any television footage of service delivery protests will show you that at the
forefront of this, in great majority, are our youth, with excessive anger and misdirected
energy and frustration etched on their faces. We as a country can ill afford this. Our
youth are an asset and we must direct them properly.'

My gut feeling says that this is nothing more than a massive recruitment campaign for
the AFRICOM programme, but let's deal with this on two levels, firstly, in the context of
Sisulu's spoken words, which strike right at the hearts of beleaguered parents who have
come to believe that society is spiralling out of control and a bit of discipline may well
be in order for their errant and wayward youth. But it is more for the more insidious
and unspoken primary reason, which is AFRICOM - or put another way, 'NATO for the
darkies', tastefully dressed up in African Union protocols intent on 'Developing a
common doctrine for African Standby Force (ASF)'. All of this comes under the catchy
slogan 'A force to support and keep peace for Africa's prosperity and a better life for all
in the world', whilst delivering us bound hand-and-foot to the 'new Goree Island' for
our journey into the 'middle passage' of the military industrial complex.

YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW

Let's firstly deal with the war ministry's insouciant remarks regarding the rite of
passage, which is a ritual event that marks a person's progression of status within a
particular society or culture. It is normally an initiation or induction ritual which
defines your migration within or through a social hierarchy from youth to adulthood.
Rites of passage are most often ceremonial events that define milestones achieved, such
as puberty, coming of age, marriage and oddly enough, even death. Conscription is not
a rite of passage, unless of course your country happens to be Sparta.

In South Africa we see people leaving school with no skills and no future job prospects
or livelihood possibilities, within a society that has a 'designed-for-failure' component
built into the educational system ensuring that the military maw has sufficient cannon
fodder in the form of our youth to feed upon as and when required. Sisulu talks about a
labour market glut in a country that has over the past 250 years specialised in extracting
mineral wealth purely for export, thus leaving the country poorer for the exercise and
with little to show for the off-shoring of the ill-gotten wealth. As a consequence of such
ruthless exploitation, hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers from all corners of
the country have no other skill but the singular skill of digging very deep holes across a
landscape that has no more mineral wealth to be gotten. Just ask the 'smart young
chaps' from Aurora. On this score I will agree will Ms Sisulu, we do currently have a
glut of 'hole diggers', which is in the final analysis of little use when there is no more
wealth to be extracted from the soil of their fore-fathers - it has all gone across the pond,
thus leaving their youth bereft of skills that would otherwise enable them to survive in
this terrible global economic climate.

In 'drawing the line between childish ways to purposeful, responsible adult behaviour',
military conscription is a most spine-chilling methodology to instil the rigours of
adulthood in the youth, but it does present an excellent opportunity to fuel the killing
machine that has over the past 350 years raged up and down the shattered spine of
Africa. The distinction between the cultural process of coming of age and training of
young gullible soldiers is that the rite of passage is intended to inculcate in the youth a
sense of value and of purpose within the mores of that society for that society's benefit -
whereas the induction of youth into the army has but a singular purpose, and that is to
turn them into fearsome killing units in order to eliminate the enemies of the state. It
escapes me how Sisulu arrives at the point of believing that such a step is capable of
'building a future for our development and prosperity', or even 'find[ing] skills, dignity
and purpose', when their singular purpose is to kill in the name of whoever has co-
opted them, in this case the ANC (African National Congress) government in its
defence of the capitalist order.
There are many things that as citizens we do need as a matter of urgency, and there are
many things that the minister of war and the ANC should be doing for this country on
that same basis of urgency, but they have chosen not to - instead they hang themselves
on the view that 'We can do that for this country, because that is the one thing we need',
the 'that' meaning round up the youth and ship them off to military barracks around the
country. Sure! You do need to co-opt some of the youth into the army to protect you
and your ilk against the rest of the youth and all the workers who take to the streets in
righteous indignation to protest against your inept government of crony capitalism.
You do not see them as an asset; you see them as a threat and as such you need to turn
them against themselves in order for you to protect your worthless hide against, as you
so eloquently put it, the 'excessive anger and misdirected energy and frustration etched
on their faces'.

This brings us around to the much more penetrating and dastardly purpose of the
much-vaunted 'call to arms' by Sisulu, a reason that has everything to do with the
history of the neocolonial re-conquest of Africa and how such plans will be allowed to
gain traction through the introduction of the likes of Moeletsi Mbeki, whose function is
to sell and/or gloss over the purely militarised image of AFRICOM - a dual pitch,
applicable as is necessary.

Since 2007, AFRICOM has established military partnerships with 51 of Africa's 53

nations. The US military has placed great emphasis on the geostrategic importance of
Africa in their international military, political and economic planning. The two nations
that do not fall into AFRICOM are Egypt, which is already an integral part of the of the
US Central Command, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara),
which is a member of the African Union but which the US and its NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies recognise as part of Morocco.

In 2007 AFRICOM began its one-year incubation under US European Command and in
2008 it was revealed that Africa Command 'would involve one small headquarter plus
five "regional integration teams" scattered around the continent' and that 'AFRICOM
would work closely with the European Union and NATO', particularly France, a
member of both, which was 'interested in developing the Africa standby force'.
Accordingly, the Pentagon will divide the world's second-most populous continent into
five military districts, each with a multinational African Standby Force trained by
military forces from the United States, NATO and the European Union.

The five areas correspond to Africa's main Regional Economic Communities, starting in
the north of the continent:

- Arab Maghreb Union: Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia

- East African Community (EAC): Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
- Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape
Verde, Cte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Togo

- Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS): Angola, Burundi,

Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville),
Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda and So
Tom and Pr-ncipe

- Southern Africa Development Community (SADC): Angola, Botswana, Democratic

Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,
Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

AFRICOM's current headquarters will remain in the imperial city of Stuttgart,

Germany, but it plans to have a central headquarters on the African continent -
although Djibouti's Camp Lemonnier (historically the site of the French Foreign Legion
- now the footprint of Operation Enduring Freedom) functions as the de facto HQ in
Africa, with the establishment of five regional satellite outposts in northern, southern,
eastern, western and central Africa, ensuring that the African Standby Force is
nominally under the control of the African Union, while its troops are directed and
trained by the US, NATO and the military wing of the European Union.

We must bear in mind that this programme of militarisation and re-colonisation is

specific to the economic objectives of empire building and is only possible when
collaborators with the imperialist conquistadors can be found. And believe you me it's
never difficult, just take a look at each and every other one of the 90-odd client states of
the good old US of A, programmes of occupation replete with traitors - it's almost
classic textbook stuff.

In order to evidence the extent of the oily subservience to the rising juggernaut of
AFRICOM, enter Moeletsi Mbeki - and very soon many more like him, as they all
scramble to serve 'da massa' in the unfolding militarisation and exploitation of Africa
against its own people, in the hope that they benefit economically. Thus, in his own
words: 'As in all human affairs, the use of force in the right social context does produce
solutions. There is no better illustration of this fact than the history of the United States',
said Mbeki, referring to events in American history such as the War of Independence,
the Civil War, and the civil rights revolution. Notwithstanding the undesirability of
focusing on the military option to solve Africa's challenges, Mbeki added that the 'use of
force to solve Africa's problems must however not be ruled out'. He holds the
unalterable view that 'the creation of the African Command by the US government is an
important initiative', re-enforced by the argument that the stability and the viability of
Africa depends upon the establishment of AFRICOM and that the potential for
'building a viable, sustainable and stable society requires the establishment and
development of legitimate, socially hegemonic group or groups that can then build a
viable state', thus reaffirming the ignorant notion that no such framework existed prior
to the coming the colonial powers, whom he believes failed in their 'civilising mission'
as they merely left behind 'a semblance of a state that had no social anchors, which led
to Africa's instability during the last half a century'. He couldn't have said it any clearer
than if he'd said 'Let's loot these dumb shits, and if they get uppity you get to shoot
them.'

It must be abundantly clear to all by now that that the paymasters of AFRICOM will be
flooded with a multitude of Mbeki-like characters wanting to share their brand of
'wisdom' in order to get in on the ground floor of 'gratis profit taken', and this fits neatly
into the long-term strategic plans of the AU comptrollers. He is, after all, one of the
leading 'academic' proponents of 'free-market economics' in Africa, thus he assists in
providing a 'tastefully counterbalanced' view to the erratic policies of the ANC and its
tripartite alliance - that is, without damaging the ANC's given position of being the
neoliberal sharp end of the wedge and as the most influential AU partner in the
promotion and building of AFRICOM.

Meanwhile backstage, China's growing economic power as a rising imperial power

seeks to usurp control from the established imperial power configuration of Euro-
American partnership, which of necessity needs to be met with resistance in the form of
military bases currently been superimposed over imperially controlled economic zones.
That the global economic and/or military battles always filter down to regional
posturing and stances, either directly or encouraged via willing proxies, is an indication
of the concerted efforts on the part of America to retain its dominant position in these
easy-pickings colonies in order to access raw materials and exploit labour via
mercantile, colonial, bilateral and multilateral agreements.

And in the final analysis, our youth will be trained to kill in defence of that which seeks
to enslave us. But this time they do not need to be sold off to the cotton kings in
Alabama - Africa will become the plantation and the 'house niggers' will be our own
governments.
--------------------
US Funds Training of Guinea Presidential Guard (AP)

CONAKRY, Guinea The United States is funding a $1 million program to train

Guinea's presidential guard as the volatile West African nation gears up for its first free
election in half a century.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Brett Bruen said the goal was "to ensure that there is a
professional, capable, and impartial presidential guard for the newly elected president
of Guinea."

The vote is being held June 27 amid hope the nation may finally be on the verge of
escaping decades of coups and military rule.
Bruen declined to give details on who is training the force during the six-month
program, which began in late May, but he said they were "civilian police experts, hired
and overseen by the Department of State."

The training "is equivalent to that received by the U.S. Secret Service," Bruen said, and
will focus on security methods, first aid, firearms training, human rights as well as the
use of non-lethal force.

The U.S. is not providing weapons or ammunition.

"In any country, the protection of the president is one of the most important
responsibilities of a government," Bruen said. "It helps to ensure that the will of the
voters is not usurped by the actions of those who seek political change through force."

The presidential guard loyal to Guinea's last dictator, Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara,
infamously crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the capital last September. A
U.N. panel said 156 people were killed or disappeared after troops went on the
rampage, raping scores of women in broad daylight.

Camara grabbed power in 2008 in a coup after the death of longtime dictator Lansana
Conte and was known as a wildly erratic ruler. He went into exile after his presidential
guard chief shot him in the head in December.

Government and military officials say Camara last year had also brought in foreign
security experts, including some from a private Israeli company, to secretly train
members of his minority ethnic group, possibly as presidential guards. The program
was abandoned around the time Camara was shot.

The U.S. ambassador to Guinea, Patricia Newton Moller, said the training was designed
to protect the institution of the president, not any specific leader.

"Many countries around the world have approached us asking if we can help them train
a professional presidential security service ... without any political orientation, any
political ambition," Moller said. "And that is our objective."
--------------------
American in Rwanda Freed, But Still Faces Genocide Denial Charge (Christian
Science Monitor)

Johannesburg, South Africa - Peter Erlinder, an American lawyer accused of denying

the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has been granted an unconditional release by a Rwandan
Court in Kigali today.
Mr. Erlinder was arrested last month and charged with denying and minimizing the
genocide, soon after arriving in Rwanda to defend an opposition presidential candidate
Victoire Ingabire on similar charges of genocide denial. Erlinder has reportedly
promised to return to Rwanda to face the charges against him, although he is currently
in a hospital in Kigali for an ailment related to blood pressure.

Erlinders family, reached by phone in the US, says that they are relieved to hear the
news and that the US Department of State has confirmed that Erlinder has been granted
unconditional release.

Weve just gotten confirmation from the US Consul in Kigali, who had attended the
hearing, says Erlinders daughter, Sarah Erlinder. He is in the hospital right now, but
we expect he will be able to return in the next couple of days.

Erlinders case raised a chorus of concern from lawyers groups such as the American
Bar Association, and from human rights activists. It also highlighted what Human
Rights Watch has called an increasingly authoritarian streak by the government of
President Paul Kagame, who has ruled the country since pushing out the regime of
assassinated President Juvenal Habyarimana in July 1994.

Most experts pin the blame for the genocide on the extremist followers of Mr.
Habyarimana, who preached hatred of Rwandas minority Tutsis, and called for the
mass slaughter of Tutsis over state-controlled radio stations. But Erlinder and some
moderate politicians of the Hutu majority say the real story is more complex, arguing
that the violence of April July 1994 was spontaneous.

Rwandan law specifically forbids the reinterpretation of the events of that time, and
many ethnic Hutu politicians and other critics of the Kagame regime say this law is
often used to silence critics under the threat of genocide denial.

Ms. Erlinder says she has no idea what her father will do next whether he will return
to Rwanda to face the charges against himself, or to continue to act as a defense lawyer
for Ms. Ingabire, the opposition candidate.

I saw that story also (about his pledge to return to face the charges) and it sounds like
him, says Ms. Erlinder. Hes not someone to run back here and hide. She adds that
she believes that her father didnt realize he might be arrested for statements he had
made about Rwandas history.

Erlinders brother, reached by phone in the US, also expresses relief at the news of his
brothers release. Oh boy, am I going to kick his butt when he gets back, he laughs.
--------------------
Activists Demand End to Funding Cuts (IRIN)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - AIDS activists are to march on the US Consulate in
Johannesburg on 17 June to protest against the deaths they say will result from
President Barack Obama's "anti-treatment policies".

The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been a major source
of funds for AIDS treatment programmes in South Africa and elsewhere on the
continent, but began flat-lining its contributions from 2009 and shifting responsibility
for the delivery of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) to individual countries.

Addressing journalists at a press briefing on the march, activists from the local lobby
group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), international medical charity, Mdecins
Sans Frontires, and the World AIDS Campaign acknowledged the need for African
countries to step up their spending on health and become less donor-dependant, but
argued that PEPFAR and other donors had a "moral obligation" to implement
commitments they made to help achieve the goal of universal access to AIDS treatment.

"The lack of adequate resources for ART is a threat to millions of lives on the African
continent," said Linda Mafu of the World AIDS Campaign, who added that "bouncing
cheques" from donors not only meant lives lost due to a lack of treatment but a probable
increase in new infections.

Studies have shown that patients taking ARV treatment have lowered levels of HIV in
their blood and are less likely to transmit the virus to others.

At present, five million people are accessing ARV treatment globally, about 42 percent
of the estimated numbers in need, but the activists said they were starting to see the
results of funding cuts in the form of drug stock-outs, treatment interruptions and
patients being turned away from treatment programmes.

Nonkosi Khumalo of the TAC reported that at one PEPFAR-funded treatment site in
South Africa's Free State province, patients had been told they would have to get
treatment elsewhere from 21 June.

While South Africa has the resources to fund the lion's share of its massive ARV
treatment programme, other countries rely almost entirely on PEPFAR and the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to finance their AIDS programmes.

The Global Fund has indicated it is facing a shortfall of between US$17 and $20 billion
for its next funding round.

"We're not asking these rich countries for charity," said Vuyiseka Dubula, the TAC's
general secretary. "All we're asking is for them to honour commitments they made."
The protesters, expected to number in the thousands, will deliver a memorandum
calling on Obama to reverse funding cuts for HIV and for the US and Europe to increase
contributions to the Global Fund.
--------------------
U.S. Firm Eyes Multi Opportunities in East Africa (Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Kenya - An American company, Nova Energy, is making several

investments in Kenya with an eye on using the country to expand its investments in the
rest of the East Africa region, its officials said on Thursday. "Nova is pursuing several
business lines in the growing economy of East Africa, initially in Kenya. Nova has
already begun several initiatives in the region to include initiatives in the technology,
utility, housing and health products," the company said in a statement.

Already, the company has bought Palm Healthcare International, a condom

manufacturing company located in Kenya.

It has also announced plans to start construction of low income houses in major
municipalities in Kenya although it did not name the municipalities. Kenya and the East
Africa region face major housing problems especially in urban areas.

In Kenya for example, annual demand for 150,000 housing units is barely met,
according to the Ministry for Housing.

The company announced that it also plans to acquire Kenyan systems integration firm
to provide base of operations locally, another project to support a wireless meter
reading pilot solution for local authority and also venture into oil reclamation activities.

Philip Verges, interim CEO of Nova Energy visited Kenya in April this year and
announced that the company will "execute three acquisitions" by July.
--------------------
Nigeria Gold Hunt Kills Children (Al Jazeera.Net)

Nigeria - More than 160 children have died of lead poisoning in Nigeriain recent weeks,
and more deaths are expected to follow.

The number has been rising since March, when rural residents started digging illegally
for gold in areas with high concentrations of lead.

The victims were from several remote villages in the northern state of Zamfara.

Marcel Lagenbach, head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency response team in
Zamfara, told Al Jazeera there are six villages in the state that have been affected.
"Possibly there are some more villages that are contaminated, a lot of work remains to
be done in terms of investigation, it is still a state of emergency," he said.

"People cannot be blamed for sustaining their families in such remote and poor villages.
We cannot blame people for seeking an income in such areas."

But families from Zamfara say they will continue to mine for gold despite lead in the
dust that is killing their children.

Critics accuse the government officials of turning a blind eye and focusing instead on
signing lucrative mining deals with China.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege reports on the growing crisis.

--------------------
Two Darfur Rebel Leaders Appear Before ICC (Reuters)

AMSTERDAM Two Sudanese rebel leaders who surrendered to the International

Criminal Court on suspicion of orchestrating the killing of peacekeepers in Darfur
urged others to come forward to clear their names.

Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus are suspected of
committing murder, intentionally directing attacks and pillaging in a September 2007
attack in Haskanita where 12 African Union peacekeepers were killed.

"We are here to achieve justice and I call on everyone who is wanted for justice to
appear before this court," Jerbo said on Thursday, during their first appearance at the
ICC.

Both described themselves as revolutionaries and said they would clear their names in
the case, part of the tribunal's efforts to try those responsible for the Darfur conflict that
the United Nations says has killed more than 300,000 since 2003.

The tribunal hearing is being held so that judges can determine whether there is enough
evidence to press charges and go forward with a trial.

Abu Garda, another Sudanese rebel leader who appeared at the court on suspicion of
crimes in Haskanita, was cleared of charges after he appeared voluntarily at the court
last year.

The Hague-based court, established in 2002 to try those responsible for war crimes, has
also issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has
snubbed the court and denied the allegations as part of a Western conspiracy against his
government.
China, the African Union and the Arab League have raised concerns about the ICC
pursuit of Bashir, saying that it could destabilize the region, worsen the Darfur conflict
and threaten a troubled peace deal between north Sudan and the semi-autonomous
south -- potentially rich in oil.

Banda was a senior military commander in Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM) before he was dismissed during a bitter split among the movement's
governing elite in mid-2007. Banda went on to form a rival faction, the JEM Collective
Leadership, with former JEM vice president Abu Garda.

The ICC is investigating both sides of the Darfur conflict. In addition to the three cases
involving Banda and Jerbo, Garda and Bashir, it is also seeking the arrest of two senior
figures for multiple counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
--------------------
Dutch Court Sentences 5 Somali Pirates to 5 Years (AP)

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - Five Somali men were sentenced to prison Thursday for
attacking a Dutch-Antilles-flagged cargo ship with automatic weapons and a rocket-
propelled grenade, in the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe in modern times.

The five were convicted of assaulting the Samanyulo in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 -- an
attack that was thwarted up by helicopter-borne Danish marines. Each of the attackers
was sentenced to five years in prison.

''Piracy is a serious crime that must be powerfully resisted,'' said presiding judge Klein
Wolterink.

But one of the defendants called the decision unfair.

''Netherlands don't like Muslim people,'' Sayid Ali Garaar, 39, repeated several times in
rough English. ''This is not legal.''

During the trial Garaar had wept and said poverty had driven him to desperation.

The case is a landmark in the fight against the escalating incidents of piracy in the Gulf
of Aden and the Indian Ocean, which prompted navies around the world to join in a
task force to protect one of the world's busiest sea lanes for merchant ships and oil
tankers.

Pirates sometimes succeed in collecting multi-million-dollar ransoms. And the high-

seas hijackings have persisted despite an international armada deployed by the United
States, the European Union, NATO, Japan, South Korea and China.
Maritime experts say the trial is unlikely to deter the piracy, which brings large
amounts of money into the impoverished and lawless coastal region of Somalia.

Prosecutors had asked for seven-year sentences, but Wolterink said he took into account
the difficult conditions in Somalia that led the men to piracy.

Nonetheless, he said he was swayed by the fact that the pirates ''were only out for their
own financial gain and didn't let themselves be troubled about damage or suffering
caused to victims.''

It was only by ''lucky coincidence that nobody was killed or wounded,'' the judge said.

Defense lawyer Willem Jan Ausma said he planned to appeal. ''I was not surprised by
the ruling, but I had hoped for a lower sentence,'' he said.

Other Somali piracy suspects are being held in France, Spain, Germany and the U.S.

Kenya has convicted 18 pirates since 2007. More than 100 accused await trial there.

Hundreds of pirates have been detained and several have been brought to Europe since
the international armada was mobilized, but the majority have been released at sea
because of the cost and difficulty of bringing them to trial.

One concern for European countries is that the pirates may try to stay once their
sentence is served. Dutch authorities don't deport illegal immigrants from Somalia
because the East African country is deemed too unstable and dangerous, lacking a
stable central government since the early 1990s.

''We didn't bring them here to stay,'' said prosecution spokesman Guus Schram. ''We
brought them here to prosecute them and for them to sit out their sentence.''

Prosecuting pirates was the right thing to do, he said. ''At the moment there are more
than 200 crew members being held hostage on the Somali coast, and the possibility that
some suspects might stay here longer than we'd like can't be a reason not to act against
them.''

But the defense attorney said the idea of bringing Somali pirates to the Netherlands for
trial was poorly conceived.

''It's not a solution to bring them here,'' Ausma said. ''Keep them there, look for a
solution there.''
At their trial last month the men who were sentenced Thursday denied wrongdoing.
Most said they had been fishing and had approached the container ship for help when
their skiff ran out of fuel and food.

But the judge cited testimony from the ship's crew that the pirates had approached in a
threatening manner, moving up swiftly from behind the freighter.

In written testimony, crewmen said they used flares to hold off the attackers, who fired
automatic weapons and at least one round from a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Danish marines who flew over the pirates' skiff in a helicopter after the incident saw no
weapons on board but the skiff was carrying a ladder with hooks used for boarding
ships.

After the Danish helicopter fired warning shots at the skiff, the pirates jumped
overboard. All five were picked up by a Danish navy boat. They were later handed to
Dutch authorities for trial because the Samanyulo was sailing under a Dutch Antilles
flag.
--------------------
Kenya 'Hate Speech' Minister Machage Suspended (BBC News)

Kenya - Kenya's Assistant Roads Minister Wilfred Machage has been suspended by
President Mwai Kibaki a day after being charged with inciting hatred.

Along with two other MPs, he was charged with hate speech during the campaign for a
new constitution.

They allegedly said some ethnic groups would have to leave their land if the
constitution was approved.

Six people died on Sunday in a stampede after grenades exploded at a campaign rally
for the "No" campaign.

Some fear that the campaign ahead of a 4 August referendum could lead to a repeat of
the violence which followed elections in December 2007.

Disputes over allegations of electoral fraud ignited ethnic tensions, leading to the deaths
of some 1,300 people and forced 300,00 from their homes.

Higher Education Minister William Ruto, among another three MPs also accused of
hate speech earlier this week but not charged, has appeared before the National
Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).
Mr Ruto is alleged to have asked Muslims to reject the proposed constitution if they do
not want a war with Christians.

The NCIC was set up to ease ethnic tensions after the post-election violence in 2007 and
2008.

The commission has written to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga,
asking for the suspension of all campaigning.

Power share

NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia said he wanted the politicians to be prosecuted

quickly after the experience of 2008.

Much of the post-election violence in 2008 was over land disputes between rival ethnic
groups and the proposed constitution would set up a land commission to manage
public and community land, which is opposed by some.

The violence ended when election rivals Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga agreed to share
power - and write a new constitution.

The coalition remains shaky but supporters of both men generally support the draft
constitution.

The document provides for greater checks on presidential powers and more regional
devolution.

It also recognises the UN human rights charter and creates a second parliamentary
chamber - the senate.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Top UN envoy bids farewell to first batch of blue helmets leaving DR Congo
16 June The top United Nations envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
today paid tribute to a group of Senegalese blue helmets who are the first batch of
peacekeepers to leave the country in line with the recent decision by the Security
Council to alter the UN mission there.

Disarmament process begins in northern Cte dIvoire, UN reports

16 June The disarmament and demobilization of 600 former combatants has begun in
the northern, rebel-held town of Korhogo, the United Nations Operation in Cte
d'Ivoire (UNOCI) reports.
More than 120 million West Africans at risk of yellow fever, UN agencies warn
16 June A persistent budget shortfall means that more than 120 million people in
Nigeria and Ghana could remain at risk of contacting yellow fever if not reached with
vaccinations, United Nations agencies and their partners cautioned today.

UN extols Sudanese peace pact partners on forming a new Government

16 June The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today
congratulated the partners to the 2005 peace accord that ended the countrys north-
south civil war on the formation of a new Government.

UN agency marks Day for African Child with call for more resources in Somalia
16 June The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) today appealed for increased
local and international support for children in strife-torn Somalia, where basic services
such as education, health, nutrition and clean water are limited as a result of two
decades of conflict.