United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

24 June 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Voice of America Journalist Expelled (allAfrica) The US-backed regime in Ethiopia

expelled an American journalist on 17 June. According to the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), Heather Murdock had been reporting with the US international
broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) in the eastern region of Harer, near an area where
there was reported skirmishes between the army and rebels of the separatist Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF).

Kenya prisoners win right to vote in landmark ruling (BBC) A court in Kenya has
ruled that prisoners will be allowed to vote in a referendum on a new constitution.

Building African Partnerships to Defeat Piracy (Council on Foreign Relations)

(Africa) For nearly two years, international navies have policed the waters off Somalia
to try to stamp out piracy. More than thirty vessels are deployed across the Indian
Ocean and the Gulf of Aden under a wide range of banners, including NATO, U.S.,
European Union, and Chinese. Yet despite the size and sophistication of these
international task forces, Somali pirates continue to expand operations.

Report Optimistic on Africa Economies (New York Times)

(Africa) Africa is often depicted as a place of war, disease and poverty, with a begging
bowl extended to the world. But a new report paints a much more optimistic portrait of
a continent with growing national economies and an expanding consumer class that
offers foreign investors the highest rates of return in the developing world.

New UN Somalia Envoy to Focus on Reconciliation (Xinhua)

(Somalia) The newly appointed UN top envoy for Somalia said he would focus on
political reconciliation and basic security as he prepares to begin his mission in the
Horn of Africa nation.

Unidentified Men Abduct Two German Aid Workers in Darfur (Xinhua)

(Sudan) Unidentified men abducted two German aid workers on Tuesday evening in
Sudan's Darfur region, a local official in South Darfur State said Wednesday.

JEM Rebel Group Says No Darfur Peace Without It (AFP)

(Sudan) The head of Darfur's largest rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement,
said peace talks that began on Wednesday between the Sudanese government and
another rebel group will be fruitless without his movement.

Zimbabwe PM Fires 4 Ministers After Reviews (AP)

(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's prime minister fired four top Cabinet ministers and shifted a
fifth to a new post Wednesday, saying they failed a performance review after 16 months
of troubled power sharing.

Congo-Brazzaville: Deforestation Threatens South With Famine (Inter Press Service -

South Africa)
(Congo) The trees are falling in Pool, and there are plenty of people to hear the sound.
In a painful irony, the end of armed conflict in 2003, has signaled the wholesale
devastation of forests in this southern region of the Republic of Congo.

Somaliland Set for President Vote (Al Jazeera.Net)

(Somalia) The self-declared Republic of Somaliland will soon hold its second
presidential election in 8 years.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Niger: UN relief chief urges donors to respond quickly to food crisis
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

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

WHAT: CSIS – South Africa After the World Cup
WHO: Ebrahim I. Ebrahim, Deputy Minister of International Relations and
Cooperation, Republic of South Africa; Jennifer Cooke, Director, CSIS Africa Program
Info: http://csis.org/event/south-africa-after-world-cup

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

Voice of America Journalist Expelled (allAfrica)

Addis Ababa — The US-backed regime in Ethiopia expelled an American journalist on

17 June.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Heather Murdock had been
reporting with the US international broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) in the eastern
region of Harer, near an area where there was reported skirmishes between the army
and rebels of the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

The Ethiopian government has denied journalists independent access to the restive
Ogaden Province, which neighbours the Harer region and attempted to censor an
exclusive report on the rebels last year, according to CPJ research.

Under Ethiopia's draconian anti-terrorism law, journalists risk as many as 20 years in

prison if authorities deem their reporting favourable to armed rebels and banned
opposition groups.

VOA confirmed to CPJ that Murdock had left the country. The Ethiopian government
announced plans to officially jam VOA in March, after reports that there had been
electronic jamming of the station's Amharic-language shortwave broadcasts and that its
Website had been blocked in the country.

"We condemn the expulsion of Heather Murdock," said CPJ Africa Advocacy
Coordinator Mohamed Keita.

"Ethiopian authorities have for years used the threat of expulsion to induce self-
censorship among foreign journalists working in the country." Murdock arrived in
Ethiopia last month after she was expelled from Yemen in April following a reporting
trip to strongholds of Yemen's armed separatist Southern Movement, according to news
reports.

While in Ethiopia, she covered the country's general election and its aftermath, among
other topics.
Kenya prisoners win right to vote in landmark ruling (BBC)

A court in Kenya has ruled that prisoners will be allowed to vote in a referendum on a
new constitution. It is the first time that prisoners in the East Africa nation have been
given the right to vote.

The ruling applies only to voting in August's referendum, but correspondents say it
may lead to further concessions for future elections.

There will now be a rush to register an estimated 50,000 inmates in time for the
referendum. It is a credible decision KNCHR's Hassan Omar Hassan The ruling was
made after a petition was filed by convicts at Shimo La Tewa Prison in the coastal town
of Mombasa. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) welcomed
the decision.

"It is a credible decision," said the commission's Hassan Omar Hassan.

"The punishment is supposed to be reformative and when people are incarcerated they
lose their freedom but other rights should stay."

Human rights charter However, the BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says if the inmates had
been hoping to get a day out in order to vote they will be disappointed.

The same ruling stipulated that every prison would become a polling station.

When Kenyan politicians agreed to share power after disputed elections in December
2007, writing a new constitution was part of the deal to end the violence.

The draft constitution 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.

Building African Partnerships to Defeat Piracy (Council on Foreign Relations)

For nearly two years, international navies have policed the waters off Somalia to try to
stamp out piracy. More than thirty vessels are deployed across the Indian Ocean and
the Gulf of Aden under a wide range of banners, including NATO, U.S., European
Union, and Chinese. Yet despite the size and sophistication of these international task
forces, Somali pirates continue to expand operations.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, in the first half of 2010, Somali pirates
have attacked ninety-one ships and taken control of twenty, and are getting closer to
India's coastline. So while the number of attacks appear to be lower than last year (217
attacks and 47 successful hijackings for the whole of 2009), Somali piracy continues to
represent a substantial threat to commercial shipping. The international community
needs a new, more strategic approach to countering piracy based on building
partnerships and trust with Africans both at sea and onshore.

The Somali Problem and African Sentiment

Many commentators have noted that piracy is part of a greater problem--namely, the
lack of a Somali state--and can only be solved by improving both governance and living
conditions for Somalia's public. To achieve that the international community needs
credible partners within Somalia. Yet the United States is reluctant to work with many
Somali groups and has focused its efforts on bolstering Somalia's Transitional Federal
Government (TFG). This endeavor has borne little fruit to date and is not likely to be
useful when it comes to countering piracy, since the TFG has virtually no ability to
change conditions in the northern autonomous region of Puntland.

Some Somalis in Puntland still stand to gain from the trickle-down effects of pirate
wealth. It is also not unusual to hear Somalis talk about the negative effects of illegal
foreign fishing or the dumping of waste off their coastline, causing them to view pirates
as a champion of sorts. So long as these attitudes persist among average Somalis, it will
be extremely difficult to stop piracy.

If the international community is going to be successful in its fight against piracy, it will
therefore have to change the opinion of Somalis in Puntland by taking measures to
build trust with the public and incorporate them as viable stakeholders in maritime
governance and security to counter illegal fishing, dumping, and piracy.

The situation calls for a long-term, multifaceted approach at sea and onshore that
establishes trust, protects and builds markets, and enforces laws (both national and
international).

The African Union and several of its member states have publicly spurned piracy and
have signed a code of conduct to repress piracy, commonly referred to as the "Djibouti
Code of Conduct" (PDF). But only Kenya and the Seychelles have taken any notable
action--by agreeing to receive and try captured pirates--and Africans are conspicuously
absent from the joint patrols. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, some African
bureaucrats and leaders decry piracy as an outside problem plaguing the rest of the
world but not Africa. They claim that the international community expects Africa to
solve piracy while those same actors turn a blind eye toward illegal fishing and
dumping.

Global actors should respond to such sentiment by expanding their activities in areas
where Africans have high interests and work on long-term approaches to improve
African participation in the maritime domain writ large. They should use a robust
partnership with Africans at sea to improve partnerships ashore and get at the core
problem of the failed Somali state. And they should ensure that their African
counterparts understand the real impact that piracy has on African citizens.

Piracy's Impact on Africa

For starters, Africans who believe that piracy is primarily a problem for Westerners are
misguided. The costs of piracy are passed on to consumers (including the poorest
consumers: Africans) as shipping companies recoup the majority of their losses through
their protection and indemnity clauses, and insurance companies recoup their losses
through increased rates and policies. Recent reporting also indicates that pirates are
attacking ships carrying food items to Somalia, causing shortages and increased prices
for staple items like rice and flour. World leaders should be sure that their African
interlocutors clearly grasp these realities.

The situation calls for a long-term, multifaceted approach at sea and onshore that
establishes trust, protects and builds markets, and enforces laws (both national and
international). The international task forces in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean
can play a strategic role in each of those three areas to change conditions on the ground
in Somalia, but they have to change the nature of their partnerships and expand their
mandates. Fortunately, there are good examples in West and South Africa.

The Promise of Maritime Partnerships

In March 2009, in the inaugural Southern Africa Joint Patrols, Kenya, Mozambique,
South Africa, and Tanzania conducted combined patrols in the Indian Ocean on board
the Sarah Baartman, a South African environmental protection ship. During the one-
month operation, the team inspected forty-one vessels, levying ten fines and arresting
six ships for violations of national maritime laws. The highlight of the operation was the
seizure of one vessel in Tanzania waters with over 300 tons of illegal tuna on board.

In June 2008, the United States Africa Command and Cape Verde's government
initiated the African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP). This operation
puts African maritime boarding teams and police on board U.S. Coast Guard or U.S.
Navy vessels to enforce African maritime law. AMLEP offers an operational platform
for small African maritime forces, enabling them to extend their reach throughout their
territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones. To date, AMLEP operations have
focused on combating illegal fishing and countering illegal trafficking in West Africa.
The last two operations resulted in five seizures of vessels illegally fishing in Sierra
Leone's waters.

Operations like the Southern Africa Joint Patrols--so far a one-time action--and AMLEP
build trust through combining maritime law enforcement personnel from different
countries on one vessel and operating at sea for extended periods of time. By
conducting routine inspections of commercial and private ships, they achieve three
distinct but interrelated goals: 1) build or enhance the capacity of African maritime law
enforcement or security forces; 2) enforce regulations that support free and fair
maritime markets; 3) seek and address the full range of maritime crime (drug-
trafficking, smuggling, illegal fishing, illegal migration, and piracy).

A More Strategic Approach

The various task forces in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean should put African
seamen and boarding teams on their vessels to build partnerships, trust, and African
capacity; and they should address the full range of illegal maritime activity in those
waters.

Rather than simply reacting to Somali piracy, states should work to address the
problems of governance both at sea and ashore through partnerships with Africans. The
various naval task forces should put African seamen and boarding teams on their
vessels to build partnerships, trust, and African capacity; and they should address the
full range of illegal maritime activity in those waters. Existing models in South and
West Africa prove that it is not difficult to take these steps. Such actions will deflate
Somali claims that foreign powers only care about their own shipping interests while
tacitly condoning the theft of Somali fish. Simultaneously, this approach will build
African capacity to conduct similar missions in the future.

Furthermore, naval partnerships with African states would play an important role in
reviving and improving the Somali fishing industry, a vital source of jobs and wealth.
Such an approach would provide the international community an important strategic
message that could eventually open doors with new partners ashore capable of
returning law and order to Somalia as a whole and more likely to end Somali piracy in
the long run.
--------------------
Report Optimistic on Africa Economies (New York Times)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Africa is often depicted as a place of war, disease

and poverty, with a begging bowl extended to the world. But a new report paints a
much more optimistic portrait of a continent with growing national economies and an
expanding consumer class that offers foreign investors the highest rates of return in the
developing world.
In a report released Thursday, McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, presented a
bullish message to companies, arguing that “global businesses cannot afford to ignore
the potential.”

“The growth we’ve seen in Africa recently is much more widespread than is generally
recognized,” said Arend van Wamelen, an author of the report based in Johannesburg
for McKinsey, which advises domestic and international companies investing in Africa.
“There are a lot of underlying good things going on in the economies.”

The report, titled “Lions on the Move,” includes an array of arresting facts from the
firm’s business and economics research arm, the McKinsey Global Institute. Since 2000,
316 million people on the continent have signed up for cellphone service, more than the
entire population of the United States; Africa’s billion people spent $860 billion in 2008,
more than India’s population of 1.2 billion.

From 2000 to 2008, African economies grew at twice the pace that they did in the 1980s
and 1990s. Moreover, Africa was one of only two regions — Asia was the other —
where the collective economy rose through the global recession of 2009, by 1.4 percent.

In a clear sign of the reorientation of the economic landscape in Africa, China has
provided more financing for roads, power, railways and other infrastructure in recent
years than the World Bank.

And in a sign of increasing security, the number of serious conflicts in which more than
1,000 people died annually declined to an average of 2.6 a year in the 2000s from 4.8 in
the 1990s, the report said.

Many advocates for democracy, the poor and people with AIDS would probably offer a
less rosy take on Africa’s persistent struggles, but the authors of the McKinsey report
contend that the continent as a whole has made solid progress on economic
fundamentals.

Often, Africa’s economic growth is seen as a result of the boom in prices for its wealth
of natural resources — oil, gold, platinum and diamonds, among others. As an example
of that, the continent’s three largest oil producers — Algeria, Angola and Nigeria —
earned $1 trillion in oil exports from 2000 to 2008, compared with $300 billion in the
1990s, the report found.

But the McKinsey researchers also concluded that rising commodity prices directly
accounted for only about a quarter of the increase in economic growth in the 2000s.
Economic growth accelerated in 27 of the continent’s 30 largest economies, resource-rich
and resource-poor alike, they found. Those with great natural wealth grew at about 5.4
percent a year in the same period, while those not so well endowed grew at 4.6 percent.

McKinsey attributed Africa’s economic expansion to rising commodity prices, greater

political stability aided by a reduction in violent conflicts, improved macroeconomic
performance and market-friendly economic reforms.

Africa’s collective inflation rate fell to 8 percent after 2000, from 22 percent in the 1990s.
Budget deficits declined to 1.8 percent of gross domestic product from 4.6 percent. A
private sector emerged. Foreign direct investment surged to $62 billion in 2008 from $9
billion in 2000.

“Obviously, there are places in terrible shape,” Mr. van Wamelen said. “We’re not
insensitive to that. But on the whole, if you look at the number of people who are
destitute, those numbers are falling pretty drastically. The economic trickle down is
there.”

Some of the demographic trends praised in the report could turn out to be double-
edged swords. By 2040, McKinsey projects, Africa will have 1.1 billion working-age
people, more than in China or India. But even now, South Africa, one of the continent’s
most dynamic economies, is not growing fast enough to absorb all the young people
entering the job market — or providing them with educations that would equip them
for the workplace.

Indeed, the report notes that Africa has been getting many more children into school
but that it needs to do far better at giving them a quality education.

The report also noted that Africa was urbanizing at a rapid rate. It now has 52 cities
with more than a million residents, more than double the number in 1990 and the same
number as in Western Europe. The report acknowledged that cities could produce
miserable slums, but it also maintained that they increased worker productivity,
demand and investment.

“If Africa can provide its young people with the education and skills they need, this
large work force could account for a significant share of both global consumption and
production,” the report states.
--------------------
New UN Somalia Envoy to Focus on Reconciliation (Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Kenya - The newly appointed UN top envoy for Somalia said he would focus
on political reconciliation and basic security as he prepares to begin his mission in the
Horn of Africa nation.
Augustine Mahiga, the Secretary General's Special Representative and the head of the
UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) said encouraging reconciliation between
warring political groups and boosting basic public security are critical to stabilizing
Somalia. "But this is predicated upon the existence of a modicum of security in Somalia
to enable this Transitional government or a government that brings in other political
groupings to survive," he told UN Radio late Tuesday.

He said promoting reconciliation and a more inclusive political process must be a

priority in a country that has not had a functioning national government in nearly two
decades.

"So I would say the two go together -- political stability as a result of a process of
reconciliation and inclusiveness, but also a security adequate to permit the government
to reach out to the population and perform the functions of a government such as
providing humanitarian aid and implementing some basic reconstruction activities and,
at some point, to engage in economic and social development projects."

The lawless Horn of Africa has been without a functioning government since 1991 when
President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by warring factions.
--------------------
Unidentified Men Abduct Two German Aid Workers in Darfur (Xinhua)

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Unidentified men abducted two German aid workers on

Tuesday evening in Sudan's Darfur region, a local official in South Darfur State said
Wednesday.

"Unidentified men on Tuesday evening abducted two German aid workers working for
German organization THW, from their residence in Nyala, capital of South Darfur
State," Jamal Yousif, humanitarian aid commissioner in South Darfur State, told Xinhua.

"Until now, the identity of the abductors has not been identified nor their motives," he
said.

"We have initiated contacts among intensive coordination with many authorities, but it
is still premature to give further details about the nature of what happened," he added.

The incident comes within a series of abduction incidents of humanitarian aid workers
in Darfur, where last month four South African policemen working for the United
Nations- African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were abducted and then released
after two weeks in custody.
--------------------
JEM Rebel Group Says No Darfur Peace Without It (AFP)
DOHA, Qatar – The head of Darfur's largest rebel group, the Justice and Equality
Movement, said peace talks that began on Wednesday between the Sudanese
government and another rebel group will be fruitless without his movement.

"Peace is impossible without the JEM," Khalil Ibrahim told Al-Jazeera television when
asked about the negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha between Khartoum and the
Liberty and Justice Movement.

"What is going on in Doha is a falsification of what our people want" and "what comes
out of it will not be peace," Ibrahim added. "The Doha process has gone off course, and
represents nothing more than what the Sudanese government wants."

Without naming names, he said "they fabricate movements to negotiate with, and these
movements obey everything from the Sudanese intelligence services."

The Liberty and Justice Movement began talks in Qatar with the Sudanese government
on Wednesday aimed at reaching a peace deal by mid-July.

The two sides, which signed a framework accord in March establishing a ceasefire, will
hold direct negotiations through five committees, said a statement from Qatari Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abdullah al-Mahmud and Jibril Bassole, a mediator for the United
Nations and the African Union.

They began indirect talks on June 7, but without JEM participation.

That group signed a framework accord in February in Doha, but JEM-Khartoum talks
later ran into problems, and a deadline set under the accord for completing the peace
deal passed on March 15 without agreement.

Darfur, an arid desert region the size of France, has been gripped by a civil war since
2003 that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN
figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.
--------------------
Zimbabwe PM Fires 4 Ministers After Reviews (AP)

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe's prime minister fired four top Cabinet ministers and
shifted a fifth to a new post Wednesday, saying they failed a performance review after
16 months of troubled power sharing.

All those involved were from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change party. Tsvangirai has no power over ministers from President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in a unity government forged last year as a
compromise after disputed national elections in 2008.
The Tsvangirai politician who shared the police ministry with a ZANU-PF official was
shuffled to the housing ministry and the previous housing minister was dismissed. The
ministers of energy, women and youth also were dismissed.

Tsvangirai told reporters the slow pace of restoring law and order, rehabilitating power
infrastructure and achieving democratic reforms in general led to "a loss of confidence
in the new administration among the electorate."

"As a result, I have decided on a number of changes needed to strengthen the

performance of the MDC in government and outside government," he said of the first
shuffle since he took office in February last year.

Mugabe rarely fires his ministers, most of them longtime ZANU-PF loyalists. Several
ZANU-PF politicians have survived corruption allegations over the three decades
Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai said that despite continuing disputes between MDC and ZANU-PF that
have paralyzed much of the government, Zimbabwe has seen improvements in the
economy, health and education. He said the coalition was "the most practical means of
moving forward and halting the needless suffering of the people."

Mugabe was scheduled to swear in Tsvangirai's new appointments Thursday. Theresa

Makone, a powerful Tsvangirai aide, takes over the police ministry post.

Tsvangirai said Roy Bennett, a top aide recently cleared of treason charges, was still his
choice for deputy agriculture ministry. Mugabe has refused to swear in Bennett.
--------------------
Congo-Brazzaville: Deforestation Threatens South With Famine (Inter Press Service -
South Africa)

The trees are falling in Pool, and there are plenty of people to hear the sound. In a
painful irony, the end of armed conflict in 2003, has signaled the wholesale devastation
of forests in this southern region of the Republic of Congo.

All along the 75 kilometre road between the capital Brazzaville, and Kinkala, the
southern region's principal city, there are bundles of wood and sacks of charcoal
stacked ready to be trucked to feed the household energy demands of the capital.

Since the end of the civil wars which lasted from 1998 to 2003, production of charcoal
and firewood has become profitable for the people in the Pool department, one of 12
administrative areas in the country.

There are farmers who produce nearly 300 sacks of charcoal every three months. A 15-
kilo bag of sells for the equivalent of $10 in Brazzaville.
"Once they've acquired land, farmers prefer to cut trees down to make charcoal and go
sell it in Brazzaville, rather than wait two years to harvest a field of cassava. With the
money they earn, they buy their supplies of manioc and fufu in Brazzaville," Virgil
Safoula told IPS. Safoula is director of a non-governmental organisation called
Environment and Development of Community Initiatives (known by its French
acronym, EDIC)

Most of the food sold in Kinkala now comes from the cities.

"Non-wood products such as mushrooms, caterpillars and asparagus have disappeared

from Pool forests," Prosper Mayembo, director of environment for the Pool Department,
told IPS.

According to the Pool Departmental Council, before the war, the region's 44,000
hectares of arable land accounted for fully 30 percent of national agricultural
production.

"The practice of charcoal production and bush fires have stripped and depleted soils, to
the point that famine is overtaking Pool," says Safoula.

According to government statistics, more than 6,000 hectares of forest were lost in this
department between 2007 and 2008. And during the first quarter of 2009 alone, over
62,000 sacks of charcoal were produced in the district of Kinkala, more than 78 percent
of them from Pool.

In the same period, 200,000 bundles of firewood from Kinkala were transported to the
capital. "As long as energy needs ... remain important in Brazzaville, the forests will be
seen as a solution," Mayembo told IPS.

Not even fruit trees are spared, says Emmanuel Sengomona, a landowner in Kinkala.
"As you can see, almost everything has been razed. Mango, avocado and safou ended
up in the charcoal ovens." (Safou is a dark, oily fruit widely eaten in Central Africa.)

"When we were growing up, our parents hunted in large forests here. But today, there
is no more game," said 60-year-old Matthias Youlou.

"My fear is to see Pool become a desert because they cut the trees without respite. There
will be no agriculture and we will die of hunger," says Mayembo.

A farmer from Mabaya, who wouldn't give her name, shrugged off the criticism. "If we
do not do this, how will we live?" The sale of firewood can bring in the equivalent of
3,000 dollars every three months, she says.
Congo has laws to prevent the wholesale destruction of forest, but the trucks bearing
this eviscerating cargo stream into Brazzaville undistrubed.

"These trucks pass through because they're paying money to the government. It's a
shame because we do not respect the ratified conventions. The government can not stop
the traffic," says EDIC's Safoula.

"When shipments of wood and coal are seized, how many people pay fines as the law
requires? None. They negotiate to pay less," says Mayembo.

But the situation is not simply one of easily-corrupted inspectors. "Most people
involved are former militiamen," says Mayembo. "We must avoid reigniting the fire (of
civil war) by stopping them abruptly. We must therefore proceed with tact."

NGOs are severely critical of this attitude. "At Missafou and Madzia (areas in Pool), we
see how the trains transport the wood to Brazzaville, but the government does nothing.
Authorities levy some fees just to camouflage their irresponsibility," said Roger Younga
from the Brazzaville-based NGO Congo Vert (Green Congo).

While trying to educate rural communities about the dangers of deforestation, NGOs
propose alternatives. "Since 2009, we have maintained a nursery of flame trees, palm
trees and jatropha to provide the people of Pool with reforestation alternatives. We've
negotiated with Pool land managers and secured a site where the nursery will be
installed," says Safoula.
Relevant Links

Despite its immense agricultural potential, official statistics state that as a consequence
of the 1998-2003 civil war, Pool's inhabitants suffer the highest rates of malnutrition in
the country - two in five went hungry at some point in 2009. In a report covering the
same year, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stressed that one in five
children in the region suffered chronic malnutrition.

"And if people turn away from agriculture, the impact would be catastrophic," Younga
told IPS.

In response to the threat, the World Bank is urging the government to accelerate the
process of setting up a national plan to fight deforestation.

"We will allocate 200,000 dollars to the government for the adoption of this plan," said
Andre Aquino, head of the World Bank's Reducing the Effects of Deforestation and
Degradation programme in the two Congos told IPS.

"Once that is done, NGOs and communities can access our funds because we have up to
3.4 million dollars available,"
--------------------
Somaliland Set for President Vote (Al Jazeera.Net)

The self-declared Republic of Somaliland will soon hold its second presidential election
in 8 years.

Campaigning for the vote is underway in the breakaway state, which declared
independence from Somalia in 1991.

However, the area is only recognised internationally as an autonomous region within

Somalia.

Now many people are celebrating the election that was delayed for almost two years.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland.

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UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Niger: UN relief chief urges donors to respond quickly to food crisis

23 June – The United Nations humanitarian chief has urged donors to urgently respond
to the appeal for funds to assist millions of people in Niger who are suffering from
acute food shortages caused by prolonged drought and crop failure in West Africa’s
arid Sahel region.