United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

29 June 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Interview Transcript: Diana Putman Honored With 'Dissent' Award (NPR)

The State Department promotes itself as a place that likes to hear dissent. Each year, the
department's professional union hands out awards to diplomats who do just that. This
year's recipient was a woman serving alongside the U.S. military in AFRICOM, the
Africa Command, who managed to change a program meant to help rape victims in
Congo. Diana Putman's story demonstrates that officials from the civilian and military
cultures of the U.S. Government can collaborate successfully.

Lush Land Winds Through a Ravaged Capital (Mogadishu Journal)

(Somalia) Mogadishu‘s frontline is a no man's land perhaps 200 feet wide of blasted-out
buildings and overgrown bush, separating a small, besieged enclave controlled by the
government from thousands of radical Islamist insurgents.

Staff assistance visit benefits USJFCOM, CJTF-HOA (USJFCOM)

(USA) A deployable training team from U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Training
Directorate/Joint Warfighting Center recently returned from a staff assistance visit with
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The visit was a chance for both the team
and the joint task force to assess training delivered by J7 prior to the JTF's deployment
earlier this year.

Biden's Tour of Kenya And Egypt (Daily Champion)

(Kenya) Kenya, like Egypt, is a close ally of the United States, and Mr. Biden hopped
over to Nairobi in the knowledge that America has always regarded it as a very
important partner in the war against terrorism and Islamic militancy.

U.S. military contractors eye Africa (UPI)

(Pan Africa) The U.S. military's Africa Command, whose mission is widely seen as
protecting U.S. energy interests, is reported to be seeking to move in private defense
contractors to set up a sophisticated intelligence-gathering operation to monitor
terrorist infiltration.

Zimbabwe, EU dialogue to resume next month (Xinhua)

(Zimbabwe) Dialogue between Zimbabwe and the European Union (EU) to explore
ways of normalising relations between the two sides will resume in July following EU
has sent an invitation to Zimbabwe's ministerial team.

Rwanda takes a strict line on genocide denial. The US should support that. (Christian
Science Monitor)
(Rwanda) Arrogance, ignorance, and indifference to African victims of genocide have
long been hallmarks of Western treatment of Rwanda. The US government should take
care not to perpetuate this unfortunate tradition in the run-up to Rwanda‘s presidential
election in August and fan ethnic tensions in Rwanda.

Burundi Holds Single Candidate Presidential Election (Voice of America)

(Burundi) An opposition boycott has left President Pierre Nkurunziza as the sole
candidate on the ballot as Burundians go to the polls Monday.

Lifetime of Tracking Killings Ends in Activist’s Own (New York Times)

(Congo) Early on the morning of June 2, Mr. Chebeya, Congo‘s best-known human
rights activist, was found dead in his car in the Mont Ngafula area of this capital city.
The United Nations secretary general said he was ―deeply shocked‖ by Mr. Chebeya‘s
death, and the United States, European Union and French governments expressed
concern and called for an independent inquiry.

Equatorial Guinea Pledges Oil Revenue Transparency (Bloomberg)

(Equatorial Guinea) Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo,
who has held power for more than three decades, said his country had entered a new
era of accountability and transparency. A five-point policy initiative commits the
government to greater transparency on oil revenue, judicial independence and press
freedom, Obiang told the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town today.

Africa's biggest wind farm opens in Morocco (AFP)

(Morocco) Morocco's King Mohammed VI inaugurated Monday a 250-million-euro
(300 million dollar) wind farm near Tangiers, which an official source said was the
biggest in Africa.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Guinea earns UN plaudits after peaceful staging of presidential election
Outgoing UN envoy encourages Somali leadership to build on recent gains
Praising Eritrea’s engagement with neighbours, Ban urges compliance with
resolutions
UN report urges Central Africans to press ahead with elections preparations
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, June 30, 4:00 p.m., Center for Global Development
WHAT: Liberia: Life After Debt
WHO: Augustine Ngafuan, Minister of Finance, Liberia; Amara Konneh, Minister of
Planning and Economic Affairs, Liberia; John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director,
International Monetary Fund; Ben Leo, Center for Global Development
Info:
http://actevarsvp.com/acteva/jsp/register.jsp?eventID=a0I50000006PQY7EAO&prtptI
D=a0D50000002Wnh9EAC&mailId=a0F50000002GGHMEA4

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, July 1, 10:15 a.m., U.S. Institute of Peace

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

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, July 9, 1:00 p.m., U.S. Institute of Peace

WHAT: Measuring Progress in Stabilizing War-Torn Societies
WHO: Colonel John Agoglia, Discussant, Director, Counterinsurgency Training Center
– Afghanistan; Michael Dziedzic, Moderator, Senior Program Officer, U.S. Institute of
Peace; Barbara Sotirin, Discussant, Deputy Director for Global Security Affairs, The
Joint Staff; John McNamara, Discussant, Director, Office of Planning, Office of the
Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/measuring-progress-in-stabilizing-war-torn-
societies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Interview Transcript: Diana Putman Honored With 'Dissent' Award (NPR)

The State Department promotes itself as a place that likes to hear dissent. Each year, the
department's professional union hands out awards to diplomats who do just that. This
year's recipient was a woman serving alongside the U.S. military in AFRICOM, the
Africa Command, who managed to change a program meant to help rape victims in
Congo. Diana Putman's story demonstrates that officials from the civilian and military
cultures of the U.S. Government can collaborate successfully.

It's no secret that the U.S. military and civilian officials are occasionally at odds. A
dramatic example came last week with the Rolling Stone article that led to General
Stanley McChrystal's resignation from his command in Afghanistan. Now, we're going
to hear about a very different dispute between civilians and the military. This one
worked its way through the regular channels, not the media, and resulted in a change
in policy. NPR's Michele Keleman has the story.

MICHELE KELEMEN: As an anthropologist by training, Diana Putman seems quite

attuned to the culture clash between U.S. Agency for International Development
officials like herself and U.S. military officers. She works with the military at the new
Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

Ms. DIANA PUTMAN (USAID): Unfortunately, within the military system, frequently
what happens is a good idea comes out from someone at a senior level and everybody
just jumps on it and says, OK, the boss wants this done. The benefit of having people
like me coming from a different culture is that I come from a culture at USAID, where
we're much freer to challenge.

KELEMEN: In fact, the American Foreign Service Association just gave her an award
for constructive dissent for what she did to challenge a program in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.

The story began last year when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was planning to visit
Congo to highlight the problem of sexual violence U.S. AFRICOM sprang into action to
show that they're addressing the issue and prepared to send a medical team to help
victims of rape.

Ms. PUTMAN: So they were planning on bringing out American military to participate
in some sort of medical activity with Congolese women or some sort of psychosocial
counseling.

KELEMEN: Putman didn't think the U.S. military was equipped for that and argued
development experts and nongovernmental groups are better suited to provide services
for rape victims and are already in the country. So she went up the chain of command
to persuade AFRICOM to help those services providers by fixing up hospitals and a
school where girls can study safely.

Ms. PUTMAN: We're just about to award the contracts to Congolese firms. So in
addition to the benefits that the women will get out of this, we're also helping the local
Congolese economy.

KELEMEN: Development work has changed a lot of Putman's career, she says. And she
believes there is a role for the military. What's unique about U.S. Africa Command is
that it was set up as an interagency command structure.
Ms. PUTMAN: And we're learning, slowly, how to accommodate each other's cultures.
And I think that's important for all of us within the U.S. government who've often been
stovepiped into doing our own things. Now we need to sit down, figure out how to
cross our cultures.

KELEMEN: She says she found the generals at AFRICOM to be responsive to her
advice as a second generation development expert on Africa.

Ms. PUTMAN: Having grown up in Africa, having been around African women and
seeing the strength of African women ever since I was a little girl, I just felt so honored
to be able to speak out for African women.

KELEMEN: Particular, she says, at a time when these issues are high on the U.S. foreign
policy agenda.

Ms. PUTMAN: We have a president and a secretary of state who realize that women
hold up half the sky.

KELEMEN: Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

(Soundbite of music)

MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.

--------------------
Staff assistance visit benefits USJFCOM, CJTF-HOA (USJFCOM)

A deployable training team from U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Training
Directorate/Joint Warfighting Center recently returned from a staff assistance visit with
Combined Joint Task Force.

SUFFOLK, Va. - June 28, 2010) -- The results of a recent site assistance visit (SAV)
conducted by U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) observer/trainers (O/Ts) and
the joint task force (JTF) responsible for U.S. military operations in eastern Africa will
benefit both commands.

A Joint Training Directorate/Joint Warfighting Center (J7) deployable training team

(DTT) worked with Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) during the
visit, which is the final in a series of events - the Unified Endeavor (UE) Mission
Rehearsal Program - designed to prepare the JTF's core staff for its mission, said Lt. Col.
Mark Brennan, the DTT's lead O/T.

Navy Rear Adm. Brian Losey, CJTF-HOA commander, said the visit and its preceding
mission rehearsal exercise (MRX) are "utterly vital" to his task force because of the
unique challenges it faces in both assembling and operating. Prior to deploying, his staff
went through education and training conducted by J7.

"Particularly with the way this JTF is formed," Losey said. "We form up outside of the
theater. There are some very specialized regional requirements that are necessary to
operate in Africa. That and the idea of bringing a disparate group together to form a
joint task force are both serviced by the MRX and the SAV."

Losey and his chief of staff, Navy Capt. John Dixon, both said the ultimate goal of the
SAV is to enhance CJTF-HOA's mission effectiveness.

"It's making our team and our processes better so that we can execute the mission
better," Dixon said. "We'll be more effective at doing what we came here to do. We're
out here working with other parts of the government to execute the national security
strategy. That's what it's all about."

CJTF-HOA's primary mission is conflict prevention. That sometimes can be difficult to

communicate, but Dixon said the small investment in operations now can keep at bay
the large cost of wars later.

"The biggest difference is prevention of conflict is not the kind of thing Tom, Joe and
Mary back in Bedford, Pa., understand easily," he said "It's not the traditional sense of
what people see the military doing. Conflict prevention over here is a bargain. We're
preventing potential wars that could cost billions of dollars and see American lives
lost."

J7 DTTs deploy to train JTFs and combatant commands all around the world and share
best practices and lessons learned across those organizations. Losey said that insight is
valuable to JTFs like this one.

"They're bringing lessons learned to us from Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. "They take
those practices and bring them to us. A concrete example I can give you is population-
centered analysis: understanding the environment from a population-centric view as
opposed to an adversary-centric one. That's critical when you consider conflict
prevention in the context here in Africa."

Lessons learned and best practices for a JTF immersed in an operating environment that
presents new challenges regularly are important. The DTT can come in with an
outsider's perspective and see things a staff dealing with those challenges may have
missed, according to Dixon.

"They come in as an outside set of eyes," he said. "That's probably the best thing. We
may be tunneled in on something whereas they can see maybe a bigger picture or
different perspective and bring best practices to us and evaluate what we do. It's very
helpful."

While the SAV was the final training event for this iteration of CJTF-HOA, it also was
the first step for the J7 as it prepares to train the core staff's replacements. Navy Cmdr.
Nick Mungas, U.S. Africa Command lead planner with J7's Joint Exercise Division, was
part of the DTT and gathered lessons learned to help him craft relevant academics and
training for that next core staff. He said he was there to find out what worked during
this staff's training, what could have worked better, and what could be added to this
year's MRX.

"It's going to pay a lot of dividends for me to have seen the environment they're
working in and better understand their physical environment and what some of their
day-to-day limitations are while they're out here," he said.

Losey said the JTF's huge geographical footprint, its emphasis on civil-military
operations, and its need to operate in coordination with host nations and other U.S.
government agencies are challenges the UE program has helped the staff prepare for
and overcome.

"The key distinction they're helping us with here is that we're operating in a region of
roughly 12 countries," he said. "When you talk about exercising a whole of government
approach, understanding the dynamics of a country and its country team play in and
impact how you coordinate comprehensive solutions. They help us root through best
practices to determine how to do that effectively."
--------------------
Biden's Tour of Kenya And Egypt (Daily Champion)

LAGOS, Nigeria — "Putting in place a new constitution, and strengthening your

democratic institutions and the rule of law , will further open the door to major
American development programmes, such as, the Millennium challenge, and this I
predict will bring about re-investment by American corporations and international
organizations in Kenya.

"That could provide millions of Dollars in assistance and grants.

"I assure the president and the prime minister that the United States supports Kenya's
efforts to secure the border in the face of very real threats from those who wish to
spread chaos through despair and violence. We recognize that Kenya's long-term
stability and development are tied to regional security and development."
"The referendum on a new constitution scheduled for 4th August, this year, is a vote
(completely) on the initiative of the Grand Coalition Government. We are confident
that, through this process, Kenyans will get a new constitution."

"The vice-president had a wonderful meeting with President Kibaki, Prime Minister
Raila Odinga, the vice-president and several of us ministers, where we discussed
bilateral and regional issues that bring us together as friends, thereafter, he visited the
Bomb Blast Memorial, where the American embassy stood before the bomb. And he's
scheduled to meet and address a congregation of several groupings of civil society,
N.G.O.'s and academics and other Kenyans of goodwill from all over Nairobi who will
congregate at the Kenyatta international conference centre."

After flying to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sham El Sheikh, where he held several
hours of talks with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian governments officials,
the vice-president of the United States, Joseph Biden, made Kenyan the next port of a
call in his tour of Africa. His talks with Mr. Mubarak happened to be on Monday June 7,
so that the following day, Tuesday, he was already in Nairobi, communing with a cross-
section of Kenyan's political leaders.

Whether or not the U.S. vice-president's recent trip to Africa qualifies to be called a
whirlwind visit is hardly the point. Rather, what is important is this: the two key
countries on the V.P.'s schedule, Egypt and Kenya, represent two of the continent's
most prominent players. Egypt, for instance is the best-known corridor linking Africa to
the Middle East. Most of all, Egypt is run by a secular government that has long
established itself as America's best friend in the entire Arab fraternity.

Kenya, like Egypt, is a close ally of the United States, and Mr. Biden hopped over to
Nairobi in the knowledge that America has always regarded it as a very important
partner in the war against terrorism and Islamic militancy. Apart from being East
Africa's main economic power-house, Kenya, as Vice-President Biden acknowledged
several times during his stay, remain a key player in the effort to prevent Al Shabbab
and al Qaeda overthrowing Somalia's international backed, secular government and
seizing power in that war-ravaged horn of Africa country.

Kenya, east Africa's second most populous, has also been the target of constant rebuke
by Washington, because of what the Americans and their European Union allies have
described as its reluctance to introduce political reform, the perpetration of ethnically-
based violence and the carrying out of serious human rights abuses by Kenya's national
police.

U.S. president, Barak Obama, has strong ancestral links to Kenya. The last time he was
in the east African country was four years ago, when Obama was a U.S. senator from
the state of Illinois. During his tour of Africa, sometime last year, Obama deliberately
avoided visiting Kenya, and it's thought that the U.S. president was unhappy with the
Kenyan authorities over their handling of not just the controversial elections of 2007,
but, also the spate of widespread violence, death and destruction that followed the poll.

Did Kenyans, the politicians especially, see vice-president Biden's visit to their country
as sufficient appeasement for the slap they felt they received back in 2009, when
President Obama circumvented their country and traveled all the way to Ghana?
Whatever the perception(s) in Kenya, the fact remains that Mr.Biden said everything
President Obama was expected to tell the rulers of his fatherland. He, Mr. Biden, told
Kenya's political leaders that the passage of a new constitution, as well as other key
political reforms, will be resulting in more American investment in their country.

Speaking in the capital, Nairobi, after he'd had talks with President Mwai Kibaki of
Kenya, he said American companies are eager to do business in Kenya.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga are the leaders for Kenya's two main
political parties-the Party of National Unity, P.N.U., and the Orange Democratic
Movement, O.D.M. Both mainstream parties formed a coalition government in the wake
of that disputed presidential election held on December 27, 2007. The resultant violence
between Kibaki's mainly Kikuyu supporters and Mr. Odinga's Lub-led camp killed
nearly 1,600 people and injured thousands.

In the middle of 2008, P.N.U. and O.D.M. set up a grand coalition as a way of resolving
the political im-passe. But, two and-a-half years since the disputed polls, the country is
preparing for a constitutional referendum. According to President Kibaki, the vote will
give the people of Kenya what they need badly, which is reform. Experts say the result
of the August referendum could have major economic implications for the country. A
new constitution could change perceptions of Kenya and spark investment.

If on August 4, the Kenyan electorate vote against the document, analysts believe
investors are likely to turn to their backs on the country-making an already uncertain
political environment too risky. An economically weakened Kenya also presents
security issues for the region.

President Kibaki had asked Vice-President Biden for more engagement from
Washington in stabilizing neighbouring Somali, which has had no effective government
since the outbreak of war in 1990. Kibaki pointed to the concerns shared by both
Washington and Nairobi about piracy in the Indian Ocean and the threat of extremist
groups operating in war-torn Somalia. In response, the Americans vice-president said
he recognized Kenya's efforts in combating threats from Somalia.

On Sudan, the U.S. as already known has warned of the need for all concerned to
prepared adequately for next January's referendum on the independence of southern
Sudan from Khartoum. The reason is that a "yes" vote, which is the most likely
outcome, will have wide effect and the pressure is building on Sudan's neighbours,
including Kenya, to ensue the credibility of the process. Before returning to
Washington, Vice-President Biden met South Sudan's president, Salva Kiar.

Experts say Kenya's role in the security of east Africa is the main reason why the
country has received 2.2. billion Dollars of the 6.7 billion, in U.S. economic and security
assistance to the region in the past sixteen years.
--------------------
U.S. military contractors eye Africa (UPI)

ALGIERS, Algeria - The U.S. military's Africa Command, whose mission is widely seen
as protecting U.S. energy interests, is reported to be seeking to move in private defense
contractors to set up a sophisticated intelligence-gathering operation to monitor
terrorist infiltration.

This project, if it gets going, could provide a vital link between U.S. forces and those of
North African states that in April launched an unprecedented joint military campaign
against jihadist groups operating in the region.

One of their biggest problems is a lack of intelligence-gathering aircraft, combat

helicopters and transport planes capable of rapidly moving Special Forces troops
against the highly mobile terrorist units operating in the deserts and ungoverned spaces
of northwestern Africa.

Africom's moves would go part way at least to alleviating some of these problems and
help coordinate multinational operations against insurgents in the rugged region by
Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

The Africa Intelligence Web site, noting that no African government has agreed to host
Africom's headquarters -- which remain in Stuttgart, Germany -- reported the new
command "is building up its operations on the continent by coming in through the side
door: via private contractors."

Africom, it said, has issued "rather intriguing calls for bids" to support one of its
primary missions, training counter-terrorism forces in the Sahara and Sahel regions.

This is being done under the Trans Sahara Counter-Terror Initiative, which involves
U.S. training teams operating in Mali, Chad, Niger, Senegal and others.

The Algeria-based Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb -- the Arabic name for North Africa
-- has been seeking to extend its influence through the region and into sub-Saharan
Africa.
One target is oil-rich Nigeria, where religious bloodshed frequently occurs in the central
belt between the Muslim north and the Christian-dominated south. Nigeria is a key oil
supplier to the United States.

In one of the projects, unveiled June 11 in Washington, Africom wants to contract

private military companies to establish "a turnkey air surveillance program on behalf of
local armed forces" by August, Africa Intelligence reported.

This would initially involve leasing two unmarked reconnaissance aircraft, "preferably
Pilatus PC-12 NG" propeller-driven aircraft used by Latin American armies for
counterinsurgency operations and an unmanned aerial vehicle with high-resolution and
infrared cameras.

These would be operated by three teams of pilots, analysts and technicians who would
be "seconded to the armed forces of the host country."

Africom would have access to all intelligence amassed by the partner states, which
would be passed on to command headquarters in Stuttgart.

This would dovetail neatly with a new effort by Algeria and other Maghreb states
combating AQIM and other jihadist groups which have been seeking in vain to acquire
U.S. UAVs.

Africa Intelligence said another project is to acquire 83 four-wheel drive vehicles,

without military markings that "must be able to drive unnoticed on African roads,
according to the specifications listed in the tender published June 11."

There is no evidence of any direct U.S. military involvement in the counterinsurgency

campaign under way in North Africa, a campaign centered on the Algerian military air
base at Tamanrasset deep in the Sahara.

But AQIM and its allies are clearly a priority for Washington as well.

U.S. mercenaries such as Blackwater -- now known as Xe Services -- DynCorp and

Triple Canopy have been eyeing Africa as the industry's new frontier -- as it was in the
heyday of the "dogs of war" from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Indeed, McClatchy Newspapers reported Sunday that Blackwater Worldwide,

notorious for its deadly operations in Iraq, tried for two years to secure lucrative
contracts in rebel-held southern Sudan even though the country was under U.S.
sanctions.
In a way, it was al-Qaida that reawakened U.S. interest in Africa with the twin
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on
Aug. 7, 1998, in which 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed.

After al-Qaida's devastating airborne suicide attacks on the United States Sept. 11, 2001,
the George W. Bush administration established the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of
Africa based at Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign Legion base, in Djibouti to
counter jihadists in East Africa and Somalia.

It remains the only established U.S. base on the continent -- so far.

--------------------
Zimbabwe, EU dialogue to resume next month (Xinhua)

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Dialogue between Zimbabwe and the European Union (EU) to
explore ways of normalising relations between the two sides will resume in July
following EU has sent an invitation to Zimbabwe's ministerial team.

Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Secretary Joey Bimha confirmed the resumption of the
dialogue.

"The European Union has communicated to us through their delegation in Harare that
the dialogue will resume on July 2. Economic Planning and Investment Promotion
Minister Elton Mangoma will lead the delegation because chairman of the re-
engagement committee, Foreign Affairs Minister Mumbengegwi has other
commitments," he was quoted by The Herald on Monday as saying.

Bimha said the Zimbabwean government was yet to receive the agenda for the meetings
with EU head of foreign policy Lady Ashton of Britain. Foreign Minister Mumbengegwi
would soon convene a meeting of the Zimbabwean team to agree on positions.

One issue that has already been agreed on is the need to immediately lift the illegal
sanctions the bloc imposed on Zimbabwe. The two sides agreed to produce plans on
what they had committed themselves to in the dialogue.

Talks should have resumed in April, but were postponed indefinitely after air services
in most of Europe were suspended following the eruption of an Icelandic volcano that
spread a cloud of ash across the continent. Since then, the EU had not made any formal
communication to Harare on the way forward.

The dialogue was initiated last year but little headway has been made with the EU
accused of not showing commitment.

Mumbengegwi accused the EU of not being committed to re- engaging Zimbabwe.

"We are still waiting for the EU to indicate to us when our delegation should go there
and they certainly seem to be taking their time. It seems to suggest to us that the EU has
never taken this dialogue seriously at all. They are just playing games with the lives of
the people of Zimbabwe and I know that in international relations, morality is the first
casuality," Mumbengegwi said.
--------------------
Rwanda takes a strict line on genocide denial. The US should support that. (Christian
Science Monitor)

Arrogance, ignorance, and indifference to African victims of genocide have long been
hallmarks of Western treatment of Rwanda. The US government should take care not to
perpetuate this unfortunate tradition in the run-up to Rwanda‘s presidential election in
August and fan ethnic tensions in Rwanda.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton admonished the Rwandan government

on June 14 for its legal prosecution of ―opposition figures‖ and ―lawyers,‖ which she
called political actions that should be reversed. Whoever drafted and vetted the
secretary‘s comments did her, and Rwanda, a disservice.

The ―opposition figure‖ in question is Victoire Ingabire, a Rwandan émigrée who

returned to Rwanda from Europe in January to run for president. She had been living
outside Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. Upon her return this year, she was soon
charged with genocide denial, stirring up ethnic hatred, and collaborating with a rebel
force based in eastern Congo – the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(FDLR), which is led by the remnants of the military officers and politicians who
planned and perpetrated the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda.

The ―lawyer‖ Secretary Clinton referred to is Peter Erlinder, an American who is a

defense attorney for accused genocide perpetrators at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda, and a public spokesman for their cause. He portrays himself as a
seeker of truth and justice, but is widely viewed within Rwanda as a conspiracy theorist
and genocide denier. Mr. Erlinder came to Rwanda in late May to advise Ms. Ingabire.
He was arrested, charged with genocide denial and endangering Rwandan security,
then released on bail on June 17, on grounds of compassion for his physical and mental
health problems. Though he has since returned to the US, Rwanda still aims to try him.

To Americans who follow what passes for news about this far-away African country
(there is a lot going on right now, often troubling, but with no Western journalists based
here, there is a dearth of in-depth reporting), Clinton‘s remarks might seem like sound
advice. But her intervention was harmful to Rwanda‘s efforts to protect its post-
genocide democracy from renewed ethnic divisions. The stakes are too high for an ad
hoc approach.
In the case of Erlinder, the US has a duty to ensure that any American arrested overseas
gets fair treatment. But to characterize his prosecution as ―political‖ and to urge he be
released on compassionate grounds, as the State Department did, goes well beyond this
duty. It supposes that genocide denial is a victimless crime, and not legitimate grounds
for legal action. Europe doesn‘t see it that way. Nor of course does Rwanda, with its
300,000 still-traumatized genocide survivors. Why should we?

As for Ingabire, it is astonishing that the US would appear to go to bat for her. Ingabire
claims to want reconciliation and democracy for Rwanda. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
has campaigned for her to be allowed to compete in Rwanda‘s election. But,
surprisingly, HRW has not told its readers (including, no doubt, folks at the State
Department) a word about the ideology and background of Ingabire‘s party or the
nature of her campaign. This can be remedied.

Ingabire is president of two Rwandan émigré parties based in Europe. One is the RDR,
the other the FDU; they are essentially the same, save for the alphabet-soup acronym
intrigue of émigré politics. Both are the descendents of the RDR party established in
1995 in eastern Congo by Rwandan military leaders of the 1994 genocide against the
minority Rwandan Tutsi. Their intent was to replace, with less compromised faces, the
Rwandan interim government that had committed the genocide and then retreated to
eastern Congo.

The founding RDR ideology and strategy, never repudiated since 1995, is to return the
genocide perpetrators and their supporters to power in Rwanda by force or by
negotiation. Ingabire‘s predecessor as RDR president in Europe, Charles Ndereyehe, is
the subject of an Interpol warrant for genocide crimes committed against Tutsis in 1994.
Ingabire‘s RDR and FDU have long had ties with the FDLR in eastern Congo. The
United States and the United Nations treat the FDLR as a terrorist group; two of its
Europe-based leaders are under arrest in Germany.

Ingabire‘s personal links to the FDLR are cited in a 2009 UN Experts‘ Report about the
FDLR. Her public statements in Europe since 2000 are a rich trove of genocide ideology
and denial. And Ingabire‘s campaign in Rwanda prior to her arraignment was clearly
aimed at mobilizing ethnic divisions between Hutus and Tutsis.

Her first stop once back in the country was to visit Rwanda‘s main memorial to the 1994
genocide against the Tutsis, where she raised the issue of remembrance of Hutu victims.
This is like going to Auschwitz to raise the issue of the German victims of Dresden.
Ingabire also chose to meditate at the tomb of the first president of the Rwandan
regime, which took over on independence from Belgium in 1962. This regime
institutionalized racism against Tutsis and organized an initial mass killing of some
15,000 of them in 1963-64. Next, she visited with convicted perpetrators of the 1994
genocide in hospitals in two Rwandan towns, repeated her often-stated condemnation
of the special genocide courts that convicted them, and promised to abolish these courts
if elected. (Thanks to these 15,000 courts, set up in 2001 and already projected to end
their work this summer, there are over 500,000 genocide perpetrators in Rwanda who
have confessed or been convicted. Many are now at large again after having served
their sentences.)

To my knowledge, the US never admonished Germany for banning the Nazi-like

―Socialist Reich Party‖ in 1952, or for prosecuting Holocaust deniers, or for banning the
two dozen right-wing hate groups it has shut down over the past 18 years. We should
treat Rwanda with the same understanding and respect.

Ingabire will be brought to trial soon. She is, of course, innocent of the charges against
her until proven guilty. The US government will be able to assess the Rwandan
government‘s case against her, its conduct of the trial, her defense, and the court‘s
ruling.

In the meantime, the State Department should certainly reconsider whether it really
wants to make comments that appear to press Rwanda to welcome into its political life
an émigré party that is heir to the genocidal regime of 1994.
--------------------
Burundi Holds Single Candidate Presidential Election (Voice of America)

An opposition boycott has left President Pierre Nkurunziza as the sole candidate on the
ballot as Burundians go to the polls Monday.

Weeks of tension and sporadic bouts of violence have been capped off by an unlikely
calm as citizens vote for President Pierre Nkurunziza, who is certain to retain his office
after Monday's election.

With the contest already won, Reuters has reported that many Burundians avoided the
polls.

Despite the low turnout, there is a possible consolation for opposition candidates.
Burundi's unique electoral system requires voters to place their choice into a white
envelope while placing all others into a corresponding black envelope. Earlier this
month, Burundi's electoral commission revealed it would treat any black envelope
containing the president's ticket as a no-vote, essentially creating a referendum on Mr.
Nkurunziza.

But that statement is unlikely to make up for the once bright outlook for the central
African nation.
After May's municipal elections saw unprecedented voter turnout and a firm stamp of
approval from international observers, many hoped that Burundi's summer long series
of elections would be the final step in the countries long and tumultuous transition to
democracy.

But hopes quickly faded as the results were announced and President Nkurunziza's
National Council for the Defense of Democracy party took over 60 percent of the
available seats. Opposition parties, including main challenger the Forces of National
Liberation, accused the electoral commission of fraud and pulled out of the presidential
election.

But the chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Renate
Weber, said there was no evidence of any such tampering during the municipal polls.

"In spite of errors, in spite of irregularities, generally the elections have been conducted
in a manner that was indeed within the international standards. Why the opposition
decided to withdraw?" asked Weber.

"They came with a number of allegations of fraud on the elections that we, personally
through our observers but also through the observers of the civil society that were
present, were not noticed. There is a difference between fraud and irregularities.
Irregularities may be caused by human errors, by not enough logistics, not enough legal
precision while fraud means an intention to affect the result of the election," said Weber.

Despite assurances of the international observers, Burundi has seen a surge in

politically motivated violence in the time between polls.

Two weeks ago, a series of grenade attacks across the country injured over 20 people,
and a fresh string of attacks on Tuesday killed one person and left another eight injured.
The international community has also been targeted. On Sunday, a grenade went off
near the offices of the European Union's observation team, though nobody was hurt.

The impact of the violence is now being felt outside of the small, central African nation.
Burundi is the newest member of the East African Community, an economic and
political union which is set to begin its formal integration process in July.

Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetang'ula warned that instability could jeopardize
the country's status within the bloc.

"The gains in both security and stability that have been made in the last couple of years
must not be lost. Having listened to all the parties, the region advises the people of
Burundi, very firmly, that the region will not tolerate any slippage of the country into
instability and violence," he said. "We have impressed upon the remaining parties to
participate fully in the remaining elections of parliament, senatorial and cell."

These are the first presidential elections since a 2005 peace agreement ended a 13-year
civil war. Burundians will head to the polls again in July for two rounds of legislative
elections followed by village elections in September.
--------------------
Lifetime of Tracking Killings Ends in Activist’s Own (New York Times)

Early on the morning of June 2, Mr. Chebeya, Congo‘s best-known human rights
activist, was found dead in his car in the Mont Ngafula area of this capital city, his
hands tied behind his back. The Congo police inspector general had summoned him for
questioning the afternoon before.

―I‘m in front of the office,‖ Mr. Chebeya said in a text message to his wife at 5:20. ―Keep
track of me,‖ said his message sent two minutes later. That was the last she heard from
him. She later received a message from his phone, but said she is certain it was not from
her husband.

Now, more than three weeks later, the ―Chebeya Affair,‖ as his killing has become
known, continues to be told day after day on the front pages of Kinshasa‘s newspapers.
His death touched off an outcry that has not stopped, here or abroad. The United
Nations secretary general said he was ―deeply shocked‖ by Mr. Chebeya‘s death, and
the United States, European Union and French governments expressed concern and
called for an independent inquiry.

The police inspector general, John Numbi, one of the most powerful men in the
government of President Joseph Kabila, has been suspended. Officials have announced
investigations, several officers have been arrested, and Interior Minister Adolphe
Lumanu announced on national television that Mr. Kabila was ―determined‖ to get to
the bottom of Mr. Chebeya‘s death. No cause of death has been released, and no
charges have been filed, according to Human Rights Watch.

Suspicions about who ordered the death, and whether it was someone high in the
government, persist. ―He was quite a thorn in their side,‖ said Anneke Van
Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

―People are angry about this, and touched,‖ said Jospin Tono Goda, a clergyman
peering at the outdoor bulletin boards where newspapers are posted.

―We‘re in mourning,‖ said Claude Boilama, a civil servant, standing next to Mr. Tono.
―He defended everybody. This was somebody of great courage.‖
Nearly 1,000 mourners and diplomats attended a funeral service and burial for Mr.
Chebeya on Saturday in Kinshasa. Dozens of riot police officers were on hand, but no
violence was reported.

Human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents are routinely harassed or
even killed in this strategic, mineral-rich country in the heart of Africa, but Mr. Chebeya
was not an ordinary victim. He was the short, bespectacled, intense man who kept
going, kept investigating, and kept speaking out, on the radio, in news conferences and
at the head of demonstrations, year after year, in the face of constant threats and
occasional beatings.

He pursued multiple investigations at the same time from his spartan, unmarked offices
on a hillside here: the repression of political opposition, awful conditions in the prisons,
the suspicious death of a young woman who had said she was Mr. Kabila‘s sister.

To the outside world he was the vital on-scene witness, through the carefully
documented bulletin of the organization he led, La Voix des Sans Voix, or Voice of the
Voiceless, to what Human Rights Watch called ―the systemic nature of political
repression under President Kabila.‖

His experience of that repression was direct, and frequent. In March 2009 the Congo
police raided a news conference he was giving, lifted him up, threw him down stairs,
handcuffed him and jailed him. He did not give up, however.

With no answers coming from the government, speculation and questions about his
death abound.

This time, did the police kill Mr. Chebeya? Was someone high up behind his killing?
Why has the body of his driver not been found? Was it just a coincidence that the killing
was shortly before a major celebration planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of
independence on June 30, which Congo is using to try to prove that it has put civil war
and instability behind it? (Indeed, the top hotel here is buzzing with Western
businessmen pursuing mining deals with government officials.)

Against the government‘s narrative of normality Mr. Chebeya offered the opposite
view.

―Individual and Collective Liberties Constantly Trampled‖ is the title of his Bulletin No.
58, February-April 2009. Inside he documented case after case: a political opponent
tortured and beaten into unconsciousness by security agents, human rights activists
beaten with rifles and forced to strip naked, peaceful demonstrators arbitrarily arrested.
Small cases all — the routine accompaniment to unpunished mass killings and torture
documented by Human Rights Watch in a stinging 2008 report on political repression in
Congo, ―We Will Crush You.‖

―He was showing that the elections of 2006 did not lead to the rule of law,‖ said Jean-
Claude Katende, president of the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights.
Mr. Chebeya‘s death was a clear message from the authorities, Mr. Katende said:
―Everybody should shut up.‖ The investigations now under way, he said, are ―not
credible.‖

While emphasizing that the perpetrators remain unknown, Ms. Van Woudenberg of
Human Rights Watch said, ―Undoubtedly the government had a motive.‖

Mr. Chebeya‘s widow, Annie Mangbenga Nzinga, has no doubt that her husband‘s trip
to the police offices on June 1 led to his death. Speaking calmly, with controlled anger,
in a bare room in their house she was occupying until his funeral, she recalled that he
had mentioned the appointment that morning. He did not seem particularly concerned,
she remembered.

―He‘s been under threat most of his life,‖ Ms. Nzinga said. ―The security services did
not accept the work that he did.‖ When she went to visit him in prison in March 2009,
the police officers taunted her, she recalled. ―We‘re going to kill him, and rape you,‖ she
said they told her.

But there was never any question of giving up.

―He was a man who was faithful to his convictions, full of integrity, and not corrupted,‖
Mr. Katende said. ―For Congo, where corruption is massive, this is very unusual. It‘s a
shame we had to lose a man like that.‖
--------------------
Equatorial Guinea Pledges Oil Revenue Transparency (Bloomberg)

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has held power
for more than three decades, said his country had entered a new era of accountability
and transparency.

A five-point policy initiative commits the government to greater transparency on oil

revenue, judicial independence and press freedom, Obiang told the Fortune Global
Forum in Cape Town today.

―The country went through a period of crisis,‖ Obiang told reporters. ―No one was
helping us to develop. After the discovery of oil there was a rather weak initial response
from companies interested in investing. Now we feel secure in our position and it is the
right moment to invite companies with confidence to invest in our country.‖
The policy initiative will help the country rejoin the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative, Obiang said. It was ejected earlier this year from the organization of
companies, governments and civil groups that aims to clean up the oil and mining
industries for failing to meet guidelines.

Russia‘s OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of the world‘s largest gas company, has said it
plans to produce crude off the coast of Equatorial Guinea within four years after signing
an accord with the African nation‘s state energy company June 25.

‗Special Circumstances‘

Obiang has ruled sub-Saharan Africa‘s fourth-biggest oil- producer since 1979, when he
seized power from his uncle in a coup. He won a fourth term in elections in November
last year, securing 95.4 percent of the vote. Groups including New York- based Human
Rights Watch said conditions were not in place for a free and fair contest, and have
accused Obiang of human rights abuses and pilfering the country‘s oil wealth.

Allegations that the country lacked an independent electoral commission and failed to
publish a voters‘ roll were incorrect and none of the parties that participated in the vote
complained, Obiang said.

Asked about his succession plans and whether his lengthy rule was good for
democracy, he said: ―My country is democratic. In my own situation there are special
circumstances. I have liberated the country. You can find development in every corner
of Equatorial Guinea and the people appreciate this. This may be the reason why my
candidacy is always supported.‖

Oil Wealth

With a population of about 660,000 and an $8.1 billion economy, Equatorial Guinea has
Africa‘s highest gross domestic product per capita, World Bank data shows. At the
same time, average life expectancy is 50 years and 148 out of every 1,000 children die
before the age of five.

―Substantial resources‖ from the oil industry would be invested in health, education
and other services, and the environment would be protected, Obiang said.

A 2004 U.S. Senate investigation into money laundering found that Washington-based
Riggs Bank was holding as much as $750 million in accounts controlled by Obiang, his
family members or government officials.
Obiang said he was unaware of any public funds being diverted from the country and
that many allegations made against his government and his family were untrue.

―I will not say everything is well in Equatorial Guinea,‖ he said. ―We ask the skeptics
and the critics to trust the government and the society of Equatorial Guinea. Evaluate us
by our actions.‖

Only seven countries rank lower than Equatorial Guinea on Transparency

International‘s 2009 list of global corruption perceptions.

Obiang has appointed Lanny Davis, a special counsel under President Bill Clinton, as a
technical adviser on his reform and transparency program.
--------------------
Africa's biggest wind farm opens in Morocco (AFP)

TANGIERS, Morocco – Morocco's King Mohammed VI inaugurated Monday a 250-

million-euro (300 million dollar) wind farm near Tangiers, which an official source said
was the biggest in Africa.

The new wind farm, which cost some 300 million dollars, is located in Melloussa, 34
kilometres (21 miles) from Tangiers in northern Morocco and has 165 turbines, with a
production capacity of 140 megawatts.

The project was part-financed by the European Bank, which invested 80 million euros,
while Spanish and German banks put in a total of 150 million euros.

"The EU gives priority to this kind of investment and is proud to have financed the
project," said Guido Prud'homme, the European Bank's representative at the
inauguration ceremony.

Morocco's Minister of Energy and Mining, Yamsmina Benkhadra, said the wind farm
"is part of a global project estimated at three billion dollars. It will be completed in
2020."

The project, she said, would secure 42 percent of Morocco's energy production, with
wind farms, solar and hydraulic sources each generating 14 percent of the total.

This would reduce Morocco's energy bill, Benkhadra said, and would "assure our
energy security and a sustainable development."

A large wind farm in north Morocco opened in 2000 with a 54-megawatt capacity.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Guinea earns UN plaudits after peaceful staging of presidential election

28 June – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended Guinea for the successful
staging of presidential elections, widely regarded as the first democratic polls in the
West African country since independence more than 50 years ago.

Outgoing UN envoy encourages Somali leadership to build on recent gains

28 June – The outgoing United Nations envoy for Somalia has called on the country‘s
leaders to remain focused on the priorities ahead for the Horn of Africa nation as it
seeks to overcome years of conflict and build peace.

Praising Eritrea’s engagement with neighbours, Ban urges compliance with resolutions
28 June – Eritrea deserves credit for its recent constructive engagement with its
neighbours and the international community, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a
new report in which he urges the country to provide evidence that it is complying with
a Security Council resolution that imposed sanctions for the country‘s destabilizing
activities in Djibouti and Somalia.

UN report urges Central Africans to press ahead with elections preparations

28 June – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all parties in the Central African
Republic (CAR) to forge ahead with preparations for presidential and parliamentary
elections, which were originally scheduled for earlier this year but have been postponed
several times.