United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

21 July 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Ex-Envoy Blames U.S. Spies for Nairobi Bomb Blast (Daily Nation)
(Kenya) The diplomat who headed the US embassy in Nairobi when it was bombed 12
years ago has spoken about her country's intelligence blunders, which made the attacks
possible.

Jendayi E. Frazer: Next Steps for US Policy in Sudan (Investing Contrarian)

(Sudan) Sudan’s upcoming referenda create a key historical and geostrategic turning
point that warrants President Obama’s direct engagement.

'Govt Not Reducing Human Trafficking' (The Citizen - Dar es Salaam)

(Tanzania) A report issued by the US embassy in Dar es Salaam says the government
made little progress in implementing its 2008 anti-trafficking law.

Students graduate at AFM’s training centre (Malta Independent Online)

(Pan Africa) The latest group of local and foreign students has completed its assigned
training at the Armed Forces of Malta’s Maritime Safety and Security Training Centre
(MSSTC), graduating successfully last Friday.

Chad confirms Beshir visit Wednesday (AFP)

(Chad/Sudan) Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir will visit Chad on Wednesday, a
Chadian official said, in what will be his first trip to a country that recognises the
International Criminal Court's jurisdiction since an arrest warrant was issued for him.

Scientists say vaginal gel cuts HIV-infections by half (BBC)

(Pan Africa) A vaginal gel has significantly cut the rate of women contracting HIV from
infected partners in an experiment in South Africa, researchers said.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Angola: UN health agency warns that polio outbreak may spread
 UN welcomes steps by Eritrea and Djibouti to end border dispute
 UN agency stepping up operations to feed millions of hungry people in Niger
 UN agencies back Zambian vaccination campaign against measles
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, July 29, 8:15 a.m., Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars
WHAT: African Growth and Opportunity Act Civil Society Forum 2010 “A Decade of
Progress in Bridging the U.S.-Africa Trade Gap”
WHO: Keynote Speakers include Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Senate Foreign
Relations Committee; Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson, African Union*
Info: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?
fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=629709
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Ex-Envoy Blames U.S. Spies for Nairobi Bomb Blast (Daily Nation)

The diplomat who headed the US embassy in Nairobi when it was bombed 12 years ago
has spoken about her country's intelligence blunders, which made the attacks possible.

Ms Prudence Bushnell, in a commentary published on Monday by the Washington Post,

revealed that a man walked into the US embassy to warn of an impending truck
bombing in Nairobi, but one of the US intelligence agencies wrote him off as a "flake".

Ms Bushnell served during the second term of President Bill Clinton.

Links to al Qaeda

She said a combination of incompetence and arrogance caused the US intelligence

apparatus to ignore several advance warnings of the 1998 attack in which 200 people
were killed and another 5,000 injured, the majority of them Kenyans.

The attacks on Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were soon forgotten and "nothing changed",
she charged, a disturbing conclusion at a time when al Shabaab, an extremist group
with links to al Qaeda, has been stepping up operations in the region.

Last week, using plastic explosives wrapped in ball bearings, the group mounted two
gruesome attacks in Kampala, Uganda, killing 76 people and injuring an equal number.

Only on Tuesday, a Somali militia, suspected to be al Shabaab, attacked a General

Service Unit camp at the border town of Liboi, killing one officer.

However, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the officer was not dead, but in
hospital with gunshot wounds.
There were reports, also denied by the Provincial Administration, that another officer
had been abducted by the militia.

Bushnell reprimanded

Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the Kampala attack, an indication that it has
moved beyond its previous domestic agenda of taking control of Somalia and imposing
a Taliban-style religious rule to international conflict.

In her interview, Ms Bushnell said she was reprimanded by her superiors for raising
concerns about the security of her embassy and staff.

Despite being reprimanded, she took her concerns directly to then US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright but her diligence did not bear fruit and the attack occurred.

Using the term "Planet Washington" to deride the narrow views of US decision-makers,
Ms Bushnell argues that a series of false assumptions enabled the attack to be carried
out.

The first mistaken premise, she writes, was that "Nairobi was a backwater, so why
would anyone bother to blow it up?"

US spy chiefs knew at the time that the Kenyan capital housed "the well-known and
long-established al Qa'ida East Africa military cell," Ms Bushnell adds.

But the intelligence network proceeded from the assumption that "birds do not foul
their nests...or whatever the metaphor," she writes.

Ambassador Bushnell says she was criticised for "overloading the circuits" with
repeated complaints about security.

The official response to her written pleas, the ambassador says, was that "there was no
money and, anyway, the 'experts' in Washington said the Nairobi terrorist threat was
only medium."

Her bosses also dismissed a reference to the presence in Mombasa of "brothers and
engineers" in a 1997 letter from an al Qaeda member that US intelligence agents had
intercepted, Ms Bushnell reveals.

Preventive action was not taken, she says, because "the Nairobi cell had been 'disrupted'
following a CIA-FBI Kenyan team raid that same year."
"So that was that," Ambassador Bushnell caustically observes. In addition, she notes,
Osama bin Laden had been secretly indicted in the US prior to the simultaneous 1998
attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed 222 Africans and 12 Americans.

Those twin bombings were "soon forgotten" in Washington, she says.

--------------------
Jendayi E. Frazer: Next Steps for US Policy in Sudan (Investing Contrarian)

Sudan is approaching its most significant political event since it gained independence in
1956 and U.S. interests in regional stability, counterterrorism, and democracy and
human rights are directly at stake. In just six months, the political landscape will change
dramatically if the southern Sudanese choose independence in the January 2011
referendum on self-determination. If not handled well, the process and outcome of the
vote can lead to a return to the 22-year North-South civil war that resulted in over 2
million deaths. A misstep in Sudan can destabilize the entire region drawing in Sudan’s
nine neighbors, including key countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda on
whom the U.S. relies in carrying out its peace process and counterterrorism policies in
the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. Sudan’s upcoming referenda create a key
historical and geostrategic turning point that warrants President Obama’s direct
engagement.

The government of Sudan, on the other hand, seems to be sleep walking through its
history. Over the past five years, it has missed the opportunities which the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) afforded for the democratic transformation of
Sudan. The National Congress Party (NCP) has relied mostly on short-sighted tactical
maneuver, coercion and intimidation rather than a strategic reorientation to persuade
Southerners that they have a place in a unified Sudan. We will not know for sure until
the vote, but it is likely too late to avoid the breakup of Africa’s largest state. The
challenge for the Obama Administration is to assist in making the Southern Sudan
referendum a non-event; that is, one that takes place on time, without violence, and the
outcome is respected by all sides.

The NCP is spreading doubt to undermine the January 2011 referenda in which
Southerners choose secession or unity, and the people of Abyei decide to cast their fate
with the South or remain part of the North. The naysayers claim: secession of the South
will undermine Africa’s continental unity; secession will set a dangerous precedent for
countries with Northern Muslim and Southern Christian populations; an independent
South Sudan will be Africa’s newest failed state given weak institutions and capacity;
and secession will lead to war.

Expect delay tactics with the NCP sabotaging the four working groups charged with
negotiating the post-referendum arrangements on citizenship, security, international
treaties and legal issues, as well as financial, economic issues and natural resources.
Already, the NCP refuses to accept the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement’s
candidates proposed to chair the Abyei Referendum Commission. In contrast the SPLM
has accepted the NCP chair of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission. The latest
trick is to claim the referendum cannot go forward before demarcating the North-South
border, or resolving post-2011 issues, though no such argument was made when
national elections for the north and southern governments were held in April. Next will
be a call to postpone the referenda for technical and logistical reasons since voting
preparations are not complete. Money and arms continue to flow into the south as part
of the NCP campaign to destabilize the region. The international community has seen it
all before and th
e U.S. government, which played a leading role in negotiating the CPA, must prepare to
shoulder much of the burden to guarantee its full implementation.

What can the Obama Administration do now to honor the CPA and ensure credible
referenda take place?

First, President Obama must engage, and be seen to engage, to bring his national
security team together, and to signal to the world and the Sudanese leadership, that the
future of Sudan is a top priority for his Administration. President Obama should
especially place Sudan high on his agenda with China, particularly during the State
Visit of President Hu Jintao to the White House. The United States and China can use
their unique leverage with the SPLM and NCP respectively to protect the rights of the
Southerners and people of Abyei to determine their future, and to ensure that the
people of the Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan can exercise their right to popular
consultation on their status.

Second, President Obama, Secretary Clinton and Special Envoy Gration should
undertake a focused diplomatic effort in Africa. The effort should include personal
Presidential engagement with his regional counterparts to build consensus with the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) and African Union’s (AU) key
regional leaders on Sudan issues. IGAD and the African Union must be persuaded to
reject any and all efforts to block, stall, or undermine the referenda. The U.S. should also
use its global megaphone to counter NCP propaganda that an independent Southern
Sudan will serve as a dangerous precedent for the rest of Africa and quickly become a
failed state.

Third, the President, Secretary of State, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Susan Rice should work to empower the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to play a
central role in the 2011 referenda. The U.N. has the capability and neutrality necessary
to manage the referenda preparations and vote. For example, the U.N. can chair the
Abyei Referendum Commission to break the impasse between the SPLM and NCP and
enhance the confidence of all sides, especially the Abyei population, that their vote will
be counted. The U.N. can also strengthen UNMIS’s leadership and technical capabilities
in Southern Sudan by placing an Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) in Juba, and adding
a more robust stabilization and civil affairs capacity looking toward possible southern
independence in July 2011.

Fourth, the President and Secretary of State should push for additional resources in case
the southerners vote to secede. The United States, more than any other actor outside the
Sudanese themselves, can shape the environment to prevent a return to war. All options
should be on the table, including providing an understood security guarantee to
Southern Sudan against northern aggression. Working with both sides is also necessary
to address remaining CPA implementation issues and negotiate the technical
arrangements required to make separation peaceful and viable.

Last, the Obama Administration must not trade-off Darfur in an effort to buy Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir’s cooperation on the referenda. Appeasing the NCP is a
mistake. The U.S. must not back away from its international obligations under UNSC
Resolution 1593 that in 2005 referred the situation in Darfur to the International
Criminal Court, especially as the Sudan government continues bombings in Darfur. It is
possible to hold Bashir accountable on Darfur and work with the government to hold
the referenda. The Bush Administration maintained strong pressure and sanctions on
the Sudan Government, while helping to successfully negotiate the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement in 2005. President Bush has shown that personally engaging on Sudan
and holding the regime accountable can pay major dividends: ending the 22-year civil
war, advancement on counterterrorism, greater regional stability, and robust U.N.
peacekeeping presence in southern Sudan and Darfur – that the Obama team can reap
by following suit.

Time is running out and the time has come for President Obama to personally step up
and own the challenge of seeing Sudan through this momentous period, working in
close collaboration with the U.N., AU, Chinese, and coordinated with our traditional
African, Arab and European partners and stakeholders.
--------------------
'Govt Not Reducing Human Trafficking' (The Citizen - Dar es Salaam)

The Government has not fully complied with the minimum standards for reducing
human trafficking, a new report argues.

The report which was issued by the US embassy in Dar es Salaam says the government
made little progress in implementing its 2008 anti-trafficking law.

Though the situation was rampant, the government had never convicted a human
trafficking offender. It charged only one suspected trafficker and achieved no
conviction.

The report states that incidence of internal human trafficking was higher than that of
transnational trafficking, which is usually facilitated by family members, friends, and
brokers' offers of assistance with education or finding lucrative employment in urban
areas.

"The use of young girls for forced domestic labor continued to be country's largest
human trafficking problem," the report says.

That was, in part, due to poor inter-ministerial coordination and lack of understanding
of what constitutes human trafficking.

"Most government officials remain unfamiliar with the act's provisions or their
responsibility to address trafficking," the report notes.

Moreover, the ministries involved in anti-trafficking efforts failed to communicate or

cooperate with each other and had no budgetary resources allocated to combating the
crime.

Reacting to the report, the foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister
Bernard Membe told The Citizen on phone that the Government was aware of the
problem, and extremely against it.

He said the Government was making an effort to fight the problem as stipulated in
country's law.

"We would not like to see children in our neighbouring countries denied their rights
such as education as they trafficked in our country to forced labour," Mr Membe said.

He said the ministry would continue fighting the problem through, apart from
enforcing law, providing education over the human trafficking using mass media.

But the report points out that girls from rural areas of Iringa, Singida, Dodoma, Mbeya,
Morogoro, and Bukoba regions were taken to urban centers and Zanzibar for domestic
servitude and some domestic workers fleeing abusive employers had fallen to forced
prostitution.

For the past year, the report says, trafficking victims, primarily children, from Burundi,
Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda were identified in the country, particularly in the
agricultural, mining, and domestic service sectors.

Malawian men were subjected to forced labor as fishermen on countries' lakes. Indian
women legally migrated to Tanzania for work as entertainers in restaurants and
nightclubs; some were reportedly forced into prostitution after their arrival.

Small numbers of Somali and Chinese women were also subjected to conditions of
commercial sexual exploitation in the country.
Citizens of neighboring countries might have voluntarily migrated through Tanzania
before being forced into domestic servitude and prostitution in South Africa, Europe,
and the Middle East, says the report.

The US Embassy recommended that the Government must enforce the Anti- Trafficking
in Persons Act by prosecuting and punishing trafficking offenders.
--------------------
Students graduate at AFM’s training centre (Malta Independent Online)

The latest group of local and foreign students has completed its assigned training at the
Armed Forces of Malta’s Maritime Safety and Security Training Centre (MSSTC),
graduating successfully last Friday.

The MSSTC was established earlier this year as the successor to the Search and Rescue
Training Centre which operated between 2003 and 2009. During this initial period, the
curriculum of the SAR-TC was limited to competencies related to maritime Search and
Rescue (SAR), including courses for SAR Mission Coordinators and On Scene
Coordinators.

The SAR-TC’s student body then was initially limited to AFM personnel. However,
after funding was allocated by the United States European Command (EUCOM) and
later the US African Command (AFRICOM), training slots were made available to
overseas students from a variety of African and Eastern European countries.

Additional overseas students attended the courses with funding from their own
governments. While this training was underway, many of the overseas students
highlighted their need for training in other areas related to maritime operations and
thus, following discussions between the AFM and its US counterparts, the decision was
taken to further expand the curriculum of the institution to include subjects such as
Operational Maritime Law and Maritime Counter Narcotics. This development was
also reflected in the change of the school’s name.

Since 2006, these two institutions have provided training to more than 300 personnel, of
whom more than one third have come from foreign navies, coastguards, maritime
authorities and emergency response organisations with students hailing from 26
countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Instructors are sourced from within the
AFM as well as guest lecturers provided by other organisations including the US
Coastguard, the IMO International Maritime Law Institute and other expert lecturers.

The 13 graduates most recently convened for this two-week SAR Mission Coordinators
and On Scene Coordinators course were from Malta, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt and
Algeria.
The focus of the course is to provide operational personnel including patrol boat
commanders and personnel from operations centres with a solid background of the
processes used in planning and coordinating SAR operations. Students receive training
that is of generic applicability and not limited to any particular national structure or
organisation including SAR organisation, international legislation and publications,
risk-management and the various factors that affect the planning and mission execution
process. Such training supports international cooperation and standardisation in the
critical endeavour of ensuring the safety of persons at sea.
--------------------
Chad confirms Beshir visit Wednesday (AFP)

N'DJAMENA – Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir will visit Chad on Wednesday, a

Chadian official said, in what will be his first trip to a country that recognises the
International Criminal Court's jurisdiction since an arrest warrant was issued for him.

"Within the framwork of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD) summit

President Omar al-Beshir is expected here tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5:00 pm (1600
GMT) to join the summit which will take place on Thursday," the official in the
president's office in Ndjamena told AFP.

He did not give details.

Earlier Tuesday, confirming press reports, a senior Sudanese official in Khartoum told
AFP on condition of anonymity that Beshir "is due to visit Ndjamena on Wednesday
and Thursday for a conference of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States".

"The president will head the Sudanese delegation at the CENSAD summit," read the
headline of the daily Al-Akhbar on Tuesday.

"President Beshir has the intention to go; the final decision is yet to be taken," had said
another Sudanese official, also on condition of anonymity.

Beshir's movements -- to certain destinations -- have been cloaked in secrecy since the
ICC issued a warrant for his arrest in 2009 for alleged crimes against humanity and war
crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Last week, the ICC added three counts of genocide to their charges.

Chad is a signatory of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC, obliging it
to arrest any person on its territory wanted by the court.

The visit to Chad, if it happens, would be the first one by Beshir to a country that
recognises the ICC, since the warrant was issued.
Darfur has been gripped by a civil war since 2003 that has killed at least 300,000 people
and left 2.7 million homeless according to the United Nations. Khartoum says 10,000
were killed.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti was in Ndjamena on Monday and described the
"very positive evolution" of relations between the two countries, the official SUNA
news agency reported on Tuesday.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Angola: UN health agency warns that polio outbreak may spread

20 July – The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) is warning there is a
high risk that a recent outbreak of polio in Angola could spread to neighbouring
countries and urged action to ensure that local children are vaccinated against the
disease.

UN welcomes steps by Eritrea and Djibouti to end border dispute

20 July – The United Nations today welcomed steps by Eritrea and Djibouti to resolve
their border dispute through mediation by Qatar, saying Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon was ready to provide technical support if needed to facilitate a settlement.

UN agency stepping up operations to feed millions of hungry people in Niger

20 July – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today said it is boosting
the delivery of aid to Niger, where up to eight million people are experiencing severe
food shortages as a result of a prolonged drought that has caused crop failure and
livestock deaths, leaving communities destitute.

UN agencies back Zambian vaccination campaign against measles

20 July – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) are this week helping authorities in Zambia as they try to
immunize more than 1.6 million children following a deadly outbreak of measles in the
Southern African nation.