United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

29 July 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

US military steps up support for AU force (Mmegi Online)

(Somalia) The United States military command for Africa (Africom) is gaining
acceptance on the continent and is planning to increase its support for the African
Union force in Somalia, the command's leader said last week.

AFRICOM – Undermining Democracy in East Africa (Accra Mail)

(Pan Africa) Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda are all presently in election
cycles. Are US military partnerships enabling these countries to become more
representative and democratic?

Weighty Goals for African Union Summit (The Atlantic Wire - Blog)
(Pan Africa) The annual African Union summit came to a close on Tuesday after
multilateral talks in the Ugandan capital of Kampala that covered everything from
health to terrorism. Here's what the summit addressed on Somalia and more.

AU Chairman blames Somali piracy on European countries and U.S. (Xinhua)

(Pan Africa) African Union chairperson and Malawian president Bingu Mutharika has
blamed the continuing piracy in Somalia on the United States and European countries,
saying they can end the al Shabaab sea terrorist acts in two weeks if they so wish.

Militant Alliance Adds to Somalia’s Turmoil (New York Times)

(Somalia) An insurgent commander based in the semiautonomous region of Puntland
in northern Somalia has pledged his allegiance to the Shabab militant group, a move
that threatens to destabilize a part of Somalia that had been relatively peaceful.

New Somaliland President Names Cabinet (Voice of America)

(Somaliland) Somaliland's new president has appointed 26 ministers and deputies, in
what he says is the smallest Cabinet in the breakaway republic's history.

Russian helicopter pilots in Sudan beaten, one still missing (RIA Novosti)
(Sudan) The crewmembers and passengers of a Russian helicopter seized by insurgents
in Sudan were beaten and one pilot is still missing, a spokesman for the UN secretary
general said on Wednesday.
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
 New prison opens in Liberia as part of UN efforts to help country rebuild
 UN voices concern over missing pilot in Darfur
 UN agency welcomes access to displaced in northern Central African Republic
 Namibia’s handling of rift valley fever can serve as example to others – UN
official
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, August 4, 12:00, Council on Foreign Relations

WHAT: A Conversation with Henry Odein Ajumogobia, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Federal Republic of Nigeria
WHO: Moderated by Princeton Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies,
Council on Foreign Relations
Info: http://www.cfr.org/region/143/africa.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

US military steps up support for AU force (Mmegi Online)

NAIROBI - The United States military command for Africa (Africom) is gaining
acceptance on the continent and is planning to increase its support for the African
Union force in Somalia, the command's leader said last week.

In a speech to a group of Africa specialists at a think tank in Washington, General

William Ward emphasised that Africom is engaged in "a sustained, long-term
endeavour."

Saying "we have turned a corner," General Ward suggested that African leaders are
growing less sceptical of the purposes of the three-year-old command which is
headquartered in Germany.

African nations have been reluctant to host Africom due to suspicions of American
intentions as well as fears that a US military installation would invite attacks.

At the same time, Africom is moving to expand its operations - not in the form of
uniformed US troops, but through private contractors who will assist in efforts to
safeguard American interests in Africa. A Paris-based newsletter reported last month
that Africom is soliciting bids for an air reconnaissance programme as part of the State
Department's Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership. Under this initiative,
Africom works with 10 countries in the Maghreb and West Africa to monitor and
disrupt Al Qaeda's activities in those areas. The surveillance operation outlined in
Africom's call for bids will involve two unmarked reconnaissance aircraft as well as a
drone, or "unmanned aerial vehicle," according to Maghreb Confidential, a publication
of the Africa Intelligence group. Three teams of private contractors serving as pilots,
analysts and technicians will conduct intelligence missions in coordination with the
militaries of the countries where they will be based, the newsletter reported.

Africom will also buy 83 four-wheel-drive vehicles that "must be able to drive
unnoticed on African roads," according to the Maghreb Confidential account.

The unmarked vehicles are to be delivered to countries taking part in the Trans-Sahara
counter-terrorism programme.

Africom's move to contract with private firms for counter-terrorism operations

coincides with a $375 million State Department initiative involving use of US profit-
making companies to train the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Sudan and other African countries.

This African Peacekeeping Programme (Africap) also involves construction work on

behalf of selected countries' militaries.

Private US military contractors have also worked with the Ugandan and Burundian
troops assigned to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

And Gen Ward indicated last week that Africom will be seeking ways to bolster
Amisom's capabilities in the wake of the recent terror bombings in Kampala carried out
by Somalia's Al-Shabaab insurgents. He ruled out direct US military involvement in
Somala on the grounds that it would represent "an irritant and a distraction." The US is
also worried about the presence of Al Qaeda and other militant Islamist groups in the
trans-Sahara region.

The instability they breed there as well as in East Africa can lead to "attacks against US
persons and interests around the world, or, in the worst case, against the US homeland,"
General Ward warned last week.

In his speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the general depicted
Africom as a force for stability and good governance in Africa. He said its purpose is to
help African leaders achieve their stated aim of developing "self-sustaining,
accountable" security forces in their countries. General Ward added that Africom's long-
term commitment to assisting African forces will be implemented "on an African, not an
American, time-line."

Some analysts argue that Africom's main aim is to help secure the oil and gas supplies
that the United States relies on receiving from Africa - East African.
--------------------
AFRICOM – Undermining Democracy in East Africa (Accra Mail)
How well is democracy working in four of the US government’s partner/client/proxy
states in East Africa? Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda are all presently in
election cycles. Are US military partnerships enabling these countries to become more
representative and democratic?

Kagame’s leading challenger in the presidential election scheduled for August is

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Kagame, who has not allowed her to register her
candidacy, jailed her briefly a month ago, and today (May 28, 2010) he jailed her
American attorney, Peter Erlinder, lead defense counsel in the Military-1 trial at the
U.N.’s International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda.

Opposition leader and former judge, Birtukan Mideksa, has again been imprisoned
(Dec. 2008) by the US-backed regime of Meles Zenawi
ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia held elections in May.

When human rights Watch criticized the results of Ethiopia’s May elections, in which
the ruling coalition “won” an improbable 545 out of 547 seats, leaders in Addis Ababa
didn’t ignore the influential NGO. Instead, they paid tens of thousands of
demonstrators to gather in the capital and denounce the report. (Newsweek)

And from:

ADDIS ABABA, July 20 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s highest court on Tuesday rejected a case
brought by the country’s opposition against the ruling party’s landslide May election
victory, finally exhausting legal appeals for the defeated parties.

The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allies
won 545 seats in the 547-member parliament. Both a European Union observer mission
and the United States criticised the overwhelming victory.

Medrek and other opposition parties alleged widespread pre-poll intimidation during a
campaign in which both sides claimed candidates and activists were murdered. Medrek
also said there was some vote rigging.

Eight-party Medrek won just a single parliamentary seat in the poll. The other seat went
to an independent candidate.

The aftermath of the May 23 poll is being watched by Western diplomats in a country
that is a growing destination for investment and is Washington’s key ally in the Horn of
Africa, where it is seen as standing against Islamic militancy.
So do you think Washington will do anything to encourage more free and
representative government in Ethiopia? Ethiopia has been one of the principle US and
western proxies for interfering in Somali affairs. I’m willing to bet that looking, and not
all too carefully at that, is all the US and western governments will do for Ethiopian
democracy. So far the US and EU have blithely ignored the electoral regularities and
atrocious human rights record of Ethiopia’s Zenawi.

EU and U.S. say poll short of international standards

The 2005 elections ended with the then opposition disputing the government’s victory.
Riots broke out in Addis Ababa in which 193 protestors and seven policemen were
killed. The top opposition leaders were jailed until 2007.

The lone opposition member to win a seat in parliament:

Girma won his seat in Addis Ababa’s Mercato district, seen as Africa’s biggest open-air
market and one of the city’s poorer areas.

“I won because a lot of my voters were merchants who are economically independent,”
he said. “They weren’t civil servants or unemployed and subject to the same forms of
intimidation as a lot of other people. I was lucky.”

Girma’s victory was slim, however, and he only beat his ruling party opponent by a
margin of 114 votes in a constituency where both he and his father were born.
(Reuters)

The strongest of the opposition leaders, Birtukan Mideksa, is still in jail serving a life
sentence. The conditions in Ethiopian prisons are dreadful, as I wrote in Guantanamo in
Ethiopia. Birtukan Mideksa’s health is deteriorating. Meles Zenawi and his western
allies may not have to worry about the threat she poses to their political expediency
much longer if she does not get proper medical attention and care.

In Ethiopia the US has acted as an enabler of anti democratic practices, pouring aid and
encouragement on Meles Zenawi, regardless of his dreadful human rights record. Meles
is also a great favorite of US Senators and Congressmen who are members of the
politically powerful religious cult, The Family, who help appropriate and funnel
millions of US taxpayer dollars to his regime.

the Ethiopian government got its fingers burnt when it held multi-party elections in
2005 that it almost lost — and has been busy clamping down on opposition parties and
free speech ever since.

UGANDA
In Uganda elections are coming up in the next year, in early 2011. Uganda is a great
favorite of the US Africa Command, and of the Pentagon in general. Along with
Burundi, Uganda provides the proxy warriors acting on behalf of the US and EU in
Somalia known as AMISOM. Uganda also provides soldiers employed by US military
contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. Uganda’s President Museveni
is also a great favorite of the Senators and Congressmen who are members of The
Family, who help appropriate and funnel millions of US taxpayer dollars to his regime.

Both Uganda and Ethiopia are virtual military dictatorships, regardless of whether they
hold elections or not. In May 2009 President Museveni: told NRM Members of
Parliament that while he would be “happy” to hand over power, he saw “nobody”
ready to take on the daunting responsibility of leading Uganda.

Museveni already had presidential term limits removed so he could continue to run for
President. The opposition is trying to reinstate term limits along with some other
electoral reforms:

“The bill will mainly be seeking to restore the two-term limit on incumbency, reform of
the electoral commission and removal of the army representatives from parliament,” he
said.

It would also compel the president to seek the opposition’s opinion before appointing
senior leaders of the electoral commission, a measure the opposition hopes will make
the body more independent.

There are also some other interesting developments among Uganda’s opposition.

If passed it would prevent Museveni, who has already served for 24 years, from seeking
re-election.

The main opposition candidate:

Besigye said:

the reforms before the 2011 elections should include the appointment of an independent
elections commission and the removal of the military from monitoring elections.

We will be watching with interest. The US Africa Command has found Museveni and
his military a particularly valuable partner and proxy. Will it see political opposition as
a danger to this relationship? Will it help Museveni label and treat his opposition as
terrorists. The stakes are even higher since the discovery of large quantities of oil in
Uganda’s great lakes region.
And the bombings in Uganda, allegedly by Al Shabab, complicate the situation. The
Somalis declared the bombings were retaliation for the continued deaths of civilians
due to the indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighborhoods by AMISOM troops in
Mogadishu, Killing of Civilians by UN Supported Troops in Somalia Admitted But Not
Acted On. So far the US has seized on the bombings as evidence of international
terrorist aspirations. The real story is far less clear. See the July africa comments for
more detailed background and a more complete picture.

Some Ugandans are calling for withdrawal from engagement with Somalia:

It is not yet clear what effect this gruesome attack will have on the Ugandan
government’s assessment of its ability to effectively deal with this aspect of its
involvement in Somalia, or whether such an assessment will induce it to take real
leadership within the region by forcing a rethink on this continent-wide challenge of
viability.

Under former US President George Bush’s war on terror, they were able to use
American money for upgrading their security apparatus, which was then turned on the
local opposition, thus dividing local security resources between looking for terrorists
and terrorising government opponents.

The other big risk is whether the militarists in Uganda’s government will be able to
resist the temptation to take advantage of this security problem and develop another
strategy for regime preservation.

BURUNDI

Burundi is just concluding its electoral cycle. The opposition boycotted the presidential
poll in June, and the parliamentary poll on July 23.

All the main opposition groups boycotted the June presidential election, which
Nkurunziza won with more than 90 percent of the vote.

Former rebel leader Agathon Rwasa, who had been regarded as his main rival, went
into hiding and later explained in an audio message that he feared for his life after
claiming the polls were fixed.

In Bujumbura’s southern Kanyosha district, one group of friends said that they planned
to shun polling stations and democracy has deserted Burundi.

“There is no democracy with a single party. This has never been seen anywhere,”
The central African state had hoped the polls would prove its democratic credentials
and consolidate a fledgling peace deal but they have instead left the political landscape
in ruins and heightened fears of civil strife.

The international community largely endorsed the results of the May local polls despite
the fraud claims and urged the opposition to end their boycott and return to the fray for
the presidential vote. (h/t Breaking the Cycle)

Burundi is awash in small arms, a legacy of years of civil war. A grenade costs about $3,
and grenade attacks on politicians are common. Both the ruling party and the
opposition blame each other for grenade attacks. Burundi is the other country, in
addition to Uganda, that supplies troops to AMISOM in Somalia. The arms and military
assistance the US taxpayers provide to this key partner/proxy of the US Africa
Command, cannot have a beneficial effect on this divisive political situation. It looks
like the Burundi government and military are looking for terrorists by terrorizing
government opponents. And the international community seems comfortable with that.
This is certainly not a prescription for democracy and US policy appears likely to
exacerbate authoritarian rule and a divided terrorized population. President President
Pierre Nkurunziza’s government is: ranked by graft watchdog Transparency
International as the most corrupt in east Africa.

RWANDA

Rwanda’s presidential election is coming up in August.

For many Western observers – Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates among them –
Rwanda’s economic growth is the foundation of its democratic transition. Yet, as
Rwandans head to the polls next month to elect a president, Paul Kagame’s ruling
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) has perverted the very democratic ideals it claims to
uphold.

Over the last 16 years, the RPF has centralized power into a one-man dictatorship. …
The Hutu community, making up some 85 per cent of the population, is largely
excluded. … politics, business and the civil service are all dominated by military
personnel or former members of the RPF.

In advance of the upcoming presidential elections, many “friends” of Rwanda have

remained supportive of its so-called “democratic transition.” They ignore the repeated
arrests of journalists and opposition politicians, the closing of independent local
newspapers, the ejection of a Human Rights Watch researcher, an assassination attempt
against exiled Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, who fell out with President Kagame earlier
this year, the murder of journalist Jean-Leonard Rugambage, who attempted to report
on Nyamwasa’s assassination attempt in the online version of a Rwandan newspaper
the print edition of which the government closed down, and the murder of Andre
Kagwa Rwisereka, vice-president of the opposition Democratic Green party. While
diplomats from some countries, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, have cut their
aid, the U.S. and the U.K. continue to publicly support Kagame. Canada’s position is
vague as it encourages Rwanda to adopt policies that promote a pluralist society.

Under the watch of a sympathetic and supportive international community, Kagame

has done everything within his power to ensure that the August elections consolidate
his political power.

The US has been among the most sympathetic supporters of Kagame. With the RDF, he
has acted as a US proxy in the Congo, DRC. Many of the minerals mined in the DRC are
marketed by Rwanda, and controlled by the RDF or its subsidiary militias.

According to Charles Onyango-Obbo, who generally has succumbed to Kagame’s spell,

TRI-STAR corporation is:

“the business arm of the RPF”. He goes ahead to tell us that TRI-STAR has business
interests worth more than 20 billion dollars “making the RPF the richest party in
Africa”. So much power and wealth in very few hands.

Another optimistic sign, he reveals, “the party’s local and international assets could be
equal to or larger than Rwanda’s gross domestic product.” A classic example of
Fascism!

He even sheds more light into the much publicized Lake Kivu “energy” investment.
Apparently, the locals will not reap a cent. The investment is a joint venture between
TRI-STAR , a British and an American firm.

What is worrying to many of us is the fact that TRI-STAR as a private entity seems to
enjoy unfair support from the government. If TRI-STAR is owned by the RPF, then
Kagame’s role in securing TRI-STAR’s business interests is a serious conflict of interest.

Now, also worrisome is the fact that TRI-STAR owns more close to 40% of MTN
Rwanda. MTN is the country’s sole internet and mobile phone provider. That is why
when the banned newspaper, “Umuvugizi” went online, the government quickly
blocked its website.

I’ve said it again and again, that the much praised development in Rwanda is simply
for the benefit of a very tiny minority. Corruption is deep but runs undetected due to
the absence of a civil society. Beyond the façade of wealthy elites, the majority of
Rwandans are dirt poor and the government has done almost nothing to improve their
lives. (Nkunda)
Kagame had international human rights lawyer Peter Erlinder arrested in Rwanda. He
was there defending opposition leader Ms. Victoire Ingabire accused of the crime of
genocide ideology, a “crime” that appears common to all Kagame’s opponents, at least
according to his justice system.

I have written more about Kagame here, Paul Kagame, Warlord of Congo’s Wealth.
With access to the Congo’s minerals, partnership with the Lake Kivu energy project,
and alliances with Tri-Star, the US has a lot invested in Kagame and his control of
Rwanda. Rwanda is also a key partner of the US Africa Command:

since year 2000, Rwanda received “$1,034,000,000 billion in United States taxpayer-
funded foreign assistance”and that “an additional $240,200,000 is proposed in the
President’s fiscal year 2011 budget. (AFJN)

Much of this has been military assistance, which includes occasional photo op
humanitarian activities with little coordination or followup. What the military
assistance does is help Kagame fight terrorism by terrorizing the opposition and the
general citizenry.

And as Nii Akuetteh writes:

The millions who have already sounded the alarm publicly that Kagame is getting away
with (mass) murder include The Economist; The New York Times; three different expert
panels assembled by the U.N. Security Council; U.S. Sens. Durbin and Feingold; Mrs.
Clinton’s State Department – although theirs may be just crocodile tears; the world’s
best experts on the Great Lakes region – renowned researchers and thinkers such as
Nzongola-Ntalaja, Howard French, Rene Lemarchand, Gerard Prunier, Thomas Turner
and Allan Stam; and ADNA, a network of Africa-focused advocacy nonprofits
monitoring U.S. foreign policy.

And the critics include millions of individual Rwandans and other Africans – like me.

Kagame’s leading challenger in the presidential election scheduled for August is

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Kagame, who has not allowed her to register her
candidacy, jailed her briefly a month ago, and today he jailed her American attorney,
Peter Erlinder, lead defense counsel in the Military-1 trial at the U.N.’s International
Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda.

right now Kagame’s regime is shutting down newspapers, is kidnapping the homeless
and is demonizing and pronouncing Victoire Ingabire guilty – before her sham trial
even begins.

In Washington’s current relations with Mr. Kagame, we are seeing the replay of a tired
old movie. Since 1960, Africa’s year of independence, each and every U.S.
administration has praised, financed and kept in power its own set of brutal African
strongmen that, in its secret files, it has labeled “friendly tyrants.” Mobutu sese Seko of
Zaire, Siyaad Barre of Somalia, Hissene Habre of Chad, Samuel Doe of Liberia and
Jonas Savimbi of Angola – these are just five of the dozens.

Zenawi, Museveni, Nkurunziza, and Kagame are some of the most recent of these
brutal “friendly tyrants”, a form of government the US still seems to favor for Africans.
That tired old movie remains a favorite in Washington. And even if the US State
Department has said a few harsh words, the US taxpayer money and the military
partnering and the proxying energetically roll on, amassing power and wealth for client
dictators.
--------------------
Weighty Goals for African Union Summit (The Atlantic Wire - Blog)

The annual African Union summit came to a close on Tuesday after multilateral talks in
the Ugandan capital of Kampala that covered everything from health to terrorism. The
meeting came two weeks after terrorist bombings in the city by al-Shabaab, a Somali
insurgency that itself was the subject of much discussion at the summit. The African
Union had recently increased its number of peacekeepers in war-torn Somalia from
6,000 to 8,000. Here's what the summit addressed on Somalia and more.

•Let Somalia Collapse The New York Times' Jeffrey Gettleman writes, "If there is one
place on the African continent that could benefit from new thinking, it is Somalia, a
country that has been mired in mutating forms of civil war for nearly 20 years. But that
is apparently not, many analysts contend, what Africa’s leaders are prepared to give
it. ... Many, if not most, of the analysts who follow Somalia believe that the African
peacekeeping mission, no matter how many troops are part of it, is going to fail. ... It
would be better, in the long run, to pull out all the peacekeepers, let the transitional
government fall, let the Shabab take over the country, and then allow clan militias and
businessmen to rise up and overthrow them. The eventual result, analysts argue, would
be a government that would be more organic and therefore more durable than a
government that relies on outside forces to survive."
•Don't Just Focus on Routing Terrorists World Politics Review's David Axe warns, "to
secure its borders, cities and regional interests, Uganda must do more than target
terrorists. Roving rebel groups, many of them homegrown, also threaten this rapidly
developing country of 32 million people. Terrorists from the east and rebels from the
west raise the prospect of a two-front war for Kampala. American assistance factors
heavily on both fronts. And both also represent potential security quagmires. ... As
Uganda finds itself increasingly threatened on both sides, it must take care as to how it
responds. Targeting terrorists and rebels sometimes only empowers them."
•Can Humanitarian Aid Counter Extremism? Reuters' Mark Bradbury examines the
humanitarian projects, chiefly led by the U.S., meant to stabilize East Africa and prevent
conflict there. "The assumption that small-scale aid projects like repairing toilets, can
win the 'hearts and minds' of people, help to stabilise a region, prevent the
radicalisation of populations and work to counter terrorism, suggests at best a
simplistic - if not patronising - view of the assisted communities. ... While it is true that
some of the US military's projects have filled a gap in assistance in northern Kenya,
particularly in the education sector, they have contributed only marginally to economic
development and done nothing to tackle the underlying conditions that may give rise to
radicalisation and violent extremism."
•Success on Fighting Malaria GlaxoSmithKline vice president Madiké Seye writes in
the Uganda Independent, calling the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA)
appointed by the African Union summit "a great example of what Africans can do when
we work together on the highest level." He writes, "We also need to start thinking about
new tools, including a malaria vaccine, which could complement existing interventions.
Vaccines and immunization services have been critical to improving Africa’s health
over the last several decades. Anyone whose child has suffered from malaria – and
there are only few of us who have not directly been affected by the disease – can
imagine what a malaria vaccine would mean."
--------------------
AU Chairman blames Somali piracy on European countries and U.S. (Xinhua)

LILONGWE - African Union chairperson and Malawian president Bingu Mutharika has
blamed the continuing piracy in Somalia on the United States and European countries,
saying they can end the al Shabaab sea terrorist acts in two weeks if they so wish.

Mutharika said this on Wednesday afternoon in Lilongwe upon arrival from the 15th
AU summit in Uganda.

The AU chairperson told the press that if countries like Japan, Britain, and the United
States, among others, can commit themselves to ending the problem, the hijacking of
ships by Somali pirates can be history.

"Piracy in Somalia is continuing because the international community is refusing to act.

I don't see how al Shabaab can defeat the whole world. What kind of weapons do they
have? If countries like Japan, Britain and the United States of America can commit
themselves these terrorist acts can end in a month or even in two weeks," said the AU
chairperson.

"When a ship gets hijacked and ransom is demanded, they tell the world they are not
paying ransom, but they pay and this encourages the terrorists," said Mutharika.

He further said the African Union is sending troops but he could not commit himself as
to how many soldiers would Malawi send considering that he is the AU chairperson.

"Malawi as a country has its own priorities. If we get funds from the donor
communities we will send our own contingent but I can not do it at the expense of our
own developments here because we, as a country, have to move on," said Mutharika.
--------------------
Militant Alliance Adds to Somalia’s Turmoil (New York Times)

NAIROBI, Kenya — An insurgent commander based in the semiautonomous region of

Puntland in northern Somalia has pledged his allegiance to the Shabab militant group, a
move that threatens to destabilize a part of Somalia that had been relatively peaceful.

The commander, Sheik Mohamed Said Atom, an insurgent warlord, said he would fight
the Puntland government until it agreed to impose strict Islamic law. His forces have
recently clashed with Puntland soldiers, but it was not until this week that he
announced his alignment with the Shabab, the group that claimed responsibility for the
bombings in Uganda this month.

“Shabab are our brothers,” Mr. Atom said in a message broadcast by Somali radio
stations and Web sites on Wednesday. “We are members of the Shabab, and the Shabab
are members of us. We have good contacts. We are united in our objectives.”

Puntland is the northeastern corner of Somalia and had been spared much of the
incessant warfare of recent years. It is controlled by a clan-based administration and
was one of the few areas of Somalia safe enough for Western aid workers and
journalists to work on a regular basis.

But Puntland is also home to many pirate dens and human trafficking rings. Western
officials have long suspected that the Puntland government collaborates with organized
crime.

In the past few days, Mr. Atom’s fighters have waged an intense battle against
Puntland’s forces in the Galgala mountains near the town of Boosaaso. Puntland’s
authorities said 13 combatants had been killed, including one of Mr. Atom’s top
commanders, which Mr. Atom confirmed.

Still, Mr. Atom seemed unbowed. He remains holed up in the mountains and told his
followers that Shariah, the legal code of Islam based on the Koran, had been given a bad
name.

“The people have been misinformed; they were told that Shariah cuts the hands and
feet, and that’s not the way,” he said. “So far, no one has had his hands or feet cut.”

It is not clear if the Shabab, who have carried out public executions and amputations in
areas they control in south-central Somalia, are providing weapons or fighters to Mr.
Atom.

He said that a few years ago he tried to persuade Puntland officials to impose Islamic
law but that they tried to arrest him.
“That’s why I went to the mountains and started recruiting young jihadists and holy
warriors against them,” he said.
--------------------
New Somaliland President Names Cabinet (Voice of America)

Somaliland's new president has appointed 26 ministers and deputies, in what he says is
the smallest Cabinet in the breakaway republic's history.

In a speech Wednesday, President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo said his region's coffers
are empty and his government will work hard to improve the economy. He also said he
will work closely with the international community.

Mr. Silanyo beat incumbent Dahir Riyale Kahin in June elections with just short of 50
percent of the vote.

The presidential election was Somaliland's first in seven years, after several delays. The
inauguration Tuesday was one of the few peaceful transfers of power from an
incumbent to an opposition candidate in Africa's post-independence history.

Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991. The self-
declared republic runs its own affairs but has not received international recognition.

President Silanyo will serve a five-year term in office. He faces several challenges,
including insurgent threats, poverty and unemployment.
--------------------
Russian helicopter pilots in Sudan beaten, one still missing (RIA Novosti)

The crewmembers and passengers of a Russian helicopter seized by insurgents in

Sudan were beaten and one pilot is still missing, a spokesman for the UN secretary
general said on Wednesday.

Russian charge d'affaires Yury Vidakas said earlier on Wednesday the Russian embassy
in Khartoum was working around the clock to search for the missing pilot and to clarify
the circumstances behind his disappearance.

The other crewmembers were safe and in a satisfactory condition, Vidakas said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that a helicopter carrying four
crewmembers and five passengers operating in the Darfur region had been seized by
insurgents on Monday. Other reports said that there was no contact with the pilot, but
the remaining three crewmembers and passengers were in a safe zone.
However, the Russian aviation company that owns the helicopter, UTAir, said the
helicopter had not been seized, was not damaged, and that the crew and passengers
were safe.

The helicopter, working in Sudan under a UN contract, was on a joint UN and African
Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

The civil war that broke out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003 has claimed
the lives of more than 300,000, according to United Nations estimates, and forced 2.7
million people from their homes. The Sudanese side puts the number of dead at 10,000.

Several Sudanese rebel groups have recently signed peace accords with the government
in Khartoum but a key rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, has so far rejected
negotiations with Khartoum and fought fierce clashes with the Sudanese Army in
March.

Russia has been maintaining a peacekeeping contingent in the war-torn country since
April 2006 as part of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
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UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

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