United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

23 August 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

U.S. Military Intervention in Africa, The New Blueprint for Global Domination
(Market Oracle)
(Pan Africa) The United States’ intervention in Africa is driven by America’s desire to
secure valuable natural resources and political influence that will ensure the longevity
of America’s capitalist system, military industrial complex, and global economic
superiority.

African military communication exercise ends in Accra (Ghana Web and Ghana News
Agency)
(Pan Africa) The fourth edition of the international military communication exercise
"African Endeavour 2010" ended in Accra on Friday with a call on participating
countries to use that platform to forge synergies that would bring lasting peace to the
African continent.

U.S. Reiterates Pledge to Fight Terrorism (New Vision)

(Uganda) Three members from the US House of Representatives yesterday laid a
wreath at the Kyadondo Rugby Club, one of the scenes of the deadly July 11 twin bomb
blasts, and reiterated their country's commitment to fighting terrorism.

UN 'pessimistic' over solution to W.Sahara dispute (AFP)

(Western Sahara) The UN is doubtful that a settlement can be reached on the Western
Sahara and wants Madrid, Paris or Washington to intervene with Morocco and the
Polisario, a Spanish newspaper said on Friday.

Nigerian President Gets More Challengers for Ruling Party Nomination (Voice of
America)
(Nigeria) In Nigeria, five more candidates say they will challenge President Goodluck
Jonathan for the ruling PDP’s nomination in next year's presidential elections.

Liberian electoral commission announces 2011 elections timetable (Xinhua)

(Liberia) The Electoral Commission of Liberia has announced the timetable for the
country's forthcoming elections scheduled for October next year.
LRA spreading reign of terror in south Sudan (AFP)
(Sudan) Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA
chief Joseph Kony took up arms -- initially against the Ugandan government. Driven out of
Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of
northeastern DR Congo, south Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).

In Kenya's capital, Somali immigrant neighborhood is incubator for jihad

(Washington Post)
(Kenya) Schools and mosques where extremist views are taught are reshaping this
Somali immigrant community that for years has lived peacefully in the capital of this
predominantly Christian country.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Ban lays out options for prosecuting pirates operating off Somali coast
 Political, social divides threaten Liberian strides in shoring up peace, says Ban
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

U.S. Military Intervention in Africa, The New Blueprint for Global Domination
(Market Oracle)

The United States’ intervention in Africa is driven by America’s desire to secure

valuable natural resources and political influence that will ensure the longevity of
America’s capitalist system, military industrial complex, and global economic
superiority – achieved through the financial and physical control of raw material
exports. While America’s prosperity may be waning due to a number of current factors,
policy makers are bent on trying to preserve America’s global domination and will
pursue policy objectives regardless of the downturn in the economy at large.

The U.S. has a long history of foreign intervention and long ago perfected the art of
gaining access to other countries’ natural, human, and capital resource markets through
the use of foreign trade policy initiatives, international law, diplomacy, and, when all
else fails, military intervention. Typically and historically, diplomatic efforts have
largely been sufficient for the U.S. to establish itself as a player in other nations’ politics
and economies. While U.S. intervention in Africa is nothing new, the way the U.S. is
going about the intervention features a new method that is being implemented across
the globe.
The U.S. has followed a great deal of its diplomatic interventions with the establishment
of extensive networks of foreign military posts - designed to influence other nations and
protect what are defined as U.S. strategic national interests. This global reach is
evidenced by an extensive network of over 737 military installations [1] all around the
globe, from Ecuador to Uzbekistan, Colombia to Korea. The model for successfully
accessing these nations and their critical financial and commodities markets is
changing, however, particularly as it relates to renewed intervention in Africa. The new
intervention is directly linked to two factors: the fast paced and heated battle with rivals
China and Russia over their access to key natural resources, and the U.S.’ declining
ability to manage a bloated international network of overseas military outposts.

I. Resources Rivalry

Access to natural resources – particularly oil and rare earth elements - is critical for the
U.S. to remain a dominant industrial and military power, especially since the U.S. has
experienced a decline in natural resource production while China’s production and
foreign access to strategic materials has only increased. A sustained increase in oil
imports has been underway since domestic U.S. oil production peaked in the 1970s,
with oil imports surpassing domestic production in the early 1990s. Strategic metals,
such as the titanium used in military aircraft, and rare earth elements used in missile
guidance systems are increasingly produced by China or under the control of Chinese
companies. The issue is of such importance that 2009 saw the creation of the annual
Strategic Metals Conference, a forum designed to address concerns related to US access
to metals with important industrial and military uses. The second annual conference,
held in Cleveland, Ohio in January 2010, saw dozens of engineers and military
personnel express heightened concern over China’s near monopoly over rare earth
metals. [2] China controls around 95% of the world’s rare earth output and has decided
to restrict the export of these metals, leaving international consumers short by
approximately 20,000 tons in 2010. [3]

China’s rapidly developing economy, recently over taking Japan as the world’s second
largest, continues to log nine to ten percent annual growth in Gross Domestic Product,
and is fueled by a rapidly growing middle class as well as new export markets around
the world. The demand for raw materials has led to new policy initiatives in which
Africa has taken center stage for Chinese investment. China has gained access to Africa
by, in large part, offering favorable aid packages to several nations which include loans,
debt forgiveness, and job training. [4] In contrast to Western aid packages, Chinese aid
has few if any strings attached.

China’s platform for developing trade with and providing aid to Africa was of such
importance that in October 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was
launched. Fifty African nations participate in the forum which serves as the foundation
for building bridges of economic trade as well as political and cultural exchange. [5] The
forum, and indeed China’s Africa strategy as a whole, has been so successful that
Africans view China as an equal partner in trade and development, validating the
politically and culturally significant “South-South” economic alliance that the FOCAC
maintains is at the foundation of its engagement with Africa. This plays on the historical
disparities that Western powers created and exploited in their former “North-South”
colonial relationships with Africa and has been a key factor in developing strong bonds
and a highly favorable opinion of China among Africans. Survey data indicates that
most Africans share the view of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade when he says:

“China’s approach to our needs is simply better adapted than the slow and sometimes
patronizing post-colonial approach of European investors, donor organizations and
nongovernmental organizations. In fact, the Chinese model for stimulating rapid
economic development has much to teach Africa. With direct aid, credit lines and
reasonable contracts, China has helped African nations build infrastructure projects in
record time—bridges, roads, schools, hospitals, dams, legislative buildings, stadiums
and airports. In many African nations, including Senegal, improvements in
infrastructure have played important roles in stimulating economic growth.”

“It is a telling sign of the post-colonial mindset that some donor organizations in the
West dismiss the trade agreements between Chinese banks and African states that
produce these vital improvements—as though Africa was naive enough to just offload
its precious natural resources at bargain prices to obtain a commitment for another
stadium or state house.” [6]

In fact, opinion polls clearly reveal that Africans see Chinese influence as being far more
positive than U.S. influence. [7] China has clearly gained a substantive advantage in
working with dozens of African nations as U.S. influence continues to wane.

Russia has also taken a renewed interest in Africa, reminiscent to some in the U.S.
media as a revision of the Soviet Union’s Africa Strategy in which the Soviet Union
created numerous “Soviet Treaties of Friendship and Cooperation” as a counterweight
to Western capitalism and institutions like the United States Agency for International
Development. [8] Russian President Medvedev, and Prime Minister Putin have been
making their rounds in Africa with “legions of Russian businessmen, targeting
diamonds, oil, gas, and uranium” and have been establishing commodities production
agreements with several nations. [9] Putin’s push to restore Russia’s international
stature, power, and prestige has led Russia to purchase in excess of $5 billion of African
assets between 2000 and 2007. [10] Russia’s investments in and trade with Africa are
quite small when compared with both the U.S. and China. Still, Russia has made an
increase in trade and the acquisition of African raw materials a geostrategic imperative.

Chinese and Russian influence is quickly spreading and is seen in many cases as a
viable and preferable alternative to the Western model which, particularly considering
Africa’s colonial past, is seen to attach unfavorable conditions to aid and development
that are designed to enrich the West at the expense of the people of Africa. Africans
have in effect identified what sociologist Johan Galtung considers to be a “disharmony
of interests” that the U.S. is trying to manage through new diplomatic efforts. The U.S.
continues to lose influence in Africa to China and Russia, both of which are increasing
their influence at a steady clip, and continues to be branded as imperialist in the eyes of
Africans. The U.S. is well aware that it needs to improve its image in Africa in order to
realize its strategic goals.

II. The Weight of Empire

While there is no reliable data on the precise cost of maintaining the United States’
network of over 700 military bases, it is estimated that the cost is $250 billion per year.
[11] This is 38% of the entire disclosed 2010 budget for the Department of Defense of
$663.7 billion. The cost includes facilities, staff, weapons, munitions, equipment, food,
fuel, water, and everything else required to operate military installations.

In 2004, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated that the U.S global military
presence had to change and adapt to the post-cold war world. The post-cold war world
did not require large garrisons of heavy armor throughout the European theater –
garrisons stocked with enough soldiers and armament to challenge the massive Soviet
military and Warsaw Pact nations on the borders of Eastern and Western Europe. The
new military would be lighter, faster, rely more on light infantry and special-forces, and
would used to fight multiple smaller scale wars across the globe in what was branded
as an eternal Global War on Terror (GWOT). In Rumsfeld’s opinion, the U.S. would
save up to $6 billion of its annual operating budget by closing (or realigning) 100 to 150
foreign and domestic bases [12] and save $12 billion by closing 200 to 300 bases. [13]
Clearly, the cost of maintaining America’s legions was central to the Rumsfeld’s
transformation initiative and to the U.S. military’s new role.

This military transformation would reduce the number of heavy garrisons abroad and
would increasingly rely on pre-positioned war materials managed by smaller staffs at
foreign military installations. These military installations would be available for a
massive influx of U.S. troops if needed. Bilateral treaties and Status of Forces
Agreements created by the Department of Defense and host nations would ensure that
these installations would be available, to the extent required, to the American military
and would ensure that the American military could operate freely with few constraints
on its activities, legal or otherwise.

In the case of Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, a key military outpost and strategically
important piece of real-estate in the Horn of Africa, precisely where the Red Sea meets
the Gulf of Aden, the United States government entered into an agreement [14] with the
government of Djibouti that has several striking features:

· U.S. military personnel have diplomatic immunity

· The United States has sole jurisdiction over the criminal acts of its personnel

· U.S. personnel may carry arms in the Republic of Djibouti

· The U.S. may import any materials and equipment it requires into the Republic of
Djibouti

· No claims may be brought against the U.S. for damage to property or loss of life

· Aircraft, vessels, and vehicles may enter, exit, and move freely throughout the
Republic of Djibouti.

Such an agreement allows the U.S. to maintain a small permanent presence in Djibouti,
but staff and stock up with as many military personnel and weapons as it deems fit for
any particular operation inside or outside of Africa as needed. Additionally, the
agreement gives the U.S. the flexibility it wants to operate freely without interference
from or liability to the people and government of Djibouti.

III. The New Model - AFRICOM

With all of the concern over U.S. access to key natural resources, it is hardly a surprise
that United States conceived of and finally launched United States Africa Command
(AFRICOM) in 2007. The unveiling AFRICOM was done under the auspices of bringing
peace, security, democracy, and economic growth to Africans. The altruistic rationale
for the creation of a new military command was belied by the fact that from the start it
was acknowledged that AFRICOM was a “combatant” command created in response to
Africa’s growing strategic importance to the United States; namely, “the size of its
population, its natural resource wealth, its potential". [15]

Africans were aware of U.S. described strategic national interests in their oil and gas
fields, and raw materials long before most Americans were had any idea that renewed
intervention in Africa was being planned. In November 2002, the U.S. based Corporate
Council on Africa held a conference on African oil and gas in Houston, Texas. The
conference, sponsored by ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco among others, was opened
by United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Walter Kansteiner. Mr.
Kansteiner previously stated that, “African oil is of strategic national interest to us and
it will increase and become more important as we go forward,” while on a visit to
Nigeria. [16] In fact, President Fradique de Menezes of Sao Tome and Principe said at
that time that he had reached agreement with the United States for establishment of a
U.S. naval base there, the purpose of which was to safeguard U.S. oil interests. [17] The
U.S. Navy has in fact proceeded with its basing plans in Sao Tome and recently
reported on its activities in that nation on its website in July, 2010. [18] Since the
establishment of AFRICOM, numerous training exercises have been carried out in
Africa by U.S. military forces, and basing agreements have been worked out with
several African partners across the continent – even in the face of strong dissent from
the citizens of several countries. The U.S. has been able to create these relationships
through the careful structuring of its operations, size and make-up of its staff, and
public relations efforts.

The structuring of AFRICOM was a critical component in making AFRICOM palatable

to Africans. After several nations objected to the presence of a physical headquarters in
Africa, AFRICOM’s commander, General William E. Ward, went on record several
times to say that a physical command presence was not needed in Africa (even though
the U.S. initially did try quite hard but unconvincingly to establish a permanent
headquarters there). The command is currently based in Stuttgart, Germany, and will
remain there for the foreseeable future, mainly in deference to African objections.

AFRICOM’s size was also an important factor. It has no large garrisons, no sizeable staff
beyond the headquarters in Germany and the small number of forces and civilian
support personnel based at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti as part of Combined Joint Task
Force Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), and no large armory to sustain division or brigade
sized operations. The small size and staff of U.S. basing operations like CJTF-HOA is
the new model for U.S. foreign intervention. Instead of large garrisons, the U.S. has is
created a series of Forward Operating Locations (FOLs). FOLs are “smaller, cheaper,
and can thus be more plentiful. In short, the FOL can lie in wait with a low carrying cost
until a crisis arrives, at which point it can be quickly expanded to rise to whatever the
occasion demands.” [19] Arrangements have been made with several countries, north,
south, east, and west, including Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia, Sao
Tome, Senegal, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Zambia. [20]

AFRICOM’s staffing structure is a military-civilian hybrid for two reasons: to convey

the message that the combatant command does not have an exclusive military purpose,
and to gain influence over African nations’ domestic and foreign policies. AFRICOM
has a civilian deputy commander and a large civilian staff, in part made up of U.S. State
Department personnel. These civilian personnel include foreign policy advisors from
the U.S. Bureau of African Affairs, humanitarian assistance advisors from the U.S.
Agency for International Development, as well as advisors from the U.S. Department of
Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security. [21] Africa’s burgeoning
relationships with China are seen as undermining Western “efforts to bolster good
governance, improve respect for human rights, and reduce corruption,” [22] hence the
need for civilian subject matter expertise to help the Africans manage their civil affairs
and security.

U.S. officials have long been cognizant of African hostility to any efforts that could be
perceived as neo-colonialist and imperialist. A number of missteps to rectify were (and
continue to be) identified as the new command took shape. Several contradictory
statements were made with respect to AFRICOM’s role, whether with respect to
terrorism, natural resources, China, or the militarization of the continent. Even the
timing of the command’s creation was criticized, it being created during a dramatically
deteriorating time of war in Iraq. The actions of the U.S. government sent “mixed
signals” [23] and fueled anti-Americanism among the citizens that would eventually
become unwilling hosts of American forces. To overcome poor public relations, the
command built several activities into the structure of AFRICOM, to include the building
of schools in poor villages, air and sea port construction projects, the distribution of
medicine and textbooks to children, military-to-military training programs, and legal
operational support. Military personnel have also taken a more deferential tone in
speaking about the way AFRICOM interfaces with African nations. Vice Admiral
Robert T. Moeller explained: “We do not lead or create policy . . . . Our programs are
designed to respond to what our African partners have asked us to do.” [24]

Public relations efforts have been of such importance to the military, the U.S. Army War
College published a research paper in March 2008, entitled “Combating African
Questions about the Legitimacy of AFRICOM”. The paper expressed Africa’s strategic
importance to the United States, yet offense that the creation of AFRICOM prompted a
“hostile” response from African leaders. [25] It urged the U.S. to learn more about
African institutions and to engage them rather than ignore them. It also advocated that
U.S. personnel gain a stronger understanding of Africa’s colonial past while pushing for
African nations to become more multilateral in working towards a common goal. It
called for the increased use of “soft power that could be leverage by the U.S.
Department of State in winning the public relations fight for Africa. [26]

AFRICOM has certainly run into a number of roadblocks but it appears that the new
command will flourish as a result of intensive diplomatic and public relations efforts by
the United States government. The structure and domestic operations of AFRICOM also
makes it more palatable to African leaders who can more easily claim that they have a
harmony rather than a disharmony of interests with the U.S. while the U.S. is building
roads, training military forces, and passing out textbooks to children. A leaner, smaller,
less intrusive, and more culturally engaged network of military outposts is America’s
new blueprint for foreign intervention and global domination.
--------------------
African military communication exercise ends in Accra (Ghana Web)

ACCRA, Ghana - The fourth edition of the international military communication

exercise "African Endeavour 2010" ended in Accra on Friday with a call on participating
countries to use that platform to forge synergies that would bring lasting peace to the
African continent.

Thirty-six countries, two sub-regional organisations and three international bodies took
part in the two-week exercise, initiated by the United States African Command
(AFRICOM) aimed at building a strong and sustainable communication capability of
African militaries in joint operations.
The multinational operationally-focused security cooperation exercise, expected to
enhance command, control, communication and information systems, tactics and
procedures of the African Union and the African Standby Force in humanitarian and
peace support missions, enabled more than 200 military communicators test their
information systems and equipment successfully.

"Indeed, a giant step has been taken in validating and verifying your interoperability,
creating a cadre of multi-national African communicators, and establishing a reliable
platform and atmosphere for information sharing and best practice", said Lieutenant
General Peter Blay, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF). He
was addressing an impressive parade of participating militaries at the close of the
exercise.

"We are charting a common course and forging unity and interoperability in joint
coordination with our partners in order to achieve a high standard of efficiency in our
role as militaries on the African continent". And the signals at the end of this Command
post Exercise give the assurance that we are not too far from achieving and realising
this dream", he said.

Lt. Gen. Blay lauded the conduct of the exercise, describing it as a "huge success" which
has taken the continent a step closer to increasing the capacity of African Union and its
standby force in dealing with humanitarian and peace support missions.

He said the Government of Ghana and its armed forces were determined to ensure that
the dream of achieving a formidable force to wars on the continent was realised.

"We are therefore fully committed to such laudable ideas and will continue to give our
unflinching support to this programme"

Lt. Gen. Blay urged the participating nations to approach future exercise with the same
zeal, expressing optimism that the aims and objectives of the Africa Endeavour Exercise
would 93become real in the not too distant future".

He commended the US government, the AFRICOM and its partners for their
commitment to build the capacities of African militaries.

For the first time since the inception of the exercise in 2006, communicators at the 2010
exercise were able to establish a link between the exercise location with the African
Union Headquarters Peace Support Operations Centre on voice, data and video.

The exercise successfully established sea to shore voice and data communications
between the Nigerian delegation and the US Coast Guard Cutter, Mohawk, via high
frequency radio link.
Participants also practised communications based on an African Union scenario,
dwelling on humanitarian missions.
--------------------
U.S. Reiterates Pledge to Fight Terrorism (New Vision)

Kampala — Three members from the US House of Representatives yesterday laid a

wreath at the Kyadondo Rugby Club, one of the scenes of the deadly July 11 twin bomb
blasts, and reiterated their country's commitment to fighting terrorism.

Led by Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Congressman Bob Inglis and Henry Brown (both
from South Carolina) sent condolences to Ugandans, the bereaved families and the
injured.

"We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will be united in making sure that our
citizens, Americans and Ugandans, can enjoy freedom, democracy and justice," Lee
said.

She said their presence at the scene of the horrendous bomb blast was to emphasize the
bond and friendship that exists between Americans and Ugandans and the 'continued
commitment to work together." Earlier, the legislators met President Yoweri Museveni
at the State House in Entebbe.

According to a report from the State House, the President and his guests deliberated on
issues concerning the bilateral relations between Uganda and the United States of
America. They also discussed Uganda's peace-keeping and peace-building efforts in the
region. The team also met the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, and expressed
their willingness to assist Uganda fight terrorism.

Lee applauded Uganda's role in fighting for peace in the war torn Somalia. "The US and
Africa appreciate your role in Somalia. Peace should be pursued through united effort,"
she said. Ssekandi thanked the representatives for their contribution during
investigations that eventually led to the arrest of the suspected terrorists.

Suspected suicide bombers on July 11 detonated bombs in a deadly attack at the

Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and the rugby club in Lugogo, killing over
79 football fans, who were watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. More than 80
people were arrested in connection with the bombing, 32 of whom were charged in
court on Monday. Meanwhile, the Police secured a court order barring local media from
reporting on the attacks.
--------------------
UN 'pessimistic' over solution to W.Sahara dispute (AFP)
MADRID – The UN is doubtful that a settlement can be reached on the Western Sahara
and wants Madrid, Paris or Washington to intervene with Morocco and the Polisario, a
Spanish newspaper said on Friday.

The Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975.
The Algerian-backed Polisario Front is demanding independence for the region.

The UN special envoy to the region, Christopher Ross, said in a letter obtained by El
Pais that neither Rabat nor the Polisario "possess the political will to enter into genuine
negotiations on the future of the Western Sahara or to give priority attention to
confidence-building measures".

The letter was sent to the five members of the so-called Group of Friends that is trying
to resolve the conflict -- Britain, France, Russia, Spain and the United States.

"The Secretary General and I cannot by ourselves convince the parties to abandon their
unyielding attachment to mutually exclusive positions. We need specific support from
both the Security Council and the Group of Friends."

El Pais, quoting a source close to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said Ross was
"appealing for help to Paris, Madrid and Washington," the three governments most
interested in finding a solution to the dispute.

Morocco's 1975 annexation of the territory sparked a war between its forces and the
Polisario guerrillas. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1991 but the UN-sponsored
talks on Western Sahara's future have since made no headway.

Rabat has pledged to grant Western Sahara widespread autonomy but rules out
independence.

The Polisario Front, with the support of Algiers, wants a referendum on self-
determination, with independence as one of the options.

"In the long-term, the status quo is unacceptable," Ross said.

"The risk of a drift toward extremism or criminal activities among Sahrawi youth is
growing. The danger that a military or paramilitary adventure could escalate into
hostilities increases the longer diplomacy fails to produce progress.
--------------------
Nigerian President Gets More Challengers for Ruling Party Nomination (Voice of
America)
In Nigeria, five more candidates say they will challenge President Goodluck Jonathan
for the ruling PDP’s nomination in next year's presidential elections. They include a
powerful former spy chief and four serving PDP governors.

All are from the north and say they are running to preserve the party’s zoning formula.
Under zoning, the candidacy rotates between the north and the south. President
Jonathan, a southerner, is serving out the rest of the first term of the late President
Umaru Yaradua.

Some of the candidates have no chance of winning the PDP nomination but are running
as “political spoilers,” says Dr. Abubakar Momoh, who teaches political science at the
Lagos State University.

Momoh disagrees with assertions by the candidates that they are in the race purely on
personal convictions that they can move the country forward.

“By reputation and by political charisma, sagacity and carriage, some are paperweights,
some are middleweights and some are heavyweights. Normally in this kind of
situation, people are there to do spoiler politics. Others are sponsored by the big-wigs in
order that when the contest gets heated, they can either step down or claim they are
stepping down for other candidates in the interest of party unity.”

The fact that the candidates who have declared for the job are from a particular part of
the country is significant, according to Momoh.

“There is an ideological perspective that is shaping towards that direction, namely that
there is zoning and there is assumption that if it is zoning – it about the north and it
should be zoned to the north.”

He says claims by some analyst that the number of PDP candidates indicates a loss of
power and influences by President Jonathan are unfounded.

“Even when former President Olusegun Obasanjo ran his first term and was due for re-
election in 2003, quite a number of people stood against him. So it is not true that it is
because Jonathan is a weakling or people think he is not a formidable candidate.”
--------------------
Liberian electoral commission announces 2011 elections timetable (Xinhua)

MONROVIA, Liberia - The Electoral Commission of Liberia has announced the

timetable for the country's forthcoming elections scheduled for October next year.

The country's constitution requires that general and presidential elections be held every
six years.
Already, the country's incumbent president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has declared her
intention to seek re-elections in the poll, while soccer legend and former FIFA Best
Player of 1995 George Weah, who came second in the poll in 2005 to the current
president, said he too will contest the forthcoming poll.

Chairman of the electoral commission James Fromayan told reporters on Sunday that
voter registration for the poll, will begin in January next year to be followed in July the
same year by the nomination of candidates.

Fromayan said political campaign will begin in August and run up to Oct. 9, 2011.

The electoral chief said a voter registration plan is being meticulously developed on the
basic of geographical planning and harmonized date.

"The process will be based on the lowest possible geographical and administrative unit,
meaning that voters will use the same voters' registration card for subsequent by-
elections, as well as, the planned 2013 local government elections and possibly beyond,"
he told reporters.

The operational plan for the 2011 general and presidential elections has been produced
in partnership with international groups like the UN Mission in the country, the
European Union, USAID, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and ready for implementation, he
added.

Fromayan said the commission would fully implement the elections timetable and
assured all Liberians and the international community of the commission's commitment
to conducting free, fair and credible elections in 2011.
--------------------
LRA spreading reign of terror in south Sudan (AFP)

NZARA, Sudan – When the dreadlocked gunmen burst out of the jungle at night firing AK-47
assault rifles, the men of the village took up bows and arrows to defend their families.

But the brave defence was futile. The rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) simply
shot the men and dragged off others into the forest to join their force.

"Two of us were killed, and three more wounded," said Vanetta Tamenda, who fled as the rebels
began their work, torching his small farming village of Basukangbi, on south Sudan’s remote
border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The village's simple defence force -- calling themselves the Arrow Boys -- were swiftly overrun.

"They are too strong," Tamenda said, pulling up a ripped shirt to show bullet wounds in his
shoulder and back. "We need guns to defend ourselves."
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph
Kony took up arms -- initially against the Ugandan government.

Driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests
of northeastern DR Congo, south Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).

The jungle allows easy movement across porous borders for the rebels, who abandoned faltering
peace talks in 2008.

Their acts of startling brutality have forced more than 25,000 people to flee their homes in south
Sudan since January, according to the United Nations.

"The attacks this year by the LRA seem to be on the increase," said Sapana Abuyi, deputy
governor of Western Equatoria, the state in south Sudan hardest hit by the rebels.

"Not a week goes by without us receiving a message they have attacked a village."

They call the rebels here the "tong-tong" -- or "chop-chop" -- named after the machete attacks on
their victims when they wish to save a bullet.

Its top leaders, wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, are accused of
massacres, mutilation, forcibly enlisting boys as child soldiers, and taking girls as sex slaves.

Several hundred of those who most recently fled have gathered in the small settlement of Nzara,
searching for security, shelter, food and medication.

"People left so quickly they could take little," said Daniel James Banjen, chief of the Sangwa
area, which was attacked in early August.

"Some of us are staying with families, others under plastic sheeting, and all of us are living off
the food that we are given."

The people here say an upsurge in attacks is linked to the ripe harvests currently in the fields.

"They leave us alone while we cultivate," said Terezina Mathew as a child clutched her skirt.
"But when the crops are good they come, forcing us away so they can take all our food."

The United Nations and aid agencies are supporting the displaced, but prolonged attacks have
weakened the population and officials worry there is little sign of finding a solution or ending the
attacks.

"All along the border they have killed and abducted children for their evil army," said Lexson
Wari Amozai, the head of the south Sudan government's humanitarian agency for Western
Equatoria. "The peace that was ongoing has ended, and no one is talking about it."
Both southern Sudanese and Ugandan soldiers patrol the area, but the troops are stretched thin,
with the guerrillas now experts in hit-and-run raids.

South Sudan is far from alone in being affected by the rebels.

Over 700 people have been abducted by the rebels in CAR in the past 18 months, according to a
recent report by Human Rights Watch.

Meanwhile the rebels have carved out a kingdom in the Bas Uele of DR Congo by slaughtering
over a hundred people and abducting at least 570 in the past 15 months, according to field
research by the Washington-based Enough pressure group.

A new US law passed in May commits the Washington administration to develop a strategy that
will ensure civilians are protected from the LRA, and to end the rebels? campaign of carnage.

Those displaced said they would welcome any help, saying they have so little to defend
themselves with now.

"Those Americans have strength and technology, so they can use that to catch Kony," said Anton
Juma, another member of the village militia, now sheltering at Nzara. "Our arrows are no use
against their guns."
-------------------
In Kenya's capital, Somali immigrant neighborhood is incubator for jihad
(Washington Post)

NAIROBI -- Behind the blue gates of his Islamic school in Nairobi's Eastleigh
neighborhood, Ahmed Awil cannot escape his country's civil war.

Schools and mosques where extremist views are taught are reshaping this Somali
immigrant community that for years has lived peacefully in the capital of this
predominantly Christian country. Moderate imams now compete with hard-line
preachers pushing a strict interpretation of Islam. Bookstores sell anti-Western
literature. Residents speak fearfully of militant spies, and children like Ahmed are
taught to praise al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked militia, for waging jihad in Somalia
against the U.S.-backed government.

"My teachers tell us al-Shabab is fighting for our religion and for our country," said
Ahmed, a skinny 11-year-old who fled Somalia after al-Shabab fighters slaughtered his
neighbor and tried to recruit him. "Sometimes they ask us if we would like to go there
and fight."

Eastleigh, a run-down enclave where tens of thousands of Somalis live, has become an
incubator for Islamic extremism, Kenyan officials and community leaders say. It has
also emerged as a micro-battlefield in the war on terrorism, attracting American funds.
"What most worries me is that this extremist ideology will continue to grow," said
Dualle Abdi Malik, the director of Fathu Rahman, a moderate Islamic school. "We have
to confront it before it is too late."

Somali immigrant communities across the Horn of Africa and Yemen have come under
greater scrutiny since twin bombings last month targeted World Cup soccer fans in the
Ugandan capital of Kampala. Al-Shabab asserted responsibility for the attacks, its first
major international operation since it rose to power several years ago in Somalia.

Members of al-Shabab, which in Arabic means "The Youth," and other Somali militants
freely travel to Nairobi to raise funds, recruit and treat wounded fighters, according to
U.N. and Kenyan security officials. Somali-American jihadists have met contacts in
Eastleigh before heading to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab.

"Eastleigh is a copy of Mogadishu," said Mohamed Omar Dalha, Somalia's social affairs
minister, referring to the Somali capital. "Everything that happens in Mogadishu
happens in Eastleigh, except the fighting."

Fertile ground for radicals

At the al-Huda Islamic bookshop, a closet-sized stall nestled near one of Eastleigh's
radical mosques, several youths browsed the fare on a recent day. Koranic tomes pack
the shelves. Recordings of lectures and debates that glorify the neighborhood's radical
Somali preachers are sold openly.

"Our religion calls on us to kill everyone who does not believe in Allah and his Prophet
Muhammed deeply," Abdulrahman Abdullahi, a black-clad imam, declares in one
DVD.

Al-Shabab has long threatened to attack Kenya, which has been targeted by extremists
over the years. In 1998, al-Qaeda operatives bombed the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and
in Tanzania; in 2002, an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa was bombed. Earlier this year,
protests erupted in downtown Nairobi over the arrest of a radical Islamic preacher from
Jamaica.

Eastleigh, community leaders say, is an ideal breeding ground for radicalism. The
neighborhood is poor and isolated; few Kenyans enter it. Local authorities have ignored
it: Roads are unpaved, muddy and covered with trash. The smell of raw sewage wafts
across the terrain.

Kenyan police have long harassed Somalis, demanding bribes under threat of arrest or
deportation, generating resentment. Since the Kampala attacks, police have rounded up
hundreds of people in Eastleigh and other areas, including four Kenyan Muslims who
human rights activists say were illegally extradited to Uganda for interrogation.
"The community is suffering," said Abdufatah Ali, an Eastleigh representative on the
Nairobi City Council. "The police stop you and take your phone, and say 'You are al-
Shabab.' They enter your house and rape you, and say 'You are al-Shabab.' "

Radical preachers are filling the void, playing a key role in recruiting and fundraising
for al-Shabab. They operate the largest mosques in the neighborhood, providing
ideological leadership and a resource base for militants, according to a U.N. report on
Somalia in April.

"They have a very big influence in terms of radicalization," said Nicholas Kamwende,
Kenya's anti-terrorism police chief. "Eastleigh provides the best grounds for
recruitment."

Influencing young minds

At the Ansaaru primary school, where Awil attends classes, boys and girls study
biology, chemistry and geography. In religion class, they are taught that it is every
Muslim's duty to "liberate" Jerusalem and its sacred al-Aqsa mosque, Awil and three
other students said.

Sometimes, the students said, the teachers show them video clips of jihadists fighting in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

"They tell us that al-Shabab hates Western countries like America," said Zakeria Omar,
11, a student. "And that it is all right to cut the throats of every citizen of these
countries."

Ali Jama'a, a Koranic teacher at the school, asserted that the teachers do not discuss
jihad or al-Shabab. "Those classes may happen in the mosques, but not here," Jama'a
said.

Moments later, the imam of al-Hidaya mosque, which U.N. investigators and
community leaders describe as among the most radical in Eastleigh, arrived at the
school. He was there to teach a class.

He declined to be interviewed by a Washington Post journalist.

Moderate clerics fear what will happen to their community. One well-known imam tells
young people not to be enticed by militancy and speaks out against suicide bombings as
un-Islamic. "We have a war on our hands to stop our youth from being taken to the
battlefield," said the imam, who asked that his name not be published because he had
been threatened.
Moderates raise voices

Shine Abdullahi's hip-hop group, Waayaha Cusub, or "The New Generation," is

fighting back. The artists -- both men and women, all Somalis, most of whom once lived
in Eastleigh -- released a CD in February with the help of funding from the U.S.
Embassy in Nairobi.

This year, the United States has allocated $96,000 for job creation, education and
tolerance programs, mostly directed at youth, to bolster moderate views of Islam in
Eastleigh.

Waayaha Cusub's song "No to al-Shabab" has become a hit in Somali communities,
including those in Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia. The group has handed out 7,000 free
copies in Eastleigh.

"Our goal is to show that al-Shabab has neither a Somali nor an Islamic agenda,"
Abdullahi said. "They are nothing but a militia run by al-Qaeda's chiefs."

In June, Abdullahi received the first of many death threats in the form of a text message
from a Kenyan cellphone number: "You work with the infidels and Americans. You are
a spy for them. Do you want to stop that work or do you want to die?"

Today, the group does not play large shows, fearing an attack by suicide bombers.
None of the members live in their old neighborhood anymore.

"It's very easy for them to kill us in Eastleigh," Abdullahi said.

-------------------
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