United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

13 September 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

What Africom’s Not Telling Us about Rape in Congo (War is Boring - Blog)
(Congo) A mostly American team comprising representatives from several universities
plus the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the U.S.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and U.S. Special Operations
Command Africa — part of U.S. Africa Command — surveyed a thousand households
across Congo this spring and came up with some surprising results.

The Army’s Training Dilemma (War is Boring - Blog)

(Congo) Colonel Gilbert Kabanda, the surgeon general of the Forces Armees de la
Republique Democratique du Congo — the Congolese army, took the stage at the
opening ceremony for the combined U.S. Army-FARDC medical training event
“Medflag.” Medical training, Kabanda explained, lies at the heart of the army’s
relevance. American assistance will, in theory, help the FARDC help the Congolese
people.

African Nations Combine to Fight Lord’s Resistance Army (War is Boring - Blog)
(East Africa) A fanatical rebel group formed in northern Uganda in the 1980s has
spread to become what one U.S. general labeled a “transnational” threat, prompting the
U.S. and various East African nations to work together to defeat the group.

US church wants to resume Zimbabwe AIDS work (Stars and Stripes)

(Zimbabwe) A California church wants to get back to helping AIDS orphans in Africa,
once it resolves questions over licensing that led to the arrests of six of its workers in
impoverished Zimbabwe, a minister said Sunday.

Uganda's LRA rebels 'must face African joint action' (AFP)

(East Africa) Coordinated action must be taken to end the long-running brutal
campaign by the Ugandan Lord?s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, leaders from the four
countries affected said on Saturday.

US Marines at Right Place, Right Time in Somalia Ship Rescue (Voice of America)
(Somalia) On Wednesday, President Obama authorized U.S. Marines to rescue a
German-owned ship that had been hijacked by Somali pirates. Within three hours, the
Marines had captured nine pirates and freed the crew members, who had been holed
up in a safe room.

Zimbabwe Arrests Five American AIDS Workers (Associated Press)

(Zimbabwe) Five Americans who worked with AIDS orphans and patients in
Zimbabwe have been arrested in the southern African country and accused of operating
without proper medical licenses, their lawyer said Saturday.

Ban praises Rwandan troops (UPI)

(Rwanda) Rwandan forces are playing a vital role in the effort to bring peace and
security to the African nation, the U.N. secretary-general said.

Guinea presidential campaigning suspended in wake of violence (CNN)

(Guinea) Guinea has temporarily suspended campaigning for its first-ever democratic
presidential election after weekend violence reportedly left one person dead and dozens
injured.

Negative propaganda and its devastating effects on Africa’s development (Newstime

Africa)
(Pan Africa) Some in the African media business have not fully comprehend the effects
of negative propaganda on the continent’s development. It is a fact that Africa’s
policies are still defined by those who provide assistance in the form of aid and loans.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 UN and partners use new mobile phone application to enable refugees to trace
families
 UN deplores deadly attack against African peacekeepers in Somali capital
 Ban’s discussions with Rwandan leader on UN rights report to continue
 UN-backed radio station in DR Congo recognized for courageous reporting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, September 21, 2:00 p.m., U.S. Institute of Peace

WHAT: Civil Society in Darfur: The Missing Peace
WHO: Theodore Murphy, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue; Jérôme Tubiana,
Independent researcher; Jon Temin, Moderator,U.S. Institute of Peace
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/civil-society-in-darfur-the-missing-peace

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, September 23, 9:00 a.m.

WHAT: Breakfast Briefing with The Honorable Robert P. Jackson, New Ambassador of
the United States to Cameroon
WHO: Business Council for International Understanding with Chevron Corporation
Info: http://www.bciu.org/wip01/online_event_invitation.asp?
continent=0&country=0&currentorpast=current&eventsorprograms=events&IDNumbe
r=1431&ProgramIDNumber=0&Keycode=8031275
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

What Africom’s Not Telling Us about Rape in Congo (War is Boring - Blog)

Kinshasa — Sexual violence is a huge problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo:

everyone knows it. But just how huge? And who exactly are the victims? A mostly
American team comprising representatives from several universities plus the U.S.
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the U.S. Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences and U.S. Special Operations Command Africa
— part of U.S. Africa Command — surveyed a thousand households across Congo this
spring and came up with some surprising results. The full study, which was co-funded
by universities and the U.S. Army, is behind a firewall at the Journal of the American
Medical Association, but the abstract isn’t.

Sixty-seven percent of households reported “conflict-related human rights abuses”

including rape. Forty percent of women had been sexually assaulted, as had 23 percent
of men. Half the respondents showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The apparent high incidence of rape against men raised some eyebrows in academic
circles. “There are some issues that need to be investigated further,” IRC’s Ciarán
Donnelly told IRIN News. One of the study’s authors “urges a reformulation of policy
and a refocusing of aid efforts in the area of sexual violence based on the findings of the
survey,” Donnelly said. “I think we would like to caution against being too precipitous
in that area.”

Furthermore, the study is perhaps fatally undermined by an egregious omission, one

that a source here in Kinshasa pointed out to me and that is mentioned in IRIN‘s
summary. “Some critics point to the fact that while the researchers had to avoid areas
where the DRC armed forces (FARDC) were active, the same FARDC are not listed
among the reported perpetrators of sexual violence.” In other words, the authors
selectively omitted not just a major perpetrator of sexual violence, but in fact the biggest
one. A 2008 article in the same journal found that the FARDC was responsible for more
than half of rapes in Congo!

It’s not hard to see why the authors ignored that truth. Africom, and its commandos in
particular, play an important role in training the Congolese army. Special Forces stood
up a new Congolese “model” battalion this spring and returned in recent weeks for
follow-on training. U.S. medics are in Kinshasa right now helping improve the
FARDC’s medical capability. The Americans intend to improve the FARDC’s
professionalism, which would presumably, eventually, reduce the incidence of rape.
But in the meantime, it’s undeniable that one of America’s major military partners in
Central Africa is also one of the biggest threats to human security in the region.
--------------------
The Army’s Training Dilemma (War is Boring - Blog)

Kinshasa — Colonel Gilbert Kabanda, the surgeon general of the Forces Armees de la
Republique Democratique du Congo — the Congolese army — is a tiny man, barely
more than five feet tall. But he has a big speaking voice. On Monday he took the stage at
the opening ceremony for the combined U.S. Army-FARDC medical training event
“Medflag.” The audience included hundreds of Congolese and American doctors and
medics.

Medical training, Kabanda explained, lies at the heart of the army’s relevance. For a
modern army should be more than a killing machine, he insisted. “In addition to the
principal mission of defense of the national territory, the other mission of the army is to
participate in the economic, social and cultural development and protection of the
people.”

American assistance will, in theory, help the FARDC help the Congolese people.
Everyone’s a winner. “There’s nothing bad about this story,” U.S. Army Lieutenant
Colonel Todd Johnston, Medflag commander, told me before Kabanda’s speech.

Not so. For as Kabanda repeatedly stressed, the army’s primary mission is defense —
that is, combat. And military medics’ first job is to support the combat troops.
Especially in Congo’s rugged east, FARDC combat brigades represent one of the
greatest threats to the population and the country’s nascent democracy. “Since its
creation in 2003, the FARDC has been one of the main perpetrators of documented
sexual violence in Congo,” Human Rights Watch reported. The FARDC also oversees
illegal mining operations that keep the land’s wealth out of the people’s hands. In
helping improve the FARDC — even its medical capabilities — the U.S. risks making
the FARDC a more powerful enemy of the Congolese people.

At Monday’s opening ceremony, Samuel Laeuchli, the deputy chief of mission at the
U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, described FARDC personnel racing to help out in the
aftermath of a tragic July tanker explosion that killed some 300 people in remote Kivu.
After Medflag, Congolese medics might be better equipped to assist survivors of such
disasters. But they will also be better equipped to patch up and keep healthy the tens of
thousands of Congolese troops raping and pillaging across this Texas-size jungle nation.
--------------------
African Nations Combine to Fight Lord’s Resistance Army (War is Boring - Blog)

A fanatical rebel group formed in northern Uganda in the 1980s has spread to become
what one U.S. general labeled a “transnational” threat, prompting the U.S. and various
East African nations to work together to defeat the group. The international cooperation
is the fruit of years of delicate planning by U.S. officials.

The Lord’s Resistance Army, founded by Ugandan Joseph Kuny in 1986, aims to
establish a Christian theocratic government in East Africa. But the group’s brutal
methods — torture, abduction and rape — belie its religious roots. From Uganda, the
LRA spread into neighboring Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central
African Republic. The LRA is “more of a problem for Sudan than for Uganda now,”
Don Steinberg, a vice president from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, told
World Politics Review.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Recently, U.N. aid workers in Central African Republic reported that LRA fighters
raided villages for food and supplies, forcing residents to flee. LRA attacks in the four
affected countries have displaced hundreds of thousands of people since 1986.

To help defeat the LRA, members of the U.S. Congress this spring drafted legislation
calling on the U.S. federal government “to work with multilateral partners to develop a
viable path to disarm the LRA, while ensuring the maximal protection of civilians,”
according to a statement from Sen. Russ Feingold, one of the bill’s sponsors.
--------------------
US church wants to resume Zimbabwe AIDS work (Stars and Stripes)

Johannesburg - A California church wants to get back to helping AIDS orphans in

Africa, once it resolves questions over licensing that led to the arrests of six of its
workers in impoverished Zimbabwe, a minister said Sunday.

The six - five Americans and a Zimbabwean - were arrested Friday and have been held
at Harare Central police station, where conditions in the cells are notoriously grim.
They will appear in court Monday on charges of operating without proper medical
licenses, according to their lawyer in Zimbabwe.

Theophous Reagans, a minister at the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland,

California, said by telephone Sunday the church has been working in Zimbabwe for
more than a decade and that this is the first time questions over licensing have been
raised. He said one of the Americans lives in Zimbabwe, while the others are among
church members who visit three or four times a year, paying their own way to help at a
home for AIDS orphans the congregation has adopted.

"Our prayer and our hope is that they will be released," after Monday's hearing,
Reagans told The Associated Press.

The church's work in Zimbabwe was started in 2000 by Robert C. Scott, an Allen
Temple member, AIDS activist and doctor. Scott died last year.
"Dr. Scott worked diligently for 10 years to build that ministry and serve," Reagans said.
"We want to continue."

Reagans said most of Allen Temple Baptist Church members are black, and feel a strong
connection to Africa.

In 2008, at the height of a political crisis in Zimbabwe, the government accused

independent aid groups of supporting opposition activists and barred them from
distributing aid for three months.

Zimbabwe also has clashed with aid groups over funding. In 2007, Zimbabwe's central
bank confiscated U.S. dollars being held in local bank accounts, including about $12
million belonging to the Global Fund, a major international supporter of programs to
fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. When the central bank failed to return its money,
the Global Fund threatened to cut off aid. Its funds were eventually returned.

Conditions for international aid workers have eased since longtime ruler Robert
Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing agreement with his opponent Morgan
Tsvangirai as prime minister last year. The partnership has been strained. Mugabe's
supporters continue to be accused of abusing human rights, but Tsvangirai's party has
been praised for its administration of key ministries, including health, education and
finance.

Reagans said his church had not been affected by previous problems encountered by
international aid workers in Zimbabwe.

"We really believe that for the last nine-10 years, we have been working in consort with
the authorities in Zimbabwe," he said.

The Herald, a state-run Zimbabwe newspaper, quoted police as saying the church
workers were being questioned about operating an unlicensed clinic and dispensing
medicine without a pharmacist's supervision.

"It is our duty to ensure that all clinics and medical institutions are registered for easy
monitoring," police spokesman Augustine Zimbili told The Herald. "There is a risk of
dispensation of expired drugs. When premises are not licensed, it is difficult to check if
(the law) is being complied with."

Jonathan Samukange, the lawyer in Zimbabwe representing the detained church

workers, said they have proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that
mainly gave out AIDS medications.

The church's Web site said its work in Zimbabwe began when Scott and other church
members attended an international AIDS conference in neighboring South Africa.
They made a trip to Zimbabwe alongside the conference, and moved by what they saw
at the Mother of Peace Orphanage, persuaded their church to support the home just
outside Harare for children who have lost parents to AIDS.

In Scott's obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Gloria Cox Crowell, who ran a
church AIDS outreach program with Scott and was among those arrested in Zimbabwe
last week, was quoted as saying the orphanage cemetery "was the biggest motivation"
in the decision to support Mother of Peace.

"We saw the little tiny crosses for the children who had died there, and they had all
died of complications from AIDS. He (Scott) wanted to do something about that."

Scott had earlier founded the AIDS Project of the East Bay to support HIV-positive
people in Oakland and try to prevent the spread of the virus, and the AIDS program at
his church.
--------------------
Uganda's LRA rebels 'must face African joint action' (AFP)

KHARTOUM – Coordinated action must be taken to end the long-running brutal

campaign by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, leaders from the four
countries affected said on Saturday.

A rare three-day meeting of 30 religious and community leaders as well as local

government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), south Sudan, the
Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda criticised the "lack of a coordinated and
comprehensive strategy" to tackle the rebels.

"The LRA is committing atrocities across very remote areas of already unstable nations,"
read a joint statement following the meeting in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio,
state capital of the badly affected Western Equatoria region.

Better coordination is needed, they warned, adding that "LRA atrocities give no sign
whatsoever of being on the decrease."

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.

Long since driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control
in the dense forests of northeast DRC, south Sudan and CAR.

"DRC, Sudan and CAR all have internal conflicts that prevent them from sufficiently
allocating their forces in a fight against the rebel group," it added, calling on all national
armies to work to boost troop deployment in affected areas.
"The international community has so far failed to develop a comprehensive plan to deal
with the LRA as a regional threat, instead addressing the crisis in a piecemeal and
haphazard way in the four different countries," it added.

The signatories demanded that UN peacekeepers be given a "greater capacity to deploy

quickly" in response to attacks.

However, the leaders praised the Washington administration for passing a law in May,
which commits it to develop a strategy by the end of November to end the rebel
campaign of carnage.

The LRA?s acts of startling brutality -- including murder, rape, and the forced
conscription of children -- have forced more than 25,000 people to flee their homes in
south Sudan alone since January, the United Nations says.

Many thousands more have been massacred, abducted or forced from their homes in
CAR and DRC by the rebels, whose chiefs are wanted by the International Criminal
Court.

The leaders on Saturday also called for clarification of the Ugandan army's role, which
has led the hunt for LRA leaders across Sudan, DRC and CAR, since it launched a
botched offensive following the collapse of peace talks.

The December 2008 Ugandan-led attacks smashed the rebels' jungle hideouts in
northeast DRC, but analysts suggest the LRA was tipped off and most fighters escaped
beforehand, launching reprisal raids across a wide area as they fled.

The religious leaders on Saturday insisted that the "preferred sustainable solution is a
negotiated settlement" of the LRA crisis "after decades of failed military interventions."

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Dominic Ongwen -- the LRA's second or third in
command -- has moved from DRC back to south Sudan, according to testimonies of
former fighters collected by the Washington-based Enough pressure group.

Ongwen's reported move is "worrying", it said, with south Sudan approaching a

historic vote due in January on its potential full independence.

"Sudan is preparing for a very important referendum early next year, and the LRA has a
proven record of destabilising entire regions with few soldiers," said the Enough report,
released on Wednesday.
--------------------
US Marines at Right Place, Right Time in Somalia Ship Rescue (Voice of America)
On Wednesday, President Obama authorized U.S. Marines to rescue a German-owned
ship that had been hijacked by Somali pirates. Within three hours, the Marines had
captured nine pirates and freed the crew members, who had been holed up in a safe
room.

Perfect storm

The raid does not reflect a change in U.S. policy, says retired naval commander John
Patch, a professor at the U.S. Army War College.

“I don’t think there’s anything new at all. This is a resident capability inside the Marine
Corps. I think it just happened to be…just a perfect storm against the pirates.
Essentially the right folks, the Marine Corps special ops team, was in the right place at
the right time. The ships were nearby. It was a relatively clear-cut case of a ship that
was relatively easy to get on board,” he says.

He calls it a perfect operation and not an attempt by the U.S. to send a new message
that it’s tough on pirates.

“I think that message has been there all along. The U.S. has been involved with the
counter-terrorism / anti-piracy task force there since 2008. We send a very strong
message every day keeping those sea lanes open in that limited area in the Gulf of
Aden. I don’t think there’s any new message for the pirates,” he says.

They wouldn’t listen anyway

“I don’t think the pirates pay a whole lot of attention to any kind of strategic messaging
coming from anybody, for that matter. But it’s a cost benefit analysis for them. Is it
worth the effort? When this story trickles down, I don’t think it will have any deterrent
impact whatsoever on the pirates. They see it (piracy) as still worthwhile,” he says.

Patch says the pirates know they stand to make a lot of money if they can successfully
hijack a ship and demand ransom. So, the U.S. action may not necessarily be viewed as
a deterrent.

“In fact,” he says, “in this case, with essentially no shots fired and nine or 10 pirates in
custody on the Navy ship, with no loss of life or violence against the pirates, you may
actually have the opposite effect – ‘Hey, look, we can do this without worrying about
dying or getting shot at,’ which is sort of a potential ironic side effect.”

However, he says efforts protect shipping lanes in the Gulf have been very effective.

“The pirates are very clearly avoiding that area because they know they have a low
chance of success,” he says.
Take ‘em to court

The U.S. and other countries that capture pirates usually file charges and take the
pirates to court.

“Bringing them to trial is to essentially have that precedent out there,” he says, “I think
that has definitely improved over the last couple of years. And, in fact, Kenya has been
very supportive in bringing some of the pirates to trial.”

In Norfolk, Virginia, a pre-trial hearing for six Somalis accused of piracy continued
Friday. The Somalis are accused of attacking the USS Nicholas in April. On Tuesday, a
judge dismissed some of the charges against the men, leaving seven others to be
considered at the hearing.

“The tough part about it for everybody involved is you’re talking about warships
essentially involved in law enforcement operations,” he says, “You’ve got the blunt
hammer of military force associated with that fine needle of law enforcement. So it’s a
tricky operation.”

Patch says Navy Criminal Investigative Service took care to ensure evidence was
properly gathered so a criminal case could be brought against the Somalis captured this
week.

“That’s a good thing. That’s a credential law enforcement officer associated with the
Navy who has the ability to make sure that the detention procedures are observed
correctly, that the quality assurance for handling the evidence is there…. All things that
need to be brought to the court and shown to the judge to say these are actually
pirates,” he says.

Patch recommends that some type of Coast Guard police force should handle piracy
matters.

Why bring them to court at all?

“Moral high ground is an issue for us. We represent the Western world and the high
ideals of the United States. So, we’ve got to kind of play by the rules. The pirates don’t
have to, but we adhere to them,” he says.

Patch’s comments reflect his own views and not necessarily that of the war college.
--------------------
Zimbabwe Arrests Five American AIDS Workers (Associated Press)
HARARE, Zimbabwe—Five Americans who worked with AIDS orphans and patients
in Zimbabwe have been arrested in the southern African country and accused of
operating without proper medical licenses, their lawyer said Saturday.

Attorney Jonathan Samukange identified one of the five as Gloria Cox Crowell, who is
chairwoman of an AIDS program run by the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland,
Calif.

According to its Web site, the church supports the Mother of Peace Orphanage in
Zimbabwe, a home outside Harare for children who have lost parents to AIDS, and it
runs an AIDS clinic there.

Mr. Samukange said Ms. Cox Crowell and the four other Americans were arrested late
Friday along with a Zimbabwean doctor.

He said the six are accused of practicing medicine in Zimbabwe without proper licenses
and of running a pharmacy without a pharmacist's supervision or a pharmacist's
license. He said they have proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that
mainly gave out AIDS medications.

A court appearance is expected Monday. Mr. Samukange had identified all five as
doctors earlier, but it isn't clear that all are health workers.

A church official reached by phone in Oakland said she could not discuss the arrests. A
man who answered the phone at Ms. Cox Crowell's home in Oakland also declined to
comment.

The church's Web site said its work in Zimbabwe began in 2000, when the late Robert C.
Scott, an AIDS activist and doctor in the San Francisco area, and other church members
attended an international AIDS conference in neighboring South Africa.

They made a side trip to Zimbabwe, and, moved by what they saw at Mother of Peace,
persuaded their church to support the orphanage.

Dr. Scott died in 2009. In his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Cox Crowell
was quoted as saying that the cemetery at the orphanage "was the biggest motivation"
in the decision to support Mother of Peace.

"We saw the little tiny crosses for the children who had died there, and they had all
died of complications from AIDS. [Dr. Scott] wanted to do something about that."

Dr. Scott had earlier founded the AIDS Project of the East Bay, to support HIV-positive
people in Oakland and try to prevent the spread of the virus, and the AIDS program at
his church.
--------------------
Ban praises Rwandan troops (UPI)

Rwandan forces are playing a vital role in the effort to bring peace and security to the
African nation, the U.N. secretary-general said.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights is preparing to release a
report outlining more than 600 events in the Congo where tens of thousands of people
were killed from 1993 to 2003.

The Washington Post reported in August on the 545-page U.N. investigation into
violence in the Congo. The report, the Post said, suggested the Rwandan military
carried out mass killings of ethnic Hutus during the 1990s, accusing government forces
of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York following a two-day visit to
Rwanda that he had the utmost respect for the Rwandan military.

"Rwandan forces are well trained and continue to make important contributions to
peace and security in the region," he said in a statement.

U.S. officials at the time of the Post report stressed that Rwanda plays an important role
in Africa despite the allegations.

The final U.N. report is scheduled for an Oct.1 release.

--------------------
Guinea presidential campaigning suspended in wake of violence (CNN)

Conakry, Guinea - Guinea has temporarily suspended campaigning for its first-ever
democratic presidential election after weekend violence reportedly left one person dead
and dozens injured.

Government spokesman Aboucar Sylla announced Sunday in a televised statement at

that all campaign activity for the September 19 elections in the West African nation will
be suspended until a special council of ministers meets with the two candidates, Cellou
Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde, on Monday.

"All campaign activity will be from here on temporarily suspended," Sylla said. "It will
recommence by official notification."

The suspension decision was taken after an emergency meeting of top government
officials to address violence over the weekend in nation's capital, Conakry, according to
Guinea news website guineenews.org.
One person was killed and dozens injured in fighting between supporters of rival
candidates on Saturday and Sunday morning, according to a Reuters report.

Neither party was available for comment Sunday night regarding recent events.

In a press release on Saturday, Conde's RPG party denounced what it saw as aggression
from Diallo's party.

"A number of activists for the Rainbow Alliance [RPG] were attacked by people
wearing UFDG T-shirts during a football tournament organized in name of Professor
Alpha Conde," the press release said.

Diallo's UFDG party released a statement on its website Sunday afternoon countering
Conde's version of events: "In the midst of their joy and expecting nothing, [UFDG
supporters] were once again attacked by RPG militants," the website said.

The country's supreme court found several minor voting irregularities in the first
round, but upheld the overall results. The electoral commission was hit by crisis again
on Thursday, after Guinean courts sentenced the commission's president and his
deputy to one year in prison for fraud committed during the first round.

Guinea has been ruled by a military junta since a group soldiers took power after the
death of longtime autocrat Lansana Conte in late 2008.

The junta promised elections and named Captain Moussa Dadis Camara president of
the transition, but later threatened to hold on to power.

Last year, the opposition organized a protest against Camara in a stadium in the capital
Conakry, but the military attacked the demonstrators. About 150 people were killed,
more than 100 raped and at least 1,000 injured, according to the U.S. government and
international human rights groups.

In the ensuing uncertainty, Camara's deputy shot him and Camara was forced to seek
medical treatment in Morocco. He remains in convalescence in Burkina Faso.

The current president is former army chief Sekouba Konate.

--------------------
Negative propaganda and its devastating effects on Africa’s development (Newstime
Africa)

Some in the African media business have not fully comprehend the effects of negative
propaganda on the continent’s development. Africa still hinges on the financial support
of western donors and aid agencies to survive and to lift itself from economic bondage.
It is a fact that Africa’s policies are still defined by those who provide assistance in the
form of aid and loans. When policies are defined in such a way, consideration is first
and foremost given to how the donor country can benefit. And sometimes the criteria is
solidly based on the untapped resources of the recipient country. There could be other
strategic reasons why a country can also benefit from direct financial assistance.
Whether the country offers a strategic military potential in that country’s defence policy
can also be a determining factor. For instance, the United States of America has military
bases in some African countries to help in its fight against terror.

In some cases, western donor countries can use this advantage to have a leverage on
how a country can govern itself and its people. The human rights and democracy card
is always at the heart of this political game of chess. And sometimes that can also be
used to camouflage the donor country’s real intentions, while behind the scenes they
could be pressuring the recipient country to deliver on their demands. Africa has in a
way suffered and benefited from this. Deliberate attempt is sometimes made to use
rogue regimes to access much needed resources to satisfy the donor country’s industrial
sector demands. China has reportedly forged strong relationship with some of Africa’s
worst despots in order to have access to these vital resources to feed its growing
industrial needs. In such cases, the political make-up of the recipient country becomes
irrelevant; only the direct economic benefit becomes vital. China’s actions have
sometimes been condemned by the west, but the Chinese are also fully aware of the
nasty political game the west plays to advance its own interest in Africa, So, they could
care less and most times get away with the worst political partnerships they forge.

Western countries use their formidable international media presence to cry down the
Chinese and use China’s poor human rights record to discourage its entry into the
African market. Some African countries have even been threatened of assistance
withdrawal if they do business with China. But China has played the assistance game
carefully. Selecting regimes that it knows share some of its hatred of western ideology
and offers financial protection in return for access to minerals or other resources. China
uses its economic clout cleverly, and quiet diplomacy is always at the heart of China’s
relationship with African countries. China knows what Africa needs – and it caters for
this. A careful assessment is done case by case with each individual country’s situation
carefully considered. It has mastered the art of providing the pressing and relevant
needs of a country and in the process made a lot friends in Africa. China has also
opened its doors to African business and has even set out to establish an industrial
center in a Nigerian state to create factories and produce Chinese goods in Africa to
reduce shipping costs and for ease of access to European and other African market.

Apparently, the African media presence both in print and electronic, have failed to
recognise how what they write about their own countries affect how the west responds
to Africa’s call for help. At the center of every western policy towards any African
country, is information that we as media entities write about our individual countries.
The quest for freedom of information, and the democratic right to express opinions
freely, have sometimes clashed with our patriotic responsibilities. We sometimes let
loose of our personal emotions when we allow personal vendetta to replace responsible
behaviour. We also forget that anything we write and publish on the internet will stay
there forever, as Google carefully syndicates all information for future reference and
ease of access. But Google’s innocent gesture has always been used for the wrong
reasons by our western donors. In each Foreign Affairs ministry in the west, there are
special research units that specialize in information gathering, and everything is put
together to draw an analysis of a country’s circumstances. Aid to these countries is
sometimes determined by these analysis. When we attack our leaders and seek
attention to our country’s’ plight, we sometimes allow the adrenalin in us to take
precedence over common sense. The negative propaganda we write is not only for the
consumption of those who thirst for news happening in their country, it makes its way
to a desk at Capitol Hill or Whitehall.

Opposition parties in Africa, with desperation to assume power, have often used the
media to deliver negative propaganda about governments in power. All in an effort to
unseat them. Forgetting the implications this will have and the challenges they
themselves will face when taking the reins of power. It always comes back and hunt
them, when they approach stakeholders for assistance. There is nothing wrong with
freedom of expression if when disseminated is not with the intent to destroy our
continents image. Africa already has an image problem. The western media has formed
an opinion about Africa, while presenting images of hunger, famine and disease; the
beautiful landscape, the wonderful terrain, the untapped mineral wealth, the vibrant
tourist potential, the innocent wildlife, the development taking place, and the
emergence of new democratic leaders, never make it to the front pages or the main
headlines. But sometimes you can’t blame them, as their negative agenda is fed directly
from what the African media dishes out on the internet.

Sierra Leone offers a unique example of this dilemma we face as a continent. The
president on assuming office three years ago, was faced with many challenges –
problems that he inherited from the previous regime. The new president quickly
embarked on challenging the root of the country’s problems, from corruption to
stricken poverty. He wasted no time in creating the institutions necessary to address the
country’s problems with good governance and an agenda for change at the heart of
government policies. But the opposition inspired media in the country set out and
embarked on a mission of misinformation and fabricated lies, and even went to the
extent of referring to the Head of State as corrupt, with bold and pronounced headlines
making their way to the already infested internet playground. Disregarding the effects
of what all this could have on the country’s image, opposition appointed Editors went
on the rampage even further and attacked stakeholders who are directly involved in
salvaging the country from the very mess they left it in. Such reckless journalism has no
place in the country’s virgin democracy. This is why we are not progressing as a
continent. We play into the hands of those who don’t want to see our development.
Some would prefer to see Africa stagnant in its current crisis of poverty, disease and
conflict. But others like the Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma, will continue in
their quest to free Africa from its abysmal past with promise of a new era of hope and
prosperity.
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UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

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