United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

20 September 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

AFRICOM: Professionalism Key to Congo Medical Exercise (Congo Planet)

(Congo) Humanitarian assistance -- especially medical and dental care -- is in high
demand in Africa. And, that’s a big part of the reason the U.S. military is involved on
the continent, the commander of U.S. Army Africa said yesterday.

Somalia and the United States (The Economist)

(Nairobi and Washington) Does it matter to the United States that Somalia is becoming
a hotbed of global jihad? The answer most often heard in Washington is impenetrable.
“Somalia is not important until it launches a terrorist attack which makes it important,”
explains a Pentagon official. There is wide agreement that a more aggressive American
policy towards the jihadist rebels could well backfire. But if America is unwilling to
invade Somalia, bearing in mind its disastrous intervention in 1993, how does it plan,
through less direct means, to limit the threat of Somali-based Islamist terrorists?

Nigeria: U.S. Strikes-Off Nigeria from Major Drug Nations' List (All Africa)
(Lagos) The United States of America has delisted Nigeria from the list of major drug
trafficking countries due to the laudable efforts of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA).

Obama softens approach to Sudan (Boston Globe)

(Sudan) On the campaign trail, Barack Obama pledged to get tough with Sudan, a
regime accused of committing genocide in Darfur and waging a relentless war against
its citizens in the south. But in the White House, Obama has adopted a far gentler
approach.

US removes Nigeria from major drug trafficking list (AFP)

(Nigeria) The United States has removed Nigeria from the list of major drug trafficking
countries, the country's anti-narcotics agency said on Sunday, describing the move as
recognition of its fight against trafficking.

Nigerian Board Seeks Vote Delay (Wall Street Journal)

(Nigeria) Nigeria's electoral commission requested Sunday that the January 22
presidential elections be postponed so it could be better prepare for a "credible" vote in
Africa's most populous country.
Terror spillover in Africa (Khaleej Times)
(Pan Africa) A recent dispatch observed: “Africom, as it’s called, has had to convince
African leaders that the US is there to assist the countries, and is not planning to build
military bases there.” What remained unstated in that story was whether African
leaders believe the United States.

Mauritania attacks Al-Qaeda-linked fighters: military (Radio Netherlands

Worldwide)
(Mauritania) Mauritania warplanes attacked militants of Al-Qaeda's north African
wing in northern Mali, senior officers said Sunday, amid claims that civilians were
killed in the strikes.

Uganda boosts African Union force in Mogadishu (Afrique en Ligne)

(Uganda/Somalia) The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has
grown from 6,300 troops to 7,200 troops after an additional battalion from Uganda
joined the force, an African Union (AU) envoy disclosed here Friday.

Kenya says world neglecting Somalia security threat (Reuters)

(Somalia) The international community is neglecting the security threat from Somalia,
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Friday, suggesting that the United
States wanted to avoid a repeat of a failed 1992 military intervention.

U.N. Millennium Development Goals appear out of reach in Africa (Los Angeles
Times)
(Pan Africa) With only five years left to meet the targets of poverty reduction and
healthcare improvements set for 2015, most of sub-Saharan Africa lags behind amid the
lack of aid and political will.

Why the U.S. Should Send Troops (and Spooks) to the Congo (Wired.com)
(Democratic Republic of Congo) They arrive in the night like monsters. In northeastern
Congo, in a swath of thick forest the size of some European countries, the apocalyptic
Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group is a constant, foreboding presence. The LRA’s
fighters — many of them kidnapped teens — murder, abduct, rape and pillage while
constantly eluding a half-heartedly pursuing Congolese army.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 UN gives hope to Rwandan communities ravaged by climate change
 West African States back UN resolution promoting role of women in peace and
security
 Voter registration for Sudanese referenda must start as soon as possible – UN
expert
 Security Council calls for setting of new date for Guinea’s election run-off
  Security Council urges DR Congo to bring mass rape perpetrators to justice
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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

AFRICOM: Professionalism Key to Congo Medical Exercise (Congo Planet)

Humanitarian assistance -- especially medical and dental care -- is in high demand in

Africa. And, that’s a big part of the reason the U.S. military is involved on the continent,
the commander of U.S. Army Africa said yesterday.

During a Sept. 15 “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable, Army Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg
discussed Medflag 10, an ongoing humanitarian assistance exercise in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo’s capital of Kinshasa.

The exercise helps to improve the readiness of both countries’ medical personnel and
includes classroom instruction, a mass casualty exercise and civic assistance activities in
specific areas in Kinshasa, Hogg said.

“Throughout this exercise we’ve worked on some pretty basic achievements,” he said.
“Soldiers on both sides received classes on triage, emergency treatment [and]
evacuation techniques, and later on we conducted a medical humanitarian mission,
where we treated over 1,700 people from the Kinshasa community on the medical and
dental sides.”

The Congolese emergency responders, called UMIR, also rescued a number of injured
passengers after a bus accident. There were about 300 total participants in the exercise,
Hogg said, 100 of them U.S. military personnel.
The joint venture came about at the request of the Congolese government, by way of the
State Department. Medflag began in 1988 and has taken U.S. military units across the
continent to assist and partner with different nations’ medical teams.

“We’re working hand-in-hand with the Congolese military to professionalize their

force. It comes down to leader development, when you get down to it,” Hogg said.

There also is a humanitarian aspect to each Medflag mission that not only provides care
to local residents, but also helps to give those residents confidence that their
government’s military is there to help them.

Hogg said it’s too soon to say whether measures need to be taken as a result of Medflag,
but he said one lesson he learned is not to underestimate any unit’s capabilities.

“The medical units we worked with here knew their business. They were
professionals,” he said. “They have a system to support their soldiers when they’re in
the jungle fighting. They have a system to support their civilian forces.

“When you get down to it,” the general continued, “professionalization of a force does,
in fact, make a difference. These exercises have an effect on how these groups will
continue their operations.”
--------------------
Somalia and the United States What's to be done? The Americans are at a loss to decide
how to take on Somalia’s jihadists (The Economist)

NAIROBI and WASHINGTON - Does it matter to the United States that Somalia is
becoming a hotbed of global jihad? The answer most often heard in Washington is
impenetrable. “Somalia is not important until it launches a terrorist attack which makes
it important,” explains a Pentagon official. There is wide agreement that a more
aggressive American policy towards the jihadist rebels could well backfire. But if
America is unwilling to invade Somalia, bearing in mind its disastrous intervention in
1993, how does it plan, through less direct means, to limit the threat of Somali-based
Islamist terrorists?

The leading Islamist militia in Somalia is the Shabab (“Youth”). It controls large parts of
south and central Somalia. In the battered capital, Mogadishu, it is seeking to drive
Somalia’s internationally recognised transitional government into the sea. The fighting
is brutal. Some 200,000 civilians have fled Mogadishu this year; several thousand have
been injured or killed. The government is protected by 6,000 African Union (AU)
peacekeepers. The Shabab relies on insurgency tactics, and operates at least two suicide-
bomb units.

On July 11th it extended the fight outside Somalia, killing at least 76 people, including
one American, in suicide-bombings on Uganda’s capital, Kampala. The Shabab glorified
the slaughter, saying that the ordinary Ugandans watching a football match deserved to
die because Ugandan soldiers make up most of the AU force in Mogadishu; it has
warned of further attacks unless Uganda withdraws. The Shabab carried out several
suicide attacks during Ramadan in Mogadishu.

The suicide attacks make it likely that America will keep on bankrolling the transitional
government, which is headed by a “moderate” Islamist, Sharif Ahmed, who
nonetheless insists on sharia law and has made it a crime for a Somali citizen to be a
non-Muslim. But it is doubtful whether his lot will ever control more than a few fly-
blown streets in the capital.

Assessing the Shabab’s strength is harder still. It has several thousand fighters, with
nothing heavier than anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks. The group has
copied some of the Taliban’s more puritanical features, such as insisting on beards,
meting out floggings, stoning adulterers and banning music. But it is probably looser
and more pragmatic than such policies suggest. Some cells promote a Somali national
spirit whereas others extol al-Qaeda’s pan-Islamic vision. All Shabab commanders
agree, however, that the present government and the AU “invaders” that help it must
be defeated. Most want to limit foreign aid, to the extent that they are turning back UN
food aid across the south. Boys are expected to fight for the Shabab. Families who do
not give up at least one son are liable to pay a tax.

America has taken a cautious approach so far. It still hopes locals will turn against the
Shabab. American agents in Somalia and on American naval ships and submarines off
the coast have shifted their energy away from hunting known al-Qaeda people to
listening in on Shabab training camps.

America is also monitoring its home-grown Shabab supporters; 14 Americans were

recently charged with helping the group. A Shabab fighter killed in an attack on
Mogadishu airport last week was an American citizen. But not all American support for
the group is from Somali-Americans. One Shabab commander is a white American
called Omar Hammami. He was raised in Alabama and attended Bible school before
turning to Islam. America’s attorney-general, Eric Holder, says that Americans seeking
to emulate Mr Hammami can expect to be jailed at home or to die on the battlefield in
Somalia.

But the constant circulation of Somali-Americans back to Somalia to visit family or

conduct business makes it hard for American intelligence to track would-be jihadists.
Nor can Britain, Canada, Italy and Sweden, each with sizeable Somali communities, be
sure of the motives of all their citizens travelling to Somalia.

Kenya’s intelligence service is also hard put to monitor the country’s 2.5m ethnic
Somalis. It does not just worry about Kenyan Somali Islamists being trained in camps
inside Somalia. More frightening is the prospect of terrorist cells being set up in
Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and elsewhere in the region.
--------------------
Nigeria: U.S. Strikes-Off Nigeria from Major Drug Nations' List (All Africa)
LAGOS - The United States of America has delisted Nigeria from the list of major drug
trafficking countries due to the laudable efforts of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA).

According to statement issued by NDLEA, "The United States government has gone a
step higher than the usual annual drug certification of the country to outright removal
of Nigeria from the majors list. The removal which is an acknowledgement of the
agency's current drug control achievements is contained in the 2010 annual drug
certification report."

The agency said that the reports was presented to congress by President Barack Obama
on Friday, noting that it was the first time the country would be delisted from the drug
majors list since 1991.

The statement also said that President Obama pointed out that "Nigeria, a worldwide
drugtrafficking focal point, makes counternarcotics a top national security concern for
the country. United States and international data show a continued strengthening of
illegal drug trafficking between Latin America and West Africa, especially via Brazil
and Venezuela, with a considerable portion of illegal product destined for Europe".

The CEO of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said the honour was for all Nigerians and well
deserved.

"The removal of Nigeria from the majors list is an endorsement of our collective resolve
to have a drug free society. It is a well deserved honour to all Nigerians. A product of
dedication, transparency, hardwork and cordial working relationship between Nigeria
and United States in drug control through the political will of President Goodluck
Jonathan" Giade stated.

According to the report, Nigeria, Brazil and Paraguay were removed this year from the
list because they no longer meet the criteria for the list according to US law. The
assistance of international donors and organisations to West African governments to
improve their counternarcotics capability is increasingly urgent.

The United States fully supports all efforts to promote, preserve, and protect the
stability and positive growth of countries in West Africa."

While thanking President Barack Obama and Americans over what he described as
candid assessment of the country's performance, Giade noted that drug control has
defined indices such that the most assiduous efforts of countries could be easily
measured.
"I appreciate President Barack Obama and Americans for this candid and credible
assessment. The removal speaks volumes concerning our impressive scorecard and
determination to address the drug problem. Illicit trade in narcotics transcends national
boundaries. Our foreign collaborators also have a way of monitoring our most
assiduous efforts. All exit and entry points will remain invincible to drug criminals
through effective drug interdiction," Giade stated.

The NDLEA boss thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his anti-drug policies. He
also commended all stakeholders, reassuring that no drug baron or major drug
trafficker notwithstanding the status will go unpunished in the country. "NDLEA is one
of the best anti-drugs Agencies in Africa and we are prepared to make sacrifices to
sustain and improve on our drug control performance" he promised.

Giade also said, "Our level of professionalism shall be further consolidated on the
tripod of transparency, anti-corruption and respect for the rule of law. It is a call to duty
that demands higher commitment on our part. We shall continue to partner with the
United States and other stakeholders. No stone will be left unturned in our quest for a
drug free society." Giade assured.
NDLEA said that 20 countries on the list this year are Afghanistan, The Bahamas,
Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and
Venezuela.

The agency also explained, "A major drug-transit country is defined as a significant
direct source of illicit narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances
significantly affecting the United States; or a country through which such drugs or
substances are transported."
The statement noted that the certification process was instituted by the United States to
demand tougher counter narcotics measures by other governments.

"In Nigeria, US drug certification dates back to 1991 following the country's inclusion in
the majors list. However, between 1994 and 1998 Nigeria was decertified and was given
a national interest waiver in 1999. The following year it was certified and continued to
enjoy certification till last year before its removal this year," NDLEA narrated.
--------------------
Obama softens approach to Sudan (Boston Globe)

WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail, Barack Obama pledged to get tough with
Sudan, a regime accused of committing genocide in Darfur and waging a relentless war
against its citizens in the south. He harshly criticized what he called the Bush
administration’s “feckless’’ compromises with the regime.

But in the White House, Obama has adopted a far gentler approach.
His special envoy J. Scott Gration has called the regime in Khartoum his “friends’’ and
has shied away from tough talk or new sanctions. This past week, the Obama
administration announced a package of incentives for Sudan, including normalized
relations, if Khartoum chooses peace. Gration said there would also be consequences if
Sudan turns to war, but he didn’t detail what those would be.

The friendlier approach has alarmed some activists and former and current US officials
who say the country could fall back into bloodshed and civil war unless the Obama
administration strongly pressures Sudan to fully implement the peace agreement
between Khartoum and the south brokered under former president George W. Bush.

The deal, one of Bush’s foreign policy achievements, man dates a vote in January on
whether the southern half of the country will become an independent state. Khartoum
has threatened to resume the war if the south breaks away.

State Department officials acknowledge that they have taken a softer approach but say
that the administration is now intensifying its diplomatic efforts. Obama is expected to
make a strong statement on Sudan at a UN meeting Friday.

But some human rights activists and former US officials are still skeptical, saying the
administration has been too reluctant to consider harsh actions — such as additional
sanctions, no-fly zones, or naval blockades — to deter bloodshed.

“Every envoy thinks they are going to be the one that the Sudanese government is
going to deal with in a straightforward fashion,’’ said Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary
of state for African affairs under Bush. “But then typically they learn that the regime
responds mainly to pressure — credible pressure.’’

The new incentive package immediately loosens restrictions on agricultural equipment

and would lift non-oil-related sanctions on Sudan if the vote takes place on time. Sudan
would get debt relief, the lifting of more sanctions, and the restoration of full diplomatic
ties if it supports the outcome of the vote, and resolves the conflict in Darfur.

The softer line on Sudan has been surprising, given that Obama’s foreign policy team is
made up of advocates of tough measures — even military action — on Sudan. Gayle
Smith, cofounder of the Enough Project, which aims to end genocide, is the senior
White House official on development; Susan Rice, who argued for airstrikes to protect
people in Darfur, is ambassador to the United Nations; and Samantha Power, former
head of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and winner of a Pulitzer Prize
for a book about President Clinton’s failure to stop genocide in Rwanda, is a senior aide
on refugees.

An exception was Gration, a retired Air Force major general with little diplomatic
experience, as his special envoy. Gration has worked tirelessly, traveling 20 times to
Sudan, but he has become a controversial figure. Those who favor a tougher approach
accuse him of being too trusting of the Sudanese regime and veering off the course
plotted by the previous administration.

“We were in the final stretch of a 10-year process . . . and they absolutely made a U-
turn,’’ said Roger Winter, a former special representative on Sudan who now serves as
an unpaid adviser to the southern Sudan leadership.

Rice, Power, and Smith declined to comment or did not return calls. Several US officials
said privately that infighting between Gration and more hawkish officials had
paralyzed the administration.

A State Department official who was not authorized to be quoted acknowledged that it
had taken time to get on the same page but that all are now working together intensely
to avoid the resumption of war in Sudan. He defended Gration’s approach, contending
that building trust is more effective than threats.

“There is absolutely no question that the guy is a firm believer in the power of positive
thinking,’’ he said. “That is just in his DNA. His primary interest is maintaining his
access to the regime, because access equals results. That is the Scott Gration mantra.’’

He noted that Khartoum is already facing the prospect of losing a third of its territory
and up to 80 percent of its oil revenue if the south breaks away, so there is little that
additional US threats would accomplish.

Asked after a press briefing last week if his policy is all carrot and no stick Gration said:
“We have a policy that gives the north a pathway to better bilateral relations. If they
don’t take it, that’s already a stick.’’

US presidents have wrestled for decades how to handle Sudan, an oil-rich country that
has been consumed by war since its independence in 1956. The conflict broke out when
Arab Muslims in the north tried to impose Islamic law on the Christian and animist
African tribes in the rest of country. They rebelled, sparking one of Africa’s longest civil
wars. A 1972 peace agreement gave southerners autonomy, but the Sudanese
government failed to carry it out, plunging the country back into war.

When President Bush came into office in 2001, he took a personal interest in the plight
of the Christians in the south, a cause célèbre for his evangelical base. Bush met at least
three times with southern rebel leaders at the White House and become a hero in
refugee camps, where babies were named after him.

Bush appointed a series of special envoys who painstakingly midwifed the peace
agreement in 2005. But making sure both sides follow through with the deal has been a
challenge.
For instance, the peace deal stipulates that a commission would be appointed to
determine the borders of a disputed, oil-rich territory known as Abeyi.

The Sudanese government allowed the commission to be set up, then refused to accept
its findings. In 2008, government-backed fighters burned down Abeyi’s main city.

Richard Williamson, Bush’s envoy at the time, spent six days negotiating a new
agreement on how the borders would be decided. This time, it would be by an
international arbitration court. The court issued its ruling last year, and Khartoum said
it accepted the ruling. But so far, it has refused to allow the new borders to be marked, a
key step in the run-up to the January vote. The Sudanese embassy did not return a call
seeking comment.

Gration told reporters on Wednesday that US diplomats were working intensely on the
issue, but he did not call on Sudan to implement the court’s ruling.

That sparked anger from Williamson, who said: “The lesson . . . is that there is no cost to
breaking commitments and doing things that cost lives.’’

Another complication has been a separate conflict in the western region of Darfur that
erupted in 2003 when rebels demanded their own peace agreement. Khartoum
responded by arming militias that are accused of exterminating villages, leaving some
300,000 people dead from attacks, starvation, or disease.

Last week, Gration praised the Sudanese government for its new plan to spend $1.9
billion on highways and other infrastructure in Darfur. “It’s impressive,’’ Gration said.
“They really want this thing to succeed.’’

But Salih Osman Mahmoud, a human rights activist in Darfur who offers pro bono legal
assistance to the victims of attacks, said the plan was another empty promise.

Mahmoud, who was in Washington lobbying for a tougher Sudan policy, said that
government-backed militias opened fire in Darfur’s Tebra market two weeks ago,
killing about 80 people.

“They will never spend that money’’ on development, he said. “The only person who
believes it is Gration.’’
--------------------
US removes Nigeria from major drug trafficking list (AFP)

LAGOS – The United States has removed Nigeria from the list of major drug trafficking
countries, the country's anti-narcotics agency said on Sunday, describing the move as
recognition of its fight against trafficking.
"The United States has gone a step higher than the usual annual drug certification of the
country to outright removal of Nigeria from the majors list," the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said in a statement.

"The removal, which is an acknowledgement of the agency's current drug control

achievement, is contained in the 2010 annual drug certification report," it said.

The west African country is a major transit point for South American drugs, notably
cocaine, bound for Europe.
--------------------
Nigerian Board Seeks Vote Delay (Wall Street Journal)

LAGOS, Nigeria—Nigeria's electoral commission requested Sunday that the January 22

presidential elections be postponed so it could be better prepare for a "credible" vote in
Africa's most populous country.

The independent national electoral commission, or INEC, has been scrambling to set up
elections in a country riddled with corruption. It is trying to register an estimated 70
million eligible voters—out of a population of 150 million —but hasn't yet ordered the
electronic voter-registration machines. After a weekend meeting, the commission
released a statement saying it wanted an extension so it could "deliver on the
aspirations of Nigerians for a credible voters' register and free, fair and credible
elections."

The request for an extension would have to be approved by the Nigerian national
assembly. The chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, didn't answer telephone
calls. An INEC spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment.

The request to push back the elections is the latest sign of a constantly changing
political situation in Nigeria, an oil-rich nation with one of Africa's fastest-growing
economies, but also one that lacks even basic infrastructure, such as reliable electricity.

Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan announced on Facebook his intention run for
re-election. His national security adviser, Aliyu Gusau, soon followed with his own
declaration Friday that he resigned his post to run for president. The move dealt a blow
to Mr. Jonathan, who was attempting to secure the backing of powerful northern
Nigeria to retain the presidency. Mr. Gusau is from the north, and ran for president in
2007. Mr. Jonathan is a southerner.

An informal agreement in the ruling People's Democratic Party shifts power between
the northern and the southern part of the country every eight years, or two terms. Mr.
Jonathan is finishing the first term of his northern predecessor, Umaru Yar'Adua, who
died in May.
An aide to Mr. Gusau said a committee of northern Nigerian elders would decide who
would be the candidate from the north. Among the candidates are Mr. Gusau, former
military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, former vice president Atiku Abubakar and current
chairman of the national governors' forum Bukola Saraki. Whichever candidate this
committee settles on would be a formidable opponent to Mr. Jonathan, a onetime
zoology professor who has never had to campaign for himself.

The election uncertainty prompted Mr. Jonathan to cancel a planned speech at

Columbia University this week, and it was unclear whether he would attend the United
Nations General Assembly in New York.

The aide to the president said the speech was canceled "because of the urgent matters of
the upcoming elections" and so the president could be in Nigeria for "grass-roots
electoral processes within [the ruling party] that are set to begin this week."
--------------------
Terror spillover in Africa (Khaleej Times)

I read an interesting dispatch about the Africa Command (September 16). The
command itself is described as a “nascent command, which has struggled to gain a
foothold on the sprawling continent that houses some of the world’s growing terror
threats.” One paragraph of that dispatch observed: “Africom, as it’s called, has had to
convince African leaders that the US is there to assist the countries, and is not planning
to build military bases there. The US military currently has a base at Camp Lemonier in
Djibouti.” What remained unstated in that story was whether African leaders believe
the United States.

I have been watching the developments involving this command from its very
inception. It was a unique idea in the beginning. It was not going to be seeking bases
anywhere in Africa. On the contrary, it was to remain focused on the nation-building
aspects of its mission, focusing on the proposition that abject poverty and failed states
serve as fertile ground for terrorism. And the best way to counter terrorism is by
nurturing – through education and training – effective ways of governance, democracy,
transparency, and corruption-free political culture among young African elites. It was
to emulate the “whole of government approach” in training African leaders. The entire
idea of implementing a template for effective governance in Africa – especially to North
Africa, the trans-Sahel region, and the Horn – would have been a powerful antidote to
UBL’s template of creating failed states and then attempting to take over, a la Somalia
or even Yemen. I remember a small but poignant personal story regarding the Africa
Command. During my stay at APCSS, I had an African “international fellow” (as
students are called at that institution) in one of my seminars. A retired two-star
American general visited my seminar. I cannot remember what he talked about.
However, during the question and answer session, that African international fellow
raised his hand and asked the general, why is the United States so intent on invading
Africa under the pretext of stationing the headquarters of its so-called Africa Command
there?

The general almost fell out of his chair. He took the remainder of the Q&A session
trying to convince the African student that America has no such intention. During the
entire episode, the African student never stopped smiling. When the general left the
seminar, I asked him whether the general succeeded in persuading him to accept his
argument. The African fellow simply said, “No.” I have encountered several African
fellows since that experience. I made a point of asking them the same question that my
student asked the American general. I cannot recall any African fellow disagreeing
with my former student. What troubled me more is that I cannot recollect that anyone
gave much credence to the “mounting terrorist threat” that we (including myself) were
trying to describe in Africa.

Under the Obama administration, the Biden group (yes, I am referring to Vice President
Joe Biden who has carved out a role for himself on the issue of terrorism and other
foreign policy matters) is not interested in carrying out the tedious campaign of nation-
building. In fact, it fought tooth and nail with Generals David Petraeus and Stanley
McChrystal’s approach to counterinsurgency in the AfPak areas, of which nation-
building was an integral part. Consequently, what we have in the AfPak region is a
mixture of CT and CI approach, with the pendulum swinging more toward the former
approach than the latter.

That frame of reference had a definite spillover effect on the Africa Command. That is
why it has become more of a conventional regional command a la the CENTCOM,
PACOM, and EUCOM, etc. That is a real shame, because most Africans I met are not
interested in converting their country into a garrison state for America. They welcome
economic assistance, training of its bureaucrats, and even its military for better
governance; but not in becoming a place from where the US could launch drone attacks
on Yemen and other African states, as it is now using Afghanistan for launching such
attacks on Pakistan. Under the Obama administration, the phrase GWOT (global war on
terrorism) is no longer used. However, it is at least as much focussed on using the
counterterrorism approach. I can’t believe that I am saying that, because I had high
hopes for President Obama. I expected him to bring to office a frame of reference that
would be much more nuanced than that of his predecessor.
--------------------
Mauritania attacks Al-Qaeda-linked fighters: military (Radio Netherlands
Worldwide)

Mauritania warplanes attacked militants of Al-Qaeda's north African wing in northern

Mali, senior officers said Sunday, amid claims that civilians were killed in the strikes.

A Mauritanian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the
planes had destroyed three vehicles carrying fighters.
He did not say how many militants were killed or wounded in the strikes, which came
on the third day of an offensive against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

But he said a woman he described as "the wife of a terrorist" was among the dead.

"Sunday's raids against AQIM in the north of Mali have already allowed the destruction
of three vehicles carrying terrorists from seven targeted vehicles in a convoy," the
official said.

It was a "logical continuation" of an offensive started on Friday and continuing

Saturday, which also included aircraft, after a convoy of militants was spotted
approaching the Mauritanian border from Mali, he said.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was "personally supervising

operations" and was due to meet with senior defence staff later on Sunday, a source
close to the presidency told AFP.

But a local mayor in Mali denounced the air raids, saying the victims had been Malian
civilians.

"I am currently at the hospital in Timbuktu," said Mohamed Lamine Ould Sidate, mayor
of the nearby town of Ber.

"Two women from our region are dead and four men are wounded after gunfire from a
Mauritanian plane this morning on their vehicle," he said.

Their bullet-riddled car was in the courtyard of the hospital, he added.

"We are angry. We, the civilians, we have nothing to do with this business and here
they are killing us."

A source at the hospital said one of the dead women was very young. And one Malian
security source spoke of a blunder by the Mauritanian army.

Later Sunday a senior Mauritanian officer dismissed the claims of civilian casualties.

"Our targets are armed terrorists," the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
told AFP. "If there is anyone who profits from these kinds of allegations, it it certainly
propaganda of the terrorists."

The attacks followed Thursday's kidnapping by suspected AQIM militants in northern

Niger of five French nationals and a Togolese and a Madagascan.
France refused Sunday to rule out taking military action to free the seven hostages but
said no French troops were involved in the latest Mauritianian offensive against AQIM.

"France will do everything to free the hostages," government spokesman Luc Chatel
told Radio J in Paris.

Asked whether that could involve military action, he replied: "I won't say any more,
you must understand why, given the hour at which I'm speaking."

Chatel said France had received no claim of responsibility nor any ransom demand for
the latest kidnappings.

French officials had said they believed the kidnappers were connected to AQIM and
had taken the hostages to Mali.

In July French commandos accompanied Mauritanian troops in a raid on an Al-Qaeda

camp in Mali which left seven militants dead but failed to find a previous French
hostage, Michel Germaneau, now known to be have been killed.

Security sources in Mali and Niger said meanwhile French reconnaissance planes had
been searching several countries in the Sahel region since Thursday's abductions.

The Sahel is a mainly desert region that covers Mali, southern Mauritania, southern
Niger and several other countries, and includes areas where the north African branch of
Osama bin Laden's terror network operates.
--------------------
Uganda boosts African Union force in Mogadishu (Afrique en Ligne)

Nairobi, Kenya - The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has
grown from 6,300 troops to 7,200 troops after an additional battalion from Uganda
joined the force, an African Union (AU) envoy disclosed here Friday.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni pledged to immediately deploy 2,000 troops to

AMISOM in July, days after Somali Islamist group, Al Shabab, attacked Ugandan
capital, Kampala, to cow the Ugandan authorities into pulling out of Somalia.

AU Deputy Special Representative Wafula Wamunyinyi said efforts to keep Mogadishu

safe had progressed in the past few months and the progress witnessed so far meant
AMISOM was perfectly capable of monitoring return to peace in Mogadishu.

'We have 7,200 troops in Somalia at the moment and we expect more to come from
other countries,' Wamunyinyi told a news conference Friday.
East African countries, members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the level of the heads of state and agreed to
immediately boost the AMISOM troop levels by 2,000 troops to better handle the
situation.

Wamunyinyi said although suicide bombers, mostly Al Shabab fighters, had intensified
their offensive in the past month, the AMISOM had shown it was capable of effectively
tackling the situation in Mogadishu.

'We are making some gains. The fact that we have contained the insurgents is evidence
enough that if we receive everything we have been asking for, we should be able to
respond to the situation effectively,' said Wamunyinyi, a former Kenyan
parliamentarian.

African countries have been reluctant to contribute troops and equipment, including
military hardware to the Mogadishu-based AMISOM, because of low payment for its
troops and the lack of compensation mechanism for the replacement of lost equipment.

Wamunyinyi said the issues of compensation has been addressed and the UN has
agreed to raise the salaries paid to AMISOM troops to the same level as those payable at
any UN peacekeeping operations across the world.

African Union Commission Chairperson Jean Ping announced in July the low pay was
part of the problem that AMISOM faced.

The pay was increased from US$500 to US$750 in July. Wamunyinyi said the UN had
greed to push the salary to US$1050 a month.

The Deputy AU envoy also spoke about the worsening humanitarian situation in
Mogadishu following intense militia activity in the month of Ramadan.
--------------------
Kenya says world neglecting Somalia security threat (Reuters)

NEW YORK - The international community is neglecting the security threat from
Somalia, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Friday, suggesting that the
United States wanted to avoid a repeat of a failed 1992 military intervention.

The festering Somali conflict is failing to get global attention, losing out to Sudan, the
war in Afghanistan, the bid for peace in the Middle East and the fight against drugs in
Mexico, Wetangula told Reuters in an interview in New York.

The virtually lawless country is the biggest security threat in the Horn of Africa as
Islamist al Shabaab insurgents fight to topple Somalia's Western-backed administration,
he said.
"We know ... how much the United States is pumping into Afghanistan, we're told a
couple of billion dollars daily. The East African region is asking for $500 million, not
daily, not monthly, not yearly, one-off" to stabilize Somalia, he said.

When asked why he believed Somalia was being ignored, he said: "Your guess is as
good as mine. For the United States, maybe the embarrassment they suffered when they
went there, I don't know. Maybe that's what is informing their policy."

The United States says it is committed to helping Somalia's government fight back
Islamist rebels and to support African Union peacekeepers with equipment, training
and logistical support.

But it has not had a presence in Somalia since 1994 after leading a failed U.N.
intervention which began as a military food-aid effort in 1992. It withdrew after the
killing of U.S. troops in late 1993, depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged U.N. member states "to provide urgent
military and financial support and other resources" to the Somali government and has
organized a high-level meeting on Somalia on September 23 on the sidelines of the U.N.
General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders.

About 7,200 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi are deployed in Mogadishu
and focus on guarding the airport and seaport and shielding President Sheikh Sharif
Ahmed from the militants.

LINE OF FIRE

Wetangula said problems of neighboring Somalia would not destabilize Kenya, but that
he was concerned Kenya could be targeted by al Shabaab, which claimed responsibility
for killing 79 people in an attack in Uganda's capital on July 11.

"We are also in the line of that fire. If they can hit Kampala they can hit any other part of
East Africa," he said.

"When you look at the events of Kampala ... when you see the inflow of ... weapons into
my country, into Ethiopia and the region, you sometimes cannot stop wondering why
those with the capacity and the ability to join hands in stabilizing regions that have
been unstable are not doing so," he said.

Somalia has been plagued by anarchy since warlords ousted military dictator Mohamed
Siad Barre in 1991. Pirates are active in its coastal waters and have driven up shipping
costs in the Gulf of Aden.
Al Shabaab has waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile transitional
government and it controls much of Mogadishu and huge tracts of southern and central
Somalia.
--------------------
U.N. Millennium Development Goals appear out of reach in Africa (Los Angeles
Times)

Sub-Saharan Africa will not reduce poverty and hunger and improve child and
maternal healthcare to meet the goals set a decade ago by the United Nations unless
African and Western leaders do much more, several recent reports suggest.

The main reasons: Donors have failed to keep pledges and many African nations have
not improved their governments or increased health spending as promised.

Only a handful of developed countries have met a pledge to increase foreign aid to 0.7%
of their gross domestic product, while in some countries aid is declining. And only
Rwanda, Tanzania and Liberia have met their pledge to spend 15% of their budgets on
health, while in some African nations — Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and
others — the proportion has fallen since 2000, according to a recent report out of Britain.

The average spending on healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa remains less than 10% of
GDP.

The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by about 190 U.N. member
countries in 2000 to tackle poverty, hunger, disease and early deaths in poor countries,
with a series of targets set for 2015. The struggling efforts to meet those goals will be
discussed at a three-day U.N. summit in New York beginning Monday.

Almost from the outset it was clear that countries and international organizations were
not moving fast enough to meet the targets. The eight goals include halving the rate of
poverty from 58% of the population in 1990 to 29% in 2015; reducing child mortality by
two-thirds from 18% of births in 1990 to 6% in 2015; and cutting maternal mortality
from .92% to .23% during the same period.

Other goals include providing universal primary education, combating HIV/AIDS and
providing universal access to treatment, and eradicating malaria.

"There's progress, but not at all sufficient if we are to meet the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015," said Elhadj As Sy, the Nairobi-based regional director of
UNICEF. "Even in countries where we had a drop in child mortality, in the best cases
we saw a reduction of 2.5 or 3% and we need a 5% reduction to meet the targets."

He said the situation is worst in countries mired in conflict, such as Somalia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the 10 years since the goals were set, meeting them has become more complicated, as
the global financial crisis plunged an additional 64 million people into extreme poverty,
many of them in Africa. Global warming threatens future food production in sub-
Saharan Africa, but in the last five years the amount of arable land under irrigation has
increased by less than 1%.

The most disappointment has been in the efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality,
both of which were to be slashed by two-thirds by 2015. So far, child mortality has been
reduced, but 14% of children still die before their fifth birthday.

The rate of maternal mortality had barely shifted, according to a U.N. report on the
Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.

There also has been little improvement in the poverty and hunger levels. In 2008, 32% of
people in sub-Saharan Africa were undernourished, a proportion little changed since
1990, according to the recent report by Britain's Commission for Africa. More than 1
billion people worldwide were hungry last year, with insufficient nutrition a key factor
in poor health and mortality.

Although the proportion living on less than $1.25 a day declined, the overall number in
poverty has risen to more than 400 million.

One worrying element, according to analysts, is that the easier improvements —

slashing debt, distributing mosquito nets, vaccinating children, improving primary
school enrollments — have been carried out in many parts of Africa. With only five
years left till 2015, far more challenging programs must be implemented, such as setting
up decent health services for women in remote locations and improving the quality of
primary education.

The U.S. has released its strategy to reach the goals, including providing an extra $63
billion for healthcare in developing countries, $3.5 billion to help improve agricultural
production and $30 billion to help countries adapt to global warming.

"The road ahead will likely be more difficult than the road already traveled," said a
USAID report on meeting the 2015 goals. "To meet the MDGs by 2015, historic leaps in
human development will be required. Many of the remaining poor and undernourished
will be harder to reach because they live in marginal areas or face ethnic, religious, and
other kinds of deep‐seated social exclusion. Some reside in conflict‐affected or fragile
states, where the prospects for development are least auspicious."

Osten Chulu, a policy advisor in Johannesburg to the United Nations Development

Program, said the efficient use of aid in Africa was sometimes compromised by poor
governance and the extreme disempowerment of populations who are unable to hold
leaders accountable through democratic elections.

"In Europe and America, a politician is always wary of the reaction of voters," Chulu
said. "But here, it's the other way around. People are afraid of politicians and civil
leaders."

Chulu said governments in both developed and developing countries had failed in their
commitments to meet the U.N. goals. "The question is not so much the money," he said.
"It's how you use the money."

This week's summit is reportedly aiming to generate billions of dollars in pledges of

aid. Nongovernmental groups such as Oxfam are calling for a much greater
commitment from developed countries. In 2005, the Group of 8 leading industrialized
nations promised an extra $50 billion in aid by 2010, but only 61% of it has been
delivered.

"Unless an urgent rescue package is developed to accelerate fulfillment of all the

MDGs," a recent Oxfam report said, "we are likely to witness the greatest collective
failure in history."
--------------------
Why the U.S. Should Send Troops (and Spooks) to the Congo (Wired.com)
DUNGU, Democratic Republic of Congo - They arrive in the night like monsters. In
northeastern Congo, in a swath of thick forest the size of some European countries, the
apocalyptic Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group is a constant, foreboding presence. The
LRA’s fighters — many of them kidnapped teens — murder, abduct, rape and pillage
while constantly eluding a half-heartedly pursuing Congolese army.

Suzane Fulale was just 15 when she was kidnapped last year and forced to “marry” an
LRA fighter. Freed by a Ugandan army raid, today the slightly-built Fulale is mother to
an eight-month-old “LRA baby.” When she recounts her months in captivity, she casts
her dark eyes to the ground and speaks in a barely-audible whisper.

Fulale’s is the human face of an escalating but (in the West) rarely-reported crisis. In
Sudan, in the Central African Republic, and especially in Congo, border-hopping LRA
fighters drive before them thousands of refugees, disrupt agriculture and
transportation, and undermine already-fragile governments.  In short, the LRA is one of
the greatest dangers in a part of the world that’s full of them. And there’s a possible,
clear-cut American military solution — a rare thing in this era of seemingly endless
counter-insurgency campaigns. But does Washington care enough to act?

I’m in Congo at the moment reporting and researching a new graphic novel. This is the
refrain I’ve heard numerous times from U.S. government sources and the aid
community, always off the record: Unlike insurgent groups such as the Taliban,
Somalia’s Al Shabab or one of Congo’s other rebel armies, these days LRA doesn’t want
anything except to survive and pillage. They don’t have political aims. There’s no hope
of accommodating them as a group. What began in the 1980s as a Ugandan rebel
movement with actual grievances is now just a roving tribe of killers. The LRA is
organized around a half-dozen key chieftans answering to top man Joseph Kony, who
loosely directs scattered bands of fighters by way of stolen satellite phones. If you want
to destroy the LRA, sources say, you only need to kill or capture the leaders: there’s no
grassroots support that would sustain the LRA while it rebuilds its leadership.

Problem is, Congo can’t handle the task of taking down the LRA. With just 300 miles of
paved roads in the whole country and no air force to speak of, the Congolese military
can’t move fast enough to keep up with the LRA. Besides, the Congolese army has been
cobbled together from various former rebel groups plus troops inherited from the
country’s previous regime. “There is very little discipline,” Marcel Stoessel, Congo
director for the aid group Oxfam U.K., said of the Congolese army. To beat the LRA,
Congo needs help from an army adept at locating elusive groups in rough terrain, and
an air force trained to speed small, lethal teams to the battle zone. Sound like any
military we know?

Two years ago, the U.S. formed a new command to handle most of the African
continent. Africa Command — based in Germany to avoid accusations of colonialism —
is by necessity a new kind of military organization. With most American forces devoted
to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Africom has to be pretty light. There are just a few
thousand people permanently assigned, many of them civilian contractors. When
Africom needs a couple hundred troops for a training exercise or some small-scale
humanitarian operation, it borrows them from the National Guard or some other,
bigger regional command.

Africom is not designed to mount Afghanistan-size wars. It’s all about brief, targeted
intervention, influence and the Pentagon’s new favorite word, “partnership.”
“Admittedly, this is an indirect and long-term approach,” Maj. Gen. William Garrett,
then-commander of Africom’s land troops, told me earlier this year. Recently, U.S.
Special Forces helped form a new “model” Congolese army battalion. And earlier this
month in Kinshasa, Congo’s sprawling capital, a hundred U.S. Army doctors and
medics teamed up with 250 Congolese personnel for a couple weeks of training. “The
U.S. has determined it wants to be more involved in Africa,” explained Army Lt. Col.
Todd Johnston, the exercise commander.

So why not get involved where it can really help? That’s what advocates of U.S. action
in Congo are asking. After all, this is a mineral-rich country that takes millions and
millions in foreign donations, mostly from America. So find the LRA, and kill or
capture the chiefs before they make an already desperate country even worse.

But do it the Africom way. No massive troop deployment. No occupation. No drawn-

out conflict. No headline news in the U.S. Just a few spooks, a few commandos, some
airplanes and choppers and the permission of Congolese president Joseph Kabila. By
American military standards, it wouldn’t take much. But it would make life a lot safer
for millions of people in Central Africa — and might help reduce the cost to the world
of keeping Congo on life support. Plus, it could show the way forward for a smarter,
less expensive American way of war.

There are just two problems. First, the U.S. military has tried taking out the LRA before,
albeit indirectly — and failed. Last year, Ugandan and U.N. forces acting on U.S.-
provided intelligence launched an offensive aimed at taking out LRA leadership. But
the rebels escaped … and killed hundreds of civilians as they hacked their way deeper
into the forest.

Second, despite a growing body of legislation meant to define America’s role in Congo’s
conflicts, at the moment there’s no clear U.S. policy regarding Congo and no prospect of
one emerging anytime soon. The U.S. military might be the best solution to Congo’s
LRA problem, but it’s a solution lacking one key component: political will
--------------------

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website

UN gives hope to Rwandan communities ravaged by climate change

18 September – Once home to many chimpanzees and golden monkeys, landslides,
floods and torrential rains have destroyed thousands of hectares of land in Rwanda's
Gishwati Forest.

West African States back UN resolution promoting role of women in peace and
security
17 September – West African countries today moved towards ensuring the equal
participation and full involvement in all peace and security issues in compliance with a
landmark Security Council resolution.

Voter registration for Sudanese referenda must start as soon as possible – UN expert
17 September – Sudan is woefully unprepared for the upcoming referenda on the
possible independence for the southern region of Africa’s largest country and the
Government has a duty to ensure that all people can vote free from fear or intimidation,
a United Nations human rights expert said today.

Security Council calls for setting of new date for Guinea’s election run-off
17 September – Holding peaceful, free and fair elections is vital to re-establishing
constitutional order in Guinea, the Security Council stressed today, voicing regret at the
postponement of the presidential run-off and urging that a new date be set quickly.

Security Council urges DR Congo to bring mass rape perpetrators to justice

17 September – In the wake of mass rapes of civilians in the restive far east of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Security Council called on the country to
take “swift and fair” action to bring the perpetrators to justice.