United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

22 September 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Army launches first Europe-based civil affairs unit (Stars and Stripes)
(Pan Africa) The 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, along with its subordinate, the 457th Civil
Affairs Battalion, will be headquartered in Kaiserslautern. Both units are part of the 7th
Civil Support Command, the only U.S. Army Reserve command completely stationed
abroad.

U.S. suffers setback in Guinean vote (Frost Illustrated)

(Guinea) A planned visit to Guinea by the chief of the US Command for Africa
(AFRICOM) Gen. William Ward, to “congratulate and encourage the military for their
leadership and neutrality in the electoral process” has been called off.

Clinton pushes Sudan on referendum (Associated Press)

(Sudan) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging Sudanese authorities to
make up for lost time in preparing for an independence referendum early next year for
the Southern Sudan.

Nigeria: President reinstates trip to US (Associated Press)

(Nigeria) Nigeria's president has reinstated a planned trip to the U.S. after abruptly
canceling it without explanation.

FBI Arms Deal Suspect is Ivorian Colonel (RFI)

(Côte d'Ivoire) A Côte d'Ivoire man arrested by the FBI in New York last week while
attempting to buy weapons has turned out to be an army colonel who was there on
state business.

U.S. oil company refuses to pay fine for oil spill off Ghana (Xinhua)
(Ghana) Kosmos Energy, a Texas-based oil and gas exploration company, has made it
clear that it would not pay the fine of 35 million U.S. dollars imposed on it by the
Ghanaian authorities for the alleged spillage of 706 barrels of toxic substances into the
sea.

Branson Charity Focuses Aid Effort on Zimbabwe (New York Times)

(Zimbabwe) Mr. Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, a collection of
companies popular with consumers around the world, is announcing a new
philanthropic venture that aims to do nothing less than put Zimbabwe back on its feet.

Somali Prime Minister Resigns (Voice of America)

(Somalia) The prime minister of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government has
resigned, bringing an end to months of dispute that has further weakened the U.N.-
backed administration in Mogadishu.

Training Experts to Find and Fight Epidemics (Wall Street Journal)

(Pan Africa) Nigeria, Vietnam and dozens of other countries are stepping up efforts to
respond to disease threats, as epidemics add to the burden on their health-care systems
and new pathogens spread around the globe.

Army SOF not expected to grow beyond 2017 (Army Times)

While demand for its elite soldiers is climbing, the U.S. Army does not plan to increase
the size of its special operations force (SOF) more than already planned, according to a
top commander.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Somali leaders must learn to work together, UN envoy says after premier resigns
 Central African Republic can rely on UN to help consolidate peace, Ban pledges
 Southern African bloc and UN agree to boost cooperation on peace and security
issues
 African development strides propelled by policy innovations, says UN-backed
report
 UN and DR Congo distribute identity cards to refugees to improve their rights
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

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
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Army launches first Europe-based civil affairs unit (Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The U.S. Army has activated its first Europe-based
civil affairs unit.

The 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, along with its subordinate, the 457th Civil Affairs
Battalion, will be headquartered in Kaiserslautern. Both units are part of the 7th Civil
Support Command, the only U.S. Army Reserve command completely stationed
abroad.

The units are primarily composed of reservists: part-time U.S. soldiers living and
working in Germany who requested to be part of civil affairs, either as their first reserve
assignment or after switching over from another unit. As civil affairs experts, their
military duties include helping to rebuild infrastructure and serving as a liaison
between the U.S. military and a country’s local civilian population during
humanitarian, and peace- and war-time operations.

“We recognize that any military conflict greatly disrupts society,” said Lt. Col.
Christopher Varhola, 457th Civil Affairs Battalion commander. “Our job is to mitigate
that disruption and to work with the civilian population to bring their society back to
stability.”

The units will support U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Army Africa, military officials said.

“It allows us to quickly respond to any type of (situation) in Europe or Africa a lot faster
than those units in the United States,” said Col. Friedbert Humphrey, 361st Civil Affairs
Brigade commander.

Being overseas also puts about 300 soldiers closer to Afghanistan and Iraq, where
military civil affairs units have been steadily employed in recent years.

The Army is also standing up another active-duty civil affairs brigade stateside,
Humphrey said.

AdvertisementDriving that growth is the need for civil affairs worldwide and “the huge
success civil affairs has had in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti,” Humphrey said. “It’s in
high demand.”

Varhola said his soldiers can deploy from a four-person team, all the way up to a
battalion. A civil affairs team in Africa, for example, could help villages with water
management, he said.

Of 313 authorized positions in the brigade, 186 are civil affairs slots, with the rest in
support roles of supply, maintenance and administration. So far, 108 reservists have
been trained in negotiation skills, basic engineering and social analysis.
Among the soldiers in Varhola’s battalion are at least one veterinarian, economist,
lawyer, water management specialist, public health expert, college professor, sewage
plant director and engineer. Most are government civilians, contractors and military
spouses living in Europe, while some are students here or employed by European
companies. Varhola has a doctorate in anthropology and has worked extensively in
Africa. His soldiers speak Swahili, German, Arabic, Somali, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Czech and Italian.

“Mostly what I’m looking for is unique civilian skills which can be harnessed in a
military framework,” Varhola said.

The units’ activation on Friday means the brigade can now deploy at any time.
--------------------
U.S. suffers setback in Guinean vote (Frost Illustrated)

A planned visit to Guinea by the chief of the US Command for Africa (AFRICOM) Gen.
William Ward, to “congratulate and encourage the military for their leadership and
neutrality in the electoral process” has been called off.

Washington had been closely monitoring the electoral process and provided generous
gifts of technical and material aid to ensure a successful poll. But, a sequence of
government foul-ups now appears likely to doom the historic election tentatively set for
Sept. 19.

Hundreds of thousands of voting cards, some ordered from Sweden, have not been
paid for, others have not arrived and the trucks needed to transport materials to distant
villages are stuck at a warehouse in the capital.

Then it was learned that the chief of Guinea’s electoral commission, Ben Sekou Sylla,
died unexpectedly in a Paris hospital of a long-term illness. The 57-year-old official had
just been convicted of falsifying results in June’s first-round presidential vote. He and
another top election official were sentenced to serve a year in prison.

The delayed vote has already escalated tensions in this West African nation. Street
fighting was reported this weekend between supporters of rival political parties,
leaving one dead and 54 wounded.

On Sept. 13, Guinea’s prime minister warned: “We will not hold an election if this will
end in a fistfight.”

At party headquarters for candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, supporters were considering
their options if the election was again delayed. Diallo got 44 percent of the vote during
the first round, Alpha Conde, his opposition, got only 18 percent. Because no candidate
received more than a 50 percent majority, the top two are facing a runoff.
“If (Prime Minister) Jean-Marie Dore tries to delay the election one more time, he won’t
be able to sleep anywhere in Guinea,” warned Ibrahima Balde to wild applause.

The candidates come from two of the nation’s largest groups; Cellou Dalein Diallo is a
Peul and Alpha Conde a Malinke. This will be the first democratic election in the nation
since independence in 1958.
--------------------
Clinton pushes Sudan on referendum (Associated Press)

NEW YORK - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging Sudanese authorities
to make up for lost time in preparing for an independence referendum early next year
for the Southern Sudan.

On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Clinton met Tuesday with
Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Taha to impress upon him the need for a well-
organized and peaceful vote in January. With just over 100 days until the referendum,
preparations are far behind schedule.

There are also fears that a vote splitting the south and north will re-ignite a bloody civil
war that ended in 2005.

Clinton's talks with Taha come ahead of a high-level U.N. session on Sudan that
President Barack Obama will attend on Friday. Taha and the President of southern
Sudan Salva Kiir will also participate in the meeting.

In the meeting with Taha, Clinton "reinforced steps Sudan needs to take" on
implementing the peace deal that ended the war, including holding the referendum,
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

He said taking those steps "could lead to better relations" between Sudan and the U.S.
Sudan is currently designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" and subject to U.S.
sanctions.

Crowley said Clinton also raised the Sudan issue in meetings on Tuesday with Libyan
Foreign Minister Moussa Kosa and the Emir of Qatar.

Sudan activists have warned that urgent international diplomatic intervention is the
only way to prevent renewed civil war.

Underscoring the concern, Clinton and the foreign ministers of Britain and Norway
released a letter Tuesday that they sent to Taha and Kiir last week appealing to them "to
take swift action to ensure" a peaceful vote that recognizes the will of the people.
"There remains an enormous amount to be done and work must be accelerated to make
up for lost time," they said in the letter.

Southern Sudan, which is predominantly animist and Christian, is scheduled to vote on

independence Jan. 9. But the group charged with organizing the vote has not yet set a
date for voter registration.

The Obama administration has said it is "inevitable" the south will declare
independence. Given the south's substantial known oil resources, many worry that the
predominantly Muslim north will find it difficult to accept an independent south.
--------------------
Nigeria: President reinstates trip to US (Associated Press)

ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria's president has reinstated a planned trip to the U.S. after
abruptly canceling it without explanation.

President Goodluck Jonathan is scheduled to travel Wednesday to the U.S. to attend the
General Assembly of the United Nations. Jonathan had been scheduled to travel
Sunday, but canceled his plans without explanation — a day after he formally declared
an election bid to run for president.

Jonathan's office gave no reason for the trip being resumed.

The cancellation also came after National Security Adviser Aliyu Gusau resigned his
position and announced his intention to run for president. Gusau, a retired Army
general, is a powerful, behind-the-scenes player in Nigeria's military and security
agencies.
--------------------
FBI Arms Deal Suspect is Ivorian Colonel (RFI)

A Côte d'Ivoire man arrested by the FBI in New York last week while attempting to buy
weapons has turned out to be an army colonel who was there on state business.

Côte d'Ivoire's armed forces say Yao N'guessan is a colonel in the army and that the
arms deal was official state business.

The FBI says that N'guessan was engaged in a deal worth more than 3.8 million dollars
for 4,000 handguns, 200,000 rounds of ammunition and 50,000 tear gas grenades, and
was arrested only after the purchase money had already been transferred to the United
States.

Former minister of defence, Bertin Kadet, told reporters in Abidjan that the state lacks
sufficient armaments to keep control if mass violence breaks out around elections slated
for the end of October. Colonel N'guessan was dispatched to the US to purchase crowd
control items in order to prevent any sort of bloodbath, he said.

But that's not what the opposition is saying. They accuse President Laurent Gbagbo's
party of preparing to stay in power by force.

It is a theory lent credibility by Gbagbo's own words these last weeks. He has said
repeatedly that security forces must be ready to suppress anyone wishing to derail
these elections, by force if necessary.

An UN arms embargo has been imposed on Côte d'Ivoire since 2004, though the
peacekeeping mission here requested in August that it be lifted to allow the national
police to purchase crowd control equipment and non-lethal weapons.
--------------------
U.S. oil company refuses to pay fine for oil spill off Ghana (Xinhua)

ACCRA - Kosmos Energy, a Texas-based oil and gas exploration company, has made it
clear that it would not pay the fine of 35 million U.S. dollars imposed on it by the
Ghanaian authorities for the alleged spillage of 706 barrels of toxic substances into the
sea.

In a three-page strong-worded letter, Kosmos referred to the fine as baseless and

unlawful although the permit issued by the Ghanaian government indicated that fines
were to be imposed in the event of negligence and violation of the permit conditions.

Official sources told Xinhua on Tuesday that the letter was addressed to the attorney-
general and minister for justice, Betty Mould Iddrisu, and copied to President John
Evans Atta Mills and Minister for Environment, Science and Technology Sherry
Ayittey.

Kosmos discovered the Jubilee Oil Field in 2007 at the Gulf of Guinea's Tano Basin,
about 12 km from the Ghanaian coastline and 95 km southwest of the port city of
Takoradi. It has been expecting an area of more than 1,760 square km ever since.

Kosmos Energy Ghana is a joint venture with Anadarkom, taking 30.875 percent of its
working interest.

Blatantly defying all procedures and regulations by the Ghanaian authorities, Kosmos
said the fine was "totally, unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires and without basis."

At the end July, a ministerial committee was set up to probe into the alleged spillage of
toxic substances into Ghanaian sea, announcing a fine of 35 million dollars. Kosmos is
held responsible for the spillages which occurred respectively in December 2009, in
March and in May.
Kosmos argued in the letter that a minister had no power under the Ghanaian
Constitution or any other law of the country to impose a fine on any person in the event
of an oil spillage.

It asked the attorney-general to endeavor to halt a process it described as illegal,

procedurally fatal and flawed.
--------------------
Branson Charity Focuses Aid Effort on Zimbabwe (New York Times)

Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, is working with the Nduna Foundation
and Humanity United. Mr. Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, a
collection of companies popular with consumers around the world, is announcing a
new philanthropic venture that aims to do nothing less than put Zimbabwe back on its
feet.

Zimbabwe is considered to be one of the most difficult nations in Africa to help. Its
gross domestic product has fallen to $1.8 billion from a peak of $13 billion, its official
unemployment rate is 90 percent and it president, Robert Mugabe, is notorious for
repression of his political opponents.

But where others see a sadly failed state, Mr. Branson sees hope. He has established
Enterprise Zimbabwe with the Nduna Foundation and Humanity United, an
organization backed by Pam Omidyar, wife of the founder of eBay.

“Since the coalition government was established a couple of years ago, things have
changed,” Mr. Branson said in an interview Monday morning. “Most kids now have
schoolbooks, and hospitals now are open as nurses are getting paid.”

Enterprise Zimbabwe has attracted the money that has helped those things happen and
now wants to attract more. Established quietly a year ago, it will have its official debut
on Tuesday before one of the biggest gatherings of billionaires and other wealthy
people dedicated to making social change, the Clinton Global Initiative.

Given the country’s recent history, most donors understandably believe that
Zimbabwe’s infrastructure and capacity to use gifts efficiently have been destroyed, but
Amy Robbins, founder of the Nduna Foundation, said schools, hospitals and other civic
organizations simply lack money.

“My greatest frustration is that there are all these misconceptions about the country,”
said Ms. Robbins, whose foundation sends money into areas afflicted with conflicts and
their aftermath. “Zimbabwe is far and away the most stable, most secure, least
problematic country we’ve worked in.”
She said that the country now operates using dollars, which makes investment and
support easier.

Enterprise Zimbabwe has so far attracted $1.5 million from another philanthropy,
Absolute Return for Kids, an international charity focused on improving children’s lives
around the world, and supported a Unicef initiative to distribute 13.2 million textbooks
in primary schools.

Isabella Matambanadzo, chief executive of Enterprise Zimbabwe and a Zimbabwean

native, said that as social services like schools and hospitals return to operational health,
the organization’s goal is to attract not only philanthropic support but also investment
money that can be deployed to support businesses.

“My mother heads up the clinic at the university,” Ms. Matambanadzo said. “One of the
greatest days I’ve had was when my mother came home and said today we had
medicines, today we had water and power.”

She said many small and midsize enterprises in industries like agriculture and mining
were eager to build on such improvements. “There’s even the scope for tourism now,
and for microfinance to reach the mass market,” Ms. Matambanadzo said.
--------------------
Somali Prime Minister Resigns (Voice of America)

The prime minister of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government has resigned,

bringing an end to months of dispute that has further weakened the U.N.-backed
administration in Mogadishu.

Differences with president

Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said he was stepping down
from office because he was unable to work out the differences he had with President
Sharif Sheik Ahmed. Mr. Sharmarke said he made the decision to resign after
considering the political turmoil and growing insecurity caused by their dispute.

President Sharif called Mr. Sharmarke's decision "courageous," and promised to

nominate a new prime minister in the coming days.

Setbak for UN

The resignation is a setback for the United Nations, which had sponsored the 2008
power-sharing deal in Djibouti that brought together secular members of the
government and an Islamist opposition group led by Sharif Sheik Ahmed. The
international community had hoped that President Sharif and Prime Minister
Sharmarke could create a plan to defeat a militant Islamist insurgency and lift the
country out of nearly two decades of war.

But the two leaders quickly became embroiled in personal quarrels that hampered their
ability to carry out their duties. The latest dispute flared in early August when
President Sharif pushed for a delay in the ratification of the country's draft constitution
against the advice of the prime minister.

Critics of the government say the only group in Somalia that has benefited from the
political bickering is al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group that is battling the
government and African Union peacekeepers for control of Mogadishu. It also has
ambitions to unite the Horn of Africa under a radical Islamic banner.

Militant attacks

In recent weeks, al-Shabab militants have doubled their effort to overthrow the
government. The group has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in the capital that
killed dozens of people, including parliament members and several peacekeepers.

On Monday, a Somali police spokesman told reporters that a man had tried to carry out
a suicide attack inside the presidential palace.

The police spokesman said the bomber tried to jump onto an African Union vehicle as a
convoy of peacekeepers drove through the palace gates. When African Union troops
opened fire, the man threw a grenade at the peacekeepers and detonated his explosives
vest.

The spokesman said the bomber was a former security guard at the Interior Ministry,
who recently defected to al-Shabab.

But another Islamist insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, says it was behind Monday's
attack.

Hizbul Islam leader in Mogadishu, Abdi Nassir Abu Hashim, says one of its members,
Ali Abdullah Kheireh, also known as Dalha, carried out – in Abu Hashim's words – the
"successful mission."

Hizbul Islam formed in early 2009 to oppose the Transitional Federal Government and
had a brief alliance with al-Shabab. Hizbul Islam leaders were considered more
nationalist than religious zealots, so the international community privately urged
President Sharif to reach out to Hizbul Islam's top cleric, Hassan Dahir Aweys. The two
men were leaders of the Islamic Courts Union, which ruled Somalia in 2006 before it
was ousted by Ethiopia's military.
But talks with Aweys broke down. Hizbul Islam subsequently split into pro and anti-al-
Shabab factions.

Somali sources tell VOA that in recent months, many Hizbul Islam fighters in regions
such as Lower Shabelle and Hiran have joined al-Shabab, strengthening the extremist
group's hold on Somalia.
--------------------
Training Experts to Find and Fight Epidemics (Wall Street Journal)

Nigeria, Vietnam and dozens of other countries are stepping up efforts to respond to
disease threats, as epidemics add to the burden on their health-care systems and new
pathogens spread around the globe.

To fight Nigeria's worst cholera epidemic in nearly two decades, an outbreak of lead
poisoning that has killed more than 160 children, and an eruption of measles, officials
are turning to public-health experts like Suleiman Haladu.

A veterinarian from northwestern Nigeria, Dr. Haladu is training to become an

epidemiologist—a disease detective who probes the source of outbreaks and determines
how widespread they are. He is in an on-the-job program partly funded by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and modeled on the Epidemic Intelligence
Service, the CDC's two-year program whose officers helped to eradicate smallpox,
identify HIV/AIDS, and pinpoint a deadly strain of E. coli.

Last spring, Nigeria's federal Ministry of Health dispatched Dr. Haladu and other
budding epidemiologists to two remote villages to crack the case of how gold-mining
practices had poisoned homes with lead. Now, four more officers are tracking down
cholera cases, treating patients, and teaching villagers how to avoid contaminated water
to stem an epidemic that has killed more than 1,000 people.

Countries are now required by international law to report certain outbreaks or public-
health events and to upgrade their disease surveillance and response capabilities.

"We need to have more people on the ground so if we have outbreaks we have an
immediate investigation," said Henry Akpan, the Nigerian health ministry's chief of
epidemiology and health emergencies and response. He estimates that each of Nigeria's
states now has only one trained epidemiologist; he aims to double that figure over the
next three years.

The Nigerian program, launched in 2008 with funding from the CDC and other
organizations, also aims to strengthen laboratories and improve veterinary
epidemiology, as new pathogens frequently jump from animals to humans. When a
death from avian flu in 2007 showed the virus had been spreading in Nigeria
undetected, "there was no capacity to address the problem; we had little understanding
of the situation," recalled Dr. Haladu.

The CDC has established 35 programs since 1980, mostly in developing countries, with
funding from several U.S. government agencies and nongovernmental organizations,
and has 11 more in the works. Participants investigated 216 outbreaks in 2009, from
H1N1 flu outbreaks in Thai schools, prisons, and temples to HIV among children in
Kyrgyzstan. Among the countries that are starting or have recently started programs
are Iraq and Afghanistan. Haiti is under consideration too.

"It may be the single most important thing we do in global health," said CDC Director
Thomas Frieden in an interview. "We're all very attuned to the shortage of doctors and
nurses in developing countries," he said, but the shortage of epidemiologists and other
public-health workers is even more acute given the impact they can have.

He is pushing for expansion of the program, estimating that at least one epidemiologist
for every 200,000 people is needed to adequately measure disease threats. The CDC
programs have produced about 2,200 graduates over 30 years. Had H1N1 flu been
detected in Mexico two months earlier, a vaccine would have been ready before the
largest peak of disease in the U.S. last fall, saving thousands of lives, he said.

In China, program officers have screened children to identify infant formula tainted
with melamine, and traced 300 mysterious sudden deaths that occurred over three
decades to a toxic mushroom. "We need about 80 new officers every year," said Bob
Fontaine, a CDC epidemiologist running the program. He hopes to reach that goal by
2015; this November, 32 new officers will start, he said.

Vietnam, plagued by severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and the world's
second-highest number of H5N1 flu deaths since that year, launched a new field
epidemiology training program in 2008 with funding from the U.S. Agency for
International Development, the World Health Organization and other groups. About
75% of the country's public-health workers lack training in epidemiology, according to
Vice Minister for Health Trinh Quan Huan. "When an outbreak occurs, at the local level
they do not have practical skills to collect data and respond," he said.

Pham Van Hau, an infectious-disease physician in central Vietnam, is studying possible

links between dengue fever and climate. Other officers have investigated rabies
prevention and transmission of flu viruses between humans, pigs and poultry in a rural
community.

Program participants in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and three other former Soviet

countries are learning to more quickly detect Ebola, anthrax and other potential bio
terror agents, funded in part by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Defense.
In a program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, launched last year, Million Tumato and a
colleague dug into police log books to document health risks from an increasing
number of motor-vehicle accidents. But local officials don't always welcome
investigations that might reveal outbreaks damaging to tourism or trade, Dr. Tumato
found. When he uncovered a suspected case of cholera last year and turned it over to
local health officials, they didn't follow up, he said.

The programs also are costly, involving extensive oversight and mentoring as officers
spend most of their time outside the classroom. To meet growing demand, the CDC is
promoting shorter courses for local or regional officials that focus on more basic data-
collection skills.
--------------------
Army SOF not expected to grow beyond 2017 (Army Times)

While demand for its elite soldiers is climbing, the U.S. Army does not plan to increase
the size of its special operations force (SOF) more than already planned, according to a
top commander.

“I’m not particularly interested in growing Army special operations forces any bigger
than it is today,” said Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commanding general of U.S. Army
Special Operations Command. Army special operations forces are expected to finish
their currently planned growth by 2017 and at that point, “we’ll be pretty well
postured,” Mulholland said.

This is partly because growing Army SOF force structure comes at the expense of the
larger Army, the three-star told a Sept. 21 conference hosted by the Institute for Defense
& Government Advancement.

“I don’t think you’ll see SOF growth across the force, not just in the Army,” Mulholland
said.

If there is growth, it will be in providing more “enabling capabilities,” such as

communications, intelligence, medical and logistics personnel, he said. However, it is
possible that Army Special Operations Command will rely on the larger Army to
provide more of these capabilities, rather than growing and maintaining the extra
resources itself, Mulholland said. His soldiers need engineers, not necessarily SOF-
specific ones.

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review directed increases in SOF force structure,
specifically increasing the number of enabling units and rotary and fixed-wing SOF
aircraft.
In the fiscal year 2011 budget, Army Special Operations Command has requested 1,638
additional personnel, according to a July report from the Congressional Research
Service.

Army SOF includes approximately 30,000 soldiers from the active Army, National
Guard, and Army Reserve. Out of this pool, the Army has roughly 5,550 special
operators deployed and working in 56 countries on 115 different missions, according to
Mulholland’s presentation.

The vast majority of its deployed force is operating in U.S. Central Command’s
(CENTCOM) area of operations, where 4,785 Army special operators are carrying out
45 missions in 11 countries.

Army SOF is still operating at the same size and operational tempo in Iraq as it has been
for the last several years, at about 1,000 soldiers, said Mulholland.

After CENTCOM, U.S. Pacific Command has the most Army special operators, with 313
soldiers engaged in 19 missions there.

As part of U.S. Africa Command, there are 154 special operators working in 12
countries on 14 different missions, according to Mulholland’s slides. This includes
Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahel, an area of operations that stretches across
Northern Africa, where Al Qaeda is known to operate, said Mulholland.

U.S. Southern Command has 205 Army special operators deployed and in Northern
Command, which includes Mexico, there are 21 special operators engaged in three
different missions. Finally, in Europe, the Army has 92 special operators deployed in
eight countries.

As the demand for Army special operators in Iraq and Afghanistan decreases, Army
SOF will be able to better resource operations in other parts of the world, said
Mulholland.

In 2004, the Army Special Operations Command’s missions were 61 percent sourced,
the general said. Today, that number is down to 47 percent, but by 2012, he expects it to
reach 50 percent.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Somali leaders must learn to work together, UN envoy says after premier resigns
21 September – Noting the decision by Somali’s Prime Minister to step down, a top
United Nations official today urged that the country’s leaders learn to work together to
advance peace and stability in the strife-torn nation that has not had a functioning
government in over two decades.
Central African Republic can rely on UN to help consolidate peace, Ban pledges
21 September – The United Nations will continue to help the Central African Republic
(CAR) to consolidate peace after years of ethnic conflict and political unrest by
enhancing political dialogue and the reintegration of former fighters into national
society.

Southern African bloc and UN agree to boost cooperation on peace and security issues
21 September – The United Nations and the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) signed an agreement today to work together on issues vital to
peace and security: conflict prevention, mediation and elections.

African development strides propelled by policy innovations, says UN-backed report

21 September – Expanded social protection programmes and other innovative policies
have helped to spur Africa’s progress in achieving the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), according to a new United Nations-backed report.

UN and DR Congo distribute identity cards to refugees to improve their rights

21 September – The United Nations refugee agency and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) have launched a vast distribution of identity cards to the estimated
173,000 refugees in the country aimed at strengthening the rights of this vulnerable
group.