United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

13 October 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Al-Qaida in North Africa seen as key Europe threat (Associated Press)

(North Africa) While Europe's latest terror threat stems from militants in Pakistan, a
potentially greater menace lies just across the Mediterranean: Well-organized and
financed Islamic terrorists from al-Qaida's North African offshoot.

School for peacekeepers (IRIN)

(Pan Africa) A school to train soldiers of about a dozen African countries in
peacekeeping operations has been launched in Congo with financial support from the
French government.

War-Affected Children Tour the U.S. to Raise Funds (New Vision)

(Uganda) 20 Ugandan students are currently touring the US for 11 weeks under the
charity organisation, Invisible Children, raising awareness and money for the work that
the organisation is doing to educate students affected by the war in northern Uganda.

South Africans “Ecstatic” over Security Council Selection (Voice of America)

(South Africa) The chairman of the Walter Sisulu University Council told VOA South
Africans are ecstatic the country was among the five member countries elevated to a
two-year term on the U.N Security Council Tuesday.

UN says more countries must help prosecute pirates (Associated Press)

(Kenya/Somalia) More countries must help Kenya to prosecute Somali pirates, a top
U.N. official said Tuesday, amid concerns that Kenya could be used as a dumping
ground for the sea bandits who target ships for millions of dollars in ransoms.

Bashir 'won't accept' alternative to Sudan unity (AFP)

(Sudan) Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned on Tuesday that he will not accept
an alternative to unity ahead of a referendum on southern independence, as talks over a
contested border region broke down.

Uganda Dismisses Treason Case Against Opposition Leader (Wall Street Journal)
(Uganda) Uganda's constitutional court on Tuesday dismissed treason charges against
the leader of the country's largest opposition party and his alleged accomplices, clearing
the way for him to run for president in 2011.

World Bank Gives U.S. $39 Million (The Analyst)

(Liberia) The World Bank has announced additional development funding of US$39
million for Liberia in the coming year.

Adoptions from Ethiopia rise, bucking global trend (Associated Press)

(Ethiopia) As the overall number of international adoptions by Americans plummets,
one country — Ethiopia — is emphatically bucking the trend, sending record numbers
of children to the U.S. while winning praise for improving orphans' prospects at home.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Sudan: UN monitors discuss self-determination referenda with southern leader
 Côte d’Ivoire: UN envoy stresses role of electoral observers in presidential poll
 Somali children increasingly victims of fighting in capital, UN reports
 UN envoy to hold talks in Guinea ahead of presidential run-off
 Some 1.5 million people hit by floods in West and Central Africa, UN reports
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, October 13, 11:00 a.m.; The Brookings Institution

WHAT: The Sudan Referendum: Dangers and Possibilities
WHO: The Honorable Donald Payne, Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa and Global
Health, United States House of Representatives
Info: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/1013_sudan.aspx

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, October 13, 4:00 p.m.; Georgetown University, Mortara

Building
WHAT: The International Politics of Civil War in Africa
WHO: Philip Roessler, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International
Relations, University of Oxford
Info: http://events.georgetown.edu/events/index.cfm?
Action=View&CalendarID=141&EventID=80305
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Al-Qaida in North Africa seen as key Europe threat (Associated Press)

ALGIERS, Algeria — While Europe's latest terror threat stems from militants in
Pakistan, a potentially greater menace lies just across the Mediterranean: Well-
organized and financed Islamic terrorists from al-Qaida's North African offshoot.
Over the last month alone, the group has been accused of seizing five French nationals
and two Africans from a mining town in Niger, part of its effort to make millions by
kidnapping Europeans and getting ransoms. It is also blamed for a truck bombing last
Saturday in Algeria that left five soldiers dead.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb effectively rules a wide, lawless swath of the Sahara
and is trying to overthrow Algeria's government. It's active online and media-savvy,
and has the globally recognized al-Qaida brand name. It has also sparked arrests in
Spain and France.

The question now is how far it has the will and means to turn its anger on Europe.

French and U.S. counterintelligence officials suggest AQIM's logistics and networks
aren't yet mature enough to stage an attack on a European capital, but say it's a broad
and constant threat. France's prime minister said Friday that the group is in touch with
fellow fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The U.S. military is worried enough that it trains African armies to resist AQIM.

"For years, I've said this — and we've known — that AQIM has capabilities to project
outwards outside of Africa. ... It's just that no one understands the dynamics from
Europe to Africa and back to Afghanistan," said Rudolph Atallah, retired from his post
as Africa Counterterrorism Director in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense and
who now runs private security firm White Mountain Research.

"Can AQIM carry out an attack in Europe? Yeah, I think so."

For Europe, homegrown terrorists have long been a central concern. French authorities
watch out for dual nationals who fall under AQIM's spell, via extremist websites or
preachers in private prayer meetings in poor suburbs. Algerian militants who blended
in with Europe's large North African immigrant community were linked to the 2004
Madrid bombings and killed eight and wounded scores of people in the 1990s in attacks
in the Paris Metro.

"If unfortunately a terrorist operation occurs, it will come from networks within those
European nations," said Mohand Berkouk, political scientist at the University of Algiers
who specalizes in Sahara and Sahel geostrategy.

The U.S. government warned Americans this week of new terror risks in Europe. Focus
fell on Pakistan, where U.S. drones have struck suspected al-Qaida targets and where
Pakistani officials say eight German militants have been killed.
But two French counterintelligence officials said in recent days that terrorists tied to
AQIM — and not Pakistan — are France's No. 1 security threat. One official says at least
six AQIM-related cells have been dismantled across Europe in recent years. Both spoke
on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

French National Police Chief Frederic Pechenard said last week that authorities suspect
AQIM of plotting a bomb attack on a crowded target.

AQIM's operational ability to target something as prominent and well-guarded as the

Eiffel Tower — evacuated twice in recent weeks because of bomb threats — remains
unclear. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said AQIM is still considered an
"underperforming" terror group that is quite dangerous in the region but not yet as able
to direct attacks much beyond that.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said

AQIM has faced internal battles, and as long as it is under pressure from Algerian
security forces, it has been harder for them to export terror outside the region.

AQIM was born in 2006 when al-Qaida adopted a violent group of Islamic insurgents in
Algeria called the GSPC. The nucleus of devoted radicals proved ready to recruit and
train fighters for Afghanistan and Iraq, and gave Osama Bin Laden's network a
potential forward base to attack Europe.

Today, AQIM is believed to have about 400 fighters active from Niger to Mali and
Mauritania, conducts dozens of bombings or ambushes each month in Algeria, holds
hostages and has increasingly bonded with drug traffickers, intelligence officials say.

AQIM's long-term goal is to create an Islamic state stretching beyond North Africa, and
it has repeatedly threatened both France and Spain. France has troops in Afghanistan, a
colonial history in North Africa and a new law forbidding Islamic face veils. Al-Qaida
also says the reconquest of al-Andalus is a priority, referring to the period of Muslim
rule of much of Spain in medieval times.

Analysts say AQIM is really a shadowy network of Algerian-based cells, with three
particularly eye-catching figures.

Abdelmalek Droukdel is its overall boss in northern Algeria, and rose up during the
insurgency against Algeria's government.

Mokhtar bel Mokhtar, known as "the one-eyed sheik" because he fought in Afghanistan
and lost an eye in combat, boosted AQIM's expansion by building a bridge with the
criminal underworld, bringing in outlaws and enrolling local youth.
Meanwhile Abou Zeid, also known as Mosab Abdelouadoud and the "Emir of the
South," appears to have carved out a role for himself as key kidnapper. Zeid held a
Frenchman released in February, and another executed in July. He's also been linked to
the execution of a British hostage in 2009.

Other AQIM hostages have hailed from Spain, Austria and Switzerland. No country has
ever acknowledged paying a ransom, though such payouts are widely reported.

Spanish media said the government, via intermediaries, arranged payment of as much
as $9.7 million for the release of three Spanish aid workers who were abducted last
November in Mauritania. On Thursday, the Spanish Foreign Ministry denied — again
— that the government paid money to kidnappers or middlemen.

Algeria's African affairs minister, Abdelkader Messahel, decries ransom payments,

calling for the U.N. to intervene to fight them.

"It's not enough to say that we are against the payment of ransoms to terrorists.
European institutions must take measures to criminalize this act," he said on Algerian
radio.

For Algeria, AQIM is a nightmare that authorities had hoped ended after the
insurgency in the 1990s that left some 200,000 dead.

Today's attacks are scattered but regular. On Saturday, a remote-controlled bomb killed
five troops on a truck in a convoy in the town of Zekri in the Kabylie region. On
Monday, Algerian authorities dismantled a cell of 13 people supporting Islamic
militants in the Tlemcen region. Algeria, the regional powerhouse, has created with its
neighbors a joint military command headquarters in Tamanrasset in the southern
desert.

A greater concern for U.S. and French officials are weaker governments to the south,
particularly Mali. A counter-terrorism action group created at France's urging will meet
in Mali next week to boost the region's efforts to fight terrorism.

AQIM is using the same smuggling routes across the Sahara once used for contraband
coming from and headed to Europe, said Africa expert Peter Pham, senior vice
president at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

Last week, a U.S. citizen of Algerian origin was arrested in Spain on suspicion of
financing the al-Qaida affiliate by sending money to an associate in Algeria. He was
released for lack of evidence, but ordered to check in with police daily pending further
investigation.
AQIM suspects have turned up in unexpected places, such as at the world's largest
atom smasher in Switzerland. A French nuclear physicist of Algerian origin who
worked there was arrested last year. Prosecutors said Adlene Hicheur had discussed
possible terrorist attacks targeting France's army — with AQIM.
--------------------
School for peacekeepers (IRIN)

A school to train soldiers of about a dozen African countries in peacekeeping operations

has been launched in Congo with financial support from the French government.

The National Regional Engineering School (ENVR-GT) was created as part of the
Congolese Military Staff Academy in Makabandilou, a suburb in the north of the capital
Brazzaville.

"The training is aimed at providing the military with selected skills for their
engagement in peacekeeping operations in Africa, including areas like masonry,
carpentry, electrical supply and plumbing," said the commander of the ENVR-GT,
Colonel John Brice Malonga.

"The school will also engage in the reintegration of soldiers who have finished their
active duty and still want to contribute to rebuilding their countries," he added.

The ENVR-GT has already welcomed a pilot course of 30 trainees from 16 sub-Saharan
countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic,
Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Niger, Sao Tome & Principe,
Senegal, Chad and Togo.

Officers are trained for nine months whereas non-commissioned officers (NCO) are
trained for three, said Malonga.
He told IRIN that soldiers’ entry to the ENVR-GT involved passing an entry test on
generic culture, military matters, French and physical education.

The governments of France and Congo have spent several billion CFA francs to set up
the school that will train hundreds of students a year, officials said.

The two countries also contribute 150 million CFA Francs (US$300,000) each for the
financial support of trainees.

"Creating this school was a rocky road but our main goal is to train soldiers capable of
high performances in the missions,” said the director of cooperation, security and
defence at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lieutenant General of the Army,
Bruno Clement-Bolée.
Corinne Lowa, 29, is a first-class midshipman from Cameroon and the only woman
attending the pilot course.

She does not feel intimidated by her 29 male colleagues and introduces herself as the
female "pioneer" of the ENVR-GT.

"After my training, I'm ready to serve wherever needed," she said.

"I was fortunate to be selected for this training. I hope in the future more female
candidates will have the same opportunity,” she said.
--------------------
War-Affected Children Tour the U.S. to Raise Funds (New Vision)

Kampala — Like many female university students, Scovia Angiro enjoys talking about
boys and life on campus. With her fitting jeans and a green bandana over her head,
nothing about the 22-year-old's bashful demeanour reveals how much she has endured
growing up in a war zone.

Angiro is among 20 Ugandan students who are currently touring the US for 11 weeks
under the charity organisation, Invisible Children, raising awareness and money for the
work that the organisation is doing to educate students affected by the war in northern
Uganda.

After showing the touching Invisible Children Go documentary that left the entire room
in tears, Angiro shared her story of making it out of the displaced people's camps to
college with students at Arizona State University (ASU).

"The war started before I was born. My father died when I was only three months old,
leaving my mother a peasant widow with eight children," Angiro narrated.

Because of the constant raids from the Lord's Resistance Army rebels who have ravaged
northern Uganda since the 1980s, Angiro and her family were displaced into
overcrowded makeshift camps several miles away from their home.

"I used to wonder why I was born. Going to school was hard because of the war,"
Angiro said.

She and her family would walk about two kilometres from the unsafe camps to sleep on
the streets of Gulu town, and then return to the camp in the morning.

After completing her A'level at Gulu High School with no money for university, Angiro
stayed at home for a year, doubtful of the future. In a rural area where the most
dominant occupation is subsistence farming, education is the only way to break the
cycle of poverty.
It was during this period of uncertainty that Angiro heard of the Invisible Children
scholarships aimed at sending children affected by the war to college. She applied and a
few months later, received a scholarship to Gulu University. She is now a second year
student pursuing a bachelor's in public administration.

Invisible Children raises money through contributions from students and well wishers
from the US and beyond. Invisible Children's Legacy Fund is currently putting 144
females from northern Uganda through university and is expecting to award 790
scholarships in a region where only about 1% of females are able to go to college.

Some ASU students contribute to the cause of Invisible Children, but this was the first
time they met the beneficiaries.

Several ASU students purchased cotton T-shirts made from northern Uganda and
pledged to contribute toward the fund. All 100% of the sales go to the scholarship fund.
--------------------
South Africans “Ecstatic” over Security Council Selection (Voice of America)

The chairman of the Walter Sisulu University Council told VOA South Africans are
ecstatic the country was among the five member countries elevated to a two-year term
on the U.N Security Council Tuesday.

Somadoda Fikeni, also an independent policy and political analyst, said South Africa’s
election is a vote of confidence in the country by the international community.

“This is a vote of confidence by the world on South Africa because it is not long ago that
South Africa was occupying the same position. And, it is unusual for the country to
repeat the same position within such a short space of time with a continental
endorsement, plus the support from across the world.”

Following their election, South Africa, India, Colombia, Germany and Portugal will
become non-veto holding members of the Council in January with the mandate to
impose sanctions, as well as deploy peacekeeping forces around the world.

Five out of the 15-member Security Council countries are elected to two-year terms. The
newly-elected countries are expected to take the places of Uganda, Mexico, Japan,
Austria and Turkey.

There are currently only five permanent members of the Security Council who hold
veto-wielding power, including the United States, China, France, Russia and Britain.

Fikeni said South Africa’s election to the Security Council serves as a significant boost to
the African continent.
“Coming very close after the successful hosting of the World Cup, which was branded
as the Africa World Cup, it comes as a major boost to a continent which, in spite of
recession, is on the verge of economic development, and has also been discovered as a
source of minerals for strategic growth of the emerging market.”

He said the election will boost the “self-image of Africa, and also will make Africa very
strong in terms of international calls for reforms of the United Nations.”
--------------------
UN says more countries must help prosecute pirates (Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya – More countries must help Kenya to prosecute Somali pirates, a top
U.N. official said Tuesday, amid concerns that Kenya could be used as a dumping
ground for the sea bandits who target ships for millions of dollars in ransoms.

The secretary-general's special adviser on piracy law, Jack Lang, said Kenya's concerns
are understandable and it may want to renegotiate its agreements to take pirate
suspects. The country currently has some 136 pirates among its 53,000 prison inmates.

"Kenya is taking a big part of the burden," said Lang, a French national. "We can't ask
just a few countries like Kenya to detain pirates for many years after conviction."

Kenya said last month that agreements with Britain, the U.S. and EU to prosecute
suspected pirates had lapsed. The East African nation also had agreements with
Canada, China and Denmark.

Still, Lang stressed that Kenya has received a lot of support from donors. The country
received a $4 million program to upgrade its criminal justice system in return for the
agreements, but some analysts believe Kenya is angling for more money.

Kenya took nine suspected pirates from an American warship on Tuesday and four
from a Spanish warship last week.

Lang said one possible solution might be for pirates to be returned to Somalia to serve
jail sentences. Somalia is a failed state that has not had a functioning government for 20
years, but the semiautonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland, which declared
itself independent, have both jailed pirates.

On Tuesday, a clan elder in Puntland said pirates had kidnapped a government

minister who ventured into their territory.

Abdi Said says he expects that the fisheries minister of the regional Puntland
government will be released soon. He says the pirates holding Said Mohamed Rage told
him they ambushed the minister Monday because they thought he wanted to kick them
out of their dens.
Puntland's Deputy Interior Minister Ali Yusuf Hosh told The Associated Press on
Tuesday that Rage is being held in a hotel in a coastal village. Hosh said that during the
ambush a soldier guarding the minister was killed and a civilian wounded.

Puntland is a relatively violence-free part of Somalia. In recent years, however, pirates

have operated freely along part of its coastline.

Somali pirates currently hold 18 ships and nearly 400 crew members after capturing a
Japanese ship on Sunday.
--------------------
Bashir 'won't accept' alternative to Sudan unity (AFP)

KHARTOUM – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned on Tuesday that he will not
accept an alternative to unity ahead of a referendum on southern independence, as talks
over a contested border region broke down.

South Sudanese are due to vote on January 9 on whether they want independence or
wish to remain part of a united Sudan.

Simultaneously, residents in the contested oil-rich region of Abyei are due to vote on
whether they want to be part of north or south Sudan, but the two sides said
negotiations in Addis Ababa on the region's future have broken down.

"Despite our commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, we will not accept
an alternative to unity," Bashir told parliament in a speech, without specifying his
reaction in case of a "yes" vote in the south's referendum.

The CPA, signed in 2005, ended a two-decade civil war between north and south,
during which two million people were killed.

The peace deal gave the former southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM), semi-autonomous powers and a share in the Khartoum
government, and promised a referendum on southern independence.

"Unity is the probable outcome for the south if it is given freedom of choice in a fair,
free election. Sound logic leads the south to unity," the president said.

Analysts say the vote is expected to favour independence.

Bashir pledged a fair referendum but added that demarcation of disputed border points
with the south was a "decisive factor in conducting a fair and free election."
Delegations from the north's National Congress Party and the south's SPLM failed to
reach an agreement after nine days of talks in the Ethiopian capital.

"Despite serious efforts and many productive discussions, they did not succeed in
reaching agreement on the eligibility criteria for voters in the Abyei area referendum,"
the two sides said in a joint statement.

Demarcation of Abyei's border and the participation of the nomadic Misseriya Arab
tribe in the referendum have caused disagreements between the two sides.

Abyei's referendum law gives voting rights to members of the southern Dinka Ngok
tribe, leaving it up to a referendum commission to decide which "other Sudanese" are
considered residents of the region and can also vote.

The law has angered the Misseriya -- a tribe that migrates each year to the Abyei region
looking for pastures for their cattle -- who have threatened to carry out acts of violence
in the region if they are not allowed to vote.

The two sides agreed to resume negotiations at the end of October.

South Sudan's army said on Tuesday that the security situation in Abyei is
"deteriorating".

The Sudan People's Liberation Army accused northern troops of firing shots in an
Abyei market on Thursday in a sign of "provocation".

"According to our sources, the (Sudanese army's) intention is to invade and occupy the
Abyei area and parts of Unity State," an SPLA statement said.

Sudan's military last week accused the southern army of crossing a disputed border,
warning that the "violation" could derail the referendum.

The talks in Addis Ababa "may resume at the end of this month," Abyei chief
administrator Deng Arop Kuol told AFP.

"The two parties should be able to control themselves until the next round" of
discussions, he said.

The south's president, Salva Kiir, asked a visiting delegation of United Nations Security
Council envoys last week for UN peacekeepers to be posted along the border ahead of
the referendum.

A diplomat at the meeting said the request would be considered.

Preparations for the January independence vote are seriously behind schedule, stirring
fears of a new conflict between the two sides if the date is delayed.

North Sudan demonstrators and police clashed with a small group of south Sudan
activists in Khartoum over the weekend as the UN envoys met Sudan's foreign minister.

The United Nations already has 10,000 peacekeepers in Sudan, not counting its major
presence in Darfur, western Sudan as part of a joint force with the African Union. Some
of the troops are observing the 2005 peace agreement.
--------------------
Uganda Dismisses Treason Case Against Opposition Leader (Wall Street Journal)

KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda's constitutional court on Tuesday dismissed treason

charges against the leader of the country's largest opposition party and his alleged
accomplices, clearing the way for him to run for president in 2011.

The five-judge panel said Kizza Besigye and the 10 other suspects are unlikely to get a
fair trial. Emerging from the courtroom, the opposition leader expressed relief, calling
the ruling a "strong indictment" of the country's longtime ruler, President Yoweri
Museveni. "This regime has abused the trust of the people and should be voted out of
power," he told reporters.

The court's decision means Kizza Besigye, seen here on April 20, will be able to run for
Uganda's presidency next year.
Mr. Besigye is expected to challenge Mr. Museveni in polls due to take place in
February. Campaigning is expected to start in November. The opposition leader was
arrested in 2005 upon his return from a self-imposed exile in South Africa. He was
accused of plotting to take over the government by force. Political analysts described
the charges as "trumped up" to prevent Mr. Besigye from running for president in 2006.

His party, the Forum for Democratic Change, nominated him as its candidate despite
his imprisonment, and he got 37% of the vote. Mr. Besigye has said he will review oil
production-sharing agreements between the government and oil-exploration companies
if he wins the election.

Uganda has discovered at least two billion barrels of oil along its western border with
Congo. U.K.-based Tullow Oil PLC hopes to start production in the country next year.
--------------------
World Bank Gives U.S. $39 Million (The Analyst)

The World Bank has announced additional development funding of US$39 million for
Liberia in the coming year. The announcement was made on Sunday October 10 by
Mrs.Obigeli Ezekwesili, the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region during a
meeting with the Liberian delegation attending the ongoing Annual Meetings of the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, the United States.

A release from the Media Services and Public Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Finance
said 30.8 million US Dollars of the amount will go towards the Monrovia–Ganta road
project. The remainder of the amount will be applied to the power and other key
economic sectors

Mrs. Ezekwesili said the additional funding will be disbursed through the Bank's
International Development Association (IDA) grant program. Earlier, the bank's Vice
President assured that progress on the Monrovia-Buchanan road will continue
unhindered and promised that all is well on course for the Monrovia-Ganta road
reconstruction project.

Mrs. Ezekwesili also commended Liberia for the level of fiscal discipline and prudent
economic management that enabled the country to reach HIPC completion point in a
comparatively short space of time. She said the bank is impressed with the progress
Liberia has made in the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy and said the
bank looks forward to working with Liberia in crafting its new economic development
plan.

Speaking earlier Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan and head of the Liberian
delegation briefed the bank on the progress Liberia is making in public financial
management and general economic reforms. Minister Ngafuan said the country has a
set of priorities that is driving its development agenda. He named infrastructure,
principally roads, ports and energy, as constituting the bedrock of Liberia's growth and
development strategy, and called on the World Bank Group to assist in putting these
priorities on the fast track to implementation.

Minister Ngafuan then commended the Bank for the role it is playing in Liberia's
recovery and development. He said the President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the
Government and people of Liberia appreciate the World Bank's continuing partnership
both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. Minister Ngafaun told the meeting attended
by World Bank's senior directors and policy advisors for Africa that while Liberia
continues to look forward to financial and technical assistance from its partners,
including the World Bank, its approach in the medium and long terms is to diversify
the sources of financing for infrastructure through partnership. He said to the extent
that the nation can afford, it would not hesitate to contribute domestic revenue
resources to the development of critical infrastructure such as roads, power and ports.

He concluded by assuring the World Bank African Vice President that the Government
of Liberia will remain on track with its policy of transparency and accountability in
economic and financial governance reforms.
Also speaking at the meeting, Planning & Economic Affairs Minister Amara Konneh
formally presented to the World Bank the second implementation report of the Lift
Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy. Minister Konneh in his briefings stated that plans
were already underway to develop a second PRS, but one with a longer term and
strategic focus. He also highlighted the need to boost youth employment in the country.
He concluded his remarks by asking the World Bank's assistance through the EITI to
develop a strategic framework for managing revenues from natural resources such as
petroleum.

Other members of the Liberia delegation that attended the meeting were the Minister of
State without Portfolio Natty B.Davis, Liberia's Adjunct-Ambassador William Bull, and
other members of the Liberian delegation.
--------------------
Adoptions from Ethiopia rise, bucking global trend (Associated Press)

NEW YORK – As the overall number of international adoptions by Americans

plummets, one country — Ethiopia — is emphatically bucking the trend, sending
record numbers of children to the U.S. while winning praise for improving orphans'
prospects at home.

It's a remarkable, little-publicized trend, unfolding in an impoverished African country

with an estimated 5 million orphans and homeless children, on a continent that has
been wary of international adoption.

Just six years ago, at the peak of international adoption, there were 284 Ethiopian
children among the 22,990 foreign kids adopted by Americans. For the 2010 fiscal year,
the State Department projects there will be about 2,500 adoptions from Ethiopia out of
fewer than 11,000 overall — and Ethiopia is on the verge of overtaking China as the top
source country.

The needs are enormous; many of Ethiopia's orphans live on the streets or in crowded
institutions. There's constant wariness, as in many developing countries, that
unscrupulous baby-sellers will infiltrate the adoption process.

However, a high-level U.S. delegation — led by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Susan
Jacobs, the State Department's special adviser on children's issues — came back
impressed from a visit to Ethiopia last month in which they met President Girma
Wolde-Giorgis.

"What's encouraging is they want to work with us, they want to do it right," Jacobs said
in a telephone interview. "Other countries should look at what Ethiopia is trying to do."

The global adoption landscape has changed dramatically since 2004. China, Russia and
South Korea have reduced the once large numbers of children made available to
foreigners while trying to encourage domestic alternatives. There have been
suspensions of adoptions from Guatemala, Vietnam and Nepal due to fraud and
corruption.

In contrast, Ethiopia has emerged as a land of opportunity for U.S. adoption agencies
and faith-based groups. Several have been very active there in the past few years,
arranging adoptions for U.S. families while helping Ethiopian authorities and charitable
groups find ways to place more orphans with local families.

Buckner International, a Dallas-based Christian ministry, has about three dozen

Ethiopian children lined up for adoption by U.S. parents, but it's also engaged in
numerous programs to help Ethiopia build a domestic foster care system.

In one village visited by Jacobs and Landrieu, Buckner has built a school and housing
for teachers while beginning a slow assessment of the orphan population to determine
which children can be cared for locally and which might benefit from U.S. adoption.

Randy Daniels, Buckner's vice president of international operations, said the children
who do head to adoptive families in the United States generally seem to flourish.

"They're some of the warmest, most loving kids of any I've worked with in the world,"
he said. "It's amazing to how quickly they adjust to the families stateside, to the
language, the culture."

Buckner's clients include David McDurham and his wife, Amy, of Mansfield, Texas,
who adopted their daughter, Ella, from Ethiopia in 2008 and are preparing to pursue a
second Ethiopian adoption. Unable to have a biological child, the McDurhams had been
considering adopting from China. But that can now be a four-year process, and they
became increasingly intrigued by Africa.

"They were just opening up the Ethiopia program," said McDurham, a Baptist minister.
"We were thinking, where did the needs of children and our needs coincide?"

McDurham said Ella, who just turned 3, is thriving in their Dallas suburb. They've
become popular customers at a local Ethiopian restaurant and have forged ties with
several other families who adopted from Ethiopia.

"We want her to see other families like hers — to know other people who have that
same story," McDurham said,

Other agencies active in Ethiopia — both with adoptions and developing local
alternatives for orphans — include Bethany Christian Services and the Gladney Center
for Adoption.
Gladney only registered with Ethiopian authorities in 2005 and since then has
completed nearly 500 adoptions by U.S. families. J. Scott Brown, Gladney's managing
director of African programs, said the agency also is working with government-run
orphanages in Ethiopia, trying to improve living conditions and develop job-training
programs to benefit youths who won't move to homes abroad.

"There are still some bad players in Ethiopia who need to be removed," he said. "But if
we can work closely with the government, this can be a leader for other countries to
follow."

Some Ethiopian officials remain skeptical of international adoption, but Brown said he's
seen doubters won over after visiting the United States to view firsthand how Ethiopian
children are thriving in adoptive homes.

Landrieu, one of the leading adoption advocates in Congress, said Ethiopia deserves
praise — compared with many developing countries — for recognizing that its orphans
would be better off in a family environment such as foster care or an adoptive home
rather than in an institution.

But resources are limited. She said there was only one judge assigned to process
adoption cases and make sure that children are indeed legitimate candidates.

Heather Paul of SOS Villages-USA, which runs overseas programs supporting orphans
and abandoned children, said it's critical that potential adoptions be closely scrutinized.

"Having better regulations protects American adoptive parents too," she said. "There's
no worse heartbreak than finding a child had been sold away."

In contrast to Ethiopia, there's uncertainty and frustration over adoption developments

in two other countries.

In Kyrgyzstan, the government suspended adoptions in 2008 because of suspected

corruption, leaving more than 60 U.S. families with pending adoptions in limbo. Plans
to resume the process have been disrupted by recent political upheaval, though Jacobs
said she remains hopeful that a new adoption law could be passed whenever a newly
elected parliament is able to convene.

Adoptions of abandoned children from Nepal have been suspended by the U.S.
government until Nepalese authorities implement procedures to curtail corruption and
mismanagement. Jacobs said 80 pending U.S. adoptions are under review by the State
Department.

The suspension has been criticized by some U.S. adoption advocates.

"When you close a country, you end up causing more problems than you prevented,"
said Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council for Adoption. "What happens to the
kids who aren't adopted in Nepal? Some will end up as prostitutes and slaves."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

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