United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

22 October 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

US Senator Kerry travelling to Sudan (AFP)

(Sudan) Senior US Senator John Kerry headed to Sudan Thursday on a three-day
mission to assess the strife-torn country's readiness for a January referendum on
independence for its southern region.

'Emir of the south' Abu Zeid poised to take over al-Qaeda in NW Africa (Washington
Post)
(Algeria) For many Europeans, Islamic terrorism has a new face: Abdelhamid Abu
Zeid, the "emir of the south."

U.S. eases Sudan embargo, sparing farming equipment (Reuters)

(Sudan) The United States has relaxed sanctions on Sudan to exempt farm equipment, a
move seen as part of a wider scheme of carrots and sticks before a sensitive referendum
that could split Africa's largest country.

US reaches out to Somalia breakaway regions to stymie terrorists (Christian Science

Monitor)
(Somalia) In the coming months, the US will begin direct engagement with leaders of
two northern Somalia breakaway regions with the hope that those political ties can stem
the radical insurgency that threatens to spread beyond the lawless parts of southern
Somalia, according to US State Department officials.

US Man Pleads Guilty to Helping Somali Terror Group (Voice of America)

(Somalia) An American man has pleaded guilty to supporting the al-Qaida-linked
Somali group al-Shabab, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

African Union calls for blockade of Somalia (Associated Press)

(Somalia) The African Union sought U.N. approval Thursday for a naval and air
blockade of Somalia, as well as more troops and aid to fend off piracy and terrorism in
the struggling Horn of Africa nation.

Rwanda to charge US lawyer with genocide denial (Associated Press)

(Rwanda) Rwanda's top prosecutor wants an American professor to appear in a
Rwandan court on charges of genocide denial.

Standby brigade crucial for regional stability (The Herald)

(Southern Africa) The latest move by Sadc towards the formation of a standby military
brigade will certainly go a long way in fostering regional integration and stability and
will ward off outside military interventions that have always been manipulated by
powerful western countries.

China Courts Secessionists in Sudan, Breaking a Mold (Wall Street Journal)

(Sudan) China is courting the secessionist government of oil-rich southern Sudan, an
apparent departure from Beijing's decades-long opposition to independence
movements abroad.

South Sudan invites back old enemies before vote (Associated Press)
(Sudan) To ensure an overwhelming vote for independence in an upcoming
referendum, Southern Sudan officials are embracing rebel military commanders whose
fighters killed southerners during a civil war between the north and south and even
after a peace agreement was signed.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 UN envoy on Western Sahara continues meetings in North Africa
 Secretary-General says UN committed to moving closer to Somali people
 UN suspends prize offered by Equatorial Guinea pending further consultations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, October 27, 12:00 p.m.; Council on Foreign Relations

WHAT: A Conversation with Senator Richard G. Lugar
WHO: Senator Richard G. Lugar, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Relations,
U.S. Senate
Info: http://www.cfr.org/

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, November 5, 9:30 a.m.; U.S. Institute of Peace

WHAT: Women in War Conference: The Trouble with the Congo
WHO: Severine Autesserre, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College,
Columbia University; Raymond Gilpin, Associate Vice President, Sustainable
Economies, Centers of Innovation, U.S. Institute of Peace; Christine Karumba, Women
for Women International; Howard Wolpe, Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars; Diane Orentlicher, Deputy Director, Office of War Crimes, U.S. Department of
State
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/woman-and-war
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

US Senator Kerry travelling to Sudan (AFP)

WASHINGTON – Senior US Senator John Kerry headed to Sudan Thursday on a three-

day mission to assess the strife-torn country's readiness for a January referendum on
independence for its southern region.

"Sudan is at a pivotal moment," said Kerry, who has traveled to Sudan once before, in
April 2009, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Every reliable source indicates that Southern Sudan will vote for separation, dividing
Africa's largest country and taking with it some 80 percent of known Sudanese oil
reserves," he said in a statement.

Kerry said leaders in Sudan's north and south faced a "critical choice" between "peaceful
coexistence or a return to chaos and war" and urged them to overcome obstacles to
implementing a 2005 peace agreement that ended the country's brutal 22-year civil war.

The lawmaker was expected to be in Sudan on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and hold
talks with senior officials in Khartoum the semi-autonomous government in Juba.

Kerry is the lead author of legislation in the US Congress to cement Washington's

engagement with Sudan after the referendum, including certain types of US aid for
security forces and civil aviation.

"America must help North and South Sudan find a peaceful path forward," said Kerry.
--------------------
'Emir of the south' Abu Zeid poised to take over al-Qaeda in NW Africa (Washington
Post)
(Algeria) For many Europeans, Islamic terrorism has a new face: Abdelhamid Abu
Zeid, the "emir of the south."

Abu Zeid, also known as Abid Hammadou, is a wiry Algerian with a black beard,
going on 50, who commands one of two squads of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
active outside Algeria. The turbaned combatants, Algerians and other North Africans
allied with Osama bin Laden, have been marauding for nearly a decade in desolate
Sahelian wastelands along the borders of Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria.

Because of their small numbers - a few hundred - and their remoteness in sparsely
inhabited fringes of the Sahara, the far-flung combatants were long regarded as a less
potent threat than the main al-Qaeda units inside Algeria, and far less worrisome than
Pakistan- and Afghanistan-based militants more directly tied to bin Laden. Europe's
current terrorism alert, for instance, arose from intelligence on jihadis in Pakistan.
But with the capture of a number of European hostages over the past several years -
and now a calculated effort to impose Abu Zeid's brand name on terrorist activities in
the Sahel - he has emerged in the public eye as a substantial threat in mineral-rich
northwestern Africa and, in the assessment of some experts, as the possible next chief of
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

"This guy is on the rise," said Mathieu Guidere, a North African terrorism specialist at
the University of Geneva and author of several books on Islamic radicalism.

Abu Zeid's activities may have caught the attention of U.S. counterterrorism authorities
as well. In recent declarations, his group said U.S. personnel have been spotted on an
Algerian military base at Tamanrasset, near the Malian border hills where Abu Zeid is
headquartered, with the apparent assignment of helping local governments monitor al-
Qaeda movements across the region.

Guidere, who systematically monitors al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Internet traffic,
said the United States has supplied electronic intelligence on Abu Zeid to France to help
track French hostages, with U.S. personnel either stationed at or passing through
Tamanrasset apparently part of the operation. In response, he added, Abu Zeid recently
ordered his combatants to halt satellite telephone communications, which are
vulnerable to monitoring by U.S. satellites or drones.

U.S. military and National Security Agency officials declined to comment on the
reports. Commenting more generally, Lt. Col. Tamara Parker, a Pentagon
spokeswoman, said, "The countries in North and West Africa have demonstrated
important leadership in addressing terrorism in the region and the United States
supports the region's efforts to increase its long-term counterterrorism capacity."

Although anti-terrorism specialists have long followed his career, Abu Zeid caught the
attention of most Europeans only about two weeks ago. He was the unsmiling figure,
wearing a camouflage military vest, a white jelabiyah and a beige turban, who was
squatting on his heels just to the left of five French hostages captured Sept. 15 at a
French-run uranium mine in northern Niger and displayed in a video to prove to the
French government that they are still alive.

The other combatants in Abu Zeid's squad posed for the camera by carefully wrapping
their turbans to conceal their faces, leaving only slits for their eyes to look out. But Abu
Zeid left his entire face exposed and stared straight into the lens in what was
interpreted as a declaration of leadership and a gesture of defiance.

Moreover, Guidere noted, an al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb communique

announcing the French hostages' capture departed from tradition by naming Abu Zeid
as leader of the operation, hailing him as a "sheik" and his 100-man unit "lions of Islam."
Such gestures have separated Abu Zeid from his principal colleague, Mokhtar
Belmokhtar, who commands al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's other main unit south
of Algeria. Belmokhtar, an Algerian who lost an eye fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan,
has been played down by European anti-terrorism specialists because, they say, he is
often focused less on jihad than on raising cash by protecting cigarette and cocaine
smuggling that has traditionally flourished in the area.

"Those guys do jihad in the daytime and Marlboros at night," one local official joked
with European friends.

Abu Zeid's record, however, is not the stuff of jokes. According to European
counterterrorism officials, Abu Zeid ordered or carried out the executions of a British
hostage, Edwin Dyers, in 2009 and of a 78-year-old French hostage, Michel Germaneau,
in July. Overall, he has been accused of involvement in the abduction of more than 20
European hostages in the Sahel countries since 2008, many of them ransomed for
millions of dollars that fuel jihad.

Germaneau's execution was announced soon after French special forces joined
Mauritanian commandos in a raid on Abu Zeid's combatants, mounted in a failed effort
to free the sickly hostage who had been deprived of medication. President Nicolas
Sarkozy decided on the attack partly on the basis of intelligence on the camp's location
gathered by U.S. electronic monitoring, according to specialists in Paris.

Seven of Abu Zeid's followers were killed during the skirmish, according to
Mauritanian authorities, and he swiftly pledged revenge against Sarkozy. In that light,
observers noted that seven hostages - the five French citizens and two African
colleagues - were taken in the Sept. 15 mine raid in Arlit, Niger.

The overall leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is Abdemalek Droukdal, a 40-
year-old Algerian also known as Abu Moussab Abd al-Wadoud. He has been
unchallenged since taking over leadership of Algeria's Salafist underground in 2004
and steering it into al-Qaeda in 2006 under the new name.

Before expanding the group's activities south of Algeria, Abu Zeid was Droukdal's
lieutenant during years of bloody combat against the Algerian army. They have similar
views - rigorous Islam and jihad against the West - and there have been no signs of
rivalry as Droukdal and the main military force, headquartered in northern Algeria,
maintain a rhythm of attacks on Algerian soldiers and police.

But the Algerian clashes have been eclipsed in Europe by Abu Zeid's spectacular
hostage-takings farther south, directed specifically against Europeans. In addition,
Droukdal dropped out of sight for several months last year, leading specialists to
believe he was seriously wounded. Although he apparently has recovered, the
incapacitation set al-Qaeda commanders to thinking of succession.

Staff writers Ellen Nakashima and Craig Whitlock contributed to this report.
--------------------
U.S. eases Sudan embargo, sparing farming equipment (Reuters)

KHARTOUM – The United States has relaxed sanctions on Sudan to exempt farm
equipment, a move seen as part of a wider scheme of carrots and sticks before a
sensitive referendum that could split Africa's largest country.

Sudan, under U.S. economic sanctions since 1997, welcomed the U.S. move saying it
could help develop an agricultural sector on which 80 percent of the population
depends for livelihoods. Sudan aims to expand agriculture and will host a food security
conference of 57 Islamic countries next week.

"Specific licenses may be issued on a case-by-case basis authorizing the commercial

exportation or re-exportation of U.S.- origin agricultural equipment and services to ...
Sudan," the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement issued on its web
site on Wednesday.

"The purpose of this new licensing policy is to benefit the Sudanese people by
enhancing local food production and strengthening the agricultural sector," it added.

A peace process that ended decades of civil war and devastated Sudan's economy will
wind up on January 9 when a referendum on secession by the south will be held,
something many expect will create the world's newest country.

Most of Sudan's 470,000 barrels per day of oil, the mainstay of its economy, lies south of
the north-south boundary although the infrastructure is in the north. Khartoum's
government has been boosting non-oil revenues ahead of the south Sudan vote.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the international community must
sweeten the divorce for Khartoum to prevent antagonism that could push the two sides
back to war.

Senior Agriculture Ministry official Abdel Latif Ijaimi said on Thursday that the U.S.
gesture would open the door to new agricultural technologies and equipment which
would make Sudan more competitive edge in global markets.

"We welcome this and it is part of a move to open more cooperation and will allow us
to enter (global) markets and improve in terms of quality and prices," Ijaimi said.

WHEAT EXPANSION NEEDS INVESTMENT

Sudan's state minister for agriculture, Mohamed Ali Alloubi, said wheat production
was expected to rise this year to 560,000 tons of wheat, about 42 percent of the country's
consumption of more than 2 million tons.

Last year Sudan produced just 16 percent of its total need.

"Two years from now, we can stop wheat imports and begin exports," Alloubi told
Reuters.

"We are expecting after two years to be producing more than 3 million tons of wheat
with large-scale projects," he said, planned in the Northern, River Nile and Gezira
states.

"This will depend on investment from the private sector from Sudanese and foreign
companies," he said, giving no figures.

Sudan shares a northern border with Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer. The
ministry's Ijaimi said Saudi Arabia, phasing out wheat production by 2016 because of
water shortages, was considering Sudan as a future source of wheat.

Sudan also hopes the Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting on food security
in Khartoum next week will foster investment in its farm sector.

"We have 48 million feddans (19.3 million hectares or 47.7 million acres) of arable land
and only 15-17 percent is used," said Alloubi, adding Sudan also enjoyed a large share
of Nile water. The Blue Nile and White Nile converge in Khartoum to flow north to
Egypt.
--------------------
US reaches out to Somalia breakaway regions to stymie terrorists (Christian Science
Monitor)

Stars and Stripes reports on the greater outreach to Somaliland and Puntland that will
form part of the United States’ new strategy in Somalia:

In the coming months, the US will begin direct engagement with leaders of two
northern Somalia breakaway regions with the hope that those political ties can stem the
radical insurgency that threatens to spread beyond the lawless parts of southern
Somalia, according to US State Department officials.

The effort marks a significant policy change toward Somalia, which has become a safe
haven for the Islamic insurgent group Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked faction that has
been battling the weak, US-backed central government.
In the last two years, the US has spent more than $200 million trying to bolster
Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. And while that support will continue, the
US also will engage with leaders in Somaliland and Puntland as it looks to build on
those regions’ relative political and civil stability.

The two analysts the article quotes – Richard Downie of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies and Ken Menkhaus of Davidson college – both indicate that the
new strategy could be effective, though Menkhaus warns that its implementation could
prove tricky.

What of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)? Downie bluntly states that the
new strategy “reflects the fact that the TFG is probably a doomed project.” If that view
is shared amongst government policymakers, the TFG’s doom could definitely be on its
way. US strategy and the TFG’s survival are closely linked: American dollars have most
likely already extended the TFG’s lifespan past what it would have been without aid. A
more diversified American strategy in Somalia, then, could not only reflect US fears that
the TFG is failing, but also hasten the fulfillment of those fears.

Even with the new strategy, the situation puts the US in something of a bind. Extending
greater support to these would-be nations does not equal granting them official
recognition, but it is a big step in that direction. If African countries who oppose the
“balkanization” of Somalia become uneasy with US policy, that could create diplomatic
problems for the US in the region. And withdrawing support from the TFG could give
al Shabab more room to expand, potentially achieving exactly the opposite of the
hoped-for effect. The old strategy was clearly failing in its goal of building a strong
central government in Somalia, but the new strategy brings its own complications.
These complications are not insurmountable, but they are serious.
--------------------
US Man Pleads Guilty to Helping Somali Terror Group (Voice of America)

An American man has pleaded guilty to supporting the al-Qaida-linked Somali group
al-Shabab, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

In a Virginia court Wednesday, 20-year-old Zachary Chesser also pleaded guilty to

posting online threats to the creators of the "South Park" television show for their
depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

He faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced next February.

Prosecutors say Chesser tried twice to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab, which is
fighting to topple the U.S.- and U.N.-backed transitional government of Somalia.

They say on one occasion he tried to take his infant son on the trip in a bid to avoid
detection of his intent.
Chesser also ran a number of websites calling for jihad and violence against Americans.

Upset about how a "South Park" episode portrayed the Prophet Muhammad,
prosecutors say Chesser posted messages urging death for those who defamed the
prophet and posted links to help readers find the homes of the show's writers.

Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Chesser
endangered the lives of innocent people who will remain at risk for many years to
come.
--------------------
African Union calls for blockade of Somalia (Associated Press)

UNITED NATIONS — The African Union sought U.N. approval Thursday for a naval
and air blockade of Somalia, as well as more troops and aid to fend off piracy and
terrorism in the struggling Horn of Africa nation.

The AU's commissioner for peace and security, Ramtane Lamamra, urged the U.N.
Security Council to authorize a blockade while seeking far more international aid and a
contingent of 20,000 AU-led troops, up from the current authorization of 8,000. He also
asked the council to approve hiring up to 1,680 police. The AU peacekeeping force,
operating under the U.N. mandate, now has about 6,000 troops.

With Somalia lacking a fully functioning government since 1991, Lamamra called for a
major escalation of troops and other resources to deter the pirates operating off the
country's coast and prevent fighters and shipments from reaching the al-Qaida-linked
al-Shabab Islamist rebels who control much of Somalia.

'No-fly zone'
Specifically, Lamamra requested U.N. authorization for "a naval blockade and a no-fly
zone over Somalia to prevent the entry of foreign fighters into Somalia, as well as flights
carrying shipments of weapons and ammunition to armed groups inside Somalia."

Somali Foreign Minister Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim told the council his government fully
supports the AU's strategy.

"The history of Somalia during the past two decades is not just doom and gloom," he
said. In some places, he said, there is still peace and local businesses and extended
families have worked to "set up clinics, electricity, schools, telephones and running
water despite the lack of central government."

But Somalia's army and police are too weak and the government cannot fix things
alone, he said.
"We all know that there's no better people who can defend their countries except their
own people," Ibrahim pleaded. "Therefore give us the means, support us in forming our
police and army to really be in a situation to really confront the extremism, both the
terrorism and piracy in our own country."

The council then met for several hours behind closed doors. Afterward, Uganda's U.N.
Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda, the current council president, told reporters the
council considers the AU's request for a blockade to be "legitimate" but the council's
members would need to study it further.

Countering piracy
Lamamra also sought the 15-nation council's help in tightening international sanctions
against Somalia, and in removing some of the underlying conditions that have led to a
boom in piracy by doing something to tackle the illegal fishing and dumping of toxic
substances and waste off the coast.

And in unusually blunt language, the AU official criticized the collective strategy of
nations for pursuing ineffective strategies. He said an important choice must be made,
since the Somalis are at a crossroads and "will not succeed in their efforts without the
full support" of Africa and the world.

Somalia hasn't had a fully functioning government since 1991. The weak U.N.-backed
government controls just a portion of the capital, Mogadishu, and few other areas. The
U.S. and Italy are helping pay for training for government forces to take on militants.

"The international community can decide to pursue its current policy of limited
engagement and halfhearted measures, in the false hope that the situation can be
contained," Lamamra said. Or, he added, "the international community can also decide
it should step up its efforts."

Lamamra welcomed a call to expanded action by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,

who spoke earlier before the council, the U.N.'s most powerful arm.

Ban urged its members "to take bold and courageous decisions" needed to build up the
AU peacekeeping force. He praised the news that some Somali residents were
benefiting from an offensive launched by Somali government troops last Sunday.

The troops are trying to win back control of areas held by al-Shabab militants and have
recorded some early successes, with militants fleeing from at least one town near the
border with Kenya.

The setback for the insurgent movement was an unexpected turn of events in a nation
where the militants — and fears of a breeding ground for terrorism — have been
growing in the absence of stability. The government apparently has been aided by
moderate Islamist militias who oppose al-Shabab.

Ban said reports that the residents of the border town, Belet Hawo, were taking down
al-Shabab flags flying there and replacing them with Somali national flags "are signs of
the Somali people's yearning for peace and security."
--------------------
Rwanda to charge US lawyer with genocide denial (Associated Press)

ARUSHA, Tanzania – Rwanda's top prosecutor wants an American professor to appear

in a Rwandan court on charges of genocide denial.

Martin Ngoga says Peter Erlinder will be charged with denying Rwanda's genocide.
Erlinder, a law professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota,
was arrested in May and was granted bail in June. Ngoga made his remarks in Arusha,
Tanzania, where the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is based.

Erlinder declined immediate comment Thursday.

More than 500,000 Rwandans, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were massacred by Hutus during
the 1994 genocide. Erlinder contends it's inaccurate to blame one side. He believes
Rwandan authorities intended to make him disappear when he was arrested but his
contact with a U.S. diplomat saved him.
--------------------
Standby brigade crucial for regional stability (The Herald)

Zimbabwe has taken over the chairmanship of the Sadc defence inspectorate,
coincidentally, at a time when member states are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of
the transformation of the Frontline States to Sadc and seeking to be Africa’s best region
in all aspects.

In the past 30 years, Sadc has transformed from a club of coffee-sipping gentlemen and
ladies — (heads of States and Government) to a serious forum for the development,
emancipation and defence of the values and virtues of member states.

The major actors have been President Robert Mugabe, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel,
Kenneth Kaunda, Festus Mogae and Thabo Mbeki, among others and the same spirit
should be pushed to future generations so that the region’s military prowess gives its
people comfort and sleep.

Lucky enough, Sadc still has the likes of President Mugabe to give direction and
historical context when trying to put events into context and this is why Zimbabwe is
important in the matrix of forming the Sadc military brigade.
Sadc has been able to define critical areas for the development of its people in economic,
social and political terms, and has shrugged off manipulation by especially the West as
far as the subtle, attempted recolonisation of Zimbabwe is concerned.

In international politics, Sadc’s stance on the Zimbabwean issue was a huge and bold
statement in defining the regional bloc’s virtues and values. It could easily be called
Sadcism to join a plethora of other -isms.

The latest move by Sadc towards the formation of a standby military brigade will
certainly go a long way in fostering regional integration and stability and will ward off
outside military interventions that have always been manipulated by powerful western
countries.

This should form the heart and soul of Sadc since the political transformation from
colonial rule is now complete.

No one in Sadc doubts Zimbabwe’s capability to steer Sadc to greater heights in terms
of the standby brigade and guidance as far as the inspectorate is concerned.

Sadc has the required experience and military personnel and has been moving in
unison in pooling its resources together and inside information has shown that the
inspectorate chaired by Zimbabwe Defence Forces Major General Engelbert Rugeje, has
already moved to synchronise the standby brigade into a regional military unit with
common understanding.

Coming from various colonial backgrounds and military training, there is no doubt that
it is critical for the brigade to have retraining programmes to realign into one force.

There is no doubt that Sadc will ride on the crest of Zimbabwe’s vast military
experience and conquest in Mozambique and DRC in which Maj Gen Rugeje fully
participated.

While the major thrust has been to economically equip Sadc countries, for a start, to
enhance agriculture production so that the region can be self-sufficient to feed its
population, there is also need to defend this development through military and political
stability.

The threat of Africom, the United States superior military command set specifically to
deal with Africa is real and must never be taken lightly by all reasoning Africans.

African leaders can ignore that Americanisation of the continent at their own peril and
formations such as the Sadc standby brigade might look small but are the way to go and
will in the long run; develop into serious military forces able to contain any situation on
the continent. Hence there will be no need to involve Africom.
In future, all that Sadc needs is a military brigade of 50 000 troopers and that should
service the region. That will effectively reduce the size of country armies and reduce
military expenditure and that should then be a panacea for regional peace and stability.

Eventually, Sadc might not need country armies and just have one force answerable to
the Secretariat.

In that vein Sadc, which is more unified than any other African regional grouping, has
the advantage of having a few conflict areas or trouble spots and even those are not
really as explosive as other conflicts in Africa.

At the moment, the only problem is Madagascar and that is a very small problem that
can be easily solved.

The brigade is already underway because all the member states have pledged this and
that and are in agreement on what should be done.

Analytically, it is important to protect regional interests politically, socially and

militarily because when one goes down to the real issues underlying the activities of a
foreign force, at one stage or the other, it becomes difficult to give straight instructions
to outsiders.

They have their own interests that might not necessarily remain in tandem with your
interests. Therefore, Sadc should continue with its high speed in coming up with the
standby force.
--------------------
China Courts Secessionists in Sudan, Breaking a Mold (Wall Street Journal)

JUBA, Sudan—China is courting the secessionist government of oil-rich southern

Sudan, an apparent departure from Beijing's decades-long opposition to independence
movements abroad.

Sudan, after nearly constant civil war over the past five decades, is seeing tensions boil
again ahead of a planned independence referendum early next year that stands to split
Africa's largest country in two. Voters from the oil-rich, largely Christian south are
expected to vote to break away from the country's largely Muslim north. As the Jan. 9,
2011, election date approaches, both sides accuse the other of amassing troops.

The vote poses a conundrum for China. Beijing has consistently opposed independence
movements abroad, lest it embolden separatist sympathies at home. And despite its
recent overtures to the south, Beijing seeks to maintain its longstanding economic ties
with Khartoum, the seat of Sudan's government and center of northern power. China
armed and supported the north in the 23-year civil war against the south from 1983 to
2005, in which two million people are believed to have died. It continues to arm
Khartoum and has built the north infrastructure projects, including the largest
hydroelectric dam in Africa.

China's predicament in Sudan underscores the perils of its push into Africa, as it
attempts to lock down resources to fuel its double-digit economic growth. The
resources that have attracted big investments from abroad have also stirred political
turmoil in other countries such as Guinea, a leading producer of bauxite, and Niger,
home to huge uranium reserves.

"It is a delicate issue for China," said Dru Gladney, an expert on Chinese minorities at
Pomona College in California. China has until now portrayed itself as a leader of
developing countries, he said. But its own rapid development has changed that
relationship. "Encouraging a so-called separatist movement is one that is going to
complicate that [noninterventionist] position very much."

China has a pragmatic reason for tolerating a potentially independent south: It is home
to 80% of Sudan's oil reserves, including most of the China National Petroleum Corp.'s
four oil concessions, granted to it by Khartoum. Beijing's stake amounts to 40% of
Sudan's oil industry.

Sudan exports 60% of its oil to China. Sudanese production accounts for 7% of China's
annual consumption.

In 2008, China opened a consulate in Juba, the south's capital, an unusual move for
China in a place with separatist aspirations. Last week, a Chinese Communist Party
delegation visited southern officials. Top officials from the south have also visited
China, said Li Baodong, China's U.N. ambassador, in an interview during a United
Nations Security Council diplomatic mission to Sudan this month.

And Kenyan officials say China has expressed interest in a new pipeline for southern
oil. Last week, the south's government collected bids to build a route that would avoid
the country's current main line to the north, a 1,000-mile pipeline to a Chinese-financed
refinery, and go through Kenya instead.

"China is one of the parties that has been invited to participate," said Alfred Mutua, a
Kenyan government spokesman.

Sudanese officials didn't respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Li said the referendum is "their internal affair and we are not getting into it. We
respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country."
Sudan has fought two civil wars starting at its 1956 independence from Britain. The
second ended in 2005, when a U.S.-brokered cease-fire offered Sudan's south the option
to vote for independence from the north.

The vote's timing has been cast into doubt amid disputes over which Sudanese will be
eligible to cast ballots and where the future states' borders would be drawn.

A further complication is a deadlock over the division of oil revenues. Under terms of
the 2005 peace deal, the north and south have shared the country's oil proceeds equally,
though the south claims it is being short-changed. The south's proposal to pump oil
through Kenya is likely to further inflame the Khartoum government of President Omar
al-Bashir.

Mr. Bashir has threatened renewed civil war if these matters aren't resolved before the
vote. Salva Kiir, president of the semi-autonomous south, has warned that if the vote is
dragged out, the south might hold its own referendum. The majority of southerners
favor secession. The U.S. has asked China to use its influence with Khartoum to hold a
credible vote on time, a senior U.S. official said.

Beijing has cracked down, often violently, on independence protests in Tibet and
Xinjiang. Beijing also considers Taiwan a breakaway province and seeks reunification,
by force if necessary.

Those separatist pressures have shaped China's outlook on independence movements

in other countries. China opposed independence declared in 2008 by Kosovo, the
breakaway Serbian province. Taiwan was among the first to recognize Kosovo's
independence.

Until early this year, Beijing staunchly opposed independence in Sudan's south. But
that stance has appeared to shift as the international community has pushed the vote.

"I don't think anyone believes that the referendum process can be stopped," said
Fabienne Hara, an Africa specialist in New York for the Brussels-based International
Crisis Group. "It is pragmatism."

While it is caught between its stance on separatism and its economic-self interest, Mr.
Gladney of Pomona said Beijing had reluctantly made its choice. "It's whichever cat
catches mice—and in this case, the cat that supports a separatist, Christian group will
catch more mice for China," he said.
--------------------
South Sudan invites back old enemies before vote (Associated Press)

BENTIU, Sudan — To ensure an overwhelming vote for independence in an upcoming

referendum, Southern Sudan officials are embracing rebel military commanders whose
fighters killed southerners during a civil war between the north and south and even
after a peace agreement was signed.

The officials even sacrificed several bulls to welcome back a leader who had defected
from the southern army and is now a senior commander in the northern army — the
south's erstwhile enemy.

"We forget everything for the referendum," said Gideon Gatpan Thoor, the minister of
information for oil-rich Unity state, ironically named since it was the site of brutal
fighting among southern factions. The fighting was often stoked by the north's support
for rival militias.

The effort to bury the hatchet comes less than three months before a vote that could see
Africa's largest country split in two. Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir earlier this
month pardoned the commander, Gabriel Tanginye, and two other former members of
the southern forces.

Regional political and military leaders this week welcomed Tanginye in Bentiu, the
capital of Unity state, at the governor's riverside residence. A tank stood outside the
residence, part of a huge security presence in the city which has only one paved road. A
white bull was sacrificed in his honor. Tanginye danced alongside southern officials,
raising his cane in the air.

"I'm very happy to be back," Tanginye told the crowd. He showed he is already on
board with the south's overriding goal, declaring: "We need to go for separation."

Tanginye says he commands a militia of 44,000 men, some of whom were behind the
killings of scores of people in clashes in 2009 and 2006, after the civil war officially
ended in 2005. Though Tanginye is not trusted by many southern leaders, he is still seen
as a key figure with an armed constituency that cannot be ignored.

Tanginye told The Associated Press that negotiations with the south's president and
senior military leaders will result in the "merger" of his troops with the south's Sudan
People's Liberation Army, the former rebel group that is now the south's military force.
Many of Tanginye's men currently serve in the northern Sudanese army.

There are indications that the other two recently pardoned men, George Athor and
Gatluak Gai, also intend to rejoin the southern army.

Athor is a former deputy chief of staff in the army. A delegation of his men arrived in
Juba, the south's capital, on Sunday to begin talks over the reintegration.
"This is a way of testing the water ... Athor's men have come to see the situation,
whether people are hostile or welcoming to him," southern army spokesman Lt. Gen.
Kuol Deim Kuol said.

The south's vice president, Riek Machar, told reporters in Juba on Tuesday that Athor
has decided to rejoin the army but Kuol said final authorization must come from Kiir,
who as president is the commander in chief.

The southern government is also trying to build consensus among opposition parties
ahead of the vote.

A five-day conference convened by the southern ruling party in Juba brought together
more than 20 political parties last week to discuss stalled preparations for the
referendum and other topics. The conference's closing statement noted the unanimous
agreement among all parties that both the south's referendum and a separate vote in the
region of Abyei on the border must be held on Jan. 9 as called for by the 2005 peace
agreement.

Lam Akol, leader of the breakaway SPLM-Democratic Change, told AP that his party
wants to retain its independence from the south's ruling party, but said southerners
must be united in their support of a peaceful and credible referendum — partly because
any problems with the vote could be used by the central government in Khartoum to
argue against its validity.

"We have now made the attempt to unite. We will hope to keep this unity firm and
strong and in that respect unity will guarantee that all of us work for the interests of
Southern Sudan," said Akol, who led a split within the southern rebel movement during
the war and later allied with the north.

Despite his history, the south's ruling party reached out to him, a strategy that could
prove successful in the run-up to the vote.

Whether the south's diverse population — represented largely by military strongmen —

will remain unified afterward is less assured.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
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