United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

28 October 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Bin Laden Says Niger Kidnappings Aimed at France (Voice of America)

(Niger) A new audio message purportedly from Osama bin Laden says the kidnapping
of five French nationals in Niger last month was in response to what he called France's
unjust treatment of Muslims.

USAID Renovates Storage Building in Bauchi (Daily Trust)

(Nigeria) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has renovated
and equipped Bauchi State Contraceptive Storage facility building at the Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

France facilitates training of 25 military instructors in DR Congo (Xinhua)

(Democratic Republic of Congo) France is helping the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DR Congo) with the military personnel training in a bid to restore stability in the war-
torn Central African country and boost bilateral cooperation, the French envoy says.

Without Sudan, it will be impossible to successfully confront the LRA (Christian

Science Monitor)
(Sudan) Diplomatic efforts – something the AU can be quite good at – seem to have
taken a back seat to the military options at the Bangui meeting. Conspicuously absent
from the talks was representation from Sudan. Any effort against the LRA these days
must involve Khartoum.

Contested Sudan region should be ceded to south: SPLM (AFP)

(Sudan) South Sudan wants its former northern enemies to cede the contested oil-rich
border region of Abyei without holding a landmark referendum, a senior southern
official said on Tuesday.

Kenya's Foreign Minister Resigns (Associated Press)

(Kenya) Kenya's foreign minister said Wednesday he is resigning to allow
investigations into allegations of a multimillion dollar scandal involving five Kenyan
embassies in Africa, Europe and Asia.

Guinea election set for November 7 (Associated Press)

(Guinea) A decree read on state TV has announced that the delayed presidential run-
off in Guinea has been rescheduled for Nov. 7.

Kigali accuses 'Hotel Rwanda' hero of funding rebels (AFP)

(Rwanda) The Rwandan man famed for saving hundreds of lives during the 1994
genocide and who inspired the film 'Hotel Rwanda', was on Wednesday accused by the
prosecutor general of supporting a rebel group.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Domestic resources and diversification key to economic growth in Africa – UN
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, November 2, 2:30 p.m.; U.S. Institute of Peace

WHAT: Guinea: Challenges and Prospects for a Democratic Transition
WHO: Ambassador Jendayi Frazier, Chair, Distinguished Public Service Professor and
former Asst. Secretary of State of African Affairs, Carnegie Mellon University; Dr.
Lansiné Kaba, Speaker, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; William Fitzgerald,
Speaker, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. State Department;
Dorina Bekoe, Opening Remarks, Senior Research Associate (Africa), U.S. Institute of
Peace
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/guinea-challenges-and-prospects-democratic-
transition

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

Bin Laden Says Niger Kidnappings Aimed at France (Voice of America)

A new audio message purportedly from Osama bin Laden says the kidnapping of five
French nationals in Niger last month was in response to what he called France's unjust
treatment of Muslims.
In an audiotape aired by al-Jazeera television Wednesday, bin Laden called on France to
withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He said France can not expect to, in his words,
occupy our countries and kill our women and children and then wish to live in security
and peace.

France has about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden also threatened retribution for France's plan, starting next year, to ban
Muslim women from wearing full face veils.

A group called al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb took seven hostages - five French and
two Africans - at a uranium mine in northern Niger last month.

According to al-Jazeera, bin Laden said, "As you kill, you will be killed. Just as you take
prisoners, you are taken hostage."

A video posted last month to the website YouTube showed the seven hostages
kidnapped in Niger. They are now believed to be in neighboring Mali. The speakers all
named al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb as their abductors.

The group has carried out previous kidnappings in northwest Africa, including that of a
78-year-old Frenchman who was abducted in Niger in April and later killed.

The precise whereabouts of bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001
attacks on the U.S., are unknown.

U.S. General David Petraeus, the commander of the allied forces in Afghanistan, said in
August that bin Laden is believed to be in the remote mountains between Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
--------------------
USAID Renovates Storage Building in Bauchi (Daily Trust)

Bauchi — United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has renovated
and equipped Bauchi State Contraceptive Storage facility building at the Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

Handing over the building to the Bauchi State Government, USAID Nigeria Mission
Director Dr. Ray Kirkland said the project was part of the areas identified by USAID
under Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP) to assist in areas that require urgent
attention, and commended Bauchi State government for its co-operation and support
that led to the success of the project.

Permanent Secretary, Bauchi State Ministry of Health Hajiya Amina Abubakar said the
renovation of the storage building marks another successful partnership between
American government through USAID and the Bauchi State government to improve
health care activities in the state.
--------------------
France facilitates training of 25 military instructors in DR Congo (Xinhua)

KINSHASA - France is helping the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) with the
military personnel training in a bid to restore stability in the war-torn Central African
country and boost bilateral cooperation, the French envoy says.

French Ambassador to DR Congo Pierre Jacquemot disclosed on Tuesday that his

country was helping train 25 officers of the Congolese army briefly known as FARDC.

The training exercise is going on at the Kitona training school in Bas Congo province.

The French diplomat said many more Congolese officers were undergoing training in
other African vocational military training schools, such as the Libreville health school
and the Mali administration school.

All these schools are operational thanks to the active military cooperation with France,
Jacquemot said.

The French diplomat made the remarks when introducing his country's new defense
attache to Congolese Defense Minister Charles Mwando Nsimba.
--------------------
Without Sudan, it will be impossible to successfully confront the LRA (Christian
Science Monitor)

Meeting in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, CAR President Francois
Bozize and representatives from Uganda, Congo, and South Sudan worked to find a
regional solution to the Lord’s Resistance Army. The meeting took place on October 13
and 14 under the auspices of the African Union.

The participants agreed to a series of anti-LRA measures designed to increase military

cooperation between the armies of Uganda, South Sudan, Congo, and CAR, according
to press release issued by the African Union (Here it is in French). A joint command
center aimed at exchanging information, joint border patrols, and a mixed military
brigade to go after LRA groups are some examples of the military cooperation agreed to
in Bangui. In addition to calling for humanitarian aid to LRA-affected areas,
participants proposed nominating an AU special envoy to coordinate efforts against the
LRA.

While the initiative from the AU is laudable, it comes fairly late. The LRA issue has
been discussed in many AU meetings, including the Special Session on the
Consideration and Resolution in Africa held in Tripoli, Libya in August 2009 at the
invitation of ‘Brother Leader’ Muammar Gaddafi, and at the Ordinary Session held in
Kampala in July 2010. Nothing concrete came out of these meetings, while the LRA has
continued to attack civilians in the region.

Despite a few useful recommendations and some optimistic-sounding headlines in the

press, the Bangui meeting risks amounting to little if recommendations are not quickly
implemented on the ground. Given the state of the regional armies involved in the fight
against the LRA, it is hard to imagine that the military options proposed in the AU
meeting, involving these same armies, can actually succeed.

There is no reason to believe that a regional agreement was the only thing missing in
the effort against the LRA. Uganda has already concluded bilateral and multilateral
agreements aimed at dealing with the LRA, but only the Ugandan army is currently
engaging LRA fighters. In an agreement signed in Ngurdoto, Tanzania in September
2007, the Ugandan and Congolese presidents agreed to cooperate on the war against the
LRA. A year later, Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan made agreements to jointly fight
the LRA before the launch of Operation Lightning Thunder in December 2008. On June
2009, in a meeting in the Congolese city of Kisangani, the CAR army agreed to
participate in the joint effort against the LRA. (The defense army chiefs at the Kisangani
meeting agreed that “the current effort against the LRA had been extremely successful,”
a wild overestimation given that LRA groups continued to cause violence in the region
since June 2009.)

The current effort against the LRA has failed due to a lack capacity and willingness on
the part of the armies facing the LRA, with the possible exception of the Ugandan army.
Much has been said about the inability of the Congolese army to refrain from attacking
civilians, let alone protecting them from the LRA. The South Sudanese army has been
unwilling to stop LRA attacks in Western Equatoria, while the CAR army has too few
troops dedicated to this mission to make a difference.

Nothing had changed by the time the AU met in Bangui to suggest the regional armies
can mount successful military operations against the LRA. This was perhaps why AU
officials asked for funds to train the regional armies, especially the CAR military. They
even suggested that South African and Nigerian troops might be called in to fight the
LRA. Such suggestions are unrealistic and seem instead designed to elicit funds from
international donors, as a Ugandan diplomat recently told Enough. Similarly, the push
to define the LRA a terrorist organization seemed to have been put forward with
international funds in mind. As CAR Foreign Minister Antoine Gambi recently told
AFP, “The international community must not be stingy with the means to help
Centrafrica [sic] to get rid of the insecurity created by this rebel group.”

Diplomatic efforts – something the AU can be quite good at – seem to have taken a back
seat to the military options at the Bangui meeting.
Conspicuously absent from the talks was representation from Sudan. Any effort against
the LRA these days must involve Khartoum. Here is to hoping AU chiefs are privately
talking to Sudanese President Bashir, whether to convince the Sudanese army to push
LRA units outside of Darfur and northern Sudan or simply to press for potential
Sudanese support to the LRA to end.

Sudanese authorities were asked to participate in the Bangui meeting initially

scheduled for September, according to Enough sources, but there was no response from
Khartoum even as the meeting was postponed to October to accommodate the
Sudanese.
--------------------
Contested Sudan region should be ceded to south: SPLM (AFP)

JUBA, Sudan – South Sudan wants its former northern enemies to cede the contested
oil-rich border region of Abyei without holding a landmark referendum, a senior
southern official said on Tuesday.

Instead of holding a referendum on the region, the presidency should "take a decision
and transfer Abyei by presidential decree to the south, because the process of Abyei
referendum has been delayed and there is no time," said Sudan People?s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) secretary general Pagan Amum.

"That is what I see as the future of Abyei," he told reporters in the southern capital.

The vote on whether the region should remain in the north or join the south is
scheduled for January 9, the same day as a referendum on southern independence.

The two ballots are the centrepiece of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)
between Khartoum and Juba that ended Africa's longest-running civil war and gave
former southern rebels the SPLM a share in government.

But preparations for both referendums are behind schedule, and many Western nations
fear the possibility of renewed conflict if they are delayed.

On Tuesday, southern leader and Sudanese vice president Salva Kiir issued a joint
statement with President Omar al-Bashir pledging to maintain good relations regardless
of the outcome of the southern referendum.

"It was categorically affirmed that there will be no war and we want economic and
social cooperation and integration," the statement said.

The south is expected to opt for independence in the vote.

Negotiations on who should be eligible to take part in the Abyei referendum collapsed
in Ethiopia earlier this month, and on Monday another round of talks in Addis Ababa
set for Wednesday was postponed.

Diplomats are now working to bring the two sides closer amid fears of renewed
violence in Abyei.

Amum, who is also minister for peace and the implementation of the CPA, said the
south was willing to work out a deal to ensure a peaceful future.

"It is all about discussing the comprehensive deal or package that will unblock all these
issues," he said.

"Let us discuss Abyei together with border demarcation, with accepting the results of
the (southern) referendum, and with the relationship between the south and the north
after the referendum," the southern official added.

The talks must be held "with the aim of ensuring that there is peace... (and) no return to
war," he said.

The flashpoint district's future has long been a major bone of contention between north
and south because of its oil wealth.

Abyei is home to the Ngok Dinka tribe, who are seen to support joining an independent
south, but semi-nomadic Misseriya migrate each year to Abyei looking for pasture for
their cattle, and they largely support the north.

Amum accused the northern National Congress Party (NCP) of holding the process
hostage by demanding a "ransom" from both the south and Washington to find a
solution to Abyei.

"They (Khartoum) have told us that they want something from us, and they want
something from the Americans," he said.

"From the Americans, they want the sanctions to be lifted," Amum said, adding that the
government wanted to be removed from the US list of states that Washington says
sponsor terrorism.

"Also they want certain things from us, and we have expressed readiness to go to Addis
Ababa to discuss with them Abyei and all the other issues," the SPLM chief said.

"We are ready to put together the package of the ransom, and give it to them, and then
they release Abyei and demarcate the borders... It is not their right, it is only that they
have taken the process hostage," he said.
--------------------
Kenya's Foreign Minister Resigns (Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya—Kenya's foreign minister said Wednesday he is resigning to allow

investigations into allegations of a multimillion dollar scandal involving five Kenyan
embassies in Africa, Europe and Asia.

Moses Wetangula's announcement came less than an hour before parliament was to
continue debate on a committee report that investigated the sale or purchase of Kenyan
embassies, land and other property in Belgium, Egypt, Japan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The committee said Mr. Wetangula deliberately misinformed them about the
transactions and called for him to step aside. The report's most serious allegation is that
Kenya paid too much money for land to build a new embassy in Tokyo. It claims Kenya
lost 1.1. billion shillings ($13.6 million) in the transaction.

"I want to tell Kenyans with a clear conscience that this afternoon I have made the
personal decision to step aside from my responsibility and appointment as minister of
foreign affairs," Mr. Wetangula said in a televised statement shortly after his most
senior bureaucrat resigned.

During Tuesday's debate on the committee report, Mr. Wetangula denied any personal
wrongdoing in the incident. But he acknowledged that the report contained information
he wasn't aware of, including allegations that embassy officials in Tokyo withdrew
hundreds of millions of Japanese yen in cash to pay for the land, something that is
unusual in government transactions.

"I cannot and I will not condone any malpractices, condone any corruption. I will be the
first to fire the first shot," Mr. Wetangula said.

An ally of Mr. Wetangula moved a motion Tuesday to have parliament delete the
sections of the report that claimed Mr. Wetangula misinformed them and should resign,
arguing, like Mr. Wetangula had done earlier, that the minister had no hand in the
transactions.

"The long and short of this is the minister does not participate in transactions," Mr.
Wetangula said Tuesday. "The minister does not procure, the minister does not sign
checks.

Parliament was scheduled to continue debate on the committee report Wednesday.

Corruption is a common foe in Kenya. The country ranked 154 out of 178 nations on a
corruption index released by Transparency International this week.
--------------------
Guinea election set for November 7 (Associated Press)
CONAKRY, Guinea – A decree read on state TV has announced that the delayed
presidential run-off in Guinea has been rescheduled for Nov. 7.

Mohamed Kasse, the director of the press bureau of the country's interim president,
read the decree on the Wednesday evening news, ending days of speculation following
the abrupt cancellation of last weekend's vote.

The West African nation has been on the brink of crisis for weeks after a stalemate
between the top two political candidates forced the poll to be rescheduled multiple
times. If it goes ahead as planned, the vote could be the country's first free and fair
election, but many worry that the divide between the two candidates could spill over
into violence.

Over the past several weeks close to 100 people have been wounded in election-related
clashes.
--------------------
Kigali accuses 'Hotel Rwanda' hero of funding rebels (AFP)

KIGALI – The Rwandan man famed for saving hundreds of lives during the 1994
genocide and who inspired the film 'Hotel Rwanda', was on Wednesday accused by the
prosecutor general of supporting a rebel group.

Martin Ngoga alleged that Paul Rusesabagina actively supported the Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group that includes key perpetrators
of the 1994 massacres.

"We have solid evidence of Rusesabagina's involvement," Ngoga told Rwandan public
radio, adding that Rusesabagina had acted together with jailed opposition leader
Victoire Ingabire.

There was no immediate response from Rusesabagina, who during the 1994 genocide,
was the assistant manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, where he used his
connections to shield hundreds of people from the Hutu militias killing the Tutsi
minority.

Rusesabagina is a hero to some Rwandans, but others, including President Paul

Kagame who led the force that ended the genocide and has ruled the country since,
consider him an impostor.

The 56-year-old former hotel manager, who now lives in exile, has been a vocal critic of
the regime, recently denouncing Kagame's re-election and Ingabire's arrest.
Ngoga charged he had gathered evidence of money transfers by Rusesabagina to the
FDLR rebels, who operate from the eastern DR Congo.

The chief prosecutor claimed the allegation was corroborated by former FDLR
commanders, including one who was arrested last week and is the prosecution's main
witness.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Domestic resources and diversification key to economic growth in Africa – UN

27 October – African countries must mobilise domestic revenue and diversify their
economies to supplement resources that flow into the continent from foreign aid, loans
and investment to sustain growth during the global financial crisis, the head of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said today.