United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

4 February 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

In Tunisia, Free Speech Is a Big Story (Wall Street Journal)

(Tunisia) In the three weeks since the sudden departure of their autocratic president,
Tunisians have grown accustomed to a level of free speech they have never enjoyed
before.

Algeria to lift emergency rule soon (Times Live)

(Algeria) Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised more political
freedoms, saying a 19-year-old state of emergency would be lifted soon and the
opposition would have access to television and radio.

Morocco government plays down call for protests (Reuters)

(Morocco) Morocco said Thursday it was not worried about opposition plans for a
peaceful protest later this month to press for reforms in the monarchy and the
resignation of the government.

No plans to halt US military aid to Egypt: Pentagon (AFP)

(Egypt) The Pentagon on Thursday said it had no plans to halt weapons deliveries to
Egypt in coming months despite a popular revolt against President Hosni Mubarak's
rule.

Young Sudanese Start Protest Movement (New York Times)

(Sudan) In the past week, thousands of young Sudanese, many responding to a
Facebook call, have braved beatings and arrests to protest against their government.

Africans Debate Wisdom of Expected Secession of Southern Sudan (Voice of

America)
(Pan Africa) Decision by southern Sudanese voters to break away from the north has
many on the continent asking if it could happen to them.

Southern Sudan’s hunger for entrepreneurs (Financial Times)

(Southern Sudan) As southern Sudan nears independence following a January
referendum in which nearly 99 per cent backed separation from the Arab-led, Muslim
north, enabling more entrepreneurial success stories will be key to developing an
economy that is overwhelmingly reliant on oil and international aid, and where many
businesses are run by non-locals.

AU rejects bid to set ICC office in Addis Ababa (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)
(Pan Africa) The African Union (AU) has once again turned down the idea of an
International Criminal Court (ICC) liaison office in Addis Ababa.

U.S. Refuses to Support Bid to Defer the Hague Cases (Daily Nation)
(Kenya) The United States is opposed to a deferral of cases against six suspected
masterminds of Kenya's post-election violence.

Nigerians defy glitches to register for April polls (Reuters)

(Nigeria) Africa's most populous nation is compiling a new voter register ahead of
presidential, parliamentary and state governorship elections in April, a mammoth task
which is key to ensuring the vote is more credible than past polls.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Somalia: UN launches new anti-piracy plan calling for greater global naval
support
 UN humanitarian chief calls attention to drought crisis in Kenya and Somalia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday and Wednesday, February 8-9, 2011; National Defense

Industrial Association, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC
WHAT: Defense, Diplomacy, and Development: Translating Policy into Operational
Capability
WHO: Keynote Speakers include ADM Michael Mullen, USN, Chairman, Joint Chiefs
of Staff; BG Simon Hutchinson, GBR, Deputy Commander, NATO Special Operations
Forces Headquarters; ADM Eric T. Olson, USN, Commander, U.S. Special Operations
Command; Gen Norton A. Schwartz, USAF, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
Info: http://www.ndia.org/meetings/1880/Pages/default.aspx
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

In Tunisia, Free Speech Is a Big Story (Wall Street Journal)

TUNIS, Tunisia—In the three weeks since the sudden departure of their autocratic
president, Tunisians have grown accustomed to a level of free speech they have never
enjoyed before.

Small crowds gather around bookshop windows to view previously banned works
critical of the regime, radio comedians perform comic impressions of top officials, and
newspaper editors enjoy freedoms that are almost unprecedented in the Arab world,
where many regimes impose strict censorship.

With Egyptians following their North African near-neighbors onto the streets to push
for more democracy, Tunisians believe the new freedoms they are enjoying might soon
be exported to other countries.

At La Presse, the country's oldest French-language newspaper, the editorial board was
previously appointed by the government and the publisher was a prominent member of
the ruling party.

A shuffle through 20 or so editions of the paper, published just before the Jan. 14 change
of power, on a shelf in the editor's office showed each led with a large photograph of
the former president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Opposition parties weren't covered, said the editor, Faouzia Mezzi, who was elected to
the position by her colleagues the week after the revolution. She is quick to distance
herself from the former regime, but admits she had only very recently challenged the
newspaper's senior management in her former position as a junior editor.

"At the start of the protests, the paper was just on another planet," she said. "It only
talked about how wonderful Ben Ali was and didn't even mention the demonstrations
until the day he fled the country. But now we're even ready to publish a picture of
Rachid Ghannouchi on the cover."

She was referring to the leader of Ennahdha, Tunisia's main Islamist party, which was
banned under the old regime. Mr. Ghannouchi returned from exile on Sunday, after
being sentenced in absentia to a long prison sentence by the old regime in 1992.

However, transitioning to the new set of freedoms hasn't been entirely straightforward
—and editors are still careful what they write.

Belgaoui Jamel, editor of the weekly newspaper al-Akhbar, said reporters weren't used
to investigating stories themselves and as a result they sometimes published rumors
that had to be retracted.

"It wasn't easy to adjust," he said. "On the first day after the revolution I sat down and
had so much freedom I had no idea what to report on." He eventually settled on a piece
describing how the popular rising had occurred.

Comedians are trying out subject matter they would never have touched during Mr.
Ben Ali's rule. A radio comedy team that has been mimicking the former president's
nasal tones pushed the envelope further Tuesday with a performance mocking the new
prime minister and the once-feared interior minister.
"That would have put them in jail," said Ahmed Gharbi, 42, a street cleaner listening
outside a café Wednesday. "But listen, they're doing it again today!"
--------------------
Algeria to lift emergency rule soon (Times Live)

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised more political freedoms, saying
a 19-year-old state of emergency would be lifted soon and the opposition would have
access to television and radio.

The announcement follows mounting pressure from some government opponents who,
inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, had been planning a protest march
in the capital for next week.

WHY NOW?

Senior government officials had been insisting as late as Wednesday that the state of
emergency was necessary to combat the threat from Islamist insurgents. However, the
authorities seem to have decided that concessions were needed to prevent protests —
similar to those seen in other parts of the Arab world — from building momentum in
Algeria.

The risk of Algeria having a Tunisia-style revolution should not be overstated, however.
With oil prices in the region of

$100 a barrel, energy exporter Algeria has the cash to satisfy many of its citizens’
economic grievances. And Algeria has already had experience of political turmoil. An
uprising in the late 1980s led to greater democracy, but that degenerated into a conflict
between Islamist rebels and security forces that, according to some estimates, killed
about 200000 people. Few Algerians want to repeat that.

Nevertheless, the announcement by Bouteflika reflects the ability — proven many times
before — of Algeria’s ruling elite to adapt to changing circumstances and do what is
necessary to stay in power.

WILL IT SATISFY GOVERNMENT OPPONENTS?

It is still too early to tell. A first test will be whether the coalition of civil society groups,
trade unionists and small opposition parties planning a Feb. 12 protest march decide to
go ahead. Officials are still likely to ban that protest because, according to Bouteflika,
restrictions on marches in the capital will stay in force even after the lifting of the state
of emergency. If the government makes good on its commitment to open up television
and radio, that will appease some. Algeria’s electronic media are all state-controlled,
and they rarely give airtime to opposition voices. That is an anomaly, because Algeria’s
printed media is one of the most outspoken in the Arab world. Even if Bouteflika’s
promises are not enough to satisfy opposition activists, there is a good chance they will
reduce pressure for change among ordinary people. They will look in particular to the
promise of more jobs, and will be expecting the government to honour it.

WHAT ABOUT THE FIGHT AGAINST INSURGENTS?

For nearly two decades Algerian security forces have been battling Islamist insurgents,
who in the past few years have been operating as al Qaeda’s North African wing.
Officials said the state of emergency played a crucial role because, among other things,
it allowed the military to be mobilised to fight insurgents alongside the police and
paramilitary gendarmes.

The need for the military has receded as the violence has declined. Ambushes and
shootings still happen in remote areas, but at a much lower level now and there have
been no attacks reported in big cities for more than two years.

Security is still precarious in the mountainous Kabylie region, which al Qaeda

insurgents use as a safe haven. The problem here is that the gendarmes withdrew from
the more remote parts of the region a decade ago after clashes with local people who
accused them of brutality. The military partially filled the vacuum they left. It is likely
the government will seek to bring gendarmes back to Kabylie, or adopt rules which will
allow the military to stay on there.
--------------------
Morocco government plays down call for protests (Reuters)

RABAT – Morocco said Thursday it was not worried about opposition plans for a
peaceful protest later this month to press for reforms in the monarchy and the
resignation of the government.

A group on social networking website Facebook has gathered more than 3,000 followers
for a February 20 protest meant to restore "the dignity of the Moroccan people and
(press) for democratic and constitutional reform and the dissolution of parliament."

Authoritarian Arab leaders are watching carefully for signs of unrest spreading through
the region after revolts in Tunisia and Egypt. But a spokesman for the Moroccan
government, Khalid Naciri, said it felt "serene" about Internet calls for protests.

"Morocco ... has embarked a long time ago on an irreversible process of democracy and
widening of public freedoms," said Naciri in remarks carried by the official MAP news
agency.

"That citizens are able to express themselves freely does not disturb us in any way," said
Naciri, who is also the minister of communication.
He warned, however, that such protests must not harm national interests and
constitutional values. "Nothing suggests to us that it will be otherwise," Naciri added.

Rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch have said the North African country of 32
million people is the least likely in the region to be affected by the wave of popular
unrest.

By law, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. But critics say
its constitution gives the monarchy wide prerogatives from the dissolution of
parliament and the imposition of the state of emergency to a say on appointments of
key government portfolios including the prime minister.

Since his enthronement in 1999, King Mohammed has sought to reduce poverty and cut
what was one of the highest illiteracy rates in the Arab world while developing
infrastructure to attract foreign investment and create jobs.

But Morocco remains plagued by strikes and has witnessed sporadic, localized unrest
mainly in remote areas where citizens feel the development effort has not produced
tangible results.

Morocco, like other Arab states from Algeria to Yemen, has tried to keep out contagion
from Tunisia and Egypt by offering economic carrots on jobs, housing and prices.
Morocco has introduced a compensation system for importers of milling soft wheat
meant to stabilize grain prices.
--------------------
No plans to halt US military aid to Egypt: Pentagon (AFP)

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Thursday said it had no plans to halt weapons

deliveries to Egypt in coming months despite a popular revolt against President Hosni
Mubarak's rule.

While the US administration was examining its economic and military aid to Egypt in
light of political upheaval there, military assistance had not been suspended, a
spokesman said.

"There's a difference between halting the aid and reviewing it," said Colonel Dave
Lapan.

As senior US officers closely monitored fast-moving events in Cairo, Lapan said Egypt's
military continued to display "restraint" in the crisis so far.

"To date we have seen them act professionally and with restraint. Again it's a very fluid
situation so we're watching every single day," Lapan told reporters.
The White House has suggested that US assistance for Egypt is under review in the face
of a wave of street demonstrations demanding Mubarak step down.

Spare parts for F-16 warplanes, coastal patrol ships and fuses for munitions are among
items due to be delivered to Egypt in the early part of this year, Lapan said.

The United States has provided tens of billions worth of arms and training to Egypt
over more than three decades, with annual defense assistance at $1.3 billion.

Lapan also said the US military had no immediate plans to redeploy its forces in or near
Egypt in response to the crisis, but as always the armed forces were carrying out
"prudent planning" for all scenarios.

The majority of the more than 600 US troops stationed in Egypt are part of the
multinational observer mission in the Sinai, with the remainder providing security at
the embassy or working in a defense cooperation office, he said.

A US aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, a guided-missile destroyer and other warships
are currently in the Mediterranean with tentative plans to sail through the Suez Canal
on the way to the Arabian Sea possibly later this month.

US ships in the Arabian Sea back up the war effort in Afghanistan, with fighter jets
based on carriers running combat missions for troops on the ground.

Mubarak's government has long provided the US military with access to its air space
and safe passage for naval ships through the Suez Canal, which Washington has used to
supply troops in the Iraq war.

The US military's top officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, on Wednesday spoke to his
counterpart by phone and said in a statement that he had "confidence" in the Egyptian
army's ability to provide security for the country and the Suez Canal.

US officials and analysts view the role of Egypt's army as crucial in eventually resolving
the crisis, and the administration is hoping that longstanding defense ties with Cairo
will provide some leverage.

The White House said Wednesday that US contacts with various levels of the Egyptian
armed forces had helped rein in possible violence earlier in the week.
--------------------
Young Sudanese Start Protest Movement (New York Times)

NAIROBI, Kenya — The messages started going up on Facebook about two weeks ago,
to any Sudanese who cared.
“The people of Sudan will not remain silent anymore,” said a Facebook group called
Youth for Change. “It is about time we demand our rights and take what’s ours in a
peaceful demonstration that will not involve any acts of sabotage.”

“It is about time we show what we’re really made of,” the group said. “Our brothers in
Tunisia did it and so did our brothers in Egypt. It is about time for us.”

In the past week, in an unusual show of boldness, thousands of young Sudanese, many
responding to the Facebook call, have braved beatings and arrests to protest against
their government. The parallels to Egypt and Tunisia are obvious — Sudan is a
notoriously repressive Arab country, ruled by the same strongman for more than 21
years, historically and culturally close to its big brother just down the Nile, Egypt. And
it was already seething with economic and political discontent even before
demonstrators started taking to the streets of Cairo.

Though the protests are often small — a few dozen to a few hundred young people —
they seem to be well organized and widespread across northern Sudan, from
Khartoum, the capital, to Omdurman and El Obeid to Kosti, a relatively quiet city on
the banks of the Nile.

The grievances tend to be focused on Sudan’s wounded economy and practical things,
like the rapidly rising prices of sugar and fuel, though protesters have also shouted out
against political repression. The police have cracked down hard, arresting dozens and
beating countless others with batons and sticks. One student died this week from
injuries that other protesters said had been caused by the police.

Still, many Sudanese students seem fired up, even if the masses have yet to fall in line
behind them.

“There is a rising conscience in the region,” said Issraa el-Kogali, 29, an amateur
filmmaker who joined a recent protest in Khartoum. “So why not go for it?”

Despite its reputation as a tightly controlled police state, Sudan actually has a history of
successful protests. Street-level uprisings brought down the government in 1964 and
1985. Those moments unfolded similarly to what is happening in Egypt, with people
taking to the streets with specific economic and political complaints, the government
initially trying to crack down and then the security services joining the masses and the
government eventually acquiescing to their demands.

But most seasoned analysts doubt that this Sudanese government will buckle anytime
soon. The military is not simply loyal to the government — it is the government.
Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, took power in a military coup in 1989 and
has ruled ever since. The upper ranks of the military are said to be firmly behind him.
On top of that, the political opposition is weak, divided and widely discredited.

“There is certainly discontent with the regime, but it’s unclear if enough of the right
factors are present to complete the equation in Khartoum,” said Zach Vertin, a Sudan
analyst for the International Crisis Group. “Years of subjugation at the hands of the
N.C.P.,” or the National Congress Party, as the ruling party is called, “have yielded
both political apathy and a weak opposition. Likewise, the heavy and willing hand of
security services and corresponding fears among the population act to inhibit such an
uprising.”

In sum, Mr. Vertin said, “Protests undertaken thus far have not taken root with a broad
section of the population, but given what we’ve seen in Egypt, nothing can be ruled
out.”

Sudan is about to wade into a whirlpool of problems. The oil-producing southern third
of the country, which has been the economic engine for the somewhat impressive
growth in Khartoum, is preparing to split off. Last month southern Sudanese voters
opted for secession by more than 99 percent in a long-awaited independence
referendum, and some northern Sudanese blame the government for this.

The economy is already beginning to reflect the strains and worries of the coming split,
scheduled for July. The value of the Sudanese pound has plunged. The government
recently started cutting back on food and fuel subsides, which set the first protests in
motion. But the government is trying to project confidence.

“The situation in Egypt is different than the situation of Sudan,” said Rabie A. Atti, a
government spokesman. “We don’t have one small group that controls everything.
Wealth is distributed equally. We’ve given power to the states.”

Many Sudanese, especially those in the war-torn and marginalized Darfur region,
would probably argue with that. But few want to tangle with the police, who sometimes
wear ski masks and commando-style uniforms and often smash civilians in the face
with impunity.

“The Sudanese street is not yet prepared,” said Mouysar Hassan, 22, a student who took
part in a recent protest. “Many are scared.”
--------------------
Africans Debate Wisdom of Expected Secession of Southern Sudan (Voice of
America)

For some Africans, southern Sudan’s expected independence is a cautionary tale; others
see it as a pathway for their regions to gain full sovereignty.
According to Bloomberg News, Somaliland’s foreign minister, Mohamed Omar, says
his government plans to take a “more aggressive policy toward the African Union in its
efforts to gain international recognition from Somalia.”

Somaliland declared its independence 20 years ago and since then the south has been
engulfed in anarchy and civil war.

Nigeria

Some compare Sudan to Nigeria, with its tensions between Muslim and Christians and
between ethnic groups. In 1967, Nigeria defeated Biafran separatists fighting for an
independent state for the Ibo ethnic group in the east.

Recently, the president of the Nigeria Civil Rights Congress, Shehu Sani, called Sudan
“a reference point for division and secession.”

"What's happening in Sudan is raising a lot of fears, especially in Nigeria, which is a

colonial creation," said Sani in an article in the Guardian paper of Great Britain. "It was
thought the defeat of Biafra had made division impossible, but Sudan is rekindling the
thought.”

An editorial in Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper warns, “[Sudan] may provoke

unwarranted secessionist tendencies across the continent” and serve as a wake-up call
“to African leaders and authorities, including Nigeria, that the failure of governance has
its price, including [national disintegration].”

Other Nigerians disagree.

Sully Abu is the director of media and publicity for the election campaign of President
Goodluck Jonathan. Abu is also the publisher of the now-suspended New Age
newspaper.

He says Nigerians do not see themselves as divided by a largely Muslim north and
Christian south, which he says is an assumption of many foreigners.

"Here there is such complexity in tribes, regions and religion," he says, "that you don’t
find such neat demarcations as talk of a Muslim north or Christian south. The country
is much more divided into states. People are more concerned about their particular
localities rather than any big regional divides."

Abu says people may want more local or regional autonomy, but they prefer to keep the
country together.

The call for separation is also echoed throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Algeria’s foreign minister predicted “fatal repercussions” for Africa. Chad’s president,
Idriss Deby, warned of a domino effect – and “disaster” -- if countries with north-south
tensions, like his own, follow Sudan’s lead.

Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi compares Sudan’s split to a “contagious disease”
that could be “the beginning of the crack in Africa’s map.”

Analyst J. Peter Pham sees irony in Libya’s concerns. Pham is the senior vice president
of the New York-based think tank the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

"Historically, Gadhafi and Libya have been one of the biggest supporters of secessionist
movements in Sudan," says Pham. "For many years, the [Sudan People’s Liberation
Army] and some Darfur rebel groups received support from Gadhafi. So [having
helped them over the years], the colonel is relatively new to his anti-secessionism.

"At same time Libya is [opposing secession], Libyan sovereign wealth funds are actually
seeking investments in southern Sudan, so they are playing both sides against the
center."

Larbi Sadiki teaches in Britain at the University of Exeter’s Department of Politics. He

says separatists are active in Yemen and in Iraq.

"The south of Yemen," says Sadiki, "is a place that until 1990 was a different state
altogether, with a separate ideology, the emblems of a state -- and was an international
actor in its own right. Of late, we’ve seen renewed yearnings for recreating that state.
So, it’s in the offing. The centralized [state] does not command a following in the south
or from others [in other parts of the country.]"

"For secession, the best candidate [in the Arab world] would be northern Iraq,
Kurdistan. It approximates a quasi state, though without international recognition, and
without demarcated and recognized borders. But, you have in place an entity working
toward statehood. And, there are people with an aspiration to upgrade their autonomy
into full-fledged [nationhood]."

Analysts say there are plenty of areas in the Middle East and Africa that have had
separatist movements, including the regions of Casamance in Senegal, Cabinda in
Angola, Zanzibar in Tanzania and the disputed territory bordering Morocco, Western
Sahara.

But, it’s not clear that any of these regions have the potential to actually separate.

International backing
Jon Temin is a senior program officer at the Center for Mediation and Conflict
Resolution at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

He says Sudan and Eritrea have what many states with separatist movements lack -- a
long history of fighting for independence. Eritrea separated from Ethiopia in 1993. It
had fought for independence for about 30 years. Separatists in Sudan fought for 50
years.

Analyst Jon Temin says both Eritrea and Southern Sudan had bloody and decades long
wars for independence
"Almost no country in Africa has the history of brutal civil war that Sudan does," says
Temin. "They fought two civil wars that were among the longest in Africa that resulted
in more than two million deaths. While other secessionist movements have certainly
mounted significant armed resistance, nowhere else on the continent do we have this
extremely bloody history that is important in recognizing the right to self-
determination for the south."

Temin says southern Sudan had something else most other liberation movements do
not have -- extensive international support. A number of governments, including the
United States, helped mediate the process of creating Sudan’s five-year-old blueprint
for power sharing and potential separation, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

He says today the only other region in Africa to enjoy significant international support
for its liberation struggle is Western Sahara, where the Polisario Front has been fighting
for independence from Morocco. The United Nations granted the group official
recognition 31 years ago.

Regional security

Analyst J. Peter Pham opposes recognition of Western Sahara. He says the international
community should not recognize any secessionist movement that cannot stand on its
own. He says Western Sahara has little more than 100,000 people and lacks natural and
financial resources.

Western Sahara separatists enjoy a degree of international support, but some question if
it can stand alone, or contribute to regional security
Pham says a country must also contribute to regional security, which he says Western
Sahara does not do. For example, he says there’s a “lack of freedom” in the refugee
camps in Algeria run by the separatist Polisario Front. He says some of the Polisario’s
members are also involved in terrorist and criminal activities.

In addition, he says the Polisario Front has played a role in keeping two regional
powers, Morocco and Algeria, from cooperating on counterterrorism and other issues.
Pham also says an independent Western Sahara would likely prove to be a “failed
state,” where the lack of governance would result in a safe haven for Al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other radical groups.

Somaliland

One region that does meet Pham’s criteria is Somaliland, which declared its
independence from Somalia in 1991. It has fully recognized offices in South Africa,
Ethiopia and Ghana.

Somaliland leaders say they're inspired by secession of Southern Sudan

"[With] Somaliland," says Pham, "you have a state that is clearly viable. It’s proven it by
its 20 years existence. And, it adds to regional stability and security, keeping piracy
away from its shores and helping (neighboring, landlocked) Ethiopia have access to
[Somaliland’s port Berbera] for imports/exports…. It is actually a bulwark against
extremism in the region."

Ivory Coast

He also says northern Ivory Coast shares trade and cultural patterns with countries to
the north, giving it more in common with them than with the southern part of the
country, which produces nearly all of Ivory Coast’s cocoa.

In much the same way, he says southern Sudan is closely linked geographically and
economically to Kenya and Uganda. And he says the eastern region of DRC has more
in common with its neighbors in East Africa than with the capital, Kinshasa, in the west.

Pham says European states have shown that power can be decentralized to smaller
regions -- like Catalonia in Spain and Scotland in Britain. This, even as market forces
push for greater integration.

Dr. Larbi Sadiki of the University of Exeter says many Arab and other governments do
not favor decentralization. Instead, they use force to impose unity. He says that would
not be necessary if they adopted legal safeguards to protect minorities so they would
not feel they had to secede in order to protect themselves.
--------------------
Southern Sudan’s hunger for entrepreneurs (Financial Times)

Soup vats bubble over charcoal fires in stone dugouts, women sit on a shack floor
chopping green kudura leaves and hunch over hotplates making bread: this is fast food
the Sudanese way. Packed with lunchtime diners, Mama Zahara restaurant is so
popular with government officials in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, that they take
taxis out of their way to eat its traditional cuisine.
Rose Pita Juma, a Christian, and Jermalili Roman, a Muslim, the husband-and-wife
team behind the restaurant, feed up to 700 customers a day, employ 60, turn a $100,000
profit a year and are about to build their third outlet.

Not bad for a woman who started out in the early 1990s cooking classic Sudanese fare
outside her home as the shells hit during five decades of intermittent civil war.

“I have had a hard life and I know the value of money,” the 43-year-old says as she
scoops out fresh Nile perch from a cauldron of bubbling oil. “I am prepared for any
risk; but my goal is to expand, serve my customers and give women more jobs.”

As southern Sudan nears independence following a January referendum in which

nearly 99 per cent backed separation from the Arab-led, Muslim north, enabling more
such entrepreneurial success stories will be key to developing an economy that is
overwhelmingly reliant on oil and international aid, and where many businesses are
run by non-locals.

The Grand Hotel Bentiu, in the capital city of Unity state about 900km north of Juba, is a
case in point. The hotel might have bucket showers and curtains tethered with cut-off
plastic bottles, but it counts as five stars in the dusty town of rickshaws and thatch. Like
many businesses in southern Sudan, it was started and run by Kenyans. “Sudanese men
refuse to cook or clean utensils because they think it is below them and the women
refuse to work in hospitality because they think it is the same as prostitution,” says
hotel manager Martin Kimathi, 58, a retired Kenyan civil servant who swapped
Nairobi’s high rises for the one-storeys of Bentiu.

Melody Atil, a former World Bank consultant who now runs Peace Dividend, an online
investment platform to spur small business in Sudan through loans, says outsiders
often see opportunities that locals do not. “Kenyans, Indians, Lebanese, Chinese are
amazing at seeing where the market is; southern Sudanese entrepreneurs often don’t
have that savvy,” she says.

Mama Zahara is one of only a few homegrown successes in a region of 8m people

where only 7,333 businesses are recorded. War saw millions abandon their farms and
often their country, leaving behind a dearth of experience, knowledge and capital.

The restaurant’s growth was spurred by a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war,
allowing Mrs Juma to set up in the town market. She was encouraged by her husband,
who suggested she take two years’ leave without pay from her civil service job to start
the business. “You cannot find more than maybe five Mama Zahara types,” Mr Roman
says proudly, in between translating his wife’s Arabic. “But separation will add to the
stability, more businesses will start up.”
The pair has overcome corruption, lack of land, capital, buildings and inexperienced
staff. They sourced a plot from an Islamic organisation that allowed them to build for
free and pay rent only once they recoup the costs.

But the most pressing battle is against inflation. The pair has put up prices by 10 per
cent this year. Official statistics show annual food inflation ran at 31.5 per cent in
December, up from 5 per cent a year earlier.

Most of their ingredients are shipped in by road from Uganda, and the couple truck in
two deliveries of water a day, says Mrs Juma, raising her voice above the whirr of an
expensive diesel-guzzling generator. But she has other comforts. “Now anywhere I go,
I’m known as Mama Zahara: that respect is [worth] more than the money.”
--------------------
AU rejects bid to set ICC office in Addis Ababa (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)

The African Union (AU) has once again turned down the idea of an International
Criminal Court (ICC) liaison office in Addis Ababa.

Member countries of the ICC which has been trying for several years to conclude a
cooperation agreement with the AU have approved a budget of over 46 million shillings
to open the new office this year but the project is still on hold.

Relations between the ICC and the AU soured after the ICC prosecutor issued two
International arrest warrants in March 2009 and July 2010 against Sudanese President
Omar Al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed in
Darfur.

The situation has been worsened by the Kenyan case at The Hague after the AU
decided at its 2011 summit that it would request the UN to suspend all ICC proceedings
against the six high profile Kenyans for alleged crimes against humanity committed
during the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

Meanwhile, the US government has said Kenya should put in place an independent and
credible local tribunal before seeking a deferral of the six post election violence cases at
the ICC.

The US Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg said withdrawing from the Rome
Statute before such a mechanism is put in place would deny justice to the post election
violence victims.

Speaking after a meeting with the Kenya Anti- Corruption Boss PLO Lumumba,
Steinberg said the masterminds of the chaos must be brought to book by all means.
Steinberg was accompanied by US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie
Carson. His remarks come barely a week after an African Union summit in Addis
Ababa unanimously agreed to request the United Nations Security Council to approve
the Kenyan request.

Elsewhere, Cote d'Ivoire strongman Laurent Gbagbo has welcomed the African Union
creation of the high level panel to mediate in the country's election crisis.

Gbagbo's Foreign Minister Alcide Djedje who spoke in Addis Ababa at the end of the
16th African Union Summit said Ivory Coast breathed a sigh of relief once the AU
stamped its foot and appointed the panel to replace Kenya's PM Raila Odinga's mission
that ended on a sour note at the AU headquarters after he presented his report to the
AU Peace and Security Council.

Speaking in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, at the embassy of Ivory Coast, Laurent
Gbagbo's Foreign Minister Alcide Djedje said Gbagbo, had welcomed the creation of the
AU High-Level Panel to end the presidential power-struggle in Cote d'Ivoire and the
AU decision to drop the threat of use of military force to oust him from power.

Djedje who was blocked from attending the foreign minister's meeting however warned
that the new move could fail if it does not comply with the Ivorian constitution, in
endeavoring to resolve the crisis.

The AU Summit formed the high-level panel, to be chaired by Burkina Faso President
Theo Blaise Compaoré.

The panel includes; President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Chadian
President Idris Derby, Tanzanian's Jakaya Kikwete and South Africa's Jacob Zuma.

AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping while the chairperson of the Economic

Community of West African States - ECOWAS and Nigerian President Johnathan
Goodluck will represent the trading bloc. The Constitutional Council of Ivory Coast
declared Laurent Gbagbo the winner of the disputed November 28 election.

Djedje said the earlier mission by the African Union had failed due to refusal by the
mission head stay in Ivory Coast and conduct an independent review of the situation in
the country before developing the report.

According to the Ivorian constitution the winner can only be declared by the Council
and not the electoral body.

At the formation of the high level panel UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, handed
them a "five-point principle" on how to resolve the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, to include
including a one month ultimatum to complete the process.
But by insisting that the Ivorian crisis will be solved by through an African process
perhaps the African Union may want to go the Kenya and Zimbabwe way in resolving
the election crisis in one of Africa's key cocoa producing countries.
--------------------
U.S. Refuses to Support Bid to Defer the Hague Cases (Daily Nation)

Nairobi — The United States is opposed to a deferral of cases against six suspected
masterminds of Kenya's post-election violence.

Kenya got the support of the African Union to defer the cases at the continental group's
summit that ended in Addis Ababa on Monday.

US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who is visiting Kenya, said on Thursday
that his government would not support the deferrals, especially if they were meant to
protect the suspects.

"What is critical is to make sure accountability is achieved and impunity is avoided," he

said.

Mr Steinberg said the UN Security Council had not communicated with the US as one
of its permanent members on the AU's deferrals request.

"The US feels strongly that accountability is a critical element of making sure Kenya can
move forward and deal with the past as well as build a strong future," Mr Steinberg
said in Nairobi after he called on Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director Patrick
Lumumba.

He reiterated the same at a meeting with journalists at the US embassy in Nairobi.

"Because the ICC is the mechanism available and which Kenya submitted to, that is
what we support," he said.

China, also a permanent member of the Security Council, favours Kenya's request.

President Kibaki has said he supports a local mechanism to try the suspects, but Mr
Steinberg said the US would not back this unless it meets the standards for trying
international crimes.

The US official also met President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga separately
and delivered a similar message.

Meanwhile, a group of organisations on Thursday held demonstrations in Nairobi to

protest the decision by some MPs to pull out of the ICC.
The civil society groups said the move by the MPs to vote to move out of the ICC
process is an attack on Kenya's sovereignty.

"We very firmly state that we do not support the proposal to remove Kenya from the
ICC" Ms Rosemary Tollo of Africa Centre for Open Governance said.
--------------------
Nigerians defy glitches to register for April polls (Reuters)

LAGOS – Sitting on the dusty steps of his local chief's house, Cyrus Edo is spending his
third consecutive day trying to register to vote in Nigeria's upcoming elections.

Africa's most populous nation is compiling a new voter register ahead of presidential,
parliamentary and state governorship elections in April, a mammoth task which is key
to ensuring the vote is more credible than past polls.

The electoral commission says close to 60 million people had registered by last
Saturday, but it won a one-week extension to allow an estimated 10 million more to
ensure that the entire electorate will be able to cast their votes.

"I've been coming here for about three days now. I come at about 10 am and wait until
12 pm because I have to go to work," says Edo, who works in an up market patisserie in
a business district of Lagos, Nigeria's financial capital.

"Every day there are delays," he says near his home in Aja, a warren of dirt paths where
children play amongst rubbish on the edge of the city.

"Some people just give up, as they wait for so long."

The head of the election commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, has said new technology
will ensure the sort of fraud at past elections -- when the electoral roll included "Nelson
Mandela," "Michael Jackson" and "Mike Tyson" -- will be impossible.

Some 120,000 electronic voter registration kits, including laptop computers, fingerprint
scanners, cameras and printers, have been deployed across the country since mid-
January.

Most registration centers are impromptu affairs.

The kit is laid out on a plastic table under the shade of trees by the side of the road,
guarded by one or two policemen. At the better organized centers, market women have
laid out benches where those waiting can rest.

The process has not been glitch-free.

Fingerprint scanners were initially set to such a high level of forensic precision it took
an hour to register each person, leading many to give up. The machines have since been
reset.

Voters' details are recorded, their photos taken and all ten fingers are supposed to be
scanned. They should immediately receive a laminated plastic card with a unique
barcode.

That has not always been the case.

Project 2011 Swift Count, a joint election observation initiative set up by several local
civil society groups, said that at 21 percent of registration centers temporary voter cards
were not issued straight away as they should be.

But it noted the commission had worked quickly to overcome problems in most areas.

EXPENSIVE PROCESS

The process has been plagued by accusations of poor organization in the country of 150
million. Faulty machines, too few machines, and Nigeria's intermittent electricity
supply -- a great irony of Africa's largest oil and gas producer -- have all caused
problems.

The commission was given an 88 billion naira ($575 million) budget in August to
compile the list. Yet registration teams say they are even low on the ink and plastic
needed for an estimated 70 million cards.

"In some areas you have one machine for (thousands) of people. They come out as early
as 4am to queue," says Francis Onahor, a member of Reclaim Naija, an activist group
that has set up a live online map of trouble spots.

There have also been attempts to manipulate the list.

A local government councilor and member of the ruling People's Democratic Party in
Bayelsa state, in the oil-producing Niger Delta, was arrested last week for using kits to
illegally register voters at a private residence.

Some are finding ways to work around the problems.

"We took our own money to buy generators so that people would not queue," says
Murisuku Ojukon, the traditional ruler of Aja. "If you wait for the federal government
to help, you will be stranded."
Ojukon says his community clubbed together to buy 12 small generators that cost 15,000
naira ($100) each. One registration stall has been set up on his porch.

Young voters -- like Edo the pastry chef -- return day after day in the hope of
registering, despite near static queues. Some pay to laminate their cards themselves
after registering.

"I have to register," says 27-year-old Edo. "This is part of the development of my
country."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Somalia: UN launches new anti-piracy plan calling for greater global naval support
3 February – The United Nations today launched an action plan to combat piracy off the
Somali coast, calling for greater support from national navies to fight a “global menace”
that threatens not only international trade but the world body’s delivery of vital food
aid to millions of hungry people.

UN humanitarian chief calls attention to drought crisis in Kenya and Somalia

3 February – Wrapping up a visit to Somalia and Kenya, the United Nations
humanitarian chief today called attention to the crises in the two countries where
recurring droughts have deprived millions of already vulnerable people of their
livelihoods, leaving them in need of assistance.