United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office8 9 June 2011

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TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA Gates Calls Others to Join Libya Fight (WSJ) (Libya) In a "very blunt" speech Wednesday, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates named five European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that he said should boost their contributions to the alliance's air mission over Libya. John Kerry may scrap Libya resolution (Politico) (Libya) Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) may scrap a resolution backing President Barack Obamas military strategy in Libya, the latest sign of the troubles facing the White House in winning congressional approval for the two-monthold NATO-led bombing campaign. Nations Bombing Libya Ask for Help Amid Strain (NYT) (Libya) Nearly 12 weeks into the air campaign against Col. Muammer el-Qaddafis government, the growing strains of the operation on the participating nations dominated a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. Africa stance on Libya turns with call for Kadhafi to quit (AFP) (Libya) An African Union call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down exposes cracks in the continent's public stance towards the Libyan strongman who has long championed its various causes, analysts say. ICC Prosecutor: Bashir Still Committing Crimes in Darfur (VOA) By Unattributed Author June 08, 2011 The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor says Sudan's government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Sudan Announces Agreement on Debt, Oil With Seceding South, Minister Says (Bloomberg) (Sudan) Sudan said it agreed with Southern Sudan to lobby creditors for relief on its $38 billion foreign debt and set up a mechanism for the payment of fees on the export of oil from sub-Saharan Africas third-biggest producer.

Somali pirates release Chinese-owned cargo vessel (Reuters) (Somalia) Somali pirates have freed a Chinese-owned cargo vessel they had held for nearly seven months off the lawless Horn of Africa country, pirates and a regional maritime expert said on Wednesday. Africa demands more help at UN AIDS summit (AFP) (Pan-Africa) African leaders on Wednesday called for greater resources to battle the AIDS pandemic at a summit where UN leader Ban Ki-moon set a target of ending new infections by the end of the decade. Investor land deals exploiting Africa, report alleges (Reuters) (Pan-Africa) Wealthy U.S. and European investors are accumulating large swaths of African agricultural lands in deals that have little accountability and give them greater control over food supply for the world's poor, according to a report released Wednesday. Along with hedge funds and speculators, some U.S. public universities and pension funds are among those in on the land rush, eyeing returns of 20 to as much as 40 percent, according to the report by Oakland Institute, a think tank in California. UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website y Drought-hit Kenyan herders appeal for help to salvage emaciated livestock UN y Sudanese leader still committing crimes in Darfur, Security Council told y Warning of impact on civilians, UN relief official urges halt to Sudanese fighting y UN to help West African musicians get paid for their creativity Note: The two Financial Times articles below require registration to view the entire article Pentagon sees Libya military costs soar (Financial Times) US military operations in Libya are on course to cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Pentagon estimated, according to figures obtained by the Financial Times. Gates criticizes five allies over Libya (Financial Times) Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, criticised five European Nato members on Wednesday for not doing enough in the air war over Libya, a rare diplomatic breach that underlines the growing tensions within the alliance over who is bearing the burden of the two-month-old campaign. ------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 2:00 pm-3:30 pm; U.S. Institute of Peace Headquarters, B241, 2301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 WHAT: The Future of South Sudan: A Conversation with H.E. Vice President Riek Machar WHO: H.E. Lt General Dr. Riek Machar, Vice President, the Government of Southern Sudan; Tara Sonenshine, Introduction, Executive Vice President U.S. Institute of Peace; David Smock, Moderator, Senior Vice President, Center of Innovation U.S. Institute of Peace Info: http://www.usip.org/events/the-future-south-sudan-conversation-he-vicepresident-riek-machar ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT Gates Calls Others to Join Libya Fight (WSJ) By STEPHEN FIDLER and JULIAN BARNES June 8, 2011 BRUSSELSIn a "very blunt" speech Wednesday, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates named five European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that he said should boost their contributions to the alliance's air mission over Libya. At a closed-door meeting of defense ministers here, he called on Germany and Poland to start participating in the mission, to which neither has yet made a direct contribution, according to several Nato officials and diplomats. Mr. Gates, who steps down on June 30, also cited Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey as allies that could do more. Mr. Gates's speech at a lunchtime session was described by British defense secretary Liam Fox as "very blunt." Dr. Fox said he delivered a similar message. "I made the point that too many [allies] are doing too little." The message was echoed by others including French minister Gerard Longuet and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Mr. Rasmussen said the alliance had enough assets to continue the Libya operation, but broader backing among the allies was needed to sustain it. "I have requested such broadened support either by new contributions or increased contributions or more flexible use of assets provided for the operation," he said. NATO has 28 members and only eight countries have flown ground-strike missions in Libya. German defense minister Thomas de Maizire said that Germany already supported the mission and rejected the calls. "In this case, we are not contributing military capabilities," he said after the meeting. "And we will not do so." But in a post-conflict stage in Libya, he said Germany would be "ready to carry responsibility."

Carme Chacn Piqueras of Spain, which helps enforce the no-fly zone, said publicly that Spain wouldn't expand its mission, and told other ministers that to do so would require parliamentary approval. That may be difficult for a minority government. Representatives from the other governments didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A senior U.S. official said that the Libya operations are stressing many of the participating countries, particularly as costs rise for maintenance and fuel, and air crews are tested by an increasing tempo of sorties. "It stresses the crews, it does. These are smaller countries, it doesn't mean they won't do it, they will," the senior official said. France and Britain carry out the most ground strike missions. But U.S. officials singled out Denmark and Norway for "punching above their weight." Norway has indicated its forces are at their limit and will not be able to continue to contribute at the same rate. Denmark plans to maintain its current rate. Another U.S. official said the debate in the NATO meeting was more about burden sharing than the sustainability of the mission. Under NATO rules, an ally that participates in a mission pays for its own contribution. Although the U.S. has stepped back from ground strikes, it still carries out a majority of air sorties in the background, playing a major role in refueling, surveillance, and airdefense suppression. The senior official said the rate of strikes in Libya has been increasing in the last few weeks because of improving intelligence. The U.S. also provided nine additional airrefueling tankers, and that added capacity has allowed an increased tempo in airstrikes, the official said. "We are getting better, over time, about acquiring targets,the intelligence is getting better," the official said. NATO carried out its heaviest day of strikes on Tripoli on Tuesday since the alliance's campaign began in March. The pace slowed Wednesday though loud explosions still rumbled across the city before sunrise and then sporadically during the day. NATO confirmed it had conducted 66 strike sorties on Tuesday, many of them in daylight hours. According to people in the meeting, Sweden, one of the non-NATO countries participating in the mission, has volunteered to provide extra air surveillance and tanker assets. Ministers agreed formally to extend the mission a further 90 days from June 27.

Mr. Rasmussen said: "For Gadhafi, it is no longer a question of if he goes but when he goes. It may take weeks, but it could happen tomorrow and when he goes the international community has to be ready." But he foresaw no NATO "boots on the ground" for the post-conflict period. Though the alliance would be ready to assist others afterward, if there was a need, a clear mandate and international support, it wouldn't take a lead role, he said. ---------------------John Kerry may scrap Libya resolution (Politico) By Manu Raju June 8, 2011 Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) may scrap a resolution backing President Barack Obamas military strategy in Libya, the latest sign of the troubles facing the White House in winning congressional approval for the two-monthold NATO-led bombing campaign. Kerry, who drafted a resolution with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other senior senators backing the military campaign, told reporters he may drop plans to push for the plan altogether. I dont know about a resolution on Libya, Kerry told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol. I dont know if its necessary. Asked why, Kerry said: Because a lot of colleagues feel that its not necessary. Both parties are divided on how much to support the White House. Some senators are pushing for a resolution that authorizes force in the nation, others are looking to impose new reporting requirements on the administration, still others want to punt on the issue altogether since the Senate already backed a no-fly-zone in Libya earlier this spring. The developments come a day after Kerrys committee announced it would scrap a planned committee vote Thursday on the resolution, a week after the House questioned Obama on his policy, and soon after two key senators introduced a measure Wednesday taking aim at the presidents military policy. Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced a strongly worded measure Wednesday afternoon taking direct aim at the presidents policy. The joint resolution which, if enacted, would have the force of law requests an unclassified report on the Libya operation within two weeks in response to 21 detailed questions about the goals of the American mission.

There is very little or any historical precedent for the circumstances under which the president is headed in using military force in Libya, Webb told POLITICO Wednesday. While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that a Libya debate could take place on the floor next week, its unclear how the chamber will proceed with support waning for the Kerry-McCain plan. If the measure were rejected by the Senate, it would be a major embarrassment for Obama as he tries to shore up support for the mission in Libya. NATO is taking the lead on the bombing campaign against Libyan forces, but the U.S. is providing key intelligence and military support. Under the War Powers Resolution, Congress must authorize the use of force within 60 days of a military operation. But theres a long-running dispute between the executive and legislative branches over the law, and the Obama administration believes it does not need consent from Congress because the scope of the mission is limited to an aerial attack. The president has said the Libyan campaign is necessary to prevent a full-scale humanitarian crisis in the region. But that hasnt pacified criticisms in Congress. Last week in the House, a growing number of Republicans were weighing whether to back a resolution by liberal Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, that ultimately failed, calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops from the region. That prompted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to offer a counter-proposal calling for the Obama administration to justify its actions to Congress within two weeks, which cleared the House. The Houses rebuke added a new complication to bipartisan efforts led by Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to put the Senate on record backing the military effort there. Last month, the two men and five other powerful members of the Senate introduced a resolution saying the Senate supports the push by Libyans for political reform. It also backed the limited use of military force that was backed by the United Nations in March and said the U.S. goal in the campaign was to achieve the departure from power of Muammar Qadhafi and his family and said that the entrenched leaders funds would be returned to the Libyan people. The White House backs the proposal. I think once they saw what happened in the House, they realized that the Kerry amendment was not going to be something that wasnt going to pass probably, Corker said.

The tensions are running high on the issue, with McCain ridiculing Republicans who oppose the measure as Kucinich Republicans, citing a Wall Street Journal editorial. But not even members of McCains own leadership team back his resolution. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate GOP campaign committee, said it doesnt go far enough. But McCain said he believed the chances were still decent for approval by the full Senate, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a powerful ally has deferred to the one-time presidential candidate, who is the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee. Im not too worried, he said Wednesday. But Im never worried Ive always done whats right. ----------------------------Nations Bombing Libya Ask for Help Amid Strain (NYT) By John F. Burns and Thom Shanker June 8, 2011 TRIPOLI, Libya Nearly 12 weeks into the air campaign against Col. Muammer elQaddafis government, the growing strains of the operation on the participating nations dominated a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. But with the United States, Britain and France prodding behind closed doors for other NATO nations to join more aggressively in the air campaign, there were few signs that the five countries that were the main targets of the appeals Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Turkey were willing to forsake their political reservations and commit themselves more deeply. Since NATO took control of the bombing and missile strikes from the United States at the end of March, the alliance has conducted more than 10,000 air sorties. In the heaviest strikes yet, concentrating on attacks in Tripoli, NATO launched 157 strike missions on Tuesday, more than three times the previous daily average. NATO pounded targets throughout the day on Tuesday and into the night, substantially obliterating much of Colonel Qaddafis Bab al-Aziziya command compound in the capital, as well as a luxurious tented encampment in the desert southeast of Tripoli where the Libyan leader, keen to show his Bedouin origins, has greeted foreign leaders. The desert strike appeared to show the alliances readiness to kill Colonel Qaddafi. A NATO statement described the target as a command and control facility. But apart from small groups of soldiers lurking under trees nearby with pickups carrying

mounted machine guns, reporters taken to the scene saw nothing to suggest that the camp was a conventional military target. Beside the burned-out cinders of two tents, with their singed carpets and stacked food trays, there were several quad bikes and the skeleton of a golf cart. Ali Mohammed, an official who said he oversaw the site, batted away questions about Mr. Qaddafis connection to the camp before finally acknowledging, Yes, yes, he meets his guests here. In Brussels, an American official accompanying Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to the NATO meeting said the recent step-up in the air campaign had both a military and a psychological component. We are steadily but surely eroding his capacity, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic protocols. In a nine-minute audio message on state television about the time that NATO attacked the desert camp on Tuesday, Colonel Qaddafi combined defiance with repeated references to his willingness to die rather than submit to NATO demands to step down. Martyrdom, he said, is a million times better. But the pressures are not on the Libyan leader alone. Concerns about the mounting costs of the campaign and air crew exhaustion have led to a push to get some NATO members more involved in the effort. The United States role has centered on tasks including midair refuelling, aerial surveillance and pilotless drones, while most of the actual strikes have been by Britain and France, backed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Norway. Mr. Gates said at the meeting that nations that had been tepid about the air campaign should do more to help carry out the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians. An American official familiar with Mr. Gatess remarks, made in a closed session of the defense ministers talks, said that he had urged the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey which are participating in the air campaign, but which have forbidden their aircraft to strike at ground targets to do more. Mr. Gates also called on Germany and Poland to commit military forces, the official said. But the resistance to wider involvement was strong. Germany sticks to its position: No military engagement, said Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt. His Spanish counterpart, Carme Chacon Piqueras, said her country would continue to help enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, but not attack. It will be the same contribution, the same format, she said.

Meanwhile, in the ground war, new fighting on Wednesday at Misurata, the contested city 130 miles east of Tripoli, killed at least 10 rebels and wounded about 30 others, according to accounts by Western reporters in the city. It appeared to have been the most intense fighting since rebel forces drove Qaddafi fighters from the city and captured its airport nearly a month ago. It was unclear which side initiated the fighting. --------------------Africa stance on Libya turns with call for Kadhafi to quit (AFP) By Herve Bar June 8, 2011 NAIROBI An African Union call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down exposes cracks in the continent's public stance towards the Libyan strongman who has long championed its various causes, analysts say. The leader of the AU's heads of state mediation team on Libya, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, said this week Kadhafi's departure had become necessary as "he can longer lead Libya". It was the first time a head of state on the AU panel, which has made several trips to Libya to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict, has made such a direct public reference to the departure of the Libyan leader. "Clearly more and more African heads of state feel they can openly express their dislike of Kadhafi," said Paul-Simon Handy, director of studies at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. "The facade of unity that the AU often likes to show on such issues is cracking," Handy said. The pan-African body, which includes many beneficiaries of Libyan aid, has steadfastly condemned NATO-led air strikes on Kadhafi's forces, officially being carried out to protect civilians from attack. The 53-nation grouping has also publicly insisted the only way out of the conflict is its "road map" that calls for a ceasefire and a transition period. Three African countries -- Gabon, Nigeria and South Africa, all non-permanent members of the UN Security Council -- however voted for the resolution to impose a no-fly-zone in Libya, which led to the air raids. The Arab League also announced its support for the measure.

Amid uneasiness in Africa about intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said those who endorsed the resolution made a mistake. South Africa has also criticised the strikes and demanded an immediate ceasefire, with President Jacob Zuma calling for NATO to "respect the AU's role in searching for a solution in the matter." President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, one of only two African countries to have recognised the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council, will visit the rebel leaders in their eastern stronghold in Benghazi on Thursday, his office said. "The president of the republic will go to Benghazi tomorrow," an official in Wade's office said Wednesday. "He will met the National Transitional Council," said the source, talking from Paris where Wade was on an unannounced visit. Gambia has also officially recognised the NTC as Libya's legitimate representative. However until now the AU's "public line" did not include Kadhafi's departure, a diplomat at the African Union said. "But in the direct talks with Kadhafi, the heads of state (on the AU panel) had been telling him he had to leave." The issue was debated intensely at the African Union's special mini-summit in Addis Ababa late May. Several delegations at that meeting called, in vain, for Kadhafi's departure to feature as one of the conditions for a resolution of the crisis. "It is a change in their public stance," the AU diplomat said of Ould Abdel Aziz's admission Monday that Kadhafi will have to step down, calling it a "healthy change of position." "Even if some heads of state have a special relationship with Kadhafi, the majority of them have acknowledged that there was no alternative but his departure," he said. Kadhafi has intricate involvement in the continent, for decades lending finance, training or backing to various conflicts and countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Chad, Mali and Zimbabwe.

He has also helped peacekeeping operations, given aid and built infrastructure, while pushing for the creation of a "United States of Africa" for which he offered 90 billion dollars last year. After the popular uprising against his regime erupted in February, he was said to have been able to pay thousands of African mercenaries to back his forces, allegedly including from Chad, Niger, Mali, Zimbabwe and Liberia. But the African Union has perhaps "realised what the situation is really like on the ground," said Handy of the apparent change in stance, adding that Kadhafi's departure is "now only a question of time". -----------------ICC Prosecutor: Bashir Still Committing Crimes in Darfur (VOA) By Unattributed Author June 08, 2011 The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor says Sudan's government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. In comments Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the Sudanese Armed Forces continue to carry out aerial attacks and killings aimed at ethnic groups believed to support Darfur rebels. Similar assertions came earlier this week from Human Rights Watch, which said abuses in Darfur have increased in recent months while the world's attention was focused on south Sudan's coming independence. The ICC indicted Sudan President Omar al-Bashir in 2009 on charges of masterminding a campaign of murder, rape, and other crimes in Darfur. Bashir has avoided arrest by traveling only to countries that will not hand him to the ICC. Rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Bashir government in 2003. The U.N. says more than 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and 2.7 million others displaced. -----------------Sudan Announces Agreement on Debt, Oil With Seceding South, Minister Says (Bloomberg) By Maram Mazen Jun 8, 2011 Sudan said it agreed with Southern Sudan to lobby creditors for relief on its $38 billion foreign debt and set up a mechanism for the payment of fees on the export of oil from sub-Saharan Africas third-biggest producer.

If there is no debt relief within two years, they agreed to share responsibility for the debt, Idris Abdelgadir, state minister for presidential affairs, told parliament today in Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum, the capital. The accord came in negotiations to prepare for oil-rich Southern Sudans independence on July 9. Sudan hasnt been able to borrow from the World Bank since 1993 because it failed to make payments on its debt and has arrears of about $30 billion, according to the Washington-based Center for Global Development, an aid research group. Southern Sudan, which will assume control of about 75 percent of Sudans current oil production of 490,000 barrels a day, will pay the north fees for the use of pipelines and facilities at Port Sudan on the Red Sea to export the crude, Abdelgadir said. Sudans crude is pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysias Petroliam Nasional Bhd and Indias Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Almost 99 percent of Southern Sudanese voters chose independence in a referendum in January. The balloting was the centerpiece of a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war between the north and south. The two sides are also discussing issues such as security arrangements, border demarcation and the future of the disputed region of Abyei. Sudans army occupied Abyei on May 21 after accusing southern forces of attacking its soldiers there two days earlier. Southern Sudanese citizens who have been residing in the north wont be given the choice between the citizenship of the two future separate nations, Abdelgadir said. The southerners must take the citizenship of the new state within six months to a year, he said. ----------------------Somali pirates release Chinese-owned cargo vessel (Reuters) By Unattributed Author Jun 8, 2011 7:45am EDT MOGADISHU - Somali pirates have freed a Chinese-owned cargo vessel they had held for nearly seven months off the lawless Horn of Africa country, pirates and a regional maritime expert said on Wednesday. Owned and managed by Ningbo Hongyuan Ship Management Ltd, the Panamaflagged cargo carrier Yuan Xiang was seized on Nov. 12 and its 29-strong Chinese crew taken hostage.

"We have freed the Chinese ship. We have received ... the agreed ransom this morning and the ship has already sailed away," a pirate who identified himself as Hussein told Reuters by telephone from the pirate haven of El-Dhanane. Andrew Mwangura, a Kenya-based former maritime official and now maritime editor of the Somalia Report confirmed the release but said he did not know whether a ransom had been paid. Armed pirate gangs plaguing the strategic waters off Somalia that link Europe and Asia typically demand multi-million dollar ransoms for a vessel's release. A report by the U.S.-based One Earth foundation published earlier this month said pirates' hostages were increasingly the victims of beatings, confinement and in some cases torture. ---------------------Africa demands more help at UN AIDS summit (AFP) By Pierre-Antoine Donnet June 8, 2011 UNITED NATIONS African leaders on Wednesday called for greater resources to battle the AIDS pandemic at a summit where UN leader Ban Ki-moon set a target of ending new infections by the end of the decade. Thirty presidents and heads of government were at the summit marking the 30th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS, which will set a target figure for the numbers who will receive retroviral treatment in coming years. More than six million people currently get drugs to keep AIDS and HIV at bay. But more than nine million still do not get the treatment and an estimated 1.8 million people a year are still dying from AIDS. Some 34 million people around the world have AIDS, according to UN figures, and about half do not know they have the disease. US President Barack Obama, who did not attend the United Nations summit, urged more governments to get involved and coordinate more efficiently to create greater awareness about the virus and its victims. "No nation can do this alone," he said in a statement. "Together, we can resolve to meet our shared responsibilities. Together, we can come closer to our vision of a world without HIV/AIDS."

"Thanks to an aggressive global response, fewer people are being infected, a diagnosis is no longer a death sentence and more people with HIV/AIDS are living long, vibrant lives," Obama said. "But so long as tens of millions of people live with this devastating disease, and so long as nearly two million people die from AIDS-related diseases every year, we cannot and will not rest." African presidents said they were making spectacular progress, with the number of new infections in the continent brought down from 2.2 million a year in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2009. But they added that Africa desperately needs finance for drugs. "The international community cannot remain deaf to the silent whispers for help from the disadvantaged countries," Lesotho's Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili told the summit. "Conflicts can be addressed through political dialogue. The same cannot be true for HIV and AIDS. It simply does not have a cure," he added. "To say that adequate funding is critical to the success of our HIV and AIDS response is an understatement," said Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, whose country has Africa's second highest number of AIDS victims behind South Africa. "Many countries, including mine, can neither achieve the targets we have set for ourselves 10 years ago, nor the Millennium Development Goals, without the support of our development partners," the Nigerian leader added. Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba said that resources given to Africa "remain insufficient given the size of the HIV/AIDS impact on the continent." The summit final statement is to set out the target number of people who will get AIDS drugs. Health groups have joined poorer nations in pressing for rich countries to commit to pay for drugs for all nine million sufferers that still do not get treatment. The UN secretary general said that the international goal must now be to eliminate Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome by 2020 -- "zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths." Ban also said that "bold" action was required by the international community, but also highlighted how perceptions of the disease and its sufferers have changed in the past 30 years.

"Many of you remember the early days in the 1980s. The terrible fear of a new plague. The isolation of those infected. Some would not even shake hands with a person living with HIV," Ban said. "If we are to relegate AIDS to the history books we must be bold. That means facing sensitive issues, including men who have sex with men, drug users and the sex trade," he added. "I admit those were not subjects I was used to dealing with when I came to this job. But I have learned to say what needs to be said because millions of lives are at stake." Ban called on partners to "come together in global solidarity as never before," in a bid for universal access to treatment by 2015 and efforts to lower costs. Mathilde Krim, founder of The Foundation for AIDS Research, said that 30 years ago no one would have predicted the scope of the AIDS tragedy -- which has killed more than 25 million people, including one million in the United States. She warned that with 7,000 new infections each day there is still a huge battle ahead. "We are still losing ground to HIV and we are still losing the battle with HIV," she said. "There are more infections than people put under treatment." --------------------Investor land deals exploiting Africa, report alleges (Reuters) By Carey Gillam and Richard Valdmanis Wed Jun 8, 2011 3:05pm GMT KANSAS CITY, Mo. and DAKAR - Wealthy U.S. and European investors are accumulating large swaths of African agricultural lands in deals that have little accountability and give them greater control over food supply for the world's poor, according to a report released Wednesday. Along with hedge funds and speculators, some U.S. public universities and pension funds are among those in on the land rush, eyeing returns of 20 to as much as 40 percent, according to the report by Oakland Institute, a think tank in California. While investors find rewards in the arable African soils, some of the deals displace local residents in poor African communities, the report charged. A large share of land deals are aimed at biofuel production, taking away land from food production. And some deals shield investors from accountability even as they acquire precious land for next to nothing, the report alleged. "This is very, very scary," said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of Oakland Institute. With funding from such foundations as the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Oakland Institute researchers spent more than a year working undercover to gather information on land investment deals in seven African countries such as Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Institute officials said they are not opposed to agricultural investments in Africa, which they agree are needed to increase food production. But they hope that by exposing negative aspects of certain deals, they can curb "blind support" for expanded industrial agriculture on the continent. They said there are lax or no job creation requirements for many of these investments, land costs are cheap or, at least in one cited example, free. Water rights are granted broadly, and many foreign investors are not required to honor labor and environmental rights. "Investment in agriculture is very important, but the question is what kind of investment," said Mittal. FROM IOWA TO AFRICA World economic and agricultural leaders have projected the world's population will surpass 9 billion by 2050 and global food production must jump 70 percent or more to meet demand. Such dire warnings have sparked a rush by investors to buy up farmland around the world. Investing in African agriculture particularly has been encouraged in many cases by African governments and organizations eager for help in modernizing farming to raise crop yields that severely lag those of the more developed parts of the world. The Malian Investment Promotion Agency (API), for instance, touts investor access to land and the ability to easily transfer profits out of the country, the report alleged. In Ethiopia, government incentives include income tax holidays and a government "land bank" through which foreign investors can acquire large contiguous blocks of land, according to the report. With such incentives, the pace of land acquisitions in Africa is staggering. In 2009 alone nearly 60 million hectares was purchased or leased in comparison, the report stated. One active U.S. investor is AgriSol Energy LLC, led by well-known Iowa farming and ethanol executive Bruce Rastetter. AgriSol has publicly described its plans for a large-scale commercial farming and beef and poultry production on three tracts of land in western Tanzania, with a demonstration project ready by late this year. AgriSol works with a Tanzanian investments and consulting firm to circumvent limits on foreign land ownership, according to the Oakland Institute report. The group has said publicly that it intends to work cooperatively with local farmers. But the Oakland Institute said that much of the 325,000 hectares the group is taking control of is populated by Burundian refugees who have been farming the land since 1972. Those people are being forced to leave the land and white South African farm managers are to be brought in, the Institute said it found. The Tanzanian government had been undertaking a naturalization process to grant citizenship to the more than 160,000 refugees. But with the AgriSol deal, the government has been coercing refugees to evacuate the land in question if they want citizenship, according to the according to the Institute report, which does not make clear whether AgriSol is aware of the relocation efforts or not. Rastetter did not respond to interview requests. In many cases, the land comes cheap. In the west African country of Mali, one investment group was able to secure 100,000 hectares of fertile land for a 50-year term for free, according to the Institute's report. Elsewhere $2 a hectare is the going rate. "There's an extreme lack of transparency surrounding the land deals in

Africa," said Frederic Mousseau, policy director at Oakland Institute. "International investors who are involved in these deals are not accountable to anyone." Pentagon sees Libya military costs soar (Financial Times) By Jeremy Lemer and Christine Spolar Published: June 9 2011 00:23 | Last updated: June 9 2011 00:23 US military operations in Libya are on course to cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Pentagon estimated, according to figures obtained by the Financial Times. Robert Gates, the outgoing secretary of defence, said last month that the Pentagon expected to spend somewhere in the ball park of $750m in the 2011 fiscal year as part of efforts to protect the Libyan people. But according to a Pentagon memo which includes a detailed update on the progress and pace of operations, by mid-May US operations in Libya had cost $664m, a figure confirmed by the Department of Defence. The document, entitled the United States Contribution to Operation Unified Protector", adds that US costs are running at a rate of about $2m a day or $60m a month. The memo has been circulating on Capitol Hill since last week. The DoD declined to comment on the increased costs of the operation. The pace of spending is higher than reported by the DoD comptrollers office in late March. In a congressional hearing, Pentagon officials said the US had spent about $550m on Libya, at a rate of about $40m a month. If spending remains at the increased rate until the end of the recently extended Nato authorisation period, the DoD could face an extra bill of about $274m to pay for a combination of air strikes, refuelling operations and intelligence-gathering missions, putting further strain on its budget. Any extra spending will further strain the DoDs budget, which is under pressure from cost overruns on procurement programmes and under threat from significant cuts as part of Congressional efforts to address the federal deficit. Despite continuing to press the White House for additional funding for Libya operations, in his May comments Secretary Gates suggested that in the case of Libya, unfortunately, were fundamentally having to eat that one. Any additional costs could also add to pressure on the US to limit its mission in Libya. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution demanding

that President Obama explain the US involvement in Libya, forestalling a more radical measure seeking an end to US involvement. Although it is working under Nato, the US is by far the largest contributor to operation Unified Protector. As of mid-May it was conducting 70 per cent of reconnaissance missions, over 75 per cent of refuelling flights and 27 per cent of all air sorties. The US has about 75 aircraft, including drones, involved in the operations and since the end of March has conducted about 2,600 aircraft sorties and about 600 combat sorties. In addition the US military can call on a number of naval assets in the Mediterranean. As well as its contribution to the Nato operation, US spending on Libya includes its twelve day operation Odyssey Dawn that took place before Nato took over. In total the US military has fired about 228 missiles as of mid-May. For comparison the US Navy plans to buy 196 or so missiles this year for about $300m or about $1.5m each, according to US budget documents. Gates criticises five allies over Libya By Peter Spiegel in Brussels Published: June 8 2011 17:56 | Last updated: June 8 2011 17:56 Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, criticised five European Nato members on Wednesday for not doing enough in the air war over Libya, a rare diplomatic breach that underlines the growing tensions within the alliance over who is bearing the burden of the two-month-old campaign. During a closed-door meeting of Nato defence ministers, Mr Gates specifically named Germany and Poland as two countries with the capabilities to assist in the air war who were currently not contributing at all. According to officials familiar with the presentation, he also pointed to Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands as countries who were still enforcing the no-fly zone, but should expand their participation, either by flying ground-attack sorties or assisting in other high-intensity missions, like reconnaissance flights or in-air refuelling. The burden of the strike mission is being borne by eight allies, said a senior US official. Crews are getting tired, the stress on the airplanes is significant, and youre finding that already in key allies as they consider how they can continue and extend their operations.

US officials are particularly concerned that a significant portion of the ground campaign is being borne by Canada and three smaller European countries: Belgium, Denmark and Norway. The US official said that while Canada and Belgium are flying at optimal rates, Danish and Norwegian aircraft are flying significantly higher than normal operational pace, stressing their air forces. At the Nato gathering, Norway said it may be forced to reduce its sorties because of their high operational tempo. The singling out of Germany could exacerbate already tense relations between Berlin and Washington <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b076c8e-5fb4-11e0-a71800144feab49a.html#axzz1OVeAgONF> , where officials have been critical of the German government for abstaining from the UN resolution authorising the military campaign against the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in March. The White House had hoped to win over Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, during a trip to Washington earlier in the week. But at a press conference with Ms Merkel on Monday, President Barack Obama said Germany would likely assist only after the shooting war is over. The sniping over the Libya campaign has travelled both ways across the Atlantic since it began, with French and British officials expressing frustration with Mr Obamas decision to withdraw US fighters from the ground campaign. US officials noted that they are currently flying the vast majority of support missions about 75 per cent of both the in-air refuelling and reconnaissance sorties and said there was no request inside the Nato session for more American fighters. The main point is if youre in the operation and youre not doing everything you can, you should, said the US official. And if youre not in the operation, its high time that you do. According to people familiar with the session, only Spain responded directly to Mr Gates criticism, noting that it is flying all the missions it can under its current parliamentary mandate. American officials expressed hope the Spanish government would request an expanded role when it asks parliament to extend the Libya mission another 90 days, a commitment made by all 28 allies last week. ---------------------------------------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website

Drought-hit Kenyan herders appeal for help to salvage emaciated livestock UN 8 June As grazing lands dwindle because of the drought ravaging northern and northeastern Kenya, pastoralists in the arid regions have called for assistance to salvage their remaining herds, saying their livestock are in such physical poor condition that they being rejected by animal traders, a United Nations inter-agency team said today. Sudanese leader still committing crimes in Darfur, Security Council told 8 June Sudans President Omar al-Bashir continues to commit crimes against humanity and carry out genocide against the residents of Darfur in defiance of the United Nations, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis MorenoOcampo, told the Security Council today. Warning of impact on civilians, UN relief official urges halt to Sudanese fighting 8 June The top United Nations humanitarian official in Sudan today called for an immediate halt to the fighting in the state of Southern Kordofan so that civilians affected by the recent violence can receive the help they need. UN to help West African musicians get paid for their creativity 8 June The United Nations intellectual property agency today announced a project to help musical artists in 11 West African countries to get paid for their work through a single, standardized registration system.