United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 13 July 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA AFRICOM commander praises Mauritania in Al-Qaeda fight (AFP) (Mauritania) The head of United States African Command (AFRICOM), General Carter Ham, on Tuesday congratulated Mauritania for its successes in the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Expat Pair Among Libyan Rebels Fighting For Zawiya (NPR) (Libya) In western Libya, rebel fighters are continuing to battle forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on several fronts. Rebel commanders say one of their objectives is the city of Zawiya near the Mediterranean coast, the site of a major oil refinery. But for some rebel fighters, the battle for Zawiya is about much more than a refinery. France extends Libya mission, PM sees solution (Reuters) (Libya) Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to extend funding for France's military intervention in Libya after the prime minister said a political solution to end the crisis was taking shape. Libya conflict: Is Qaddafi's exit in the offing? (Christian Science Monitor) (Libya) French officials claimed on Tuesday that emissaries from Muammar Qaddafi have told them the Libyan leader is ready to discuss his departure from power a claim that, if nothing else, demonstrates how a negotiated settlement is suddenly the preferred solution to a war that drags on. Sudan president promises freer, more inclusive government (LA Times) (Sudan) Facing increased scrutiny at home and a war crimes indictment abroad, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir stood before his National Assembly on Tuesday and promised a freer, more inclusive government. Pride, and Sadness, as a Nation Is Born (NYT) (South Sudan) It was a day long awaited, but Jane Kani Edward could not bring herself to fully embrace the moment. For Dr. Edward, like many of the few Sudanese immigrants living in the New York metropolitan area, July 9, the day that the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state, carried mixed

emotions. She had lost her father and three brothers in the five-decade struggle for independence, in which millions died. Kwoyelo - State Prefers 53 Charges (The Monitor) (Uganda) Former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, was yesterday charged and remanded to Gulu Prison on 53 charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the two-decade bloody civil war which claimed thousands of lives, caused untold suffering and loss of property in northern Uganda. UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website y Sudan: UN reports ongoing heavy bombardment in Southern Kordofan y Ban calls on countries to fund life-saving support for millions in Horn of Africa y UN and partner agency need $21 million to help Angolan refugees return home y UN rights chief hails Senegals decision not to repatriate former dictator to Chad ------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST: WHEN/WHERE: Friday, July 18, 12:00 pm; B-339 Rayburn House Office Building WHAT: The Defense Forum Foundations Capitol Hill forum on "The Rising Threat to Democracy from Terrorist-Criminal Networks in South and Latin America and West Africa." WHO: Speaker: Douglas Farah, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, adjunct fellow for the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Latin America Program, and former bureau chief for the Washington Post and UPI. Info: 703-534-4313; web site: www.defenseforum.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT AFRICOM commander praises Mauritania in Al-Qaeda fight (AFP) By Unattributed Author July 12, 2011 The head of United States African Command (AFRICOM), General Carter Ham, on Tuesday congratulated Mauritania for its successes in the fight against AlQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"I congratulated him for the success of the Mauritanian army in its fight against AQIM, in collaboration with Mali and other countries in the region," Ham said after a meeting with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in Nouakchott. The general, who has been in the capital since Sunday, also welcomed the Mauritanian peoples' rejection of the north African Al-Qaeda branch, and committed to work to "advance security co-operation between America and Mauritania." Mauritania has since 2010 carried out military operations against AQIM bases in northern Mali. On June 24 the army destroyed an Al-Qaeda camp in a raid in western Mali near the border with Mauritania. A week ago six AQIM followers were killed during an attack on a Mauritanian army base which houses a specialist anti-terrorist unit, according to an official Mauritanian toll. AFRICOM is one of six regional military commands of the US defense department and is based in Stuttgart, Germany. -----------------------Expat Pair Among Libyan Rebels Fighting For Zawiya (NPR) By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro July 12, 2011 In western Libya, rebel fighters are continuing to battle forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on several fronts. Rebel commanders say one of their objectives is the city of Zawiya near the Mediterranean coast, the site of a major oil refinery. But for some rebel fighters, the battle for Zawiya is about much more than a refinery. In the boiling sun, at a dusty concrete factory that is littered with shrapnel, members of the Zawiya Brigade are holding the line. Zawiya was one of the first cities to rise up against the Libyan regime, but because it is located so close to the capital, Tripoli, the rebellion was brutally crushed. Many who fought there ended up fleeing. Some of them made it to the western mountains; about 300 to 400 formed a fighting force focused on regaining the city. They've been joined by expatriate Libyans a father and son have traveled from Pittsburgh to fight. A Stalemate

About 2 1/2 kilometers (1 1/2 miles) from the Gadhafi frontlines, Grad rockets target the rebels at the last position the fighters hold on the road to Zawiya. Three rebels were injured Monday. But the conflict, at least on this end, is at a stalemate. For now, neither side is advancing. Mustafa Ismael sits in the shade. His face is lacquered in sweat. When asked what he's doing here, he makes a throat-slitting gesture, saying he wants to kill Gadhafi. Ismael belongs to the Zawiya Brigade, which is manning this final rebel position near the town of Bir al-Ghanem, about 30 miles into the desert from coastal Zawiya. Ismael says the brigade wasn't an organized thing they all just ended up in the mountains and formed the group. Family Ties At the Zawiya Brigade's base in Zintan basically a house where they can sleep and get a shower away from the front the father-and-son pair from Pennsylvania has just returned from training. Malik Eshnuk, 21, is wearing a baseball cap and military fatigues. "It wasn't really much of a decision," says the chemical engineering student. "It's the summertime, and [when] we saw that ... it's going to be a long war possibly, and there's still something we can do to help, we said, 'We are going to go.'" Malik's father, Mabruk, originally hails from Zawiya. He left when he was 18, eventually settling in the United States and marrying. He became an imam and taught Islam in state penitentiaries in Pennsylvania. He got a real estate business going. Six of the brothers he left behind, though, still lived in Zawiya. They all took part in the uprising. About two weeks into the rebellion, Mabruk received a call from Libya with terrible news: One of his brother's sons had been killed. "Really, the truth is, it was just like a dream," he says. "It's not true for a long time."

Then another brother and his sons were arrested. The rest of the men in Mabruk's family fled Zawiya. 'A Dream Come True' Malik says the death of his cousin, who was his age, hit him hard. They had become close after Malik spent the summer in Libya a few years ago. At the time, he wasn't impressed with Libyan youth. "I thought they were like bums. They stay in the streets; they smoke; they put gel in their hair. And that's all they care about," he says. "I didn't know they had it in their hearts to stand up and be brave and risk their lives ... for a just cause like this." After the death of Malik's cousin, the family convened in Pittsburgh. There were discussions over weeks about who would go to fight in Libya. All the children, Mabruk says, wanted to come. In the end, Malik, as the middle son, was allowed to go with his father. They bought equipment, flak jackets, a satellite phone all confiscated in Tunisia. They have been here for about five days, and Malik is having trouble understanding and speaking Arabic. He misses having an Internet connection. Mabruk is worried about his family at home. But they say they will stay and fight. "If I can help participate and fight and free Zawiya, I'd be very happy to do that," Malik says. "It would be a dream come true." -------------------France extends Libya mission, PM sees solution (Reuters) By John Irish and Emile Picy July 12, 2011 PARIS - Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to extend funding for France's military intervention in Libya after the prime minister said a political solution to end the crisis was taking shape. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said envoys reported that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was ready to leave power.

"A political solution is more than ever indispensable and is beginning to take shape," Prime Minister Fillon said during the three-hour debate in the lower house of parliament. "At its last summit, the African Union confirmed that Gaddafi would not be able to take part in the political transition." Fillon said France backed mediation efforts by the African Union as well as Russia. France spearheaded the West's military intervention in Libya but is growing impatient with its lack of progress and said this week that it is communicating with envoys from Gaddafi's entourage to push forward a political solution. Deputies in the National Assembly voted 482 in favor of the extension with 27 opposing it. In the Senate it was passed with 311 votes in favor and 24 against. President Nicolas Sarkozy took a gamble by taking a personal role in supporting Libya's rebels, but is now anxious to avoid costly military operations running into the start of campaigning for the April 2012 presidential election. "Everybody is in contact with everybody. The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere, to Turkey, New York, Paris," Juppe told France Info radio. "Emissaries are telling us Gaddafi is ready to go, let's talk about it." France has spent some 160 million euros ($228 million) on its operations in Libya, which Fillon said involved 4,400 people, around 800 of which were based in France and the rest on foreign air bases or warships near Libya. The opposition Socialist Party had signaled it would not oppose the extension, but said it wanted more intensive efforts to secure a political solution and a new debate in September if the mission had not ended. READY TO NEGOTIATE? French officials have denied any shift in position and say Paris has merely sent Tripoli messages via intermediaries making clear Gaddafi must relinquish power and withdraw his troops. "There are contacts but it's not a negotiation proper at this stage," Juppe said Tuesday. Sources say the envoys are close aides to Gaddafi who are in contact with intermediaries reporting directly to Sarkozy.

"These are emissaries who say they are coming in the name of Gaddafi. What is important is that we send them the same message and stay in close contact with our allies on this," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters. France spearheaded the NATO-led campaign in Libya, along with Britain, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, and was first to launch air strikes against Gaddafi's forces in March. But after almost four months of bombing, international leaders are struggling to see an end to the crisis. Rebels hold large parts of eastern Libya and have loosened a siege of the city of Misrata, but are unable to make decisive moves toward the capital Tripoli despite strikes on Gaddafi's forces. Diplomatic sources close to the matter said Monday that envoys from Paris and Tripoli had met in Paris, Brussels and Tunisia in recent weeks, but have made little progress. Both Juppe and Fillon repeated that Gaddafi had to quit, without saying if that meant he also had to leave the country. Fillon told parliament the Libyan leader's back was "against the wall" but stressed that the goal was not to eliminate him. "We have not reached the breaking point yet. But it's now that we need to be firmer than ever. And it's now that the international community must show itself to be unbending." In an interview with French daily Le Figaro Tuesday the Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said Tripoli was ready to "negotiate without conditions" but the bombing must stop first. "You don't create democracy under bombs," he said. Asked if Gaddafi could be excluded from a political solution, Mahmoudi suggested he could stand aside. "(He) will not intervene in discussions," he said. "He is ready to respect the decision of the people." -----------------------Libya conflict: Is Qaddafi's exit in the offing? (Christian Science Monitor) By Howard LaFranchi July 12, 2011 Washington - French officials claimed on Tuesday that emissaries from Muammar Qaddafi have told them the Libyan leader is ready to discuss his

departure from power a claim that, if nothing else, demonstrates how a negotiated settlement is suddenly the preferred solution to a war that drags on. It was not immediately clear how serious the claims were of Mr. Qaddafis willingness to step down. The mercurial leader has put out such feelers before, only to withdraw or deny them. But the French governments eagerness to broadcast the potential for a negotiated settlement was only the latest sign of a broader shift among international parties to the conflict and perhaps even some Libyan factions that are favoring negotiations over continued warfare. Also on Tuesday the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said while on a visit to Libyas neighbor Algeria that the Libyan crisis now requires a negotiated settlement. On Monday, President Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a telephone conversation that the United States supports Russian efforts to broker a deal with Qaddafi. With mixed reports about how their offensive against Tripoli is going in mountains outside the capital city, some of Libyas rebels now favor a cease-fire during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins around Aug. 1 this year. That could serve as a period to advance negotiations. NATO has also said it would be willing to entertain a proposal for a cease-fire during Ramadan as long as Qaddafi's forces also respected the truce. Comments from French officials Tuesday were the most insistent yet that a settlement to the 5-month-old conflict is in the offing. Prime Minister Francois Fillon told a parliamentary committee that a political solution is ... beginning to take shape, while Foreign Minister Alain Jupp told a radio broadcast: Emissaries are telling us, Qaddafi is ready to go; lets talk about it. One reason for the shift toward negotiations among NATO powers engaged in the war is that domestic audiences are tiring of a war that the alliance was supposed to be able to conclude quickly, some say. Mr. Obama has faced mounting opposition in Congress to US participation in the NATO campaign. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose forces lead the NATO air campaign in tandem with Britain is anxious to see the French militarys role end well in advance of next Aprils presidential election, when he will seek reelection.

Qaddafi has for weeks switched back and forth between advocating talks and insisting he would never negotiate his departure, but some regional analysts say that, in a sense, there is just too much smoke now for there not to be some fire. Qaddafi has consistently denied any negotiations, but now there are so many reports from so many sources that it seems there must be something going on, says James Phillips, a Middle East expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. What the long-surviving Qaddafi is doing, Mr. Phillips assumes, is using hardball tactics to extract as good a deal as he can get. The Libyan leader is not stupid, he adds, and has to know that he cant last indefinitely since the rebels control much of Libyas oil and African mercenaries make up a large proportion of Qaddafis armed forces. It also cant be comforting to Qaddafi that the rebels Transitional National Council, the self-described interim government in Benghazi, continues to gain in international recognition. Representatives of the rebel council are set to meet with NATO and European Union leaders in Brussels Wednesday. The opposition governments growing legitimacy will also be on display when the so-called contact group of countries, including the US, will meet in Turkey on Friday. The group is seeking a resolution to the Libyan conflict. As much as the rebels might still wish to take their fight all the way without negotiating with the regime, Phillips says, the reality is that the indecisive nature of the Libyan conflict is likely to erode their determination. The military stalemate, he says, may very well lead them to accept a settlement that is less than their initial demands. --------------------Sudan president promises freer, more inclusive government (LA Times) By Christopher Goffard and Alsanosi Ahmed July 12, 2011, 2:23 p.m. Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya, and Khartoum, Sudan Facing increased scrutiny at home and a war crimes indictment abroad, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir stood before his National Assembly on Tuesday and promised a freer, more inclusive government. Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in connection with massacres in Darfur, spoke just days after attending ceremonies marking South Sudan's independence from his own Khartoum-based government. Sudan is

entering a "second republic," he said, comprising mainly Muslim Arabs and people would be able to vote on a new constitution crafted with widespread participation. "The government will include everyone, from the opposition parties to ordinary citizens, in drafting the permanent constitution. I urge all religious leaders and university professors to take part," Bashir said, along with "everyone who is concerned with the future of the north." Bashir, whose government has jailed critics, also promised greater freedom of speech. "No one from today will be arrested for expressing his political views," Bashir said. "I ordered the National Intelligence and Security Service to review the ongoing interrogations with detainees, and if it is proven that they did not do anything, did not harm the country or were involved in armed groups, they will be released." Mwangi S. Kimenyi, a Sudan expert and director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said Bashir's remarks were "probably 70% rhetoric" designed to shore up his power and obviate any yearnings for an "Arab Spring"style uprising. With the partition, Kimenyi said, people in north Sudan no longer have a common enemy to rally against, which means Bashir could become a lightning rod for dissent and face mounting internal divisions. "I would not think Bashir could be fully transformed from a tyrant to a democratic leader in this short time," Kimenyi said. "Bashir is not in a very strong position after the loss of the south. He could be seen as weak. He's seen what has happened in other parts of the Arab world and would like to forestall those events. He's trying to position himself as a different leader now." South Sudan, which is mostly Christian and animist, officially declared its independence from the mostly Muslim and Arab north on Saturday after generations of civil war that claimed more than 2 million lives. A 2005 peace deal paved the way for a January referendum in which an overwhelming majority of south Sudanese voted to secede. Bashir acceded to the partition, but myriad disputes between north and south Sudan remain unresolved. They include the status of the Abyei border region, which both sides claim, and how to divide oil revenue. The south has most of the oil, and in his remarks Tuesday, Bashir announced a three-year "emergency" budget to address the expected losses of oil revenue. He said there would be a reduction in public spending, a push for new foreign and

domestic investment, and an increase in exports. He said the central bank would release new currency in coming days; the south has announced it will soon launch its own. Sara Pantuliano, a Sudan expert and researcher at the Overseas Development Institute, saw Bashir's portrayal of Sudan as a more fully Islamic nation as an attempt to put a positive spin on a partition that has left many northerners unhappy. "People really feel they've lost a part of Sudan," she said. "It's like a piece taken from their body. There's a sense of sadness." ---------------------Pride, and Sadness, as a Nation Is Born (NYT) By MATT FLEGENHEIMER July 12, 2011 It was a day long awaited, but Jane Kani Edward could not bring herself to fully embrace the moment. For Dr. Edward, like many of the few Sudanese immigrants living in the New York metropolitan area, July 9, the day that the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state, carried mixed emotions. She had lost her father and three brothers in the five-decade struggle for independence, in which millions died. We raise the flag; we sing the new anthem, said Dr. Edward, a professor at Fordham University who first left southern Sudan in 1992 on an academic scholarship. But at the same time, so many close relatives passed away during the war. I miss them. Other expatriates struggled to process the image of Sudans president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, being showered with ovations in Juba, where the official separation from his nation was read aloud on Saturday. Mr. Bashir, who for years led brutal campaigns to prevent secession, has been indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in connection with the massacres in Darfur. It was Bashir who ended the war, and it was Bashir who signed the peace agreement, said Philip Ujama, of Trenton, who emigrated from the town of Wau in southern Sudan in 2003. He deserves praise for that. Mr. Ujama spent Saturday evening among fellow immigrants from southern Sudan, including Dr. Edward, at Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, N.J., which volunteered its space for the celebration.

Northern New Jersey is home to a few pockets of southern Sudanese refugees, Dr. Edward said. Very few live in New York City, local Sudanese groups say. According to a census survey with an estimate for 2005-9, about 2,000 metropolitan-area residents were born in Sudan, though it is likely that only a small fraction came from the south. For immigrants from the north, the separation was tinged with even greater sadness. Gouma Mahamat, an electrician in Brooklyn who emigrated from northern Darfur, did not join his wife and five children last week on a trip to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to see family and to witness the separation. I have friends I love in the south, said Mr. Mahamat, who has lived in Kensington since 1987. Now theyre not my countrymen. Speaking by phone from Khartoum, Mr. Mahamats daughter Amal, who will be entering the 10th grade at Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, recalled the tensions surrounding the official separation last weekend. Seldom-seen relatives bemoaned the split. Local residents instructed the family to stay inside, with the threat of post-secession skirmishes lurking. And on Monday, Amal marveled at a T-shirt she saw on the street that read, in white letters against a black backdrop, Team North. Her brother, Ashraf, 10, who is entering the fifth grade at Public School 179 in Kensington, said he felt grateful to witness history up close, despite the family ambivalence and culture shock. Khartoum is nice, but its hot and dirty, not like Brooklyn, he said, before stopping to reconsider. Well, Brooklyn is pretty hot. Relatives in Khartoum also lament the separation, Ashraf added, because Sudan has surrendered its status as the largest African country to Algeria. South Sudan, home to about eight million people, is roughly the size of Texas. But such labels mean little, immigrants from southern Sudan said, when weighed against the prospect of independence, which was backed by nearly 99 percent of voters in a referendum in January. Dr. Edward said she hoped the separation would allow her to take her two children, ages 20 and 11, back to the land of her birth someday. Mr. Ujama called July 9 our July 4th. We raised the flag, and it will never come down, he added.

Jane Alley, who fled the city of Kajo Keji for Paterson, N.J., in the early 1990s, said that for all the immediate obstacles ethnic and rebel violence, high infant mortality rates, widespread illiteracy the technical distinction between building a new nation and rebuilding an existing one sent a powerful message. Weve lost generations through wars, Ms. Alley said. I consider myself quite lucky to get to see the Republic of South Sudan. She paused, drawing out the words anew: The Republic of South Sudan. ----------------------Kwoyelo - State Prefers 53 Charges (The Monitor) By James Eriku & Moses Akena 12 July 2011 Gulu Former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, was yesterday charged and remanded to Gulu Prison on 53 charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the two-decade bloody civil war which claimed thousands of lives, caused untold suffering and loss of property in northern Uganda. He becomes the first former rebel to face trial before the new International Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda, a division which has its origins in the inconclusive Juba Peace Process of 2006 which, nevertheless, led to the end of the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda. With handcuffs locking his forearms and chains on his legs, Mr Kwoyelo, who was driven to the fully parked courtroom amidst tight security, appeared before a panel of judges led by Justice Dan Akiiki Kiiza who read the charges. Other judges are Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya and Alphonse Chigamoi Owiny Dollo. Mr Kwoyelo, formerly holding the rebel rank of a colonel, is facing charges of murder, willful killing, kidnap with intent to kill and destruction of property in the war of attrition which along the way threatened to destroy an entire culture in especially Acholi sub-region. He denied the charges during the maiden court session. Trial rejection Represented by advocates, Mr Caleb Alaka and Mr John Francis Onyango, Mr Kwoyelo also objected to the trial arguing that he had already applied for amnesty before the country's Amnesty Commission, which has never been granted.

Mr Alaka invited the court to appreciate the view that the refusal by the State to grant amnesty to his client contravenes Article 21 of the Constitution which provides for equal treatment of all accused persons under the law. "The accused, while in prison, renounced and abandoned involvement in war/rebellion against the government of the Republic of Uganda pursuant to section 3 of the Amnesty Act Cap 294. We need to first sort out the amnesty issue because other senior LRA commanders benefited from the same initiative," argued Mr Alaka, promising to write a formal request that will be sent to Director of Public Prosecutions to respond to the queries concerning Mr Kwoyelo's trial. Citing the examples of Brigadiers Kenneth Banya and Sam Kolo, Mr Alaka's arguments prompted the court to adjourn the case to July 25 this year for hearing of the preliminary objections. Justice Kiiza asked the parties to resolve the technicalities to allow the case to be heard, starting August 15. The State, led by Senior Principal State Attorney, Ms Joan Kagezi, objected to the issues raised by the defence team. Ms Kagezi, assisted by Senior Principal Attorneys George William Byensi and Lino Anguzu, also submitted an amended charge sheet saying the cases were not originally preferred under aegis of the Geneva Convention Act Cap 363, which Uganda was not originally signatory too. Amnesty denial According to Mr Alaka, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions refused to grant his client's request for amnesty despite receiving a formal notification for a certification of Mr Kwoyelo's amnesty request from the Principal Legal Officer of the Amnesty Commission. The allegations Prosecution alleges that Mr Kwoyelo committed 53 charges of abduction with intent to murder, causing serious injuries and destruction of property between 1987 and 2005 in his native Pabbo and Lamogi locality. The State alleges that Mr Kwoyelo's action, as a commander of others still at large, contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The convention is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions which form the bedrock of the law of armed conflict. Convention four was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone, and outlaws the practice of unrestrained warfare.

In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a report from the Secretary-General and a Commission of Experts which concluded that the Geneva Conventions had passed into the body of customary international law, thus making them binding on non-signatories to the Conventions, like the LRA, whenever they engage in armed conflicts. Mr Kwoyelo looked composed during three-hour session. His mother, Ms Rojolina Oyela, two brothers and a sister appeared in court. Ms Oyela said she was optimistic that her son would be released from prison because he is not guilty. "I am leaving everything in the hands of God because I know my son was forced to join the rebellion," she said in an interview. When the LRA shifted operations from northern Uganda and southern Sudan to the jungles of eastern Congo, Mr Kwoyelo was captured after he was injured in a firefight with UPDF troops in March 2009. ------------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website Sudan: UN reports ongoing heavy bombardment in Southern Kordofan 12 July The situation in Sudans Southern Kordofan state has remained unpredictable with heavy bombardment continuing in and around the main town, Kadugli, and in a second one to the north-east, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today. Ban calls on countries to fund life-saving support for millions in Horn of Africa 12 July Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on countries to urgently support United Nations agencies in their efforts to respond to the crisis in the Horn of Africa, where more than 11 million people are in need of life-saving assistance as they face the worst drought in decades. UN and partner agency need $21 million to help Angolan refugees return home 12 July The United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) today launched an appeal for $21 million to help some 60,000 Angolan refugees return home this year and next. UN rights chief hails Senegals decision not to repatriate former dictator to Chad 12 July The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today welcomed Senegals decision not to repatriate former dictator Hissne Habr to Chad, but said that he should not be left to live with impunity in Senegal.