Africa Center for Strategic Studies

• English
• Français

• Media Review for June 18, 2013

  Please note: The following news items are presented here for informational purposes. The views expressed within them are those of the authors and/or individuals quoted, not those of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the National Defense University, or the Department of Defense.

  • West Africa piracy overtakes Somali ship attacks

  • Scramble for resources fuels conflict in East Africa region

  • G8 to focus on deterring Africa kidnappings

  • Help us follow the dirty money, Guinea asks G8

  • The corruption deal of the century: How Guinea lost billions of pounds in Simandou mining licensing

  • Poor Tanzanians left out of resource rush

  • Tip top security for Obama’s Africa trip

  • Zimbabwe court ruling on election date plays into Mugabe’s hands

  • Mali July elections a bad idea: Analysts

  • Islamic militants force 19,000 farmers from northeast Nigeria, fears of food shortages

  • Nigeria says 11 killed in Islamist sect school attack

  • Japan raises its game in Africa

  • Top Egypt diplomat in Ethiopia for Nile talks: will there be war?

  • Al Jazeera news team released in Niger after three days in jail

  • Uganda Warns ‘Meddling’ Envoys

  • US general to testify about Benghazi terror attacks, military response

  • Libya to try Gaddafi son in August

  • Gambian president slashes West for killing innocent people in anti-terror war

  • Six soldiers killed in attack on Mozambique armoury

  • Officials from more than 30 Nations Meet for Africa Center’s Annual Senior Leaders Seminar

  Today’s News

  West Africa piracy overtakes Somali ship attacks
  Piracy off the coast of West Africa has now overtaken Somali piracy, a report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) and other seafarers’ groups says. It says 966 sailors were attacked in West Africa in 2012, compared with 851 off the Somali coast. West African pirates mostly steal fuel cargo and the crews’ possessions, often resorting to extreme violence. BBC
  
  Scramble for resources fuels conflict in East Africa region
  No one summed it better than Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni when he told off Egypt over its threat to Ethiopia in regard to construction of a hydroelectric dam on one of the Nile tributaries. “No African wants to hurt Egypt. However, Egypt cannot continue to hurt black Africa and the countries of the tropics of Africa,” the Ugandan President said last week. Tension between Cairo and Addis Ababa has been raising since Ethiopia diverted water from the Blue Nile to the Sh400 billion hydroelectric dam that is planned to produce 6,000 megawatts of power. Daily Nation

  G8 to focus on deterring Africa kidnappings
  [...] Hostage-taking of foreign workers for cash payments is on the rise across much of West Africa, particularly Nigeria with its own oil industry dominated by Western companies and foreign managers. “I want us to discuss how we crack down on terrorist ransoms because this would suffocate one of the main sources of funding for these terrorist organizations, and of course would reduce the incentive to take our citizens hostage,” Cameron said ahead of Tuesday’s discussions. Cameron has also invited the leaders of Libya and the African Union to join the talks table Tuesday. CBC News

  Help us follow the dirty money, Guinea asks G8
  Guinea, one of Africa’s poorest nations despite abundant natural resources, has urged the G8 to back its battle with corruption by helping trace shell companies used to hide crooked deals and track dirty money flows. The resulting increased prosperity, President Alpha Conde said, would help stem growing radicalism in a region already threatened by unrest in Mali that has placed Guinea and its neighbors at risk of becoming conduits for drugs and guns. Defence Web

  The corruption deal of the century: How Guinea lost billions of pounds in Simandou mining licensing
  As he lay on his death bed in 2008, the former president of Guinea Lansana Conté agreed to hand over a licence worth billions of pounds to mine a share of Simandou, one of the world’s richest undeveloped mineral deposits. The rights to extract half of the iron ore at Simandou, situated in a mountainous region of Guinea’s south-east, were unceremoniously stripped from Rio Tinto, and awarded to BSG Resources, a mining company based in the offshore haven of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency, whose owner (through a family trust) is Israeli diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz. Having pledged to invest just $165m to develop a mine at Simandou to secure the rights, BSGR sold a 51 per cent stake in it to Brazilian company Vale for $2.5bn, according to Forbes.BSGR had pulled off the deal of the century, in one observer’s words. The Independent

  Poor Tanzanians left out of resource rush
  Fisherman Salim Riziki stands next to a set of turbines, newly imported from Dubai, talking about the major gas finds on nearby Songo Songo island – and whether it will someday benefit his community. Whirring sounds and lights from the turbines are in stark contrast to the mud and thatch houses and the few corrugated iron shacks in this southern village of Mikindani in Kilwa district. It is dusk. There are no cars on the road, and only the occasional labourer walks by carrying a hoe, as the villagers make their way home. The Songo Songo gas discovery resulted in electrification in this village – but only for the lucky, wealthy few. Al Jazeera

  Tip top security for Obama’s Africa trip
  US President Barack Obama’s security team is not taking any chances during his trip to Africa and will even be providing bulletproof trucks. Obama’s visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania would cost between R500m and R900m, the Washington Post has reported. Obama will spend a night in Dakar, Senegal, two nights in Johannesburg, one in Cape Town and one in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Beeld stated. News 24

  Zimbabwe court ruling on election date plays into Mugabe’s hands
  It’s not often that losing a court case makes you a winner but a recent constitutional court ruling in Zimbabwe might well lead to that scenario for the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, who is seeking early elections. Earlier this month former journalist Jealousy Mawarire, who now runs an election-monitoring group, won a case against Mugabe in the highest court in the land that forces him to hold national elections before July 31st. Last week Mugabe said he accepted the court’s decision, and called the poll for July 31st. The Irish Times

  Mali July elections a bad idea: Analysts
  Although elections are essential to restoring democratic rule in Mali, analysts doubt that the troubled West African nation will be ready for national polls by the end of July. “Holding elections on July 28 is a bad idea. They are likely to be a total failure and could result in chaos and violence,” Abdoulaye Niang, an independent analyst based in the capital Bamako, said. Even if the interim government and separatist ethnic Tuareg rebels agree on a temporary peace accord – which they have been negotiating for the past week – security will remain a concern in the north of the country. News 24

  Islamic militants force 19,000 farmers from northeast Nigeria, fears of food shortages
  Islamic militants have driven 19,000 rice farmers from their land in northeast Nigeria while a military crackdown is preventing thousands more from working their fields, raising fears of imminent food shortages, officials warned Tuesday. Food shortages would add immeasurably to the misery in northeast Nigeria. The area abandoned by farmers is a fertile one in the semi-arid Sahel, a regional bread basket created by the receding waters of Lake Chad. AP on The Washington Post

  Nigeria says 11 killed in Islamist sect school attack
  Seven students, two teachers and two insurgents were killed when suspected members of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram attacked a school in the northeastern town of Damaturu, the military said. Groups like Boko Haram and the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru have become the biggest risk to stability in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and second-largest economy. Reuters

  Japan raises its game in Africa
  The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) has just taken place in Japan hosting an array of African Heads of State, international development agencies, the Chairperson of UN and the AU. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held an event last week to tell us about it. JICA briefings are normally events most notable for the lunch – a consistently excellent array of sushi, teriyaki and noodles – there is a temptation to arrive half way through the presentation, applaud politely and then tuck in. However, on this occasion, that would have been a mistake – Japanese interaction with Africa seems to be changing. Or, to put it another way, they have substantially raised their game. African Arguments

  Top Egypt diplomat in Ethiopia for Nile talks: will there be war?
  Egypt’s foreign minister is in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa today to diffuse a diplomatic standoff over access to the Nile River that had led President Mohamed Morsi to threaten his Ethiopian counterparts with the prospect of “war.” Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr’s visit comes a week after Ethiopia’s parliament voted to strip Egypt of its right to the lion’s share of Nile waters, and as Ethiopia vows to plough ahead with the construction of a controversial $4.7 billion dam that many in Cairo believe will limit the flow of Nile water to Egypt. Globalpost

  Al Jazeera news team released in Niger after three days in jail
  A group of Al Jazeera journalists was released Monday after three days in jail in eastern Niger. Niger authorities accused the journalists of filming illegally and not entering the country with the proper visa. The Qatar-based network said in a statement that the team was released without charge and was leaving the country. “An Al-Jazeera correspondent and her team have been finally released from a Niger jail after being held by authorities since Saturday,” the network’s statement said. “The four-person team was released late on Monday evening without charge to make (their) way back to the border.” Globalpost

  Uganda Warns ‘Meddling’ Envoys
  Uganda’s foreign minister has warned foreign envoys in the country not to interfere in the East African nation’s internal affairs. Henry Okello Oryem says he has told the envoys to use regular diplomatic channels with President Yoweri Museveni’s government to resolve their concerns about governance issues. “Ambassadors and other diplomatic missions come with clear terms of reference by which we accept them to be diplomats in Uganda, amongst which [it] is very clear that if you have any views or any concerns both personal and official regarding anything, there are diplomatic channels which they should use,” Oryem said. VOA
  
  US general to testify about Benghazi terror attacks, military response
  For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks, the four-star general in charge of U.S. military assets in the Africa region will testify before Congress about what happened that night. The hearing has been scheduled for June 26 at 9:00 a.m. ET and will be held by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Although the hearing will be closed to the public, retired Gen. Carter Ham will finally be questioned about his oversight of military assets in the region while dozens of Americans battled extremists for nearly eight hours in Benghazi on Sept. 11 and 12 . No U.S. military assets other than an unarmed drone were ever provided to assist in the fight. Fox News

  Libya to try Gaddafi son in August
  The trial of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son, his spy chief, and his last prime minister will take place in August, a top Libyan official has announced. Al-Seddik al-Sur of the state prosecutor’s office told reporters on Monday that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Abdullah al-Senoussi and ex-premier al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, along with ex-spokesman Milad Daman, will be tried for crimes committed during Gaddafi’s 42-year rule and during the eight-month civil war that deposed him. Al Jazeera

  Gambian president slashes West for killing innocent people in anti-terror war
  Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on Monday slashed some Western countries for killing innocent people in the name of fighting terrorism. “The war on terror by the West is a war on innocent people,” Jammeh told audiences in the West Coast Region of Gambia. “The West has been killing innocent lives overseas in the name of combating terror,” he said, citing the employment of the U.S. drones that have killed people in nations suspected of harboring terrorists. Xinhua

  Six soldiers killed in attack on Mozambique armoury
  Armed men on Monday killed six soldiers in a pre-dawn attack on a military weapons depot in central Mozambique, independent television reported. Socio Television, citing soldiers who witnessed the attack, said it was allegedly carried out by the former rebel group Renamo and that two soldiers were injured at the depot in Savane, on Mozambique’s Indian Ocean coast. It said the gunmen snatched arms and ammunition before fleeing the scene. Daily Nation

  Officials from more than 30 Nations Meet for Africa Center’s Annual Senior Leaders Seminar
  More than 50 senior officials from 36 African countries attended the opening of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS)’s Senior Leaders Seminar on June 17, 2013, in Arlington, Virginia. The opening included keynote remarks by Ms. Amanda J. Dory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, who discussed U.S. defense priorities in Africa. The seminar, running June 16-28, provides a forum for senior-level military officers and civilian officials from Africa, the United States, and Europe, as well as representatives from international and regional organizations, to review and analyze the evolving African security environment and to discuss strategies for addressing challenges and enhancing Africa’s security. Africa Center for Strategic Studies

  FOR THE RECORD – AFRICA – U.S. Government Events, Statements, and Articles.
  A weekly compilation by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS)

  State Dept. on Burkina Faso-U.S. Land Transparency Partnership

  Land Transparency Partnership Announced Between U.S. and Burkina Faso The United States is pleased to announce a partnership with the Government of Burkina Faso to strengthen efforts to improve land governance and increase transparency in land transactions. In recognition of the central role that good land governance plays in achieving economic growth and food security, and in response to intensifying competition for land and natural resources and a lack of access to land administration services in rural areas, the Government of Burkina Faso undertook a multi-year stakeholder consultation process in order to develop a new land policy framework.
  

  
  

  Media Review Archive

  View Past Issues

  
  
  

Spotlight:

Featured topic

Peacekeeping