Media Review for July 11, 2012

By Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Updated: 07/11/2012

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.

Today’s News

Congolese warlord sentenced to 14 years in prison
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a Congolese warlord to 14 years in jail for using child soldiers – a punishment meant to bring justice for his victims, to signal a warning to others and to act as a potential landmark in the struggle to protect children entangled in wars. AP on the News Virginian

Congo denounces insurgency as Rwandan army “invasion”
Authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo accused neighboring Rwanda on Tuesday of “invading” a volatile border area, portraying an advancing rebel insurgency as a Rwandan military operation. Reuters

Rwanda in Congo: Sixteen Years of Intervention
[...] Over the past sixteen years, the presence of aggressive Hutu militias in the Kivus has encouraged Rwanda to play the role of regional policeman in an attempt to protect both its own borders and vulnerable Congolese Tutsi. That said, opportunistic strategies of personal and national accumulation, displayed particularly during the Second Congo War, have left Rwandan leaders susceptible to the accusation that their agenda in the DRC is somewhat more Machiavellian. As a result, the Rwandan government has often been accused of spoiling Congolese peace as a means to pursue its own ends. African Argument

Nigeria’s Boko Haram claims attacks that killed 65
Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Tuesday for attacks that killed more than 65 people in volatile central Nigeria last weekend, although security forces have blamed the violence on localized ethnic clashes. Reuters

Egypt court overturns President Mursi parliament order
The highest court in Egypt has overturned a decree by President Mohammed Mursi to recall parliament. Mr Mursi had issued the decree in defiance of a military council ruling that dissolved parliament. Members of parliament gathered for a brief session earlier in the day before the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court was announced. BBC

Islamists lay waste to 2 more tombs in Timbuktu, destroying Mali’s UNESCO-listed patrimony
Islamic extremists destroyed another two mausoleums in the northern Malian city of Timbuktu on Tuesday, attacking a graveyard attached to the city’s most picturesque mosque, according to a historian specializing in the area’s heritage. Salem Ould Elhadj, a researcher at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, said the members of the radical sect set out with picks and shovels to raze the tombs of two of Timbuktu’s scholars, Baba Babadje and Mahamane Foulane, both of whom are considered saints. The Washington Post

Deep Read: Malian tinderbox – A dangerous puzzle
Regional jigsaw pieces are too out of sync for Mali to be able to settle once and for all its internal problems, writes Abdelkader Abderrahmane. Mail and Guardian

Algeria, EU share convergent views on settling Malian crisis
Algeria and the European Union (EU) share convergent vision on the situation in the African Sahel region, particularly the crisis hitting Mali, EU Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Gilles De Kerkove, said here Tuesday. Xinhua

Deadly al-Qaeda offshoot on last legs in Algeria
It’s being hailed as a key success in the fight against al-Qaeda: a determined Algerian clampdown that has pulled the teeth from one of the terror network’s deadliest offshoots and could be a model for elsewhere. Six years after joining the Osama bin Laden franchise, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — known by its acronym AQIM — appears to have been neutralized in the nation where it originated and made its name, officials and experts say, corralled into a remote mountain area and reduced to occasional pinprick shootings against soldiers. AP on Hindustan Times

Chad : The Crisis of the Sahel in a Forgotten Land
“Chad is an oasis of peace and stability” was a refrain that we heard many times over from the Minister of Plan, the Minister of Agriculture, UN partner representatives and community leaders upon the recent CARE International National Director visit to Chad to observe for ourselves the current impact and implications of the Sahel drought. It would seem quite a paradox to describe Chad as an island of stability given its recent war-torn history and continued episodes of uncertainty. But it is, indeed, now an island in a sea of volatility emanating from its neighboring countries of Libya, Nigeria, Mali, Northern Sudan and the Central African Republic. Care.org on AlertNet

UNICEF warns of growing risk of cholera upsurge in Africa’s Sahel region
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that a recent upsurge in the Sahel of cholera – which has already killed more than 60 people and sickened about 2,800 there this year – is putting more and more people, especially malnourished children, at risk. UN

Facing the music: Morocco’s tenuous balancing act
Corruption remains a primary mechanism of political power and ever present in the lives of Moroccans. Al Jazeera

Despite Fairly Smooth Election, Attacks in Libya Show Unrest
[...] When attacks closed polling places in towns in the east, monitors said, the Libyan authorities managed to get out the word about alternate locations using cellphone text messages and community networks, allowing many people to cast ballots despite the damage. On Monday, monitors confirmed early reports that the turnout appeared to exceed 60 percent of eligible voters nationally, although it was said to be much lower in Bani Walid, the western city that held out the longest in support of Colonel Qaddafi. The New York Times

Rooting Out Somali Piracy Starts On-Shore
[...] Many of Somalia’s ruling elite and business-minded citizens are increasingly characterising the country as being on the verge of a long-desired transition. They envision that it will transcend the impasse of its seemingly intractable state of anarchy and conflict and move into a position where vital development goals can be institutionalised to create a prosperous post-conflict Somalia. Yet it is clear that both land and sea requirements need to be met to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia. ISS

East Africa: More Oil Found in Kenya
Kenya could be on the brink of joining the league of endowed oil producers with the striking of further oil deposits in the remote Turkana County. Just a few months after oil explorer Tullow announced a huge find of the precious commodity around Ngamia 1 in the county, its partner Africa Oil came out last week to announce that it has stumbled on a further 43 metres of potential oil in a different block in the same area.
East African Business Week on allAfrica

Laos playing growing role in illegal ivory trade: report
Laos is playing an increasingly important role in the illegal international ivory trade with foreign tourists, particularly Chinese, driving growing demand for the substance, a report said Tuesday. The report, by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, highlights a “significantly higher volume of ivory items openly on sale” in Laos and multiple seizures of African ivory heading to the communist country. France 24

This Is Africa’s New Biggest City: Lagos, Nigeria, Population 21 Million
In a celebration of Lagos and African urbanization, the Financial Times ran a piece by Xan Rice highlighting Nigeria’s commercial capital’s size, its economic importance, and its government’s energy in addressing concrete urban problems. The Atlantic

Defense Min.: Liberia is not Prepared to Unravel “Umbilical Cord” with AFRICOM
Liberia’s Defense Minister, Brownie J. Samukai, Jr., says Liberia is not prepared to un-tie what he calls the umbilical cord with the US-Africa Command, AFRICOM. According to the Defense Minister, the presence of AFRICOM’s engagement in Liberia will help in maintaining a tacit guarantee of security in Liberia over at least a three-election period. Heritage

Military Reservists Deploy to West Africa to Train with Regional Forces
U.S. service members, primarily reservists from the Marines, Navy, Army and Air Force recently deployed to Senegal, West Africa to take part in the inaugural exercise called Western Accord, June 26 – July 24, 2012. Africom
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