Media Review for October 17, 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

Congo: Rwanda and Uganda Arm Congo Rebels, U.N. Report Says
Rwanda’s defense minister is commanding a rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that is being armed by Rwanda and Uganda, who also sent troops to aid the insurgents in a deadly attack on United Nations peacekeepers, according to a United Nations report. The United Nations Security Council’s Group of Experts said in a confidential report that Rwanda and Uganda have continued to support M23 rebels in their six-month fight against Congolese troops. The report said M23 has expanded its territory, increased recruitment of child soldiers and summarily executed recruits and prisoners. The New York Times

Rwanda defence chief leads DR Congo rebels, UN report says
A new UN report has alleged that Rwanda’s defence minister is effectively commanding a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The confidential report, leaked to Reuters agency, says Uganda is also backing the M23 rebels, who have been fighting the DRC’s army since April. BBC

Clinton jumps on the Benghazi grenade
CNN’s Elise Labott, traveling with Hillary Clinton in Peru, got the secretary of state to make news by stating the obvious: that she is ultimately responsible for the safety of U.S. diplomats. There’s a bit of editorial sleight of hand going on, because the headline quotes her saying “I take responsibility” and then throws in “… for Benghazi” without quotes. So there may be less to this story than meets the eye. Without the full context of her remarks, it’s hard to say whether she was really taking the hit for the whole fiasco or not. (The AP has a slightly different version, as does Fox News.) Foreign Policy

Mali prepares for attack on northern insurgents
West African troops are gearing up for a military intervention in Mali after the government said it will meet a United Nations security council deadline to begin recapturing the country’s north from al-Qaida-linked insurgents. The Guardian

Why Military Intervention in Mali Would be a Mistake
On 29 September, Mali’s interim Prime Minister, Modibo Diarra, conveyed a message from his president officially requesting the United Nations General Assembly in New-York to approve a foreign military intervention in northern Mali. This demand was followed on 13 October by the United Nations Security Council 2071 Resolution requesting a detailed plan for such an operation from ECOWAS within 45 days. ISS

African misstep: A misguided U.S. adventure awaits in Mali
The United States, with France, is trying to persuade the military government in Bamako, Mali’s capital, to agree to armed intervention in the north by forces provided by African countries which are members of the Economic Community of West African States. The United States, some European countries and possibly the United Nations would finance the ECOWAS force. The effort to bring this about is being led by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. The possible U.S. military training, supply and transport role would be carried out by the U.S. Africa Command. Mr. Carson has portrayed the Mali effort as similar to the U.S. undertaking in Somalia, now 20 years old. Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Analysis: Mali intervention – a dangerous idea with too much support
A military intervention in Mali is beginning to look inevitable. France expects to have West African soldiers on the ground within weeks and even the United Nations is in favour. None of this, however, makes intervention a good idea. Daily Maverick

Mauritania says president “out of danger”, still in charge
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is “out of danger” and will remain at the helm of Mauritania while he recovers in France after being shot at a soldiers’ checkpoint in what he said was an accident, the information minister said on Tuesday. The government initially said he had been only “lightly wounded”, although sources have said he was shot in the back during the incident, details of which remain sketchy. Reuters

UN urged to approve funding for Kenya’s Navy in Somalia
The African Union and a United Nations special envoy urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday to approve funding for a naval component of the AU forces fighting to stabilise Somalia. Kenya is the only African nation known to be contributing naval support for the AU’s military mission in Somalia (Amisom). Daily Nation

Monitoring Group: Sudan Forces Burn, Loot Village
A U.S.-based watchdog group that tracks atrocities in Sudan says it has evidence Sudanese security forces burned and looted a village in the war-torn state of Southern Kordofan. The Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, has released satellite images, cell phone video and witness accounts that it says support its claim. VOA

Sierra Leone’s dilemma: There’s gold under those trees
It’s an age-old question, and one that’s been played out countless times in cities and countries around the globe: What happens when conservation and economics collide? Here in Sierra Leone, a small, impoverished nation that’s still tending the wounds of a protracted civil war, that question is just now coming to a head. And in one recent instance, the answer was clear: Economics wins. CS Monitor

An Ethiopian oak falls and the east African forest sways
In life, Ethiopia’s hard-headed prime minister Meles Zenawi polarised opinion. Whether cheerleaders of his “authoritarian developmentalism” or critics of his regime’s unrelenting bid to control civil society and opposition parties, few questioned Meles’s centrality in the region. The Africa Report

South African police arrest striking miners
South African police have arrested 40 striking workers in a pre-dawn raid for seizing equipment worth millions of dollars from Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore subsidiary, a police spokesperson has said. They were part of nearly 300 workers that Kumba sacked on Monday following an illegal strike they launched nearly two weeks ago at its Sishen mine in Northern Cape province. Al Jazeera

Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa
The last part of Africa to be decolonised, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, remains one of the most peaceful. Yet, despite comprehensive protocols and agreements, SADC faces acute challenges characterised by tensions between member states, resource deficits, citizens’ exclusion, social discontent and limited internal and external coordination. International Crisis Group

Guinea-Bissau cops stuck in Angola
Some 350 Guinea-Bissau policemen, who have been stuck in Angola for months due to a diplomatic spat between the two Portuguese-speaking nations, on Monday urged the authorities to let them go home. The group has been in Angola since December 2011 for training under a bilateral deal to help reform the defence and security forces of their coup-prone west African nation. News 24

56 million youths without primary education in sub-Saharan Africa
Over 56 million young people in sub-Saharan Africa have not completed primary school and lack basic skills for employment, according to a report released on Tuesday. Times Live

Arab security officials discuss anti-drug strategy
The sale of drugs has become a key financier of terrorism in the Arab world because terrorist organisations sponsor this trade and protect its routes throughout the region. Heads of Arab anti-drug agencies recently concluded a two-day conference in Tunis with calls for activating co-operation to crack down on the narcotics trade. Arab Interior Ministers’ Council Secretary-General Mohamed Ibn Ali Koumen said at the meeting, which ended on October 4th , “the transformations that have defined the Arab region since last year have left the borders of some countries hazy”. “Smuggling gangs including drug cartels benefit from this situation. The insecurity at some of these borders has strengthened the links between organised crime gangs, allowing the drug trade to finance terrorism.” Magharebia

African Governance Index Shows Decline
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation has released its 2012 African Governance index, an annual study that this year showed worrying slides among Africa’s economic powerhouses and in Zimbabwe. The foundation was also due to announce which former African leader won the coveted $5 million African good governance award. On that front, the foundation had a surprise. VOA

Africa’s Leadership Fails Billionaire Mo Ibrahim’s Test, But Technocrats Rise
This is a guest post by Harvard professor Calestous Juma . [...] it appears that the road to democracy is being bridged by a rising technocracy. While the Mo Ibrahim Foundation was announcing the “no winner” in London, the African Union was installing a South African medic, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as its new chairperson in Addis Ababa. In 2012 alone, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tunisia and Somalia elected engineers to top political offices. Eritrea and Nigeria are headed by an engineer and a fisheries scientist, respectively. Forbes

At Polio’s Epicenter, Vaccinators Battle Chaos And Indifference
Polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere in the early 1990s. It was stamped out in Europe a few years later. And now, even the Congo and Somalia are polio free. But in Africa’s largest oil-producing nation, Nigeria, polio has been a difficult, contentious foe. NPR

After Bangkok, Marrakesh Forced To Face Plague Of Sex Tourism
In the French Quarter of Gueliz, past the trendy Café de la Poste, you need only walk down the street to see the soliciting for yourself. In this very European neighborhood, where youths gather around the McDonald’s, it is more visible than in the infamous Djemaa El-Fna Square, in Marrakesh’s old town. Here, the children themselves proposition passersby.[...] But since the 2004 Thailand tsunami, more and more of the patrons of sex tourism have deserted Bangkok, and made Marrakesh their destination of choice. Worldcrunch – Le Monde

Forget Bill Gates, the richest man in history lived in Mali… 700 years ago
He was a despot who ruled swathes of West Africa and made a fortune from salt and gold. Now, Mansa Musa I has been named the wealthiest (inflation adjusted) man of all time The Independant