Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Media Review for May 24, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:54:01 +0000

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

President Obama Speaks on the U.S. Counterterrorism Strategyt [Transcript] [Video]
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Please be seated. It is a great honor to return to the National Defense University. Here, at Fort McNair, Americans have served in uniform since 1791 — standing guard in the earliest days of the Republic, and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century. For over two centuries, the United States has been bound together by founding documents that defined who we are as Americans, and served as our compass through every type of change. Matters of war and peace are no different. Americans are deeply ambivalent about war, but having fought for our independence, we know a price must be paid for freedom. From the Civil War to our struggle against fascism, on through the long twilight struggle of the Cold War, battlefields have changed and technology has evolved. But our commitment to constitutional principles has weathered every war, and every war has come to an end. The White House

Terrorist Moktar Belmoktar claims responsibility for deadly Niger attack
International terrorist Moktar Belmoktar, whose group led the January attack on the Ain Amenas gas plant in Algeria, has announced that his fighters took part in Thursday’s attack on a French-operated uranium mine in Niger. According to the communique posted on a jihadist forum and provided to reporters by SITE Intelligence, Belmoktar claims that his brigade, called “Those Who Sign in Blood,” helped the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa attack the Areva mine in the town of Arlit in northern Niger. AP on the Washington Post

MUJAO: an Al-Qaeda offshoot spreads its wings
Malian Islamist group MUJAO, which claimed twin car bombings in Niger on Thursday, is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which advocates jihad, or holy war, in West Africa. The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, which became one of the masters of northern Mali before French and African armies intervened in the country in January, has claimed a number of abductions in the northeast of Mali. Globalpost

French president defends African military intervention after attacks in Niger
France’s president says his country must fight harder against terrorists in Africa, after two suicide bombings apparently staged by extremists angry over the French military intervention in Mali. Francois Hollande, in a sweeping speech Friday on this nuclear-armed country’s military doctrine, said, “We will stay in Mali and around Mali because we haven’t finished with terrorism.” He said the twin attacks in Niger on Thursday — including one on a French-operated uranium mine — are “additional proof” that France should help African countries “confronted with this plague of terrorism.” AP on Fox News

Crisis in the Sahel: Mali Terrorism Threat Growing
[...] First, the situation in Northern Mali has recently escalated because jihadists across the region have become more proactive and lethal generally—a trend mirrored in Mali. Militants linked to al-Qaeda, hardened by years of survival under oppressive regimes, have been revived in this region since the start of the “Arab Spring.” Seasoned fighters from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, and Syria further bolster their skills and intent, helping them to expand their networks, strengthening their fighting capacity and resolve to recruit new militants. Atlantic Council

France Steps Up
[...] Although modern French presidents don’t look much like reincarnations of Emperor Napoleon, they are not shrinking violets internationally. Both Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande had wars they wanted to fight—Libya and Mali, respectively. However, they both found Paris to be unable to fight without assistance, primarily from America. Europe’s rising enthusiasm for war is ironic. Observed Philip Stephens in the Financial Times: “Europeans have caught the interventionist bug just as the U.S. has shaken it off.” However, France’s financial difficulties created pressure for additional cuts in military outlays. The National Interest

African peacekeeping: challenge of budgets, bureaucracy
The African Union, celebrating this weekend 50 years since the launch of a continental bloc, regularly repeats the mantra: African solutions to African problems. But AU efforts to tackle those problems — especially the conflicts that plague the continent — are strained by a shortage of cash, poor organisation, lack of capacity and often reluctance to get involved, analysts warn. Kenya Daily Eye

ICC persecuting Africans: S Sudan
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said on Thursday his country would never become a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying it appeared to be preoccupied with prosecuting African leaders. “It seems that this thing has been meant for African leaders, that they have to be humiliated…we never accept it,” Kiir told reporters, referring to the Hague-based tribunal. “We will sit together with our brothers and sisters in Kenya,” he said at a news conference in South Sudan’s capital Juba held jointly with Kenya’s new president Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces charges of crimes against humanity at the tribunal. IOL news

Woolwich attack: Were the suspected killers influenced by Nigerian terrorists?
Nigeria has for several years been plagued by Islamic terror groups – the most prominent of which, Boko Haram, has carried out a bloody campaign against Western values of freedom and democracy. Their name means “Western education is a sin”. And although the police have not confirmed any links between the killers and Nigerian jihadi groups, there remains the very real possibility that the men were influenced by terrorist rhetoric coming from their homeland. Boko Haram is strongest in the north of Nigeria, where it has launched a series of attacks on the government, UN and Christian targets. The Telegraph

Opinion: Nigeria must win battle for youth to beat Boko Haram
[...] Poor policies and bad planning have produced youth vulnerability and exclusion from mainstream life. This is doubly so in northern Nigeria, where class divides have further created a community of people with nothing to lose. The global environment has also changed amid growing transnational threats. Al Qaeda continues to lurk in the neighborhood. Excluded groups in the region with affinity for Boko Haram are potential support networks amid an ever-rising flow of illicit weapons into the region. One thing has hardly changed: elite behavior. Nigeria’s power elite remains far removed from the realities of life experienced by ordinary citizens. CNN

Building roads in Africa? Send in the troops. By Calestous Juma
[...] the urgency to address Africa’s infrastructure requires additional non-conventional interventions such as the mobilization of the continent’s armed forces. Historically, there is a long legacy of military involvement in infrastructure projects going back to the Roman days. African armed forces possess extensive human resources and equipment needed to build infrastructure projects. They regularly use such facilities during emergencies and are at the forefront of developing robust systems such as smart microgrid systems that can provide decentralized power supply for rural Africa. What is needed is an explicit policy to extend their role in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects in cooperation with civilian agencies. CNN

UN warns DR Congo rebels it will intervene
The United Nations Secretary General has warned armed rebels in Eastern Congo that the organisation’s new “intervention brigade” would prevent any repeat of the fighting which has driven thousands of refugees out of camps this week. In a visit to the embattled lakeside city of Goma, Ban Ki-moon said the 3,000-strong force which has begun deployment will “enforce the peace”. Fighting between Congolese government forces and the M23 rebel group has reached the outskirts of the eastern trading hub, putting Mr Ban’s visit in jeopardy. The UN and the Congolese government suffered a major reverse in November when the rebels, who are accused of being backed by neighbouring Rwanda, overran the largest city in the east of the country. The Independant

UN and World Bank in DR Congo peace push
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has pledged that UN troops will be in place within “one or two months” to battle armed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) volatile east. Ban’s visit to the flashpoint city of Goma on Thursday came after three days of sometimes deadly fighting between rebels and government forces that ended a precarious calm spell in the mineral-rich east of the country, an area gripped by conflict for more than two decades. Al Jazeera

Rape Plagues Ivory Coast Long After Conflict’s End
Two years since Ivory Coast’s post-election violence came to an end, rape remains a problem throughout the country. Though such attacks are now occurring outside the context of armed conflict, they show that the security situation for the country’s women remains bleak. [...] Sexual violence was a fixture of Ivory Coast’s political crisis, which saw the country divided in half following a coup attempt against then-President Laurent Gbagbo in 2002. Though rebel forces were unable to topple Gbagbo that year, they successfully assumed control over the north of the country, making Bouake their capital. Voice of America

To change Africa, save it from wayward leadership
The words spoken by Milton Obote in 1980 after he was given a second chance to rule Uganda bear repeating: “Never again shall we allow an individual to suppress the will of the country and to destroy our democratic institutions.” Since these words could very well have been spoken by many leaders who take over from corrupt governments, the question we should ask ourselves is why these very leaders become the individuals who suppress and destroy. Obote’s sentiments remain mere words until that evil, destructive part of the African is addressed and dealt with. Daily Nation

New Strife in Darfur Leaves Many Seeking Refuge
[...] A surge in fighting since the beginning of the year in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur has led to an unnerving increase in civilian upheaval, displacing nearly 300,000 people, more than in the last two years combined, according to the United Nations. Some of the newly displaced have fled to camps like this one, Zam Zam, which holds more than 100,000 people, outside the town of El Fashir in North Darfur. Over the years, the camp has become such a fixture of the conflict in Darfur that many of its residents have lived here long enough to build permanent cottages of mud and straw. The New York Times

Is Egypt dangerous for tourists?
[...] The country’s tourism workers have been hit hard by political and civil unrest. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism employs directly nearly 18 million people. Tourist arrivals are far lower than in previous years. In addition to politically motivated violence that continues in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, there are concerns about the country’s beachside resorts at Hurghada and Sharm Al Sheikh. Many worry that the new government, the Muslim Brotherhood, will impose strict morality provisions on these party towns, which are famed for their beaches and nightlife. CNN

Eritrea demanding ransoms from expatriates in Canada: media
Eritrea’s consul general in Toronto has been soliciting monies from expatriates living in Canada to support the country’s military, despite Ottawa’s warnings to stop, Canadian media said Wednesday. Public broadcaster CBC quoted an Eritrean, who asked not to be named, as saying: “You have to go to the consulate and they arrange how you have to pay the money. They want two per cent (of my income).” “My family (in Eritrea) would get in trouble if I don’t pay,” he added. AFP on Google News

Addressing land rights can make social change possible
What elephant lives in your development space? Last week in Cape Town at Grow Africa’s Investment Forum, Rwanda’s minister of agriculture and animal resources, Agnes Kalibata, called out the elephant she sees in discussions of African agriculture: land rights. If you work on food security, climate change, women’s empowerment, conflict or economic growth, chances are that you’ve also encountered the land elephant – the big, complex, disruptive element that frustrates so many development efforts. Precisely because land is a complex and controversial issue – one that can be expensive to address in addition to being politically and culturally charged – many development professionals have shied away from it. But this is changing. The Guardian

Could African Crops Be Improved With Private Biotech Data?
“I’m shocked by the optimism here,” Howard Yana-Shapiro, the chief agricultural officer for Mars Inc. said Tuesday to the audience of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ in Washington, D.C. Seated there before him were some of the leaders from the wealthiest international organizations and multinational companies of the fight to end hunger. And Shapiro told them they weren’t even close. “To pat ourselves on the back and say we’ve reached 4 million African children — well, we need to reach 100 times that,” he said. NPR

Nigeria: Thousands at author Achebe’s funeral
Thousands of mourners have paid their last respects to renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in his home town in Anambra state. A host of dignitaries attended the funeral including Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Crowds of mourners surrounded the church, some wearing traditional shirts emblazoned with Mr Achebe’s image. The author is widely regarded as the founding father of African literature in English. BBC

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

Trade Has Helped Change Global View of Africa, Official Says

The world has a new image of Africa as a continent of progress and promise, and trade lies at the heart of its economic resurgence, a senior State Department official told global leaders. In prepared remarks to the World Economic Forum in Pretoria, South Africa, May 14, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Robert Hormats said the continent is reaching “a huge turning point” in what has been a hard-fought battle against poverty and corruption.

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Media Review for May 23, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:18:45 +0000

Today’s News

Car bomb attacks in Niger target French uranium mine, army barracks
Attackers in Niger detonated two car bombs at dawn on Thursday, one in the city of Agadez where a military barracks was targeted and one in Arlit where a French company operates a uranium mine, injuring more than a dozen people. Paris-based nuclear giant Areva said in a statement that 13 employees were hurt in the attack in Arlit, in the northern part of Niger where in 2010, al-Qaida’s branch in Africa kidnapped five French citizens working for the mining company. AP on The Washington Post

France beefs up Africa, Middle East embassy security
France will invest about 20 million euros ($25 million) to increase security for diplomats and embassies in the Middle East and Africa after its mission in Libya was targeted by a car bomb in April, the Foreign Ministry said. Spokesman Philippe Lalliot confirmed an email sent by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to staff on Tuesday saying the measure had to be taken following the rising number of serious international crises and threats emanating from them. “This plan takes into consideration the change in threats,” Lalliot told a daily news briefing, Reuters reports. DefenceWeb

US to continue supporting French air force ops in Mali
Although France is withdrawing its ground troops from Mali, there is no indication its air force will stop requesting U.S. aid in support of operations there. The Department of Defense announced Friday that the U.S. will continue to provide mid-air refueling to French planes. The refueling operation has been going on since January, almost immediately after the French intervened in Mali to halt the advance of militant forces connected with al-Qaida. To support French air power used in that operation, the 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron was deployed to Morón Air Base, Spain, to fly KC-135 Stratotankers over Mali and refuel French planes. Stars and Stripes

Midterm Challenges in Nigeria: Elections, Parties, and Regional Conflict
Nigeria is by far the largest country in the world with a population evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. The political party system, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, requires that a presidential candidate achieve not only a plurality of votes but also at least 25 percent of the votes in two-thirds of the thirty-six states. Given Nigeria’s great ethnoreligious diversity, creating “national unity” in Nigeria is a challenge, especially between its “Muslim north” and “Christian south.” The aftermath of the last national elections in 2011 witnessed extreme violence in the country ‘s north. United States Institute of Peace

Security Vacuum Threatens Central African Republic’s Political Transition
Since late-March, when the rebel coalition Seleka took power in the Central African Republic (CAR), security has broken down in the country. United Nations Representative Margaret Vogt recently stated that CAR has entered “a state of anarchy”; in April, rebel-appointed Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye called for French and African help in restoring order. With Seleka struggling to turn military triumph into durable rule, CAR’s neighbors will likely see an increase in the circulation of refugees, fighters and weapons. World Politics Review

Nigeria: War, Amnesty and Oxymoron
Nigeria’s Federal Government has agreed to release, rehabilitate and grant amnesty to arrested terrorists and secessionist in its custody. This offer of peace is balanced with a continuous war against those who persist with a secession and terror agenda. Boko Haram leaders have often demanded the release of their arrested members. The Nigerian government has agreed to oblige, while it continues its war against the rebellious movement. The war against insurgents in the nation’s restive northeast remains, even as a presidential panel explores a possible amnesty deal for insurgents who surrender. The Africa Report

Remember That Historic Arab Spring Speech?
[...] President Barack Obama, in a major speech on May 19, 2011, during the heady early months of the Arab Spring. The president argued that concentrating mainly on longstanding U.S. security interests was no longer enough. Obama declared that encouraging transitions to democracy was now a “top U.S. priority that must be translated into concrete actions and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic, and strategic tools at our disposal.” He announced a three-pronged strategy for the transitioning countries: standing up firmly for democratic values, helping troubled economies, and expanding engagement beyond Arab regimes to newly-emboldened citizens. [...] But soon enough, after a series of tragic and discouraging developments, the United States began to pull back. Atlantic Council

The Myth of the Arab State
[...] For the past fifty years, America dealt with an Arab world composed of two kinds of authoritarian leaders: First, there were the adversarials—the PLO’s Yasser Arafat, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Hafez and Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi. Then there were the acquiescents—Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Tunisia’s Zine Ben Ali, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the kings of Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. For the most part the United States opposed the first group and cooperated with the second. Together, these leaders represented a regional order that, while volatile at times, offered a general stability in a critically important part of the world. The National Interest

‘Moving On’: Welcome to Kenya Inc – By John Githongo
When the Supreme Court decided against those who were contesting the election of Uhuru Kenyatta anticipated jubilation broke out in Jubilee’s ethnic strongholds. Gloom overcame other parts of Kenya. This was the natural reaction and continues to play out. The new government’s supporters both within and outside Kenya urged everyone to ‘move on’ and focus on the future. Essentially, forget the past, accept the new reality, find your space in it and get on with life. African Argument

Kenya truth report shows assassinations, land grabs, corruption plagued its past governments
Kenya’s president received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report that names the president and his deputy as being among those suspected of planning and financing Kenya’s 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 were evicted from their homes. President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto already face trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity charges related to the election violence, but local attempts to prosecute the two have never taken off. The commission didn’t recommend prosecution for the two, and said they already face ICC action. AP on The Washington Post

With UN Troops Arriving, Congo Insurgents Have A Choice To Make.
Militias in the North Kivu region are facing desertions as the UN armed contingent begins to move into the embattled territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But fighting still flares. Worldcruch – SYFIA International

Zambia – Sata pack: Worries about politics are growing in one of Africa’s zippiest economies
[...] Lusaka’s bustle is a reflection of Zambia’s thriving economy. GDP has risen at an average rate of almost 6% a year in the past decade, while inflation has dropped from more than 20% to below 7%. Until quite recently Lusaka had no shopping malls. It now has ten and more are planned. The potential is enormous. Zambia is rich in arable land, water, gemstones, as well as copper, its main export, which China wants in abundance. A flaw is that this new-found prosperity has not been widely shared, which helped a populist veteran politician, Michael Sata, to an election victory in 2011. Zambia’s tax take from mining is poor. Its biggest export market is not China but low-tax Switzerland, where copper trades are booked. Prosperous Lusaka pulls in rural migrants but copper-belt towns are less of a draw because mining uses more machines than manpower; 61% of the population remain in the poorer countryside. President Sata presents himself as their champion. But his imperious style has lately left business folk nervous and others dismayed. The Economist

Shhh! Algeria’s president is ill, expect no details
The tight-lipped official response to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s latest health crisis sparked conflicting reports and rumours. But beneath the fracas, real fears are simmering about Algeria’s political future. The Twittersphere went berserk over the weekend amid conflicting reports on ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s health more than a month after the 76-year-old leader was last seen in public. “Bouteflika is fine. The proof: no wildlife documentaries on state TV,” said one tweet in French. The candour visible on social media sites was in stark contrast with the Soviet-style secrecy of Algerian authorities on the state of the Algerian president’s health. France 24

Somalia: A Terrorist-Piracy Nexus?
Piracy, like terrorism has been a scourge of mankind for centuries and, though its practitioners, real (Blackbeard, Anne Bonny and Henry Morgan) and mythical (Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribean movie stories) have achieved heroic stature in popular culture, its contemporary manifestations represent a major threat to the global economy and to national security. Significant strides have been made in recent years towards combating piracy, especially off the coast of Somalia, but a robust international grand strategy is urgently needed in order to forestall an ever more dangerous global threat as pirates develop ever more sophisticated organizational structures, many of which are already linked to criminal gangs and even, in some cases to terrorist groups. The Huffington Post

Nigerian Navy gets maritime surveillance equipment to monitor Gulf of Guinea
The Nigerian Navy has opened a maritime surveillance and intelligence fusion centre to monitor piracy and ship movements throughout the Gulf of Guinea from the Eastern Naval Command base in Calabar. Speaking at the centre’s inauguration ceremony, Flag Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Joseph Aikhomu said the new facility, which is equipped with radar and satellite monitoring equipment, will enhance the navy’s intelligence gathering capacity as it continues to battle piracy and oil bunkering across the Gulf of Guinea. He said the long-range surveillance facility will also shorten the relay of information from ships in distress and shorten the reaction time for security forces on rapid deployment and rescue missions. DefenceWeb

Opposition Groups Call for Swaziland Election Boycott
The leader of Swaziland’s banned opposition People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has called on citizens to boycott this year’s national elections. Mario Masuku says elections in Swaziland are part of the government’s plan to prevent the population from demanding multiparty democracy in the southern African kingdom. He says the administration in Mbabane has so far refused to adhere to both the United Nations and the African Union’s declaration of fundamental rights in elections, which allows citizens to freely elect their leaders. Voice of America

Togo bans opposition protests
Togo authorities on Wednesday banned two protests in the capital Lome planned by the opposition after windows were broken and cars were damaged after a demonstration the previous day. “Let’s Save Togo”, a coalition of opposition and civil society groups, had on Tuesday begun three days of demonstrations to protest the death in detention of an opposition member and to demand the release of others held in connection with fires last January at two markets. News 24

A leak in high places puts Ugandans on edge
Kampala is in an uproar. The Ugandan government has just shut down four private media outlets — a move that follows a crackdown on journalists from the Daily Monitor newspaper a few days earlier. The government’s anger was prompted by a story in the paper said to reveal details of a plan by senior officials to assassinate rivals opposed to a scheme by President Yoweri Museveni to arrange for his son to succeed him in office. By exposing deep rifts within the ruling establishment, the paper has shaken Uganda’s political establishment to the core. Foreign Policy

Missing oil revenue stirs discontent among Chad’s poor
[...] Ten years after the oil started to flow, Chad is still close to the bottom of the human development index, ranked 184th out of 187 by the UN in 2012. It may have started with a big handicap, but little has changed for most people, fuelling widespread discontent towards President Idriss Déby, in power for the past 22 years. In 10 years oil has earned the country $9.8bn. “On the international market oil prices have soared. We should not feel poverty so harshly,” says Delphine Djiraibe, one of the heads of the Chadian Civil Society Network for Peace and Reconciliation (CSAPR) coalition of NGOs, established in 2002, that has repeatedly criticised the poor management of this windfall. “The resentment,” she adds, “is particularly strong because oil revenue mainly benefits the elite.” The Guardian

Egypt’s 2011 jailbreaks still a mystery, carry potential embarrassment for Islamist leader
It was one of the most perplexing events of Egypt’s revolution: orchestrated attacks on prisons around the country that broke out more than 20,000 inmates while police were tied down with the massive popular protests that swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power. The prison breaks added to the chaos during the 18-day uprising in 2011, and the flood of criminals onto the streets fueled a crime wave that continues to this day. Also among those who escaped were around 40 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as more than 30 leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — including the man who is now president, Mohammed Morsi. AP on Fox News

How to deal with Tunisia’s Salafists
Critics of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist government, led by the Ennahda party, have in the past chided it for being a soft touch with followers of the ultra-conservative Salafi movement, treating them like wide-eyed, wayward children with a well-intentioned but simplistic view of religion. But times have changed. As a journalist based in Tunisia, I have watched relations between Salafists and Ennahda spectacularly crumple in recent weeks. This weekend was a turning point. Police clashed with the Salafi group Ansar al-Sharia in the central city of Kairouan and the Tunis suburb of Ettadhamen. The Salafists were trying to hold an annual conference without legal permission. The Guardian

African tribes losing ground to conservation
Trouble is brewing in northern Tanzania, where the government has recently designated a wildlife protection zone that threatens to displace tens of thousands of Maasai tribespeople, who live and graze cattle across the grasslands. In a rush to protect elephants, rhinos and other endangered animals from gun-toting poachers, governments are fencing off swathes of territory that have been inhabited and used by small ethnic groups for generations. Samwel Nangiria, who represents several Maasai groups, said his people have repeatedly lost out in the name of animal welfare and insisted it will not happen again. Al Jazeera

Sorry BBC, it’s blacks who have no future in South Africa
Sorry BBC, white South Africans are here to stay. This past Sunday, the BBC’s website asked a question which was disguised as a statement as one read further on: “Do white South Africans have a future?” The report, which appears as a video and written article on the broadcaster’s website, claims only certain white South Africans have a future in the country. “The people who are suffering now are the weakest and most vulnerable members of the white community,” it reads. Mail and Guardian

Barack Obama coming to Africa – a trip alive with possibilities
US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama are planning a three-nation tour to Africa, 26 June to 3 July. The visit is one that has long been anticipated by Africans, but has it come too late to generate the kind of enormous buzz that might have happened had this trip happened several years earlier? Daily Maverick

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

Two California Men Sentenced for Rhino Horn Trafficking

The sentencing May 15 of two California businessmen in Los Angeles for trafficking in rhino horn will send both to prison and ensure that $800,000 of their illegally acquired “profits” end up helping protect rhinos in Africa. Vinh Chung “Jimmy” Kha and Felix Kha pleaded guilty in September 2012 to federal felony charges brought as a result of Operation Crash, an ongoing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation of rhino horn trafficking. The two were ordered to spend 42 month and 46 months in prison, respectively. They also will pay $20,000 in criminal fines (plus $100,000 from Jimmy Kha’s company) and $185,000 in tax fraud penalties and assessments and forfeit seized rhino horns and other assets to the government.

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Africa Center Community in Niger Launches 32nd ACSS Chapter

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:45:34 +0000

A delegation of the U.S.-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) visited Niamey from May 12 to 16, 2013 to support the launch of the newly-established ACSS community chapter in Niger.

The Africa Center delegation was led by Gerald Lefler, ACSS Regional Operation Manager for West and Central Africa based in Dakar, Senegal, and also included Dr. Benjamin Nickels, Assistant Professor of Transnational Threats and Counter Terrorism and Ms. Mary McGurn, Community Affairs Specialist at the Africa Center.

“I’d like to thank the Africa Center for the constant support it has provided to Niger,” said Mr. Ibrahim Yacouba, the Nigerien Minister of Transport, who represented his government at the ceremony on May 13. He recalled that 66 members of Niger’s armed forces have participated in ACSS programs since 2001.

Senior members of Niger’s government and the diplomatic corps in Niamey also attended the ceremony.

The new chapter provides a forum for community members to develop independent programs in support of common defense and security interests and maintain communication with the Africa Center and in-country U.S. Embassy colleagues.

The delegation also participated in a symposium that examined the challenges of regional and international partnership in counterterrorism operations as well as good governance and development approaches to countering violent extremism.

During the day-long symposium, participants heard presentations from Dr. Nickels and Nigerien senior officials. Principal Police Commissioner Doulla Hari, Head of the Counterterrorism Unit in Niamey, presented on national and regional security. Najim El Hadj Mohamed, Executive Secretary of the Security and Development Strategy for the Sahel Zone in Niger (SDS-Sahel Niger)—a development agency attached to Niger’s Prime Minister office—gave a speech that focused on development programs to counter violent extremism.

According to Commissioner Hari, nearly 60 terrorist attacks have been reported in Niger since 1993. Actions range from the hijacking of a Nigerian Airways plane in 1993, to the recent crisis in Northern Mali that resulted in gun battles between Nigerien Army and militants at the border between Mali and Niger. Several citizens of Niger have also been arrested with weapons and ammunitions since a security crisis broke in Bamako in 2012. These threats have prompted the government to react through its National Security Council, and various state agencies, to protect Niger’s border security and citizens’ safety.

However, Hari also stressed the need for international and regional cooperation. “Niger cannot fight AQIM and other terrorists groups alone; neither [can] any country in the Sahel,” he said. “They all need to pool their resources together. They also need the support of the international community.”

El Hadj Mohamed of SDS-Sahel Niger said the government is fully committed to fight what he called the gangster -Jihadist nebula trough development programs. He said SDS-Sahel Niger plans to devote 87 percent of its operational budget to bolstering economic development and social welfare programs in the Sahel, as a means to achieve and maintain citizen’s safety. “The goal is to preserve the integrity of our national territory, safeguard citizen’s security and strengthen peace to boost development,” he said.

Both presentations sparked discussion on various challenges the country faces and Niger’s actual needs in the security sector. Nigerien professionals recognized the necessity to bring together law enforcement personnel, military officials and civilians with a security portfolio—from government agencies and the national assembly—to have a discussion on the key challenges of Niger’s national security.

The Africa Center’s Mr. Lefler welcomed the healthy debate in his remarks. He noted that the Chapter’s launch and the symposium each demonstrate Niger’s commitment to work hand-in-hand with the U.S. government to confront the many security challenges of the Sahel region. He said the ACSS regional office in Dakar would continue to be a steady partner of Niger in this endeavor.

General Oumara Maï Manga, Niger Chapter’s first President echoed Lefler’s comments, adding that the chapter’s mission is to contribute to advancing peace, development, security and stability in Niger and the trans-Sahel region. He also pointed out that the new chapter will contribute to reinforcing friendly ties between Niger and the United States and strengthen ties with sister chapters and the Africa Center’s regional office in Dakar.

The visit on May 12 to 16 to Niger was part of the Africa Center’s Topical Outreach Program Series (TOPS), which allows the Center to maintain an active network of relationships with community groups in nations across Africa. Typically, a small academic outreach team visits nations with active ACSS communities once every one to two years to participate in workshops and symposiums.

ACSS is the pre-eminent institution for strategic security studies, research, and outreach in Africa. The Africa Center engages African partner states and institutions through rigorous academic and outreach programs that build strategic capacity and foster long-term, collaborative relationships. Over the past 14 years, more than 6,000 African and international leaders have participated in over 200 ACSS programs.

Media Review for May 22, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:49:02 +0000

Today’s News

Joint Subcommittee Hearing: The Growing Crisis in Africa’s Sahel Region
The Honorable Donald Y. Yamamoto, Acting Assistant Secretary of State – Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State [full text of statement]. The Honorable Nancy E. Lindborg, Assistant Administrator – Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development [full text of statement]. Mr. Rudolph Atallah, Senior Fellow – Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, Atlantic Council – [full text of statement], [truth in testimony form]. Mima S. Nedelcovych, Ph.D., Partner – Schaffer Global Group – [full text of statement], [truth in testimony form] Mr. Nii Akuetteh (Former Georgetown University Professor of African Affairs) – [full text of statement], [truth in testimony form]. Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

Obama’s Africa tour leaves ancestral homeland of Kenya as loser
And the winners are: Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. Each will be rewarded for its democratic virtues next month when Barack Obama embarks on his first major presidential tour of Africa. The biggest loser? Kenya. Not even a relatively peaceful election earlier this year is enough to tempt Obama back to his ancestral homeland. The big problem is the winner, Uhuru Kenyatta, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the international criminal court (no matter that the US is yet to sign up to the ICC). The Guardian

FBI ID’s Benghazi suspects _ but no arrests yet
The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn’t enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers. The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. AP on Yahoo News

Libya’s Vast Borders Still a No-Man’s Land for Most
On the outskirts of Ubari, a remote outpost in Libya’s southwest near the Algerian border, armed militia from the Tebu tribe speed across the desert in Toyota trucks towards the sprawling Sharara oil fields. They, along fighters from the town of Zintan further north, are spearheading efforts – under the auspices of Libya’s defence ministry – to secure the oil installation’s vast perimeter from sabotage. They want to protect against attacks such as those last January at the In Amenas gas complex, just kilometres across the border in Algeria, in which militant Islamists conducted a deadly assault, purportedly as a protest against the French-armed intervention in Mali. Think Africa Press

Algerian president’s health still questioned
Official assurances about the improving health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, hospitalised in France in April, have failed to convince many Algerians, as analysts warn that hiding such details is harder than it was. On Tuesday, France’s defence ministry said Bouteflika was moved from the Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris to a new facility in the French capital “to continue his convalescence”. But it gave few other details and no pictures have emerged of the 76-year-old president since he suffered a mini-stroke nearly four weeks ago, which has merely stoked speculation about his condition. Al Jazeera

Shadow of Jihadi Safe Haven Hangs Over Tunisia, Algeria
Security has crumbled on Tunisia’s western border with Algeria in recent months. A small but destructive group of jihadi militants with links to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has infiltrated the region, with weighty security implications for both Tunisia and Algeria. To successfully rout the jihadists in the short term, the Tunisian military needs better equipment, which the government has promised to deliver. But it is not yet clear whether Tunis is ready to pursue the deeper military and economic reforms needed to quell the terrorist threat in the long term. World Politics Review

Nigerian President Releases Female Terror Suspects in Peace Move
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the release of some suspected terrorists, including all women, said Chris Olukolade, a Defense Ministry spokesman. The decision was made to “enhance peace efforts in the country,” Olukolade said today in an e-mailed statement. It follows a decision by Jonathan to impose emergency rule in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa on May 14 and start a military campaign against Boko Haram Islamist insurgents. The air and ground offensive by troops of Africa’s largest oil producer “destroyed all terrorist camps” in parts of the northeast and drove away militants, some of whom are fleeing to Chad and Niger, Olukolade said. Business Week

UN envoy proposes set of principles to guide peace efforts in DR Congo
The United Nations Envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes Region today proposed a set of principles to guide immediate peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while voicing concerns over renewed fighting in the eastern part of the country. “The suffering and displacement of the people, especially women and children, in eastern DRC and beyond have gone on for too long and cannot be tolerated any further,” the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Mary Robinson. Fighting between rebels from the 23 March Movement (M23) and the national armed forces (known as the FARDC) broke out again yesterday morning in Kibati and Rusayo, some 12 kilometres from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. UN News Center

A Day in the DRC
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — This city of about one million inhabitants located in the conflict-prone eastern Congolese province of North Kivu has had few tributes written to it. From afar, its recent history is a saga of misfortune that makes it seem like Baghdad with a lakefront view, or Mogadishu without the white-sand beaches. Since 1996, it’s been besieged, ransacked, inundated with refugees, and leveled by a volcanic eruption. Around a million Rwandans showed up on the city’s doorstep after the country’s 1994 genocide. And just in the past year, more than 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been chased there by the M23 rebel movement, which marched on the city late last year. The Alantic

Jubaland in Jeopardy: The Uneasy Path to State-Building in Somalia
On 15 May 2013, Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, leader of the Ras Kamboni militia and a close ally of Kenya, was elected Jubaland president by regional clan representatives. Hours later, Barre Hirale, a warlord from a rival clan allied with the Somali Federal Government (SFG), declared himself president. The effort to create a Jubaland state within Somalia will test the limits of federalism in that country, and threatens to touch off clan warfare not only within Somalia but also in its neighbours. We spoke to Zakaria Yusuf, Somalia Analyst , and Claire Elder, Horn of Africa Research Assistant, to learn more about Jubaland and find out if there is a risk of conflict. International Crisis Group

Is the African Union equipped to serve Africa’s people for another 50 years?
The African Union (AU) is now 50 years old. Amid the celebrations this week, the AU – which was established as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 (pdf) – needs to take stock of its strengths and weaknesses as an intergovernmental organisation designed to promote the pan-African agenda politically and economically. As articulated by the leading figures of pan-Africanism, that agenda consists of a three-dimensional project of political self-determination, economic self-reliance, and solidarity in the promotion and defence of African interests nationally and internationally. The Guardian

Africa’s French Roadblock
In recent years, China and Africa have formed one of the modern era’s most successful economic and trade partnerships. China benefits from Africa’s oil, minerals, and markets, while Africa benefits from increased trade and investment in infrastructure, health, education, small-scale businesses, and low and medium technologies. Some Western observers – and some Africans – have condemned China’s involvement on the continent as a new form of colonialism. But such criticism is largely misplaced. The development model that China is facilitating, which combines productive investment and trade with concessional loans and aid, is helping to break the cycle of under-development in Africa – a goal that Western-led development strategies have failed to achieve. Project Sydicate

Mugabe signs new constitution into law
President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday signed Zimbabwe’s new constitution into law, clearing the path to crucial elections later this year. The long-time ruler inked the document two months after it was overwhelmingly approved in a referendum. “This day is an historic day, it’s about the future,” Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said at the signing ceremony, held in a marquee erected on the lush green lawns of the State House. News 24

EU seeks to rebuild Mali army
Under a blazing sun and the critical gaze of British and Irish instructors, a line of 11 Malian soldiers lie prone in the dust firing AK-47 rounds at targets, one-by-one. “One out of 10 – not very good,” Captain Ibrahim Soumassa, commander of the Malian unit, tells one of the men. “We’re at 25 metres. When we’re at 100, it’ll be difficult.” A European Union training mission faces a considerable challenge as it seeks to succeed where years of U.S. instruction failed by turning Mali’s rag-tag army into a force capable of facing a threat stretching across the Sahara. World Bulletin

Captors release 7 Egyptian security personnel abducted in Sinai, military says
Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country’s military spokesman said. The release followed a security buildup and a massive show of force by the military in northern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel. The seven men were freed in the middle of the desert early Wednesday, and some were able later to speak to their families by telephone, according to officials and state TV. AP on The Washington Post

UN says elephant poaching may be linked to crime and terrorism, threaten central Africa peace
The illegal trade in elephant ivory may constitute an important source of funding for armed groups, including the Lord’s Resistance Army, threatening peace and security in central Africa, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council. In a report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, Ban said that the situation has become so serious in some countries that governments are already using the army as well as police and paramilitary forces to hunt down poachers. AP on The Washington Post

Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto named in Kenya TRJC report
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy have been named in connection with post-election violence in a long-awaited report investigating human rights abuses in the country. The report gave no recommendation for action to be taken against Mr Kenyatta and Vice-President William Ruto. The report’s chairman told the BBC this was because they already face charges at the International Criminal Court. Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto deny such allegations. BBC

SA sold weapons during Sudanese conflict
South Africa sold weapons to at least two parties in the Sudanese conflict this year. The report of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to Parliament records that the committee approved sales of R25.5 million to the UN operation in Sudan, sales of R25.5m to Sudan and sales of R6.9m to South Sudan between January and March this year. [...] There were exports valued at R12.7m to the AU in Somalia, and R12.7m to Somalia, listed as separate entries. DA spokesman on defence David Maynier said the sales needed some checking. IOL News

The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa
International criminal networks mainly from Latin America and Africa—some with links to terrorism—are turning West Africa into a key global hub for the distribution, wholesaling, and production of illicit drugs. These groups represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in the sub-region because they are using narco-corruption to stage coups d’état, hijack elections, and co-opt or buy political power. Besides a spike in drug-related crime, narcotics trafficking is also fraying West Africa’s traditional social fabric and creating a public health crisis, with hundreds of thousands of new drug addicts. While the inflow of drug money may seem economically beneficial to West Africa in the short-term, investors will be less inclined to do business in the long-term if the sub-region is unstable. U.S. Army War College – Strategic Studies Institute

Africa’s ‘Demographic Dividend’: The Youth Will Decide
Africa’s age structure is said to be reaching its ‘Goldilocks moment’ where things are ‘just right’. Falling birth and mortality rates mean there are more people of working age than ever before and fewer dependents for them to support. In the past, when similar situations have arisen elsewhere, this ‘demographic dividend’ resulted in economic booms. But what will Africa’s ‘demographic dividend’ bring? Good things of bad things? More young people = more workers = economic growth = good, yes? But what if that growth isn’t distributed fairly? What if there aren’t any jobs for these ‘workers’? And don’t bigger populations exacerbate or create conflict over land, worsen environmental degradation, and increase the likelihood of famine and disease? Won’t all that lead to more uprisings? And don’t uprisings lead to instability and instability to conflict? Think Africa Press

Impoverished Malawi sells presidential jet for $15 mln
Malawi’s luxury presidential jet, bought by late leader Bingu wa Mutharika, has been sold for $15 million to raise cash for the impoverished African country, a government official said on Wednesday. Mutharika, who left the economy on the brink of collapse after he picked a fight with donors whose support accounted for almost 40 percent of the budget, bought the jet for $22 million in 2009. He said the plane matched his status and was cheaper than flying commercially. Reuters

Ghana hopes to dodge the oil curse
Oil brought riches to Nigeria but also ravaged its economy and fuelled corruption and conflict. Now nearby Ghana has begun production and wants to take the wealth but dodge the oil curse. Ghana is used to resource riches: it is already the world’s number two cocoa producer and Africa’s second-largest gold miner. But there are signs it is struggling to manage the new oil money and some people are disappointed. Fin 24

DoD and Global Health: Time for a Dose of Development Realism
[...] Medical stability operations are generally the activities of the Geographic Combatant Commands to provide technical assistance and other health-related activities to build trust, prevent conflict, and increase the capacity of partner governments. DoD’s argument goes something like this: since health is part of a community’s overall well-being, improving local health services supports the extension of good governance while making extremist groups less attractive to citizens. Or stated even more broadly by Dr. Kathleen Hicks, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, in her presentation at Kaiser, “The physical health of these poorer populations can have a profound impact on social and economic health. Expanding on this concept, actions to improve the health of a fragile state may prevent it from becoming a failed state.” Kate Almquist Knopf – Center for Global Development

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

Kerry, Others at Meeting on Combating Trafficking in Persons

MS. JARRETT: Good morning, everyone. I’m Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls. I’d like to welcome you all to the White House. This is the second time that we have held the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons here at the White House, and in the course of this last year since our last meeting I’ve had the pleasure of working with each and every one of the agencies represented around the table and your teams as we’ve worked to both end trafficking and make sure that those who have survived it have the services that they need to restore their lives and return strong and resilient and be able to reach their dreams.

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ACSS Senior Diplomatic Advisor Examines Threats Posed by Drug Trafficking in West Africa

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:46:54 +0000

Washington, D.C.— “West Africa is under attack from international criminal networks that are using the sub-region as a key global hub for the distribution, wholesale, and increased production of illicit drugs,” according to a new report by David Brown, Senior Diplomatic Advisor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Drug trafficking poses an immense challenge to democratic governance and human security in West Africa, Brown wrote in the report, which was published by the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

“While West African states have made remarkable progress in democratic and economic development over the past decade, the insidious effects of narcotics trafficking have the potential to reverse many of these gains,” said the report. “The proceeds of drug trafficking, by far the most lucrative transnational criminal activity in illicit economies, are fueling a dramatic increase in narco-corruption in the region, allowing drug traffickers to stage coups d’état, hijack elections, and co-opt or buy political power.”

In order to address this challenge, Brown argues that the U.S. government should expand its partnerships and physical presence in the sub-region. Specifically, the report recommends re-opening the U.S. Embassy in Guinea-Bissau and enhancing the presence of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in key countries throughout the region.

The United States and other international partner states, according to the report, should seek to help expand African partner states’ maritime domain awareness as well as their legal frameworks and law enforcement agencies’ operational capabilities.

Brown recommends that the United States forge and strengthen partnerships with other external governments with an interest in stemming the flow of narcotics through the region, including European Union (EU) member-states—the largest consumers of cocaine trafficked through West Africa—and East Asian states, which consume the majority of the amphetamine type stimulants produced in the region. The report also stresses the need to deepen U.S. partnerships with regional and international organizations that have the mandate and capacity to address the counter-narcotics challenge.

“None of the recommendations will be easy to implement. All will require budgetary and manpower resources in an era when both will be increasingly scarce,” Brown concludes in the report. “Nevertheless, West Africa merits U.S. support, both for the well-being of its citizens, and for those in the United States who will suffer indirectly if the United States does not act now to stop transnational criminal networks operating in the sub-region and elsewhere.”

See link to article:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubid=1151

Media Review for May 21, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:56:46 +0000

Today’s News

Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to Africa
President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 – July 3. The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders. The White House

Nigeria Military Chases Militants Fleeing to Chad, Niger Borders
Nigeria’s military is chasing Islamist fighters as they flee to the borders of Chad and Niger from the northeast, where President Goodluck Jonathan has declared emergency rule, spokesman Chris Olukolade said. The military has destroyed “all terrorist camps” and secured towns and villages in the areas of New Marte, Hausari, Krenoa, Wulgo and Chikun Ngulalo, Olukolade said today in an e-mailed statement. Bloomberg

Police raid Ugandan newspaper office
Police in Uganda have forcibly entered the offices of a semi-independent newspaper to search for evidence against an army general who questioned the president’s alleged plan to have his son succeed him. The Daily Monitor’s political editor, Henry Ochieng, said about 50 plainclothes police entered the paper’s premises in the capital, Kampala, on Monday. “There are lots of plainclothes individuals inside the premises. You can come in but you can’t leave,” he said. Al Jazeera

Egypt Sends Show of Force to Sinai After Kidnappings
President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt sent dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers to Sinai on Monday as a show of force in the largely lawless area after unknown gunmen kidnapped seven Egyptian security officers there last week. The kidnappings have highlighted the vast security vacuum that has spread across Sinai, the strategically important peninsula that borders both Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, since the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The New York Times

Rebels, Army Clash in Eastern DRC
Fresh fighting has erupted in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the army and rebel group M23 — the first clash between the two forces in nearly six months. The fighting 12 kilometers north of Goma Monday was intense, involving mortars, rocket launchers, and aircraft . A VOA reporter in Goma says a steady stream of civilians began heading south toward the city beginning in the morning. Voice of America

In Africa’s Great Lakes Region, Peace Dividend Must Follow Peace Deal
Africa’s Great Lakes region today has the chance to achieve something that has eluded its war-weary people for several decades. It can silence the guns, boost trust and trade between neighbors, educate millions of out-of-school children, empower women, and create economic opportunities that will help the countries forge a path to prosperity, good governance, and lasting stability. In the coming days, we will travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda to meet the region’s leaders and announce a range of specific commitments to accelerate development and consolidate peace. This first-of-its-kind joint trip is rooted in a momentous new agreement: the “Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region.”- Jim Yong Kim and Ban Ki-moon – The Huffington Post

Kony’s LRA has killed more than 100,000: UN
The Lord’s Resistance Army has killed more than 100,000 people during a reign of terror in Central Africa over the past 25 years, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Monday. The guerrilla group led by Joseph Kony, whose global notoriety was increased by the Invisible Children Internet video, is also blamed for the abduction of between 60,000 and 100,000 children and the displacement of 2.5 million people. AFP on Google News

Paul Kagame denies Rwanda proxies in DR Congo
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has said that allegations that his country used proxy forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo are “ridiculous” and “an effort to circumvent the real problem”. In an interview with the BBC’s Komla Dumor, he said those who blamed Rwanda did so out of their lack of a better explanation as to why eastern DR Congo had been plagued by violence for so long. UN experts have cited evidence that Rwanda and Uganda are backing the M23 rebel group, which has been active in eastern DR Congo since last year. Both Rwanda and Uganda strongly deny the charges. BBC

The AU at 50: More miss than hit?
The African Union will be celebrating half a century of its existence this week but a critique of its performance reveals more failures than successes. One of the major successes of the AU is its move towards intervention in conflicts in the continent. The Darfur and Somalia are success stories of African conflict-intervention. The AU intervention in the Kenyan post-election crisis through Kofi Annan is another success story. However, the AU is generally seen as an institution that is slow to respond to crisis like in the case of Libya, as well as lacking financial and military capacities for conflict-intervention. Africa Review

Burkina Faso foreign minister: Talks to resume soon with Mali government, Tuareg rebel group
The foreign affairs minister of Burkina Faso says talks will soon resume with a Tuareg rebel group whose influence has been growing in northern Mali. Djibril Bassole made the announcement Monday, days after the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad said it would meet with the Malian government. AP on Fox News

Kerry: Diplomats need to be ‘outdoors’ to do their jobs
Secretary of State John F. Kerry sought Monday to reassure the nation’s diplomats that security concerns surrounding last year’s attack on a temporary U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya, will not translate into new restrictions on their ability to do their jobs. Diplomats need to be “outdoors,” and sometimes outside security barriers, to perform their duties properly, Kerry said at a diplomatic conference. “We, as a nation, need to continue our larger conversation about the inherent dangers of diplomacy, ever mindful that we undertake them clear-eyed and for a reason,” he said. “But we must also remember that this conversation is not a new one. The dangers of diplomacy are not unique to our time.” The Washington Post

Libya war weapons may be killing central Africa elephants : UN
Armed groups in central Africa are using powerful weapons, some of which may be left over from the civil war in Libya, to kill elephants for their ivory, the United Nations said on Monday. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said elephant poaching was a growing security concern, particularly in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad and Gabon. Ban said the illegal trade in ivory may be an important source of funding for armed groups, including warlord fugitive Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Reuters

Militiamen attack gas complex in western Libya
A Libyan gas company official says militiamen have attacked a natural gas complex in the country’s west, injuring two guards and stealing weapons and military vehicles. The official says the attack took place early Monday and targeted the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. The complex is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil Corp. and Italy’s largest energy company, Eni SpA. The militiamen fled the site briefly after seizing weapons and equipment from the guards. AP on Stars and Stripes

Libya security crisis intensifies
Libyan security services defused several car bombs and other explosives in the past two days, Prime Minister Ali Zidan said on Sunday (May 19th). The prime minister’s press conference came in the wake of a string of bombings in both Benghazi and Tripoli. The attacks accelerated after the May 5th passage of the controversial political isolation law, which bars Kadhafi regime members from serving in government. Several new blasts hit Benghazi at the week-end, including one on Saturday that targeted the already-desecrated Orthodox Church. The new attack damaged the church entrance and nearby cars but left no casualties. Magharebia

8 Things the US Should Be Doing in Libya: Effective Immediately
Given the mess he inherited, perhaps President Obama was right to think that a lighter touch in the Middle East was the best policy — it’s certainly immediately cost-effective. However, as we are seeing in Technicolor, de facto disengagement can be just as dangerous to our national interests as reckless, ideologically-driven over-engagement. For its promise, the Arab Spring seems to have pushed the U.S. into quasi-paralysis — and at the worst possible time. We appear to be afraid to take firm positions on the region, lest they come back to bite us. Yet lingering prey is more easily bitten. The Huffington Post

Restive northern Kenya sees shifting power, risks
The presence of foreign militias in parts of northeastern Kenya, and their collusion with security officials and business people there, may be to blame for a rise in insecurity in the region, where multiple gun and grenade attacks have been reported over the past two years. But securing northern Kenya is increasingly vital to the government, with the badlands growing in economic viability, the new constitution shifting power to the counties, and mega development projects being planned in the region. IRIN

51 die in 2 South Sudan clashes; army retakes town
Twenty-four people died in a battle between South Sudan’s military and rebel fighters the government believes to be supported by neighboring Sudan, while a tribe-on-tribe cattle-raiding attack elsewhere in the country killed 27 people, officials said Monday. A battle in Jonglei state on Sunday killed 20 rebel fighters and four government troops, said Col. Philip Aguer. Aguer said the army recaptured the town of Boma, near the border with Ethiopia, from rebels led by David Yau Yau who took over the town earlier this month. AP on Stars and Stripes

Speculations about ministerial reshuffle in Sudan
Different sources have expected a large ministerial reshuffle in Khartoum, saying that the first vice-president Ali Osman Taha might be relieved from his position. A presidential source told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha is one of the most prominent figure that will quit the government in the upcoming reshuffle, adding he will dedicate his time as deputy chairman to the management of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). The source further revealed that defence minister Gen. Abdel-Rahim Hussein, will also be among those who will lose their ministerial portfolios. Sudan Tribune

Africa mulls diversified exports to U. S. via AGOA initiative
frica is set diversify its exports to the United States through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) after the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Monday announced plans to help boost trade and investments under the initiative. AfDB Manager for Regional Integration and Trade Moono Mupotola said the bank has launched several bilateral meetings with U. S. and multilateral companies on ways of helping African countries to broaden AGOA export prospects. Xinhua

We will end police, military abuse: Morgan Tsvangirai
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said that if his party comes to power it will manage the police and military so that Zimbabweans “will not fear their soldiers and policemen” any longer. Launching his party’s election platform, Tsvangirai said security services must be professional and non-partisan in their operations and respect civilian politicians. President Robert Mugabe’s loyalist police and military are widely blamed by human rights organizations for state-orchestrated violence in previous elections. Times Live

Do white people have a future in South Africa?
Apartheid South Africa looked after white people and nobody else. Now some of its white communities face a level of deprivation, or of violence, which threatens their future in the country. Everyone here, regardless of colour, tells you that white people are still riding high. They run the economy. They have a disproportionate amount of influence in politics and the media. They still have the best houses and most of the best jobs. All of this is true but it is not the only picture. BBC

Ivory Coast’s reconciliation under threat from victor’s justice – video
Atrocities were committed on both sides during Ivory Coast’s post-election conflict two years ago, in which more than 3,000 people died. But while former president Laurent Gbagbo awaits a potential war crimes trial at the Hague, not a single person has been charged among those who fought for the current president Alassane Ouatarra. What impact will this have on the country’s prospects for long-term reconciliation? The Guardian

It Takes a Village to Educate a Girl
A decade ago, less than a third of school-aged girls in Niger were in class. Today, though significant cultural and religious opposition remains, nearly two-thirds of girls are enrolled in school. “Back in 2003, we had only 15 girls at my school, out of 150 students. Now, we have 103 girls out of a total of 175 students,” said Ibrahim Sani, who has taught for 17 years in the town of Agadez, in the northern part of this West African country. IPS-Inter Press Service

FOR THE RECORD – AFRICA – U.S. Government Events, Statements, and Articles.
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Kerry, Others at Meeting on Combating Trafficking in Persons

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Security Implications of Climate Change in the Sahel Region: Policy Considerations

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:44:17 +0000

By Philipp Heinrigs. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2010.

Historically variable rainfalls in the Sahel region are expected to worsen under some climate change models, increasing the possibilities of droughts and other pressures that prompt community vulnerability, displacement, and fragility. However, analysis of the region has found no deterministic relation between environment and security dynamics. Environmental variables are of secondary influence compared to political, historical, and economic variables. Rather, addressing the impacts of climate change requires adjustments in national and regional development strategies that prepare for uncertainty, diversify livelihood opportunities, and include the input of communities most affected.

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Africa Center and U.S. Embassy Sponsor Symposium on Natural Resources and Conflict Prevention in Tanzania

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:24:33 +0000

View Photos from the Event
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania—A group of 71 security sector experts and students from the Tanzania National Defence College, academic institutions, the Ministry of Defence, non-profit organizations, Tanzanian Parliamentarians and U.S. and Tanzanian government officials, convened in Dar es Salaam on 16 May, 2013 for a full-day program discussing Natural Resources and Conflict Prevention.

The event was co-hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), the ACSS Tanzania Community Chapter, and the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. The symposium is part of the Washington, D.C.-based Africa Center’s Topical Outreach Program Series (TOPS), designed to increase the quality and quantity of communications and networking among ACSS alumni, ACSS faculty and staff, and U.S. stakeholders and policymakers.

Welcoming and opening remarks were delivered by Professor Egnald P. Mihanjo, President of the ACSS Tanzania Community Chapter; Mr. Bradley Anderson, Program Manager at the ACSS Regional Office for East Africa; and Lt. Col. Kevin C. Balisky, Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam. The symposium was divided into two panels, with discussions on “Natural Resources and Conflict Prevention” and “Competition for Resources.” Panelists at the event included Dr. John Kelly, ACSS Professor of National Security Studies; Professor Egnald P. Mihanjo, President of the ACSS Tanzania Community Chapter and Associate Professor at St. John’s University of Tanzania; Honorable James Lembeli, Member of Parliament for Kahama and Chairman Natural Resources Parliamentary Committee, Natural Resources and Conflict Prevention; Honorable Moses Machali, Member of Parliament for Kasulu; and Ms. Leslie Armstrong, Senior Science Advisor, U.S. Africa Command.

The symposium theme concentrated on the factors of social responsibility and transparent accountability from the government. The idea that those who take resources from the land should return something to the local community was mentioned numerous times during the discussion. Also discussed was the role Parliamentarians play in challenging the system and assuring the people that their environment is not being wrongfully exploited. The panelists all agreed that the government officials should be mindful of their role as guardians of the public trust.

Professor Mihanjo set the stage by framing the concerns and challenges Tanzania is currently facing.

“All in all, for natural resources to be a valuable national asset for development and to enhance national security, it would need a government that is accountable to people and manages well national resources with well-enshrined public oversight,” Professor Mihanjo said, “otherwise a corrupt bureaucracy will heighten grassroots resistance, public disorder and violence.”

The ACSS Tanzania Community Chapter has developed an interest in the issue because of the potential threat to national development, peace, and stability, Professor. Mihanjo said.

The Honorable James Lembeli presented both the socio-economical benefits and the numerous conflicts that Tanzania is currently facing. “Tanzania is endowed with enormous natural resources,” he said, adding that similar resources have been a source of conflicts in adjacent communities. In his presentation he discussed the conflicts and challenges for communities living in or next to wildlife protected areas and mines.

Dr. John Kelly’s presentation was focused on climate change, water and mining issues in Africa. “The mining industry in Tanzania is an enormous generator for 43 percent of the foreign exchange reserves while representing only 2.5 percent of the GDP,” he said “Expansion of mining operations requires greater oversight and accountability in order to protect the public welfare.”

He added, “Climate change will impact all natural resources—fresh water, wildlife, timber and extractive materials—because extreme weather changes all operating environments.”

The Honorable Moses Machali explained to the audience what natural resources are, what they are used for and what challenges exist when using the natural resources. He warned, “The government should lead all stakeholders on reviewing the policies and laws governing the use of natural resources and aspects of investment so as to harmonize the country.” He continued, “…there must be a real participatory approach towards decision making on the use of natural resources in the country. Failure to that it is an extraordinary mistake due to the fact that the government is made for the public interest and the resources available are there for daily human challenges.”

Lastly, Ms. Leslie Armstrong made clear that she was not presenting her personal opinion but instead offering a scientific approach. She said, “I want to use the language of science, which is objective. By reviewing the facts, you can make your own opinion and draw your own conclusions. My job is to provide scientific facts and not to make decisions for you.” Armstrong shared a model that could be used in Tanzania to help the country better understand the current state of the environment to better plan for the future. She explained to the audience, “The management of information provides government the opportunity to see over the horizon.”

ACSS is the pre-eminent institution for strategic security studies, research, and outreach in Africa. The Africa Center engages African partner states and institutions through rigorous academic and outreach programs that build strategic capacity and foster long-term, collaborative relationships. Over the past 14 years, more than 5,000 African and international leaders have participated in ACSS programs.

Media Review for May 20, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:50:03 +0000

Today’s News

Nigeria: Boko Haram in disarray, says army
The Nigerian military reports that Boko Haram militants in the north-east of the country are “in disarray” and leaving the country in large numbers as a result of its offensive against them. In a statement, it said 14 enemy fighters had been killed and 20 apprehended since Saturday. The army added that three of its soldiers had died in the fighting. The BBC’s Will Ross in the capital Abuja says it is not possible to verify any of this information. Meanwhile, there are reports of many civilians crossing into Cameroon and Niger as they fear getting caught up in the offensive. BBC

In Nigeria, More Attacks on Militants
[...] The United States gave some $3 million in law enforcement assistance to Nigeria last year, meets regularly with Nigerian officers on counterterrorism issues, and considers Nigeria a significant ally in the fight against Islamist extremism. But reports of civilian massacres by the military have made some officials in Washington uneasy. On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was “deeply concerned about the fighting in northeastern Nigeria following President Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency,” and that “we are also deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism.” The New York Times

Nigeria offers amnesty to insurgents who surrender
Nigeria offered an amnesty on Sunday to Islamist militants who surrender and said 17 people had been killed on the fifth day of a military operation to try to crush the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast. In their biggest offensive since the insurgency began in 2009, Nigerian forces are trying to chase well-armed militants out of territory they control in remote semi-deserts around Lake Chad, along the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Reuters

Armed Tuareg and Arab groups clash in northern Mali
Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al-Qaeda. Rebel and military sources both confirmed the clashes, although they differed over precisely which groups were involved. Reuters on Al arabiya

Report: France to buy U.S. reaper drones for Mali
France will buy two medium-altitude Reaper drones from the United States air force to back up its operations against Islamists in Mali, the Air et Cosmos specialist magazine reported on Friday. It said on its online edition that an agreement had been reached for the purchase of two non-armed MQ-9 drones from the U.S. air force. It said the French air force, which has deployed the Harfang drone in Mali — made by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company — wanted to acquire more modern drones quickly. AFP on Al Arabiya

French Defense Minister Defends Strategy, Mali Mission
France’s defense minister on Friday defended his government’s new security strategy and its mission in Mali, and called for a political solution to Syria’s bloody civil war. In a wide-ranging speech during a visit here, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, through translators, described as “necessary” the plans to shrink the French military by 24,000 civilian and military positions, and to slow deliveries of combat platforms. Those steps, laid out in a defense and national security white paper released in late April, are needed to enact “strict control [over] public spending,” Le Drian told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Defense News

The Day the Music Died in Mali
[...] It has been almost nine months since Islamic militants in northern Mali announced that they were effectively banning all music. It’s hard to imagine, in a country that produced such internationally renowned music as Ali Farka Touré’s blues, Rokia Traoré’s soulful vocals and the Afro-pop traditions of Salif Keita. The armed militants sent death threats to local musicians; many were forced into exile. Live music venues were shut down, and militants set fire to guitars and drum kits. The world famous Festival in the Desert was moved to Burkina Faso, and then postponed because of the security risk. While French and Malian forces largely swept the militants from Timbuktu and other northern towns early this year, the region is still a battleground. Cultural venues remain shuttered. The New York Times

Angola matters to U.S. So what’s the problem?
[...] There was certainly a honeymoon period after President Clinton recognized Angola. U.S. oil companies prospered, including negotiating a multiple entry visa regime for U.S. workers to Angola, a privilege that few other countries have emulated. In 1994, Clinton also successfully obtained dos Santos’ agreement to sign up to the short-lived Lusaka peace accords with UNITA. President George W. Bush likewise was able to push successfully for transparency of oil rents when he met dos Santos at the White House. The Obama administration has for its part identified three “strategic partners” on the African continent: South Africa, Nigeria and Angola. After Angola was identified as a partner in 2009, a U.S.-Angola Strategic Partnership Dialogue has been set up. So what’s the problem? Fareed Zakaria – GPS. CNN

The Emergence of Domestic Islamist Militancy in Tanzania
On 5 May, an improvised hand grenade was thrown into the grounds of St Joseph’s Church in Arusha’s Olasiti suburb, killing 3 people and wounding 63 others. The attack was targeted at a large celebration attended by the Vatican Nuncio, a diplomatic representative of the Holy See. Following sectarian unrest in Mbeya, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Mwanza earlier this year, armed security at Christian sites was stepped up, especially during the lead-up to Easter celebrations. While the Tanzanian government initially arrested several Saudi and UAE nationals (since released without charge) in connection with the bombing, the attack was most likely perpetrated by a domestic group seeking to provoke further sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims. Think Africa Press

Morocco looks to modernise counter-terror methods
Morocco should update its methods for gathering intelligence on extremists and give its security services the tools needed for this, participants in a recent Kenitra seminar agreed. The goal of the May 10th meeting held by the National Security Directorate General (DGSN) was to co-ordinate national security efforts to counter the phenomenon of religious extremism in Morocco and among expat communities. “It is time to strengthen the role of the General Intelligence (RG) and give it major powers to track and monitor suspects belonging to extremist groups, as this role has been restricted to the Directorate of the Protection of the Territory (DST),” Mohamed Agdid, the department’s former head, told Magharebia. Magharebia

The curious case of Africa’s Progress and the missing Millennium Development Goals
[...] The first decade of the 21st century Africa became one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Its aggregate GDP grew an average of about 5% per year and international organisations and private sector alike started hailing the potential of the African lions. But this progress was often marred by Africa’s development performance. As with other regions, African and African countries signed and endorsed the Millennium Declaration, and the top recipients of overseas development assistance (ODA) were African countries. African countries, many of whom predominated in the list of the least developed countries and human development indicators, were now also singled out as being among the MDGs worse performers. African Arguments

Labour union boss threatens to bring South Africa’s economy to a “standstill”
The head of the dominant labour union in South Africa’s platinum sector threatened on Friday to bring the country’s economy to a standstill.Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) leader Joseph Mathunjwa told local radio that he was demanding a meeting with President Jacob Zuma and alleged that the Government did not care about violence against his union’s members. “We will put the economy at a standstill…. We need a meeting in order to talk about these issues at Rustenburg, of the killing of our members,” he told 702 Radio. The Hindu

South Africa’s Economic Fault Lines
Nearly two decades after the collapse of apartheid, South Africa is a pluralistic democracy with a robust free press, an independent judiciary, and a commitment to the rule of law. The country’s mixed economy is the largest–and arguably least risky for investors–on the continent, with deep capital markets and highly developed financial services. Yet despite the great advances of the past twenty years, the economic circumstances of most South Africans have remained largely unchanged. Income inequality, a legacy of apartheid-era education policies, remains the greatest challenge facing South Africa today, experts say. Council on Foreign Relations

Pope Francis To Visit Egypt
Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from the Coptic Pope Tawadros II to visit Egypt. The date of this visit has not been set yet, but it will be the first papal visit to the largest Middle East country since John Paul II went to Cairo in 2000. The invitation was made by Pope Tawadros II during his recent visit to Vatican city, Vatican Embassy Media Advisor in Cairo Father Rafik Jaraish told the Middle East News Agency. He added that Tawadros II and Pope Francis had agreed to resume the Dialogue Committee discussions between the two Churches, initially started in 1988. Worldcrunch – La Stampa

Rwanda and the New Lions of Africa – By Paul Kagame
[...] When Rwanda issued its first international bond last month, we stood true to these values. The $400 million in 10-year bonds, sold at a yield of 6.875%, were a sign that Rwanda is now firmly on the path to economic maturity, having retreated from the edge of the abyss after the 1994 genocide. It also showed our intention: to build a modern economy, with a vibrant private sector that is connected to international markets. We want to be a nation less dependent on aid and fully engaged in a globalized economy. That investors are pursuing high yields is perhaps one unintended consequence of the global financial crisis. But that should not diminish how encouraging it is that investors also embraced the chance to seek returns beyond the usual commodity-growth story. While Africa is a continent rich in resources, with 12% of the world’s oil reserves and 42% of its gold, we cannot follow too narrow a path to development. The Wall Street Journal

Is Kagame Africa’s Lincoln or a tyrant exploiting Rwanda’s tragic history?
Paul Kagame is angrier than I’ve ever seen him. Rwanda’s president is famously direct with his critics. His contempt for governments he’s crossed swords with, led by the French, is only marginally less vitriolic than his view of human-rights groups daring to lecture him, the rebel leader whose army put a stop to the 1994 genocide of 800,0000 Tutsis. But now even friends are regarded with suspicion to the point of hostility. Take London and Washington accusing Rwanda of perpetuating the interminable and bloody conflict across the border in Congo and flagging up concerns that Kagame is constructing a de-facto one-party state. The Guardian

East Africa’s mineral paradox: Want among plenty
Just how much do the East African Community governments stand to gain from oil and gas exploration and extraction deals with foreign oil majors? Will the governments use the revenue to lift millions of people out of poverty? Will the return on investment on the countries’ natural resources and the huge government spending on infrastructure ease exploration and extraction? These are the questions in the minds of many but a new survey by the African Union-backed African Progress Panel paints a worrying scenario: International mineral extraction companies, mainly from Australia, Canada and China, are using complex ownership models to avoid tax in East African countries. The East African

Life under Zim’s ‘mutilated rule of law’
Beatrice Mtetwa spoke to journalists in Johannesburg on Friday at the screening of a film about her fight for the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Mtetwa was arrested in March when she went to represent clients during a raid of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office. But she has refused to buckle under in the face of intimidation. Mtetwa’s arrest for obstructing justice, a day after the country held a constitutional referendum in March, sparked international condemnation. She is hopeful that one day she will work under normal conditions in the country. Mail and Guardian

Press freedom in Uganda [Audio]
CPJ consultant Tom Rhodes comments about police harrassment of the Ugandan press after it published a letter by an army general revealing an alleged plot to assassinate officials opposed to President Yuweri Museveni’s plans to make his son the country’s next leader. Radio France International

Algerian censors block Bouteflika ‘coma’ reports
Algerian authorities have censored two newspapers for printing information about president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s “declining” health. Bouteflika has not been seen since he was admitted to a Paris hospital late April. The francophone daily “Mon journal” (My paper), and its Arabic affiliate “Djaridati” were planning on publishing two pages, including the front, on president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s “declining” health, witht the claims that he had returned to Algeria and was in a “comatose” state. France 24

Hints of Political Change on Horizon in Algeria
The Arab Spring may finally be en route to Algeria. With the president in a French hospital recovering from a stroke, the generation of aging politicians and generals that has run Africa’s largest country for a half-century is reaching its end. Adding to the mix, Algeria’s overwhelmingly young population is increasingly vocal in its demands for jobs and housing that its oil-dependent economy isn’t providing. What comes next is of vital importance to Algeria — and the West. Associated Press

At least 29 killed in South Sudan cattle raid: official
At least 29 people were killed when cattle raiders from a South Sudanese minority group opened fire on members of another minority in a village in Upper Nile state, a local official said Sunday. The gunmen crept into Tolleri village in Ulang county in the early hours of Saturday morning and sprayed it with bullets, killing 23 people instantly, said Dak Tap Chuol, commissioner for the nearby town of Nasir. The victims of the attack were from the minority Jikany people, the official said, and the attackers were Murle, another minority tribe, who came from neighbouring Jonglei state. Times Live

Ivory Coast army arrests militia leader
A militia leader accused of grave crimes during Ivory Coast’s 2010-11 postelection violence was taken into custody Saturday not far from the national park where his forces had been illegally occupying in the country’s volatile western region, officials said. Amade Oueremi, a native of Burkina Faso, fought alongside forces backing President Alassane Ouattara in the conflict, which erupted after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to leave office despite losing the November 2010 election. At least 3,000 people died in five months of fighting, according to the United Nations. AP on Yahoo News

Escape From An Eritrean Prison
Eritrea’s human rights record has long faced international criticism. Located in the Horn of Africa, the country is home to five million people, but so closed to the outside world that individual stories tend to come almost exclusively from those who have fled. Kidane Isaac was just 18 when he says Eritrean authorities arrested him for an unspecified crime. It’s possible he was suspected of planning to desert military service. Thousands of Eritreans flee the country every month, many of them teenagers, to escape the Isaac was eventually taken to a remote prison, where he says he was confined with dozens of other prisoners in a shipping container with metal walls that amplified the hot desert days and freezing desert nights. NPR

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

U.S. Federal Agencies Make Strides Against Human Trafficking

Better coordination among U.S. federal government agencies is showing results in the struggle to end human trafficking, U.S. officials say. At the annual meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, held at the White House May 17, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, and other agency heads and senior White House officials reported that more public education programs are in play, more employee training programs have been completed, more traffickers have been prosecuted and more victims have been rescued in the year since President Obama ordered better intragovernment cooperation to end what he called “the scourge of modern slavery.”

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Media Review for May 17, 2013

Africa Center for Strategic Studies — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:26:44 +0000

Today’s News

U.S. instructors to train African troops for Mali in Niger
U.S. military instructors in Niger will train African forces participating in a U.N.-backed offensive against al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in neighboring Mali, senior military officers said on Thursday. The United States and several European nations have backed a French-led military intervention which since Jan. 11 has driven militant insurgents out of the towns of northern Mali. Pockets of Islamist resistance remain in Mali’s desert north. The U.S. military did not participate in the ground offensive but aided the operation by transporting troops and providing intelligence information from drones based in Niger. Reuters on Al Arabiya

Rebuilding of Mali Faces Daunting Obstacles, Despite Outside Aid
[...] Beyond the money, the United Nations plans to deploy 12,600 peacekeepers this summer to make sure the militants do not return, while a host of outside powers, with France and the United States in the lead, are keeping a watchful eye on preparations for elections the Malians have promised for July. What is unclear is whether these efforts will be enough to remake the nation, about the size of Texas and California combined, after its civilian and military institutions have fallen, leaving a vacuum for the militants to exploit. Skeptics question whether money and oversight will suffice in a country with an army in tatters, accused of serious and so far unpunished human rights violations, and a political class that is mostly discredited. The New York Times

With Billions of Euros Pledged, Mali Risks Aid Overflow
International donors pledged yesterday to mobilise 3.25 billion Euros to rebuild Mali, a figure that surpassed all expectations. But experts warn that the country does not have the absorption capacity for so much aid, while others say donors should pressure the Malian government to stop ongoing human rights abuses. In January of this year, a French-led intervention ended more than a year of sectarian violence in the north of Mali. The intervention managed to stall the conflict, but the situation in the region remains tense. IPS-Inter Press Service

France to keep 1,000 troops in Mali indefinitely
During an official visit to London, Jean-Yves Le Drian suggested that France had an open-endd commitment to defend Mali from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A French expeditionary force deployed in the country in January to recapture Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal – the three main cities in northern Mali – from AQIM and its allies. At first, 2,500 soldiers were deployed on Operation Serval and Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, promised on Jan 30 that they would leave “quickly”. The Telegraph

Official: Nigeria military shells suspected Islamic extremist camps in northeast, killing 21
A security official in northeast Nigeria says soldiers have shelled suspected camps of Islamic extremists fighting in the region, killing at least 21 people. The official said Friday that the fighting happened Thursday in the Sambisa Forest Reserve, just south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. The official said that soldiers would remain in the area to secure it. The official also said that Nigeria’s government shut off mobile phone service to parts of northeast Nigeria as soldiers moved in to enforce an emergency declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan over three states there. Phone service was restored Friday, but the official said the phones likely would be shut off again. AP on Fox News

Warplanes, troops in NE Nigeria; mobile phones cut
Mobile phone service was cut off Thursday in areas of northeast Nigeria as jet fighters streaked through the sky and more soldiers were deployed to fight Islamic extremists waging a brutal insurgency. Witnesses saw low-flying Nigerian jet fighters over Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, which President Goodluck Jonathan placed under emergency rule on Tuesday along with Borno and Yobe states. However, soldiers have met “no resistance” yet from extremists who have taken over villages and small towns in this region approaching the Sahara Desert, a military spokesman said. AP on Yahoo News

Chad jets targeted Darfur rebels
Chad’s air force targeted Sudanese rebels along the Darfur border after, a breakaway rebel leader reputedly backed by N’Djamena was killed, the insurgents charged on Thursday. Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) spokesperson Gibril Adam Bilal said Chad had bombed the frontier in North Darfur state’s Tina district on Monday. “So far no, there are not any casualties from our side,” he said. A regional expert, who asked to remain anonymous, also said a Chadian fighter jet bombed the Chad-Sudanese border area on Monday afternoon, targeting the JEM. News 24

UN envoy says CAR in ’state of anarchy’
The Central African Republic (CAR) has collapsed into “a state of anarchy” and the UN Security Council must impose sanctions and mandate a neutral security force to restore order, a UN envoy has said. Margaret Vogt, UN representative to the Central African Republic, painted a grim picture of the situation since rebels ousted President Francois Bozize on March 24. The country has “collapsed into a state of anarchy,” Vogt told the Security Council on Wednesday. Al Jazeera

Opinion: Libya needs greater aid, not a retreat, from the United States and its allies
While many Americans have been riveted by recent congressional testimony and debate about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, this country has been caught in its own drama. In recent days, amid Libya’s worst political crisis since the 2011 revolution that toppled Moammar Gaddafi, the United States and other Western governments have evacuated their diplomatic staff. A Marine quick-response team and a Special Operations unit were placed on alert. But this is precisely the time for greater engagement, not retreat, not only with Libya’s beleaguered government but also with its increasingly assertive civil society. Engagement is crucial for securing Libya’s future and preventing its weakness from inflaming conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East. The Washington Post

Protesters Close Libyan Oil Terminal, Halt Exports
For the fourth time since November, protestors have forced the closure of the Zueitina oil terminal, in an enduring dispute over jobs for locals. The shutdown is affecting fully 20 percent of Libya’s oil exports. The terminal, 130 kilometres to the south of Benghazi, has a loading volume of some 214,000 bpd through five offshore crude loading berths. Lybya Herald

Africa’s Emerging Energy Landscape: Trends and Opportunities for U.S. Engagement [Audio/Video]
Africa’s energy landscape will change dramatically in the coming decade, as massive new gas finds off the coast of East Africa and a surge of oil exploration across the continent expand the ranks of potential energy producers. The impending energy boom offers major opportunities for investment, growth, and development on the continent. But there are uncertainties around the speed with which new resources can be brought to market and whether African government will avoid the “resource curse” and manage these resources to ensure broad-based, inclusive growth. Center for Strategic and International Studies

European Union Naval Force commander warns of continued pirate menace
Following the interception of suspected pirates off Somalia, the commander of the European Union Naval Force has warned that Somali pirates are still determined to get out to sea and, if presented with an easy target, will attack. Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant said that, “I am very concerned that seafarers and nations will lower their guard and support for counter piracy operations in the belief that the piracy threat is over. It is not; it is merely contained. We should remember that at its height in January 2011, 32 ships were pirated by Somali pirates and 736 hostages were held. It is crucial that we remain vigilant or the number of attacks will once again rise.” Defence Web

New Big Man, Old Politics: The Challenging Road Ahead for CAR’s Djotodia
Following months of fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR), President François Bozizé was overthrown on 24 March by the Seleka Coalition, a collective of foreign and northern-based militias. Soon after, the then-relatively unknown Michel Djotodia, one of Seleka’s leaders, declared himself president before being formally elected by the Supreme Council of Transition, CAR’s interim government until elections in 2014. This made Djotodia the country’s sixth head-of-state since independence in 1960. Ominously for him, four of the previous five have been victims of coups. And now, in order to survive his 18-month transitional reign until elections in 2014, Djotodia must confront the same range of complex political challenges that faced his predecessors. In fact, having traded military fatigues for slick suits and plush five-star hotel headquarters, the new strong-man of CAR may well look back at his ouster of Bozizé and his rise to the top of the political hierarchy as having been the easy part. Think Africa Press

Confucius and the Curate’s Egg: The Morality of China in Africa
[...] I do always worry when a book about Africa has in the title the words “Dark Continent”. It smacks of the sarcastic advice Binyavanga Wainaina gave to writers about Africa in his well-known Granta article in 2005 – darkness was a metaphor he clearly thought people should avoid. Stephen Chan, I’m sure, intends its use to highlight some of the less sophisticated Chinese views that persist about Africa. But it crops up in the book every now and again, as when one contributor, Jerru Liu, notes that “the behaviour of the descendants of Confucius in the Dark Continent is difficult for the West to understand”; one does wonder whether other constructions might have been better to get this across. It is one thing using the phrase to depict bluntly how many Chinese have preconceptions about Africans, as many Westerners also do, but another when trying to describe wider perceptions of Chinese behaviour in his own words. African Argument

Tunisia to review anti-terror laws
A recent call in Tunisia to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Law drew a barrage of comments ranging from supporters to opponents. Human Rights Minister Samir Dilou raised the contentious issue on Monday (May 13th) when he said his ministry was preparing an amendment to the 2003 counter-terror statute. “A commission has been working for months to revise the Anti-Terrorism Law so as to ensure good handling and dealing with issues of a special nature, and to ensure respect for human rights and compliance with international conventions ratified by Tunisia and guaranteeing fair trial,” the minister said. Magharebia

UN hands South Africa task to restore peace in DR Congo
Death and tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo have triggered an intervention by a United Nations force, as the international body plans to deploy South African led forces to the country’s war torn provinces. More than 32 people have been killed in fighting between DRC forces and Mai Mai militiamen. The UN Security Council has authorised a new “intervention brigade” for Congo, with a mandate to take offensive military action against rebel groups to help bring peace to the eastern parts of the country. The Africa Report

Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere
A senior Pentagon official told a Senate committee Thursday that the U.S. would be at war with Al Qaeda for 15 to 20 more years and said the military could target terrorists anywhere under a law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Michael Sheehan, assistant secretary of Defense in charge of special operations, said America’s battle with terrorist groups spanned the globe “from Boston to the FATA,” meaning Pakistan’s tribal areas. He did not explain why he believes the effort could last another generation. During his State of the Union address in February, President Obama called Al Qaeda “a shadow of its former self.” Los Angeles Times

SA Army’s financial woes
Budgetary constraints have crippled the SA Army in its attempts to fulfil national and international obligations, army chief Lieutenant General Vusimuzi Masondo said on Thursday. With the increased demand for the army’s services, locally and on the African continent, the national force was under strain to meet its mandate, Masondo said. “Within a limited medium-term budget, we will have to find the means to not only regenerate ourselves, but also to position ourselves to comply with future demands on our resources,” he said. News 24

President at home, on trial abroad: How Kenya’s new leader is coping
Kenya, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and, by extension, the international community currently face the dilemma of dealing with a president and a deputy president, freely and fairly elected (more or less) that are charged with crimes against humanity associated with 2007 election bloodshed. Africa Confidential has an excellent review of the current state of play. On May 2, Kenya’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Kamau Macharia, sent a thirteen-page letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC) asking it to end the ICC cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. He argued that Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto were duly and democratically elected and could not perform their duties in the face of “an offshore trial that has no popular resonance and serves no national or international purpose.” The Christian Science Monitor

Egyptians Increasingly Glum
Two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian public mood is increasingly negative. Month after month of political uncertainty, a weak economy and often violent street protests have taken their toll, and today a majority of Egyptians are dissatisfied with the way their new democracy is working. Only 30% of Egyptians think the country is headed in the right direction, down from 53% last year and 65% in 2011, in the days after the revolution. Roughly three-in-four say the economy is in bad shape, and optimism about the country’s economic situation has declined sharply. Pew Research Center

Egypt ’suffering worst economic crisis since 1930s’
Egypt is suffering its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a former finance minister of the country and one of its leading economists have warned. In terms of its devastating effect on Egypt’s poorest, the country’s current economic predicament is at its most dire since the 1930s, Galal Amin, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo, and Samir Radwan, finance minister in the months after Egypt’s 2011 uprising, said in separate interviews with the Guardian. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt has experienced a drastic fall in both foreign investment and tourism revenues, followed by a 60% drop in foreign exchange reserves, a 3% drop in growth, and a rapid devaluation of the Egyptian pound. All this has led to mushrooming food prices, ballooning unemployment and a shortage of fuel and cooking gas – causing Egypt’s worst crisis, said Amin, “without fear of making a mistake, since the 30s”. The Guardian

Can Economics Save The African Rhino?
[...] A rhino’s horn is composed of the same protein as human fingernails. And, as with fingernails, if you cut off the horn, it grows back. So, Biggs , African farmers could raise rhinos on private farms, and periodically saw off the horns for sale overseas. “Essentially vets would go in, dart the animal and dehorn it,” Biggs tells me. “Thereafter the animal gets up again and runs around the bush and continues life as normal,” and the horn grows back. This idea for a legal rhino trade is in the South African government (South Africa has 85 percent of the world’s rhinos). There’s a push to submit the idea for international vote in 2016 at the triennial meeting of CITES, the international conference on endangered species that originally banned rhino horn sales in 1977. NPR

Bourdain: Morocco’s hashish
In a some what tongue-and-cheek segment chock full of denials, Anthony Bourdain highlights hashish in Moroccan culture. CNN

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

U.S.-U.K.-French Statement on Situation in Libya

We call on all Libyans to refrain from armed protest and violence during this difficult time in the democratic transition. The Libyan people bravely fought and overthrew a dictator in order to ensure a stable, free, and prosperous future for themselves and their children in a country governed by the rule of law. As Libya manages this challenging transition, it is vital that the country’s institutions operate free from armed
intimidation. Peaceful deliberation of legislation and Government decisions was unheard of under the Qadhafi regime, and is part of the honorable struggle for building a better society. The democratically elected representatives and leaders of the Libyan people must be able to carry out their duties and move forward with the constitution motivated by their responsibility to the Libyans who elected them rather than by the threat of force.

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