Africa Research Bulletin February 2013

AfricaResearchBulletin Political

Social andCultural Series

Volume 50 Number 1 January 1st–31st 2013

MALIFrance Sends in Troops

A united rebel offensive and push southsparks a French-led military interven-tion to re-take the north and oust theIslamists.

Amid scenes of jubilation in liberatedtowns, accusations of atrocities by theMalian army, ethnic tensions and aviolent hostage scenario in neighbouringAlgeria (p. 19563), French-led troopspushed north through Mali re-takingtowns from the Islamist rebels. By Jan-uary 28th they had taken control of theairport in the key northern city ofTimbuktu, French military officials said.The troops had encountered no resis-tance as they headed towards the city, asenior officer with the Malian army toldAFP news agency (28/1).

The French and Malian troops hadcaptured a string of other towns on theway north after the offensive began onJanuary 9th. On January 26th, theyseized Gao, the most populous city innorthern Mali. Thousands of peoplepoured onto the streets to celebrate theirarrival.

Most militants appeared to have fledinto desert hideouts, said the BBC’sThomas Fessy in the capital, Bamako(BBC news online 28/1).

The advance came as African Union(AU) leaders met in Addis Ababa (Ethi-opia – p. 19552) to discuss sending moretroops. Outgoing AU chairman Benin’sPresident Boni Yayi on January 27thhailed France for its military interven-tion, saying it was something “we shouldhave done a long time ago to defend amember country”.

In a statement, theAU said it wantedto make “an AfricanStandby Force”operational in Malisoon. African stateshave pledged nearly5,700 troops to sup-port French andMalian forces intheir campaign butonly a small part ofthe African forcehad so far deployed.West African lead-ers grouped inECOWAS (Eco-nomic Communityof West AfricanStates) earlierpleaded with theUN to fund theAfrican force, point-ing out that the UNhad finally given thegreen light to theAfrican deployment

This issue pp. 19547–82

South Sudan – Sudan

Latest Talks Fail 19554

Egypt

Lack of Change SparksUnrest 19555

Madagascar

Electoral Agreement 19558

Algeria

Deadly Hostage Crisis 19563

Central African Republic

Peace Agreement 19567

Eritrea

Not a Coup 19569

Somalia

Suicide BomberTargets PM 19572

French HostageRescue Fails 19578

Contents

Continental Alignments 19552

Internal Developments 19555

National Security 19563

Military 19576

Overseas Relations 19577

Social and Cultural 19579

Rates 19580

Index 19582

WesternSahara

Limit of Bamako’scontrol in 2012Islamist advance

Town bombed byFrench forces

Mali 12,150 Senegal 500

400 km200 miles

Togo 500Benin 300Guinea 144Ghana 120

Chad 2,000Nigeria 900

Niger 500

2,500 French troops, plusup to 400 training personnel from EUcountries to retrain Malian army

Burkina Faso 500

: Current estimates of 5,000-6,000trained fighters, with 1,000-1,300 aroundLére & Diabali

Strength of forces:Jihadist

FRENCHFORCES’ BASES

African:

European:

KayesNioro

Sikasso

Ségou

Mopti Mopti

M AU R I TA N I A

A L G E R I A

SE

NE

GA

L

GUINEA

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

B U R K I N A FA S O

N I G E R

NIG

ER

IA

G H A N A

B E N I NTOG

O

Niger

White

Volta

Black V

olta

Bafing

Kita

Kolokani

Koulikoro

Bougouni

Koutiala

Markala

Diabali

San

Bagoé

Bani

NigerSévaré

Léré

Timbuktu

GoundamBambara-Maoundé

Konna

Douentza

S A H A R A

G a o

K i d a lT i m b u k t u

M A L IBourem

GaoAnsongo

Tessalit

Kidal

Adrardes Ifôghas

Ménaka

AR

EA B

EYON

D THE CONTROL OF BAMAKO DURING 2012

BAMAKOBamako-SenouInternationalAirpor t

Djenné

(adapted from Africa Confidential Jan)

Published monthly since 1964 http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arbp

© Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2013. ISSN 0001 9844

plan on December 20th. “But due tolack of funds there is no African troop inthe north of Mali and had France nottaken the decision to intervene… thesegroups which everybody in Abidjan wascalling terrorists and drug traffickers,would have taken over the whole coun-try effortlessly.”

The AU summit unanimously approveda $50m budget to support the immediatedeployment of the African force fromout of its own funds – to be drawn fromthe annual budget ($280m in 2012), with$5m from the Peace Fund and nearlyhalf ($20m) from arrears paid up bymembers, PANA reported (29/1).

The AU Declaration on Mali alsoexpressed profound support for theFrench military aid and called for therevision of the Mali military plan toincrease troops there. The heads of statecalled for international contributions forAFISMA and the Malian DefenceForces and on the immediate neighboursof Mali to provide intelligence and anyother support that could facilitate theongoing operation.

“AFISMA deployment will acceleratewhen the resources are available,” AUCommissioner for Peace and SecurityRamtane Lamamra told journalists onJanuary 28th. “We intend to put in placean Integrated Task Force, made up ofthe AU, the UN and ECOWAS.” UNSecretary Ban Ki Moon said militaryspecialists were already on the ground towork with the Malian army. He saidhelping the Malian government torestore its territorial integrity was a“moral imperative” for the internationalcommunity.

On the sidelines of the AU summit, theEU pledged €50m to bolster the multi-national force, saying a further €250m ofdevelopment money would also be madeavailable. After the AU summit, aninternational donors conference on Jan-uary 29th pledged $455.53m forAFISMA (see box).

Meanwhile, the US said it would providemid-air refuelling for French warplanes.The Pentagon said it had also discussedplans for the US to transport troops toMali from countries including Chad andTogo. UK Prime Minister David Camer-on said British forces would offer logis-tical assistance to help transport troopsand equipment.

France intervened in its former colonyafter Islamists launched a push to thesouth. Paris said the whole of Africa,and even Europe, was under threat if theIslamist offensive succeeded. RFI (20/1)quoted French Foreign Minister LaurentFabius as affirming that had France notinvolved its army, “democratic Maliwould no longer exist and its neighbour-

ing countries would be threatened byviolence and intolerance”.

“The objective of this operation is tostop the terrorist forces’ advance to thesouth. Afterwards, there is the plan thathas been adopted by the internationalcommunity… and in this plan, as pro-vided for at the beginning, the Frenchare only facilitators… and not in thefront-line at all… But in order for thisplan to be adopted and see the light ofday, it is necessary that Mali continue toexist and necessary that the terroristsshould not have taken the whole ofMali,’ the French Foreign Ministrywebsite (11/1) quoted Fabius as saying.

As French andMalian troopsmoved intoGao, Malian officials spoke of scenes ofjoy, but also some looting. Crowds cele-brated the arrival of French forces.Manysmoked cigarettes, women went unveiledand some men wore shorts to flout thesevere Sharia law that had been imposedfor months. Youths on motorcycles flewthe flags of Mali, France and Niger,whose troops also helped secure theancient town on the Niger River.

A military spokesman in Paris told AFPthat the French and Malian troops nowcontrolled access to the city as well as theterritory between Timbuktu and Gao.

Once Timbuktu was fully secured, theFrench-led troops were expected tofocus on the last rebel stronghold, Kidal,near the border with Algeria.

Then, once Kidal is taken, the first phaseof the French operation will be over. Thesecond phase will be to track down themilitants to their desert hideouts, whichcould prove a much more difficult task.

“The terrorists will gain access to themountains. This is to be expected. Theyare part of organised internationalcrime,” PANA (29/1) quoted AU Com-missioner for Peace and Security Ram-tame Lamamra as saying. “This givesroom for hit-and-run operations. It callsfor regional cooperation.’’

The AU said that stabilization of Maliwould take longer and called for a seriesof meetings to be organised with theMalian leaders to facilitate effectiveborder monitoring. (Sources as referencedin text)

Joint Rebel Offensive

Direct French intervention on January11th was sparked by the discovery thatthe jihadist advance into Konna, a townjust 56 km north of the key S�evar�emilitary base, the lock on the gateway toMali’s populous south, was not just anegotiating ploy to gain new conces-sions. Ansar Dine, led by the MalianTouareg Iyad ag Ghali, had recentlypulled out of talks with the government

and the secular National Movement forthe Liberation of Azawad (MNLA),brokered by Burkina Faso. French sur-veillance revealed that Ag Ghali’s menhad been joined by fighters from AlQaeda in the Land of the Islamic Mag-hreb (AQIM) and the Movement forOneness and Jihad in West Africa (MU-JAO) in a two-pronged push to seizeS�evar�e and the nearby key town ofMopti. Some 200 vehicles, carryingthousands of fighters, were convergingon this critical area from L�er�e andDouentza.

Victory would have left them free toseize S�evar�e, whose runway is the onlyone besides Bamako able to receive largeaircraft. It would have opened the routeto Bamako and critically underminedthe international intervention plannedfor later in 2013.

President Hollande dispatched Burkina-based Special Forces and attack helicop-ters on January 12th, following up withMirage and Rafale bombing strikes onIslamist camps and supply bases acrossthe north. It followed air attacks bydeploying ground troops and armouredvehicles to supplement the small com-mando teams around S�evar�e, Diabali(170 km. north of S�egou) and the keyNiger River bridge at Markala, AfricaConfidential reported (18/1).

Although the militants have pulled outof Douentza, Timbuktu and Gao, theyare far from defeated. During months ofcontrol, they have hidden weapons andfuel in remote places. They are comfort-able operating in desert terrain. Thosefighting in the west are, says FrenchDefence Minister Jean-Yves le Drian,determined, well-trained and heavilyarmed.

Mystery still surrounds Ansar Dine’sdecision to pull out of the Ouagadougoutalks and join a major new offensive.There were rumblings that AQIM andMUJAOhad put pressure onAgGhali toend the negotiations or that Ansar Dinefighters were defecting to those groups,rich with cash from drug trafficking andhostage ransoms. One senior Ansar Dinecommander is reported to have beenkilled near Konna. Some reports suggestAg Ghali fled to his Ifoghas tribe’s heart-land around Kidal. There were reportsof other conflicts among the jihadists latein 2012. One commander, MokhtarBelmokhtar, who is widely linked to bebehind the In Amenas attack (p. 19564),is reported to have differed with AQIMchiefs Abou Zeid and Yahya Abou elHamame, and developed ties toMUJAO.Meanwhile Omar Ould Hamaha, a Mal-ian Arab (B�erabiche) who had beeninvolved with both Ansar Dine and MU-JAO, has founded a new group, Ansar elSharia, drawn from his own people.

19548 – Africa Research Bulletin

A B C

© Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2013.

The MNLA has offered to support theFrench campaign, although the group’sstrength is much reduced. The Touaregformer Deputy Chief of Staff, MajorGeneral Al Haji ag Gamou, commanderof semi-regular forces attached to thearmy but defeated in 2012, was reportedto be planning a pro-government assaulton M�enaka, in the far east, from theirrefuge in Niger. He may have up to 600men, largely drawn from his Imghadclan. (Africa Confidential 18/1)

Regional Attitudes

On the whole, the global communitysupports the UN-backed interventionamid concerns the vast arid zone couldbecome a new Afghanistan-like havenfor Al-Qaeda. African Arguments lookedat the idea of this threat in an analysisentitled ‘Is Al-Qaeda about to bringterrorism to Europe’s backyard in NorthAfrica?’. It said that the French inter-vention along with the apparent reprisalin the form of the In Amenas hostagecrisis had brought the AQIM threat tointernational attention but that thethreat AQIM posed to Europe had beenoverstated. (African Arguments 22/1)

In the African region, there were someshifts in opinion and much debateamong Mali’s neighbours, with somewanting to depict the scenario as aWestern-led fight against Islam. Otherscontinued to argue and press for dia-logue.

Burkina Faso: President Blaise Comp-aor�e, the ECOWAS peace mediator,argued for a return to dialogue as soonas possible: “I’m ready to meet dissi-dents from Mali’s Ansare Dine Islamistgroup,” he told a press conference on thesidelines of the AU summit.

President Compaor�e said the inter-Mal-ian negotiations must not exclude armedgroups which agree to renounce violenceand recognise territorial integrity. Hepointed out that though some amongAnsar Dine had “decided to go to war byturning a blind eye to its commitments; ahealthy part of themovement has decidedto secede and to get back to the negoti-ating table” and recalled that both AnsarDine and the MNLA had signalled will-ingness to talk back in December.

He also noted that the Malian crisis wasthe result of poor political governancemarked by marginalization of the coun-try’s northern part. “The crisis in North-ern Mali is a political crisis. We willindeed carry out military operations torecover territorial integrity, but we willbe obliged to resume political dialoguefor sustainable peace,” President Comp-aor�e said. (PANA, Addis Ababa 28/1)

Algeria: Traditionally hostile to foreigninterference, Algiers threw its support

behind operations in Mali against Islam-ist forces in a surprise about-turn thatsaw it open its skies to French warplaneson January 13th.

The change of heart followed a“betrayal” by armed rebel groups inMali who, in December, had vowed tocease hostilities. It represents a failure ofAlgeria’s non-interventionist policy,some observers said.

Omar Belhoucet, the editor of French-language daily El Watan, said Algeria’saltered position was “undeniable,” afterthe government “did everything, rightly,to settle things in a diplomatic way.”

Western diplomats in Algiers say thespeed with which French military oper-ations were launched on January 11thtook the Algerian government by sur-prise. “But it’s making the best of a badsituation,” one diplomat told AFP, add-ing that the authorities had never com-pletely ruled out the military option.

“The position of Algiers has evolved,”said Rachid Tlemcani, a political expertfor whom the decision to authoriseFrench overflights amounted to “a formof indirect participation” in the militaryoperation in Mali. But he argued thatthe Algerians “must be extremely disap-pointed,” because “France was playingthe double-game of negotiating whilepreparing itself militarily.”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabiuson the 13th confirmed that Algeria hadauthorised the overflights of Rafalefighter jets based in France.

The West African nations contributingto the intervention force bristle at Alge-ria’s resistance to swift action, accordingto Niger analyst Jibrin Ibrahim. “Alge-ria and Mauritania have deployed theirhuge lobbying powers within the AUand the UN to insist on the path ofnegotiations” between the different Mal-ian factions, he said. In that time theinsurgents were able to consolidate theirpositions, he argued.

They have “done everything to block therole of the ECOWAS leadership. We inWest Africa cannot allow Algeria andMauritania to pursue this policy ofexporting their problems to our region.”

The interim Malian Prime MinisterDiango Cissoko, accompanied by a top-level delegation, including Defence Min-ister Diaran Kone, met President Abde-laziz Bouteflika in Algiers on January14th. (� AFP, Algiers 14/1)

West African states started stepping upefforts to rally support for their inter-vention, by inviting Maghreb countriesto participate. “I call on both Maurita-nia and Algeria to participate along withAfrican and international forces in orderto eliminate terrorist forces in the north

of Mali,” ECOWAS Chairman and Coted’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattarasaid on January 19th in Abidjan. (Mag-harebia.com 21/1)

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal onJanuary 21st reiterated that his countrywould not put boots on the ground inMali, but stressed that the “integrity ofMali has to be preserved. “We cannotaccept a ‘Sahelistan’ tomorrow on theAlgerian frontier.” (� AFP, Diabaly 21/1)

Mauritania: President Mohamed OuldAbdelaziz is under pressure from boththe jihadists and France. Back inNovember he said that his country “willnever enter this war,” but he withdrewthe pledge in a meeting with Hollande onJanuary 15th. Jihadist forces fromnorthern Mali have not only been freelyusing Mauritanian territory in theirattacks on Bamako and on Frenchforces, they are believed to be preparingto attack targets in Mauritania itself.While Abdelaziz had stood firm againstinvolvement in the military operation, hecouldn’t really avoid it. Malian PrimeMinister Django Sissoko had previouslyasked him to reconsider his position.

Western powers see Abdelaziz as astaunch ally, critical to military opera-tions in Mali. Among the less well-known pressures on the President havebeen the kidnappings by jihadists inMauritania. They abducted a Frenchnational, Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, 61,on November 20th 2012 from Di�ema,Mali, 102km from the Mauritanian bor-der, having undoubtedly passed throughMauritanian territory. MUJAO claimedthe kidnapping. Nouakchott did notpublicly react to MUJAO’s use of itssouthern border as a transit route.AQIM and Ansar Dine patrol thatborder. Now that French aircraft arebombing northern Malian towns such asLer�e, only 60kms from the border,refugees are flooding into Mauritaniaand the jihadists will no doubt movewith them. Existing Islamist networks inMauritania will proliferate and consoli-date; the strategy will be to spread thebattle across the region and complicatethe French response.

Within two days of the French interven-tion, Abelaziz publicly demanded thatthe army secure Mauritania’s borders.Yet its capacity to do so is in question.The border with Mali alone is over 2,200km. long. The Mauritanian people aregenerally reluctant to get involved: someare sympathetic to the Islamists, manyare anxious to avoid conflict. (AfricaConfidential 18/1)

Some Mauritanian religious leaders in apress statement denounced what theycalled “a war waged by the enemies ofIslam whose main objective is to takecontrol of Northern Mali”. They there-

A B C


January 1st–31st 2013 Africa Research Bulletin – 19549

fore urged all Muslims “to unite as asingle force against the aggressors”,warning the Mauritanian governmentagainst any kind of support to Mali’sinterim government and the Frenchforces on the ground.

Three parties in Mauritania’s rulingcoalition called on January 21st to sendtroops into Mali – two parties called theMovement for Renewal and DemocraticRenewal, as well as former prime min-ister Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef’sAdel party welcomed “the courageousintervention” by regional countries andthe international community, which theysaid was helping save Mali’s “territorialintegrity and chase out terrorists anddrug traffickers from the region”. (�AFP, Nouakchott 21/1 2013)

The mixed feelings in Mauritania werereflected in press coverage there. “War inNorth Mali: France saviour or re-colon-iser?” asked the daily Le R�enovateur. ItsaidFrance’s intervention inMali hadnotbeen hailed by all.The weekly Le Calamehowever approved efforts to defeat thejihadists and said “ECOWAS will at lasthelp Mali after months of hesitation.”

Bilali noted that the name of the Frenchmission – Serval – “which refers to anAfrican feline famous for its habit ofurinating permanently in his territory tomark it, is a clear message to those whothink that Francafrique is over.” (PANA,Nouakchott 16,19/1)

A few Mauritanian scholars issued fat-was prohibiting support of the militaryintervention but this was promptlyrejected by other religious leaders. “Thefatwa prohibiting the war on northernMali is deemed harmful to the interestsof Mauritania and Mali,” Adviser to theMinister of Religious Affairs Sidi Mo-hamed Ould Shawaf responded.

The Union of African Scholars alsoissued a paper about the war on terror.

“Armed groups in northern Mali are theones responsible for what is happeningnow,” they said. Any condemnation ofFrench military intervention would notfind any resonance on the ground unlessaccompanied by an alternative forresolving the crisis. (Magharebia.com 21/1)

Egypt, breaking ranks with the globalcommunity, warned the Paris-led offen-sive could spark regional conflict. “Wedo not accept at all the military inter-vention in Mali because that will fuelconflict in the region,” President Mo-hamed Mursi said. (AFP 21/1)

Tunisia: Foreign Minister Rafik Abdes-salem said on January 15th that hiscountry was in principle opposed to allnon-African military operations. “Webelieve that the problems arising inAfrica must be resolved within an Afri-

can framework,” Abdessalem, who hailsfrom ruling Islamist party Ennahda, said.

President Moncef Marzouki had alreadyexpressed apprehension about theFrench initiative, saying that he wouldhave preferred a “negotiated politicalsolution.”But he also warned that theoccupation of northern Mali by jihadistgroups posed a threat to Tunisia, whichwas becoming a “corridor” for armsreaching the Islamist militants. (© AFP,Carthage 15/1 2013)

Humanitarian Crisis

Aid agencies were struggling to copewith the scale of the humanitarian crisisin West Africa caused by thousands ofMalians fleeing conflict, according to anOxfam study.

Oxfam details the failure of aid organ-isations to deal adequately with thefallout from the escalating conflict inthe region. The charity says that basicneeds, such as nutrition, protection andeducation are not being met.

In the four days following the start ofthe French assault on January 10th, atleast 10,000 Malians abandoned theirhomes, joining the 375,000 people whohad already been displaced by theunrest. The UN refugee agency (UN-HCR) predicted that another 710,000people would be forced to flee because ofthe conflict.

The civilian death toll from the conflictis still unknown – largely becausehumanitarian groups have been blockedfrom going into the conflict areas sinceFrench involvement in military opera-tions.

Oxfam found that logistical challenges,the limited experience of in-countryhumanitarian organisations in dealingwith emergencies and a small UNHCRpresence at the start of the crisis allmeant the response had been slow andinsufficient.

There are now more than 55,000 refu-gees in Mauritania, 53,000 in BurkinaFaso, and an estimated 1,500 in Algeria,and some camps are already said to bedangerously overcrowded.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, a policy manager forOxfam in Mali, said: “Basic needs arenot being covered in an equal way,particularly with regard to education,nutrition and protection. That’s whatwe’ve observed in the camps. In Niger,malnutrition rates, particularly amongchildren, are very high.”

Malnutrition rates amongst childrenunder five in Niger’s refugee camps arenow at 21% – way above the thresholdof 15%, which the World Health Orga-nisation (WHO) uses to declare anemergency.

With so many more refugees expected inthe coming months, Oxfam says thosedistributing aid need to adapt theirprogrammes rapidly to better supporthost communities and those displaced.In many places the huge influx of refu-gees has put a strain on local people whowere already struggling on limitedresources. In the town of Bassikounouin Mauritania, for example, the town’spopulation of 42,000 is now dwarfed bythe 54,000-strong camp nearby.

Tom McCormack, director of Save TheChildren’s programme in Mali, said:“Violence in any country is nasty, butbecause this is one of the poorestcountries in the world, people whoare displaced are stretched to the limit.Even in the good years in Mali, manypeople have nothing to fall back on.Last year we had the double whammyof these political problems, coupledwith a food shortage. It created a lotof misery.”

The medical relief charity M�edecins sansFronti�eres (MSF) said on January 18thit was being blocked access to Konna byboth sides in the conflict. The charitysaid it was trying to send a medical teamto the area to assess the needs and todeliver medical and humanitarian assis-tance.

Malik Allaouna, MSF operations direc-tor, said: “Entire regions are now cut offfrom outside aid.”

Bamako’s Archbishop Jean Zerbo said a“new period of suffering has begun forthe Malian people” and called for thecreation of a humanitarian corridor totransport food and medicines to theaffected populations.

Journalists have also had restrictedaccess. The Malian government hasaccredited journalists to work in thecapital Bamako and S�egou 260km to thenorth, but nowhere else. “This isn’tnormal,” said South African journalistNick Lama. “We have no information -only testimony over the phone, and pressreleases… We want to go [to affectedareas] speak to citizens and Islamists tofind out what is happening – that is ourjob,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Malian army source saidthe Islamist fighters were deploying childsoldiers and using the population as ashield.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urgedrebel groups to immediately release childsoldiers within their ranks. The rightsgroup said it had interviewed severalwitnesses reporting children as young as12 taking part in the fighting. “Thesegroups seem to be wilfully putting scoresof children directly in harm’s way,” saidCorinne Dufka, senior West Africaresearcher at HRW.

19550 – Africa Research Bulletin

A B C


Mali in Brief

1st: FrenchPresidentFrancoisHollande statesin a New Year’s address that France isprepared to support Mali in quelling a rebeladvance, but only under the auspices of theUN Security Council.

4th: Just US$2m of the $370m needed hasbeen raised to cover humanitarian operationsin Mali in 2013, according to UN Office forthe Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA).

84 officers from the Touareg Movement fortheLiberationofAzawad (MNLA) aboard 17land-cruisers surrender to the Mauritanianarmy on the border opposite Basiknou,Mauritanian news agencyAl-Akhbar reports.

8th: Burkina Faso Foreign Minister DjibrillBassole says talks between the Malian gov-ernment and two armed groups, Ansar Dineand MNLA, are “postponed until a laterdate.”

Malian army uses heavy weapons nearMoptito fight back against the rebels, according to aMalian security source.

9th–10th: Malian army loses control of stra-tegically important central town of Konna,55km from Mopti and only an 8-hour driveaway from Bamako. A spokesman for AnsarDine claims his movement controls Konna.The “large-scale and unexpected attack” isseen by the government as a direct and seriousthreat.

As residents try to flee S�evar�e and Mopti,Government Communications MinisterManga Dembel�e urges people to stay calm ina nationwide address. “We are working withour partners night and day to explore rapidsolutions to this crisis.”

France initiates air offensive. Hollande in atelevised speech says he is responding, onbehalf of France, to a request by the MalianPresident for assistance. The operation willlast the time necessary. Some ground troopsalso arrive.

The UN security council meets ands says thethreat in Mali is “extremely serious” and it isnecessary to act. Islamists say they will pushfarther south.

11th: Interim President DioncoundaTraoredeclares a state of emergency under whichpublic gatherings, rallies and anything thatcan disrupt public order are banned. Frenchhelicopter pilot, Lt Damien Boiteux, is killedduring air raid to support Mali’s groundtroops in the battle for Konna. 11 Maliansoldiers also killed and 60 injured.

M�edecins sans Fronti�eres (MSF) warns thatthe 55,000Malian refugees inMauritania faceseriousmalnutrition and highmortality rates.

Counter-offensive, led by Abdelhamid AbouZeid, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (AQIM) attacks Diabaly.

12th: Intense fighting in Konna, Amba, Bor�eand Douentza in Mopti Region. PresidentTraore addresses nation, saying that everyMalian should consider himself henceforth asa soldier. Motorists in Bamako fly Frenchflags. Mali’s army retakes control of Konnaafter one of the worst clashes with Islamistssince the start of the crisis.Dozens of Islamistsare killed, according to the Malian military

and witnesses. Malian troops carrying out amop up operation, says Col. Diarra Kone.

13th: Algeria allows France to over-fly itsterritory. Paris announces the use of Rafalebomber planes based in France, for the firsttime. French air strikes in Gao and Kidal –territory held by Islamist groups since April2012 – target rebel training camps, say eye-witnesses. Islamist groups flee Gao and tele-phone lines are cut.

French air strikes are reported to kill prom-inent Islamist leader and up to 100 rank-and-file fighters. Abdel Krim, nicknamed ‘Kojak’,was said to be a key lieutenant of Iyad AgGhaly.

Witnesses say fighter jets strike a camp usedby Islamist militants in Lere, around 150 kmnorth of Konna. Aides to Hollande describethe militants as better equipped, armed andtrained than they had expected.

14th:Mauritaniadeploys troops to the easternborder with Mali to prevent “the infiltrationof armed terrorist groups”. Rebels abandonkey northern bases. Residents in the towns ofGao, Douentza and Timbuktu report allIslamists have fled, though a rebel spokesmancalls it a “tactical retreat.”

Islamists seize the town of Diabaly in govern-ment-held territory, 400 km north of thecapital. They vow to “strike at the heart ofFrance.” Ethnic-Touareg separatists say theyare ready to support France by taking onIslamist rebels on the ground.

15th: France engages ground troops to re-take Diabaly. Hundreds of soldiers fromFrance and Mali head to the town, whichwitnesses say is bombarded by French fighterplanes.

Hollande says the French intervention hasthree objectives – “ending terrorists attacks,”as well as “securing Bamako, where we havethousands of citizens, andhelpMali to restoreits territorial integrity.”

16th: OCHA estimates at least 30,000 peoplehave fled northern Mali since French-ledoffensive began. A cabinet meeting in Ba-mako discusses the fear of reprisals growingamong the Arab and Tamashek communitiesof Mali and warns against racism.

French troops secure a strategic bridge alongthe Niger river at Markala in western Mali.

Events take on a new international dimen-sion, with a massive hostage-taking crisis at agas site in Algeria’s remote south-easterndesert, perpetrated by Islamists claiming toavengeFrance’smilitary intervention inMali.

AU President Thomas Boni Yayi praises the“remarkable work” of the French military inMali, saying its troops are “practically sav-ing” Africa.

Spain authorizes the use of its air bases by theFrench aircraft and allows them to overflySpanish airspace, Defence Minister PedroMorenes says.

17th: Malian army seals the border withMauritania to cut off fleeing insurgents. FirstECOWAS troops - 40 Togolese soldiers -arrive inMali.At emergency talks on the crisisin Brussels, EU nations gave their support to

France and offermilitary aid, possibly includ-ing troops.

18th: French army begins official grounddeployment at Markala in Segou region. Eyewitness accounts speak of summary execu-tions carried out by the Malian army inS�evar�e.Malian army says it has now “wrestedtotal control of Konna after inflicting heavylosses on the enemy.”

19th:ECOWAS holds extraordinary summit,urges member states to hasten troop deploy-ment and endorses appointment of MajorGen.ShehuUsmanAbdulkadir ofNigeria andBrigadier Gen. Yaye Garba of Niger ascommander and deputy commander of theMISMA and asks UN to fund MISMA.

Transition Prime Minister Diango Cissokogreets arriving troops fromNigeria, Togo andBenin.

Gao residents kill a local jihadist leader,Alioune Toure, to avenge the murder of alocal journalist, Kader Toure officials said.

Two Nigerian soldiers are killed and fiveothers seriously injured in an attack on amilitary detachment heading for deploymentin Mali but still within Nigeria at the time.“The terrorists detonated a high-calibreremote-controlled IED (improvised explosivedevice) they planted by the roadside as themilitary convoy was passing and opened fireon the soldiers,” Nigerian army spokesman,Maj-Gen. Bola Koleoso says, blaming BokoHaram.

20th: Nigerian Islamist group Jama’atu Ansa-rul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan (Ansarul –Vanguard for the Aid of Muslims in BlackAfrica) claims responsibility for the attack onNigerian soldiers. Ansarul splintered fromBoko Haram in June 2012 and is believed bysome to have close ties to Islamist groups inNorth Africa and Mali (See p. 19572).

21st: Diabaly and Douentza are retaken byMalian forces and their French allies.Diabalyresidents applaud wildly as a convoy of about30 armoured vehicles with some 200 Malianand French troops enter. French militaryofficials and local residents say fleeing Isla-mists have riddled the town with land-mines.The region around Diabaly has longbeen a hub for al Qaeda-linked cells believedto have camps in the Ouagadou forest nearMauritania’s border.

ECOWAS parliament declares “total sup-port’’ for the military operations.

EU to release €50m as part of its “Peacefacility for Africa”, to “pay the per diem of[MISMA] soldiers, the cost of transport oftroops and medical care.” When politicalsituation improves, €250m budgetary assis-tance to the Malian government, throughsupport to civil society, to ensure food secu-rity and improve water supply in Bamako.

€22m for emergency food aid, intended forvictimsof the conflict,managedbypartnersofEU humanitarian organisations operating inMali. TheWest faces a decades-long battle todefeat AQIM, UK Premier David Cameronwarns.

22nd: Mali government extends state ofemergency by three months.

A B C



The AU has recommended civilianobservers monitor the human rightssituation in the areas which have comeback under the control of the Maliangovernment. Human rights groups haveaccused the Malian army of committingserious abuses including summary exe-cutions. (© AFP 16,18,27/1, The Indepen-dent, London 21/1; IRIN 17/1)

Gathering Troops

Colonel Paul Geze is the French mis-sion’s commander – French officials saidat the end of the month they now had2,900 troops in Mali. Some 3,700 Frenchtroops overall are engaged in OperationServal, backed by African forces both inMali and neighbouring Chad. The Afri-can contingent was expected to be bol-stered to 7,900, including 2,000 troopspromised by Chad.

The EU is to send a European militarytraining mission to Mali starting in mid-February and consisting of 450 mem-bers, including 200 trainers. The EU hasalso allocated €50m towards supportingthe deployment of African forces.

The US and UK are both helping withintelligence, airlift of troops, refueling ofplanes and logistics, but did not plan tosend combat troops. However, the UKamended this on January 29th saying itwould deploy about 330 military per-sonnel to Mali and West Africa, includ-

ing as many as 40 military advisers whowill train soldiers in Mali, and 200British soldiers to be sent to neighbour-ing African countries, also to help trainthe Malian army. None would have acombat role. Belgium, which sent a 40-strong military contingent to Mali onJanuary 28th taking a number of heli-copters equipped with medical facilities,said they would be used to evacuate thewounded from the war front. The Bel-gian government also said that its sol-diers would not be involved in the battleon the ground, PANA reported.

West African troops started to mobiliseon January 17th for the force headed byNigerian General Shehu Abdulkadir andsome 2,000 soldiers were expected inMali by January 26th.

Regional powerhouse Nigeria originallyplanned to send 900 troops but raisedthis figure to 1,200 on January 18th. Atechnical team, in addition to the forcecommander, were quickly deployed onthe ground. In a letter to the country’sSenate, President Goodluck Jonathansaid he had concluded that “our nationalsecurity is under imminent threat ordanger as a result of the crisis in north-ern Mali.” It said the soldiers would bedeployed “for limited combat duties”.

Togo also increased its offer of troopsfrom 540 to 733 men. Niger, Senegal andBurkina Faso promised 500 soldiers

each, Benin said it would deploy 300men, but later raised this to 650. Guineawill put 150 boots on the ground andGhana 120. Ghana’s contingent willconsist of a construction engineer squad-ron that will be responsible for providingaccommodation, defence systems, elec-trical expertise.

Chad, which is not an ECOWAS mem-ber, has promised 2,000 soldiers. A firstcontingent of 200 arrived in the coun-try’s eastern neighbour Niger, a militarysource said on January 17th. They wereto be joined there by Burkinabe andNigerien forces before heading togetherinto Mali.

“Our elements went aboard three air-craft – the tanks were transported in aC130, the pick-up trucks in an Antonovand the troops embarked on a Boeing ofthe Toumai Air Tchad airline,” a mili-tary source said.

The Chadian commitment for Maliconsists of an infantry regiment andtwo support battalions, Foreign Minis-ter Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Jan-uary 17th. Battle-hardened Chadiansoldiers, used to conflict in the desert,are expected to provide a key opera-tional boost to MISMA. (© AFP, Bamako& N’Djamena & Accra & Abuja 14,17/1;PANA,Brussels 28/1)

CONFERENCES ANDCOMMISSIONS

AFRICAN UNION20th Summit, Addis Ababa

A deal for DR Congo stagnates, butthere is progress on Mali.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailema-riam Desalegn took over the Chairman-ship of the African Union (AU) onJanuary 27th, with a pledge to worktowards the execution of various plans,including AU’s internal reforms.

The new chairman, who took overfrom Benin’s Thomas Yayi Boni,pledged to prioritise the implementa-tion of the AU plans seeking to boost

agriculture and the goals towards in-dustrialisation.

“There is no doubt that Africa needs tosustain the growth momentum that ithas been able to achieve over the lastdecade. This can only be done if wemanage to bring structural transforma-tion,” Hailemariam said.

Hailemariam outlined his key agenda forthe Presidency by calling for effectiveAfrican participation in the developmentof the new set of UN anti-poverty goalsto replace the UN Millennium Develop-ment Goals.

26th: Gao is seized from Islamists. About adozen rebels are killed in Gao, while Frenchforces suffer no losses or injuries, the FrenchDefence ministry says.

Youths in Gao say there are still some rebelsand rebel sympathizers around, but they arebeing found.

27th: ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs ofDefence Staff (CDDS) meet in Abidjan (Coted’Ivoire) on January 26th and agree to accel-erate deployment of additional forces (5,700),an emergency budget for the AFISMA HQand the acceleration of UN support. DefenceChiefs also validate the establishment of aseven-nation sub-committee to acceleratedecision-making and oversee the validation

and arbitration processes of the force gener-ation.

French forces bombKidal – home of the headof Ansar Dine.

The UN will deploy an international peace-keeping operation in Mali once the armedoperation to oust Islamist insurgents is over,Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announcesin Addis.

Libya has stopped the flow of weapons beingsmuggled across the Saharan desert to Malithe Foreign Minister tells the AU.

28th: French and Malian forces take Tim-buktu with little fighting but fleeing Islam-ist rebel fighters torch several buildings,

including a library of priceless manuscriptssays mayor, Ousmane Halle. AU summitauthorises the deployment of a humanrights component within AFISMA.

29th: At a donors’ conference in Addis,international donors pledge $455.53m(£289m) for AFISMA According to a listof donations carried on the AU’s Twitteraccount on, Japan pledged $120m, the US$96m and Germany $20m. India andChina pledged $1m each, the AU said,the same as Sierra Leone, which will alsocontribute 650 troops. (France 24,TVIvoirienne, PANA, AFP, RFI, Tout surl’Algerie, IRIN)

Continental Alignments

A B C


19552 – Africa Research Bulletin Continental Alignments

He said the emergence of serious con-flicts in parts of Africa was a setbackwhich required urgent steps to deal with.

“We should do everything possible tohelp restore constitutional order in Mali,safeguard the sovereignty of the countryand address the humanitarian crisis incollaboration with the Economic Com-munity of West Africa States (ECO-WAS),” the new AU Chairman stated.

Prior to the summit, AU Foreign Min-isters elected new members to the Peaceand Security Council, bringing on boardAlgeria, Equatorial Guinea, Mozam-bique, Nigeria and Uganda. They willreplace Kenya, representing East Africa,Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) while Nige-ria and Equatorial Guinea were both re-elected for a further term of three years.Libya was replaced by Algeria in NorthAfrica. (PANA, Addis Ababa 27/1)

The collapse of a peace deal for troubledeastern DR Congo overshadowed thesummit meeting of African leaders onJanuary 27th–28th, as efforts continuedto drum up support for military inter-vention in war-torn Mali.

United Nations Secretary General BanKi-moon had urged leaders from Africa’sGreat Lakes region to sign an agreementaimed at ending recurrent unrest ineastern DR Congo, where the M23rebels control swathes of mineral-richterritory. But a signing ceremony for thedeal, the details of which have not beenmade public, was cancelled on January28th just 30 minutes before it was due totake place.

“This is a very complex issue, talks arestill continuing,” said Eri Kaneko, aspokeswoman for Ban, without givingfurther details.

The presidents of Rwanda and Uganda –which UN experts have accused ofbacking the M23, a charge both govern-ments deny – as well as DR Congo,Angola, Burundi, Republic of Congo,South Africa and Tanzania had beenexpected to sign the deal.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame andhis Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Muse-veni both refused to comment on theproposed deal, holding a discreet meet-ing on January 28th on the sidelines ofthe AU summit, an AFP reporter said.

Ban urged regional leaders at the open-ing of the AU summit to “endorse aPeace Security and Cooperation Frame-work to address the structural causes ofthe recurring cycles of violence” in theregion.

Other discussions at the summit focusedon Mali, including the scaling-up ofAfrican troops to help the Malian armybattle Islamist militants who seized thecountry’s vast desert north in April 2012.

The outgoing AU chairman, ThomasBoni Yayi, had told fellow leaders theirresponse to conflict in Mali had been tooslow, and thanked France, the country’sformer colonial ruler, for taking the leadin its military intervention there(p. 19547).

He appealed for “further commitment…for the financing of all the forces”.

The UN chief also told the summit hewas “determined to do everything tohelp the people of Mali”, but urged thegovernment to ensure “an inclusivepolitical process”.

After the summit, African leaders stayedbehind for a donor conference on Jan-uary 29th to drum up support for theMali International Support Mission.

Tensions between Sudan and newlyindependent South Sudan and efforts tobuild peace in chronically unstableSomalia were also discussed at the sum-mit.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir andhis northern counterpart Omar al-Bashirmet on January 25th, and again on the27th, but officials said no progress hadbeen made (see below). (©AFP 28/1 2013)

After two days of intensive talks, PANAreported that African leaders resolved topep up the continent’s response to thecrises by making the African StandbyForce (ASF) a reality. The ASF is partof a longer term project to boost Africa’scapacity to handle conflict, and is thelast part – though yet unimplemented –of the African Peace and Security Archi-tecture.

The force has been slated to become areality in 2012, but that date was missedand eventually pushed forward to 2015.But African leaders are now seeking aquick establishment of the force.

“We shall operationalise this importantaspect of our security in months if anumber of steps are met,” said AUCommissioner for Peace and SecurityRamtane Lamamra. “There is absolutenecessity for Africa to empower a rapiddeployment force.”

The summit decided to make the ASFone of its core issues of discussion whenit reconvenes on May 25th in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia, for the celebrationsmarking 50 years of the continent’sunity. (PANA, Addis Ababa 29/1)

IN BRIEFSADC: Conflict in eastern DR Congo and thepolitical crises in Madagascar and Zimbabwetopped the agenda of a summit of southernAfrican countries in Tanzania on January10th.

The summit was attended by President Ja-kaya Kikwete of Tanzania, South African

President Jacob Zuma and Hifikepunye Po-hamba of Namibia, the other two nations inthe SADC troika handling regional securityissues. President Armando Guebuza ofMozambique also attended. (© AFP 9/1 2013)

POLITICALRELATIONS

NORTH AFRICARegional Challenges

A coordinated approach to security willhelp to confront the fallout from Mali.

The prime ministers of Libya, Algeriaand Tunisia decided on January 12th toreinforce border security and join forcesin tackling regional challenges includingterrorism, arms trafficking and organ-ised crime.

The decision was taken by Libyan PrimeMinister Ali Zidane, Algerian PrimeMinister Abdelmalek Sellal and TunisianPrime Minister Hamadi Jebali during ameeting in the southern Libyan oasis ofGhadames.

They pledged in an 11-point plan to“create common border checkpoints andintensify cooperation in the securitysphere through joint patrols,” andvowed as well to tackle organised crimeand terrorism.

The premiers also addressed the crisis inMali, which shares a border with Algeria.

“It is necessary to find a political solu-tion to this crisis by fostering dialoguebetween the different parties in Mali topreserve the sovereignty and unity of itsterritory,” they said in a joint statement.

The Libyan Prime Minister told journal-ists the “situation in Mali has made itnecessary for us to meet in order toprevent and tackle its consequences.”

It requires close “coordination betweenour military and intelligence services toprevent anything that might affect oursecurity, the movement of persons, armsand drugs trafficking, terrorism andhuman trafficking,” he said.

Libyan authorities in December decidedto close the country’s borders withAlgeria, Niger, Chad and Sudan, decree-ing the oil-rich south a military zone, ina move seen by analysts as a response tothe crisis in Mali.

Although Libya does not share borderswith Mali, it has been the worst affectedby the spillover of weapons and fighters,both Tuareg and Islamist, that accom-panied the 2011 uprising that ousteddictator Mouammar Gaddafy.

With West African governments nowpushing for intervention to evict the

A B C



jihadists from northern Mali, Libya andits neighbours, particularly Algeria, fearthe fighters and weapons will stream backnorth across the Sahara. (© AFP 12/12013)

SOUTH SUDAN –SUDANLatest Talks Fail

The negotiation round, which ends withthe trading of accusations, highlightsthe complexities of implementingagreements.

The Sudanese government has accusedSouth Sudan of foiling their most recentround of negotiations, claiming thatJuba did not care to implement theiragreements.

Following the talks with South Sudanesedelegation in Ethiopia’s capital of AddisAbaba on January 19th, the Sudanesedelegation said in a statement that Jubawas not serious about making practicalsteps to implement what had beenagreed on by their two Presidents duringa previous summit.

On January 7th, Sudan and South Sudanhad resumed negotiations focusing onthree issues, including the implementa-tion of the transitional arrangements onAbyei, security arrangements on the de-militarised zone and preparation of acomprehensive matrix with specific time-frames for the agreements signed by thetwo countries in Addis Ababa on Sep-tember 27th, 2012 (Vol. 49, p. 19443C).

The Sudanese delegation explained thatthe talks on Abyei stalled with SouthSudan’s insistence that the make-up ofthe legislative council of Abyei shouldbe 12 Southern Sudanese membersagainst 10 members for Sudan, whileSudan insists on equal representation.

Sudan further accused South Sudan ofbacktracking from its commitmentsregarding security arrangements andthe withdrawal of its troops from thedisputed areas. It added that the SouthSudanese delegation had also rejectedthe formation of the monitoring mech-anisms concerned with breaking thelink between its army and the rebels atBlue Nile and South Kordofan areas,the cessation of hostilities, and endingsupport for armed rebel movements.

On January 5th Sudan and South Sudanagreed to implement the item on securityarrangements, form civil institutions forthe Abyei area and work out a matrixwith specific timeframes to implementthe agreement.

The September 27th agreement, wit-nessed by members of the African Union

High-Level Implementation Panel onSudan (AUHIP), included three dealson cooperation, security and post-seces-sion matters. However, the signed agree-ments did not tackle the issues of Abyeiand border demarcation.

A referendum had been scheduled to beheld in Abyei to decide the fate of thearea coincident with the referendum onself- determination for South Sudan inJanuary 2011, which resulted in theseparation between the north and thesouth, but the voting did not take placedue to differences over who had the rightto vote. (News Agencies 21/1)

However, earlier press reports suggestedthat South Sudan had started withdraw-ing its troops from the border withSudan, to allow a buffer zone to becreated between the two nations.

The Safe Demilitarized Buffer Zone(SDBZ) is a key part of the Septemberdeal to allow South Sudan to restart oilproduction, the revenues from which arevital for both economies.

“By withdrawing its forces … the gov-ernment of South Sudan is clearly dem-onstrating its full compliance with thesigned security agreements and full com-mitment to their implementation,” saysa statement the South Sudanese govern-ment issued on January 17th.

The statement, which bears the signatureof South Sudan’s Defence Minister JohnKong Nyuon and Justice Minister JohnLuk Jok, asserted that the withdrawalwas in full compliance with the roadmap put forward by the African UnionPeace and Security Council, and whichwas endorsed by the United NationsSecurity Council.

“This withdrawal was completed withinthe time frame that had been agreed bythe Parties. This is the first step in theseparation of forces and the full opera-tionalisation of the SDBZ (10km with-drawal from the centreline), thestatement read in part.

The “centreline” has been a point ofcontention. Under the agreement, the“centreline” is nonbinding and will haveno influence on the resolution of dis-puted areas and any final border agree-ment. Large areas of the 2,000km borderremain undemarcated.

At a meeting of the bilateral JointPolitical and Security Mechanism inAddis Ababa, convened by the AUHIPfrom January 14tgh–15th, South Sudan“fully accepted the full demilitarisationof the “14 mile area”. The issue on Mile14’s inclusion has proved controversialin South Sudan, especially in NorthernBahr el Ghazal State where the MalualDinka claim that the ownership of thefertile grazing area is not in dispute.

South Sudan said the withdrawal of itstroops from Mile 14 would take 47 daysfrom the day the pullback commenced,and should be completed by the deadlineof February 4th.

The acting chief negotiator, MinisterJohn Luk Jok noted: “By withdrawingits forces south of the centreline of thetemporary administrative and securitymap of the AUHIP and agreeing to thefull demilitarisation of the SDBZ andthe 14 miles area, the government ofSouth Sudan is clearly demonstratingits full compliance with the signedsecurity agreements and full commit-ment to their implementation.” (SudanTribune 19/1)

According to The Citizen, Khartoum(21/1), the vicious circle of failurein talks was due to a ‘lack of confi-dence’.

The paper noted that the two countriestraded accusations over the responsibil-ity of each party for the failure of thelatest round of negotiations in AddisAbaba when they had been expected toagree on a matrix prepared by theAfrican mediation for the implementa-tion of the September 2012 cooperationagreement.

Under the state of persistent failure, theAfrican mediation is expected to craftproposed compromises to bridge the gapthat is still separating the positions ofthe two sides – for it is illogical to insiston holding failure-doomed meetings. Itis essential to get out of this viciouscircle, and then search for a new groundfor consensus. (…)

While the two countries continue toaccuse each other of unwillingness toreach agreement on key disputes, bothbear a great measure of responsibility forcreating the sort of difficulty that couldlead to an economic and humanitariancatastrophe, negatively impacting citi-zens on either side. (The Citizen, Khartoum21/1)

IN BRIEFCote d’Ivoire – Liberia: Liberia’s DefenceMinister Bernie Samukai said on January8th that its troops had begun to withdrawfrom the Cote d’Ivoire border, where theywere deployed in June 2012 after repeatedraids. The pullout would be completed onJanuary 13th, but could be redeployed ifnecessary.

Several Liberian army units were deployed toborder posts between the two countries tocounter armed gangs raiding the Ivorian sidefrom Liberia. In an ambush in southwest Coted’Ivoire in June, 18 people died, includingseven United Nations peacekeepers fromNiger. (© AFP 8/1 2013)

A B C


19554 – Africa Research Bulletin Continental Alignments

GOVERNMENTAPPOINTMENTS

EGYPTCabinet Reshuffle

Frustration at the lack of real changespills over onto the streets again inunrest that refuses to be quelled.

Egypt swore in 10 new ministers onJanuary 6th in a cabinet shake-up aimedat improving the government’s handlingof the country’s ailing economy ahead oftalks with the International MonetaryFund (IMF) over a badly needed US$4.8bn loan.

The reshuffle, which President Muham-mad Mursi had promised in response topublic anger over Egypt’s economic mal-aise, affected two key ministries, theInterior and Finance. It also solidifiedIslamist control of the government, putt-ing three portfolios in the hands ofmembers of the President’s MuslimBrotherhood.

Mursi met with the new ministers aftertheir swearing-in ceremony at the presi-dential palace in Cairo where they dis-cussed ways to revive tourism and attractforeign investors, a presidential officialsaid.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, mean-while, said he stressed in his first meetingwith the new ministers the need forimmediate action to stabilise the econ-omy. At the heart of those efforts lies the$4.8bn loan that Egypt has requestedfrom the IMF. Cairo says the funds areneeded to bolster confidence in thecountry’s economy and attract foreigninvestors.

Egypt asked the IMF for a delay in thetalks on the loan after a wave of politicalturmoil erupted in December over acontentious new constitution. Mass pro-tests and street violence tied to theconstitution dealt yet another blow tomajor foreign currency earners, includ-ing tourism and foreign investment.

The opposition, a coalition of liberal,secular-leaning, and leftist groups, wasnot offered any seats in the new cabinetand has said that any government shake-up that does not replace Qandil fallsshort of what is needed.

El-Morsi Hegazy, a professor of publicfinance at Alexandria University, takesover the Finance Ministry, replacingMumtaz el-Said, who was appointed by

the country’s transitional military rulersand widely viewed as being at odds withthe Brotherhood.

Mohammed Ibrahim, meanwhile, willlead the Interior Ministry, which isresponsible for the police force. Hepreviously was in charge of prisons andprior to that was director of security inthe province of Assiut, which has a largeCoptic Christian population and hasalso been home to a number of Islamicmilitant groups.

Ibrahim said his priorities would be tofight a rising wave of crime and restorestability to Egypt.

“We will strike with an iron fist againstanyone that threatens the security ofthe nation and Egyptians,” Ibrahimtold the state news agency, pledging toclamp down on cross-border weaponssmuggling. Egypt has been flush withweapons smuggled from Libya andSudan.

Three of the new ministers are from theBrotherhood, according to the spokes-man for the group’s Freedom and Jus-tice Party, Ahmed Subaie. They takeover the ministries of Transportation,Local Development and Supply andInterior trade, giving the Brotherhooda total of eight cabinet posts.

Also included in the reshuffle were theministries of Civil Aviation, Environ-ment, Electricity, Communication andParliamentary Affairs.

Karim Ennarah, a researcher on policeand security reforms at the EgyptianInitiative for Personal Rights, said theprevious Interior Minister, AhmedGamal Eddin, was likely replacedbecause Brotherhood leaders were upsetwith the police’s handling of attacksagainst the group’s offices and support-ers during the December clashes with theopposition over the constitution. (NewsAgencies 6/1)

The cabinet is now as follows:

President: Mohamed MursiPrime Minister: Hisham Mohamed QandilMinistersAgriculture and Land Cultivation: SalahMohamed Abdel Moemen KhalilCivil Aviation: Wael Amen El MaadawyCommunication and ICT: Atef AhmedHelmy NaguibCulture: Mohamed Saber Ibrahim ArabDefence and Military Production: Gen.Abdel Fatah Said El SissyDrinking Water and Utilities: Abdel KawyAhmed Mokhtar KhalifaEducation: IbrahimAhmedGhoneimDeif++Electricity and Energy: Ahmed MoustafaEmam Shaaban

Finance: Morsy El Said Ahmed HegazyForeign Affairs: Mohamed Kamel Ali AmrHealth and Housing: Mohamed MostafaMohamed Ahmed HamedHigher Education: Mostafa El Sayed Moss-aad +Housing and Urban Development: TarekWafik Mohamed +Information: Metwaly Salah Abdel Mak-soud Metwaly +Insurance and Social Affairs: Nagwa Hus-sein Ahmed KhalelInterior: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim Mo-hamed MoustafaInvestment: Osama Abdel Moneim Mah-moud SalehJustice: Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed MekkyLabour: Khaled Mahmoud Mohamed Ha-med Al Azhary +Legal and Parliamentary Affairs: Omar Mo-hamed Mohamed SalemLocal Development: Mohamed Aly IsmailBeshrPetroleum and Mineral Resources: OsamaMohamed Kamal Abdel HamidPlanning and International Cooperation:Ashraf Al Sayed Al Araby Abdel FatahReligious Endowments: Talaat MohamedAfify SalemScientific Research:. Nadia Eskndar ZkharySports: Al Emary Farouk Mohamed AbdelHamidSupply and Social Affairs: Bassem KamalMohamed AudaTourism: Mohamed Hisham Abbas ZaazouTrade and Industry: Hatem Abdel HamidMahmoud Saleh *Water Resources and Irrigation: MohamedBahaa El Dine SaadYouth: Osama Yassin Abdel Wahab +Key to abbreviations of political parties:* al-Hadara: Al-Hadara / Civilisation Party+ FJP: Freedom and Justice Party++ Indep: Independent (www.cabi-net.gov.eg/)

Revolutionary Spark

Egyptian opposition supporters pro-tested across the country on the secondanniversary of the uprising that sweptHosni Mubarak from power, with fivepeople killed in the city of Suez onJanuary 25th.

Police clashed with President Mursi’sopponents in Cairo outside his palaceand near Tahrir Square. Alexandria alsosaw clashes. In Ismailia, protesters setfire to the headquarters of the MuslimBrotherhood’s party. Critics accuse thePresident of betraying the revolution,which he denies.

The President appealed for calm to endthe clashes, in which at least 379 peoplewere injured in 12 of the country’s 27regions.

On January 25th, police fired tear gas todisperse protesters who had tried tocross barbed-wire barriers outside thepresidential palace in Cairo, state TVreported. Protesters’ tents were alsodismantled.

Earlier, some protesters erected check-points at the entrances to Tahrir Square

Internal Developments

A B C



to verify the identities of people passingthrough. Others set up an exhibition ofphotographs of those killed at variousprotests over the past two years.

The roads leading from Tahrir Square toseveral nearby government buildingsand foreign embassies have been blockedby concrete walls since November 2012.Demonstrators tried to dismantle one ofthem on January 24th, but a new wallwas built to block entry to the cabinetheadquarters.

There were also reports that oppositionsupporters had blocked railway linesleading both to the north and southout of Cairo. Earlier, state TV showedprotesters in the city throwing stones atpublic buildings as motorcycles carriedinjured people away.

In Ismailia, witnesses said youths hadbroken into and ransacked the offices ofthe Freedom and Justice Party, thepolitical arm of the Muslim Brother-hood, before setting fire to it. The city’sgovernorate headquarters was later alsostormed.

Clashes were reported in at least twolocations in Alexandria, with policefiring tear gas and protesters burningtyres. At least 10 people were reportedlyinjured.

The unrest showed no signs of abatingand a large military deployment wasmade at the end of the month in threecities along the Suez Canal – Port Said,Ismailia and Suez – where a state ofemergency has been declared. The mili-tary was there to protect key installa-

tions – namely the Suez Canal, one ofEgypt’s main sources of foreign revenue.

By January 29th, more than 50 peoplehad died. Thousands were again on thestreets of Port Said on the 29th for thelatest funerals of those killed. In Cairo,police again fired tear gas at youths inTahrir Square. (BBC News Online 25,29/1)

Nur Party Leader: The Islamist Nurparty elected a new chief on January 9thafter a split within the powerful ultra-conservative Salafi movement splinteredthe party ahead of parliamentary elec-tions.

The party at a general assembly selectedYunis Makhyun, who was a member ofparliament until a court annulled theIslamist-dominated house in June, in avote shown live on television.

His party had won 112 seats in thatparliament, in a surprise showing for amovement that had mostly eschewedpolitics before the overthrow of presi-dent Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

The party’s former leader, Emad AbdelGhaffour, resigned along with 150 mem-bers to form Al-Watan, a competingSalafi party ahead of fresh electionswhich are expected after February.

Egyptian press reported the split wascaused by disagreements over the influ-ence of powerful Salafi clerics in the Al-Dawaa al-Salafiya group, which hadestablished the Nur party.

The influence of Salafis, who have aconsiderably more rigid interpretation ofIslam than President Mohamed Mursi’sMuslim Brotherhood movement, in par-

Egypt

Two Years of Revolution

2011, Jan. 25th: Egypt protests erupt,involving thousands of demonstrators, aftera revolt topples Tunisia’s ruler. The pro-tests, which are centred in Cairo’s TahrirSquare, gather more than a million peopleacross the country on February 1st.

Feb. 11th: After daily protests PresidentHosni Mubarak resigns and hands powerto the army led by Field Marshal HusseinTantawi. About 850 people die in theunrest.

12th: Promising a peaceful transition todemocracy, the army suspends the constitu-tion and dissolves parliament.

Mar. 19th: Egyptians widely approve a newconstitution.

Apr 13th: Authorities say Mubarak is beingheld in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh.

June 28th–29th: More than 1,000 hurt asprotesters and police clash in Tahrir Square.

Nov 19th: Start of week-long clashesbetween police and anti-military demonstra-tors that leave 42 dead.

28th: Egypt holds the first stage of its firstpost-revolt parliamentary election. Islamistparties win about two-thirds of the seats, ofwhich half go to the Muslim Brotherhood.

2012, Feb.1st: Riots kill 74 people after aPort Said football match.

June 2nd: Mubarak and his former Interiorminister Habib al-Adly sentenced to life inprison for the deaths of protesters duringthe revolt, while six police commanders areacquitted.

30th: Mohammad Mursi, who won thepresidential election with 51.7% of the vote,is sworn in, becoming Egypt’s first civilianand Islamist ruler.

Aug: 5th: Gunmen kill 16 guards in Egyptnear the border with Israel before crossinginto the Jewish state. Israel says five gunmenwere killed on its side.

12th: Mursi scraps a constitutional docu-ment which handed sweeping powers to themilitary and ousts Tantawi.

Nov. 22nd: Mursi decrees sweeping newpowers for himself.

23rd: Protests erupt against what the oppo-sition terms Mursi’s “power grab”.

30th: Islamist-dominated constituent assem-bly adopts the draft constitution after aprocess boycotted by liberals and Chris-tians.

Dec. 8th: Mursi annuls the decree givinghimself sweeping powers, but maintains acontroversial referendum on the constitu-tion.

15th, 22nd: 64% of voters in the two-roundreferendum back the new constitution, aftera vote which the opposition says is tainted.Egypt plunges into a deep political crisis,with demonstrations by supporters andopponents of Mursi turning into sometimesdeadly clashes.

2013, Jan 6th: Mursi reshuffles his cabinetamid a serious economic crisis.

13th: The Appeals Court accepts an appeallodged by Mubarak and his Interior minis-ter Habib al-Adli against life sentences forthe death of protesters in the 2011 uprising.The court orders a retrial.

19th: Charges against 379 people involved inclashes against the police in 2011, aredropped following a decree by Mursi grant-ing them amnesty, the official MENA newsagency said.

20th: Five people are killed in a northernCairo district as clashes erupt after a policeofficer accidentally kills a man while chasinga drug dealer, officials said.

29th: Army chief General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi warns that the political crisis could leadto a “collapse of the state. (© AFP, Cairo13-20/1; France 24 13/1;MENA 19/1)

Chad

New Prime Minister

President Idriss Deby on appointed chiefof staff Djimrangar Dadnadji as PrimeMinister following the resignation of Em-manuel Nadingar, state radio announced.

“I have the honour to hand in… myresignation as prime minister, head ofgovernment, three years after youappointed me in this post. Today I havecome to the end of my mission,” Nadingarwrote in a resignation letter read out onthe radio, which also announced Dadnadjias his successor.

Nadingar, in office since March 2010, wasre-appointed following disputed April2011 re-election of Deby, who has heldpower since 1990.

Government reshuffles are a frequentoccurrence in the landlocked African des-ert nation run with an iron fist by Deby,and premiers rarely last more than two orthree years. (www.presidencetchad.org/;© AFP 21/1 2013)

A B C


19556 – Africa Research Bulletin Internal Developments

ticular worries Egypt’s Coptic Christianpopulation.

Salafis have been blamed for inflamingsectarian tensions in the country, whichwitnessed a spike of attacks on Coptsover the past three years. (© AFP 9/12013) Referendum ‘yes’ vote p. 19519B

GHANAPresident Sworn In

Despite the opposition’s protests, thenew government takes shape.

President John Drahami Mahama wassworn in for his first four-year term onJanuary 7th, with tens of thousands ofexcited and cheering party supportersthronging the seaside IndependenceSquare in the capital city of Accra.

He took the Presidential Oath and theOath of Office administered by the ChiefJustice, Mrs Georgina Wood, to assumeoffice as the fourth President of theFourth Republic of Ghana.

Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur also took the oath of office atthe colourful ceremony.

South African President Jacob Zuma,Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathanand Liberian President Ellen JohnsonSirleaf were all at the ceremony. Some12 African heads of state in all were saidto be in attendance.

Mahama won 50.7% of the vote in theDecember 7th election, but the opposi-tion New Patriotic Party (NPP) hasdisputed the result and petitioned theSupreme Court.

Parliamentarians were sworn in later onthe same day. The NDC won 148 seatsin the 275-seat House while the NPP has122. There is one seat for the People’sNational Convention (PNC) and fourindependent members.

The opposition NPP boycotted theswearing-in, and some members of theparty called on former president JohnKufuor, a member of the party, to stayaway from the ceremony. Kufuor, widelyrespected for having stepped down afterhis two terms of office despite his partynarrowly losing 2008 elections, defiedsuch calls and attended the ceremony.

There will be two by-elections as the newSpeaker,EdwardDoeAdjaho of the rulingNational Democratic Congress (NDC),has vacated his seat, while one NDC MPdied suddenly on December 25th.

On January 11th, President Mahamanamed his first 12 ministers with themost prominent being the nomination ofMs Hannah Tetteh, former Minister forTrade and Industry, as the Minister ofForeign Affairs.

Seth Terpker becomes Minister ofFinance and Economic Planning whileformer Youth and Sports MinisterClement Kofi Humado goes to the Min-istry of Agriculture.

Dr Oteng Adjei, former Energy Minister,moves to the Ministry of Environment,Science, Technology and Innovation,while Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, former Dep-uty Energy Minister has been nominatedas the Minister of Lands and NaturalResources.

Alhaji Collins Dauda, former TransportMinister moves to the Ministry of WaterResources, Works and Housing, DrEdward Omane Boamah has been nomi-nated as Minister of CommunicationsandMrMahamaAyariga, formerDeputyMinister of Trade and Industry has beennominated as Minister of Information.

The new faces are: Akwasi Oppong Fosuas Minister of Local Government andRural Development, Professor NaanaJane Opoku Agyemang as Minister ofEducation, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemanaat the Ministry of Roads and Highwaysand Nana Oye Lithur as the Minister ofGender, Children and Social Protection.(PANA, Accra 7,11/1)

A further seven appointments weremade on January 17th. The nomineesare Dr Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor,Minister in Charge of Government Busi-ness in Parliament, Mrs. Marietta BrewAppiah-Oppong, Minister for Justice andAttorney-General, Emmanuel ArmarhKofi Buah, Minister of Energy andPetroleum and Mrs. Dzifa Attivor, Min-ister of Transport.

The rest are Nii Armah Ashietey, Minis-ter of Employment and Labour Rela-tions, Ms. Hanny-Sherry Ayittey,Minister of Health and Mr. Elvis Afri-yie-Ankrah, Minister of Youth andSports. (PANA, Accra 17/1)

The Ghanaian Chronicle reported onJanuary 20th that President Mahamaappeared to have bowed to pressurefrom the chiefs of the Western Regionto appoint Emmanuel Armah Buah asMinister for Energy and Petroleum.The chiefs had reasoned that oil andgas had been found in the region, so aperson from that area should overseethe sector.

The cabinet appointments were due tobe ratified at the end of January. (TheGhanaian Chronicle, Accra 20/1) Tight vote

Vol. 49, p. 19521A

LIBYANew Foreign Minister

The government seems paralysed to acton drawing up a new constitution.

Magharebia.com reported on January2nd that the Foreign Minister, Ali Sulei-man Aujali, had submitted his resigna-tion to the General National Congress(GNC) on December 31st, citing per-sonal reasons for the decision.

On January 6th, Muhammad AbdalAzizwas assigned to head the merged Minis-tries of Foreign Affairs and Interna-tional Cooperation. (Magharebia.com 2/1;MAP news agency, Rabat 6/1)

In a separate development, the mainliberal coalition, the National ForcesAlliance, withdrew from the nationalassembly on January 7th in protest overdelays in forming a committee to draft apost-Gaddafy constitution.

A statement from the coalition, whichholds 39 of 80 seats reserved for partiesin the assembly, said that the mainreasons for the decision to pull outincluded the delay in establishing acommittee to draft a new constitution.

Other reasons for the withdrawal werewhat members described as chaotic pro-ceedings and the lack of adequate secu-rity for the assembly, where sessionshave been often disrupted by demon-strators who barge into the premiseswhile parliament is in session to influ-ence decisions.

Nearly 15 months after Libyan strong-man Mouammar Gaddafy was slain byrebels who toppled his regime, thecountry is still at odds over who shoulddraw up a new constitution. Some wantthe 200-member GNC to appoint apanel to carry out the task. Others wantfresh elections to a constitutional con-vention.

The National Forces Alliance, the larg-est coalition bloc in parliament, want theconstitutional committee to be electedby the Libyan people themselves. (© AFP7/1 2013)

Mounting problems of security, econom-ics and social development will hustledemocratic Libya’s feeble central gov-ernment and half-formed state institu-tions into action on several fronts in2013, comments Africa Confidential.However, this will not happen untilpopular frustration with the status quoforces the current crop of inexperiencedministers and other politicians to act.The region around Benghazi, Cyrenaica,is most likely to produce an upset thatwill test both the resolve and ability ofthe GNC and the interim government tokeep the democratic transition on track.

The likeliest flashpoints for any chal-lenge to central authority from Benghaziare firstly, the new constitution andsecondly, the issue of devolving controlover hydrocarbon expenditure and rev-enue to regions or localities. These

A B C



questions split both Cyrenaica and therest of Libya. The Islamist camp and thegroups favouring maximum regionalautonomy, neither of which securedmany votes in July’s general elections,may use their control of militias tooppose any political development theydo not favour.

The GNC will start the year as it finished2012, by postponing any decision thatrisks triggering conflict. It may take somemonths for the GNC to accept that therapidly declining public trust in its mem-bers means that it cannot now reclaim theright it originally envisaged to appointthe 60-member constitutional conven-tion. Eventually, the need to get somesort of basic law in place regardless of thepolitical cost will oblige GNC PresidentMohamed Magarief to announce directelections to the convention. According tothe already accepted model, Cyrenaica,Fezzan and Tripolitania will each send 20delegates to the convention, meaning thatgeneral elections, which might not hap-pen until the autumn, will be entirelydifferent in character from the July 2012vote for the Congress, where 120 of the200 members of parliament were fromTripolitania.

Theconventionwillcontainamuchhigherproportion of federalists (champions ofstrong regional and weak central govern-ment), Islamists and representatives ofminority ethnic groups such as the Toua-reg and Toubou. It will quickly givepolitical expression to many of the divi-sionswithin society that currently havenooutlet. The role of political parties, cam-paigning and the voting process itself willcreate many disputes. Producing a bodywhose legitimacy is universally recognisedwillbedifficult.ArgumentsovertheroleofSharia (Islamic law), the level of auton-omy permitted to regions and the place of‘revolutionary brigades’ within societywill cause the constitution-writingprocessto drag on far beyond the year initiallyallocated. (Africa Confidential 11/1)

CONSTITUTIONALCHANGES

MADAGASCARElectoral Agreement

Neither main player will stand in the2013 election – but they could still bepulling strings by proxy.

Interim President Andry Rajoelina saidon January 15th that he will not run incrunch presidential elections in May, adecision that could help end a politicalcrisis that erupted when he seized powerin 2009.

“I will not be a candidate at the elections,I will sacrifice myself for the sake of the20m Malagasy,” he said in a prime-timetelevision address to the nation.

Rajoelina had been under fierce interna-tional pressure not to run in the polls, asa way to end an almost four-year crisisthat has led to a range of sanctions thathave crippled the economy.

“I will manage the transition until theend and I am ready to make a demo-cratic transition. I wish all the best towhosoever will replace me,” he said.

The man Rajoelina ousted in a military-backed coup, former president MarcRavalomanana, has already heeded callsnot to run in the elections. He remains inexile in South Africa.

The dual announcements mean the firstround of elections on May 8th will opena new chapter in Madagascar’s coup-prone politics.

Rajoelina and Ravalomanana havedominated the political scene for the lastdecade, their rivalry defining the islandnation’s politics.

The Southern Africa DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) has been mediatingin the crisis, and the European Union(EU) had pressed for just such a “nei-ther, nor” solution as a means of endingthe gridlock.

“Anything that promotes and encour-ages peace and quiet is extremely posi-tive,” EU ambassador to MadagascarLeonidas Tezapsidis told AFP after Ra-joelina’s speech.

The international community is expectedto stump up for a large part of theelection’s $71m price tag.

AFP says that the bitter rivals may haveopted out of the presidential race, clear-ing a key hurdle to ending a long-running political crisis, but analystswarn the pair will likely pull stringsfrom behind the scenes.

News that the arch-enemies had agreedto step aside received a global thumbs-up and raised hopes that a post-coupdeadlock may be edging to its end afterdogging the Indian Ocean island for fouryears.

But a cloud of uncertainty still hoversover the elections, and analysts say thatthe two men will remain heavy-weightpolitical players despite being out of therace in theory.

“Rajoelina wants to be president in2018,” and so “he must be presidentnow, even (it is) by proxy, to prepare for2018,” said Guy Ratrimoarivony of theCentre for Diplomacy and StrategicStudies in Madagascar.

Sierra Leone

Cabinet Appointments

Two months after his re-election, Presi-dent Ernest Koroma appointed 16 minis-ters to his cabinet on January 5th. Threeother ministers were named in December.

The government website revealed that thecabinet, which is still not yet complete, asit is subject to parliamentary approval, isas follows:

President: Ernest Bai Koroma

Vice-President: Sahr Sam-Sumana

Ministers

(www.statehouse.gov.sl/)

Foreign Affairs: Dr. Samura Kamara

Finance and Economic Development: Dr.Kaifala Marah

Ministers of State: Momodu Kargbo,Alhaji F.B.L. Mansaray,

Defence: Alfred Paolo Conteh

Internal Affairs: J.B. Dauda

Justice and Attorney-General: Frank Kar-gbo

Trade and Industry: Alhaji Osman BoieKamara

Energy: Oluniyi Robbin-Coker

Water Resources: Momodu Maligi

Information and Communications: AlhajiA.B.S. Kanu

Health and Sanitation: Miatta Kargbo

Works, Housing and InfrastructuralDevelopment: A.P. Koroma

Local Government and Rural Develop-ment: Diana Konomanyi

Mines and Mineral Resources: AlhajiMinkailu Mansaray

Agriculture, Food Security and Forestry:Dr. J. Sam Sesay

Lands, Country Planning and the Envi-ronment: Musa Tarawally

Marine Resources and Fisheries: Capt.M.A. Pat-Sowe

Social Welfare, Gender and Children’sAffairs: Moijueh Kaikai

Education, Science and Technology: Dr.Minkailu Bah

Transport and Aviation: V.C. Minah

Political and Public Affairs: Alhaji AlphaSaahid Bakarr Kanu

Tourism and Cultural Affairs: Mrs. V.Saidu-Kamara

Resident Minister, East: William JuanaSmith

Resident Minister, South: Muctarr Con-teh

Resident Minister, North: Alie D. Ka-mara

Electoral aftermath Vol. 49, p. 19523B

A B C



Given the power tussle between the arch-rivals, “Ravalomanana will do thesame”, Ratrimoarivony said.

The protagonists are looking at “proxiesthat they are going to push who will runin the election and they become thepowers behind those proxies”, said Tre-vor Maisiri, senior researcher for south-ern Africa with the Brussels-basedInternational Crisis Group.

Strongman Rajoelina, at just 38 yearsold, is unlikely to vanish from thecountry’s politics and could be buyingtime to allow the dust to settle afterruling as transitional leader since hisarmy-backed takeover.

The expected May date for a firstround of polls is also uncertain. Rajoe-lina is now trying to switch the electioncalendar, pushing for the parliamentaryvote to run ahead of the presidential, amove seen as a ploy to swing back ontothe political scene through the backdoor.

If his party wins, he could pull aVladimir Putin-style manoeuvre and getappointed prime minister of the coup-prone island.

After serving two terms as president,Russian strongman Putin gave the reinsto Dimitry Medvedev in 2008, becomingprime minister until the pair then wenton to swap jobs.

Madagascar’s prime ministerial post willbe chosen by parliament under a newconstitution – which is also causinguncertainty as it has yet to be recognisedinternationally and by some on the localpolitical scene.

“We could have another Russian sce-nario. Who knows if Rajoelina is notcreating… that kind of scenario where infive or 10 years he is back as president ofMadagascar,” said Maisiri.

The SADC, which mediated in the con-flict, has appealed to the Madagascarparliament to come up with a law thatwould grant amnesty for Ravalomanana.

Exiled in South Africa since 2009, hewas convicted in absentia and sentencedto hard labour over the death of 36protesters shot by his presidential guard.

The Interior ministry has identified asurprisingly high number of contestantsfor the elections, with 216 parties andmore than two dozen presidential can-didates declared. (© AFP 15, 20/1 2013)

ZIMBABWEConstitution Deal

Is this a breakthrough at last which willlead to the organisation of elections in2013?

Zimbabwe’s rival political leaders saythey have reached a deal over a newconstitution, removing a key obstacle toholding elections. The agreement wasstruck in talks involving President Rob-ert Mugabe and Prime Minister MorganTsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai said a “long journey”had ended, while Mr Mugabe said hewas “glad” that a deal had beenreached. The Prime Minister had setthe adoption of a constitution througha referendum as a condition for pollsdue later in 2013.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for DemocraticChange (MDC) party and Mugabe’sZanu-PF party entered into a fractiouscoalition following the 2008 election,which was marred by violence and alle-gations of vote-rigging. Although detailsof the deal have not been made public, itis understood that the powers of thepresident have been curbed – a keydemand of the MDC.

AFP reports that the new basic lawwould bolster the power of parliament,set a 10-year presidential term limit andstrip away presidential immunity.

Zanu-PF had also agreed to the forma-tion of elected provincial legislatures.There would also be an executive in eachprovince, headed by an elected chair-man.

Agreement had also been reached tooverhaul the legal system by creating aconstitutional court as the highest of theland. However, it is still unclear whatagreement has been reached on thepowers of the army, police and intelli-gence services – another major stickingpoint between the parties.

The MDC has repeatedly accused thesecurity forces of unleashing violenceagainst its supporters during the 2008election to help Mugabe hold on topower.

In early January, the US-based cam-paign group Human Rights Watch(HRW) raised concerns about whetherZimbabwe would make key reformsbefore the October deadline for elec-tions. Zimbabwe had failed to reformkey laws, like the public order, securityand information acts, it said. HRW saidthere had been no changes to the justicesystem “which remains extremely parti-san towards Zanu-PF”.

The security forces, election bodies andstate broadcasters were also politicallypartisan, remaining loyal to Mugabe andZanu-PF, it added. (BBC News Online,AFP 17/1)

Vice-President Dies

Vice-president John Nkomo died onJanuary 17th in Harare after a long

battle with cancer. President RobertMugabe announced the death, saying,“We have lost a real revolutionary, afighter of freedom, a friend of thepeople. He will be dearly missed by allof us.”

Nkomo was appointed to one of thecountry’s two vice-presidencies underMugabe in late 2009. Responsible foroverseeing financial, economic and envi-ronmental policy Nkomo, a formerspeaker of parliament, was seen as loyalto Mugabe.

He “can be counted on to do Mugabe’sbidding,” a leaked US diplomatic cabledating from 2009 said. While he wassometimes mooted as a successor toMugabe, few believed he had a real shotat taking the top post.

But his death will rekindle the successionbattle in the ruling Zanu-PF, and it isunclear who Mugabe will appoint toreplace Nkomo, or if he will be replacedbefore the elections slated to take placein 2013.

Nkomo’s death “may further divide theparty on factional grounds, given thelong history of succession tussles,” saidInternational Crisis Group’s seniorresearcher, Trevor Maisiri.

“The party may mute the succession ofthe vice president and hold on until afterelections.”

Nkomo’s appointment was the culmina-tion of a political journey that began inthe early 1960s, when he joined the pro-independence movement, ZimbabweAfrican People’s Union (ZAPU).

The group later became part of Muga-be’s Zanu-PF party and Nkomo’sappointment was a way of cementingthat relationship.

If Mugabe chooses to delay namingNkomo’s successor, he runs the risk ofplunging into disarray the Zanu-ZAPUcoalition, fomenting allegations of themarginalisation of the Matabele, andgiving the MDC an easy ride in Matab-eleland.

Zanu-PF will “not want to go to the nextelection without having appointed a vicepresident from that region, who will leadthe party’s (campaign) in that region,”Maisiri told AFP.

His death prompted condolences fromthe US embassy in Harare, which said heplayed “an important role in shaping thecourse of Zimbabwean history.”

“Whether as a teacher, a politician, anadvocate for Zimbabwe’s independence,or as a public servant, Vice PresidentNkomo was a patriot who dedicated hislife to Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and pros-perity,” the US embassy said in a state-ment.

A B C



David Coltart, the Education Ministerand MDC party member, said althoughNkomo was from a “party I clash withoften, I always had a very cordialrelationship with him” and that he hada “moderating influence in cabinet.”

If an appointment is going to be made,Zimbabwe’s former envoy to SouthAfrica and now party chairman SimonKhaya-Moyo is rumoured to be thefavourite, but he may be contested byMines Minister Obert Mpofu whoseinfluence in Matabeleland has grownrapidly, triggering a standoff with someparty heavyweights.

But the battle for succession mayinclude people from other regions giventhat some regions have over the lastfew years questioned why the VPposition is reserved for someone fromMatabeleland. The Manyikas and theKarangas have been demanding a bal-ance in the presidium arguing theyhave been left out for a long time. (©AFP 17/1 2013; The Zimbabwe Independentwebsite, Harare 18/1)

Election Fraud Case: Police arrested andcharged a director of a human rightsorganisation, Zimrights, with allegedelection fraud on January 14th, a lawyerfor the accused said.

Beatrice Mtetwa said Okay Machisa hadbeen charged with “scanning voter reg-istration certificates with false namesand misrepresenting that these peoplehad been registered as voters.” Zimba-bwe police over the years have led acrackdown on non-governmental organ-isations seen as critical of PresidentRobert Mugabe’s rule.

Police had already carried out a raid onthe Zimrights offices in central Harare inDecember, detaining another official,Leo Chamahwinya, who faces the samecharges.

Mtetwa said the police conductedanother raid after Machisa’s arrest tolook for evidence of any payments thathad been made to the people he isalleged to have connived with.

On January 16th, the Harare magistratescourt denied bail to Machisa, saying hewas a flight risk, and that he shouldremain in jail while further investiga-tions took place. He was expected to beback in court on January 30th. (© AFP14,16/1 2013)

Chavunduka Dies: Gordon Chavunduka,a Zimbabwean politician who wasamong negotiators for independencefrom Britain, died in hospital in thecapital Harare on January 11th after along battle with cancer, his MDC partysaid.

Chavunduka, 82, was on the delegationto the 1979 Lancaster House Conference

that led to Zimbabwe’s independence in1980.

A trained sociologist, he was vice-chan-cellor at the University of Zimbabwe,published several books on traditionalmedicine and was president of the Zim-babwe traditional healers’ association.(© AFP 11/1 2013) Zanu-PF conference Vol.

49, p. 19525C

ELECTIONS

KENYATackling Hate Speech

Steps are taken to avoid a repeat of theterrible violence after the 2008 elec-tions.

With elections weeks away, Kenya istackling the hate speech that fannedethnic violence that followed presidentialpolls five years ago in which more than1,100 people were killed.

Set up in 2008 after the contested polls,Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integra-tion Commission tries to identify thoseguilty of hate speech in the run up to thenext elections on March 4th.

“If you are guilty of hate speech, we willget you,” Milly Lwanga, who heads ateam monitoring hate speech at thecommission, told AFP.

At the commission’s premises in Nai-robi, a group of five men monitor socialmedia sites, searching for words orstatements that might constitute hatespeech.

Internet sites such as Twitter and Face-book have seen a rapid rise in popularitysince the last elections, with now over aquarter of Kenyans online.

In 2007–8, it was radio stations thatencouraged rival supporters to go outand attack other groups, broadcastingthe location of where groups were, whilemobile phone text messages were alsoused to whip up emotions.

One former radio presenter, JoshuaSang, faces trial in April for crimesagainst humanity charges in the Inter-national Criminal Court (ICC), chargeshe denies.

Field officers primarily attend politicalgatherings to monitor what is said there,and include police officers, journalists,students and community leaders.

“If there are elements of hate speech, wesummon the person in question … andwarn them. Most of those warned ceaseimmediately,” said Lwanga.

Violence following the last electionsshattered Kenya’s image as a beaconof stability in east Africa, with what

began as political riots quickly turninginto ethnic killing. The violence was theworst in Kenya since independence in1963, and Lwanga is under no illusionas to the magnitude of the work beforeher.

However, opinion remains divided overthe commission’s performance, withopponents arguing the body has been awaste of public finances.

“What tangible thing has it done forKenyans?” former political detainee andcivil rights activist Timothy Njoya askedAFP, calling it a waste of taxpayers’money.

To date, the commission has investi-gated more than 100 hate speech cases,some involving the very top of Kenyansociety. However, fewer than ten ofthose cases went to court, and none ofthe accused was found guilty. (© AFP 20/12013)

Party Primaries

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on January23rd downplayed protests that marredthe just-concluded party primaries, argu-ing its effects would not affect hispresidential bid.

“We have come to the end of fiercelycompetitive election primaries. To allpeople of Kenya, I urge for calm andreconciliation,” he appealed.

Raila dismissed as speculation fears thatthe chaos may dent his quest for thepresidency, reiterating that the unrestwas not a party affair, but an unfortu-nate occurrence.

He also said assumptions that he mightlose support as a result of the violencewere not based on any facts. The PrimeMinister said his party had relied oninformation received from returningofficers.

Raila said the Orange DemocraticMovement (ODM) faced challenges inthree out of the 47 counties and thuscould not be perceived to limit hispresidential chances.

“The violence was isolated in someareas. The incidents are unfortunatebut it’s time to put everything behindand move forward united as a country,”he urged. (The Standard website, Nairobi23/1)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Njeru Git-hae was the first political heavyweight tofall by the wayside as primaries held bypolitical parties ended on January 19th.Githae failed in his bid to capture aticket to central Kenya’s KirinyagaCounty’s gubernatorial race. He wasbeaten by little known Joseph Ndathion The National Alliance (TNA) ticket.(PANA, Nairobi 19/1)

A B C



Retirement Bonuses

Kenyan MPs awarded themselves a$107,000 (£65,000) retirement bonus inone of the last sessions of parliamentbefore the general elections. The pack-age will also provide them with an armedguard, a diplomatic passport and accessto airport VIP lounges.

It is the second time the MPs have votedfor a golden handshake. President MwaiKibaki vetoed an attempt in 2012 afterwidespread protests. The MPs areamong the highest paid in Africa, earn-ing $13,000 a month, while the averageyearly salary in Kenya is about $1,700.

The latest vote was passed on January9th with fewer than 30 MPs in thechamber, according to parliamentarytranscripts. The retirement package isthe same as that approved in October,but this time the MPs have also recom-mended bonuses for the president –almost $300,000 in cash and allowances– the vice-president and the prime min-ister.

When he vetoed the previous bill, MrKibaki said it was “untenable in theprevailing economic circumstances in thecountry”.

The Salaries Review Commission toldKenyan media it was uncertain whetherthe vote was constitutional, while civilsociety groups have reacted with out-rage.

The executive director of Kenya’sHuman Rights Commission. AtsangoChesoni, said the package was “prepos-terous and in completely bad taste”.(BBC News Online 10/1)

On January 10th, a social media-mobilised group of protestors set fire to221 coffins in front of Parliament toshow the growing public anger over the$100,000 end-of-term package fordeparting MPs.

A Facebook-convened group was mobi-lised to protest against the MPs’ lastwish, after sending petitions to thou-sands of social media users and raisedfunds to construct black coffins whichwere set on fire at the Parliament’sentrance.

In the biggest show of the growingfreedom of expression since the passingof the new constitution, police guardingParliament stood at a distance, gunsready, but did not stop the activists fromsetting off the fire. The protestors,wearing black T-shirts, organised afuneral band and a gun salute, oftenthe ingredients of a state funeral, andlater set the coffins on fire.

AFP 12/1 reported that President Kibakihad rejected the latest attempt to awardsend-off bonuses to MPs, yet according

to PANA he signed for his own benefits,including a $3m winding up allowance, amonthly salary of Ksh1m, four foreigntrips funded by the government, 26domestic workers and three new carsevery three years. (PANA, Nairobi 16/1)

In an earlier development, deputy PrimeMinister Musalia Mudavadi was nomi-nated the presidential candidate of a newalliance, the Amani (Peace) Coalition.The alliance brings together the UnitedDemocratic Forum (UDF), Kenya Afri-can National Union (KANU), New FordKenya and Vision Party of Kenya. (DailyNation website, Nairobi 4/1) Presidential can-

didates Vol. 49, p. 19523A

PARTIES ANDPOLICIES

ALGERIAOuyahia Resigns

The ruling parties bring pressure tobear on their leaders.

The secretary-general of the NationalDemocratic Rally (RND) and formerprime minister, Ahmed Ouyahia,resigned his post in a letter addressedto party officials and activists effectivefrom January 15th.

He said the move came after an assess-ment of the prevailing conditions in theparty, alluding to a split within partyranks. However, there had been pressureon him to leave the party leadershipbefore the convening of the party’sNational Council session. (El-Khabarwebsite, Algiers 4/1)

AFP later reported that eight ministersfrom the ruling National LiberationFront (FLN) had also called in a state-ment on January 9th for party chiefAbdelaziz Belkhadem to resign.

“The FLN ministers call on AbdelazizBelkhadem to cede his place to a newsecretary general during the next meet-ing of the central committee” fromJanuary 31st to February 2nd, thesignatories said in the statement sent toAFP.

They also urged Belkhadem to “volun-tarily and from now announce his inten-tion (to quit) to allow properpreparation for the party meeting,” thestatement said.

The eight who signed are the ministers ofhealth, national solidarity, transport,higher education, information and tele-communications, agriculture, parliamentrelations, and Maghreb and Africanaffairs. The ministers are all on thecentral committee, the party’s supremebody. Four are members of the politicaloffice, the party’s management.

The ministers accuse Belkhadem of try-ing to use “state institutions to realisepersonal ambitions,” and say they “nolonger recognise his authority as fromtoday,” January 9th.

The FLN and RND are both membersof the presidential alliance created in2004 to support head of state AbdelazizBouteflika. (© AFP 9/1 2013)

TOGOOpposition Protest Attempt

The authorities continually clamp downon simmering discontent.

Togolese security forces on January11th for a second straight day pre-vented a protest by the opposition inthe capital Lome by occupying the areafor the planned march and firing teargas. A member of the coalition thatplanned the protest said at least threepeople had been injured and five weredetained.

An AFP correspondent saw securityforces fire tear gas at a group of about30 youths.

The previous day, the coalition saidaround 20 people were injured and 18were detained. A journalists’ union saidthree journalists were also hurt.

Let’s Save Togo, a coalition of opposi-tion and civil society groups, hadplanned three days of protests to beginon January 10th, the latest ahead oflegislative and local elections due to beheld by the end of March.

Territorial Administration MinisterGilbert Bawara had warned late on the9th that the march itinerary would notbe allowed. Togo has banned marches incommercial areas of the capital, sayingthey posed too great a risk to securityand were difficult to police.

The opposition has denounced the ban,calling it a bid to stifle dissent in thesmall West African nation led by thesame family for more than four decades.A series of protests in recent monthshave been dispersed with tear gas.

Let’s Save Togo is seeking the departureof President Faure Gnassingbe and awide range of reforms.

Legislative elections were originally duein October, but they have been post-poned amid disagreements over electoralreforms. Gnassingbe recently announcedthat they would be held by the end ofMarch. (© AFP 11/1 2013)

In a later move, the authorities broughtthe opposition leader Agbeyome Kodjofor questioning over two major fires atmarkets that the government hadlabelled criminal acts, his party said.

A B C



Kodjo, a former prime minister and ex-president of parliament, is a key figure inthe Let’s Save Togo coalition. His partyhas labelled attempts to tie oppositionfigures to the fires as politically moti-vated. Two of the country’s main mar-kets were hit by fires in early Januarythat caused significant damage, but ledto no deaths.

The party’s Vice President was alsodetained and had been held since Janu-ary 13th, according to the official. Theparty has denied any links with the firesand called on the government to arrestthe culprits. (© AFP 16/1 2013)

ZAMBIAGraft Arrest

The opposition leader is targeted for thethird time.

The authorities arrested outspokenopposition leader Nevers Mumba onJanuary 8th for graft allegedly commit-ted more than two years ago when hewas the country’s ambassador toCanada.

Anti-corruption task force spokes-woman Namukolo Kasumpa announcedthe arrest after Mumba, accompanied bydozens of his Movement for Multi-PartyDemocracy (MMD) supporters, was ledto the cells at a Lusaka police station.

Leader of the largest faction of theformer ruling party, Mumba was Zam-bia’s envoy to Canada between 2009 and2011. His party lost power to PresidentMichael Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) in2011.

He is accused of awarding Can $34,000(US $34,450) worth of contracts for therenovation of the ambassador’s housewithout following proper procedure. Heis also alleged to have failed to complywith systems when he received anddisbursed a donation of more than Can$122,000, given to the Zambian govern-ment by the world’s gold leader BarrickGold Corporation.

It was the third time Mumba had beenarrested in recent weeks. Earlier, he waslocked up for unlawful assembly whenhe met traditional leaders, and alsoarrested for statements police said werelikely to breach the peace, when heclaimed the ruling party was planningto destabilise the opposition. (© AFP8,9/1)

In a separate development, an ex-Infor-mation Minister and three journalistswere arrested for old stories that werecritical of the then opposition leader,and now president, Michael Sata.

Ex-minister Ronnie Shikapwasha wascharged with abuse of office for telling

public television to air documentariesdiscrediting Sata in the run up to the2011 elections.

“Being an employee in the ministry, hearbitrarily and in disregard of defama-tion laws and ZNBC editorial policy diddirect the board and management to air‘Stand up for Zambia’ documentaries, anact prejudicial to the rights and interestof ZNBC,” said Namukolo Kasumpa,spokeswoman for the anti-corruptiontaskforce.

Stories written from the series of docu-mentaries were also published in thelocal pro-government press. Investiga-tive journalist Chanda Chimba, whoproduced the documentaries, wasarrested for the publication of the storiesand for allegedly receiving payment forthe stories.

Davis Mataka, a former managing direc-tor of state-owned Zambia Daily Mailand Ngande Mwanajiti, a media consul-tant, were also taken in and jointlycharged for publishing an unregisteredprivate, but pro-government, newspaperahead of the elections which were won bySata. The four were later freed on bail.

Police on January 17th arrested Haka-inde Hichilema, leader of the secondlargest opposition party, the UnitedParty for National Development(UPND), charging him with defamationof the President. Hichilema and Mumbawere later released on bail. Mumbaaccused the government of trying to“annihilate the opposition.” ObbyChibuluma of civil society organisationSACCORD said, “We are moving at asupersonic speed towards dictatorship”.(© AFP 9, 17, 18/1)

No Referendum After All?

Meanwhile, a body comprising influen-tial organisations in Zambia hasexpressed shock and alarm at the gov-ernment’s ambivalence on whether ornot the country’s draft constitution willbe subjected to a referendum.

Information Minister, Kennedy Sakeni,had said the government was notsure whether there would be a refer-endum on the draft Constitution.

Reacting to the comment, spokesmanfor the Oasis Forum, Fr. CleophasLungu, observed that the TechnicalCommittee currently working on thedraft Constitution was operating onthe basis that the Constitution wouldbe subjected to a referendum.

Lungu also noted that President MichaelSata, both in his inaugural speech in2011 and in his maiden speech in Par-liament as President, was very clear thatthere would be a referendum on theissue.

“As such, the statement attributed toSakeni is confirmation of the fears wehave raised in the past that the PatrioticFront government has no political willto facilitate a process that will lead toZambians giving themselves a popularConstitution they have desired for a longtime,” Fr. Lungu said in a statement onJanuary 22nd.

He said the situation was compoundedby government’s failure to bring aboutconsensus on the Constitution-makingprocess by attending to some key issueswhich stakeholders had raised. He addedthat his organisation had been engagedin several discussions with other stake-holders and had agreed on certain posi-tions and a plan of action which theywould start implementing shortly.

The Oasis Forum comprises of theCouncil of Churches in Zambia (CCZ),Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia(EFZ), Zambia Episcopal Conference(ZEC), Non-Governmental Organisa-tions Coordinating Council (NGOCC)and the Law Association of Zambia(LAZ). (PANA, Lusaka 22/1)

IN BRIEFCote d’Ivoire: The former Prime MinisterJeannot Kouadio-Ahoussou has beenappointed Minister of State to the Presidentof the Republic.

Appointed Prime Minister in March 2012 toreplace Guillaume Soro, Kouadio-Ahoussouleft the post in November, following thedissolution of the government. (PANA, Abid-jan 9/1)

DR Congo: On December 31st, senatorsadopted an amended bill on the IndependentNational Electoral Commission (CENI).

The CENI must be composed of 26 members,including a member of a city in KinshasaProvince. Eight members will be appointed bythe majority, six by the opposition, and 12 bycivil society. A major innovation is theinvolvement of both social and political forcesin the CENI. Members of the civil societycannot belong to political parties. They willbe selected by their peers. (RTNC TV, Kin-shasa 31/12)

Nigeria: President Goodluck Jonathan hasforwarded the names of two ministerial nom-inees to the Senate for confirmation. They areKabiru Tanimu from northern Kebbi statewho will replace Defence Minister BelloMohammed, dismissed in 2012, and Prof.Chinedu Nebo from southern Enugu State,nominated as Power Minister in place ofBarth Nnaji, who also left in 2012. (PANA,Lagos 17/1)

Uganda: The anti-corruption court on Janu-ary 18th sentenced former junior HealthMinister Mike Mukula to four years in prisonafter finding him guilty of embezzlingUSh210m (US$80,000) from the Global Alli-ance for Vaccines and Immunisation account.Others accused with him had been cleared in2012. These included

A B C



Jim Muhwezi (former health minister), AlexKamugisha (former junior health minister)

and Alice Kaboyo, a former private secretary. (Daily Monitor website, Kampala 18/1)

ALGERIADeadly Hostage Crisis

Scores die when special forces launch acounter attack on Islamist hostage-takers at a desert gas plant.

“Terrorism will not prevail,” PrimeMinister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Jan-uary 21st at his first news conferencesince he took office five months ago,where he gave grim details of the four-day siege at the remote Tiguentourinegas field by foreign jihadists with links toAl-Qaeda.

The militants claimed their attack was inprotest at Algeria’s complicity inFrance’s military campaign against Isla-mists in Mali (see p. 19547). The assaultcame on the sixth day of the militaryintervention. An Islamist group callingitself “Signatories in Blood” – a combatunit led by an Algerian, Mokhtar Bel-mokhtar, who was recently ousted fromAl-Qaeda in the Land of the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibiliyand called for “a halt to this aggressionagainst our people in Mali”.

The militants, who numbered around 30,had inside intelligence and detailed plansof the important 15-hectare (37.7-acre)site, according to Sellal. He told themedia that the jihadist commando camefrom northern Mali. Run by BP, Nor-way’s Statoil and Algerian state oilcompany Sonatrach, the remote site,which accounts for 10% of Algeria’sconsiderable natural gas production, liesdeep in the southern desert, 800 milesfrom Algiers, and 35 miles from theLibyan border.

Paris Match magazine published a warn-ing from Signatories in Blood thatFrance and other countries could nowexpect new attacks. “The attack at InAmenas is only the beginning,” aspokesman was quoted as saying, high-lighting the offensive by French “cru-saders” and “Zionist Jews” in Mali. ButSellal said the militants’ invocation ofFrance’s offensive in Mali was a smoke-screen, arguing that the attack on the gasplant had been planned for at least twomonths.

More than a week after the siege, theprecise numbers caught up in the blood-shed remained uncertain. Sellal said 37foreign nationals from eight countries

and one Algerian died, with five morepeople unaccounted for. However, totalsreleased by individual nations come to afigure of 40 dead or missing from nine

nations, excluding Algeria. Japan suf-fered the biggest confirmed death tollwith 10 nationals known to have died.Other countries suffering deaths orinjury to nationals are: UK, Philippines,Norway, US, France, Romania, andMalaysia. Nearly 700 Algerians and100 foreigners survived.

Algerian special forces launched twoassaults, one on the 17th, a day afterthe deadly drama unfolded and then in afinal raid on the 19th during which theykilled the remaining attackers, but notbefore seven foreign hostages were shotdead by their attackers. Mr Sellal saidthis second assault was more “labori-ous” because of the “difficulties ofaccess” to the site. “Unfortunately, thelast hostages were executed by theirhostage-takers with a bullet to the head.There was a collective assassination.”

Later reports said three of the assailantswere captured. Earlier in the day, troopsentering the refinery had found 15charred bodies, while some 16 had beenfreed before the final assault began. Theentire refinery was mined with explosivesand booby-traps, Sonatrach said in astatement, and Algerian media reportedthat the militants had planned to blowup as much of the complex as theycould. Mid-morning, a fire broke out inthe plant, and Algerian special forceswent in.

Foreigners Executed

Harrowing accounts of the siegeemerged, with survivors recalling howfellow hostages were brutally executed.Foreigners were rounded up, many hadtheir hands tied behind their backs withrubber cable-ties, others had theirmouths taped. The hostage-takers,which Algerian officials said includedat least three explosives experts, setabout strapping Semtex bombs aroundthe necks and waists of some of thehostages. Some survivors said foreignerswere shot as they ran to escape. SeveralAlgerians helped to hide foreigners,giving them their clothes. One Frenchcatering manager hid under a bed andfour planks of wood for 40hours,remaining undetected. A Filipino survi-vor said gunmen used him for cover:“Whenever government troops tried touse a helicopter to shoot at the enemy,we were used as human shields.”

A security source said two more of theattackers, known as “the Canadians,”were Arabs with joint nationality. Offi-cial sources in Algeria have said themilitant squad included three Algeriansand men from six other nationalities. Inaddition to “the Canadians,” there were

Algeria

Hostage Crisis Timeline

January 16th: Militants attack two busescarrying In Amenas workers, killing two,a Briton and an Algerian. They then go onto the gas facility’s living quarters andmain installation, seizing hostages. Somegas workers manage to escape

17th: A spokesman for the hostage-takersdemands the army withdraw so negotia-tions can begin. Thirty Algerian and 15foreign hostages escape. Algerian forcesattack after the militants try to move theirhostages in five four-wheel-drive vehicles.Four of them are destroyed in an air strikeand an unknown number of hostageskilled.

18th: Stalemate as Algerian forces sur-round the gas plant where the remaininghostages are held. Moktar Belmokhtarproposes that France and Algeria negoti-ate “an end to the war being waged byFrance in Azawad” (northern Mali).

19th: Algerian forces launch a final assaultafter reports that the hostage-takers werekilling their captives. Just beforehand, thecaptors kill seven of the remaining hos-tages, but 16 are freed. Official media say11 kidnappers killed their last seven for-eign hostages before being killed by thearmy. The special forces managed to kill32 kidnappers and to free “685 Algeriansand 107 foreigners”, according to thegovernment. Troops discover that theplant had been mined.

20th: Private Algerian television Ennaharand daily El-Watan respectively report thediscovery of a further 25 and 30 newbodies at the site. French Defence Minis-ter Jean-Yves Le Drian describes thehostage-taking as an “act of war”.

Belmokhtar says the raid was carried outby 40 fighters from the Muslim world andEuropean countries, and that he is speak-ing in the name of the “mother” outfit, ofAl-Qaeda. The Islamists behind theassault threaten to stage strikes on nationsinvolved in Mali. International leaders laythe responsibility squarely on “terrorists”,putting aside criticisms expressed at theoutset over the Algerian army methods.

21st: Sellal says some 29 of the 32militants were killed and the other threearrested; they had entered the countryfrom neighbouring Mali (© AFP 21/1,BBC News online 25/1, agencies)

National Security

A B C



men from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Maurita-nia and 11 from Tunisia. Canada’s For-eign Affairs department said it wasseeking information, but referred to thepossible involvement of only one Cana-dian. Meanwhile French and Algerianintelligence sources claimed that at leastone of the attackers was a Frenchnational, according to media reports on

the 21st, but Paris said it could not verifythe information.

The group’s head, Algerian MohamedAmine Bencheneb, who was killed by themilitary, was behind the October 2011kidnapping of two Spaniards in south-west Algeria and released in July 2012, asecurity source said.

Controversial Tactics

Algeria refused foreign offers of aid inhandling the crisis and this, and itsdecision to send its military in to fireon vehicles full of hostages, drew wide-spread international criticism. Speakingat the World Economic Forum in Da-vos, Switzerland, Foreign Minister Mou-rad Medelci admitted that hisgovernment’s security forces had mademistakes during the hostage crisis. Healso said Algeria would need interna-tional help in the fight against terrorism.Medelci told the Associated Press: “Weare in the process of assessing ourmistakes. In that assessment we areleaning more towards establishing thatthe operation was a success.”

Mr Medelci also said Algeria was likelyto reinforce security measures at sites

where multinationals operate in thecountry, insisting that foreign workers“will continue to work in Algeria andthat is the best way to answer theterrorists.”

He defended the government’s decisionto attack instead of negotiating. “Facedwith such an attitude (of terrorism), it’snot just words that solve the problem.It’s action,” he said.

He argued that Algeria wasn’t the targetof the attack, but “they are targetinginvestors in Algeria and the foreignerswho work there.” The Independent, Lon-don (28/1) says this is in step withBritish Prime Minister David Cameron,who two days previously told the sameconference at Davos that the G8 shouldshare the burden of fighting interna-tional terrorism, not only through mili-tary action, but also with diplomacy,aid, political relations and support fordemocracy. Six British nationals died inthe siege. Despite the heavy loss of life,David Cameron had earlier refused tocriticise the hardline tactics of the Alge-rian government which, right from thestart, ruled out any negotiation with theterrorists. “The responsibility for thesedeaths lies squarely with the terroristswho launched these vicious and cow-ardly attacks,” he said.

AFP (20/1) said US President BarackObama, his French counterpart FrancoisHollande and US Defence SecretaryLeon Panetta refused to blame Algeriaand said responsibility for the deaths laywith the “terrorists”. “The blame for thistragedy rests with the terrorists whocarried it out, and the United Statescondemns their actions in the strongestpossible terms,” Obama said in a state-ment. He added that the US stood readyto provide whatever assistance Algerianofficials needed in the aftermath of theattack. Hollande called Algiers’ response“the most appropriate” given it wasdealing with “coldly determined terror-ists ready to kill their hostages.” EchoingPresident Hollande’s response, FrenchForeign Minister Laurent Fabius toldEurope 1 radio the events showed theneed to be “relentless in the face ofterrorism”.

It emerged that Britain, Japan, the USand other countries whose nationalswere caught up in the events issued ajoint demarche to Algeria on January18th. A demarche is a formal diplomaticmove in which a country’s stance isconveyed in person – rather than bynote – to another government. Japanwas among the more forthright ofnations as the hostage crisis unfolded,summoning Algiers’s ambassador todemand answers and to push for militaryrestraint as armed forces surrounded theplant. A senior Japanese official met

Moktar Belmokhtar

Veteran jihadist Moktar Belmokhtar’saudacious hostage attack after a bitter splitfrom his north African Al-Qaeda allies is astatement that he is still a force to bereckoned with, experts say.

The one-eyed Islamist who has eludedcapture for years formed his own brigade,the Signatories in Blood after a series ofbitter feuds saw him cut ties with AQIM, ofwhich he was a founding leader.

He returned to Algeria from Afghanistan in1993, joining the Armed Islamic Group(GIA), which conducted a violent campaignof civilian massacres in its battle against thegovernments. Belmokhtar thrived thanks tohis intimate knowledge of the nearly lawless“Grey Zone” of southern Algeria, northernMali and neighbouring Niger. An expert insmuggling, he has forged close ties withimportant Tuareg tribes, notably by orches-trating marriages into his family. For yearshe has furnished fighters in northern Algeriawith weapons bought through his smugglingnetwork.

Despite having life and death sentences onhis head for several attacks in Algeria,Belmokhtar has often been reported dead,only to re-appear later. “This is why he hasnever accepted that (AQIM leader Abdel-malek) Droukdel, who is wary of him, haschosen other leaders” to command Zone 9,the Sahara, says Mohamed Mokaddem,author of several books on Al-Qaeda.

“To [Belmokhtar] Abou Zeid is just a vulgarsmuggler turned jihadist with no legitimacy.He believes Abou Zeid continued trafficking

fuel and cars while fighting in the name ofAllah and Afghanistan,” says Mokaddem.

Mauritanian specialist in Islamist move-ments in the Sahel, Isselmou Ould Moust-apha, agrees. “Belmokhtar considers AbouZeid an ignoramus, a leader without cha-risma. He feels mistreated by AQLIMbecause, unlike other jihadist leaders in itshistory, he comes from southern Algeria,and not the north.”

“But with the hostage seizure in In Amenas,he made a grand strike.”

Belmokhtar was pushed out as one ofAQLIM’s top two leaders in northern Maliin October for what one regional securityofficial said were his “continued divisiveactivities despite several warnings.” With areputation as a smuggling baron - dealing incontraband cigarettes, stolen cars and evendrugs, as well as profiting from illegalimmigration networks - Belmokhtar’s com-mitment to AQLIM’s puritanical brand ofIslam was questioned by some members ofthe group. But while still in the AQLIMsaddle, he vowed in July that the groupwould act “with firmness and determina-tion” against anyone collaborating with aforeign military force that might intervenein Mali.

In a statement released by Mauritania’s pri-vate news agency Nouakchott Informations(ANI), anAQLIMmouthpiece, Belmokhtarsaid: “We will not stand by with our armscrossed and we will act as the situationdemands with firmness and determination.He kept his word. (©AFP 17,19/1)

Algiers

In Amenas

A L G E R I A

S A H A R A

IIIizi

NIGER200 MILES

TUNISIAMOROCCO

LIB

YA

Tiganturine gas field

A B C


19564 – Africa Research Bulletin National Security

Algeria’s prime minister on January23rd to press for an explanation of thegas plant siege; 17 Japanese nationalswere at the facility when the jihadistsstruck – nine died and seven survived.

Speaking at the press conference on the21st, Algeria’s Prime Minister saidalthough there was relative quiet, thesituation was still difficult and vigilancewas required. But despite calls for calm,public opinion is terrified of furtherfallout from Algeria’s decision to allowoverflights by French fighter planes intheir offensive against Islamists in neigh-bouring Mali, according to analysts.Chafic Mesbah, a military expert, said“the Algerian public is scared of seeingAlgeria become a spillway for violence.”

The hostage debacle has also remindedAlgerians of the country’s long andbloody experience with radical Islamistsand the government’s actions to sup-press them. And more recently, sinceMali’s Islamists began taking over terri-tory in March 2012, regular attacks byAQLIM and its breakaway Jihad andUnity Movement in West Africa (MU-JAO) have continued in Algeria, mostlyagainst security forces.The hostage siegeis a reminder that Algeria’s violentnightmare could be far from over.

Regional terrorism expert MohamedMokaddem said “terrorist groups wantto transform the Algerian desert into anoperational regrouping zone, if they’reunder pressure in Mali,” adding thatAlgeria would not be able to go throughthe Mali intervention untouched.

Libyan Connection?

The arms used came from Libyan rebelswho overthrew the Gaddafy regime, anAlgerian daily reported on January 23rd.“The first interrogations of the threeterrorist captured by security serviceshave revealed that rebels in Zintan(southwest Libya) were behind the saleof the arms used against the gas plant,”reported Echorouk.

A well-informed source close to hardlineIslamist grooups in Libya told AFP onthe 22nd that the militants receivedlogistical aid from Islamists in the neigh-bouring country. The source did notspecify the exact nature of the aid butacknowledged that Libyan Islamists werealso responsible for establishing contactsbetween the captors and the media.

Tunisian daily El Watan, meanwhile,reported that “the operation was organ-ised and prepared in Libya. Only someelements came from northern Mali toreinforce the group.” Their heavy armscame from Libya “where tonnes ofweaponry were dropped by French air-craft during the uprising against Gad-dafy,” it said, quoting Tunisian security

sources. Both Algeria’s Minister of Inte-rior Dahou Ould Kablia and ForeignMinister Medelci had alleged that theterrorist group attacked the complexfrom Libya.

The Libyan Foreign Affairs and Inter-national Cooperation Ministry stronglydenied the reports, and PANA reported(20/1) Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zi-dane as ruling out any link betweenLibya and the hostage-taking, saying hiscountry would not allow anyone tothreaten the peace and security of itsneighbours. At the same time, he voicedsupport for Algeria and Mali in theirfight against terrorism, Magharebia.comreported (21/1).

According to Echourouk El Youmi web-site on the 20th, one of the capturedterrorists said the group prepared for theoperation in Niger, under the supervi-sion and planning of Belmokhtar. Healso said as well as aiming to inflictdamage and loss on the gas complex, thegroup aimed to capture a large numberof foreign hostages and take themtowards Mali to use them as leverageon the international community.

In the latest developments in the region,the armed forces have strengthened theirpresence in various areas near the borderwith Mali, Niger and Libya, with a viewto preventing any infiltration intonational territory by terrorist groups.According to Algerian newspaper El-Khabar website (22/1), military rein-forcements have been observed in thearea as well as persistent air patrols.(Sources as referenced in text)

Pipeline Attack: Two guards were killedand seven others wounded when the AinChikh pipeline in the Djebahia region(north) was blown up on January 27th.The area is an AQIM stronghold, butmilitants rarely carry out attacks there.(BBC News online 29/1).

AQIM Leader Killed: The army killedone of Abdelmalek Droukdel’s top aidesin the Boumerdes region in what anAlgerian journalist described as part of“quality security operations to stampout the organization”, Al-Jazeerareported (5/1).

Izza Rezki, aka Abou Djaffar, wasamong nine Islamist militants killed ina week-long operation the army carriedout east of Algiers, Al-Jazeera quotedAlgerian newspapers as saying.

Meanwhile an Algerian court on Janu-ary 18th sentenced Droukdel to death inconnection with a 2007 twin suicideattack, APS news agency reported. Tenother accomplices were also sentenced todeath, six of them in absentia, APS said,adding that only four of the defendantsin the case were in the courtroom to hearthe verdict.

Separately, a court handed a life sen-tence on January 8th to Gharbia Amar,an Islamist convicted of participating inthe 2003 kidnapping of 15 foreign tour-ists, including 10 Germans, in the Saharadesert, AFP reported from Algiers (8/1).A Malian, Youcef Ben Mohamed, wasacquitted of the same charge but given aseven-year jail term for belonging to “anarmed terrorist group” and smugglingillegal weapons. Amar was also con-victed on the arms trafficking charge.(Sources as referenced in text)

BURKINA FASOHerder – Farmer Clashes

Reliance on traditional laws and collec-tive punishment must be addressed tostop the killings.

Fighting between herders and farmers inthe central-eastern Sangou area, whichleft seven people dead, is a warning thatrecurrent violence between the twogroups could get out of hand unlessurgent action is taken, said AllahidiDiallo, governor of the Central-Eastregion, one of the country’s most fertile.

On December 31st clashes broke outagain between Fulani herdsmen andBissa farmers (aka Busangas) after aherder’s cattle grazed on a farm. “A lotof property, including houses, granariesand cattle was destroyed,” said Dialloadding that a temporary curfew wasimposed in Sangou village and the sur-rounding areas. He said fighting hadspread to areas as far as 100km away.

Interior Minister Jerome Bougouma saidthat people were being attacked becauseof their ethnicity and the violence wasmainly due to lack of faith in thejudiciary, and the reliance on traditionallaws and collective punishment. Hepledged that a security forces’ unitwould be established in the troubledregion.

In 2012, the government held workshopsin the 13 regions to seek ways to easetensions among different communities.Government statistics show 55 peoplehave been killed in clashes in the pastfour years and on average there are 600such conflicts every year. The peaceinitiative focused on land regulation,the importance of protecting nomadicpaths and seeking ways in which farmersand herders can sustainably use naturalresources. In Burkina Faso, livestock arean economic mainstay for many fami-lies, with 80% of rural families keepingat least one or two animals to fall backon when times are hard.

Hassan Barry, head of Tapital Puulaku,a Fulani cultural organization promot-ing understanding between pastoralistsand farmers, said many in the centre-east

A B C



region had not been reached during thesensitisation campaign. He urged thatlocal administration officials be trainedto increase understanding between farm-ers and herders and “sensitize thembefore the beginning of rainy seasons inorder to have zero deaths”.

“In December, farmers lost their donkeysafter an attack… but later the perpetra-tors were released by the security forces,”said Halidou Barry, a Fulani herder.“Justice must prevail when there areattacks from either side.”

Around 600 people, mainly women andchildren, have been displaced by thelatest fighting, Diallo told the UNhumanitarian news agency, IRIN. Somehave sought refuge in villages outsideSangou, while others crossed the borderinto neighbouring Ghana. A local resi-dent told IRIN the men were hiding inthe bush with their cattle.

Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Social Wel-fare sent food and tents to the displaced,but Diallo said more was needed. “Theemergency aid sent was done on thebasis of first estimates which are nowoutdated…

“On security, the situation is undercontrol. But there is an emergency. Theimperative now is the management ofhumanitarian issues because there arehuge concentrations of displaced per-sons in certain areas,” Diallo added.“There is no attack and no clashes.Security forces are patrolling.”

The Ghanaian Chronicle said (11/1) thatnine people had been killed in the clashesand that 240Fulani refugees,whohadfledto Ghana’s Bawku West District of theUpper East Region, refused to be repatri-ated fearing for their safety. Another 300plus had gone home, however. (IRIN,Ouagadougou 9/1; Ghanaian Chronicle 11/1)

CENTRAL AFRICANREPUBLICPeace Agreement

Bozize is allowed to stay, but his PrimeMinister must come from the opposi-tion.

Rebels in the Central African Republicsaid on January 2nd they were suspend-ing their advance and would hold peacetalks with the government, after regionalarmies sent reinforcements to stop themreaching the capital.

The Seleka rebel coalition’s lightningthree-week advance from the north ofthe country to within striking distance ofthe capital Bangui in the south hadraised fears of a spreading crisis anddrawn regional calls for negotiationswith the government in the Gabonesecapital Libreville.

Rebel spokesman Eric Massi announcedthe rebels were ready to talk, saying: “Iconfirm that we have decided to suspendthe offensive towards Bangui, and thatwe will send a delegation to Gabon toparticipate in peace talks.”

The talks started on January 8th andwere mediated by Republic of CongoPresident Denis Sassou Nguesso, underthe aegis of the Economic Community ofCentral African States (CEEAC).

Massi said the rebels did not believePresident Francois Bozize,whom theyaccused of failing to honour a 2007peace deal, was sincere in his offer totake part in unconditional talks and stilldemanded his departure.

“The Seleka coalition is however infavour of peace, and we have alwayssaid we do not want to enter Bangui,” hesaid.

Central African nations had alreadybegun sending reinforcements to Da-mara, the last major town between therebels and the capital, to bolsterthe CAR’s army against the rebels. Theregional troops were fighting under thebanner of multinational African forceFOMAC, which was launched in 2008by CEEAC in a bid to stabilise the coup-and rebellion-prone country.

Northern neighbour Chad, whose Pres-ident Idriss Deby is an ally of Bozize,contributed the largest number oftroops, 760 soldiers.

Meanwhile, President Bozize sacked hisson Jean-Francis as Defence Ministerand took over the portfolio, his officesaid. He also dismissed army chief ofstaff Guillaume Lapo. Bozize had in hisNew Year address expressed his disap-pointment at the way the army failed torespond to the rebel offensive. (© AFP 2/12013)

After three days of talks, on January11th, the Seleka rebels signed a ceasefiredeal with President Bozize, who agreedto set up a government of national unityand call new elections. In addition, thetwo sides and the political oppositionsigned two political accords allowing forthe appointment of a prime minister

from the opposition and setting outother power-sharing details, accordingto the United Nations.

Under the accord, Bozize will be allowedto finish his mandate, which ends in2016, but he cannot replace the newprime minister during the transitionperiod. Bozize has said he will not standfor a new term.

The agreement also calls for the with-drawal of “all foreign military forces”except those sent by the CEEAC coun-tries. Seleka made this demand specifi-cally to secure the withdrawal of about200 South African troops sent in Decem-ber.

The UN Security Council welcomed thesignature of the ceasefire, in a statement,which “emphasised the necessity of anexpeditious implementation of theseagreements and called on all parties toimplement them in good faith.”

The 15-nation council “urged all partiesto allow safe and unhindered access topeoples in need of humanitarian assis-tance as quickly as possible” and for allcivilians held by armed groups to bereleased.

The violence in the country of some fivemillion has affected more than 300,000children, with child soldiers recruitedand some girls forced to act as sex slaves,according to UN agencies.

The UN withdrew non-essential staffand the dependents of all workers inDecember as rebels neared Bangui. TheUN humanitarian department, OCHA,has voiced serious concern about theplight of civilians amid reports of wide-spread looting and violence.

The World Food Programme (WFP),which has suspended its operations inthe country, says hundreds of tonnes offood have been stolen from warehousesacross the country. (© AFP 11/1 2013)

Premier Appointed

PANA reported on January 17th thatopposition leader Nicolas Tiangaye hadbeen appointed as the new Prime Min-ister in line with the Libreville agree-ment. He will form a new all-inclusivegovernment, paving the way for parlia-mentary elections within 12 months toreplace the national assembly. (PANA,Brazzaville 17/1)

A lawyer by training, he made a namefor himself in the impoverished westAfrican nation by defending Jean-BedelBokassa, the former self-proclaimedemperor, and by arguing for Rwandabefore the International Criminal Court.

He is a former head of the CentralAfrican Human Rights League, ex-pres-ident of the national transition council

Sahel

3

2

1Est

Centre-Est

1 - Centre2 - Centre-Sud3 - Plateau-Central

Centre-Nord

Centre-Ouest

Sud-Ouest

Cascades

Hauts-Bassins

Nord

Boucle duMouhoun

A B C



set up after Bozize swept into power in a2003 coup and one of the main authorsof the constitution adopted in 2004,which provided that the president couldserve no more than two terms consecu-tively, putting him at odds with Bozize.

With Tiangaye in his post, one of therebel leaders, General Mahamat MoussaDhaffane, said his country was ready tomove on.

“We are not rebels by conviction,” hesaid. “We agree that things shouldchange… we will also change. The coun-try needs peace and economic develop-ment. I want to leave a peaceful andprosperous country for our children.”

One diplomat said that Tiangaye was “aman of integrity in a sea of corruption.”

“He has integrity. His record is impecca-ble. He doesn’t compromise,” adds topoppositionfigureMartinZiguele.“Agoodperson,” said Eric Massi, spokesman forthe Seleka rebels. (©AFP 17/1 2013)

MISNA, however reported on some ofthe concerns voiced by local sources.Although the signing of the Librevilleaccords and the appointment of a primeminister undoubtedly relieved the peoplewho feared renewed fighting if thenegotiations failed, the latest develop-ments raised scepticism. Many in factdoubted that this was the definitivesolution to the crisis.

Though the people hoped for a positiveoutcome from the CEEAC mediation,some local sources, who remained anon-ymous for security reasons, told MISNAthat “all happened too easily and fast, atleast in appearance”. While the Librevilleaccords are considered “better than noth-ing,” they however “don’t give sufficientguarantees on the operative capacity ofthe future government, which will bringtogether components that are too differ-ent and will lack confidence in oneanother.” An institutional situation,stress the local sources, that risks “furtherslowing and complicating the adoption ofgovernment policies” in a nation thatalready lacks essential services for citi-zens, from education to health, despite itsrich oil resources.

The accord between the government ofBangui, political opposition and Selekarebel coalition had immediate repercus-sions. The local Radio Ndeke Lukaannounced the release of some prisoners,mostly of the Goula ethnic group,arrested in December on suspicion ofcomplicity with Seleka.

French forces have reduced their troopsin Bangui, deployed at the end ofDecember to protect France’s interestsand ensure security in the capital. How-ever, Chadian troops will remain inCAR for another year, coinciding with

the transition period. (Misna news agencywebsite, Rome 18/1) Rebel offensive Vol. 49,

p. 19511A

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICOF CONGOUse of Drones Mooted

Attempts to come up with a viable,effective and consensus solution – mil-itary or otherwise – to the conflict inthe Kivu region, continue.

In early January UN peacekeeping chiefHerve Ladsous asked the Security Coun-cil to strengthen its DR Congo opera-tion, including by using drones, AFPand other news agencies reported.

“The United Nations is seekingunmanned air vehicles for operationswith peacekeeping forces in the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo, despite resis-tance from neighbouring nations,”defence blog, RP Defense reported.

Officials with the international force,MONUSCO, which relies on memberstates to supply military forces, havemade requests to at least two UAV-operating nations, France and the US, tomake systems available in support of itslong-running stabilisation mission.

While no details about the UAVsrequested have been announced officially,reports indicate that the UN is seekingaircraft capable of at least a 12h flightendurance, similar to the Belgian mili-tary’s Israel Aerospace Industries RQ-5Hunter systems that have been previouslydeployed there, RP Defense said.

The request initially met with resistancefrom neighbouring Rwanda, whichdenies accusations it has been support-ing the rebel M23 group – the DRCongo army mutineers operating ineastern DR Congo. Rwanda said it doesnot want Africa to become a laboratoryfor foreign intelligence devices. OlivierNduhungirehe, a Rwandan diplomat atthe UN, said his country would opposethe use of drones, calling for furtherassessment of how they would be used:“We express reservations about theintroduction of UAVs to peacekeepingoperations when the issues that go alongwith it are still being discussed,” he toldthe state-owned media in Rwanda.

President Paul Kagame overturned thishowever when he said on January 21stthat he had “no problem” with UNplans to deploy surveillance drones,© AFP reported (21/1).

“I have no problem…if they think it canhelp… it is up to them,” Kagame toldreporters, although asking how thedrones would “contribute towardspeace”.

Uganda’s Defence Minister Crispus Ki-yonga, also said that Uganda had no

Cote d’Ivoire

New Year Deaths – A NationalTragedy

The investigation into a stampede thatkilled 63 people and injured 49 othersduring New Year celebrations in Abidjan,blamed an insufficient security deploy-ment as well as a number of anomaliesnear the scene of the tragedy, an officialsaid on January 5th.

The main causes were “insufficient secu-rity forces” as well as the presence of aconstruction site fence that made the streetnarrower and caused a bottleneck whencrowds dispersed after the fireworks dis-play, Abidjan prosecutor Simplice Koua-dio Koffi said.

The streets were inadequately lit and onepavement was blocked by tree trunks, healso said in a statement read on publictelevision, adding that he would take legalaction against the suspects.

He said severalmembersof the local admin-istration and fire department had beenquestioned over the tragedy, after whichthree days of national mourning weredeclared by PresidentAlassaneOuattara.

The opposition party of ousted formerpresident Laurent Gbagbo called for Inte-rior Minister Hamed Bakayoko to resign.The Ivorian People’s Front (FPI) chargedthat the government, “in calling out thou-sands of young Ivorians to a night-timeevent on a grand scale, did not take thenecessary security precautions to avoidsuch a national tragedy.” (© AFP, Abidjan5/1)

War Crimes Charge: Former close aide toousted president Gbagbo, Charles Ble Go-ude, has been charged with war crimes,officials said. Ble Goude, former leader ofthe Young Patriots movement, who hadbeen living in exile for 18 months evadingauthorities, was extradited to Cote d’Ivoireon January 18th after his arrest in Ghana.

One of his lawyers, Kwame Akuffo,slammed the speedy extradition as illegal.He said he had not had a chance to meetwith Ble Goude after his arrest on January17th and that as far as he knew there hadbeen no court hearing before the extradi-tion. “What happened was an extraordi-nary rendition,” Akuffo said.

The FPI said the move was in contradic-tion with a pledge by Ouattara’s govern-ment to seek peace and reconciliation.

Ghana’s national security co-ordinatorLarry Gbevlo-Lartey said that Ble Goude’sextradition followed an official requestfrom Cote d’Ivoire. Ble Goude has beenflagged as one of several Gbagbo support-ers who could be tried by the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC). Trial hearings forGbagbo himself are set to begin onFebruary 19th. (© AFP, Abidjan 21/12013; Ghanaianagenda.com Jan)

A B C



objections to a UN plan to use dronesfor intelligence-gathering. “As far asdrones are concerned, the drones canbe used for two purposes: you use themfor intelligence or for fighting. If a droneis for intelligence and it respects sover-eignty it will be all right,” he said, addinghowever that before the drones aredeployed, “we need to consult andagree.”

DR Congo is already the UN’s biggestpeacekeeping mission with more than17,000 troops and 1,400 police at anannual cost of $1.5bn. But the forcesare spread thin in the huge countryand the UN is under orders to cutcosts. Monusco was humiliated in 2012after first vowing to prevent armedrebels from taking the regional capitalbefore standing aside and allowingthem to march into Goma. The UNhas been considering drones since 2009,when it asked the US for the technol-ogy and was refused. The cost ofUAVs has fallen dramatically in thepast five years and the Pentagon haslost its monopoly on the technologywith countries from Belgium to Paki-stan manufacturing them.

The first UN drone deployment facessignificant opposition from veto-wield-ing China and Russia who have concernsover the security of the intelligencegathered.

The use of unmanned drones could havefar-reaching implications for the futureof international peacekeeping, com-mented Daniel Howden, writing in TheIndependent (10/1).

The paper quoted DR Congo analystJason Stearns as saying drones could bea “technical fix” to one of the keyproblems: “monitoring meddling byneighbouring countries and gatheringinformation about security develop-ments in the vast interior of the coun-try.”

The UN’s peacekeeping head, HerveLadsous, has been pushing for theorganisation’s creaking and poorly sup-plied missions to be modernised andhas threatened to name and shameunder-performing troop contingents.He told the Security Council that theCongo mission needed more helicop-ters, night-vision equipment, river unitsand drones.

Experts have warned that while dronesmight be useful they would not be apanacea for Monusco or similar opera-tions. “They could distract from the realissues at stake: the dereliction of theCongolese state, foreign military med-dling, and the increased use of armedgroups by all actors to bolster theirpower,” said Mr Stearns. (Sources asreferenced in text)

‘Special Brigade’

Regional leaders had been critical ofMONUSCO, accusing it of looking onas hundreds of thousands of DR Con-golese are made homeless and others fleeto neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.They keep citing the example whereMONUSCO allowed the M23 to captureGoma, the provincial capital of NorthKivu.

Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, Ugandandefence chief, told reporters that themilitary chiefs from the regional blocs ofthe Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) and the Interna-tional Conference on the Great LakesRegion (ICGLR) met over the weekendof January 19th–20th and recommendedto the African Union (AU) that theoperation of the UN force be halted forits failure to protect Congolese.

“We are recommending that Africatakes over MONUSCO. We put in abrigade, they give us assets and we doour job,” Xinhua quoted him as saying(24/1).

Aronda said the defence chiefs decidedthat the regional leaders should stick totheir original proposal of deploying aNeutral Intervention Force (NIF) andthe outcome was forwarded to the AUSummit in Addis Ababa (p. 19552).

According to Ugandan Defence MinisterCrispus Kiyonga, the DRC governmenthas contributed $20m towards the oper-ation of the NIF. South Africa haspromised logistical support while SADCas a regional bloc will provide the bulkof the troops.

Ramtane Lamamra, the AU’s peace andsecurity commissioner had said earlier inJanuary however that there had beentalk of merging the NIF with MONU-SCO. “The general direction of discus-sions is towards a formula, a creativeformula, that would amalgamate” thetwo, he said. Lamamra had been speak-ing after a meeting of ministers from the11-member ICGLR in its ongoing effortto get the NIF off the ground, AFPreported from Addis Ababa (8/1).

In the event, this was what the AUdecided – a special brigade of some2,000 soldiers, which will be set upwithin MONUSCO, and headed by aTanzanian official was announced onJanuary 29th by the AU special repre-sentative for the Great Lakes Region,Mr Boubacar Diarra.

“The designation of a Tanzanian at thehead of the Brigade was agreed byconsensus by countries of the region.The other consensual point is the inte-gration of the Brigade within MONU-SCO,” he said in a news conference atthe 20th AU summit. Mr. Diarra, who is

also the head of the AU Bureau inBurundi, said that the MONUSCO spe-cial brigade would not only fight theM23 rebel movement but other negativeforces, PANA reported (28/1).

Besides pursuing military efforts to endthe crisis, there are regional efforts topursue peace through talks. The ongoingtalks between the DRC government andthe M23 rebels are mediated by theUgandan government and Kiyonga isthe facilitator despite accusations thatUganda (as well as Rwanda) has backedthe M23 fighters, claims which bothcountries have strongly denied, AFPand other news agencies pointed out(16/1).

Peace Talks Agenda

The DR Congo government and M23rebels on January 16th agreed on anagenda for peace talks being held inKampala, talks mediator Kiyonga said.

The talks will focus on four areas:reviewing a previous 2009 peace agree-ment, security matters, social, politicaland economic issues and how to imple-ment any agreement to be signed, thestatement said. “The parties will hence-forth begin negotiations of the substan-tive issues of the agenda,” the statementsaid.

Although the M23 rebels were per-suaded to withdraw from Goma after a12-day occupation, they still controllarge areas of territory just outside thestrategic mining hub.

Negotiations started in mid-Decemberbut have progressed slowly, with therebels issuing a raft of demands rangingfrom calls for a ceasefire to demands formajor political reform. The M23declared a unilateral ceasefire on Janu-ary 8th as the peace negotiationsresumed.

On December 31st, the UN imposedsanctions on M23 rebels and theiralleged Rwandan allies, the Hutu Dem-ocratic Forces for the Liberation ofRwanda (FDLR) slapping an armsembargo on both groups. The SecurityCouncil also imposed a travel ban andasset freeze on two key M23 figures: thegroup’s civilian leader Jean-Marie Run-iga Lugerero and Lieutenant ColonelEric Badege, a commander suspected ofbeing responsible for the deaths ofwomen and children. (© AFP, Kampala& Kinshasa 1,16/1 2013)

In new claims, civil society bodies inNord Kivu on January 18th accusedsoldiers of the Rwandan Defence Forces(RDF) of “massively infiltrating” theM23 rebel group’s ranks over the previ-ous few days. Mr Omar Kavota, the civilsociety body deputy coordinator, saidthat the aim was to make the DRCongo

A B C



fragile with the Rwandan soldiers join-ing the Congolese security services oncea peace deal is reached at the ongoingKampala peace talks. (R. Bunia 18/1)

Jail Break: At least 300 prisoners brokeout of a North Kivu jail on January13th, at Butembo in the Beni territory,200 km north of Goma. Radio Okapireported that 372 inmates escaped, outof a total 399 detainees after a localMayi Mayi militia force clashed withprison warders. The Mayi Mayi werebeing taken by soldiers to Bunia, inneighbouring Orientale province, wherethey were to undergo military trainingbefore joining the army. (© AFP, Kinshasa15/1 2013) Back from the brink p. 19527

ERITREA“Not a Coup”

Dissident troops briefly seize the infor-mation ministry demanding reform andthe release of political prisoners.

Eritrea’s government said on January22nd that all was calm in the capitalAsmara a day after armed mutineersseized the information ministry, withopposition sites saying the stand-offwas settled.

“All is calm today, as it was indeedyesterday,” said Yemane Gebremeskel,the director of Eritrean President IssaiasAfeworki’s office, in a message to © AFP(22/1).

Opposition website Awate.com, based inthe United States but with close connec-tions inside Eritrea, said that the com-mander of around 100 rebel soldiers hadagreed to surrender, AFP reported.

France 24 (21/1) referred to diplomaticand diaspora sources saying that therewere 200 soldiers.

“The face-off was ‘solved’ when thegovernment ‘accepted his [the armycommander’s] terms’” Awate said,although there were no further details.The reports were impossible to confirmindependently, and it was not clear if themutineers had formally surrendered.

Amanuel Ghirmai, an Eritrean journal-ist in Paris for independent Radio Erena,said that army mutineers stormed thehill-top ministry – which towers over thecapital of the Red Sea state – early onJanuary 21st.

They reportedly ordered news readers atthe government-run television and radiostation – the only source of media forthe authoritarian state – to read astatement that they would implementthe country’s 1997 constitution. Thestatement also reportedly ordered therelease of prisoners of conscience. Eri-trea has the dubious distinction of beingranked last in the world for press free-dom by media rights group ReportersWithout Borders (known by its Frenchacronym, RSF).

However, while the state-run Eri-TVtelevision and radio broadcasts weretaken off air, they had resumed broad-casting on January 22nd. BBC newsonline said state television resumed nor-mal transmission with a delayed newsbulletin at 21:45 local time on the 21stbut the news that night made no com-ment on the occupation of the site.

“Eri-TV, under regime loyalists, hasresumed broadcasting live,” added Aw-ate. “All Ministry of Information

employees havebeen released.” Thewebsites of keyEritrean state andruling party mediaoperated erratically,with the site for theruling People’sFront for Democ-racy and Justice(PFDJ) party inac-cessible for part ofJanuary 21st, BBCnews online (21/1)reported.

Multiple sourcesreported that oneof those held insidethe informationministry was thedaughter of Issaias,who has ruled theHorn of Africanation with an irongrip since indepen-dence in 1993, fol-

lowing an epic 30-year liberation warfrom neighbouring Ethiopia.

Awate claimed the mutineers were ledby an army commander called SalehOsman, a hero of the bloody 1998–2000 border war with Ethiopia, whenhe refused orders to abandon thekey southern port of Assab, defendingit and beating back invading Ethiopi-ans.

“The ‘uprising’ appears to have been acase of Saleh Osman trying to jolt backnegotiations for democratisation he hadbeen having with the president’s officethat have stalled,” Awate added.

Voice of America (23/1) quoted Eritre-an-born journalist Tewolde Tesfagabirwho said the brief seizure of the Infor-mation Ministry and state media was aneffort by dissident soldiers to focusgovernment attention on issues of con-cern, including the release of politicalprisoners but, “in a country where theconstitution is not effectively imple-mented, political movements can beconsidered as paramount to treason,”Tewolde said.

Selam Kidane, an Eritrean human rightsactivist and director of human rightsorganisation, Release Eritrea, told AlJazeera (22/1) that details of what hadhappened were still unclear but thatthose who took part in this operationwere not senior personnel, but youngpeople fed up with the situation in thecountry.

“These were not army officers, thesewere young soldiers – new recruits andthose who were forced into the army,”she said. “Instead of young peoplefleeing the country as in the past, theyare now standing up and acting.”Eritrean opposition activists exiled inneighbouring Ethiopia said there wasgrowing dissent within the Eritreanmilitary, especially over economichardships.

According to the opposition, the gov-ernment launched a purge of top leadersfollowing the reported mutiny, AFPreported (25/1).

Multiple arrests – some sites say dozens ofpeople detained – include the numberthree of Eritrea’s only political party, aregional governor and senior militaryofficers,accordingtowebsitereports(Aw-ate.com and Asmarino.com) which couldnot be independently confirmed.

Those arrested reportedly include Abd-ella Jaber, director of organisationalaffairs for the ruling People’s Front forDemocracy and Justice (EPRDF), andMustafa Nurhussein, governor ofthe Southern region, one of Eritrea’ssix provinces. (Sources as referenced intext)

EritreaInternational BoundaryRoadMinor Road

RiverNational CapitalCity or Town

0 100

0 100 200 MI

200KM

SUDANShendi

Es Sufelya Reira

Tessenei

HimoraAdi Dairo Adwa

Agula’i

Adigrat

Mek’eleAbiy Adi

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

SAUDI ARABIA

YEMEN

DIJBOUTI

GonderMaych’ew

Sek’ot’a

Lalibela

Korem

K’obo

Weldiya

Bati Dikhil

Hargeysa

Saylac

Djibouti

San’a

Obock

Assab

Edd

MederMarsa Fatma

Adi Kaie

Zula

Adi QualaAdi Ugri

BarentuDecamere

MassawaKeren

Kelamet

Agordat

Nakfa

Algena

Suakin

Port Sudan Ghamid az-Zenad

Qawz

Sapt al Ulaya

Tanumah

Khamis MushaytAbha

SabyaJizan

Samitah

Al Luhayyah

Al Hudaydah

Bayt al Faqih Dhamar

IbbMawshij Taizz

Hajjah

Najran

Sala

Asmara

Gulfof

Aden

Red Sea

Dese

Debra Sina

Debre Werk’

Debre Mark’os

Mot’a

Werota

Bure

Mendi

Bahir Dar

Erer-Gota Dire Dawa

Harar Jijiga

Gedaref

EI Hawata

Singa

Ed Damazin

EI ManaqilWad Medani

Rufaa

Nile

Blue N

ile

35 40 45

15

10

4035

10

15

Dinder

Atbara

Awash

A B C



ETHIOPIAFirst Jihadist Trial

Al-Qaeda suspects are tried under thecountry’s controversial anti-terrorismlegislation.

An Ethiopian court handed down heavyjail terms to 10 people convicted ofhaving links to Al-Qaeda, a judge saidon January 15th.

The sentences ranged from three years to20 years, and several of the convictedalso face stiff fines.

Judge Bahiru Darecha said the heavysentences were justified because theaccused were found guilty of plottingattacks as a group. But the courtstopped short of handing out the max-imum sentences of life in prison because

of mitigating circumstances, he said,noting that several of the men havefamilies and have never been convictedof a crime in the past.

The 10, who included one Kenyan, wereconvicted earlier in January under Ethio-pia’s anti-terrorism legislation for havinglinks with Islamist extremists, in the firsttrial in Ethiopia for Al-Qaeda suspects.

They were charged with plotting jihad inEthiopia and accused of receiving weap-ons training both inside and outside thecountry.

The charges were first issued in April2012 against 11 people, of whom onewas found not guilty. Only four of thedefendants appeared in court, while theothers were sentenced in absentia.

Rights groups criticise Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism legislation for being vague and

used to stifle peaceful dissent. Severaljournalists and opposition membershave been convicted under the law sinceit was introduced in 2009.

Prominent blogger Eskinder Nega isserving an 18-year jail sentence alongwith leading opposition figure AndualemArage, who was sentenced to life. Bothmen are appealing the ruling.

An appeal by journalist Reeyot Alemu,who is in jail on terror-related offenses,has been rejected, her lawyer said onJanuary 8th.

Reeyot was sentenced to 14 years inprison in January 2012 after an Ethio-pian court found her and four others –including other journalists and an oppo-sition member – guilty of “participatingin a terrorist organisation” and “plan-ning a terrorist act.”

Reeyot was a journalist for the now-defunct independent newspaper Fiteh,which means “justice” in Ethiopia’sAmharic language.

Ethiopia has one of the most restrictedmedia in the world and the highestnumber of journalists living in exile,according to US-based press watchdogCommittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

At the beginning of the month policesaid they had arrested 15 members ofSomalia’s Al-Shabaab in the east of thecountry. The 15 were planning to carryout attacks in Ethiopia, according to theNISS (National Intelligence and SecurityService).

On January 1st, an Ethiopian courtfound 10 people guilty of belonging tothe Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabaab Isla-mists. Muslims in Ethiopia have inrecent months held several protestsagainst what they said was their govern-ment’s harassment of people of theirfaith. (© AFP, Addis Ababa 8,15/1 2013;Midnimo.com 3/1)

Oromo Clashes: At least 24 studentswere injured on January 3rd when eth-nic-based clashes erupted among univer-sity students on Arat Kilo campus ofAddis Ababa University.

The fights broke out when studentsheading to the cafeteria in the morningsaw the walls of the main library oncampus and other places covered withgraffiti that denigrate the ethnic Oromopeople. Opposition website Ethiomediasaid “students have little interest instarting clashes among themselves,”and “the government is the number onesuspect” for formenting disunity oncampus to head off dissent. (Ethiomedia3/1)

Opposition website Ogaden Onlinereported many clashes in Januarybetween the ONLA (the armed wing of

Eritrea – Facts and Figures

The army dissidents’ action shone a briefspotlight on Eritrea, one of the mostisolated countries in the world.

Geography: 21,000km2 located betweenSudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti with a 1,000km coastline along one of the world’sbusiest shipping lanes on the Red Sea.

Population: 5.4m (World Bank figures),divided into nine ethnic groups. Diasporapopulation: 1.2m (UN estimates).

Religion: Officially split equally betweenChristians and Muslims.

Capital: Asmara. Other key towns are theports of Assab and Massawa.

Languages: No official language. The con-stitution treats all the nine languagesequally, but Tigrinya, Arabic and Englishare used on a day to day basis.

History: Eritrea was an Italian colonybetween 1889–1941. The territory was thenadministered by the British between 1941–1952. In 1962, the Ethiopian emperor HaileSelassie declared the annexation of Eritreaas an autonomous entity of the FederalRepublic of Ethiopia.

In May 1991, members of the rebel People’sFront for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ)led by Issaias Afewerki – now president –won their 30-year independence war againstthe Ethiopian government. The conflict wasa key factor in the fall of Ethiopia’s dictatorColonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. On May24th, 1993, Eritrea officially declared itsindependence.

However, war broke out again in a bitter1998–2000 border war with Ethiopia.

A UN force of some 4,200 men wasdeployed along the contentious border zoneafter a peace deal, but the territorial dis-putes were never solved – Ethiopia remainson land ruled to belong to Eritrea – andrelations between Asmara and Addis Ababaare still tense.

In March 2012, Ethiopia attacked an Erit-rean military base, accusing the country ofsupporting “terrorist activities” in its terri-tories. Eritrea was also accused and sanc-tioned by the UN in 2009 for its alleged rolein backing Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab insurgents.

Government: Issaias has served as the pres-ident since 1991 of the one-party state.Opposition parties are banned and thosewho challenge the regime are jailed withouttrial, often in the harshest of conditions.

After 15 top officials wrote an open letter in2001 calling for democratic reforms –dubbed the Group of 15, or G15 – Issaiaslaunched a brutal political purge, jailing 11and with the others fleeing into exile.

Late in 2012 information minister Ali Abdu,one of the closest of a narrow elite aroundIssaias, was reported to have fled thecountry for exile abroad.He is believed tohave fled to Canada.

Media: Eritrea was ranked last in the worldfor press freedom by RSF. All independentmedia was shut down after the 2001 purge,while the last registered foreign correspon-dent was expelled in 2010.

Human Rights: The UN estimated in 2012that 5,000–10,000 political prisoners werebeing held. Eritrea is accused by humanrights groups and the UN of carrying outtorture and summary executions.

Economy: Returns from the diaspora play acrucial role. The economy has been hugelyaffected by long periods of war. Eritrearemains one of the poorest countries in theworld. More than 80% of the population isinvolved in agriculture.

Army: In 2012, the International Institute ofStrategic Studies (ISS) estimated Eritrea tohaveanarmyofover201,000.Militaryserviceis compulsory for both men and women, andcan last for several years, even decades. (�AFP, Nairobi 21/1; Al Jazeera, Doha 22/1)

A B C



the Ogaden National Liberation Front,ONLF) and the Ethiopian army “and itsassociate militia” in the Ogaden region.It said that on January 16th for example,the ONLA received an intelligence tip

that Ethiopian troops were convergingon Oray on the outskirts of the town ofGalalshe, and conducting punitive cam-paigns against the rural communitiesthere.

It said the ONLA sent a team ofspecially trained commandos who suc-cessfully freed the civilians. “The ONLAcommandos engaged the maraudingEthiopians, killing 80 Ethiopian soldiersand wounding around 100 others.”(Ogaden online 19/1)

KENYARaft of Security Threats

A political agenda is discerned in muchof the violence.

Kenya is readying for the March 4thelections overshadowed by fresh fears ofconflict and a trial for crimes againsthumanity for a top presidential candi-date. While all candidates say they wantpeaceful polls, Kenya is struggling with araft of security threats following a stringof violent attacks, some linked by policeto politicians.

The United Nations top humanitarianofficial in the country, Modibo Toure,warned in January of concern over an“increase in violence” – more than 450people were killed and nearly 112,000people fled their homes in 2012.

Much has changed since the violent pollsof 2007–08, including the 2010 introduc-tion of a new constitution meant tobring change, although key pillars havebeen woefully implemented. But manyfear changes in the constitution, includ-ing providing elections for the new postsof governors and senators, haveincreased the risk of violence at locallevels, with ethnic rivalries exacerbatedby political jostling for power.

Ben Rawlence, who worked on Kenyafor Human Rights Watch (HRW) until2012, noted a “frighteningly violentturn” in many areas once minoritygroups realised the implication of thecompetition for a rash of new politicaloffices.

“Wherever a county does not contain aconvincing majority from one ethnicgroup, or wherever the majority can beeffectively challenged by a coalition ofminorities afraid of being excluded, vio-lence can be expected,” he warned.

Examples of such violence have alreadybeen witnessed, including the southeast-ern Tana River delta region, wherebloody tit-for-tat raids have killed some150 people since August 2012. Policechief David Kimaiyo has warned theclashes could be part of efforts to driveout one of the communities (the Ormaand Pokomo) “for political reasons.”

In early January, 19 people were killed intwo separate raids there. The scale andbrutality of recent killings – with womenand children hacked to death or torchedin their huts – have shocked many. InDecember, at least 45 people were killedin one attack.

Kenya is battling a number of securitythreats, including a series of grenadeattacks blamed on Islamist militants,supporters of Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linkedal Shabaab.

Four people, including three police offi-cers, were wounded when a grenade washurled at a police vehicle on January 7thin the northeast town of Garissa, closeto the Somali border, a police sourcesaid. At least four people were killed andsix seriously wounded when gunmenattacked a hotel restaurant in Garissaon January 15th.

The Garissa County CommissionerMohammed Maalim has attributed theseries of terror attacks in the town toKenyan-Somalis who deserted theSomali Transitional Federal Govern-ment (TFG) forces in Somalia.

Two suspected bombers died January17th at one of the camps in the Dadaabcomplex, home to several hundred thou-sand Somali refugees, when the explo-sives they were carrying went off, policesaid. (© AFP, Nairobi Jan; Daily Nation,Nairobi 2,7/1)

NIGERIAViolence Continues Unabated

The escalation of the war in Mali mayhelp convince other governments of theseriousness of Boko Haram as aninternational security threat.

Attackers killed eight people in a villagein the village of Gajiga in embattledBorno state (north) on January 27th,with at least some of the victims’ throatsslit, officials and residents said on the28th. Gajiganna is roughly 50km fromthe state capital of Maiduguri, the baseof Islamist extremist group Boko Ha-ram, but it was not clear who wasresponsible for the latest violence.

Boko Haram, which has said it is fight-ing to create an Islamic state in northernNigeria, has claimed scores of attacks inBorno state, but criminal groups are alsothought to have carried out violenceunder the guise of the Islamists.

On the 21st, gunmen suspected ofbelonging to Boko Haram opened fireon residents of Damboa, a market townin the northeast, killing 18 people in oneof the deadliest attacks for severalweeks. The attack apparently targetedlocal hunters who sell bush meat fromanimals such as monkeys and pigs,

The Gambia

Human Rights Concerns

President Yahya Jammeh on January 8thdismissed the European Union’s (EU) 17-point demand for improved governanceand respect for human rights saying thathe would not compromise with anythingthat questioned Gambia’s independence.

The EU demands included

� free operation of independent media inThe Gambia

� removal of restrictive barriers/mone-tary/regulatory to registration andlicensing of the media

� removal of restriction on accessing andsharing information electronically

� revision of provision in criminal codethat allows for prosecution on thecharges of sedition, libel and false pub-lication

� moratorium on death penalty� provide information regarding the

recent executions of nine prisonersincluding the location of their burialgrounds to families

� improve prison conditions� allow the International Committee of

the Red Cross (ICRC) access to prisonfacilities on regular basis

A journalist and correspondent for theAssociated Press has been detained for thesecond time in a month, colleagues andwatchdogs said on January 8th.

Abdoulie John, who is also the editor ofthe JollofNews website, was detained bythe National Intelligence Agency on Jan-uary 7th, a Gambian Press Union officialsaid. He had been arrested (and thenfreed) in early December following aheated exchange with President YahyaJammeh’s photographer while coveringthe release of Senegalese soldiers held byrebels in the Casamance region.

The United States expressed “great con-cern” on January 7th for the safety ofoutspoken Gambian religious leaderImam Baba Leigh, who was arrested onDecember 3rd and is being detainedincommunicado. He had criticised Jam-meh’s regime for executing nine death rowinmates.

One of Baba Leigh’s relatives confirmed toAFP on January 6th that the religiousleader had not been seen since his arrest.

Gambia’s special criminal court on Janu-ary 21st sentenced the country’s formerpolice chief to 10 years in prison for drugtrafficking, corruption and theft. EnsaBadjie, who is already serving a life termfor robbery, was convicted alongside twoformer senior army officers for the crimescommitted in 2010. (� AFP, Banjul7,9,21/1 2013, PANA, Dakar 9/1)

A B C



which strict Muslims are forbidden toeat, local chief Abba Ahmed told jour-nalists. Other residents however spoke ofhunters in the area recently bandingtogether to form a local vigilante groupin response to robberies by Boko Harammembers, sparking a revenge attackfrom the Islamists.

Gunmen killed at least four policemen inattacks on January 14th and 15th inKano (north); © AFP reported (23/1)that attackers had beheaded five peoplethat day in Maiduguri.

Also on the 19th, gunmen opened fire onthe convoy of the emir of Kano, aninfluential Nigerian Muslim figure, kill-ing five people. The 82-year-old emirAdo Bayero was not hurt, but two of hissons were wounded. No one claimedresponsibility for the attack, whichsparked outrage in the country.

On the 18th secret police said they hadarrested two people suspected of beingthe “masterminds” of a twin-bombattack in November on a church at amilitary barracks in the north that killed11 people. A spokeswoman for the statesecurity service said both men had con-fessed to being members of Boko Ha-ram. The military on the 13th alsoclaimed to have arrested a key memberof the sect after a reward of some$160,000 had been offered for his cap-ture. A task force in the northeast said ithad arrested Mohammed Zangina in anupscale neighbourhood of Maiduguri. Astatement said he was “coordinator ofmost of the suicide attacks and bomb-ings in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Jos andPotiskum.”

The Mali Connection

Meanwhile the local Vanguard news-paper reported (19/1) that its leaderImam Abubakar Shekau had escapedto Mali having been wounded recentlyin a gun battle with security men.

On the 19th, an explosion near the cityof Okene in central Kogi State centralNigeria killed two soldiers who weredue to be deployed to Mali, as part ofNigeria’s contribution to a UN-sanctioned African intervention. Theterrorists detonated a high-calibreremote-controlled IED they plantedby the roadside as the military convoywas passing and opened fire on thesoldiers, Maj-Gen Bola Koleoso toldthe UN humanitarian and news anal-ysis service, IRIN (21/1). On the 20th,the Islamist group Jama’atu AnsarulMusilimina Fi Biladis Sudan “Vanguardfor the Aid of Muslims in BlackAfrica”, Ansarul, claimed responsibilityfor the attack, which it said was inresponse to Nigeria’s participation inthe military intervention in Mali.JAMBS splintered from Boko Haram

in June 2012 and is believed by someto have close ties to Islamist groups inNorth Africa and Mali.

Ansarul is one of several radical Islamistgroups seen as the leading security threatto Nigeria, writes This Day (21/1). Thegroup had been dubbed a terroristorganisation by Britain, and has claimedresponsibility for the kidnapping of aFrench national in December (p.19533B). Unlike Boko Haram, it seemsto have a much more thorough focus onglobal jihad, rather than a domesticpolitical agenda.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathansaid on January 23rd that Boko Haramwould pose a threat to other Africannations if not contained, while alsopledging support for Mali. Speaking inan interview with CNN, he denied thatthe Boko Haram insurgency was spurredby deep poverty in the mainly Muslimnorth and refuted widespread reports ofmajor military abuses.

Speaking from Davos, where he wasattending the World Economic Forum,Jonathan spoke of Boko Harammembers travelling to “link up” withmembers of Al-Qaeda’s north Africanbranch, AQLIM, operating in northernMali and other north African nations.

The 900 troops (later raised to 1,200) sentto fight alongside French and local forcesin Mali are joining an operation whichthe Nigerian government sees as anextension of its fight against Boko Ha-ram. Security officials in Abuja say mil-itants from the Islamist militia havereceived instruction in combat andbomb-making in training camps in north-ern Mali and that some of the group’sleaders have sought sanctuary there afterNigerian security forces stepped up thehunt for Abubakar Shekau and otherBoko Haram leaders. Boko Haram hasbeen reinforcing its links with foreignIslamist groups such as AQUIM and AlShabaab in Somalia, writes Africa Confi-dential, London (18/1).

Latest reports suggest that some BokoHaram fighters were among theMUJAO, AQLIM and Ansar Dineforces that attacked Konna in Mali onJanuary 8th. Officials in Niamey addthat Boko Haram fighters have beencrossing Niger en route to Mali insubstantial numbers over the past fewmonths. Nigerian, French and US offi-cials agree that this traffic has increasedsharply in recent weeks, following ear-lier information that senior Boko Ha-ram figures had set up in Gao. On histrip to Bamako in October, PresidentJonathan revealed that he had evidencethat Shekau was using Mali as a base tocoordinate attacks on Nigeria by BokoHaram. Nigerian officials are convincedthat many of Boko Haram’s best

trained operatives are now in northernMali, reinforcing their incentive toensure the West African force theremakes progress.

Nigerian securocrats may see the rapidescalation of the war in Mali as helpfulin convincing other governments of theseriousness of Boko Haram as an inter-national security threat. Until now manyofficials, in both Africa and the West,had seen the group as a mainly Nigerianentity but its capacity to move throughthe region, particularly along the corri-dor from north-eastern Nigeria to the farnorth of the Sahel, has prompted somereassessments. (Sources as referenced intext) Security tightened p. 19532; Boko Ha-

ram looks to Mali p. 19533

Bombings Conviction: A Nigerian courton January 25th sentenced Edmund Ebi-ware to life in prison in connection withthe twin bombings in the capital Abujanear independence day commemorationsin 2010 that killed 12 people. Ebiwarewas accused of having knowledge of theplanned attack beforehand and failing toreport it. His sentence came days afterthe alleged mastermind, Henry Okah,was convicted in South Africa on 13terrorism charges. He faces a minimumterm of life in prison when the courtsentences him by February 1st. The 2010bombing shocked the country, occurringa short distance away from where for-eign heads of state and dignitaries hadgathered for celebrations marking 50years of Nigerian independence.

Okah was accused of being a key figurein MEND, the most prominent militantgroup in the oil-producing Niger Deltaregion. Three other suspects were alsocharged in Nigeria over the bombing,including Henry Okah’s brother CharlesOkah, who along with a third suspectare awaiting trail, while the fourth sus-pect died in prison. (© AFP 25/1)

In reaction to the conviction, MENDissued a statement on the 26th, threat-ening to sabotage oil installations andSouth African companies, stating thatOkah’s conviction was political. Nige-ria’s Minister of Information LabaranMaku, told the group to reconsider theirthreat because there were enough chal-lenges facing the country without return-ing to that era it had left behind with theamnesty programme. (This Day 28/1)MEND resurges in the south p. 19204

SOMALIASuicide Bomber Targets PM

Al Shabaab is more dormant thandefeated.

At least six people were killed when asuicide bomber blew himself up amongsta group of security officials outside the

A B C



Somali prime minister’s office in centralMogadishu on January 29th, army offi-cials said. It is believed that many ofthose killed or wounded were soldiers orpolice.

Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saidwas in his office at the time when theattacker struck but he was not harmedby the blast, © AFP reported (29/1).

No group immediately claimed respon-sibility for the blast, but the Al-Qaedalinked al Shabaab insurgents havevowed to topple newly elected PresidentHassan Sheikh Mohamud, and haveconducted a series of guerrilla styleattacks in the capital.

Shabaab fighters are on the back foot,having fled a string of key towns aheadof a 17,000-strong African Union (AU)force, which is fighting alongside Somaligovernment troops to wrest territory offthe Islamists. Ethiopian troops are alsobattling the Shabaab in the southwest ofSomalia. They remain, however, apotent threat, still controlling rural areasas well as carrying out guerrilla attacks –including suicide bombings – in areasapparently under government control.

The expectations of both Somalis andinternational donors for major improve-ments in 2013 are likely to be frustrated,according to Africa Confidential (11/1).There has been some degree of normal-ization, but many of the knottiest polit-ical and security problems will persist.Although al Shabaab has sufferedreverses, they are not on the scale thatthe international media have described;the organisation is more dormant thandefeated. Security sector reform has along way to go before the Somalinational forces are in a position to standon their own or command popularsupport.

The rebirth of warlordism is a danger,especially if unscrupulous individualsbelieve they can exploit the anti-Shabaabcampaign to engage in extortion andother means of self-enrichment. Thesame is true of the security officials ormilitias acting on behalf of Kenya,Ethiopia and other parties. If these forcespursue their own agendas, arrest peopleat will, break Somali law or ignorehuman rights, al Shabaab will notweaken to the point of splitting orsurrendering. Its internal differences aresignificant but will probably surviveefforts to exploit them.

Al Shabaab will probably remain anisolated terrorist threat, from ambushes,bombs and grenade or mortar attacks, inmost urban centres, including in Punt-land, where it recently invested resourcesand people beyond Galkayo and Boss-aso. It will not be capable of reversing2012’s major losses of territory, says

Africa Confidential. Yet security willremain elusive in most parts of thecountry except for Mogadishu, wherethe empowerment of local militias couldwell increase security.

The AU has renewed the African UnionMission in Somalia (Amisom) mandatefor six months, pending a review of itsoperational structure to secure moredependable funding and operational sta-tus, the Peace and Security Council(PSC) said on January 15th. The PSCwelcomed the continued progress beingmade in Somalia both on the politicaland military fronts, PANA reported (15/1).

Amisom said on January 16th it wasprobing the deaths of several civilians,including children, near Lego, 120kmwest of Mogadishu. The force says thecivilians may have been caught on the15th in an exchange of fire withIslamist extremists, but witnesses onthe ground say they were shot byAmisom soldiers.

At least nine people died in clashesbetween Al Shabaab rebels and Somaligovernment forces and their Ethiopianallies, a village elder said on January 6thamid conflicting claims from both sides.Shabaab fighters ambushed a convoy ofseveral hundred Somali and Ethiopiantroops that was advancing on two townsin the southern Gedo region still con-trolled by the Shebaab – Bardhere andBurhdubo.

Meanwhile, pro-government moderateIslamist group Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama’ahas vowed to take control Al Shabaab-controlled areas in Gedo Region,privately-owned Radio Simba websitereported (24/1). Ahlu Sunnah controlsparts of Galguduud (centre) and Gedoregions.

On the 15th, Somali government forcesconducted a security operation in Mog-adishu’s Wadajir Distinct, arresting over1,700 suspects, Shabelle Media Networkwebsite reported. Mogadishu securitychief Khalif Ahmad Irig told the mediathey had found that over 100 detaineeswere members of Al Shabaab and freedothers.

Unidentified gunmen on January 18thkilled a Somali journalist working withthe private Radio Shabelle in the capitalMogadishu, colleagues and witnessessaid. Abdihared Osman Adan, a presenterat the radio was shot several times nearhis house in Mogadishu’s Wadajir dis-trict. “We don’t know the motives ofthe killers but it looks to be part of thecampaign to eliminate free press in thecountry,” said a colleague, MohamedBashir.

Abdihared Osman Adan is the firstSomali journalist to be killed in 2013.

Eighteen journalists were killed in Soma-lia in 2012 of whom four who workedfor Radio Shabelle, including the sta-tion’s director, reports © AFP (18/1).No one has been brought to justice forthe killings. The AU condemned thekilling. (Sources as referenced in text) Key

town falls p. 19534

Ex-Pirates Launch Anti-piracyCampaign

A group of former pirates in centralSomalia regions has launched an anti-piracy campaign in their regions in orderto persuade colleagues still in the field torenounce their activities, according toUN-backed Radio Bar-Kulan, Nairobi(23/1). The group will start touringareas along the pirate-infested coastlinein Galguduud and Mudug regionsincluding Hobyo, Xarardheere andGaan, according to a member of thegroup, Diwan Abdullahi.

Former Somali pirate kingpin Muham-mad Abdi Hasan, who is also known as“Afweyne” (Big Mouth) is leading theanti-piracy campaigners.

Security forces from Puntland Regionhave seized up to 10 pirates in JariibanDistrict, Mudug Region in centralSomalia during an anti-piracy operation,reported privately owned Shabelle web-site (27/1). Regional security forcesseized the pirates who were accused ofplanning to hijack foreign vessels off thecoast of Garacad. Security forces vowedto continue implementing their anti-piracy activities and eliminate piracyalong Somalia’s coastline.

The Independent, London reported(13/1) that piracy in the Indian Ocean,although far from eradicated, appears tohave peaked thanks to land-basedefforts by the regional Puntlandgovernment and cleverer counter-piracymeasures at sea. There were 70 Somali-related attacks on shipping in the firstnine months of 2012, compared to 199over the same period in 2011, accordingto the International Maritime Bureau(IMB). It was reported in January thatthe Gulf of Aden has now been sur-passed by West Africa’s Gulf of Guineaas the world’s piracy hotspot. (Sources asreferenced in text)

SUDANCharter Arrests

Khartoum continues its crackdown onopposition groups.

A number of Sudanese opposition partyleaders are in custody following thesigning of an accord, dubbed the ‘NewDawn Charter’, under which they agreedto overthrow the government of Presi-dent Omar al-Bashir and institute a

A B C



federal system of government based ondemocracy, pluralism and the separationof religion and the state.

The charter, signed in the Ugandancapital, Kampala, on January 5th, callson parties to work together to topplethe regime through either “democraticcivil peaceful means” or “revolutionaryarmed struggle”. Among the signatoriesare major political opposition partiesunder the banner of the National Con-sensus Forces, a coalition of armedopposition groups named the SudanRevolutionary Front, as well as a num-ber of women’s and youth groups.Upon their arrival in Khartoum, fivepoliticians and activists – Jamal Idris,head of the Nasserite Unionist Party;Nasserite Unionist Party member andwomen’s rights activist Intisar Al-agli;and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)members Abdulrrahim Abdullah,Muhammed Zain Ala’abdeen and Hi-sham Almufti – were arrested. Thegovernment described them as “trai-tors”.

On January 14th in Khartoum, securityofficers arrested the chairman of theexecutive bureau of the oppositionNational Alliance, Abdul Aziz Khalid,for having signed the Charter.

The arrests have been widely criticizedby local opposition and human rightsgroups as unconstitutional and in vio-lation of the right to free speech.

Labelling the agreement a “falsedawn”, Sudanese presidential assistantand deputy chairman of the rulingNational Congress Party (NCP) NafieAli Nafie said the government waspreparing “a decisive move” againstthose who signed it. Media outlets inSudan have also reported that VicePresident Al-Haj Adam Yousif hasthreatened to prevent opposition par-ties from conducting their politicalactivities unless they reject the charter.Nafie was quoted by official Sudannews agency SUNA, as charging thatthe US and the European Union (EU)had sponsored and co-financed theKampala meeting, PANA reported(15/1).

Since the arrests and proclamations bythe government, a number of opposi-tion politicians have distanced them-selves from the accord in hopes ofescaping the clampdown.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) calledon Sudan to “allow independentgroups to operate freely and conductpeaceful protests”.

“Sudan should reverse its draconiansteps against civil society groups, andinternational actors should publiclycondemn such measures,” Daniel Bek-ele, HRW Africa director, said in a

statement on January 13th. “Thegovernment-led campaign against Suda-nese civil society organizations seemsdesigned to stifle diversity, humanrights and dialogue on issues of criticalimportance, rather than to serve anylegitimate purpose.” (IRIN 15/1)

The increasingly determined and uni-fied opposition is now a major threatto the NCP, says Africa Confidential(11/1), which it called “crucial” and“just the tip of an iceberg”.

Meanwhile a former top UN official inSudan warned on January 18th that“ethnic cleansing” was going on in thesouthern part of Sudan, where thepeople are suffering from hunger, dis-ease and bombing in two war-tornstates.

Mukesh Kapila – who serves as aspecial representative of anti-genocidecharity, the Aegis Trust – called on theinternational community to come tothe aid of the some 1.5m people livingin Blue Nile and South Kordofan,where conflict between rebels andSudanese government forces has ragedfor over a year. It is estimated that upto 170,000 people have fled the conflictand made their way to camps in SouthSudan.

In Blue Nile, where Kapila estimates450,000 people are affected by theconflict, fields and villages have beenrazed, he said, and the population isdescribed on Sudanese radio as “blackplastic bags” that must be cleared outof the area. In South Kordofan, whereas many as one million people areaffected, Kapila said he saw people“living in caves and cracks and eatingonce every three days.”

Meanwhile Sudan’s army claims tohave killed more than 50 rebels inclashes in South Kordofan state, SUNAreported on January 11th. The clashestook place some 15km from the statecapital Kadugli, the army said, blamingthe attack on fighters of the Revolu-tionary Front, an alliance of four rebelgroups. The groups that make up theFront are active in South Kordofan, inBlue Nile state to the east and inDarfur to the west.

Foreigners freed: Kidnappers freed 11Sudanese engineers and road buildersin Darfur on January 26th, after theearlier release of their four Chinese co-workers, SUNA said. Internationalpeacekeepers announced on the 16ththat the Chinese had been freed, andthat was confirmed by Beijing’sembassy.

Recent years have seen a wave ofkidnappings for ransom in Darfurand although violence is down fromits peak and rebel-government clashes

continue, Darfur is also plagued bybanditry, inter-Arab and tribal unrest.

In early January two Jordanian peace-keepers in Darfur were freed after 136days of captivity. A Sudanese intelli-gence officer blamed “outlaws” for theincident. (© AFP 12–28/1)

TUNISIASocial Protests and Radical Islam

Frustration at the government’s failureto address poverty and rising unem-ployment has mounted since the revo-lution.

Tunisians on January 14th marked twoyears since the fall of dictator Zine ElAbidine Ben Ali in a climate of uncer-tainty marked by social tension, jiha-dist threats and a political impasse,with rival factions taking to the streetsof the capital. Violent attacks by Isla-mists and political deadlock over a newconstitution continue to threaten thecountry’s stability.

“There is really no reason to celebrate,because nothing has been achieved sofar,” Aymen Sliti, 24, told Magharebiaas the festivities unfolded on Bourgu-iba Avenue, which was at the centre ofthe mass uprising that toppled Ben Aliand sparked the Arab Spring. “Securityis lacking, and we face escalatingextremism and violence, political con-flict, fleeing investors and the bank-ruptcy of the state treasury.”

Banker Abdeljalil Amdoun describedthe future of the country as “uncer-tain” due to the stalled progress onconstitution-writing.

President Moncef Marzouki, PrimeMinister Hamadi Jebali and parliamen-tary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafarsaluted the national flag at an early-morning ceremony in Tunis to markthe occasion. Shortly afterwards, Jeba-li, the secretary general of Tunsia’smain labour union, Hocine Abassi, andWided Bouchamaoui, representing Tuni-sian employers, signed a “social pact”at the National Constituent Assembly,© AFP reported (14/1).

With unemployment considered a driv-ing factor behind the revolution, andwith Tunisia still rocked by repeatedprotests over poor living conditions,some of them deadly, the signing of theaccord was loaded with symbolicimportance.

In the city centre, more than a thou-sand activists from across the politicalspectrum marched in separate groupsdown Habib Bourguiba Avenue. Frus-tration at the government’s failure toaddress poverty and rising unemploy-ment has mounted since the revolution.

A B C



Security had been beefed up for theanniversary, with fears in particularthat radical Islamist factions coulduse the occasion to carry out attacks.A police cordon separated hundreds ofIslamist protesters from their secularrivals near the Interior ministry.

Speaking in parliament after the sign-ing ceremony, Jebali, from the rulingEnnahda party, promised to “redoubleefforts” to forge a national consensus,and spoke of his desire to enlarge theruling coalition to overcome the polit-ical divisions plaguing the country.Former premier Beji Caid Essebsi,who heads the secular opposition partyCall of Tunisia, expressed concernedabout the threat from radical Islamists,“It is the (Tunisian) flag, which repre-sents everyone. But some want toreplace it with another, the black flag(of the Salafists). The people mustremain vigilant because there is athreat, as we have seen in Sidi BouSaid,” he told AFP.

The mausoleum in Sidi Bou Said wasravaged by fire the previous weekendin a suspected arson attack. Severalshrines dedicated to Muslim saintshave been torched or looted in recentmonths.

On January 13th, the army deployed inthe southern border town of BenGuerdane after a week of clashesbetween police and residents demand-ing development projects to revive thearea’s local economy and reduce unem-ployment. On the 12th, protesters alsohurled abuse at the Ennahda party,whose local headquarters were ran-sacked during the week. A customsoffice was also torched. The protestersasked that soldiers be sent in to keepthe peace in the town. The military isbetter thought of by the people thanthe police force, which was at the heartof the repressive Ben Ali regime.

An emergency strategy will be put inplace by the “Culture, Interior andReligious Affairs ministries to copewith repeated attacks against mausole-ums,” official news agency TAP quotedCulture Minister Mehdi Mabrouk assaying on January 26th. Two Sufimausoleums were torched on the 24thin the latest violence, which the mysti-cal Muslim sect claims is being carriedout by ultra-conservative Salafist Mus-lims.

AFP said Mohamed El Heni, the headof a Sufi union set up to counter theattacks, welcomed Mabrouk’s promisebut said no concrete action had beenannounced in the eight months inwhich nearly 40 shrines had beendestroyed. According to the union,

which has urged the Islamist-led gov-ernment to take effective action, suchattacks are financed from abroad.

Meanwhile, a Tunisian court has givenone-month jail terms to 16 people impli-cated in violence in June 2012 linked toan art exhibit deemed offensive to Islam,official media reported on the 16th.Salafists destroyed works of art exhib-ited in a smart suburb of Tunis whichthey considered “blasphemous.” Theincident sparked clashes across the coun-try that saw police stations and politicalparty offices set on fire.

The defendants were convicted of vio-lating the state of emergency, but wereacquitted from the more seriouscharges, which included rebellion,assaulting public officials and attackson public order by organised gangs,the TAP news agency quoted theirlawyer Salaheddine Barakati as saying.(Sources as referenced in text) Nothing has

changed p. 19537

IN BRIEFAngola: The official death toll from astampede at a New Year’s Eve evangelicalvigil rose to 16 on January 2nd, as witnessessaid the tragedy was caused by a scramblefor sachets of holy water. Authorities prob-ing the disaster discovered that the 80,000-seater Cidadela Stadium in the capitalLuanda was packed to nearly double itscapacity. The police, fire-fighters, healthservices and church leaders were over-whelmed by the numbers of people.

The vigil was organised by the UniversalChurch of the Kingdom of God, founded inBrazil in 1977 and boasting more than amillion followers in Angola, according tothe culture ministry. Its overnight NewYear’s Eve prayer vigil in Luanda is anannual event. The church has deniedresponsibility for the tragedy. (© AFP,Luanda 2/1 2013)

Burundi: An appeal court on January 8thcut the life sentence of journalist HassanRuvakuki to three years, judges said, reduc-ing the charges from terrorism to member-ship of a gang. Ruvakuki, who worked forFrench radio station RFI’s Swahili serviceand local broadcaster Bonesha FM, washanded a life sentence in June 2012, aruling condemned by press rights groups.(© AFP, Gitega 8/1 2013)

Madagascar: Troops and police fired teargasJanuary 12th to disperse hundreds of pro-testers and free nearly 200 employees ofmining giant Rio Tinto, including its localchief executive, who were trapped inside amine, authorities said.

Local residents armed with spears andslingshots launched the protest January 9thagainst what they complained were the lowprices the company paid to buy their land,and to call for more locals to be hired atthe company’s mineral sands operation near

the town of Fort-Dauphin. (© AFP, Antan-anarivo 12/1 2013)

Malawi: Around one thousand peoplemarched in cities across Malawi againsttough government reforms, challenging thenine-month-old government of PresidentJoyce Banda. Authorities deployed 3,000police on the streets of major cities aheadof the march, fearing a repeat of nationwiderioting and looting in 2011 that left 19people dead. The situation remained tense,but fears of widespread unrest appeared tohave been overstated. (© AFP, Blantyre17/1 2013)

Morocco: The authorities said January 19ththat they had dismantled another al-Qaedarecruitment cell, MAP reported and werenow concerned about a “proliferation ofterrorist networks”. This was the fifthsuch group. Recruits allegedly underwentmilitary and suicide bomber training beforejoining terrorist groups. (Magharebia.com20/1)

South Sudan: At least five people were killedin Jonglei state in clashes between govern-ment troops and rebel soldiers who hadcome for peace talks, officials said onJanuary 28th. Hundreds of civilians fledthe clashes which broke out on the 27th –during which the market in the remote townof Pibor was set on fire – as a governmentdelegation arrived to negotiate with thebreakaway commander of a local rebelmovement.

South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguersaid that one soldier and one rebel comingfor the talks had been killed, while residentssaid that at least three civilians haddied.The rebel faction, under the commandof James Kuberin, were reported to havefled into the bush surrounding Pibor town.

The eastern state of Jonglei is strugglingfrom a spate of ethnic killings, a rebellionand an army crackdown. (© AFP 28/1)

Uganda: Ugandan forces have killed aformer bodyguard of Joseph Kony. DickOlum, who commands a regional task forcehunting the head of the Lord’s ResistanceArmy (LRA), said the bodyguard, BrigadierBinani, was killed near the town of Djemain eastern Central African Republic close tothe border with South Sudan. The LRA hassplit up into small groups and Kony iscurrently thought to be hiding out close towhere the borders of the CAR, South Sudanand Sudan meet. (The Independent, London21/1)

Meanwhile Ugandan police said on January26th they had arrested leading oppositionpolitician Kizza Besigye over plans to restartanti-government demonstrations in Kampal-a. Besigye, a former presidential challengerand leader of main opposition party Forumfor Democratic Change (FDC), has beendetained repeatedly as he has attempted torestart opposition demonstrations. A policestatement said Besigye was charged with“refusal to obey lawful orders” and wasbeing held along with Kampala mayor EliasLukwago. (The Standard, Nairobi 27/1)

A B C



EGYPTTrain Crash

This latest incident highlights theproblems of poor maintenance andmanagement in the transport sector.

A train carrying military conscriptsderailed southwest of Cairo on January15th, killing 19 people and wounding107, the health ministry said, highlight-ing the country’s chronic transport prob-lems.

The train was taking young recruitsfrom south Egypt to a military camp inCairo when two carriages went off therails shortly after midnight in the Gizaneighbourhood of Badrasheen, officialssaid. More than 60 ambulances weresent to the site of the accident, whererescuers extracted survivors and bodiesfrom the twisted heap of metal on theside of the rails.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil was metwith howls of outrage when he arrived atthe scene, with local residents shouting,“You have blood on your hands, Mr.Hesham.” His security quickly whiskedhim away, according to AFP.

President Mohamed Mursi later visitedthe injured at the Maadi militaryhospital in Cairo, while the Ministerof Social Affairs, Nagwa Khalil,said the government would pay thefamilies of those killed each E£10,000(around US$1,520), and families of theinjured E£2,000 (around $300), MENAsaid.

The accident is the latest in a string oftransport disasters plaguing Egypt, andcomes just two weeks after anew Transport Minister, Hatem AbdelLatif, was appointed. Latif, of theMuslim Brotherhood, said therewould be an investigation into theincident.

The railway network’s poor safetyrecord stems largely from lack of main-tenance and poor management. Egyp-tians have long complained that thegovernment has failed to deal with thecountry’s transport problems, withroads as poorly maintained as railwaylines.

Meanwhile Egyptian police fired tear gasto disperse protesters in the mainrailway station in second city, Alexan-dria, just hours after the train carry-ing conscripts derailed. (© AFP 15/12013)

LIBYAPolice Reforms

There is concern that security is stillmainly in the hands of officials of theformer regime.

Thousands of former rebels in the Lib-yan city of Benghazi applied to join thepolice force after the government dis-solved the Higher Security Committee,which was created to maintain law andorder after the fall of the former regime,Al-Jazeera reported on January 3rd.

The Ministry of Interior dissolved thecommittee, made up of former rebels,and announced a plan to integrate it intothe police force.

The Benghazi branch of the HigherSecurity Committee consists of 16,000members, 8,000 of whom applied to jointhe policewhile the rest joined calls for thecommittee to become an independentorganisation, according to Al-Jazeera.

Those who oppose the move to integratethe committee into the police force arguethat former regime loyalists, who tookpart in the crackdown on the uprising,still hold positions in Libya’s securityagencies.

“We have major reservations over thedecision to integrate us into that institu-tion [the police],” committee member,Ahmad al-Zlitani, said.

“We demand that it be restructured andrebuilt to ensure it becomes an organi-sation that observes professional, ethicaland religious rules,” he said. (Al-JazeeraTV, Doha 3/1)

In a separate development, the Council ofMinisters decided to create a higher policeaffairs council within the framework ofrestructuring the Interior Ministry.

The official spokesman of the InteriorMinistry, Majdi al-Irfi, said that thecouncil would include 10 senior-rankingofficers, including a legal specialist, andretired police officers who would workunder the supervision of the InteriorMinister to drawup theministry’s generalpolicies in order to raise the level ofperformance. (Libyan Al-Ahrar TV, Doha 4/1)

SOMALIAArmed Forces To Be Paid: TheDefence Ministry has started givingout the salaries of its forces in BayRegion [southwest] after months ofunpaid wages.

The head of the Somali army, Gen.Abdiqadir Shaykh Ali Dini, said thetroops will from now on receive theirmonthly wages, adding that they should,as a result, step up their fight againstAl-Shaabab militants in the region.

Government troops in Bay Regionrecently mutinied to protest non-pay-ment of their salaries for more than ayear. (Jowhar website, Mogadishu 3/1)

AMISOM to Train Police in Djibouti: 200officers from the Somali Police Force arein Djibouti to participate in a three-month training course organised by thePolice component of the Africa UnionMission in Somalia (AMISOM) in con-junction with the Italian Carabineri.

The police officers will receive specia-lised training in public order manage-ment under a scheme supported by theItalian government.

Nigeria

Defence Promotions

A total of 45 two-star generals recentlypromoted were decorated with their newinsignias by President Goodluck Jonathanat a ceremony in Abuja on January 18th.

The newly promoted officers included 22Major Generals (Army), 19 Rear Admi-rals (Navy) and 14 Air Vice Marshals (AirForce).

The Air Force recently promoted 129officers including 14 Air Vice Marshals.The Navy promoted 112 officers of whom19 Commodores were promoted to RearAdmirals. Similarly, 150 senior officers inthe Army were promoted of whom 22were elevated to the rank of Major Gen-eral. (Daily Trust, Abuja 18/1)

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s navy has transferredfor prosecution 15 Russian sailorsdetained since October for allegedly trans-porting illegal arms, a navy spokesmansaid on January 8th.

The MV Myre Seadiver was seized onOctober 19th off the coast of Lagos by anaval patrol, which also detained its 15crew members.

Weapons found on the vessel included 14AK-47 rifles with 3,643 rounds of ammu-nition as well as 22 Benelli MR1 rifles with4,955 rounds of ammunition. Theintended destination or planned use ofthe arms was not clear. Nigeria is awashwith illegal weapons that have fuelledviolence in Africa’s most populous nationand largest oil producer.

The ship was said to belong to theMoscow-based Moran Group and wasflying a Dutch island flag at the time of itsseizure. (© AFP 8/1 2013)

Military

A B C


19576 – Africa Research Bulletin Military

The AMISOM police component hasbeen working closely with their Somalicounterparts and with the Federal Gov-ernment of Somalia to build the capacityand professionalism of the Somali PoliceForce, which celebrated the 69th anni-versary of its founding in December.(Shabelle Media Network, Mogadishu 18/1)

Graduate Recruitment: The DefenceMinistry has said that University andhigh school graduates will be given theopportunity to join Somalia’s armedforces. The defence minister said thatthe initiative is part of a capacitybuilding plan for Somalia’s armedforces which is supported largely bythe Turkish government, which willdonate up to US$10m as part of athree-year plan to increase numbers ofpolice officers to 25,000. (Jowhar website,Mogadishu 21/1)

SOUTH SUDANArmy Dismissals

The stated aim is to bring in new blood,but rumours swirl of an attempted coup.

The Sudan Tribune (21/1) reported thatPresident Salva Kiir Mayardit had car-ried out reforms in the national army,dismissing a number of senior armyofficers from their duty as well asremoving them from active service.

In a presidential decree read on the state-owned South Sudan Television, Kiirrelieved all the deputies of the Chief ofGeneral Staff in the army and replacedthem with new promoted officers. Theyincluded: Lt. Gen. Obuto Mamur, Lt.Gen. Biar Atem Ajang, Lt. Gen. PiengDeng Kuol, Lt. Gen. Ayuen Alier Jong-ror, Lt. Gen. Wilson Deng Kuoirot andLt. Gen. Kuol Deim Kuol.

The generals were also removed fromthe active membership of the army and

put on reserve. Separately, a numberof officers were promoted from therank of Major General to the rankof Lieutenant General and alsoappointed as new deputies to the Gen-eral Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. JamesHoth Mai.

The new deputies include Lt. Gen.Thomas Cirino Swaka, deputy Chief ofGeneral Staff for Training, Lt. Gen.James Ajongo Mawut, deputy for Oper-ations, Lt. Gen. Malek Ruben Riak,deputy for Logistics, Lt. Gen. MalualAyom Dor, deputy for Administration,Lt. Gen. Mangar Buong Aluel, deputyfor Inspection and Lt. Gen. Chol ThonBalok, deputy Chief of General Staff forMoral and Orientation.

The President put three senior officers incharge of the army sectors in the threegreater regions of Bahr el Ghazal, UpperNile and Equatoria. These include Lt.Gen. Gabriel Jok Riak in charge ofSector One (Wau), Lt. Gen. JohnsonGony Biliu for Sector Two (Malakal)and Lt. Gen. Charles Lam Chol incharge of Sector Three (Torit) respec-tively.

The move came as a surprise as the armyis in the process of transformation whiletrying to sort out the border disputeswith the neighbouring army of Sudan.(Sudan Tribune 21/1)

The Information Minister, BarnabasMarial Benjamin, later denied to theBBC that the dismissal of more than30 top army officers had anything todo with a rumour about a coupattempt. He said the changes had beenmade to bring younger people into toppositions.

Benjamin told the BBC’s Focus on Africaradio programme that top-ranking offi-cers “have a certain life span” and suchchanges were necessary for a “young

nation trying to transform its army”, hesaid.

The move should be seen as a “moralebooster”, rather than a cause for con-cern, Mr Benjamin said, dismissing anyconnection between the reshuffle andrecent reports of political instability.(BBC News Online 22/1)

IN BRIEFRwanda: The country has been elected to theRegional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA)

RECSA is an intergovernmental organisationestablished in June 2005 in Kenya, withmembers coming from 15 countries. Its mis-sion is to coordinate action against small armsand light weapons proliferation in the GreatLakes region and Horn of Africa. (The NewTimes website, Kigali 23/1)

South Africa – Zimbabwe: A court in SouthAfrica has temporarily halted a delivery ofhelicopters to the Zimbabwean military,human rights group AfriForum says. Thegroup made the urgent request when it heardabout the donation of South Africa’s retiredAlouette fleet, saying it would be irresponsibleto give equipment to a force that was notneutral ahead of elections in 2013.

South Africa’s defence ministry said theaircraft would not be assembled and wouldbe used only for spare parts. (BBC NewsOnline 25/1)

Tunisia – Portugal: The two countries willboost cooperation in the defence field and setup projects in the defence industry, theeconomy and training. A meeting in Tunisbetween Portuguese Defence Minister, Jos�ePedro Aguiar Branco, and the Tunisian PrimeMinister Hamadi Jebali on January 18thfocused on reinforcing bilateral co-operationas part of the 5+5 Defence Initiative chairedby Portugal in 2013.

The 5+5 Defence Initiative gathers the Mag-hreb countries (Algeria, Libya, Morocco,Mauritania and Tunisia) and 5 Europeancountries, namely, Spain, France, Italy, Maltaand Portugal. (TAP 18/1)

EGYPT – ISRAELAnti-Infiltrator Fence

The new barrier will make it harder forAfrican asylum-seekers to cross theborder.

Israel has completed the main segmentof a razor-wire fence along its borderwith Egypt.

The five-metre high fence is bolsteredby military surveillance equipment andhas been built, Israel says, to deterillegal migrants and Islamist fighters

hiding out in Egypt’s lawless Sinairegion.

The final 14km section will be completedwithin the next three months, leaving thefence stretching from Israel’s Red Seaport of Eilat to the Gaza Strip on theMediterranean.

In the desert beyond, hardline Islamistgroups have expanded in a security vac-uumcausedby the overthrowofPresidentHosniMubarak in 2011,with efforts to re-impose central authority proving slow.

Security and illegal immigration were atarget of Israeli PrimeMinister Benyamin

Netanyahu’s re-election campaign. Hetravelled by military helicopter to thesouthern frontier for a ceremony onJanuary 2nd marking the completion ofthe 230km section of fence.

Netanyahu’s government has acceler-ated its construction, deported somemigrants and imposed legal penaltieson Israelis who hire them without workpermits.

Thirty-six migrants crossed illegally intoIsrael in December and were arrested,compared with 2,153 who entered a yearago, Netanyahu’s office said in a state-ment.

“Just as we stopped completely theinfiltration into Israeli cities, we willsucceed in the next mission – the repa-triation of tens of thousands of infiltra-

Overseas Relations

A B C



tors already in Israel to their homecountries,” it cited Netanyahu as sayingat the ceremony.

More than 60,000 Africans have enteredIsrael on foot in recent years seekingwork or refuge. They have stirred fearsfor public order and some have comeunder racially-motivated attack.

The bulk are from Sudan or Eritrea andIsrael’s ability to repatriate them islimited. Sudan’s government is hostileto Israel and Somalia is deemed aravaged danger zone by refugee advo-cates.

Israel portrays the vast majority of themigrants as illegal job-seekers. Human-itarian agencies say many of themshould be considered for asylum. (AlJazeera.com 2/1)

Espionage Arrest: Egyptian prosecutorswere interrogating an Israeli man in theRed Sea port of Nuweiba who is sus-pected of espionage, a judicial sourcesaid.

Israeli media identified the suspectarrested in Taba as 24-year-old AndreyPshenichnikov, a Russian-born immi-grant to Israel who had been arrestedby the Israeli Shin Bet security service in2012 over his pro-Palestinian activism.(� AFP, Cairo 1/1 2013)

LIBYA – EUROPEItalian Consul Escapes Shooting

The security of diplomats in Benghazicontinues to cause concern.

An Italian diplomat came under fire in,Benghazi in early January but escapedunharmed. Guido De Sanctis, the Italianconsul in the city, was travelling in hisbullet-proof car when unidentified gun-men opened fire.

The security of diplomats in Benghazihas caused concern for foreign govern-ments following the death of US ambas-sador Christopher Stevens in September2012.

It was unclear how the incident wouldaffect Libyan-Italian relations. At arecent economic forum, the Italian For-eign Minister Giulio Terzi said securityin Libya was essential to future Italianinvestment in the country.

The Libyan government “has guaran-teed its maximum commitment to ensurethose responsible for this vile act ofterrorism face justice,” Terzi said. “Italyexpresses its strongest condemnationand reaffirms its full support for thecourse of democracy and reforms ofauthorities in Tripoli,” AFP quoted himas saying (13/1).

The BBC correspondent said there hadbeen a visible rise in Islamist militantsin Benghazi since the civil war thattoppled Gaddafy. They are beingblamed for the deadly attack on theUS consulate on September 11th 2012and recent assassinations of local policechiefs, BBC News Online (12/1)reported.

Italy is the biggest foreign investor inLibya’s energy industry and has beenbuilding up relations with the new gov-ernment in recent months. MohammedMegaryef, head of Libya’s GeneralNational Congress and the de facto headof state, visited Italy in early January forbusiness talks.

De Sanctis, 51, has been in Benghazisince the start of the uprising againstGaddafy in 2011 and was due to leavefor a posting in Qatar.

Leave Benghazi Warning: Europeancountries urged their nationals to leavethe eastern city of Benghazi on January24th, with Britain citing a “specific andimminent” threat to Westerners daysafter the deadly attack by Islamistmilitants in neighbouring Algeria(p. 19563). Germany and the Nether-lands made similar warnings to theirnationals.

The call to leave Libya’s second largestcity irked Libyans keen to win foreigninvestment to rebuild a fractured infra-structure and boost the oil industryafter the revolution which toppledMuammar Gaddafy in 2011. Securityhas been bolstered at oil fields, newssources said. (Sources as referenced intext)

SOMALIA – FRANCEHostage Raid Fails

Soldiers come under heavy fire as theytry to rescue an intelligence agent.

French President Francois Hollande hasordered security stepped up aroundpublic buildings and transport in Francebecause of military operations in Africa.He was responding to the risk of Islamistattacks after French forces attackedmilitants in Mali (p. 19547) and Soma-lia.

Al Shabaab said on its Twitter accounton January 17th it had killed Frenchintelligence agent Denis Allex in retalia-tion for a failed French operation to freehim. The French government had said itbelieved Mr Allex was killed during theraid the previous week, in which twoFrench commandos also died. TheFrench retrieved one of the bodies. Onthe 14th, Al Shabaab published a pho-tograph of the other French soldier whothe group said had died of gunshotwounds following capture during theraid.

France’s Chief of Defence Staff AdmiralEdouard Guillaud speaking on Europe 1radio on the 16th accused al Shabaab of“manipulating the media” and reaf-firmed that Allex was likely alreadydead. Mr Allex – a French intelligenceagent – was kidnapped in Somalia inJuly 2009. Al-Shabaab had earlier threa-tened to kill him and said that because ofthe rescue attempt, France would beresponsible for his death, The Standard,Nairobi reported (17/1).

On the 11th, about 50 French comman-dos launched an assault by helicopter onthe Shabaab stronghold of Bulo Marer,believing Allex was being held in thetown. Al Shabaab said it had hadadvance warning of the attack and Allexwas not present. France says 17 militantswere killed during the fighting, whichwitnesses said was intense and lasted forat least an hour. Several civilians werereported to have been killed in theclashes.

Somalia’s government said it had noprior knowledge of the raid and itregretted the loss of civilian lives.

The French soldiers were betrayed bySomali intelligence officers from theNational Intelligence and SecurityAgency (NISA), said one Somalia ana-lyst. So did the Somali blogger ‘insid-etheinsurgency’ (http://insidetheinsurgency.wordpress.com/), a former militantIslamist who has kept jihadist contactsand has been reliable in the past. Bothpoint out that the NISA has commonancestry with parts of Al Shabaab in theIslamic Courts Union (ICU), the orga-nisation that ran the country until the

0MILES

Taba

Gulf ofAqaba

GAZA

WESTBANK

MediterraneanSea

DeadSea

Gaza

EGYPT

Al Aqabah

SAUDIARABIA

JORDAN

BeerSheva

ISRAEL

S i n a i

P e n i n s u l a

25

Route of newIsraeli

border fence.

Eilat

Jerusalem

A B C


19578 – Africa Research Bulletin Overseas Relations

2006 US-backed Ethiopian invasion.There have been rumours of the Frenchmilitary working with NISA, writesAfrica Confidential, London (18/1).

The French soldiers immediately raninto heavy fire from, according to theblogger and some witnesses quoted bynews agencies, many guerrillas andtechnicals (pick-up trucks) equippedwith anti-aircraft cannon. AfricanUnion Mission in Somalia (Amisom)sources say only advance warning ofthe raid would explain why so muchShabaab military hardware was presentat Bulo Marer.

There was no connection to the Frenchintervention in Mali, say both theFrench military and Africa Confidentialsources; the rescue operation had been inpreparation for some time.

Allex, a code name, was originally seizedwith another intelligence officer from theDirection G�en�erale de la S�ecurit�e Ext�eri-eure, ‘Marc Aubri�ere’ on Bastille Day2009. AFP reported French DefenceMinister Jean-Yves Le Drian as sayingon January 12th that the raidwas sparkedby the “intransigence of the terrorists whohave refused to negotiate for three and ahalf years and were holding Denis Allexin inhuman conditions”.

At first, Al Shabaab had wanted toexchange Allex for its prisoners in So-maliland and others held by the US inGuant�anamo Bay, Cuba. The Hargeisagovernment wanted $10m and Washing-ton flatly refused, says Africa Confiden-tial. After these moves came to nothing,rumours circulated recently that Al Sha-baab was now willing to consider accept-ing cash in return for releasing itscaptive. The NISA is capable of effi-ciency and ruthless action against AlShabaab, said a source familiar with theagency, adding, “When it comes toforeigners, that is a completely differentmatter.” Whether for cash or fromperceived clan obligations, said thesource, “One agent probably sold the

operational information to Shabaab.”(Sources as referenced in text)

SOMALIA – USDiplomatic Recognition

Official ties are re-established for thefirst time since the Black Hawk Deba-cle in 1991.

The United States has officially recog-nized Somalia’s government in Mogadi-shu for the first time in 20 years, USSecretary of State Hilary Clinton saidafter meeting with Somali PresidentHas-san Sheikh Mohamud on January 17th.

Diplomatic relations between the twocountries were effectively cut in 1993after two US Black Hawk helicopterswere shot down over Mogadishu, killing18 American soldiers, during an attemptto arrest two aides to militia leaderMohamed Farah Aideed. The countryhad been in chaos, with clan warlordsand militants battling for control, sincethe ouster of dictator Mohamed SiyadBarreh in 1991.

President Mohamud’s visit to Washing-ton “represents a significant change inthe security and political situation on theground in Somalia and our relationshipwith that country,” said Johnnie Carson,assistant secretary of state for AfricanAffairs.

In addition to his meeting with Clinton,the Somali leader met with Dr. JimYong Kim, president of the World Bank,as well as representatives of developmentagencies such as USAID.

President Mohamud also met with Pres-ident Barack Obama at the WhiteHouse, signaling what Clinton said wasa strong US commitment to Somalia’sfuture. “The United States will be asteadfast partner with you every step ofthe way,” she said. (allafrica.com, Wash-ington 17/1)

Garowe Online said that the US decisionto recognize the Somali Federal Gov-ernment as the national government ofSomalia had created a political storm inSomaliland with government officials,parliamentarians, opposition figuresand traditional elders publicly voicingtheir dissatisfaction with the USannouncement.

Somaliland Interior Minister MohamedNur Arale Duur told reporters in Harge-isa that it was a “slap in the face” forSomaliland’s pursuit of independencefrom the rest of Somalia. (Garowe Online21/1)

IN BRIEFCongo – Belgium: Belgium’s ambassador toCongo, Jan de Bruyne, has been recalled toBrussels for using undiplomatic languageduring an official function he hosted.

Belgian Foreign Minister, Didier Reyners saidde Bruyne “failed to abide by his obligation ofdiscretion about the host country.”

Mr de Bruyne reportedly delivered an all-Flemish, “contemptuous and shocking speechagainst Congolese President Denis SassouN’Guesso and his wife” during a receptionhe hosted in the Belgian embassy in Brazza-ville for a visiting Belgian economic mission.(PANA, Brazzaville 7/1)

Piracy: Gunmen seized a Panama-flagged oiltanker which was heading for the Coted’Ivoire’s economic capital of Abidjan,authorities said on January 21st. A statementfrom Abidjan port authorities said “armedindividuals” hijacked the vessel ITRI onJanuary 16th.

The ship, which was due to discharge 5,000tonnes of oil and was unable to put outa distress call in time for a rescue, hasbeen located off neighbouring Ghana, itsaid.

Authorities said a crisis team has been estab-lished for the hijacked vessel and its crew,adding that “the highest military and civilianauthorities” are involved in handling the case.(© AFP, Abidjan 21/1 2013)

CONSERVATIONAfrica

East African nations have recentlyrecorded an increase in poachingincidents.

Eleven elephants were killed by poach-ers during the weekend of January5th–6th, in the Bisadi area of TsavoEast National Park. Kenya Wildlife

Service (KWS) said its rangers hadlaunched an intensive hunt for apoaching gang believed to have slaugh-tered the elephants and carted awaytheir tusks, The People, Nairobi (8/1)reported. Officials called it the coun-try’s worst incident of its kind in thepast three decades.

Rampant poaching has continued in theTsavo, Kenya’s largest elephant sanctu-ary, despite KWS introducing theCanine Unit with sniffer dogs on a

24-hour basis at the Jomo KenyattaInternational Airport in Nairobi andMoi International Airport in Mombasato detect smuggling of ivory. The unithas, since 2009, netted more than 10tonnes of raw and processed ivory, Plansare at an advanced stage by KWS to alsointroduce sniffer dogs at Eldoret Inter-national Airport as well as other exit andentry points. Stiffer penalties related towildlife poaching have also been incor-porated under a proposed wildlife law todeter poaching-related cases and inci-dents.

Tsavo is the country’s largest contiguousecosystem, the size of Rwanda and hometo an estimated 13,000 elephants,

Social and Cultural

A B C



according to a 2011 census. (The People,Nairobi 8/1)

Meanwhile some 638 pieces of ivoryestimated to be worth Shs 100m ($1.1m)were impounded at the port of Momba-sa on January 16th. Kenya RevenueAuthority (KRA) Deputy Commissionerin Charge of Port operations Gitau G.Gitau said the consignment was destinedfor Indonesia, and added that a similarshipment was also intercepted in HongKong after it successfully evaded verifi-cation a month earlier in what he termed“use of fake documents for clearance at

the customs and Kenya Ports Author-ity” Daily Nation reported (16/1). Thegovernment has launched an investiga-tion.

A problem which has always existed, butpreviously seemed containable, hit anunprecedented new level in 2012, withhundreds of rhinos and thousands ofelephants illegally slaughtered to satisfysoaring demand in Asia for rhino hornand elephant ivory, writes The Indepen-dent, London (31/12). More than 600rhinos were killed in 2012 and at least3,000 elephants – but those figures areprobably conservative. Rhino horn issought as a cancer treatment by multi-tudes of users of traditional Asian med-icine. It is also considered anaphrodisiac. Ivory is being sought forluxury carvings for the teeming numbersof new millionaires in China and sur-rounding Asian countries. For bothmarkets, prices have rocketed, with bothrhino horn and ivory in some circum-stances fetching $60,000 (£37,000) perkilo – equivalent to the price of gold.

The profits generated are so vast thatthey are attracting both organised crimesyndicates, and rebel groups acrossAfrica, who are using sales of hornsand tusks from animals they have killedto finance their civil wars.

Kenyan police believe poached ivoryproceeds are being used to fund terror-ism after arresting a suspected militantwith more than Sh1.5m he reportedlyobtained from involvement in the recentelephant slaughter in Tsavo EastNational Park. The police claimed thesuspect was trying to cross to Somalia tomeet Al-Shabaab members with the lootwhen he was arrested.

In South Africa alone, 633 rhinos werekilled by poachers up to December 19th,2012, with no fewer than 395 hit inKruger National Park, the country’slargest wildlife reserve and leading safaridestination. Rangers predicted thananother 20 animals would be killed bythe year’s end, making the total morethan 650. This compares with an averagepoaching rate of 12 animals per yearacross the country between 2000 and2007. Since then the average annualfigures have shot up at an astonishingrate, going from 13 in 2007 to 83 in 2008,122 in 2009, 333 in 2010 and 448 in 2011.South Africa has about 20,000 rhinos, or80% of all the rhinos in Africa.

Similarly, poaching of African elephantshit a new high in 2012, based on globalseizures of illegal ivory, which at 34tonnes, was 50% higher than the previ-ous record of 23 tonnes set in 2011. Atroughly one tonne of tusks to 10 ele-phants, this is well over 3,000 animalsslaughtered, but the true figure acrossAfrica is thought to be much higher.

South African newspaper The Star web-site (7/1) described the carnage ascontinuing with news that already tworhinos had been killed, one in the KrugerNational Park and the other at theMadikwe Game Reserve. The paper said2013 had to be the year the corner wasturned on the problem. (Sources as refer-enced in text)

Zambian Ban

Zambia on January 10th banned lionand leopard hunting to protect rapidlydecreasing feline numbers for a burgeon-ing safari industry, despite criticism thatit will drive tourists away.

“We do not have enough cats for hunt-ing purposes, especially if we have tosave our national resources,” accordingto Tourism minister Sylvia Masebo.

“Although there is evidence that safarihunting and wildlife record income forthe country, there was a need to weighthe benefits against the fast-depletingspecies of some animals,” said Masebo.

But the Zambia Wildlife Authority(ZAWA) said the ban would be badfor the tourist industry. “The populationof cats in Zambia is around 3,400 to3,500 and with the ban on safari huntingfor cats we are likely to lose on revenue.It is these cats that make Zambia’s safarihunting competitive in the region,” saidZAWA head of research Chuma Simuk-onda. Only 55 felines were hunted ayear, he said, though the income fromthe sport was unknown.

ZAWA and the government are in a spatafter authorities temporarily closed theagency’s offices pending investigationsinto graft.

Its director and senior officials were firedin December for alleged corruption inthe awarding of safari hunting conces-sions. The country’s hunting communityhowever sees the move as political med-dling. (© AFP 10/1)

MEDIAAfrica

The Vienna-based world press bodyrecords the deadliest year for journal-ists.

An unprecedented 132 journalists werekilled in the line of duty or as aconsequence of their reporting in 2012,the highest since the International PressInstitute (IPI) started systematicallykeeping track of journalists’ deaths in1997.

In Somalia, IPI registered the deaths of16 journalists, more than in any othersingle year over the last 15. Despitepositive political developments and mil-

Music for Mali

Some of Mali’s biggest artists have com-posed a song for peace in a country wherethe army, backed by French troops, isbattling to drive out Islamist extremistsoccupying the vast desert north (Seep. 19547).

The seven-minute song, released in Ba-mako on January 17th, is titled “Mali Ko”(‘For Mali’ in the local Bambara lan-guage). It features about 40 artists, includ-ing five from the north, reports AFP(18/1). Well-known Ivorian singer TikenJah Fakoly also collaborated on the com-position, along with big names such asToumani Diabate, Bassekou Kouyate andFatoumata Diawara and Vieux FarkaTour�e, son of the venerated Ali FarkaTour�e.

Music is deeply ingrained in Malian cul-ture and the country boasts some ofAfrica’s best loved singers. In the Islam-ist-occupied zone, hardline sharia law hasbeen imposed and music banned formonths.

Though the message of the song is one ofnational unity, individual singers levelfierce criticism at their ideological oppo-nents, writes The Times, London (24/1)

At a press conference, Diawara said shebelieved the population was looking toMali’s musicians for the moral strengththat had been lacking in the country’soften corrupt political elite. “They havelost hope in politics,” she says. “But musichas always brought hope in Mali.”

“Malians are very worried today. We arebusy losing our own country. We are veryvery concerned about not being able tosing in our own country because not onlyare women being raped, beaten and mis-treated in the north, but now they want toprevent us from making music, knowingthat music is the soul of Mali,” saidDiawara.

In a slum near Bamako airport on Janu-ary 18th, hundreds of refugees from thenorth met to dance and show solidarity ata concert by Baba Salaha, a Timbuktu –based guitarist. Music is the tradition ofthe north in all sorts of ceremonies and toforbid it is a kind of crime againsthumanity, he explained. (Sources as ref-erenced in text)

A B C


19580 – Africa Research Bulletin Social and Cultural

itary gains against insurgents, Somalia’sinstability ensured that impunity for thekillers of journalists continued in 2012,prompting even more attacks. Somalia’snew president, Hasan Shaykh Mahmud,has promised to create a task force toinvestigate, a move that IPI has wel-comed. However, the government itselfhas been implicated in several pressfreedom violations: in the semi-autono-mous region of Puntland, officials shutdown Horseed FM, a Netherlands-basedstation, after it aired critical reports, anact of censorship that IPI vigorouslyprotested.

In Ethiopia, the government employedanti-terrorism laws to silence journalists.Though two Swedish journalists arrestedin 2011 were released in September 2012after agreeing to admit wrongdoing inexchange for a pardon, Ethiopian jour-nalists were not so lucky. (see p. 19570)

In Egypt, legal and political battles overthe country’s new constitution and com-position of the constituent assemblytook centre stage, with observers fearingthat the constitution could negatively

affect press freedom. On December 25thPresident Muhammad Mursi signed adecree that put into effect the contro-versial constitution. Supporters of thedocument say it enshrines the values thatled to the recent revolution, but oppo-nents fear articles outlawing the insult ofindividuals or religions could be used torestrict commentary and public debate.(IPI press release, Vienna 31/12)

Tunisian Group Warns of Setback

An independent group has warned thatfreedom of the press in Tunisia’s publicand private media outlets is underthreat, citing a catalogue of setbacksand violations, Al-Jazeera reported(3/1). In its monthly report, the TunisCentre for Freedom of the Press docu-mented incidents of aggression against36 Tunisian journalists in December2012.

The centre documented incidents ofviolations against journalists eitherthrough the use of “bodily violence orthe judiciary. It cited the private televi-sion channel, El Hiwar Ettounsi, owned

by human rights activist Taher BenHocine, as one of the media outlets thathad been a frequent target of violations.

It warned against the return of statecensorship through interference in jour-nalists’ work.

Al-Jazeera also reported that the Tuni-sian Court of Appeals rejected a requestfor the release of Sami Fehri, the directorof the private Ettounsiya Television. Thecourt also issued arrest warrants for fiveformer directors in Tunisian nationaltelevision on financial and administra-tive corruption charges that could carrya prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Fehri is accused of misappropriatingnational television funds during the ruleof ousted President Zine El Abidine BenAli through Cactus, a private TV pro-duction company which he co-ownedwith Belhassen Trabelsi, Ben Ali’sbrother-in-law. (Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, 3/1)

Journal Customer Services: For ordering information, claims and any enquiryconcerning your journal subscription please go to http://www.wileycustomerhelp.com/ask or contact your nearest office.Americas: Email: [email protected]; Tel: +1 781 388 8598 or +1 800 835 6770 (tollfree in the USA & Canada).Europe, Middle East and Africa: Email: [email protected]; Tel: +44 (0) 1865778315.Asia Pacific: Email: [email protected]; Tel: +65 6511 8000.Japan: For Japanese speaking support, Email: [email protected]; Tel: +65 6511 8010or Tel (toll-free): 005 316 50 480.Visit our Online Customer Get-Help available in 6 languages at http://www.wileycus-tomerhelp. comInformation for subscribers: The Africa Research Bulletin Economic Series is published in12 issues per year. Subscription prices for 2013 are set out in the table below. Prices areexclusive of tax. Asia-Pacific GST, Canadian GST and European VAT will be applied atthe appropriate rates. For more information on current tax rates, please go to http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/tax-vat. The price includes online access to the current andall online back files to January 1st 2008, where available. For other pricing options,including access information and terms and conditions, please visit http://www.wileyonli-nelibrary.com/accessDelivery terms and legal title:Prices include delivery of print journals to recipients’ address.Delivery termsaredelivereddutyunpaid; the recipient is responsible forpaying importdutyor taxes. Legal title passes to the customer on despatch by our distributor.

Political or Economic Series

Annual Subscription

TheAmericas

Europe(€ zone)

Europe(non-€ zone) Africa

Rest ofWorld

Institutional: Print + Online $2237 £1179 €1497 $1503 $2611Institutional: Online Only $1945 £1026 €1302 $1305 $2271Institutional: Print Only $1945 £1026 €1302 $1305 $2271

Back issues: Single issues from current and recent volumes are available at the currentsingle issue price from [email protected]. Earlier issues may be obtained fromPeriodicals Service Company, 11 Main Street, Germantown, NY 12526, USA. Tel: +1518 537 4700, Fax: +1 518 537 5899, Email: [email protected]

Online: View this journal online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arbe

Disclaimer: The Publisher and Editorscannot be held responsible for errors orany consequences arising from the useof information contained in this journal;the views and opinions expressed donot necessarily reflect those of thePublisher and Editors, neither does thepublication of advertisements consti-tute any endorsement by the Publisherand Editors of the products advertised.

A B C



Documents

Africa Research Bulletin February 2013