AFRICOM Related News clips 16 Sep 11

8/4/2019 AFRICOM Related News clips 16 Sep 11

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office16 September 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please find attached news clips related to U.S. Africa Command andAfrica, along with upcoming events of interest for September 16, 2011.

Of interest in today's clips, Al Jazeera reports that Sarkozy and Cameron meet NTC leadersas fighting continues for control of holdout pro-Qadhafi strongholds; and widespreadracism and suspicion toward sub-Saharan Africans in post-Qadhafi Libya endangersunarmed migrant workers.

In other news, Reuters reports that foreign allies during the war would have priority forfuture deals with the country; Niger calls on international help to secure its northern borderwith Libya; and prosecutors at the ICC are failing to bring to trial senior governmentofficials responsible for atrocities.

New onwww.africom.mil, the commander of U.S. Africa Command told journalists that inhis travels through Africa he is guided by two main principles: A safe, stable, and secureAfrica is the best interest of Africans as well as the United States; and that Africans are bestable to address their own security issues. Also, the people of Negele, Ethiopia celebratedthe hard work between the governments of Ethiopia and the United States August 22, 2011,during a ground breaking ceremony signifying the start of construction for a much-neededbridge that will connect two local villages and ultimately improve commerce while savinglives.

U.S. Africa Command Public AffairsPlease send questions or comments to:[email protected] (+49-711-729-2687)

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Top News related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa

The New Scramble For Africa Analysis (Eurasia Review)

http://www.eurasiareview.com/15092011-the-new-scramble-for-africa-analysis/By Conn Hallinan15 September 2011Is current U.S. foreign policy in Africa following a blueprint drawnup almost eight years ago by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of the mostconservative think tanks in the world?
http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.eurasiareview.com/15092011-the-new-scramble-for-africa-analysis/http://www.eurasiareview.com/15092011-the-new-scramble-for-africa-analysis/http://www.eurasiareview.com/15092011-the-new-scramble-for-africa-analysis/mailto:[email protected]://www.africom.mil/


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Centcom to eliminate at least 1,000 jobs (The Tampa Tribune)

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/sep/14/menewso5-centcom-to-eliminate-at-least-1000-jobs-ar-257563/By Howard Altman

14 September 2011 - By 2014, U.S. Central Command will reduce its personnel in Tampafrom 5,100 jobs to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000, according to Maj. Gen. KarlHorst, the command's chief of staff.

French and British leaders in Libya (Al Jazeera)

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/20119155057747962.htmlBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - French and British leaders have arrived in Libya to congratulate thenew rulers they helped install, as NATO-backed fighters continue their battle for controlover Bani Walid.

Black Africans come under fire in Libya (Al Jazeera)http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/black-africans-come-under-fire-libyaBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - As Libyas National Transitional Council establishes itself in Tripolias the countrys interim government and begins to lead the recovery process, reports havesurfaced that NTC-affiliated fighters are targeting black Libyans and migrant workers withviolent retribution.

Wikileaks cable: Ethiopia reporter Argaw Ashine 'flees' (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14929307By Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - An Ethiopian reporter cited in a US diplomatic cable released byWikileaks has fled his country, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says.

Angola: Huambo air force plane crash kills generals (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14920966By Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - A plane crash in Angola has killed 30 people, including three armygenerals, a military official has said.

Libya: Manhunt for Gaddafi's Security Chief in Kaduna (allAfrica.com)http://allafrica.com/stories/201109150005.htmlBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - Following a report by an international Hausa radio station thatMuammar Gaddafi's head of security service, General Youssef Dbiri, had relocated toKaduna State from Yobe State where he is said to have maternal root, a robust manhunt forDbiri's whereabouts has begun.

Libya's NTC says allies have "priority" for deals (Reuters)

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By Alexander Dziadosz and Barry Malone15 September 2011 - Libyas provisional government said on Thursday its foreign alliesduring the war would have priority for future deals with the country and warned that someexisting contracts would be subject to review for corruption.

Niger calls for help to secure Libyan border (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E01F20110915?sp=trueBy Bate Felix15 September 2011 - Niger called on Wednesday for international help to secure itsnorthern border with Libya, saying the conflict to the north was holding back efforts by itsnew civilian government to find stability and develop its economy.

ICC fails to net top perpetrators of war crimes: HRW (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E06020110915?sp=trueBy Aaron Gray-Block15 September 2011 - Prosecutors at the world's top war crimes court are failing to bring to

trial senior government officials responsible for atrocities, undermining the credibility ofthe tribunal, Human Rights Watch said.

Horn of Africa: refugees confront trauma and sexual violence (AlertNet)

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/horn-of-africa-refugees-confront-trauma-and-sexual-violence/By AlertNet // CARE International15 September 2011 - In the heartache and confusion that accompany the flight fromdrought and hunger, refugees from Somalia can now turn to a source of comfort with afamiliar face: fellow refugees who have been specially trained to help survivors of trauma,loss, sexual and gender-based violence.

Libyan Chemical Materials a Proliferation Threat, U.S. Commander Says (Global

Security Newswire)

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110915_6822.phpBy Martin Matishak15 September 2011 - Libya's stockpile of chemical warfare materials remains a potentialsource of proliferation, the U.S. military commander for Africa told reporters onWednesday.

EAC, USAFRICOM joint military exercise opens tomorrow (StarAfrica.com)

http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/detail-news/article/eac-usafricom-joint-military-exercise-o-189899.htmlBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - A joint military training exercise between the EAC Partner States'Defence Forces and the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) officially openstomorrow 16 September at Chukwani Military Centre in Zanzibar.

Cattle raiders kill 46 in South Sudan (Reuters)

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By Unattributed Author15 September 2011 - At least 46 people were killed and around 5,000 cows stolen in thelatest tribal violence in newly independent South Sudan, authorities said on Thursday.

S. Africa's Zuma asks for new probe of arms deal (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0H120110915?sp=trueBy Jon Herskovitz15 September 2011 - South African President Jacob Zuma will appoint a commission toinvestigate a multi-billion dollar arms deal, his office said on Thursday, in a new probe intocorruption allegations against several companies and top officials including Zuma himself.

Guns, migrants, mercenaries: Qaddafi's loss is the Sahel's gain (The Christian

Science Monitor)

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainBy Drew Hinshaw

15 September 2011 - Leaders from the Saharan nation ofNiger, yesterday requestedinternational aid to curb the flow of migrants, militants, and guns across their desert borderwith Libya.

African Visitors Focus on Climate, Food Security (Dept. of State)

http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/09/20110913151747nirak0.6906092.html#axzz1Y2yIgHjiBy Karin Rives15 September 2011 - A group of African government officials and experts on agricultureand climate change recently participated in a professional exchange program in the UnitedStates focused on the issue.

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UN News Service Africa Briefs

http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA(Full Articles on UN Website)

With pledge to continue its work, UN honours those who died in Nigerian terror attack 15 SeptemberWith calls to persevere through adversity, the United Nations held amemorial ceremony in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, today for the staff members who diedwhen its offices there were attacked by a suicide bomber last month.

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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

20 SEPT 2011

WHEN: September 20, 2011, at noon
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WHAT: Pakistan, the U.S. and Public Diplomacy with Consul General Riffat MasoodCPD Conversations in Public DiplomacyWHO: Riffat Masood, the Consul General of PakistanWHERE: USC; SOS B40CONTACT:[email protected]

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What's New onwww.africom.mil

TRANSCRIPT: AFRICOM Commander Ham Discusses African Security with

Defense Writers

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7203&lang=0The commander of U.S. Africa Command told journalists that in his travels through Africahe is guided by two main principles: A safe, stable, and secure Africa is the best interest of

Africans as well as the United States; and that Africans are best able to address their ownsecurity issues.

Ground Breaking Ceremony for Bridge in Negele

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7199&lang=0The people of Negele, Ethiopia, celebrated the hard work between the governments ofEthiopia and the United States August 22, 2011, during a ground breaking ceremonysignifying the start of construction for a much-needed bridge that will connect two localvillages and ultimately improve commerce while saving lives.

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Full Text

The New Scramble For Africa Analysis (Eurasia Review)

http://www.eurasiareview.com/15092011-the-new-scramble-for-africa-analysis/By Conn Hallinan15 September 2011

Is current U.S. foreign policy in Africa following a blueprint drawn up almost eight yearsago by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of the most conservative think tanks in theworld? Although it seems odd that a Democratic administration would have anything incommon with the extremists at Heritage, the convergence in policy and practice betweenthe two is disturbing.

Heritage, with help from Joseph Coors and the Scaife Foundations, was founded in 1973by the late Paul Weyrich, one of the most conservative thinkers in the United States and aco-founder of the Moral Majority.

Africa
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In October 2003, James Carafano and Nile Gardiner, two Heritage Foundationheavyweights, proposed a major shift in U.S. military policy vis--vis the Africancontinent.

In a Backgrounder article entitled "U.S. Military Assistance for Africa: A BetterSolution," the two called for the creation of a military command for the continent, a focuson fighting terrorism, and direct military intervention using air power and naval forces if

vital U.S. interests are at stake. Such interventions, they wrote, should include allies and

avoid using ground troops.

Almost every element of that proposal has come together over the past year, though somepieces, like the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Trans-SaharaCounterterrorism Initiative, were in place before the Obama administration took office.

Libya and Oil

The Libya war seems almost straight off Heritages drawing board. Although the United

States appeared to take a back seat to its allies, NATO would not have been able to carryout the war without massive amounts of U.S. military help. U.S. Special Forces and CIAteams, along with special units from Britain, France, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates,organized the rebels, coordinated air strikes, and eventually pulled off an amphibiousoperation that sealed Tripolis fate.

The Heritage scholars were also clear what they meant by vital U.S. interests: With itsvast natural and mineral resources, Africa remains strategically important to the West, as ithas been for hundreds of years, and its geostrategic significance is likely to rise in the 21stcentury. According to the National Intelligence Council, the United States is likely to draw25 percent of its oil from West Africa by 2015, surpassing the volume imported from thePersian Gulf.

It was a sentiment shared by the Bush Administration. West Africas oil has become a

national strategic interest, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Walter

Kansteiner in 2002.

The UN tasked NATO with protecting civilians in Libya, but France, Britain, the UnitedStates, and their Gulf allies focused on regime change. Indeed, when leaders of the AfricanUnion (AU) pushed for negotiations aimed at a political settlement, NATO and the rebelsbrusquely dismissed them.

The NATO bombing really undermined the AUs initiatives and effort to deal with thematter in Libya, complained South African President Jacob Zuma. More than 200

prominent Africans released a letter on August 24 condemning the misuse of the United

Nations Security Council to engage in militarized diplomacy to effect regime change inLibya, as well as the marginalization of the African Union.


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The suspicion that the Libya war had more to do with oil and gas than protecting civiliansis why the AU has balked at recognizing the rebel Transitional National Council, and thereis a growing unease at the Wests militarized diplomacy.

Protecting Energy Supplies

Through the Defense DepartmentsAfrican Contingency Operation Training andAssistance Program, the United States is actively engaged in training the militaries of Mali,Chad, Niger, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon,Zambia, Uganda, Senegal, Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi, and Mauritania.

In June 2006, NATO troops stormed ashore on Sao Vicente island in the Cape Verdearchipelago, an exercise aimed at protecting energy supplies in the Niger Delta and Gulfof Guinea.

Major oil producers in the region include Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial

Guinea, Chad, and Mauritania.

Protecting energy supplies from whom?

In the case of the Niger Delta, it means protecting oil companies and the Nigeriangovernment from local people fed up with the pollution that is killing them and thecorruption that denies them any benefits from their resources. Under the umbrella of theEmancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), locals are waging a low-key guerilla war that atone point reduced oil supplies by 20 percent.

MEND is certainly suspicious of American motives in the region. Of course, it is evidentthat oil is the key concern of the United States in establishing its Africa Command, says

the organizations spokesman, Jomo Gbomo.

The Nigerian government labels a number of restive groups in Nigeria as terrorist and

links them to al-Qaeda, including Boko Haram in the countrys north. But labelingopponents terrorists or raising the al-Qaeda specter is an easy way to dismiss what maybe real local grievances. For instance, Boko Harams growing penchant for violence ismore likely a response to the heavy-handedness of the Nigerian army than anal-Qaeda-inspired campaign.

Corporate Interests

The protection of civilians may be the public rationale for intervention, but the bottom linelooks suspiciously like business. Before the guns have even gone silent in Libya, oneBritish business leader has complained toThe Independentthat Britain is behind the curveon securing opportunities. Its all politics, no commercial stuff. I think that is a mistake.We need to be getting down there as soon as possible,

The Spanish oil company Repsol and the Italian company Eni are already gearing up forproduction. Eni will play a No.1 role in the future, says Italian Foreign MinisterFranco
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Frattini. Almost 70 percent of Libyas oil goes to four countries: Spain, Germany, France,and Italy. Qatar, which is already handing oil sales in Eastern Libya, will also be on theground floor as production ramps up.

A major loser in the warand some would argue, not by accidentis China. Beijing,

which accounted for about 11 percent of Libyas pre-war exports, had some 75 companiesworking in Libya and 36,000 personnel. But because China complained that NATO hadunilaterally changed the UN resolution from protecting civilians to regime change, Beijingis likely to suffer. Abdeljalil Mayouf, information manager of the rebel oil firm AGOCOtoldReuters that China, Brazil, and Russia would be frozen out of contracts.

Brazil and Russia also supported negotiations and complained about NATOs

interpretation of the UN resolution on Libya.

For Heritage, keeping China out of Africa is what it is all about. Peter Brookes, the formerprincipal Republican advisor for East Asia on the House Committee on International

Relations, warned that China was hell-bent on challenging the United States and becominga global power, and key to that is expanding its interests in Africa. In a throwback to theMaoist revolutionary days of the 1960s and 1970s and the Cold War, Beijing has onceagain identified the African continent as an area of strategic interest, he told a HeritageFoundation audience in a talk entitled Into Africa: Chinas Grab for Influence and Oil.

Beijing gets about one third of its oil from AfricaAngola and Sudan are its majorsuppliersplus important materials like platinum, copper, timber, and iron ore.

Africa is rife with problems, but terrorism is not high on that list. A severe drought hasblistered much of East Africa, and with food prices rising, malnutrition is spreadingcontinent-wide. The war on terrorism has generated 800,000 refugees fromSomalia.

African civilians do indeed need help, but not the kind you get from fighter-bombers, dronestrikes, or Tomahawk cruise missiles dispatched at the urging of right-wing think tanks orinternational energy companies.

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Centcom to eliminate at least 1,000 jobs (The Tampa Tribune)

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/sep/14/menewso5-centcom-to-eliminate-at-least-1000-jobs-ar-257563/By Howard Altman14 September 2011

When Maj. Gen. Karl Horst arrived at MacDill Air Force Base in July to become chief ofstaff of U.S. Central Command, he was handed one of the military's most complex tasks.

Find ways to reduce the budget of one of the military's busiest commands, which overseesoperations in one of the world's most dangerous regions, without reducing the ability torespond to events in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and 14other countries.
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By 2014, U.S. Central Command will reduce its personnel in Tampa from 5,100 jobs tosomewhere between 3,000 and 4,000, according to Horst, the command's chief of staff.

"Intuitively, I would say we will be around the 4,000 mark," Horst said.

The jobs will come from a combination of personnel provided by the individual services, aswell as the reserves, National Guard and contractors. Horst said he is still working on hisbudget analysis and it is too early to say what number of jobs will be cut from each area.

The positions are temporary in nature, with some personnel here for just a few monthswhile others stay for a year or more. There will be no pink slips, said Horst.

"The cuts will come through attrition," he said, adding that the command is well aware ofthe effect on the local economy. The cuts, said Horst, were requested by his boss, Centcomcommander Marine Gen. John Mattis, who said the command will comply with budget

reductions requested by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Local officials say they are concerned about the cuts.

"The loss of a thousand jobs clearly will have some impact," said Rhea Law, chair of theTampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

The cuts come at a time when U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan iswinding down. U.S. armed forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end ofthis year, at which point the State Department would take over. In Afghanistan, 10,000troops are due to leave by the end of the year as the military works to withdraw from thatnation by 2014.

The reductions, Horst said, don't represent a reduction in Centcom's status or thechallenges it faces; everyone in the Department of Defense is cutting spending, he said.

Iraq is debating whether to ask for a U.S. military presence beyond this year.

The withdrawal in Afghanistan is contingent on the situation on the ground.

And Horst said Iran has special forces and other units in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria,Bahrain and other countries in the region, training Shia militias.

"The cuts can't be so harsh that we cut away our capacity," Horst said.

###

French and British leaders in Libya (Al Jazeera)http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/20119155057747962.htmlBy Unattributed Author
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15 September 2011

French and British leaders have arrived in Libya to congratulate the new rulers they helpedinstall, as NATO-backed fighters continue their battle for control over Bani Walid.

Thursday's joint visit is a victory lap for Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, who defieddoubters at home to lead a NATO bombing campaign that succeeded in ushering in avictory by forces who swept away Muanmar Gaddafi's 42-year rule last month.

Reporting from Tripoli, Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught said that the leaders' visit was "allabout building confidence".

"Of course, France and Britain took leading roles in the intervention in Libya, but it's muchmore important now, in this post-Gaddafi period, that France and Britain be also seen to beleading the recover," she said.

Both leaders are hugely popular on the streets of Libya, where "Merci Sarkozy" and"Thank you Britain" are common graffiti slogans.

Both may hope to earn political dividends back home from what now appears to have beena successful bet.

But on the eve of their visit, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) saidheavy battles lie ahead against Gaddafi loyalists who have refused to surrender.

Abdel Hafiz Ghogo, the NTC vice-chairman, told the Reuters news agency the two leaderswould visit both Tripoli and Benghazi, where the NTC rulers are still based.

Anti-Gaddafi fighters seized Tripoli, the Libyan capital, more than three weeks ago.

Western countries and neighbours are anxious to welcome Libya into the internationalcommunity, not least so it can restart lucrative oil production frozen by six months of war.

However, McNaught said that Libyans weren't opposed to Western business interests.

"One of the most crucial things that the NTC has said again and again is that we willhonour existing contracts," she said. "Because, in truth, the pause button was hit: whatLibya needs most of all right now is for those countries that had ongoing business here topick upwhere they left off."

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, is expected in Libya on Friday. Egypt'sforeign minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr, is also due to visit.

US envoy to Tripoli

A senior US envoy has already visited Tripoli to show support for Libya's new leaders,


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saying the NTC was getting the country's many armed groups under control and that theaftermath of Libya's uprising would not be dominated by one faction.

Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, met Libya's newinterim leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, on Wednesday, becoming the first official of the

Obama administration to visit Tripoli since Gaddafi's government fell last month.

In a statement delivered after the meeting with Abdel Jalil, Feltman said: "The UnitedStates and our international partners have an enduring commitment to supporting theLibyan people as they chart their country's future.

"This includes working with NATO and our coalition partners to continue operations toprotect Libyan civilians until they are no longer under threat."

He also said he expected the new rulers in Tripoli to "share concerns about terrorism" withthe US.

Tripoli has been relatively stable since NTC forces overran it on August 23, butNATO-backed fighters are still trying to capture at least three towns held by Gaddafiloyalists.

Interim government forces are besieging one of those last bastions, Bani Walid, 180kmsouth of the capital, along with Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast andSabha, deep in the southern desert.

"The fighters have been steadily, but slowly, inching towards Sirte," said Al Jazeera's HodaAbdel Hamid, reporting from Ajdabiya.

"You get the feeling that effectively they're putting Sirte under blockade."

After a week of fighting, NTC forces at Bani Walid have been urging people to leavebefore they try to storm the town.

Scores of cars packed with families left Bani Walid on Wednesday as NTC forcesbroadcast messages telling them to go and handed out free petrol to help them evacuate.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi has not been seen in public since June and his current whereabouts areunknown.

###

Black Africans come under fire in Libya (Al Jazeera)

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/black-africans-come-under-fire-libyaBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011

As Libyas National Transitional Council establishes itself in Tripoli as the countrys
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interim government and begins to lead the recovery process, reports have surfaced thatNTC-affiliated fighters are targeting black Libyans and migrant workers with violentretribution.

Earlier reports alleged that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi had hired mercenaries from

sub-Saharan Africa to push back rebel fighters, though it remains unclear how many ofthose soldiers may have remained in the country after the uprising began. Some groups ofmercenary fighters have abandoned Gaddafis forces and fled into neighbouring Mali and

Niger.

As fighting slows down in parts of the country, black Libyans and African labourers facechronic accusations of being Gaddafis hired mercenaries. NTC fighters have reportedly

been rounding up and detaining accused mercenaries even if they are found unarmed.

By some estimates, more than 5,000 black migrants have been detained in makeshift jailsaround the country, and others have faced beatings, revenge killings, and even mass

execution. Mercenary fighters found armed have been summarily executed, according toreports.

Most detainees maintain that they were not involved in fighting and are simply migrantworkers detained without evidence.

Black women in refugee camps reported night-time kidnappings and rapes by fightersthough to be associated with the NTC. Officials with the National Transitional Councildeny such reports.

Partially in response to reports of race-based violence and detention in Libya, the AfricanUnion has refused to recognize the legitimacy of Libyas interim government. It alleges

that the persecution of blacks in the country amounts to human rights violations that fullydelegitimise the post-Gaddafi leadership.

The United Nations has called on fighters and leaders on both sides of the conflict toprevent acts of retribution.

Before the Libyan uprising broke out earlier this year, the country hosted about a millionblack African workers, many of them employed in domestic work, construction, trashcollection, and other low-wage jobs. Even before the fighting began, these workers facedwidespread racism and discrimination.

Many workers are undocumented and therefore have no access to legal recourse.

###

Wikileaks cable: Ethiopia reporter Argaw Ashine 'flees' (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14929307By Unattributed Author
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15 September 2011

An Ethiopian reporter cited in a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks has fled hiscountry, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says.

Argaw Ashine told the US-based media watchdog he was interrogated three times by theauthorities this month.

They wanted him to reveal the identity of his government source referred to in a 2009 cableabout press harassment.

Wikileaks says Mr Argaw was not cited as a US embassy informant and "no journalisticsource is named".

But the CPJ says it is the first instance in which a citation in a Wikileaks cables has causeddirect repercussions for a journalist.

"The threat we sought to avert through redactions of initial Wikileaks cables has nowbecome real," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement.

"A citation in one of these cables can easily provide repressive governments with theperfect opportunity to persecute or punish journalists and activists," he said.

"While, it is outrageous for a journalist to feel the need to leave their country for a period,neither is it good for the CPJ to distort the facts for marketing purposes

It is not clear where Mr Argaw, who works for Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper and ischairman of the Ethiopian Environment Journalists Association, is now staying.

He told the CPJ he fled over the weekend after he was summoned for intensive questioningby officials from the Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO) with regard tothe US cable of 26 October 2009.

It was relating attempts to silence the private Amharic language Addis Neger newspaper,which has since closed and its editors have fled the country.

"A contact within GCAO told the Addis Ababa-based Daily Nation reporter ArgawAshene [Ashine] that the GCAO had drawn up a list of the six top Addis Neger officials...who they plan to target in order to silence the newspaper's analysis," the cable says.

Wikileaks said the CPJ was being misleading in its statement, Mr Argaw was onlymentioned in passing in the cable and was not named "by the CPJ in a list of journalisticrelated redactions processed by us".

"While, it is outrageous for a journalist to feel the need to leave their country for a period,neither is it good for the CPJ to distort the facts for marketing purposes," Wikileaks said in
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a statement.

###

Angola: Huambo air force plane crash kills generals (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14920966By Unattributed Author15 September 2011

Government official Luis Caetano, a spokesman for Huambo authorities, told the BBC themilitary aircraft crashed after leaving Huambo city airport.

He said six people had survived, including the pilot and co-pilot. State-run media says 17people died.

Correspondents say the aircraft was a relatively new Embraer jet purchased by the army to

transport top officials.

It is the third military plane crash in two months - after recent helicopter accidents inMoxico and Malange.

Wreckage split

Initial reports said that there were 36 passengers on board, but Mr Caetano told the BBC'sFocus on Africa programme the number was 32.

He said the aeroplane divided when it crashed and 26 bodies - 20 men and six women - hadinitially been recovered from wreckage.

People in the front of the aircraft survived, but those passengers in the back died as thatsection caught fire, he said.

A photograph issued by state-run news agency Angop showed the plane had broken intotwo pieces upon impact.

A hospital official said five of the injured suffered second degree burns and one passengerwas in a serious condition with third degree burns, AFP news agency said.

The plane's pilot said he did not know what had gone wrong.

"I don't know what happened, the plane was fine during taxi and takeoff, and then I reallydo not know what happened," captain Jose Goncalves said from hospital, AFP reported.

Angola state-run Angop news agency named two of the dead as Lt Gen Bernardo Leitao

Francisco Diogo, known by his civil war name "Lelo Kizua", and Lt Gen Elias Malungo

Bravo da Costa Pedro, known as "Kalias".
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Kalias was the director of the rebel leader Jonas Savimbi's office and was apparently

captured in 2002 when Savimbi was killed, ending the civil war, it reports.

Mr Caetano said the pilot, who had spoken to Angolan TV, seemed confused but insisted

that he had complied with all instructions from the control tower.

Portugal's Sol newspaper quoted a survivor in hospital as saying that the accident happened

so fast it was difficult to know what the problem was, but the pilot seemed to be aware that

there was a technical fault.

Portuguese news agency Lusa said the accident happened at about midday local time

(11:00 GMT).

The plane, bound for the capital, Luanda, took off from Huambo's Albano Machado

airport, which was only re-opened by the president last month after undergoing

renovations.

Since 2002, Angola has been striving to tackle the legacy of a 27-year civil war that

ravaged the country after independence.

It is one of Africa's major oil producers, but two thirds of the people remain in poverty.

According to Jane's Intelligence and Analysis, a digest of military information, Angola has

the largest standing army in central and southern Africa and one of the largest air forces in

sub-Saharan Africa.

###

Libya: Manhunt for Gaddafi's Security Chief in Kaduna (allAfrica.com)

http://allafrica.com/stories/201109150005.html

By Unattributed Author

15 September 2011

Following a report by an international Hausa radio station that Muammar Gaddafi's head of

security service, General Youssef Dbiri, had relocated to Kaduna State from Yobe State

where he is said to have maternal root, a robust manhunt for Dbiri's whereabouts has

begun.

A top security source who pleaded anonymity told LEADERSHIP last night that although

it was yet to be established that Gaddafi's security chief was in the country, security

operatives had swung into action to find out the truth. He said, "It was in the reports, but

robust manhunt is in progress to know how valid the allegation is, since we cannot leave
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anything to chance, as the security agency saddled with the responsibility of national

security."

On speculations that two of Gaddafi's intelligence officers are also hiding in the north, he

said, "Well, we have all that and, like I said, we have begun serious search to get to the root

of all the postulations. We need to know if it's true: who are they, and what is their mission?Is it just fleeing Libya and seeking asylum? Even if it is asylum, there must be procedures

and absolute documentation of immigration.

"You know there are security challenges attached to people coming into your country

without clear-cut traces and addresses, and even purposes for their immigration. We will

get to the bottom of all the speculations, and we also need the cooperation of people to

volunteer information. You don't know what is in their possessions - whether arms, money

- and what security threat they may pose. It is also possible for fleeing foreigners in a

country to be good citizens but, again, others can be influenced and get involved in inimical

acts, and that is why we are not taking chances."

Hamada Radio International, a Hausa vernacular radio based in Spain, which was

monitored in Kaduna had reported that members of the Gaddafi government had crossed

over to some parts of northern Nigeria.

According to the report, a convoy of trucks slipped and headed towards the north-west

town of Katsina, last Friday night. It linked it to some members of the Libyan military who,

it was alleged, have close family ties with General Dbiri who headed Gaddafi's security

service. He is said to have his maternal root in Nguru, Yobe State, north-eastern Nigeria.

###

Libya's NTC says allies have "priority" for deals (Reuters)

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyas-ntc-says-allies-have-priority-for-deals/

By Alexander Dziadosz and Barry Malone

15 September 2011

TRIPOLILibyas provisional government said on Thursday its foreign allies during the

war would have priority for future deals with the country and warned that some existing

contracts would be subject to review for corruption.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), was speakingat a news conference in the capital Tripoli with Britains Prime Minister David Cameron

and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Their joint visit was the first by foreign leaders

since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

Abdel Jalil said there were no previous agreements with the NTCs "allies and friends".
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But as a faithful Muslim people, we will appreciate these efforts and they will have priority

within a framework of transparency," he said.

The NTC chief also said existing contracts signed with the Gaddafi government would be

reviewed for graft.

"The previous contracts, we have respected them...all legitimate contracts. This means

review of these contracts for whatever financial corruption may have tainted them. As a

member of the previous government I know well that these prices were above those used

globally," Abdel Jalil said.

###

Niger calls for help to secure Libyan border (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E01F20110915?sp=true

By Bate Felix15 September 2011

NIAMEY - Niger called on Wednesday for international help to secure its northern border

with Libya, saying the conflict to the north was holding back efforts by its new civilian

government to find stability and develop its economy.

Justice Minister Marou Amadou said Niger needed help with intelligence-gathering and

aerial surveillance of some six million square metres of desert in its north, already a venue

for al Qaeda's North African wing and bandits.

"The situation in Libya is characterised by a number of uncontrolled arms that are

circulating in the region and which could end up in the hands of all kinds of criminals, or al

Qaeda members," Amadou said in an interview in the capital Niamey.

"The situation is explosive, to say the least."

He said efforts by Niger and other countries in the region to secure the area were not

enough. Niger's entire 2011 annual budget of just under $2 billion would not be sufficient

even if spent on security alone.

"We need aerial surveillance, good intelligence and information and all of these cost a lotfor a very poor and indebted country such as ours, which perennially suffers from food

crises," Amadou said.

"The need was expressed at the (regional) foreign affairs ministers meeting in Algiers

(earlier this month) and anyway, all the countries of the EU, and the United States, have
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committed to supporting our countries," he said.

Asked what help Niger had received so far, he said: "I think that will come."

The uranium-producing West African nation is emerging from years of instability

following an election in April that ended the rule of a military junta, and also rebellion byTuareg nomads in the north of the country from 2007-2009.

Before entering government, Amadou was a prominent rights activist who was repeatedly

jailed by the government of former president Mamadou Tandja. Tandja was ousted by

soldiers in 2010 for trying to stay in power beyond his term limits.

Current President Mahamadou Issoufou has won Western backing for his efforts to get the

country back on its feet, but his troubles include the risk of a failed harvest this year.

Amadou said Niger was track to meet some of its economic objectives such as plans to start

pumping oil for the first time next year, and a new uranium project in the north which ifcompleted, would make it the world's second-biggest producer.

But he added that Niger needed the situation in Libya to be stable for such projects not to be

jeopardised.

"This is a completely unexpected, uncontrollable situation, which runs up against our

vision for the future.

"For us, the immediate neighbours of Libya, what is at stake is not just the reconstruction of

buildings destroyed by war, but peace, stability and the reconciliation of the (Libyan)people," he said. "It is a major challenge and it is a condition for our peace as well."

###

ICC fails to net top perpetrators of war crimes: HRW (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E06020110915?sp=true

By Aaron Gray-Block

15 September 2011

AMSTERDAM - Prosecutors at the world's top war crimes court are failing to bring to trial

senior government officials responsible for atrocities, undermining the credibility of thetribunal, Human Rights Watch said.

The International Criminal Court was set up in 2002 to prosecute the world's worst war

criminals and has opened investigations into six conflicts, all of them in Africa, and in June

issued an arrest warrant for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
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But in a 50-page report, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Thursday the ICC's

cases have not gone far enough to deliver justice and called on prosecutor Luis

Moreno-Ocampo to close gaps in his investigations and start additional cases.

"The ICC's first investigations have too often bypassed key perpetrators and crimes," saidElizabeth Evenson, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

The office of the prosecutor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ICC is no stranger to criticism with some observers critical of its focus on Africa,

while the slow pace of its investigations have also frustrated rights groups and others have

argued against its perceived political bias.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, indicted by the ICC for genocide in Darfur, has

dismissed the court as a western conspiracy. In the ICC's first trial, defence lawyers argued

that accused Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was being tried as a political scapegoat.

In contrast, the U.N's Yugoslavia tribunal has managed to prosecute crimes committed by

all factions in the Balkan wars, a rebuttal against claims it was biased against one particular

group, HRW said.

The Yugoslavia tribunal's last remaining fugitive, Croatian Serb wartime leader Goran

Hadzic, was arrested in July.

The ICC, like the Yugoslavia court, has no police force of its own and relies on state

co-operation to enforce arrest warrants and many of its indicted suspects remain at large.

However, in assessing the first five conflicts the ICC started investigating prior to its Libya

probe, HRW noted the court's work has produced 10 cases and three trials, making "an

important contribution to tackling impunity for some of the world's worst crimes."

But it also said too many victims have been left without justice, undermining perceptions

of the court's independence and impartiality and called for additional investigations.

In Congo and Uganda, rebel groups have been investigated, but no charges laid against

government officials and armed forces widely alleged to have committed serious abuses, it

said.

HRW said the ICC's investigations in Kenya, however, were "a welcome shift from past

practice" as the prosecutor was seeking charges against alleged perpetrators from both

sides of the country's 2007-2008 post-election violence.


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But, gaps remain in delivering on the ICC's mandate in conflicts where the court was

pursuing prosecutions and as funding and resources get stretched thin, the prosecutor needs

better strategies for case selection, HRW said.

"The ICC prosecutor's tough choices face intense scrutiny, which makes it all the more

important that they enhance the court's independence and credibility," said Evenson.

###

Horn of Africa: refugees confront trauma and sexual violence (AlertNet)

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/horn-of-africa-refugees-confront-trauma-and-sexual-vi

olence/

By AlertNet // CARE International

15 September 2011

In the heartache and confusion that accompany the flight from drought and hunger,

refugees from Somalia can now turn to a source of comfort with a familiar face: fellowrefugees who have been specially trained to help survivors of trauma, loss, sexual and

gender-based violence. Theyre part of a unique CARE program that focuses on

strengthening community coping mechanisms.

At the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, CARE employs a team of 18 outreach workers and

paracounselors, recruited from among the refugees and offered comprehensive training in

counseling and community development. They speak the language and share the culture of

fellow refugees. More than any outsider, they can understand the terrible trials, including

sexual violence, deaths of family members, and loss of homes and livelihoods, that

refugees have experienced.

The CARE team first ensures that the most vulnerable refugees are made safe, and provides

immediate distributions of food and family essentials, orientation on available services,

and referrals for medical attention if needed. Survivors of violence or other special cases

are fast-tracked for registration and access to a full range of assistance. Women at risk of

domestic abuse can take temporary refuge in safe havens hosted by established refugees.

CARE strives to support community-based solutions and facilitate refugees to help each

other.

Whenever people are uprooted from their communities and support networks, theres an

increased risk of violence, sexual assault and domestic abuse, said Jasveen Ahluwalia,CARE Emergency Gender Adviser. Our first priority is to prevent further incidents of

violence, and the best way to do that is to promote community cohesion and mutual

support. One measure CARE and our partners take is to facilitate the settlement of new

arrivals whenever possible in groups who were previously neighbors, rather than among

strangers.
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Those in need of emotional support have access to CAREs trained counselors, who take

special care to protect the privacy of sexual violence survivors. All of our services are

provided within the context of CAREs larger programming, including community

development work, livelihoods, youth and adolescent activities, sports and HIV

prevention, said Ahluwallia. That way people coming for help wont be singled out andpotentially stigmatized.

Nearly 4,700 refugees have come to CARE for counseling and support in just over three

months1,111 in the week of Aug. 28-Sept. 3 alone.

If we can access the necessary funds, we can hire more outreach workers, especially

women, said Ahluwalia. Most refugees are strong, resilient people they just need a

hand to help, and an ear to listen, and they will rebuild the bonds that keep a community

safe.

###

Libyan Chemical Materials a Proliferation Threat, U.S. Commander Says (Global

Security Newswire)

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110915_6822.php

By Martin Matishak

15 September 2011

WASHINGTON -- Libya's stockpile of chemical warfare materials remains a potential

source of proliferation, the U.S. military commander for Africa told reporters on

Wednesday.

When fighting broke out in February, Tripoli still held a reported 9.5 metric tons of

deteriorating blister agent, less than half of the mustard stockpile that was being eliminated

under the auspices of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Qadhafi government also possessed in excess of 1,300 tons of chemical-weaponprecursor materials. The regime years earlier destroyed thousands of empty aerialmunitions that could have been used to disperse the toxic chemicals in an aerial attack.

There is "great, great concern about the security of that material," Gen. Carter Ham, headof U.S. Africa Command, said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast. "It's notweaponized, it's not easily weaponized, but nonetheless we want to make sure ... the[Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] gets back in there and completesthe destruction of the remaining materials."

A Pentagon-based spokesman for Africa Command did not respond by deadline toquestions submitted yesterday morning about whether the National Transitional Council


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had requested its assistance in securing the materials.

In addition to chemical materials, Ham said he is concerned about shoulder-fired missilesfalling into the hands of al-Shabab, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or Boko Haram, thecontinent's three major extremist organizations. He also noted that conventional munitions

left over by the previous regime could be used in improvised explosive devices.

The combatant commander said that representatives from the U.S. State Department hadmet with officials from Libya's neighbors to beef up efforts to halt any possibleproliferation, including greater intelligence sharing and enhanced border securitycooperation.

"They recognize the risk that this runs," according to Ham. "It's been heartening to see agreater degree of collaboration," he added.

Also on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman told reporters that

Washington is cooperating with Tripoli's new leaders to stem possible proliferation of bothconventional and unconventional weapons, Reuters reported.

He said that "to the best of our knowledge" the chemical warfare materials "arecontainerized in bulk form accountable to the OPCW and we believe from monitoring thatthey are where they are supposed to be."

The blister agent is stored at the Waddan Ammunitions Reservation inside large steelcontainers within heavy bunkers, a Foggy Bottom spokeswoman said last month.

###

EAC, USAFRICOM joint military exercise opens tomorrow (StarAfrica.com)

http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/detail-news/article/eac-usafricom-joint-military-exercise-o-189899.htmlBy Unattributed Author15 September 2011

ARUSHA, Tanzania -- A joint military training exercise between the EAC Partner States'Defence Forces and the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) officially openstomorrow 16 September at Chukwani Military Centre in Zanzibar.

The exercise codenamed Natural Fire 11 has brought together more than 300 militarypersonnel from the five EAC Partner States and USAFRICOM. The EAC DeputySecretary General (Political Federation) Hon. Beatrice Kiraso describes the exercise asvital for the consolidation of the gains in regional integration because it emphasizes our

need for unity, peace and stability in order to defend our common interests.

The exercise, whose theme is to ensure security and foster regional stability, aims todevelop the capacity of EAC Defense Forces to respond quickly and efficiently to complex
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security challenges, harmonize the working relationship among them and fostercooperation between these Forces and the United States of America.

Natural Fire 11 further aims to enhance cooperation between regional Defense Forces, civilauthorities and international organizations, and to improve interoperability between the

Forces.

Our region is faced with a wide range of existing and potential complex emergencies

which could easily translate into threats to the social, economic and political wellbeing ofthe East African people, Hon. Kiraso says, adding that it is important that the EACdevelops the capacity to handle such emergencies and threats.

The Zanzibar exercise will focus on peace support operations, humanitarian assistance,disaster response, counter terrorism and counter piracy between 17 and 20 September.

Natural Fire 11 follows similar exercises held in the past in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

(Mainland). Thirty five (35) officers from Uganda, 36 from Burundi, 37 from Rwanda, 40from Kenya and 80 representing Tanzania will take part in the exercise that ends on 21September 2011.

These joint exercises were first held in 1998 as a bilateral exercise between the US andKenya and reconfigured in 1999 as a multilateral exercise between Kenya, Uganda andTanzania. Rwanda and Burundi were subsequently enrolled upon joining the East AfricanCommunity in 2007.

Exercises such as Natural Fire 11 are part of EAC efforts to deepen cooperation in defenseby the EAC Partner States, guided by the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperationin Defense which lays down four areas of cooperation namely: military training; jointoperations; technical assistance; and visits (including sporting exchanges and rangecompetitions as well as visits by the Chiefs of Defense) and exchange of information. TheMoU was signed in 1998 and revised in 2001.

###

Africa Command Learns from Libya Operations (American Forces PressService)http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=65344By Jim Garamone

15 September 2011

WASHINGTONLibya was the first major combat operation for U.S. Africa Command,and its men and women responded well, the units commander said.

Still, Africom -- the militarys newest combatant command -- is assessing the lessonslearned from Libya and will make necessary changes, said Army Gen. Carter F. Ham.Ham spoke to the Defense Writers Group here yesterday.
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In March, Africom participated in Operation Odyssey Dawn -- the American effort toprotect Libyan citizens from Moammar Gadhafis regime. Later, the operation wastransferred to NATOs Operation Unified Protector.

Officials have to examine the Libya operations closely to draw lessons, the general said.It would be wrong in my mind to say this is the template, this is the model we willfollow, Ham said. As all military operations are, they are conditions-specific.

The U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 called on member states to protect the Libyanpeople from a massacre at the hands of Gadhafis army, which was then threatening

Benghazi.

I remain confident that had the U.N. not made the decision, had the U.S. not taken the leadwith great support, Im absolutely convinced there are many, many people in Benghazialive today who would not be [otherwise], Ham said.

Africom was able to respond quickly to aid Libya, he said, because of the U.S. militarysflexible air and maritime forces based in Europe.

There was great support from NATO nations for basing and overflight and, in many cases,contributions of forces, he said. It was a great international effort, and there is something

to be learned from that.

Operation Odyssey Dawn was able to build on the NATO framework, and othernon-NATO allies also were able to fall in on that framework.

How you do that in other parts of the world where you dont have that standing alliance issomething we need to think seriously about, Ham said.

Officials, he added, also have to look at how to bring together a multinational coalitionwithout NATO standing agreements and interoperability that played such a great role in theLibya campaign.

Inside Africom, the general said, the greatest learning curve involved kinetic targeting.It was not something we had practiced; we didnt have great capability honed and refined

inside the organization, and Odyssey Dawn really caused us to work in that regard, Ham

said.

The command had to define what effects it needed, and what specific targets wouldcontribute to achieving those effectsa precise endeavor, Ham said. If attacking acommunications node, planners must ask themselves what does that particular node do?How does it connect to other nodes? Whats the right munition to use? Whats the

likelihood of collateral damage? Whats the right time of day to hit it? Whats the right

delivery platform? And finally, how to synchronize attacks.

That level of detail and precision was not something the command had practiced to the


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degree that we were required to do in Odyssey Dawn, Ham said.The expertise came very quickly, the general added.

Its unsurprising to you that most of the intelligence analysts, most of the targeteers across

the United States military have done this in previous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan

and other places, Ham said. They know how to do it but, collectively, Africa Commandhad not previously done this.

Ways to sustain this expertise is something the command must look at in the future, thegeneral said The same is true, he added, in the maritime environment.

Ham said interoperability with non-NATO allies is another aspect that needs to bestrengthened. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and others participatedin the Libyan operation.

Going forward, Africom has to stress interoperability with partners on the continent. If we

were to launch a humanitarian operation, how do we do so effectively with air trafficcontrol, airfield management, those kind of activities? he said.

The United States has to craft those practices with African partners, he added.

###

Cattle raiders kill 46 in South Sudan (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0HY20110915By Unattributed Author15 September 2011

KHARTOUM - At least 46 people were killed and around 5,000 cows stolen in the latesttribal violence in newly independent South Sudan, authorities said on Thursday.

South Sudan became independent in July after a 2005 peace deal with Khartoum that endeddecades of civil war but the oil-producing nation has been struggling to end tribal and rebelviolence that has killed around 3,000 people this year.

The violence threatens to turn the new nation into a failed state and could upset the stabilityof its east African neighbours.

In the latest incident, youths from Warrap state attacked villages in neighbouring Unitystate last weekend, officials said on Thursday.

"It's a disastrous issue. A group with fire-arms came to villages in Mayendit. They came toraid cattle but also killed women and children," Unity state minister of information GideonGatpan said, adding that another 40 people were still missing.

Analysts say cattle theft is on the rise, driven by inflation of bride prices, which are
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0HY20110915http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0HY20110915http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0HY20110915


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traditionally paid in cows.

At least seven rebel militias are fighting the new government's forces in remote parts ofSouth Sudan, a country roughly the size of France.

South Sudan has accused Khartoum of supporting militias but the north denies this, andmany rebels say they are fighting against what they see as corruption and ethnicdiscrimination in the south's government, charges it denies.

###

S. Africa's Zuma asks for new probe of arms deal (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78E0H120110915?sp=trueBy Jon Herskovitz15 September 2011

JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma will appoint a commission toinvestigate a multi-billion dollar arms deal, his office said on Thursday, in a new probe intocorruption allegations against several companies and top officials including Zuma himself.

The 30 billion rand deal to buy European military equipment from about a decade ago hasclouded South Africa's politics for years. It has led to a few convictions of officials whotook bribes to help land contracts but critics said probes did not go far enough, lettingseveral others off the hook.

Zuma -- then deputy president -- was linked to the deal through his former financialadviser, who was jailed for corruption. This almost torpedoed Zuma's bid for high officebut all charges against Zuma were dropped in 2009.

"The president will soon announce the terms of reference and the composition of thecommission including the time frames," Zuma's office said in a statement.

The presidency did not say what impact its investigative commission would have on aprobe into the same charges announced earlier by South Africa's special police unit knownas the Hawks.

But analysts said Zuma might by trying to deflect attention from the other investigation."It might well be an attempt to head off some other investigation. There doesn't seem to beany other rational explanation given the lateness of the hour," said Gary van Staden, apolitical analyst with NKC Independent Economists.

Any investigation is likely pile pressure on Zuma who is facing a leadership crisis in hisruling African National Congress that may deter his chances at a second term. But a panelappointed by his office could help Zuma dictate the terms of the probe.

"The timing of the announcement is interesting," said Helen Zille, leader of the main
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opposition Democratic Alliance.

"After all these years, the South African public deserve to finally know the whole truthbehind the arms deal. The cancer of corruption is destroying the body politic of SouthAfrica with the arms deal at its core," she said.

Despite calls to crush corruption from labour federation COSATU and South Africa'sCommunist Party -- in a governing alliance with the ruling African National Congress --Zuma has done little to address a problem that has eroded confidence in the governmentruling the continent's top economy.

South Africa spent about billions in the late 1990s to modernise its military, withinvestigators probing several of the contracts on suspicion of bribes being paid to land thedeals.

Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted in 2005 of trying to solicit a

500,000 rand a year bribe from French arms company Thint in return for protecting it froman investigation.

Hawks officials said in a letter obtained by Reuters last month they planned to send adelegation to Europe to probe whether Swedish defence group Saab and former partnerBAE Systems made payments worth millions of rand to a South African "consultant" tosecure a contract.

Saab said in a statement in late July: "Our review revealed that approximately 24 millionrand was paid from BAE Systems ... These payments were transferred to the South Africanconsultant shortly thereafter".

The companies said they had paid for a consultant in South Africa but denied anywrongdoing.

###

Guns, migrants, mercenaries: Qaddafi's loss is the Sahel's gain (The Christian

Science Monitor)

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainBy Drew Hinshaw15 September 2011

Dakar, Senegal - Leaders from the Saharan nation ofNiger, yesterday requestedinternational aid to curb the flow of migrants, militants, and guns across their desert borderwith Libya.

Turmoil in post-Qaddafi Libya, say Nigerien officials, residents, and analysts, could auguran explosion in violence and unemployment across Libya's sub-Saharan flank. The
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainhttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainhttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainhttp://c/tags/topic/Nigerhttp://c/tags/topic/Libyahttp://c/tags/topic/Libyahttp://c/tags/topic/Nigerhttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gainhttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0915/Guns-migrants-mercenaries-Qaddafi-s-loss-is-the-Sahel-s-gain


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neighborhood is occupied by some ofAfrica's least peaceful, most impoverished countries.

Africa's Sahel, a drought belt that stretches from Senegal to Somalia, has long had a wildwest quality to it, writes former US Ambassador toEthiopia David Shinn in an e-mail tothe Monitor.

It is the stage on which semi-nomadic Tuareg combatants have fought sporadically forindependence over decades; failing that, many have linked up with Al Qaeda in the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM), a terrorist sect that kidnaps foreigners. The Mali-based Al Qaeda,reports claim, begun collaborating as recently as last month with Boko Haram, theNigerian pro-Sharia law rebellion that took credit for an August 26 bombing on a UnitedNations headquarters.

Further east, the militia Al Shabab has seized large swaths of the Somalia's south. InEthiopia, rebels and state troops continue gun battles in Ethiopia's gas-rich Ogaden region.On Sunday in Darfur, the site ofSudan's mass killings, the separatist region's top rebel

leader returned from nearly two years in exile, in Libya.The region can't get more unstable than it already is, says London's School of Orientaland African Studies Professor Jeremy Keenan, who performs hostage negotiation forconflicts in the region.

And yet, it might, he and other analysts agree.

A southward wave of peopleand weapons

Aside from sparking a mass movement of one million people plus sub-SaharanAfricans who sought migrant work in oil-rich Libyathe end of the country's conflictcould send a southward wave of thousands of dejected Libyan fighters, including NigerienTuaregs, and sub-Saharan mercenaries hired by Libyas ex-leader Muammar Qaddafi, saysJ. Peter Pham, Director of the Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council.

The consequences are enormous, editorDavid Yacouba for newspaper Ar Info in theNigerien desert town ofAgadez writes in an e-mail to the Monitor. What we fear is that,after this conflict, the arms used in Libya will come into Niger.

Libyan weaponry, however, has likely already entered black markets throughout the Sahel,Pham said, citing direct knowledge of RPG 29s for sale as far east as Somalia. RPG 29s

are the shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades deployed by the Soviets in the final daysof their Afghan war, powerful enough to stop a tank.

"If those are cropping up in Somalia I can just imagine what's available if you happen to beslightly closer to the source," Mr. Pham says.

Aside from arms, Keenan adds, there's Mr. Qaddafi's army.

A Sept. 5 convoy that drove southward into Niger was reported to contain anywhere from a
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handful of vehicles to 250 trucks, loaded with pro-Qaddafi combatants fleeing Libya.The arrival of thousands of armed fighters into such a poorly-policed region, Pham says,could be a boom to the local Al Qaeda group.

"All of a sudden, right on their door step, and in a buyer's market, here comes a whole flood

of trained fighters," Pham says.

Unemployment also raises concerns

For Niger, the more persistent problem, Pham adds, may be unemployment.

Migrant workers comprised as much as a fifth of Libya's resident population, according toestimates from the Nigerien and Malian governments. As fighting eases and roads becomesafe for travel, hundreds of thousands of these migrants may return home, fleeing bothLibya's shaken economy, and the random arrests of black Africansaccused of beingmercenariesdocumented by Human Rights Watch.

These people will be confronted by unemployment, Yacouba writes.

Formal, salaried work is almost non-existent in Niger, whose 15 million people largely liveoff farming or herding on the increasingly dry land.

These people coming back into regions whether theres no employment, no likelihood ofemployment, famine, and some of them are coming back with arms, Keenan says.

An invitation for Qaddafi

On Saturday, Guinea-Bissaua former Portuguese colony that enjoyed lavish Libyan aid,and receives most of its income from the cocaine tradeinvited Qaddafi to take upresidence. Burkina Faso also extended Qaddafi protection, only to retract the offer later.

"His presence would be a major cause for continued chaos and instability," Keenan says,citing Qaddafi's connections to rebels in the region, and his capacity to bankroll them.The more likely outcome, he adds, is that Qaddafi remains in Libya, in its southbeyondthe reach of Libya's National Transition Council, beyond the reach ofNATO, and farbeyond the reach of Niger.

"You could have a situation where Libya divides, not into an East-West division, but wherethe south never falls under the control of the NTC," he says. "The NTC doesn't have forcesdown there. Niger's army is lightweight. NATO can't get down there in any hurry."

"There could still be another chapter," he adds.

###

African Visitors Focus on Climate, Food Security (Dept. of State)

http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/09/20110913151747nirak0.690609
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2.html#axzz1Y2yIgHjiBy Karin Rives15 September 2011

WashingtonRising global temperatures are already affecting food supplies in many

parts of the world.

A group of African government officials and experts on agriculture and climate changerecently participated in a professional exchange program in the United States focused onthe issue.

Fourteen people from 11 African nations traveled to six U.S. cities during a two-weekperiod to learn how American communities and research organizations are handling foodsecurity and working to sustain agricultural production in a changing environment. TheirJuly 2011 visit was sponsored by the U.S. State Departments International VisitorLeadership Program (IVLP), which seeks to build international friendships and

collaboration between Americans and people in other nations.

In the southeastern state of North Carolina, the group visited Goat Lady Dairy, afamily-run farm specializing in goat dairy products and organic vegetables that are soldfresh at local farmers markets and to restaurants. While in North Carolina, some of thevisitors also spent time bagging groceries at Food Assistance Inc., a food bank assistingpoor families.

This, for me, was a very enriching experience and strengthened my desire to care for

others, said Joaquim Duarte Gomes, an agronomist with Angolas Ministry of Agriculture

who was amazed to see so many Americans volunteer their time at the food bank. It wasquite remarkable.

ORGANIC FARMS INSPIRE

The idea of using locally grown food to help sustain the poor and keep communitieshealthy also made an impression on Abdulkadir Iman Mohamoud. At the time of his visitto the United States, he headed the Somali Regional State Livestock, Crop and RuralDevelopment Bureau in Jijiga, Ethiopia. Hes since switched jobs to head the regions

Education Bureau.

Inspired by what he saw in North Carolina, Mohamoud said he wants to encourage schoolgardening and environmental studies in school curriculawith the ultimate goal ofhelping Ethiopia sustain farmlands that are now challenged by drought and changinggrowth conditions.

Steve Tate, owner of Goat Lady Dairy, gives African visitors a tour of his farm.I noticed that organic agriculture is profitable and a booming business in the U.S.,Mohamoud said. I also learned about the strong linkages between universities, farmersmarkets and consumers thereand about technology generation for crop production in a
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/englis

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