AFRICOM Related News Clips 18 January 2012

8/3/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips 18 January 2012

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Liberian despot Charles Taylor worked with US intelligence (The Telegraph)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/9021153/Liber ian-despot-Charles-Taylor-worked-with-US-intelligence.html January 17, 2012By Nick Allen

LOS ANGELES -- Charles Taylor, the former Liberian despot charged with war crimes,worked with American intelligence agencies during his rise to power, the US governmenthas confirmed.

U.S pilots tell harrowing story of their crash during Libya campaign (CNN)

http://www.local10.com/news/U-S-pilots-tell-harrowing-story-of-their-crash-during-Libya-campaign/-/1717324/8265930/-/yehx6j/-/ January 17, 2012By Barbara Starr CNN Pentagon Correspondent(CNN) - The U.S. aerial bombing campaign over Libya was just two days old last March

when F-15 pilot Maj. Kenneth Harney and Capt. Tyler Stark got their mission -- conductairstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi's forces near Benghazi.

Clinton urges Ivory Coast dialogue (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/africa/ivory-coast-clinton/index.html January 17, 2012By the CNN wire staff ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised theleader of Ivory Coast for progress made toward peace Tuesday but urged greater dialoguewith the opposition to heal the wounds of a deadly political crisis.

Russia Claims U.S. Interest in Country Motivated By Oil (All Africa)

http://allafrica.com/stories/201201170235.html January 17, 2012By Toby CollinsSudan Tribune/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX News Network) -- Russian statemedia claim that the US backed the secession of South Sudan and offers it militarysupport because it wants the nascent state's oil.

Terror, cyber crime new EAC security threat- Kiraso (Daily Nation)

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/1308642/-/8rlw2x/-/index.html January 17, 2012By Lucas BarasaTerrorism, kidnappings and cyber-crime are the new forms of insecurity threatening thefive East African Community member states.

Nigeria News: Boko Haram violence has many causes (Global Post)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120112/nigeria-boko-haram-and-counterterrorism-west-africa



January 17, 2012By Vanda Felbab-Brown and James J.F. ForestOpinion: Nigeria should respond to Boko Haram's violence with better governance Nigeria is confronted with two major crises: the angry anti-government protests sparked by fuel price hikes and the Islamic extremist terror attacks by Boko Haram. Together the

problems threaten to pull the country apart. President Goodluck Jonathan warns of civilwar. Yet many say the cause of the problems is bad government. A look at the rootcauses of Nigeria's troubles and the way forward for Africa's most populous country.

Al Qaeda kidnaps Algerian governor hostage - sources (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE80G0PG20120117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAWorldNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+World+News%29 January 17, 2012By Christian Lowe and Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A kidnapped Algerian regional governor has been freed after hiscaptors were intercepted inside Libya, officials said on Tuesday, an incident that willraise new concerns about instability spilling over from Libya to its neighbours.

Algeria troops in Mali to fight Qaeda (News24)

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Algeria-troops-in-Mali-to-fight-Qaeda-20111220 January 17, 2012By SAPABAMAKO -- Algerian troops have crossed into Mali to help government forces combatgroups affiliated to al-Qaeda, officials and witnesses said on Tuesday.

Mali army 'bombs Tuareg rebels, four arrested' (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/mali-army-tuareg-rebels-clash-over-northern-town-101730523.html January 17, 2012By Serge DanielMalian army helicopters on Tuesday bombed a rebel Tuareg position, forcing them towithdraw after an attempt to seize control of the northeastern town of Menaka, militaryofficials said Tuesday.

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UN News Service Africa Briefs

http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA

(Full Articles on UN Website)

Ban calls for more cross-border cooperation in Central Africa to target new threats

16 January ± Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an increase in cross-border cooperation among Central African States to deal with new threats in the region, which



include piracy, human trafficking and the proliferation of light weapons along major roadways linking countries.

Côte d¶Ivoire: UN relief official reviews situation nine months after poll violence 16 January ± A senior United Nations relief official is in Côte d¶Ivoire to assess the

humanitarian situation after the bloody post-electoral crisis that rocked the country earlylast year and draw international attention to remaining challenges.

UN official reports greater stability in West Africa, but progress remains tenuous

16 January ± Political stability is taking root in West Africa, a senior United Nationsenvoy told the Security Council today, cautioning, however, that progress remainstenuous and could be undermined by developments such the presence of an extremistgroup in Nigeria or the recent disturbances in Guinea-Bissau where soldiers reportedlytried to seize weapons.

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Upcoming Events of Interest:

JANUARY 18, 2011

WHEN: 7:30 ± 9:00 a.m.WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace Discussion on ³A Year of Turmoil: The Arab Awakeningand the Path Ahead.´ Speakers: Stephen Hadley, Discussant, Senior Adviser for International Affairs, U.S. Institute of Peace; Marwan Muasher, Discussant, VicePresident for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and StevenHeydemann, Moderator, Senior Adviser for Middle East Initiatives, U.S. Institute of PeaceWHERE: Reserve Officers Association, One Constitution Avenue, NECONTACT: 202-457-1700; web site: www.usip.orgSOURCE: USIP ± event announcement at: http://www.usip.org/events/year-turmoil

WHEN: 8:30 ± 9:30 a.m.WHAT: Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Discussion on ³What to Worry About in2012.´ At this meeting, experts will discuss their respective organization's assessments of the risks and possible crises for the 2012.Read the survey: http://www.cfr.org/conflict-prevention/preventive-priorities-survey-2012/p26686.Speakers: David F. Gordon, Head of Research and Director of Global Macro Analysis,Eurasia Group; Mark L. Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group;Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey, Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention andDirector of the Center for Preventive Action, Council on Foreign Relations; Presider:James M. Lindsay, Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. GreenbergChair, Council on Foreign RelationsWHERE: CFR, 1777 F St, NWCONTACT: Lucy Dunderdale at [email protected] or 202-509-8525; web site:www.cfr.org



SOURCE: CFR

WHEN: 8:30 ± 9:45 a.m.WHAT: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) Discussion on ³Egypt'sMilitary Custodianship.´ Speakers: Yezid Sayigh and Marina Ottaway.

WHERE: CEIP, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NWCONTACT: 202-483-7600; web site: www.carnegieendowment.orgSOURCE: CEIP ± event announcement at:http://www.carnegieendowment.org/2012/01/18/egypt-s-military-custodianship/8ypb

JANUARY 19, 2011

WHEN: 10:00 ± 11:30 a.m.WHAT: Brookings Institution Discussion on ³U.S. Aid and Transparency for Global

Development.´ Speakers: Introduction and Moderator: Noam Unger, Fellow, GlobalEconomy and Development; Keynote Address by Rajiv Shah, Administrator, U.S.Agency for International Development; Panelists: Karin Christiansen, Director, PublishWhat You Fund; George Ingram, Co-Chair, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network;and Daniel Kaufmann, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, DevelopmentAssistance and Governance Initiative.WHERE: Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NWCONTACT: 202-797-6105; web site: www.brookings.eduSOURCE: Brookings Institution ± event announcement at:http://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/0119_aid_transparency.aspx

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Five Foreign Tourists Killed in Ethiopia (VOA)

http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/01/17/five-foreign-tourists-killed-in-ethiopia/

17 January 2012

Gunmen have attacked a group of foreign tourists in Ethiopia, killing at least five peopleand wounding two more.

Ethiopian state television says at least one tourist survived the attack unharmed. It took place Monday in the northeastern Afar region, near the border with Eritrea. The broadcast



cited the defense ministry as the source of the report and suggested the attackers wererebels with ties to Eritrea.

Although the nationalities of the tourists were not confirmed, there are reports they wereEuropean, and that some of those killed were German. The German foreign ministry says

it is working with its embassy in Ethiopia to investigate the report.

Ethiopia often accuses its neighbor of supporting militant groups inside its borders.Eritrea, once a part of Ethiopia, gained its independence in 1991 after a 30-year battle.The two Horn of Africa countries later fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, andtensions remain high.

The Afar region has ancient salt mines, hot springs and volcanoes that entice manysightseers. In 2007, a group of European tourists was kidnapped there, but they were later released.

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Somalia is the new hotspot on the 'jihadi tourism' trail (France 24)

http://www.france24.com/en/20120117-somalia-al-shabaab-attracts-seekers-jihadi-tourism-trail-foreign-islamists

17 January 2012By Leela Jacinto

Somalia is hardly an attractive destination, but a former US soldier has just joined theranks of foreigners trying to join the al Shabaab Islamist group. Why is Somaliagathering so many of the world's wannabe jihadists?

As international destinations go, Somalia has been off-the-charts for more than twodecades. With no effective central government and a mindboggling array of clans,militias, Islamists and pirates, this Horn of Africa nation has turned into the farthest thingfrom paradise on earth.

Except if you're on the ³jihadi tourism´ trail, scouting for the perfect terrorism trainingspot.

The term ³jihadi tourism´ first appeared in news reports in late 2010, when USdiplomatic cables, revealed by WikiLeaks, quoted a US diplomat in East Africa worryingabout ³a certain amount of so-called µjihadi tourism' to southern Somalia´.

In a January 2010 cable on a classified meeting, then UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah warned that Somalia was turning into an ³incubator´for terrorists, ³including those holding US, United Kingdom and European passports´.



But when it comes to Somalia, it's easier to overlook the latest threat from a country thathas turned into a byword for a failed state than to actually do something about it. Inanother leaked cable, for instance, senior British officials dismissed a request for peacekeeping troops with a terse, ³there is not enough peace to keep in Somalia".

Making the journey to an µIslamic land'

Peace has not come to this East African nation, but right now, there are plenty of Africantroops fighting in the al Shabaab strongholds of southern and central Somalia. TheIslamist group ceded territory to African Union troops in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last year. In mid-October, Kenya launched a military operation in southernSomalia, which was followed by an Ethiopian incursion in November.

Despite the onslaught, al Shabaab is by no means a spent force. In the face of superior firepower, the Islamist group has been employing hit-and-run tactics, slowing down theKenyan military advance.

As for the jihadi tourism trail, it shows no sign of drying up. If anything, a recent slew of reports suggest that US and European nationals are still responding to al Shabaab'srecruitment drives.

Shortly before Christmas, Jermaine Grant, a British national, was apprehended in theKenyan coastal city of Mombasa and charged with possessing explosive materials and plotting to explode a bomb.

Grant's arrest came as Kenyan authorities issued an arrest warrant for another Britishnational, Natalie Faye Webb, who is believed to have links to al Shabaab.

Meanwhile in the US, prosecutors in Maryland charged a former US soldier last week with attempting to join and provide material support to al Shabaab.

In a nine-page criminal affidavit, US prosecutors alleged that Craig Baxam, a 24-year-oldconvert to Islam, had traveled to Kenya, from where he intended to reach al Shabaabterritory in neighbouring Somalia.

Baxam was arrested in Kenya before being put on a plane back to the US, where he'scurrently facing trial.

According to the affidavit, the Maryland native ³had no real religious affiliation´ until hediscovered Islam on a religious Web site. He quit the US army in July 2011, shortly after converting to Islam. The affidavit notes that Baxam ³wanted to make his hijra [or migration to an Islamic land] to Somalia to defend Sharia law under Al-Shabaab.´ [sic]

Somalia competes with Pakistan as a jihadi destination



Until fairly recently, Somalia was an easy destination on the jihadi tourism trail,according to Katherine Zimmerman of the Washington DC-based American EnterpriseInstitute.

³Unlike Afghanistan and Pakistan, there wasn't much of a foreign military presence there.

Travel to Somalia was easy, the borders are porous and the flights from Kenya werelargely unmonitored,´ said Zimmerman in a phone interview with FRANCE 24.

Once the top destination for disaffected youth seeking jihad, Pakistan's tribal areas thesedays are difficult for wannabe Western mujahideen to penetrate. Testimonies by ³TimesSquare bomber´ Faisal Shahzad and David Headley, a Pakistani-American accused of conspiring in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, show that militant groups in the tribal areas areincreasingly suspicious of western intelligence infiltration following successful US dronestrikes in the region.

Somalia, in contrast, is high on the jihadi propaganda list. ³Al Qaeda repeatedly names

Somalia as one of the regions where Muslims are encouraged to fight jihad,´ saidZimmerman.

Americans in Shabaab's top ranks

Another encouraging factor is the perception that al Shabaab is an upwardly mobilegroup with a number of its foreign fighters ± notably Americans ± climbing up theorganisational hierarchy.

In October 2011, al Shabaab released high quality photographs of its militantsdistributing food aid to famine victims, according to IntelCenter, a US-based organisationthat monitors jihadi propaganda.

The publicity shots, snapped at a refugee camp south of Mogadishu, featured AliMahmud Rage, Shabaab's top spokesman.

Standing besides Rage in one of the photographs is a noticeably light-skinned man whoused the occasion to address a gathering of local journalists. Known as Abu Abdullah alMuhajir in Shabaab circles, he has been identified by US intelligence officials as JehadMostafa, a California native with no ancestral ties to Somalia.

Mostafa's nom de guerre is a dead giveaway. Muhajir is the Arabic word for ³immigrant´. In a 2009 report titled ³Somalia's Divided Islamists,´ the Brussels-basedInternational Crisis Group noted that al Shabaab ranks were divided into local Somalimilitants (called ansars) and foreign fighters, known as muhajirin, the plural for muhajir.

The report states that the muhajirin is a ³small, but well-resourced and powerful factionwhich is the driving force behind al Shabaab's ideological drift to the far extreme´.



Unlike the local ansars, who have extensive links within Somalia's clan-based society, themuhajirin pursue a more global al Qaeda style agenda.

A rap song for Obama

One of al Shabaab's most powerful muhajirin is the US-born Omar Hammami, also calledAbu Mansoor al Amriki (³the American´) who was profiled by The New York Times in2010.

Al Amriki is believed to come up with Shabaab's battle plans and he is one of the group'smost prolific figures on jihadist media circles with videos featuring the Alabama nativerapping messages such as ³How dare you´ to US President Barack Obama.

Like a number of al Qaeda militants, al Amriki's current status has been a matter of muchdispute in the past. In July 2011, a Somali news site reported that he had been killed in aPredator attack in the Jubba region of southern Somalia.

But al Amriki has been declared dead before and he once even released a song mockingthe reports of his death.

A war of words on Twitter

Experts note that al Shabaab's media output is among the most sophisticated among alQaeda affiliates. Following the Kenyan military operation, the group took its message onTwitter, barraging the microblogging site with minute-by-minute updates.

The group's Twitter handle, @HSMPress (short for the group's official title, Harakat alShabaab al Mujahideen) has been putting out feeds in English that are invariablygrammatically perfect, sometimes witty and often taunting.

In recent months, security experts have been unwittingly amused by a war of words onTwitter between al Shabaab militants and Kenya's army spokesman, Major EmmanuelChirchir [@MajorEChirchir] refuting and deriding each other's military updates.

³@MajorEChirchir Your boys are a grotesque parody of an army! They can outpace ur world-class runners by far. Indeed, they µRun like a Kenyan,'´ tweeted @HSMPressrecently.

While much of Shabaab's messages feature jihadist bluster and exaggerated battle claims,the idioms and turn of phrase certainly sound like the messenger is an American.

But like many experts, Zimmerman refuses to be drawn into a guessing game of who is behind al Shabaab's recent tweets. ³I don't know who is managing al Shabaab's Twitter account, but I can say that it's someone with a good command of the language and thefeed is extremely prolific and interactive.´



While it's still too early to say if the current Kenyan and Ethiopian military operations inSomalia have weakened Shabaab as an organisation, many experts believe the latestonslaughts can be used as an effective propaganda tool to recruit more foreign jihadists.

³The fighting in Somalia is being labeled as a µtrue jihad' and it certainly feeds into the al

Shabaab rhetoric of resistance and protecting Somalia from a Christian invasion,´ saidZimmerman, noting that Shabaab views Ethiopia and Kenya as ³Christian nations´. It'sthe sort of discourse that has aided al Shabaab's foreign recruitment drives in the past andchances are it will continue to attract seekers on the jihadi tourism trail.

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Liberian despot Charles Taylor worked with US intelligence (The Telegraph)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/9021153/Liber ian-despot-Charles-Taylor-worked-with-US-intelligence.html

January 17, 2012By Nick Allen

LOS ANGELES -- Charles Taylor, the former Liberian despot charged with war crimes,worked with American intelligence agencies during his rise to power, the US governmenthas confirmed.

Taylor, the first ever African head of state to face an international tribunal, has beenindicted for fomenting a bloody civil war in the neighbouring West African country of Sierra Leone which claimed some 120,000 lives in the 10 years to 2001.

He has been accused of terrorising civilians, recruitment of child soldiers, accepting"mayonnaise jars" stuffed with diamonds, and even cannibalism.

Rumours of CIA involvement in his brutal career were fuelled in July 2009 when Taylor himself told his trial, at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, thatUS agents helped him escape from a jail in Boston in 1985 and provided arms for a planned coup in Liberia.

That suggestion was initially denied by the CIA as "completely absurd."

But the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's spy arm, has now disclosed that itsagents, and those of the CIA, did work with Taylor from the early 1980s.

The confirmation came in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request made bythe Boston Globe newspaper.

Pentagon officials disclosed that US connections with Taylor were contained in at least48 secret documents compiled over several decades, but declined to give any further details about the exact length or nature of the relationship.



According to former intelligence officials Taylor could have been considered useful inthe 1980s for collecting information on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and attempts by the Soviet Union to gain influence in Africa during the Cold War.

Before becoming one of the world's most notorious and brutal rulers Taylor had been astudent at Bentley College, just outside Boston, from 1972 to 1977. He earned a degree ineconomics.

He first came to the attention of authorities in the US when he was arrested during a protest outside the Liberian Mission in New York in 1979.

Taylor, who was born in Liberia, supported a coup in his home country by Samuel Doethe following year and joined the new government. He then fled back to the US after being accused of embezzling almost $1 million, and began fighting extradition to Liberiafrom a maximum security jail in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

According to Taylor himself, he then received help from the CIA. He told the SpecialCourt for Sierra Leone that a plan was hatched for him to join another planned coup inLiberia, headed by military leader Thomas Quiwonkpa. Taylor claimed he was "100 per cent positive" the CIA was providing the weapons.

He claimed a guard at the jail came to his cell late at night, opened the door and took himto a window where sheets were tied to the bars allowing him to climb down. Accordingto his version a "Government car" then drove him to New York, before he made his wayto Mexico on his own passport. News reports suggested he had escaped from the jail.

The Quiwonkpa coup failed and, according to Taylor, the would-be leader's "flesh waseaten by the military leaders at the time."

After undergoing training in Libya under Gaddafi, Taylor founded the National PatrioticFront of Liberia and after engaging in civil war became president in 1996.

During the Sierra Leone civil war that followed Revolutionary United Front rebels,described as Taylor's "surrogate army", mutilated thousands of civilians.

Taylor is accused of funding atrocities there in return for "blood diamonds." The former leader, who has compared himself to Jesus, denies the charges.

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U.S pilots tell harrowing story of their crash during Libya campaign (CNN)

http://www.local10.com/news/U-S-pilots-tell-harrowing-story-of-their-crash-during-Libya-campaign/-/1717324/8265930/-/yehx6j/-/

January 17, 2012



By Barbara Starr CNN Pentagon Correspondent

(CNN) - The U.S. aerial bombing campaign over Libya was just two days old last Marchwhen F-15 pilot Maj. Kenneth Harney and Capt. Tyler Stark got their mission -- conduct

airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi's forces near Benghazi.

Harney would pilot the F-15 in the front seat. Stark, a weapons system officer on his firstcombat mission, was in the back.

In exclusive interviews with CNN, for the first time both men told their harrowing storyof what happened that night when their plane crashed. They had not been permitted bythe Air Force to talk until a months-long investigation was recently completed.

The two sat down with CNN at their home base in Lakenheath, England.

Harney says when he woke up on the morning of March 21, he quickly got over a fewanxious feelings about the mission that night.

"There's obviously a little bit of nerves in the back of the stomach -- it's kind of likeyou're going out for that big football or basketball game and you're like, wow, this is it.This is the big leagues and I'm going to be flying in combat tonight."

But once they starting flying from their takeoff base in Aviano, Italy, they quickly gotdown to business. After dropping their 500 pound bomb, they turned back for Italy.Suddenly the aircraft spun out of control. It was about to become the most tense hours of the entire U.S. mission over Libya.

Harney described what its like to pilot an F-15 out of control.

"Very much like if you were driving you're car down the road and you hit a patch of iceand your car starts spinning. That's exactly what our aircraft at that point was doing."

Stark said his first thought was "This is really happening?"

As the plane kept falling, Harney made the call: "Mayday, mayday, mayday," and bothmen knew they were about to conduct one of the most risky moves in the U.S. military --ejecting from an out-of-control fighter jet over enemy territory.

Harney remembered reaching for the handle on the ejection seat.

"You were scared to death when you're reaching down and pulling the handles, but at that point you are facing a life-or-death situation, and you're going to do what you need to doto survive. So you reach down, you pull the handles."



As they fell to Earth in their parachutes, the men were separated and landed in different places -- both hoping they hadn't landed in the middle of Gadhafi's forces.

"I was scared. There's no doubt in my mind that I was terrified," Harney says.

On the ground, he spent the next three hours on the run, trying to hide and radio his position to U.S. planes overhead. The Marines flew in a rescue team. Harney wanted nomistakes.

"As the Osprey (helicopter) starts to put down, I kind of slow my sprint but I'm runningtowards it. And I see the Marines jump out off the back. My next instinct is, I don't wantthem to shoot me. I want to look as non-threatening. So I put my hands up in the air,hoping they don't come at me very hostile at this point.

"At that point I don't care if they put me in cuffs. I don't care if they throw a bag over myhead. I know I just want to be on that helicopter, because that is U.S. forces, and I know

I'm going to be going home."

Stark wound up in the field, possibly in big trouble. Two vehicles approached his hiding place, shining their lights. He heard a voice speaking in English:"American come out --we are here to help."

Stark had no choice.

"I get up and put my hands up and start walking to the voice," he said. "Once I get there,my impression is, OK you have to assume that they are the bad guys."

Stark was driven to a nearby building, still very much on his guard, not knowing if he had been captured, or if those were friendly rebel forces.

But when he was taken into a room, "There is a half circle of locals and I'm thinking thisis going to go one of two ways. Either this is where the beatings are going to start or thisis where I am going to get a lot of help. Fortunately I walked into the room and got around of applause"

There was one last problem, With the stress Stark can't remember the number to call inthe UK for rescue, so, he calls his father, from Libya.

"In the age of cell phones, whose number do you know off the top of your head? Well,your parents. So I called him up, spoke with my dad and said, 'Hey, I need you to make acall for me.'"

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Clinton urges Ivory Coast dialogue (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/africa/ivory-coast-clinton/index.html



January 17, 2012By the CNN wire staff

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the

leader of Ivory Coast for progress made toward peace Tuesday but urged greater dialoguewith the opposition to heal the wounds of a deadly political crisis.

It's a "historic moment" for the Ivory Coast, Clinton said during a press conference withPresident Alassane Ouattara, who welcomed her to the presidential palace in the nation'scommercial capital, Abidjan.

Clinton's visit -- the first by a U.S. secretary of state to the west African nation in aquarter of a century -- comes just over a year after contested presidential polls, which ledto widespread violence.

The former French colony was gripped by a post-election crisis from December 2010 toApril 2011 after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after his defeat inthe presidential election of November 2010.

The United States was, along with France and the United Nations, a key ally of Ouattarain his conflict with Gbagbo.

Gbagbo is now in The Hague, Netherlands, where he is accused of four counts of crimesagainst humanity for his role in attacks by forces loyal to him on those believed to besupporters of Ouattara, who was recognized internationally as the winner of the 2010election.

Prosecutors say more than 3,000 people died in the post-election violence.

Parliamentary elections held in Ivory Coast in December were calm, but Gbagbo's FrontPopulaire Ivoirien boycotted the vote, saying Ouattara's government was fostering aclimate of terror.

Speaking alongside Ouattara, Clinton expressed her "admiration for the progressachieved and gradual return to normality, which is a bearer of hope for peace andsecurity."

But she also struck a warning note, saying reconciliation is needed.

"Securing these gains for democracy, prosperity and security -- for people around hereand for your neighbors -- will require much work," she said. "It will be particularlyimportant to include all voices, including those that are discordant, for the purpose of the political dialogue."



"We trust, President (Barack) Obama and myself, that the Ivory Coast may be again theengine of economic growth for Ivorian people, but also for the entire region," thesecretary of state added.

Rights group Amnesty International has said that crimes were committed by forces loyal

to both sides in the post-election conflict, and has urged Ouattara's government not toallow a culture of impunity.

"Amnesty International has repeatedly called upon the Ivorian authorities and the(International Criminal Court) prosecutor to investigate all crimes under international lawcommitted by all parties," the right group said in a statement in November.

"The organization has documented crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes,including murder, enforced disappearances, torture and crimes of sexual violencecommitted in the country, in particular between 2002 and May 2011."

In Abidjan Tuesday, Ouattara spoke of his government's "firm determination to build arule of law, impartial justice with respect for human rights."

Ouattara said Ivory Coast would carry out reforms to the cocoa producing sector, inwhich the United States has a big stake, by the end of the month. Ivory Coast is theworld's leading cocoa producer.

Ouattara said he and Clinton had held a "full discussion" on international diplomaticissues, as well as the position of the African continent on the world stage.

Addressing Clinton, he said, "You, and we, believe that peace is essential for the IvoryCoast to the African continent and the world."

While the Ivory Coast now enjoys peace, he said, building a strong relationship with theUnited States would help it meet the many challenges still ahead.

Ouattara was welcomed by Obama at the White House in July 2011, along with the presidents of Niger, Guinea and Benin, in recognition of democratic processes in thosecountries.

Clinton was in Liberia on Monday, where she attended the inauguration of PresidentEllen Johnson Sirleaf.

She left the Ivory Coast early Tuesday afternoon to conclude her mini-tour in Togo andCape Verde.

The first U.S. secretary of state to visit Togo, Clinton met with President FaureGnassingbe in Lome "to demonstrate U.S. support for Togo's democratic progress andeconomic reforms," the State Department said.



Togo was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nationslast year.

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Russia Claims U.S. Interest in Country Motivated By Oil (All Africa)http://allafrica.com/stories/201201170235.html

January 17, 2012By Toby Collins

Sudan Tribune/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX News Network) -- Russian statemedia claim that the US backed the secession of South Sudan and offers it militarysupport because it wants the nascent state's oil.

Mouthpiece for the Russian Ministry of Defence, Krasnaya Zvezda (KZ), published an

article on 12 January claiming the US administration has sent five senior militaryadvisers to Juba for "information gathering, strategic planning and development of military operations" [translation] and has approved the sale of military equipment toSouth Sudan.

The US has been a vocal proponent of South Sudan, a oil-rich state which gained itsindependence on 9 July 2011.

KZ claim that US president, Barack Obama, wrote to secretary of state, Hilary Clintonstating that the sale of arms to South Sudan is in the security interests of the US.

KZ's suggestion that "Western companies have almost absolute control over the oilresources of the country" [translation] is less plausible as the dominance of the Sudaneseand South Sudanese oil sectors by Eastern companies is well documented.

However, it is probable that Western companies intend to stake a claim in the SouthSudanese oil sector.

KZ cite the deployment of 7,000 UN peacekeepers in South Sudan and the 100 USSpecial Forces troops assisting the Ugandan army in the fight against the Lord'sResistance Army (LRA) as indicative of the US intention to stake a claim in the state.

The US pays the lion's share of the UN's budget and is one of the organisations mostsignificant players.

The LRA is a militia hailing from northern Ugandan. Their demands and agenda have become amorphous; which has impeded negotiations. They have been the scourge of theregion, including South Sudan, for a decade and previous attempts to kill or capture theLRA leader, who has an International Criminal Court warrant against his name, havefailed.



The Russian article was picked up by state media, Sudanese Media Centre, keen tohighlight instances of anti-South Sudanese and American sentiment in the international press.

Relations between Sudan and Russia are cordial. Russia officially backed that April 2010elections which received widespread international support and there are allegations that ithas broken international trade embargoes by supplying Sudan with arms.

Reports of a secret meeting between the Russian envoy to Sudan and a South Sudanesedelegation in Israel, ahead of the country's secession, did not allude to its content.

###

Terror, cyber crime new EAC security threat- Kiraso (Daily Nation)

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/1308642/-/8rlw2x/-/index.html

January 17, 2012By Lucas Barasa

Terrorism, kidnappings and cyber-crime are the new forms of insecurity threatening thefive East African Community member states.

Addressing the joint meeting of the region's councils on Cooperation in Defence, Inter-State Security and Foreign Policy Coordination at the Arusha International ConferenceCentre in Tanzania Monday, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of PoliticalFederation Beatrice Kiraso said such threats undermine the proposed regional integrationas well as the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

³Instability at our borders have negative spill effects on our people and economicintegration as we face new set of menaces including money laundering, humantrafficking, illicit drugs as well as fire-arms trafficking,´ said Ms Kiraso.

She was responding to concerns raised by most of the delegates regarding the insecurityin Somalia and how it is likely to jeopardise the stability of EAC member states of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

Representatives from Kenya were mostly concerned with the instability and lack of functioning government in Somalia, pointing out that their country which directly bordersthe Horn of Africa state is at risk.

The meeting is expected to sign a final draft of the EAC Protocol on Peace and Securityon Friday.



According to Ms Kiraso, the draft Protocol was adopted by the EAC Council of Ministersand referred to the meeting for conclusion of policy guidelines on counter terrorism, piracy as well as detention, custody and rehabilitation of offenders.

The meeting is also considering the drafting of EAC Conflict Prevention, Management

and Resolution (CPMR) framework and progress on the development of the EAC earlywarning mechanism.

The CPMR framework includes initiatives on conflict prevention, making early warningan integral part. It also provides for mechanisms of managing and resolving conflicts,when they occur and establishes a panel of eminent persons, who will serve as peaceenvoys or mediators.

On the CPMR, Ms Kiraso says: "It is high time we, as Africans, develop our own homegrown solutions instead of relying upon international agencies."

The four-day meeting is also expected to adopt the Eastern and Southern Africa andIndian Ocean Maritime Security Strategy and Action Plan designed to help combat piracyin the Indian Ocean

###

Nigeria News: Boko Haram violence has many causes (Global Post)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120112/nigeria-boko-haram-and-counterterrorism-west-africa

January 17, 2012By Vanda Felbab-Brown and James J.F. Forest

Opinion: Nigeria should respond to Boko Haram's violence with better governance

Nigeria is confronted with two major crises: the angry anti-government protests sparked

by fuel price hikes and the Islamic extremist terror attacks by Boko Haram. Together the problems threaten to pull the country apart. President Goodluck Jonathan warns of civil

war. Yet many say the cause of the problems is bad government. A look at the root causesof Nigeria's troubles and the way forward for Africa's most populous country.

WASHINGTON ² The recent spate of brutal attacks in Nigeria by Boko Haram, thelocal terrorist group professing allegiance to Al Qaeda, has drawn attention to WestAfrica as the next battleground against violent global jihad.

Senior US officials have expressed concern over connections between Boko Haram andAl Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Shabaab in Somalia.



But in Nigeria, no less than in Pakistan, a fanatical ideology often cloaks far more localeconomic and tribal rivalries. This deep rooting in very local political contexts andeconomic ambitions also hampers the terrorists' efforts at forging pan-African jihad.

Although most visible and vicious, Boko Haram is not the only militant group in Nigeria.

In the oil-rich south, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)roams the swamps and links up with politicians in the crumbling cities.

Nor is Boko Haram Nigeria's only jihadi group. Hisba, a collection of Islamist vigilantegangs, also operates in the north. Both tap into decades of tribal violence among Nigeria'scommunities, often manipulated by politicians for political gain and profit. The localadoption of Shariah law in 1999 has neither quelled Islamist mobilization in Nigeria'snorth nor redressed the deep dissatisfaction with socioeconomic conditions and poor governance.

Instead, vociferous religious ideology periodically obscures violence driven more by

economic factors.

For example, migration by the ethnic Hausa Fulani into Yoruba lands has producedconflict. The fact that the Yoruba are predominantly Christians and the Hausa FulaniMuslims matters only secondarily. Rather, the Hausa-Fulani Boko Haram is infusingreligion into a long-churning brew of grievances about wealth and power distribution,corruption, and injustice.

The Nigerian government has responded poorly not only to the long-standing communaltensions, but also to the specific case of Boko Haram, often ignoring or instigating theformer while brutally and indiscriminately overreacting toward the latter. Although Nigeria's police are more capacious than most in West Africa, they overwhelmingly lack intelligence capacity and the ability to either disrupt attacks before they happen or track down real culprits who are at times connected to key local politicians.

As in much of West Africa, governance in Nigeria was for decades characterized by predatory rapaciousness of governing elites and incomplete institutional development plaguing everything from rule of law to social services. Political contestation oftencentered on getting access to the state to control commodity rents, including oil.

Governance has been based around tribal, clan, or family loyalties. More than 10 yearsafter the end of the Sani Abacha dictatorship, the attitude that government positions aremeans to the enrichment of oneself and one's patronage network rather than a service tothe overall Nigerian polity has been only slowly changing in Abuja and Nigeria's statecapitals.

But such parochial interests and loyalties also dominate pan-jihadi cooperation in theregion. Although AQIM, Al Shabaab and Boko Haram may communicate over the same jihadi webpages and copy each others' tactics, their global proclamations often clash withtheir very local interests and necessities.



How successfully outside terrorist groups navigate new territories depends on their understanding of local culture and the complex relationships between politicians,unofficial powerbrokers, and (il)legal economic networks. Crucially, it also depends ontheir sensitivities to the social constraints and entanglements of their local affiliates. For

example, until the emergence of Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda struggled to establisha base there and found the Somali clan rivalries to be maddeningly confounding and notconducive to global jihad. Al Shabaab's recent troubles have come precisely from itsmilitary and social overreach.

Instead of reflexively portraying Boko Haram as a new Al Qaeda affiliate of a monolithicglobal jihad, US counterterrorism policy needs a more nuanced approach. It shouldexploit the natural rivalries and misunderstandings among the various terrorist groups andavoid inadvertently driving the often competing and fractious actors together.

The United States must be cautious when considering training security forces in West

Africa. Some governments there can view counterterrorism and counternarcotics aid asyet another form of rent to be exploited for power and profit maximization, just like theyhad often seen anti-Communism aid. At worst, such funds can be used for repression of domestic political opposition. Instead of effectively countering terrorism, they mayundermine institutional development and accountable governance.

Nigeria must move beyond the blunt use of lethal force by improving intelligence-gathering and building healthier civil-military relations. Sending tanks to the streets anddeclaring a state of emergency, as President Jonathan Goodluck did a few days ago, mayappease the angry public, but it is not an effective counterterrorism policy.

The United States must encourage the Nigerian government to address the political,economic, and religious insecurities that give resonance to Boko Haram's ideology.Finally, the Nigerian government must also empower and protect the many moderateIslamic leaders in the north that have stood up against Boko Haram even while facingassassinations. Ultimately, the real solutions to the Boko Haram menace are local.

V anda Felbab-Brown is a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and

James J.F. Forest is Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

###

Al Qaeda kidnaps Algerian governor hostage - sources (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE80G0PG20120117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAWorldNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+World+News%29

January 17, 2012By Christian Lowe and Lamine Chikhi



ALGIERS (Reuters) - A kidnapped Algerian regional governor has been freed after hiscaptors were intercepted inside Libya, officials said on Tuesday, an incident that willraise new concerns about instability spilling over from Libya to its neighbours.

Two Algerian security sources earlier told Reuters the governor was being held by alQaeda. Security experts have warned the group is exploiting turmoil in Libya after thefall of Muammar Gaddafi to carve out a safe haven.

Algeria's state news agency, citing a source close to the Interior Ministry, said thegovernor, Mohamed Laid Khelfi, was freed by the Libyan authorities when they stoppedhis kidnappers about 150 km inside Libyan territory.

The agency said the governor would soon be handed over to the Algerian authorities at anearby border crossing.

An Algerian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: "Thegovernor is safe and well. He was freed. That is all I can say for now."

The kidnapping, deep in the Sahara desert, was the most audacious attack on a senior official for years in Algeria, which has been fighting a two-decade battle against Islamistinsurgents.

There was no immediate comment from officials in Libya's interim government on theincident.

Khelfi, governor of the Illizi region about 1,700 km (1,000 miles) southeast of theAlgerian capital, was driving away from a meeting on the Libyan border on Mondayafternoon when three armed men stopped his convoy, the Interior Ministry said.

The attackers released his driver and an aide, but took the governor in the direction of theLibyan border, a ministry statement said. He later made telephone contact with hisfamily.

The ministry did not identify the kidnappers, saying only they were young Algerian menwho were known to the authorities.

Two Algerian security officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, saidthe governor had been held by al Qaeda's north African branch, al Qaeda in the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM).

The group carries out kidnappings, ambushes and suicide bombings, mainly in Algeria but also in neighbouring states which straddle the Sahara desert.



With backing from Western states, which are concerned the group could spread itsactivities further afield, Algerian security forces have been able to reduce the insurgencyto a small rump of fighters hiding out in remote areas.

"DANGEROUS ESCALATION"

But the instability in Libya could give AQIM a new lease of life by providing theinsurgents with a source of weapons and a safe haven in vast desert tracts which the newLibyan authorities lack the capacity to police.

"This (kidnapping) is a very dangerous escalation which shows that the group is feelingsecure and strong because of the chaos in Libya," said Samer Riad, a security expert whoruns Algeria's numidianews.com news portal.

Western diplomats say Algeria is under serious threat from al Qaeda and is an importantally in helping fight the spread of the insurgency. Some security experts say the al Qaeda

threat also helps Algeria garner international support.

The kidnapping was unusual because in Algeria, governors and all other senior government officials almost always travel with heavy security details, making them a"hard" target, which the insurgents tend to avoid.

One of the security officials who spoke to Reuters said the governor had on Monday beenat Debdeb, a border crossing with Libya, trying to calm down local protesters angry atunemployment and poor living conditions.

Among the protesters were relatives of Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, one of AQIM's leadingfield commanders in the Sahara desert, the official said.

Abu Zeid is believed by many security experts to have ordered the killings of twoforeigners kidnapped by his group, Frenchman Michel Germaneau and Briton EdwinDyer.

The security official said that the Illizi governor was kidnapped by local people who had been involved in the protest, and was subsequently handed over to insurgents under thecommand of Abu Zeid.

( Additional reporting by Mahmoud Habboush in Tripoli)

###

Algeria troops in Mali to fight Qaeda (News24)

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Algeria-troops-in-Mali-to-fight-Qaeda-20111220

January 17, 2012By SAPA



BAMAKO -- Algerian troops have crossed into Mali to help government forces combatgroups affiliated to al-Qaeda, officials and witnesses said on Tuesday.

"Algerian troops are currently stationed in northern Mali to assist the Malian army in the

fight against terrorism," a high-ranking military official said.

He would not divulge the number of Algerian troops now based in Mali nor the expectedlength of their stay.

"We know there is a team of instructors of at least 15, including officers," a diplomaticsource said, also on condition of anonymity.

Customs officials said they saw a convoy carrying Algerian military between the northerntowns of Kidal and Tessalit, near the Algerian border.

Weak link

Al-Qaeda-linked groups have been active in Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania for adecade, but their activity has picked up since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi scattered theslain Libyan strongman's arsenal across the region.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and a splinter group that surfaced earlier thismonth - the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa - currently hold 12European hostages.

In April 2010, the four countries formed a Committee of Joint Chiefs (Cemoc), based inthe Algerian town of Tamanrasset, to co-ordinate their military efforts against AQIM.

Cemoc army chiefs meet every six months but had never yet organised joint patrols, withthe smaller countries criticising the group's powerhouse Algeria for failing to send morehelp.

Algiers for its part has complained that Mali was the committee's weak link, blamingBamako for allowing AQIM to set up bases on its territory and releasing jailed militantsin exchange for hostages.

A source close to the Malian defence ministry said a meeting between Malian andAlgerian top brass was due to take place in Bamako on Wednesday.

World security analysts have voiced concern that while "al-Qaeda central" has beenweakened in 2011, the group's franchise in Africa could become a new terror hub posinga threat far beyond the four countries currently most affected.

###



Mali army 'bombs Tuareg rebels, four arrested' (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/mali-army-tuareg-rebels-clash-over-northern-town-101730523.html

January 17, 2012

By Serge Daniel

Malian army helicopters on Tuesday bombed a rebel Tuareg position, forcing them towithdraw after an attempt to seize control of the northeastern town of Menaka, militaryofficials said Tuesday.

However the rebels said they had seized two military camps and had only withdrawntemporarily to avoid civilian deaths.

"We arrested four armed bandits during our counter-attack. Some are lightly wounded,"said Lieutenant Habib Togola of the Malian army.

"We are in control of the town and reinforcements are making their way to the town."

Several sources reported the rebels had withdrawn to a forested area some two kilometres(1.2 miles) from the town.

"An army helicopter bombed the armed bandits' position in Menaka. Two of their vehicles have been destroyed by fire," said a military source based in Gao, a town to thewest of Menaka which hosts the regional military headquarters.

"They (the rebels) fled. Reinforcements are being sent in."

He denied statements by the rebels that they had captured two military camps in the town,saying they had been evacuated as a precaution before the arrival of the rebels.

A rebel spokesman, Moussa Salam, told AFP: "We are currently in the Menaka militarycamp, there is no more fighting"

Salam said they had withdrawn "to avoid killing civilians" but had returned.

He said the attack on the town was led by a Tuareg soldier who had recently desertedfrom the Malian army.

In October three Tuareg officers deserted the army: Colonel Assalath Ag Khabi, advisor to the energy minister, Lieutenant-Colonel Mbarek Ag Akly, who was stationed inwestern Mali and Commander Hassan Habre, stationed in the north.

The Malian army last week boosted its presence in the north, stationing hundreds of menin Tinzawaten, a town near the Algerian border.



The troops passed through the mountainous region of Zackac where rebel Tuareg forceswere living, prompting them to abandon their positions and split into three groups.

"It is one of these groups which attacked Menaka. We cannot rule out that other groupswill attack other towns," the local official warned.

Hundreds of armed Malian Tuareg recently returned from Libya where they foughtalongside troops of ousted leader Moamer Kadhafi.

Their return to the region has raised fears over greater instability in the troubled desertregion.

Some returnees have accepted a process of integration offered by President AmadouToumani Toure, but others have retreated into the desert mountains, their intentionsunknown.

A nomadic community of some 1.5 million people, Tuareg of various tribes are scattered between Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger and Mali.

Mali and Niger experienced uprisings as the Tuareg fought for recognition of their identity and an independent state in the 1960s, 1990s and early 2000 with a resurgence between 2006 and 2009.

After these rebellions many fighters left for Libya where they were integrated intoKadhafi's security forces. After his fall they returned to northern Mali, particularly theAzawad region between Timbuktu and Kidal.

The political wing of the rebel Tuareg is represented by the Azawad National LiberationMovement. However no particular figure speaks for the fighters on the ground.

The return of the rebels has added to northern Mali's woes as the region battles Al-Qaedain the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which has carried out many attacks on troops,kidnappings of Westerners and various trafficking operations, including drugs.

Twelve Europeans are being held hostage in the Sahel strip of northwest African nationson the southern edge of the Sahara by AQIM and a new splinter group calling itself theMovement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

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END REPORT

Documents

AFRICOM Related News Clips 18 January 2012