United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

31 March 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Ghana Armed Forces to host Africa Endeavour 2010 (Ghana News Agency)
ACCRA, Ghana - Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will host the 2010 Africa Endeavour (AE),
a US- Africa Command's annual communications exercise that focuses on inter-
operability and information sharing in Accra from August 2- August 12.

U.S. cautions against misuse of refugee camp for combatant recruitment base
(Xinhua)
NAIROBI, Kenya - The United States government said Tuesday that no refugee camp
should be used as recruitment base for combatants in the ongoing civil war in
neighboring Somalia.

AFRICOM and the USA's Hidden Battle for Africa (Accra Mail)
What is the current meaning of "War against Terror” for Africa? The true intention of
America's recent military interventions in the African continent (both covert and open)
is nothing other than the expansion and consolidation of Western capital

North Africans mull anti-Qaida airstrikes (UPI)

ALGIERS, Algeria - Seven North African and Saharan governments have produced a
new strategy for combating al-Qaida groups in their region, possibly including a
campaign of airstrikes against desert strongholds.

With rusty ammo, Nigeria confronts pirates (Associated Press)

GULF OF GUINEA, Nigeria -- Nigerian patrol boats recently participated in a training
exercise with the U.S. military. But the navy appears overmatched as attacks on
shipping continue and grow more violent, and militants resume strikes on oil platforms
and pipelines.

Eritrea-US State Department's erroneous and deceptive Rehearsed script-speak

(Shaebia.org)
At a hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa
and Global Health, it was obvious to Donald Payne that the US State Department
employed double standards on issues relating to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Increased Inter-Regional Cooperation Will Lessen Future Economic Shocks in Africa,
Says Financial Expert (Voice of America)
The Director of the Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland Business
School in the United States says enhanced inter-regional economic cooperation among
African Countries could reduce the effects of future world financial meltdown.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
• UN blue helmets to airlift nine orphan gorillas to DR Congo nature reserve
• Sudan: UN mission takes to the airwaves with civic education drama
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, April 2; 10:00 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: US Institute of Peace: Previewing Sudan’s Upcoming Elections
WHO: Linda Bishai, senior program officer at USIP; John Ryle, Legrand Ramsey professor of
anthropology at Bard College; Khalid Mustafa Medani, professor of political science and islamic
studies at McGill University; and Jon Temin, senior program officer at USIP.
Info: http://fpc.state.gov/events/124194.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Ghana Armed Forces to host Africa Endeavour 2010 (Ghana News Agency)

ACCRA, Ghana - Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will host the 2010 Africa Endeavour (AE),
a US- Africa Command's annual communications exercise that focuses on inter-
operability and information sharing in Accra from August 2- August 12.

The exercise between the US and African partners is to develop command, control and
communication tactics, techniques and procedures that can be used by the African
Union in support of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and peacekeeping missions.

The first Africa Endeavour was held in South Africa in 2006, the second in Nigeria in
2008 and third in Gabon, 2009.

This year's exercise to be attended by about 30 African countries would tackle

networking fundamentals, server administration and management and core services of
participating countries.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, Brigadier-General Joseph Searyoh,

Director of Defence Communication and Information Systems of GAF said this year's
exercise sought to build upon the successes of previous exercises, explaining that
effective communications was the key to multi-national inter-operability.
"Information is the oxygen of the modern world and transcends the boundaries of every
aspect of today's global society.

"Our collective actions in improving the way we create, share, gain access to and use
information are tearing down walls and building bridges in fostering a greater
understanding and furthering the goals we share in common," he added.

Commander Britt Talbert, Director of Programmes for US Africa Command said

favourable testimonies from various countries had resulted in the increase in
participation.

He noted that AE since its inception; had harmonised communications between nations,
as well as sharing of technical expertise at minimal cost.

Some of the participating countries are Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, and Gambia.

The rest are Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Uganda, and Zambia.
--------------------
U.S. cautions against misuse of refugee camp for combatant recruitment base
(Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United States government said Tuesday that no refugee camp
should be used as recruitment base for combatants in the ongoing civil war in
neighboring Somalia.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi after touring the Dadaab Refugee Camp in
northern Kenya, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bureau of Population Refugees and
Migration Reuben Brigety outlined that Somali refugees' rights should be observed and
that they needed to be treated with civility.

"I have come to reiterate the United States' commitment to working in partnership with
the government and people of Kenya to provide a safe refuge for Somali and other
refugees," Brigety told journalists in Nairobi. "I am also here to demonstrate concern on
security issues and concern about the survival of refugees."

The Dadaab Camp, which is home to over 267,000, has the biggest number of protracted
refugees in the world and the number is still rising.

The American envoy said Al Shabaab, which has been branded as a terrorist group by
the U.S. and Somali governments with claims that the movement was linked to Al
Qaeda, was not concerned about the well-being of Somali civilians because they had
retorted to various tactics of extortion and harm to relief and humanitarian agencies.

Brigety hoped the looming elections and the referendum in the Sudan will be peaceful
so as to avoid an influx of more refugees into Kenya that will further stretch resources.
"I have not come to prepare Kenya, but to renew working relationships with various
humanitarian agencies," he stressed. The Under secretary was in Kenya for three days
from March 28 to March 30.
--------------------
AFRICOM and the USA's Hidden Battle for Africa (Accra Mail)

What is the current meaning of "War against Terror” for Africa? The true intention of
America's recent military interventions in the African continent (both covert and open)
is nothing other than the expansion and consolidation of Western capital.

It all started in 2001 when George W. Bush declared his "War on Terror" in the
continent, but has developed in a manner that has gone beyond human imagination in
the body counts on the streets of Somalia, in the jungles of Uganda and Congo, and
deserts of Sudan. The chief of the US African Command, General E. Ward, explained
this in language more clear than that of any US politician when he stated that an Africa
in which "African populations are able to provide for themselves, contribute to global
economic development and are allowed access to markets in free, fair, and competitive
ways, is good for America and the world..."

AFRICOM (or USAFRICOM) is a Unified Combatant Command of the US Department

of Defense, responsible for US military operations and military relations with 53 African
nations (excepting Egypt). Africa Command was established October 1, 2007, and
formally activated October 1, 2008 at a public ceremony at the Pentagon attended by
representatives of African nations. It has become clear that the idea was not primarily to
fight against the Islamic terror, which was said to be growing in influence, but to
protect and help expand American military and economic (mainly energy) interests.

Pending legislation, "The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda
Recovery Act 2009," being pushed by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) would empower
AFRICOM not only to give technical support but to physically go to war with the
armed groups that both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo Forces have not
been able to dislodge. Royce said:

Africa's emerging potential as a major oil producer and supplier to the United States,
has been of interest to the Sub-Committee on Africa that I've chaired for some time. The
sub-committee held a hearing to look at this topic in 2000. It's clearly in our national
interest to diversify our energy supply, especially given the turbulent political climate
in key parts of the world today. The expansion of energy production in Africa matches
to that interest...
This is big money talk rather than humanitarian outrage. On January 2, 2002, a
Washington DC symposium held to discuss African oil came up with a document
entitled "African Oil: A Priority for US National Security and African Development,"
which paved the way for the rest to happen. It was attended by Washington's Africa
heavyweights: people like Barry Schutz, a Bush administration specialist on Africa; Lt-
Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a high-ranking Air Force officer, and Water Kansteiner, Bush's
under-secretary of State for African Affairs. The Christian Science Monitor reported on
the Symposium thus:

In January last year [2002], the IASPS [Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political
Studies] hosted a symposium in Houston, Texas, which was attended by government
and oil industry representatives. An influential working group called the African Oil
Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG) co-chaired by IASPS researchers Barry Schutz and Paul
Michael Wihbey, which has been largely responsible for driving American
governmental policy concerning west African oil, emerged from the symposium... The
document urges Congress and the Bush administration to encourage greater extraction
of oil across Africa, and to declare the Gulf of Guinea 'a area of vital interest' to the US."

We have now definitely entered the aggressive birth of AFRICOM. The man who is put
in charge of this task, Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward, is not new to the battlefields of
Africa. He was in Somalia in 1993 when US forces were serious bitten by small
insurgent groups, forcing the US to withdraw from that crisis.

Africom in Action

AFRICOM justifies its presence in Africa on its website as follows:

Africa is growing in military, strategic and economic importance in global affairs.

However, many nations on the African continent continue to rely on the international
community for assistance with security concerns. From the US perspective, it makes
strategic sense to help build the capability for African partners, and organizations such
as the African Standby Force, to take the lead in establishing a security environment.
This security, will, in turn, set the groundwork for increased political stability and
economic growth.

This helps explain why the AFRICOM budget rose from $50 million in the fiscal year of
2007 to $310 million in FY 2009 fiscal year?in running costs, not military aid to the
member countries. It also shows the significance of this program for the US
government. The command gave the US military the possibility of having a physical
presence in numerous African countries and assigning Defense Department personnel
to US embassies and diplomatic missions to coordinate Defense Department programs.
The US Africa Command is now spending billions in training and arm supplies. It is
expecting to spend nothing less than $20 billion in 2010, and this will benefit the armies
of a very many repressive regimes.

Take the case of Sudan. Openly, Western governments, including the US, have never
been more critical of the regime in Khartoum, even accusing it of committing genocide
in Darfur. The fact that the head of Sudan's intelligence agency, wanted by the
International Criminal Court, was secretly jetted to the US by the CIA to discuss
military interests in the Horn of Africa was one of the most disgusting acts of hypocrisy
by the Bush administration.

The right-wing Republican lobbyists for AFRICOM never made their intentions secret.
They have said time and again that America cannot rely on the unconquered Middle
East for its oil supply; for them, Africa is the answer. But the aggressive nature of this
thirst for African oil and other resources has no doubt also been fueled by the presence
of China in key strategic areas.

Today, US Africa Command is involved in almost 38 African countries with the

presumed agenda of training anti-terrorist forces. These include Chad, Kenya, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone. The expansion of the
AFRICOM central command in Djibouti adds to the significance that the US
government puts into this project. According to AFRICOM, "US Central Command
maintains its traditional relationship with Egypt, but AFRICOM coordinates with Egypt
on issues relating to Africa security." In Egypt, the US state is spending billions of
American tax payers' money in military equipment and training to arm one of the most
repressive military forces in the continent. All of this speaks for itself rather than the
simple and cheap rhetoric of bringing stability to the continent in the name of the "war
against terror."

The 2006 invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian forces was clearly a proxy war, with
AFRICOM providing the logistics?allowing a criminal organization like al-Shabab to
claim a legitimate reason for its war and brutal terror against the very people both sides
claim to be freeing: the poor ordinary Somalis. It is significant that as debate was held
on where the headquarters of AFRICOM should be located, the Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi declared that Ethiopia will be willing to work closely with the
Command. According to a UN situation report of February 5, 2010, an estimated 3.2
million people in Somalia are in need of emergency food aid, one in six children are
seriously malnourished, and the internally displaced population is in the millions and
continues to rise.

The planned assault on Mogadishu has registered its first civilian casualties this March,
forcing more civilians to flee the capital. The aim of this military operation is to retake
control of the capital from the al-Shabab militants. The Obama administration has been
planning this assault for a while now. Assistant secretary of state for Africa, Johnnie
Carlson is said to have been very instrumental in the preparation. He nonetheless said:
"This is not an American offensive... the US military is not on the ground in Somalia.
Full stop." In another press briefing Carlson held with the Ertharin Cousin, US
ambassador to the UN Mission in Rome, he said: "We have provided limited military
support to the Transitional Federal Government... We do so in the firm belief that the
TFG seeks to end the violence in Somalia that is caused by al-Shabaab and other
extremist organizations..."

True, there might not be any US troops on the ground?but it is an American war
contracted to some Somalis, African Union forces, and Ethiopians. The US has been
training intelligence forces, providing surveillance, logistic support and money to buy
bullets and guns; and there are even speculations that American forces might provide
aerial bombing of militant positions.

This is against the recent advice given to the Obama administration, which warns of a
need for a change of approach from US support to the Transitional Federal Government
headed by Sheik Ahmed Sharif. The Report, "Somali: A New Approach," prepared by
the Council on Foreign Relations, advised the administration to engage in "Constructive
Disengagement" rather than spending so much on ineffective government that has very
little support among the Somali population. Critics might be right to say that the
Obama administration is playing into the hands of the Islamic extremists.

This was the case too with "Operation Lightning Thunder" in 2008, involving Uganda,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the liberated Southern Sudan. It was clear to
all sincere analysts that the Lord's Resistance Army was cornered and pacified, and that
operation "Lightning Thunder" was no more than the clearing of the oil fields. Dr.
Jendayi Frazer, then an assistant secretary of state in the Bush government, was said to
have been the main initiator of that operation. Riek Machar, vice president of Southern
Sudan, said as much in a documentary aired by the AlJazeera TV. Ugandan military
commanders have openly confirmed that they have received logistics support from the
Americans, including satellite phones, GPS receivers, maps and US contributions to fuel
costs of the military vehicles involved in the operation. The results: over 1,000 civilians
dead and the internal displacement of an estimated half million people. All this
followed the 2006 failed operation by a UN team of US-trained Guatemalan comma
ndo to assassinate Joseph Kone, leader of LRA?in which all members of the commando
were killed by the LRA. Southern Sudan refused to actively take part, only closing their
borders to avoid crossing of arm groups into their territory.

Conclusion

When the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project was put on the table in the prelude to
AFRICOM's unveiling, the oil companies made sure of IMF and World Bank support.
This was not because of lack of capital. These two institutions are the most reliable and
effective discipliners of the African nations involved should they at any time violate the
contract against the interest of the big oil companies involved in the project. The
arrangement was never designed for transparency, and when the initial funds of the
project were embezzled in the member countries there was never a call to halt the
project?even though the World Bank had put in a code of conduct as condition for the
funding.

There is nothing new in armies conquering territories before the looting begins. For
centuries states have been using their armies in foreign adventures in the interest of
capital. The modern world has just surpassed the crude methods that were used in
centuries past, and is now utilizing sophisticated techniques consciously designed to
confuse the human mind. With the "moral high ground" of free market capitalism, the
African bourgeoisie are content with being sub-contractors; the whole mathematics
becomes easier, especially when it comes to the "ethical sharing" of the wealth from the
looting. To say that Africans are benefitting from the project through employment and
the creation of a middle class are fine words that defy the lawlessness and suffering on
the continent.
--------------------
North Africans mull anti-Qaida airstrikes (UPI)

ALGIERS, Algeria - Seven North African and Saharan governments have produced a
new strategy for combating al-Qaida groups in their region, possibly including a
campaign of airstrikes against desert strongholds.

But given the traditional rivalries that have soured relations between these states, the
prospect of a coordinated assault seems remote.

These regional rivalries were in evidence when the foreign ministers -- discreetly
accompanied by the intelligence chiefs -- of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali,
Mauritania and Niger convened March 16 in Algiers.

Morocco, Algeria's adversary in a long-running dispute over the mineral-rich Western

Sahara, wasn't invited, even though it has been a major player in the conflict with al-
Qaida.

The Foreign Ministry in Rabat deplored its "exclusion." Yassine Mansouri, director of
Morocco's intelligence service was reported to be "furious" at being snubbed.

The Algerians, who have been the primary target of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb,
the major jihadist force in North Africa, presented the new strategy at the conference,
the first high-level regional counter-insurgency meeting in years.

The Algerian plan is based on interdicting and disrupting militants and the smuggling
gangs with whom they work by restricting their access to vital supplies of water and
fuel in the vast desert wastelands and porous borders in which they operate.
Several Western states, most of them European whose nationals have been kidnapped
for ransom, were considering airstrikes against AQIM targets, in part because they fear
that if the jihadists continue consolidating they will eventually strike at Western
Europe.

To facilitate these operations, the French army's engineering corps was reported to be
looking at up to four airstrips in north and central Mali from which to conduct the air
campaign.

The lack of surveillance and strike aircraft among the nations of the Maghreb -- the
Arabic name for North Africa -- and the Sahara has severely limited these states'
counterinsurgency programs as AQIM has expanded its operations from Algeria across
the region.

Algeria, the strongest regional military power, is the driving force behind the new
strategy. AQIM emerged in 2006 as al-Qaida's regional unit from the Salafist Group for
Combat and Preaching, holdover from the country's war with Islamic extremists
throughout the 1990s.

AQIM has groups based deep in the Sahara and cells are emerging in Mauritania, Mali
and Niger. The group has a transnational agenda that threatens the entire region and its
objective is to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Maghreb.

There have been regional initiatives in recent years to coordinate counterinsurgency

efforts but these have been hampered not only by regional rivalries but by a general
lack of military and political will.

Recent AQIM attacks have reinforced the perception that the region's military forces are
simply not capable of tackling the Islamist militants.

Earlier this month, AQIM raiders killed five soldiers in the suicide bombing of an army
base in western Niger followed by an assault in which large quantities of weapons and
ammunition were seized.

Last June, 28 soldiers were gunned down in a running battle in northern Mali with
jihadist raiders.

Algeria and neighboring Morocco have feuded over the Western Sahara since Morocco
seized the area in 1975. Some 160,000 Moroccan troops still occupy the region.

Relations between the various governments involved in combating AQIM sank in

February after Mali freed four suspected militants whose release had been demanded in
exchange for sparing a French hostage the jihadists had threatened to execute.
Algeria and Mauritania withdrew their ambassadors from Mali's capital, Bakomo, in
protest.

According to the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington think tank that monitors

jihadist terrorism, the new Algerian proposal "to restrict access to water and fuel in the
region are actually a regional expansion of a local program that began in 2006 and is
credited with reducing militant activity in southern Algeria."

If the Algerian plan does get off the ground, this could lead to greater involvement by
the U.S. Africa Command, established in late 2008, to coordinate U.S. military missions
in Africa.

It currently runs counterinsurgency training programs in the region but if the battle
with the terrorists intensifies it could find itself becoming more involved. There are
already indications the Americans want to establish an air base at Tamanrasset in the
Sahara.
--------------------
With rusty ammo, Nigeria confronts pirates (Associated Press)

GULF OF GUINEA, Nigeria -- The gleaming Nigerian naval patrol boat heaved across
the rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean in search of pirates. Beyond the crisp white hull,
however, crew members in cheap sandals manned machine guns whose ammunition
had rusted in the chambers. And a computer-guided gun on the bow had no ammo at
all.

This is the first line of defense against growing piracy off West Africa.

The patrol boat Burutu, which recently participated in a training exercise with the U.S.
military, is part of a force that patrols Nigeria's 530 miles (853 kilometers) of coastline.
But the navy appears overmatched as attacks on shipping continue and grow more
violent, and militants resume strikes on oil platforms and pipelines.

The coastline of Africa's most populous country is a target-rich environment. Barges

and other vessels belonging to energy companies crowd the waters off the Niger Delta,
one of America's top sources of crude oil. At night off the megacity of Lagos, lights from
scores of cargo ships twinkle like an archipelago as crews wait for weeks to unload at
the city's busy, mismanaged port.

About 10 pirates on Thursday night boarded a Turkish-flagged freighter waiting to

unload its cargo. They stole money, mobile telephones and computer gear, Turkish
maritime authorities said. The crew apparently fought back and sent an alarm before
the pirates clubbed them with Kalashnikov rifles and stabbed the captain. Two Turkish
sailors and a Nigerian worker were injured.
"The Western African coast, especially around Nigeria, is a high risk area for piracy,"
said Cyrus Mody, a manager at the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy
worldwide. "It also one of the most violent places."

The bureau reported 28 attacks off Nigeria during 2009 and believes at least another 30
pirate attacks went unreported, either due to companies worried about having higher
insurance premiums or concerns about advertising their security weaknesses, Mody
said.

Attacks have occurred elsewhere along the Gulf of Guinea that Nigeria shares with
more than a half-dozen other countries. On Saturday, armed pirates off Cameroon's
coast near Nigeria kidnapped two sailors from a Ghanaian-flagged ship for ransom. In
another attack in November near neighboring Benin by suspected Nigerian pirates, a
Ukrainian sailor was shot dead. In other boardings, pirates stabbed and beat sailors,
Mody said.

The former British protectorate's navy includes several large ocean-cruising craft and
smaller patrol boats that can travel up the Niger River in the delta to look for those
attacking oil pipelines and stealing crude oil. The U.S. imported more than 1 million
barrels of Nigerian crude oil a day in December, making Nigeria America's third-
biggest foreign source that month, so the U.S. has an interest in seeing the Nigerian
navy improve.

The U.S. Navy has been training naval forces of West African nations to fight piracy,
even though much of the world's attention remains focused on Somali pirates operating
off East Africa.

Commodore David Nabaida, a spokesman for the Nigerian navy, said the navy will
continue to patrol off of the Niger Delta and Lagos. He said it is difficult to protect the
more than 200 ships anchored in Lagos and questioned whether freighters were actually
being robbed.

"Maybe ships do deals and sell their products, then say they were attacked by pirates so
they can divert attention from whatever crooked deals they have done," he said.

In a country permeated by corruption, it's perhaps not unusual that the commodore
harbors such suspicions.

The corruption that permeates every level of government in Nigeria may hamper the
anti-piracy efforts. A retired Navy rear admiral was recently indicted for allegedly
embezzling government funds. Nigeria's elites often plunder the oil money that should
be running and building up the country and some politicians even allegedly hire
criminals and militants to help them rig elections.
The effectiveness of the Nigerian navy is also in question.

During the recent training exercise, the Burutu was motoring near the American frigate
Samuel B. Roberts. The U.S. ship sounded a warning through its loudspeaker that the
Nigerian vessel was on a collision course.

The warning continued even as the Nigerian patrol boat scraped along the side of the
U.S. warship, creating an ear-piercing metallic squeal. One U.S. sailor cursed and threw
a blue hard hat at the Nigerian sailors, who merely stared.
--------------------
Eritrea-US State Department's erroneous and deceptive Rehearsed script-speak
(Shaebia.org)

On 24 March 2010 I went to the Rayburn building where Donald Payne (D-New Jersey)
was holding a hearing on US policy for Africa. Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs was there to speak about the Obama
Administration’s Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa. The statement and paper he presented
before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global
Health is available on the US State Department site for those who want to read it.
Johnny Carson briefly highlighted Obama’s 5-point policy and when he was done, the
questions and answer session began.

The session began with a question on US relations with Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was
obvious to Donald Payne that the US State Department employed double standards on
issues relating to Ethiopia and Eritrea. While it downplayed and covered up Ethiopia’s
numerous violations of international law, human rights abuses including genocides in
the Gambela, Ogaden and Oromia regions in Ethiopia, election related harassments and
intimidations as well as detentions of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians for voting it
out of office in the 2005 elections, violations of the UN Charter and over two dozen
Security Council resolutions and more, it went out of its way to exaggerate the state of
affairs in Eritrea, and presenting Eritrea in the worst possible light. He was not wrong
in his observations, as that is exactly what Johnnie Carson did.

He said that he had talked to Meles Zenawi, the leader of the minority regime and
Washington’s “staunch ally” (a.k.a. man on the ground) about the Ethiopian
governments “shortcomings”, and that he had encouraged him to “act responsibly” as
it was not good for his government’s “image and credibility”. On the minority regime’s
jamming of Voice of America (VoA), he said that it had issues with the Amharic service
program and that the State Department was talking to the VoA to iron out the
problems. As for the statements made about VoA being like Radio Rwanda, Carson
thought that it was “distressing”.

As I said, no matter what questions he was asked about Ethiopia, he minimized the
issues, or blamed the problems on others-not Meles Zenawi. Johnnie Carson, just like
his predecessors is once again providing the diplomatic, financial, political and military
shield and support as Meles Zenawi terrorizes the people of Ethiopia and invades and
occupies sovereign terrorizes in neighboring states. When Johnnie Carson finished
statements on Ethiopia and his futile attempts to cover-up Meles Zenawi’s international
crimes and numerous human rights violations, he pounced at Eritrea.

I looked over at Johnnie Carson and I realized that in responding to the question about
Eritrea he looked like he was reading something. I was puzzled. Since there was no
mention of Eritrea in his presentation, how is it that he came there with a prepared spill
on Eritrea? Or was he just bending down so as to avoid making eye contact with the
lawmakers as he misrepresented Eritrea, its people and its government? I believe it was
the former. I say that because I had heard the same rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea
before, and so have many others who have make the “think tank” circuits.

Johnnie Carson immediately started in with what has to be the US State Department’s
rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea. For those of you unaware of “scripts”, they are
exactly what you might imagine- Prefab spoken lines to use in certain situations. It’s
like the WMD line that all Bush Administration officials used to spread the lie about
Iraq having “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and feeding that lie to the American public
through the media, at schools, at Universities, at US think tanks etc. etc. It’s the Bureau
of African Affairs spoken negative ad on Eritrea.

The way it works with rehearsed script-speak, whatever you say is completely ignored
and instead of answering the questions that you are asked, you utter the next rehearsed
line, and then the next, and then the next etc. etc. . It is some sort of Alpha Dog power
play, a bullying tactic, used by Johnnie Carson and his team to always put Eritrea on the
defensive. It is a ploy meant to catch the questioners/listener’s off-guard, allowing
Johnnie Carson to assume a dominant stature in the dialog, and of course to control the
direction of the conversations. Johnnie Carson’s scripts are intended to manipulate, and
avoid addressing the more serious issues between Eritrea and the US in a coherent and
comprehensive manner. There is a saying in Tigrinya that says “Semam hade derfu”,
and this rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea is a good example of it.

The first time I heard the US State Department’s rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea, it
was at the Wilson Center and it came from Ambassador Robert Houdek. At a book
event at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC Ambassador Houdek, repeated word for
word Ambassador Johnnie Carson’s rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea. I wrote about it
at that time and I thought then that Ambassador Houdek’s lists of tirades against
Eritrea were of his own. Little did I know that he too had memorized the rehearsed
Johnnie Carson’s rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea. After all, he and Carson are very
well known to each other, as both are long time National Intelligence Officers on the
Africa beat.
At an event at the George Washington University’s Elliot School of international affairs
on 18 February 2010, after a similar presentation on US policy for Africa, a participant
asked Johnnie Carson why the US Administration was not enforcing the Eritrea
Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s final and binding decision. Just as he did at the
Congressional hearing, he totally evaded the question and US’ role as guarantors and
witnesses (and crafters) of the Algiers Agreement and instead went out on long-winded
tangent to malign the Government of Eritrea with his rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea.
So what are the issues that he raises in his rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea? I will
endeavor to address them one more time as there may be students, policy makers,
analysts etc. who may have also heard the rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea and gotten
the wrong impression about the country and its leadership.

Rehearsed script-speak item #1- Eritrea rebuffed Hillary Clinton’s attempts to engage

Johnnie Carson and Houdek have said that Hillary Clinton’s attempts to reach out to
Eritrea were “rebuffed”. Supposedly, she wanted to reach President Isaias Afwerki over
the phone and he was not available to speak to her. Considering the strained US-Eritrea
relations, is that the best she could do? Eritrea is not a strange country for Clinton and
when she visited Eritrea as First Lady, she was warmly welcomed by the President of
Eritrea and the people of Eritrea.

The last time I was in Eritrea, there were people in Embadorho who remembered her
well. She had gone there during the inauguration of a clinic there, which still bears her
name; she was accorded a warm welcome by the inhabitants there who still remember
that visit. They were actually hoping that she would break the ice and restore US-
Eritrea relations; they never imagined that she could sanction Eritrea. No Eritrean did.
If Hillary Clinton can criss-cross the worlds oceans to “sanction” and “isolate”
countries, I think she can make a little effort to make peace with the people of
Eritrea…assuming that is what she really wants. This is a flimsy excuse for not
engaging Eritrea and it certainly cannot be categorized as a “bilateral issue”.

Rehearsed script-speak item #2- Embassy of Eritrea refused to issue Johnny Carson a
visa

Whenever he is approached by Eritrean-Americans and questioned about US policy for

Eritrea, Johnnie Carson begins his rehearsed script-speak by telling them that the
Eritrean Ambassador refused to grant him a visa. That is so far from the truth. I don’t
know how a grown man can lie with such ease. This issue has also been addressed, but
Carson is not willing to drop it from his script and so it will be repeated and so it needs
to be explained again.

Johnnie Carson’s passport was at the Eritrean Embassy for less than 10 minutes. The
person, who brought it, took it back to fill out the necessary forms and never came back.
On 18 June 2009, Voice of America reported the following about Johnny Carson:

"… I met with the Eritrean ambassador and asked to meet with President Isaias
Afewerki. If he will give me a visa, I will be there." However, after Carson left his
passport with the Eritrean embassy "for an extended period" he was surprised to find it
returned "without a visa in it…If relations are not improved it will not be because we're
not trying to act as a respected partner…”

The Eritrean Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Ghirmai Ghebremariam clarified
the issue in an interview with Voice of America. He at no time denied Carson a visa.
Carson had expressed his desire to visit Eritrea, but did not specify any date. Eritrea´s
Ambassador to the United States advised Mr. Carson that the Eritrean officials that he
wanted to meet with were not going to be available; they were on travel out of the
country. The Eritrean Ambassador told him that his visa would be issued within
minutes when he had fixed his travel date to Asmara. Since he was going to attend the
African Union summit in Libya, Mr. Carson said that he needed to get a visa and that
he would send someone to pick up his visa from the Eritrean Embassy, and that is what
he did.

Soon after he picked up his passport, Voice of America reported that Eritrea had
refused to issue Mr. Carson a visa. Repeating this rehearsed script says more about
Carson’s diplomatic skills than it does about Eritrea’s desire to engage the US
constructively. Wining and lying about not getting a visa is not “respectful” and it
certainly is not diplomatic. Johnnie Carson does not want to engage with Eritrea and
this is yet another excuse for not doing so.

Rehearsed script-speak item # 3-Detention of 2 Eritrean employees at US Embassy in

Eritrea

How many nationals that work at US Embassies and Consulates around the world are
detained today with charges of espionage and other crimes against their own
governments and peoples? Is Johnnie Carson telling us that these nationals are above
the law? The two Eritrean nationals have been detained for violating Eritrea’s laws and
being employees of the US Embassy does not give them immunity. The individuals
detained in Asmara have been put on administrative detention for activities that took
place at the US Embassy in Asmara. If the US State department was so concerned about
its national staff, it would not compromise them by making them do things that are
against the law and then cry foul when they get caught.

Besides, the US does not have the moral or legal authority to speak about this issue
when hundreds of people are being held in CIA run prisons around the world and right
here in the United States for “national security” reasons. Johnnie Carson knows that
today, there are many countries, including the United States, Israel and Australia resort
to administrative detention as a means to “combat terrorism” and “control illegal
immigration”. The US has detained hundreds of individuals at Guantanamo Bay, Iraq
and other secret prisons around the world, including in Ethiopia for unknown reasons.
Their families have no contact, some don’t even know where they are, they are snatched
from their homes, their places of employment, from the streets and they get no legal
representation.

Rehearsed script-speak item #4- Eritrea’s “meddling in Somalia”

Eritrea is not meddling in Somalia’s affairs. As a neighbor and as a country with strong
historical ties between the two peoples, Eritrea provided a peaceful environment to
enable all Somalis, from all walks of life, to come together and iron out their differences
as opposed to killing each other. The meeting convened in Asmara was not conducted
in secret and there was no pretense that it was the only solution for Somalia’s problems.
Eritrea strongly believes that the Somali people ought to be left alone to resolve their
own issues. It does not believe in pitting one group against the other and does not
supply arms to Somalia as it strongly believes in a political solution to the myriad
problems in Somalia. So instead of pointing fingers at Eritrea, the US ought to be
playing a constructive role in the region to bring peace to the region and not pitting one
country against another.

Eritrea has not and does not support Al Shabbab. Johnnie Carson knows that and yet he
repeatedly tries to associate Eritrea with Al Shabbab and the reasons are very
transparent. The record is clear and the UN itself has been forced to admit that there is
no evidence to show that Eritrea is providing arms to Somali groups-none. The Amrch
2010 report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia says that Ethiopia is the main
supplier of arms to Somali war lords. The illegitimate Transitional National
Government of Somalia (TNG) led by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and the African Union
peacekeepers who are supplied by the United States are also mentioned as key
contributors to the arms swell in Somalia.

Despite attempts by others to misrepresent it Eritrea’s principled position on Eritrea is

well-known, Eritrea’s efforts in 2007 to bring all the Somali people to dialogue and find
their own solutions, was undermined and hijacked. The US State Department was more
interested in “sidelining” Eritrea than finding a sustainable solution for Somalia. Eritrea
has a vested interest in seeing a peaceful and stable Somalia, Ethiopia does not. It seems
the US is willing to back Ethiopia’s war of attrition in Somalia instead.

Rehearsed script-speak item #5-US Ambassador to Eritrea has not presented his
credentials and Ambassador’s movements are restricted

In Eritrea, as in all other countries, precedence is regulated by seniority, dating from the
notification of the arrival of the envoy and is scheduled in groups. When it was time for
Ambassador McMullen and those in his batch to present their letters of credentials to
H.E. President Isaias Afwerki, Ambassador McMullen was not available; he was on
travel, even though he was notified about the date almost a month earlier. He left the
country knowing full well that he was scheduled to present his credentials. If they did
not want him to present his credentials, they would not have scheduled him to do so in
the first place. Another self-fulfilling act used to justify US disengagement with Eritrea.

Johnnie Carson must know that the Eritrean Ambassador is also restricted and not
allowed to even travel to New York without State Department permission, ditto for is
staff. As for the “interference with the diplomatic pouch”, that too has been addressed
ad nauseum. Lest Carson give the wrong impression about these “pouches”, let it be
known that he is talking about containers and not 70 lb packages. Eritrea has been
experiencing delays and “interferences” too, but has never raised it as being a serious
“bilateral issue”.

After listening to Johnnie Carson repeating the same line at the Congressional hearing, I
am more than certain that there is an agreed upon, rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea
and it is a concerted effort to spread lies about Eritrea by Johnnie Carson and the
incompetent Bureau of African Affairs that he leads. Repeating the same rehearsed
script-speak whenever Eritrea is mentioned is Johnnie Carson’s way of avoiding dealing
with the more serious issues such as the Eritrea-Ethiopia border issue.

How Johnnie Carson and his team resolve the outstanding issues between the US and
Eritrea will be the most critical test of the Obama Administration’s ability to act
effectively in the strategically important Horn region, which will greatly impact US
credibility, integrity and reputation, both regionally and internationally. How the
United States deals with Eritrea also will have a significant effect on America’s
influence in the Horn region in particular and the Middle East in general, relative to
other external players, particularly China, India and Russia. Whether the US
acknowledges Eritrea’s pivotal role in the region or not, more so than in the past,
diplomatic stasis between the United States and Eritrea, with the US “sidelining”,
“isolating” and “sanctioning” Eritrea will not promote US’ long term strategic and
political interests in the region.

So until the US is ready to engage with Eritrea in a more serious manner, expect to hear
Johnnie Carson’s rehearsed 5-point scripts speak on Eritrea wherever he goes, and US’
reputation and credibility sink with every line.

The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
--------------------
Increased Inter-Regional Cooperation Will Lessen Future Economic Shocks in Africa,
Says Financial Expert (Voice of America)

The Director of the Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland Business
School in the United States says enhanced inter-regional economic cooperation among
African Countries could reduce the effects of future world financial meltdown.
This comes as African finance officials concluded their meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi on
ways to soften the effects of global economic shocks on Africa.

Lemma Senbet, who is also professor of finance, said some African countries were in the
process of adopting sound financial policies before the recent economic meltdown.

“It is really useful to know that most African countries were growing in the same
proportion as East Asian countries pre (economic)-crisis. Like an average growth of
something like 6 %, which outpaced the population growth or per capita income has
been very positive prior to the crisis. Then of course with the crisis, we had the decline
in demand for exports, decline in remittances, trade flows so a lot of external shocks
that ended up reducing GDP,” he said.

The African Union also said in a statement that the global economic crisis pushed 27
million more people into poverty in Africa, putting the continent in what the
continental body described as a “precarious situation”.

Senbet said Africa has not fully recovered from the recent recession.

“Have we gotten out of this? I don’t think so, but I would like to say that there are some
kinds of rebound. The reason is that the effect came from global crisis, but the global
economy is also rebounding although it is in early stages of recovery. So, that is actually
helping… trade flows and export income. In fact the IMF is actually now predicting that
growth will move up to something like above 4 %,” Senbet said.

According to an African Union report “economic growth in the world’s poorest

continent slumped to 1.6 percent last year from 4.5 percent in 2008, as the global
recession slashed demand for platinum, copper and oil. The Democratic Republic of
Congo, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana were worst hit by job losses as mining
companies scaled back output.” The report said.

Senbet said the African economy lacks much needed diversity.

“Part of the problem is that the continent is vulnerable to external shocks because the
economy is not well diversified. Very heavy reliance on a few commodities and a few
export items makes it very difficult. And then what happens is that most of the trade
that originates from Africa is with the rest of the world and the intra-Africa trade is
actually very small almost like 10%,” Senbet said.

He also said Africa can reduce outside shocks by engaging in policies that can enhance
regional cooperation so that there would be more trade among African countries.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

UN blue helmets to airlift nine orphan gorillas to DR Congo nature reserve

30 March – Nine orphan gorillas will start new lives in a nature reserve in eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thanks to assistance from peacekeepers
serving with the United Nations mission in the country, known as MONUC.

Sudan: UN mission takes to the airwaves with civic education drama

30 March – The United Nations Mission in Sudan is taking to the airwaves with a new
radio drama series aimed at raising public awareness on various issues, including
measures related to the ongoing process of implementing the peace accord that ended
two decades of civil war in Africa’s largest country.