United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

9 August 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Obama calls for ‘more free’ press in Africa (Daily Nation)

(Pan Africa) Addressing 115 of the brightest and most enterprising leaders in activism,
business, health, innovation and media in Africa on Tuesday, Obama singled out,
among others, a Botswana journalist for inspiring young people with her popular radio
show, and a journalist from Ivory Coast for championing the cause of Muslim women
on her radio station. The president mentioned press freedom while praising the ability
of youth to challenge the status quo.

AFRICOM and Uganda's Dance with Death (Truth Out)

(Uganda) Right after Uganda's horrendous and deadly twin bombings killed 74 people,
President Barack Obama spoke with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to express
his sadness and to offer condolences for the loss of life. But another key part of the
conversation dealt with the Somalia-based militia, the al-Shabab, and AFRICOM.

Legislation to Update U.S. Sanctions on Zimbabwe Leadership Introduced in House

(Voice of America)
(Zimbabwe) Legislation that would update the United States approach to targeted
sanctions on individuals and firms in Zimbabwe was tabled this week in Congress
under the name of the Zimbabwe Renewal Act of 2010.

AFRICOM's Effective Public Diplomacy Venue (Huffington Post)

(Pan Africa) One of the most impressive online U.S. public diplomacy venues is
Magharebia, a website and news service for North Africans that is published by the
United States African Command (AFRICOM).

African ministers tour western Missouri farm (Associated Press)

(Pan Africa) African ministers of trade, economics and agriculture attending a trade
and economic cooperation forum are seeking to move beyond subsistence farming and
improve yields, which experts say are the lowest in the world.

Rwanda holds 2nd presidential poll since genocide (Associated Press)

(Rwanda) As polls prepare to open Monday at 6 a.m. (0400GMT) in Rwanda's second
presidential election since the 1994 genocide, few doubt Kagame will win.
Law, order, criminality pose "greatest challenge" to Liberia: UN officer (Xinhua)
(Liberia) The greatest challenge facing the government of Liberia is that of law and
order and dealing with criminality, a UN peacekeeping officer said here on Friday.

Guinea receives research boat from U. S. company (Xinhua)

(Guinea) Guinean Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore received a research boat for oil
exploration from the U. S.- listed Hyperdynamics Corp on Thursday.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Tensions in Darfur camp top UN-AU envoy's talks with Sudanese officials
 Actress to testify before UN-backed war crimes trial of former Liberian leader
 Kenya: UN welcomes successful end of referendum on constitution
 UN welcomes Liberian efforts to contain spread of HIV/AIDS
 UN-backed polio immunization campaign kicks off in Angola
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Obama calls for ‘more free’ press in Africa (Daily Nation)

One out of 10 delegates participating this week in US President Barack Obama’s Young
African Leaders Forum was a journalist.

The forum, a US initiative meant to spark discussion on the future of Africa in a year
when 17 countries on the continent are celebrating 50 years of nationhood, did not
overlook freedom of the press, as I witnessed in its final event on Thursday at
Washington’s museum of news, the Newseum.

The venue for Thursday’s event, a conference centre named after publisher John S.
Knight, was perhaps fitting after the forum’s Tuesday town hall meeting at the White
House featured significant references to press freedom.

Inspiring young people

Addressing 115 of the brightest and most enterprising leaders in activism, business,
health, innovation and media in Africa on Tuesday, Obama singled out, among others,
a Botswana journalist for inspiring young people with her popular radio show, and a
journalist from Ivory Coast for championing the cause of Muslim women on her radio
station.
In a Q&A session, the president mentioned press freedom while praising the ability of
youth to challenge the status quo.

“In some of your countries, freedom of the press is still restricted,” Obama said.
“There’s no reason why that has to be the case. There’s nothing inevitable about that.
And young people are more prone to ask questions, why shouldn’t we have a free
press?”

Bold and unprecedented, the administration’s approach to honour this ambitious

Facebook generation, clearly raised eyebrows outside the US.

At the end of Thursday’s event, columnist and activist Tiémoko Antoine Assale, a
delegate from Ivory Coast, told the audience how, before his departure, he received a
phone call from a government official who was upset because he had not received an
invitation from Washington.

As noted by the New York Times’ Adam Nossiter, Washington’s approach was a
dramatic departure from France’s recent gathering of leaders of its former colonies
during Bastille Day celebrations in July.

Marched with French troops

The keynote event of those celebrations was a military parade featuring African
soldiers. They marched on the Champs-Élysée along with French troops, and the sound
of their boots drowned out local and international civil society protests over human
rights and democracy concerns.

French media quoted TV presenter Etienne Leenhard of state-funded France 2 as saying

on the air that “Politically speaking, there are no dictatorships in Francophone Africa,”
as he gestured over a map of the continent.

In Washington, however, the US State Department engaged the participants in thematic

focus groups such as leadership, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, interfaith
dialogue, and even “Advocacy, Transparency, and Human Rights.”

African governments dominate, monopolise, or politically censor national public media,

and in many countries, government outlets are the only ones with the capacity to
broadcast to the entire population.
--------------------
AFRICOM and Uganda's Dance with Death (Truth Out)

Right after Uganda's horrendous and deadly twin bombings killed 74 people, President
Barack Obama spoke with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to express his sadness
and to offer condolences for the loss of life. But another key part of the conversation
dealt with the Somalia-based militia, the al-Shabab, and AFRICOM. Washington
considers the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab (which claimed responsibility for the worst
attack in Uganda in twelve years) a terrorist group. And even while the press was busy
announcing the attacks were proof of al-Qaeda's and al-Shabab's militant-like expansion
into Africa, nothing was mentioned about AFRICOM and its attempt to dominate the
African continent. But as it often happens, the US offers condolences and expresses
sadness, and then it slowly turns and transforms suffering and tragedies into military
campaigns.

AFRICOM, or US African Command, was established in 2008. It is a unified Pentagon

command center in Africa and is presented as a humanitarian guard in the global war
on terror. AFRICOM was also heralded as a mission to professionalize indigenous
militaries and to ensure stability, security, and to protect human rights. (1) However, its
real, hidden objective, backed by US corporations and the Pentagon's military-industrial
complex, is to penetrate Africa and to militarily control Africa's vital oil and mineral
resources. More than 1,500 military officers from Africa have completed programs at US
military schools and military bases. Still, Washington is selling and supplying millions
of dollars worth of advanced weapons systems to several African nations. Some warn
AFRICOM is actually identifying and developing African governments to function as
US surrogates.(2)

Although most African nations have resisted AFRICOM's overtures, Nigeria, Ethiopia,
Liberia, and, of course, Uganda, have opened their borders to US military aid, armed
personnel, and corporate security forces. These nations have either suffered military or
economic crises. Is Uganda's embrace with AFRICOM a dance with death too? Uganda
has now found itself embroiled in the US's Global War On Terror, which has lasted for
almost a decade. Since Uganda supplies troops and arms for Mogadishu's African
Union - which is working with AFRICOM and whose soldiers have been trained at
American military bases - it has now become a victim of the two-decades-old US-Somali
Civil War. Will there be more bombings, more killings, and more bloodshed-not to
mention the US-led AFRICOM's bungled raid against a Ugandan rebel group that killed
900 civilians?

After having been colonized by the British East Africa Company and then dominated
by a foreign imperial army, Uganda finally won independence in 1962. It was not long,
though, before Uganda's economic and political divisions from the colonial period
emerged to tear the nation apart. Will Ugandans allow AFRICOM to do the same,
especially as AFRICOM has already used Ugandan territory to launch several military
operations in the surrounding regions? Uganda may want to rethink its dance with
AFRICOM, its pact with the US-led global war on terror, and its entanglement with the
US-Somalia Civil War. Uganda is a rich and culturally diverse nation filled with many
ethnic and religious groups. Currently, it is experiencing a rejuvenated economy and a
democratic political system that is receptive to the participation of all ethnic groups.
Therefore, does Uganda really need AFRICOM?
Perhaps the answer lies in a proverb from the Baganda People: That which becomes bad
at the outset of its growth is almost impossible to straighten at a later stage.(3) Uganda
has driven out one empire and its imperial army. It has ended the reign of a ruthless
dictator and has had to overcome a long guerilla war. Just like most African nations
which are still ravaged from past centuries of imperialism and economic exploitation, at
this moment in time Uganda is experiencing decolonization. By embracing AFRICOM,
will Uganda have to someday experience deAFRICOMization? Ugandans must
understand that where there are US military forces and AFRICOM fighting a
disingenuous war on terror, al-Qaeda and al-Shabab will be there too. Can Uganda
really afford another dance with death?
--------------------
Legislation to Update U.S. Sanctions on Zimbabwe Leadership Introduced in House
(Voice of America)

Legislation that would update the United States approach to targeted sanctions on
individuals and firms in Zimbabwe was tabled this week in Congress under the name
of the Zimbabwe Renewal Act of 2010.

Sponsored by African-American Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey and some

35 other representatives, the legislation aims to retune sanctions to reflect political
changes such as the national unity government installed in Harare in early 2009 to
resolve an acute crisis following contested and violent elections in 2008.

Gerald Lemelle, executive director of Africa Action which has been advocating such a
modification of the Zimbabwe sanctions regimen, commented in a statement that "this
is a promising day for everyone who supports democracy and development in
Zimbabwe." He called the legislation "a major step forward for the people of
Zimbabwe.”

Sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and other top figures of his ZANU-PF party and
related companies were put in place with the 2001 Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act, known as Zidera.

The law cited human rights violations and the breakdown of the rule of law in
Zimbabwe. But there have been calls in the past year for a U.S. policy to shift gears to
reflect changes on the ground. The new law calls for establishment of a multi-donor
human rights trust fund and support for crucial sectors like education, health care and
agriculture.

The legislation also calls for the U.S. Treasury to forgive bilateral debts owed by
Zimbabwe.
Nonetheless, the new act will maintain sanctions on individuals deemed to be
continuing to undermine the democratic transition in the country, and will review and
update existing sanctions to reflect further developments.

Africa Action Campaigns Director Briggs Bomba told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing
Zulu that he hopes t7he act will be passed quickly by the House and be reconciled with
a Senate version to be signed into law.

Some political analysts say Zimbabwe under President Mugabe's continued dominance
is not a candidate for relaxation of sanctions, arguing that he has been intransigent in
negotiations with his governing partners, in particular Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his former opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Relations between Harare and Washington, perceived to be on the mend over the past
year and a half since the unity government was installed in Harare, took a sudden turn
for the worse this week following hostile remarks by President Robert on Sunday and
comments Tuesday by U.S. President Barack Obama questioning his leadership.

Mr. Mugabe triggered a diplomatic row when he castigated the United States and other
Western countries in remarks at the interment of his sister Sabina at National Heroes
Acre in Harare. President Mugabe told the West to "go to hell" for what he maintained
was its interference in Zimbabwean political life.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray and his German and European counterparts walked out
in protest. Summoned by the Foreign Ministry for an explanation, the diplomats said
Mr. Mugabe had insulted their governments.

President Obama focused on Mr. Mugabe in a forum on Africa saying that the
Zimbabwean president had come to power in the national liberation process, but today
was not serving the Zimbabwean people very well.
--------------------
AFRICOM's Effective Public Diplomacy Venue (Huffington Post)

One of the most impressive online U.S. public diplomacy venues is Magharebia, a
website and news service for North Africans that is published by the United States
African Command (AFRICOM).

Offered in Arabic, English, and French, Magharebia illustrates how providing useful
information and advancing national self-interest can be successfully combined in a
public diplomacy venture. The website (www.magharebia.com) presents diverse news
items from the region, everything from weather reports to arts news to sports coverage
to harder-edged political stories. The site is supplemented by a daily news monitor.
Magharebia's content does not appear blatantly self-serving, and the site's continuing
anti-terrorism message is forceful but not shrill.
A recent day's postings on the website included these headlines: "Islamic group theorist:
al-Qaeda ideology in a state of decline"; "Al-Qaeda losing supporters in jihadi groups
across Arab world"; and in the weekly "Zawaya" discussion forum, this question was
posed: "Al-Qaeda's execution of an elderly French hostage has shaken much of Europe
and the Maghreb alike. What repercussions will the murder...have on the security of
Maghreb countries and their economies?" This is useful counterprogramming to offset
the poisonous nonsense produced by extremist websites that treat al-Qaeda as heroic,
regardless of evidence to the contrary.

Magharebia's principal audience is found in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and

Tunisia, countries that usually remain unnoticed by U.S. news organizations and their
audiences, and that do not receive as much attention from policy makers as do the Arab
states farther east. But in long-term efforts against violent extremism, these countries
are crucial, and a consistent, non-threatening presence such as Magharebia is
invaluable.

AFRICOM itself has been controversial since its creation in 2007. Many Africans view it
as a neo-colonialist attempt to establish a Western military foothold in the continent,
and U.S. policy makers have done a poor job of explaining the purposes of the new
command. Magharebia, however, shows that at least some people in AFRICOM know
what they are doing.

Worth noting is that this is a Defense Department, not a State Department, project.
Debate continues about the respective roles of these departments in doing public
diplomacy, and turf battles will continue until the White House or Congress definitively
makes clear who is in charge. In the meantime, the State Department's public diplomacy
officials should take note of the Defense Department's Magharebia as an example of
best practices in this field.
--------------------
African ministers tour western Missouri farm (Associated Press)

African ministers of trade, economics and agriculture attending a trade and economic
cooperation forum are seeking to move beyond subsistence farming and improve
yields, which experts say are the lowest in the world.

Some ministers asked about U.S. farm policy, while others wanted to know how Tom
Waters and his wife, Karla, store and market the wheat, corn, soybeans and alfalfa they
grow on the 3,500 acres they farm.

The visit also included a stop at a grain elevator, where the ministers learned about how
U.S. farmers store their crops.
Jacques Taylor, director of agricultural banking for the Standard Bank of South Africa,
said earlier this week that 40 percent of the commodities in Africa get wasted after
harvest because the infrastructure doesn’t exist to store grains for long periods.

One challenge the African leaders face is finding ways to scale down the approaches
that work on large U.S. farms.

“Your small-scale operation is our large-scale operation in Africa,” said Kwesi Ahwoi,
the minister of food and agriculture in Ghana.
--------------------
Rwanda holds 2nd presidential poll since genocide (Associated Press)

KIGALI, Rwanda — For weeks, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has rallied his
supporters with thumping pop music and promised to build on his economic and social
development record that has won him accolades abroad.

As polls prepare to open Monday at 6 a.m. (0400GMT) in Rwanda's second presidential

election since the 1994 genocide, few doubt Kagame will win.

The lean, professorial leader is expected to easily win the loyalties of the country's 5.2
million voters. But the run-up to the campaign has been marred by a series of recent
attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame's government, and some of the more vocal
opposition politicians say they've been barred from participating.

During the three-week campaign period, Kagame's image has been everywhere. At
rallies he shed his business suit and tie for a shirt and jacket emblazoned with his
Rwanda Patriotic Front insignia topped with a baseball cap bearing the party's red,
white and blue flag. He has also tried to shed his image as a stiff leader, joining in
dances and clapping along as crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands sang
and danced at his daily rallies across the tiny, landlocked country.

Those rallies were part of a carefully choreographed campaign, which included a local
pop group playing what has become the president's re-election theme song, "Tora
Kagame," or Vote Kagame in Kinyarwanda, and live updates on social networking sites
like Twitter and Facebook.

His supporters say the huge crowds represent genuine popular support for the leader
who transformed this central African nation after the brutal 100-day genocide that left
at least 500,000 people dead.

Taye Manzi said he trusts Kagame because he has united the nation of 10 million
people.
"He supports the youth, he supports gender, he is the one who can bring us together,"
said Manzi, who took time off from his job in the capital, Kigali, to travel to his home
region to attend one of Kagame's rallies.

Kagame, who was elected president by parliament in 2000 and who voters then elected
to the post in 2003, will earn another seven-year term if elected. His three challengers
are former partners in a coalition government formed soon after the genocide who have
posed no real threat. Their electoral platforms are also similar to Kagame's.

Standing near a rally for a Liberal Party candidate, Kagame supporter Ernest Sugira, 19,
said that when the president held a rally earlier in the week, the scene had been
different.

"When Kagame was here there were so many people," Sugira said. "Today these people
are wearing the colors of the other parties, but they'll all end up voting for Kagame in
the end."

More vocal opposition leaders who may have run a more challenging campaign,
however, say they've been barred from contesting or worse. And the government-
appointed media council has clamped down on independent newspapers publishing
dissenting views.

On July 14, Frank Habineza, the president of the unregistered opposition Democratic
Green Party, received a phone call he had been dreading. A day after he had been
reported missing, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the party's vice president, had been found
dead.

When Habineza saw Rwisereka's corpse, he was shocked. Rwisereka appeared to have
been brutally tortured, with his head nearly removed from his body. Habineza said he
does not believe police claims that Rwisereka was killed over a business dispute. U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded a full investigation into the slaying.

"Before we were talking about democracy, but now we are talking about our lives,"
Habineza said. "It is a very scary moment."

Rwisereka's gruesome death was just the latest in a series of recent attacks on
outspoken critics of Kagame's government. On June 19, former army chief Faustin
Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot and wounded outside his home in South Africa, several
months after he fled Rwanda after being linked to a string of deadly grenade attacks in
Kigali.

Five days after the shooting in South Africa, Jean-Leonard Rugambage, a journalist at a
critical newspaper in the capital, was shot dead outside his home in Kigali hours after
publishing an online article linking Rwandan intelligence to the attack.
The Rwandan government has denied any involvement in the killings, pointing to the
arrest of two men who said they had gunned Rugambage down over a personal
vendetta.

"We certainly might not be a model government for a lot of people, but we're not a
stupid government, and we will not try to kill three people in a row right before
election, an election in which we believe strongly that President Paul Kagame would
win," said Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.

Many have hailed Rwanda's positive transformation since the genocide, but analysts
have warned that economic progress does not guarantee future stability.

"The material progress is visible — one cannot deny that," said Muzong Kodi, of the
London-based Chatham House think tank. "But it has been acquired at a cost of civil
liberties and the long-term stability in the country."

Kodi said that while a strongman may have been needed in the wake of the genocide,
cementing the achievements made so far will require more openness in the future.

"Without opening up the political space in Rwanda all the material gains that have been
made could be put in jeopardy," Kodi said.
--------------------
Law, order, criminality pose "greatest challenge" to Liberia: UN officer (Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS - The greatest challenge facing the government of Liberia is that of
law and order and dealing with criminality, a UN peacekeeping officer said here on
Friday.

The statement came as Lt.-Gen. Sikander Afzal, force commander of the UN Mission in
Liberia (UNMIL), was briefing an open Security Council meeting on the UN
peacekeeping operations.

"Although Liberia is generally calm and peaceful, unemployment, poverty and weak
infrastructure are hampering development," he said.

"Linked to this is the problem of maintaining internal security, " Afzal said. "The root of
the problem is the population's lack of the confidence in the police and judicial system."

"The police lack the ability to respond to crime effectively, although the situation is
slowly improving," he said. "At the same time, the judicial system does not have the
capacity to deal with the increasing case load."
The lack of confidence often results in vigilant mob justice requiring the intervention of
UNMIL, he said.

"Land disputes are a common occurrence in Liberia as a legacy of the war," he said.
"Many displaced people have settled in areas belonging to other people, and the laws
relating to property rights, boundaries and natural resources are not clear."
--------------------
Guinea receives research boat from U. S. company (Xinhua)

CONAKRY, Guinea - Guinean Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore received a research boat
for oil exploration from the U. S.- listed Hyperdynamics Corp on Thursday.

The Ramform Challenger valued at 25 million U. S. dollars will be used as a vessel for
geophysical researches in an area of 3, 500 square km off the Atlantic city of Conakry.

At the hand-over ceremony, an official in charge of the research program said the
Ramform Challenger and its accompanying ships will work for three years in
exploration along the coasts of Guinea.

This would be the second research phase after the first, which permitted the exploration
of 17,000 square km.

With enthusiasm, Dore received the boat which would mark a step forward to the
exploration of the long-anticipated oil reserves in Guinea.

"We will be respected, because we will have dollars to be generated from Guinean oil,"
Dore told the ceremony.

The Guinean government and Hyperdynamics signed a contract on the researches in

September 2006.
-------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Tensions in Darfur camp top UN-AU envoy's talks with Sudanese officials
7 August – Escalating tensions in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in
southern Darfur were the focus of talks between the head of the joint United Nations-
African Union peacekeeping mission and senior Sudanese officials.

Actress to testify before UN-backed war crimes trial of former Liberian leader
6 August – The actress and humanitarian activist Mia Farrow is set to give evidence on
Monday about blood diamonds that are the current focus of testimony at the ongoing
trial of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor at a United Nations-backed war
crimes tribunal.
Kenya: UN welcomes successful end of referendum on constitution
6 August – The United Nations today welcomed the conclusion of the referendum on a
new constitution in Kenya, lauding the peaceful and orderly manner in which voting
was conducted and commending the people of East African country for turning out in
large numbers to cast their ballots.

UN welcomes Liberian efforts to contain spread of HIV/AIDS

6 August – United Nations officials in Liberia have welcomed the launch of a new
national strategy to combat HIV/AIDS, stressing the importance of tackling the disease
before infection rates become high in the West African country.

UN-backed polio immunization campaign kicks off in Angola

6 August – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) are urging all national authorities and communities to get
involved with a polio immunization campaign kicking off in Angola today which aims
to reach nearly six million children.