United States Africa Command

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21 April 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

America's Best Worst Partner in Africa (Foreign Policy)

(Pan-Africa) Once the Arab League was firmly onboard, U.S. President Barack Obama
probably thought he'd cleared the major diplomatic hurdles to Western military
intervention in Libya. But it is the African Union (AU) that has been the most
uncomfortable with it. The AU called for an immediate halt to allied air operations
hours after they began, and in a March 10 communiqué it resolutely expressed its
"rejection of any foreign military intervention, whatever its form" while also
recognizing "the legitimacy of the aspirations of the Libyan people."

Libya blast kills photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros (LA Times)
(Libya) Hetherington, 41, was killed Wednesday in an explosion believed to have been
caused by a mortar round in Misurata. The same mortar blast fatally wounded Chris
Hondros of Getty Images, a veteran combat photographer whose work appeared on the
front page of Wednesday's edition of the Los Angeles Times, and appears in today's
edition as well.

Obama backs allies sending military aides to Libya (AFP)

(Libya) President Barack Obama supports the decision by allies to send military
advisers to aid Libyan rebels but has no plans to put US "boots on the ground," his
spokesman said Wednesday.

US Committing $25 Million in Aid to Libyan Opposition (VOA)

(Libya) The Obama administration is preparing to provide $25 million in non-lethal aid
to Libya’s opposition Transitional National Council, the TNC. The plan was confirmed
Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also expressed concern
about mounting casualties among pro-democracy protesters in Syria.

Inferior Arms Hobble Rebels in Libya War (NYT)

(Libya) A PKT machine gun, a weapon designed to be mounted on a Soviet tank and
fired electronically by a crew member inside, has no manual trigger, no sights and no
shoulder stock. That does not prevent many Libyan rebels from carrying it as if it were
an infantryman’s gun, even though it cannot be fired.
New Ivory Coast Army Turns Against Ex-Allies (Reuters)
(Côte d’Ivoire) Ivory Coast forces on Wednesday attacked fighters from a militia that
had been allied with them in the fight against the former president, Laurent Gbagbo.

New Ivory Coast Government Calls for Truth and Reconciliation Commission (VOA)
(Côte d’Ivoire) Ivory Coast's new government is calling for a truth and reconciliation
commission to help address human rights abuses, including those committed during
the political crisis that followed November's presidential election. Many challenges face
a commission meant to reunite a country divided by more than 10 years of civil war,
instability, and political violence.

South Sudan army, militia clash kills 20 - army (Reuters)

(Sudan) At least 20 soldiers were killed in a clash between south Sudan's army and
rebel militia fighters, the army said on Wednesday, the latest violence to unsettle the
region ahead of its independence in July.

Life inside Somaliland's pirate prison (CNN)

(Somaliland ) "We want money," say the group of inmates with a smile. Somaliland's
highest security prison hasn't dampened the hustling spirit of its pirate prisoners. My
government handler rolls his eyes. They do this a lot, he explains.

Nigeria: Post-Election Violence - 121 Dead - Thousands Displaced (Leadership)

(Nigeria) The post-election crisis that swept northern parts of the country has left no
fewer than 121 people dead and hundreds more injured. According to reliable sources,
about 15,000 people have been displaced, many of them seeking shelter in police
stations and army barracks.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Darfur peace process entering crucial phase, UN official tells Security Council
 Sudan: UN official warns of threats ahead of formal separation of south
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 27th, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm.; The Brookings

Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, WDC
WHAT: Africa’s Education Financing Challenge
WHO: Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Director of Africa Growth Initiative; Albert Motivans, Head
of Education Indicators and Data Analysis at UNESCO Institute for Statistics;
Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist of Africa Region at World Bank; Jacques van
der Gaag, Senior Fellow at the Global Economy and Development, Center for Universal
Education
Info: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0427_africa_education.aspx

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

America's Best Worst Partner in Africa (Foreign Policy)

BY JONATHAN STEVENSON
APRIL 20, 2011
Once the Arab League was firmly onboard, U.S. President Barack Obama probably
thought he'd cleared the major diplomatic hurdles to Western military intervention in
Libya. But it is the African Union (AU) that has been the most uncomfortable with it.
The AU called for an immediate halt to allied air operations hours after they began, and
in a March 10 communiqué it resolutely expressed its "rejection of any foreign military
intervention, whatever its form" while also recognizing "the legitimacy of the
aspirations of the Libyan people." As the military advantage has seesawed between
rebel and government forces and the U.S.-led coalition has hardened its insistence on
regime change, the AU has tried to engineer a cease-fire, sending a delegation to Libya
to talk to both sides. The rebels duly rejected the AU's proposal, which would have left
Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi in power and did not require his forces to
withdraw from besieged cities.

Yet the United States should have expected AU pushback. Not without justification, the
organization is often seen as a shambolic club for dictators whom Qaddafi himself has
enriched. But the AU, at least by default, is also the continent's most effective
multilateral institution. For that reason, the United States should broadly embrace its
effort to resolve the Libyan conflict on African terms as a salutary attempt to take
ownership of an African problem.

More is at stake here than just the future of Libya. The Libya intervention constituted
the first major combat operation led and largely executed by U.S. Africa Command
(Africom), the United States' newest combatant command, established in October 2008.
Before it became operational, tone-deaf U.S. statements conjured images of American
bases sprinkled throughout the continent and operational hyperactivity to match.
African leaders and populations were so fearful of the neocolonial militarization of U.S.
Africa policy that the Pentagon could not find a willing regional host for Africom and
instead has had to locate the command's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

During its first two years, Africom was able to address America's two most important
African security concerns -- ensuring access to oil and gas and checking a rising
transnational Islamist terrorism threat -- while keeping a self-consciously low profile
and small footprint that calmed African nerves. The U.S. military's only "kinetic" actions
on African soil were selective airstrikes and commando raids on terrorists in Somalia.
Africom worked alongside the State Department to built African security capacity
through multilateral regional initiatives and groups. The Africa Partnership Station -- a
group of U.S. Navy ships dispatched to ports in West Africa and later piracy- and
terrorist-plagued East Africa to train local maritime forces -- quietly became an
exemplar of enlightened gunboat diplomacy.
The Libya operation has reinvigorated African fears about American power. In 1992,
African countries largely welcomed the United States' humanitarian military
intervention in Somalia and its promise of a post-Cold War "new world order." Back
then, however, the AU did not exist. The reigning continentwide body was the feckless
Organization of African Unity (OAU), emasculated by the superpowers' geopolitical
domination of the continent and the political decadence that it conditioned. In the
event, "mission creep" in Somalia led to an ignominious U.S. withdrawal in 1994,
American inaction with respect to the Rwandan genocide, and an impression among
Africans that the United States had no taste for African challenges.

With Africa strategically neglected, it was Qaddafi who laid the foundation for more
substantial African regional assertiveness in world affairs by spearheading the fin de
siècle creation of the AU to replace the OAU. In particular, he doggedly reinforced the
AU's guiding proposition -- echoed loudly by Western governments -- that Africans
should start solving African problems. His generous investment of Libyan oil revenues
around the continent, of course, was a more venal inducement to African fealty. But
principle as well as self-interest helps explain, if it does not excuse, South African
President Jacob Zuma's term of endearment for Qaddafi -- "Brother Leader" -- and
African officials' wish to ease his burden.

However mortal the sins of its godfather, given its severely constrained resources the
AU has done a reasonably creditable job of advancing liberal African multilateralism
since its inception in 2002. To be sure, the AU is partly composed of brutal, kleptocratic
dictators. But institutionally, it is not overtly sympathetic with them or with military
coups. It has, of course, opposed an international war crimes trial for Sudanese
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. But the AU has also, for example, imposed sanctions
on Togo to compel democratic (albeit flawed) elections, pushed for former Chadian
dictator Hissene Habre to stand trial for war crimes, and marshaled large contingents of
continental troops to thwart ethnic-cleansing militias in Darfur and jihadi militants in
Somalia. And it has worked closely with the United States and other outside powers to
establish regional African "standby forces" for peacekeeping operations. Although a
deeply flawed and unquestionably hypocritical organization, the AU easily beats its
sorry predecessor. And it's all we've got.

While it would be irresponsible for the Obama administration to completely disown the
Libya operation, it also needs to allay the AU's worries about American militarism and
encourage the AU's disposition to rise to its geopolitical responsibility. It should be
open to any AU plan consistent with regime change. Beyond that, Washington has to
maintain good relations with the AU to ensure the effectiveness of Africom as a key
instrument of U.S. energy and counterterrorism policy. Much as Washington might not
like the AU, it cannot ignore the AU, nor afford to turn the AU into a diplomatic
adversary.
Sub-Saharan Africa is only slowly democratizing. The typical African head of state -- a
relatively evolved one like Botswana's Seretse Khama Ian Khama nearly as much as
Zimbabwe's retrograde Robert Mugabe -- remains attuned most sharply to threats to his
continuation in power. Revolutionary populism does not have the steep trajectory that
it does in the Middle East. Although opposition to illiberal leaders can be robust, it is
usually channeled -- often effectively -- through existing political institutions. For the
United States to overtly encourage the rapid acceleration of democratization with
intimations of armed support could engender continental instability when the rest of
the world is turbulent enough.

This is not an argument for cynically coddling African dictators, as the United States
did during the Cold War. But Washington does need to appreciate the nuances of
African politics and security and to articulate compatible limits on the Libyan
precedent. Otherwise, it risks diminishing access to oil needed to reduce American
dependence on Persian Gulf suppliers, security cooperation needed to combat potential
al Qaeda franchises like Somalia's al-Shabab, and indeed the influence required to
promote further political reform and shape development in Africa. Furthermore, the
United States simply does not have the resources or the wherewithal to police a
continent as vast and troubled as Africa; nor do its European allies. It needs an
institutional partner, warts and all.

Accordingly, the United States' "strategic communication" to Africa about Libya should
emphasize that Africom will continue to be employed mainly to consolidate military-to-
military relationships with existing governments and regional organizations while
encouraging reform, to enhance Africa's institutional capacity, and to improve its
governance. But the administration cannot be disingenuous or obtuse. Especially if the
war yields the intended results -- regime change and a viable democratic process in
Libya -- the United States must also acknowledge its standing inclination to actively
support popular African political movements demonstrating a credible commitment to
democratization.

The crucial piece of the message would be what kind of support would be given under
what conditions. The administration should cast Libya as a case, in lawyer's parlance,
limited to its circumstances. That is, the United States would intervene militarily in
support of a popular insurgency only if the insurgency appeared to want, but didn't
have realistic resort to, a democratic process; faced a leadership in power determined to
use excessive military force; and was decisively overmatched in military terms.
Washington should further declare that as a general rule, U.S. support would be
political rather than military, overt rather than covert, and preferably extended through
and coordinated with the AU.

Thus qualified, the new U.S. policy emerging from the Libya intervention would accord
due respect and authority to the AU -- no more, no less. At the same time, it would
leave incorrigible strongmen like Mugabe at some direct risk -- as it should -- while
reassuring the majority of African leaders, who have embraced tentative democratic
experimentation if not full-fledged democracy, that the United States' business with
them would proceed as usual. In Africa and elsewhere, it might then be easier for
Obama to replace the ominous neoconservative foreign policy narrowly focused on
jihadi terrorism that he inherited, Africans fear, and he has found hard to jettison, with
a coherent liberal realist policy distinguished by American military restraint and
strategic wisdom.
-------------------------
Libya blast kills photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros (LA Times)
By Ned Parker and Reed Johnson
April 20, 2011, 6:53 p.m.
Misurata, Libya, and Los Angeles— Barely two months ago, combat photographer Tim
Hetherington sent out a tweet from the Academy Awards ceremony, where his
Afghanistan war film "Restrepo" was up for the best documentary trophy.

"At the #Oscars w/ Josh Fox of @gaslandmovie and director of Wasteland

http://ow.ly/i/8Dl6," he messaged, referring to two of his fellow nominees in the
category. The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Hetherington, beaming, in a
tuxedo.

On Tuesday, Hetherington sent out a very different report from the shattered and
besieged Libyan city of Misurata: "Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of
NATO."

Those starkly dissimilar dispatches reflected two disparate but complementary sides of
Hetherington, 41, who was killed Wednesday in an explosion believed to have been
caused by a mortar round in Misurata. The rebel-held city in western Libya has been
under siege for several weeks by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

The same mortar blast fatally wounded Chris Hondros of Getty Images, a veteran
combat photographer whose work appeared on the front page of Wednesday's edition
of the Los Angeles Times, and appears in today's edition as well.

Hondros, 41, suffered a severe head injury in the blast and was taken to a hospital,
where he died several hours later.

Hondros had received multiple awards, including war photography's highest honor,
the 2005 Robert Capa gold medal. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work in
Liberia.

Two other photojournalists were injured in the blast: Michael Brown of the Corbis
Agency and Guy Martin of Panos Pictures.
Doctors at Misurata's Hikma Hospital said that seven rebel fighters and a Ukrainian
doctor also were killed Wednesday in shellings, and 120 people were wounded.

Hondros had been taking photographs in Misurata on Wednesday morning under the
protection of a rebel militia commanded by a fighter named Salahidin. His photos
captured the militia in action as it tried to flush snipers loyal to Kadafi from their hiding
spots.

After transmitting the images to his employers at Getty Images, he returned to the front
lines with Salahidin and his men in the afternoon.

Hetherington and Hondros were part of a group of six photographers who made their
way up a dangerous strip of Tripoli Street, a front line where Kadafi snipers hide in
buildings in the rebel-held city.

At some point, at least some of the photographers broke away from Salahidin to get to a
safer position, said Guillermo Cervera, a freelance photographer who was among the
group. They were hit by shrapnel from a mortar round.

"We were trying to get to a safe place. It was too quiet. It felt dangerous," said Cervera,
who was a few yards away at the time of the blast. "I heard the whoosh of an explosion,
and everybody was on the ground."

Rebels took the photographers to Hikma Hospital.

Hetherington was pallid and bleeding from a bad leg wound, and he had also been hit
in the head, Cervera said.

Through his photos, which sometimes straddled the line between journalism and fine
art photography, Hetherington sought to bridge the perceptual gap between chaotic
events in developing countries and the more privileged worlds of his Western readers.
His projects had included multi-screen installations and hand-held device downloads.

Born in Liverpool, England, he studied literature at Oxford University and later

returned to college to study photography, according to a biography on his website.

A contributing photographer to Vanity Fair, he lived for eight years in West Africa
before making his first trips to Afghanistan a few years ago.

"Restrepo," which he co-directed with author Sebastian Junger, about a platoon of U.S.
soldiers serving in the remote and highly dangerous Korengal Valley of Afghanistan,
won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival last year.
"There is no way to express my devastation and sorrow at the death of my dear friend
Tim Hetherington," Junger said in a statement. "Tim was one of the most courageous
and principled journalists I have ever known."

In Los Angeles, Hetherington's publicist, Cathy Saypol, said she spoke with him
Tuesday night. He told her he was staying in a "safe house" with other journalists and
not to worry.

Saypol said hundreds of phone calls and emails had been received from soldiers who
knew Hetherington from the Korengal Valley.

Mohammed Zawwam, a local journalist, said Hetherington had talked of wanting to

help Misurata's people and of doing a video project on the conflict.

Most of Misurata is in rebel hands, though it is ringed by Kadafi's forces, which have
superior firepower.

"He was just a good guy, an amazing guy to me," Zawwam said.

David Courier, a programmer for the Sundance Film Festival who chose "Restrepo" to
open last year's event, said the movie gave "the experience of what it's like to be at war."
He described Hetherington as "a really humble guy. … Grace is a really good word to
describe Tim Hetherington. There was humility and none of that false humility which
can sometimes permeate the entertainment industry."

In a statement, the Hetherington family said, "Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing
multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict. He
will be forever missed."

In an interview in November with the PBS's "NewsHour," Hetherington discussed the

challenges of reporting on war in "Restrepo."

"It's a very slippery thing to try to get out any truisms about war," he said.

"You know, war is hell, but it's more than that. And rather than lay down any kind of
definitiveness, I just wanted to, to show the texture of it.

"And that meant not just photographing just the combat, but, as you say, the guys, their
time off, when war is often very boring. And it's boredom punctuated by sheer terror.

"And I wanted to capture all of that."

Hondros, who has covered conflicts in Iraq and elsewhere, was perhaps best known for
a series of images he made of shrieking, blood-splattered Iraqi children whose parents
had been shot to death by a U.S. Army patrol, reportedly by mistake.

Los Angeles Times photographer Michael Robinson Chavez, who worked overseas
with Hondros, said he "was more often than not the smartest photographer in the room.
… His intellect was only matched by his ability to make amazing photographs, smart
photographs, in horrendous situations."

Hondros was engaged to be married in August.

Rick Loomis, a Los Angeles Times photographer who had known Hondros for a decade
and worked alongside him on several occasions, most recently covering the uprisings in
Egypt, described him as "one of the best war photographers of this generation."

"His images made you stop and made you think about what you were witnessing with
him," Loomis said.
--------------------
Obama backs allies sending military aides to Libya (AFP)
By Unattributed Author
Arpil 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama supports the decision by allies to send
military advisers to aid Libyan rebels but has no plans to put US "boots on the ground,"
his spokesman said Wednesday.

A senior American diplomat, meanwhile, told lawmakers in a letter obtained by AFP on

Wednesday, that Obama plans to provide the rebels with up to $25 million in urgent,
non-lethal aid.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama approved of France's decision to send
military advisers into insurgent-held eastern Libya, with Britain and Italy set to follow
suit.

"The president obviously was aware of this decision and supports it, and hopes and
believes it will help the opposition," Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One en
route to California.

"But it does not at all change the president's policy of no boots on the ground for
American troops."

Embattled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's government has warned that foreign boots
on the ground will prolong the conflict.
A message from Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Joseph
Macmanus to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent Friday, shows
Washington stepping up its help to embattled opposition forces in Libya.

"I wish to inform you that the president intends to exercise his authority to draw down
up to $25 million in commodities and services from the inventory and resources of any
agency of the United States government," he wrote.

"The president's proposed actions would provide urgently needed non-lethal assistance
to support efforts to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack
in Libya," said Macmanus.

A memorandum attached to the letter said the aid could include vehicles, fuel trucks,
ambulances, medical equipment, protective vests, binoculars, and radios.

The developments came as the besieged rebel-held city of Misrata desperately pleaded
for help against Kadhafi's forces, who have been pounding it for more than six weeks.

The bombardment continued on Wednesday, with loud explosions heard mid-

afternoon in Misrata, where there was heavy overnight fighting and from which
thousands of people are trying to flee.
----------------------
US Committing $25 Million in Aid to Libyan Opposition (VOA)
By David Gollust
April 20, 2011
The Obama administration is preparing to provide $25 million in non-lethal aid to
Libya’s opposition Transitional National Council, the TNC. The plan was confirmed
Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also expressed concern
about mounting casualties among pro-democracy protesters in Syria.

Clinton is stressing that the aid package contains no weapons and does not amount to a
"blank check" of unlimited U.S. aid to the TNC.

But it does represent a significant upgrade of U.S. backing for the umbrella Libyan
opposition organization, which Clinton said is "holding its own" militarily in the face of
what she termed a "brutal assault" by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

Speaking at a joint press event with Haiti’s President-elect Michel Martelly, Clinton said
the items going to the Libyan rebels are being drawn from U.S. stockpiles and include
such things as medical supplies, uniforms, boots, protective gear and radios.

She said the aid pledge is being made in close coordination with U.S. international
partners - among them Britain, France and Italy - which this week announced the
dispatch of military advisers to help the TNC.
"This is not a blank check. But this action is consistent with the United Nations Security
Council resolution 1973, which among other actions, authorized member states to take
all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas," said Clinton.

The United States has a senior diplomat, Chris Stevens, in the Libyan rebel stronghold
Benghazi to liaise with the TNC, but it has not recognized the rebel movement as the
country’s legitimate government, as have some NATO allies.

A State Department spokesman said the aid commitment does not necessarily mean the
United States is closer to recognizing the TNC and shows there are ways the United
States can boost the opposition short of such a step.

Clinton meanwhile underscored U.S. concern about mounting political violence in

Syria, where news reports say more than 20 protesters have been killed by security
forces in the central city of Homs.

She said the United States strongly condemns any use of violence by either side in the
ongoing confrontation, and is particularly worried about the situation in Homs, where
it is difficult to ascertain facts because of curbs on journalists.

"The Syrian government must allow free movement and free access," said the secretary
of state. "It must stop the arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture of prisoners. And it
must cease the violence and begin a serious political process through concrete actions to
demonstrate its responsiveness to the legitimate issues that have been raised by the
Syrian people seeking substantial and lasting reform."

The State Department expressed skepticism Tuesday at the Damascus government’s

move to end 48 years of emergency rule, noting that the pending repeal is coupled with
new legislation to curb demonstrations.
------------------------
Inferior Arms Hobble Rebels in Libya War (NYT)
By C. J. CHIVERS
April 20, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya — A PKT machine gun, a weapon designed to be mounted on a
Soviet tank and fired electronically by a crew member inside, has no manual trigger, no
sights and no shoulder stock. That does not prevent many Libyan rebels from carrying
it as if it were an infantryman’s gun, even though it cannot be fired.

A Carcano cavalry carbine — probable refuse from Italian colonization in Libya

between the world wars — is chambered for a dated rifle cartridge that the rebels have
not been able to procure. That did not deter four rebels recently seen wandering the
battlefield with these relics, without a cartridge to fire.
The MAT-49, a submachine gun produced for the French military several decades ago,
is a weapon for which it is difficult to obtain parts. That did not seem to trouble one
rebel who showed up on the eastern Libyan front brandishing a MAT-49 — with no
magazine. He would have been more dangerous with a sling and stone.

The armed uprising in Libya has produced a spontaneously formed force with a grand
and passionately held ambition: to defeat Libya’s state-sponsored military in battle and
chase Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his sons from power.

Few who have seen the front lines would dispute that Libya’s rebels need arms
matched to their fight. But as the European powers send military advisers to eastern
Libya, the developing NATO plan to help the rebels organize themselves quickly into
an effective fighting force confronts their backers with difficult issues.

A survey of weapons carried by hundreds of rebels fighting on two fronts — in eastern

Libya and the besieged city of Misurata — presents a picture of an armed uprising that
is both underequipped and in custody of many weapons with no utility in the war at
hand. The rebels are also in possession of weapons that if sold, lost or misused, could
undermine their revolution’s reputation and undercut their cause.

These include anti-aircraft missiles and land mines, both of which the rebels have used
on at least a limited basis so far, and which pose long-term regional security threats.
They include as well heavier weapons — Type 63 and Grad rockets — that rebels have
fired indiscriminately, endangering civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Taken together, the rebels’ mismatched arsenal and their inexperience and lack of
discipline have made achieving the revolution’s military goal extraordinarily hard. For
their part, the rebels insist they have the will to prevail against the forces loyal to
Colonel Qaddafi if provided the means. That resolve was clear in the words of Fikry
Iltajoury, 31, who turned up on a recent day with only a large steak knife. He had been
fighting from a machine gun truck, he said, until the truck and machine gun were
destroyed.

“We were hit and my friends died,” he said “I lost my weapon but have this.”

He held up the knife, a serrated blade with a wooden handle. “I want to stuff it into
Qaddafi’s heart.”

Mr. Iltajoury’s circumstances — eager but materially unprepared — matched what is

often visible elsewhere.

By one fundamental measure of readiness, the Forces of Free Libya, as the rebels call
themselves, are abjectly underequipped: They have many more volunteers than rifles.
Kalashnikov prices in eastern Libya point to wartime scarcity — some fighters said they
paid more than $2,000 for their weapon, several times a typical price. In the siege of
Misurata, many rebels at the front have no firearms at all, and wait for a friend to fall
before joining the fight.

Those who do have modern weapons have gathered into motley formations with arms
that either require different training, need different types of ammunition, or both.

It is not uncommon to see a rebel group with widely mixed weapons: a NATO-standard
FN FAL rifle, two different classes of Kalashnikovs, a Degtyaryov machine gun of early
Soviet provenance and perhaps a bolt-action rifle from before World War II, like the
Carcano carbines or specimens from the old Lee-Enfield line.

A few grenades (homemade or factory-produced) and an occasional rocket-propelled

grenade or anti-aircraft missile often round out their armaments, along with PKT
machine guns (fired not with a trigger but by a bolt-release mechanism) or homemade
rocket launchers, little more than an electrical circuit hooked up to welded bars and
pipes.

The rebels have other shortages as well — including ammunition and spare parts,
especially in Misurata. (So far the rebels have acknowledged that only one foreign
government, presumably Qatar’s, has provided them with weapons — a shipment said
to include 400 rifles.)

Among the Forces of Free Libya, an absence of discipline and experience, a fleeting
appreciation for both the tactical and technical aspects of weapons employment and a
disregard for, or perhaps ignorance of, international conventions are all on display.

Put simply, the rebels have a limited sense of how to use modern weapons in ways that
maximize their effectiveness while minimizing their risks to everyone else.

They have exhibited what seems to be a tolerance for at least a small number of child
soldiers. Such was the case of Mohamed Abdulgader, a 13-year-old boy seen at a
forward checkpoint earlier this month with an assault rifle in his grip.

Mohamed claimed not be a front-line fighter. But he was in area that within an hour
came under fire, and made clear his readiness to fight. “If the Qaddafi men try to do
anything to me, I will hurt them,” he said. None of the fighters present, or their
commander, appeared concerned.

Similarly, the rebels have little evident command-and-control and no clear or consistent
rules of engagement — factors that have perhaps contributed to instances of abusive or
outright brutal conduct.
There have been credible accounts of rebels beating and robbing African men on the
mere suspicion of their being mercenaries, and on April 9 two journalists observed
rebels capture and immediately kill a suspected Qaddafi informant.

Countries that provide arms to such lawless forces could later be accused of
encouraging or enabling these kinds of crimes. Similarly, many rebels have assembled
powerful but inaccurate weapons systems that they have been firing near Ajdabiya and
Brega. These include 107-millimeter rockets on pickup trucks, as well as makeshift
mounts for 122-millimeter Grad rockets and 57-millimeter air-to-ground rocket
launchers removed from former Qaddafi attack helicopters.

Journalists have seen these high-explosive munitions fired repeatedly, and often
haphazardly. The rebels firing them typically have no evident communication with
forward observers who might watch where their ordnance lands, and have shown no
ability to adjust their aim.

In tactical terms, this is indiscriminate fire — the very behavior rebels and civilians have
decried in the Qaddafi forces, albeit on a smaller scale.

Moreover, the rebels possess weapons, including land mines, that if used or not
accounted for, could undermine their quest for international stature and support.

Although the rebel leadership in Benghazi had said its forces would not use the mines
they inherited from Qaddafi government stocks, on April 17 a BBC news crew
videotaped rebels laying anti-vehicular mines near Ajdabiya, the rebel city at the edge
of currently contested territory.

Similarly, after capturing former military arsenals, the rebels openly distributed
portable anti-aircraft missiles, known as Manpads. If they drift from the rebels’
possession to black markets, they could be used by terrorists to attack civilian aviation.

The weapons have little current utility for the rebels. Aircraft now overhead in Libya
are almost always from NATO, or otherwise considered friendly. (One rebel helicopter
was visible flying near the front lines about 10 days ago.)

Nonetheless, rebels still carry them, and officials in Algeria and Chad have publicly said
that since the uprising began, loose Manpads from Libya have been acquired by
operatives with Al Qaeda in Africa.

Taken together, this mixed picture presents foreign backers with a pair of related
problems. To watch Libyan rebels head to battle is to watch young men calling for
freedom step toward a bloody mismatch, and often their deaths. To arm them, though,
is to assume other risks, some of which could last for years.
-----------------------
New Ivory Coast Army Turns Against Ex-Allies (Reuters)
By Unattributed Author
April 20, 2011
ABIDJAN — Ivory Coast forces on Wednesday attacked fighters from a militia that had
been allied with them in the fight against the former president, Laurent Gbagbo.

The violence set back hopes of quickly restoring security and reviving the economy in
the West African nation after a bloody postelection power struggle. The election was
won by Alassane Ouattara, who took power last week; Mr. Gbagbo has been arrested.

The attacks were reported by Ibrahim Coulibaly, the leader of the militia, which is
known as the Invisible Commando. He said the Ivorian military had accused his forces
of helping fighters loyal to the former president. A source close to the government
confirmed the report, saying that some of Mr. Coulibaly’s forces had not met a deadline
to join the national army.

Invisible Commando, which has an estimated 5,000 fighters, had fought alongside what
is now the Ivorian Army, a ragtag group made up mostly of rebels from the 2002 civil
war. The two groups have had little in common over the years beside their hatred of
Mr. Gbagbo, and disagreements have been violent.

Government security forces have also launched an offensive against Gbagbo loyalists
who are holed up in Yopougon, a neighborhood in Abidjan, officials said.

Yopougon residents reported intense fighting.

Residents in other neighborhoods have cautiously returned to their daily lives after
clashes throughout the city, which is Ivory Coast’s commercial capital.
------------------
New Ivory Coast Government Calls for Truth and Reconciliation Commission (VOA)
By Scott Stearns
April 20, 2011
Dakar - Ivory Coast's new government is calling for a truth and reconciliation
commission to help address human rights abuses, including those committed during
the political crisis that followed November's presidential election. Many challenges face
a commission meant to reunite a country divided by more than 10 years of civil war,
instability, and political violence.

President Alassane Ouattara says a truth and reconciliation commission will help
Ivorians move beyond the suspicion that has dominated much of the last decade.

President Ouattara says reconciliation cannot be achieved without justice, and

reconciliation cannot be effective without forgiveness. So following last week's arrest of
former president Laurent Gbagbo, Mr. Ouattara says he telephoned South African
President Jacob Zuma to say that he will need South Africa's experience and support to
have an effective truth and reconciliation commission.

What to do about Laurent Gbagbo?

Deciding what to do about Mr. Gbagbo is the highest-profile challenge. He refused to

recognize that he lost last year's election to Mr. Ouattara and held on to power for
months with the help of the army.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga was the African Union mediator between the rival
presidents. He says Mr. Gbagbo should be pardoned.

"The civil war will not end that is why we are talking about reconciliation," he said. "If
we want to reconcile, give Gbagbo a safe exit. Then get some of his people because he
represents a number of people and also a big region in the country. Get those people in
the government so you play a game of inclusivity."

Human Rights Watch says Mr. Gbagbo should not be allowed exile in a country that
would shield him from prosecution as that would only heighten tension inside Ivory
Coast.

"President Ouattara is inheriting a country that is deeply divided along ethnic, religious
and regional lines," said Corinne Dufka, who heads the West Africa office for Human
Rights Watch. She says the neutrality of the commission will depend on it having a
broad political balance.

"The type of mandate and the composition of the commission and all of those issues
will then set the state for how legitimate, how meaningful this commission will be to
address these very deep divisions and make recommendations against their
occurrence," she said.

President Ouattara says the commission will help Ivorians come to terms with a
sometimes painful past.

The president says Ivorians must know what happened, who did what, and for what
reasons as far back as 1999. He says people must admit their crimes and beg the nation
for forgiveness. President Ouattara says impunity will come to an end in Ivory Coast
because everyone is equal before the law, whatever their political affiliation, origin,
religion, or ethnicity.

That promised autonomy is especially important as Dufka says some of Mr. Ouattara's
own fighters are guilty of human rights abuses.
"For the first several months following the elections, the most serious violations were
committed by Gbagbo's troops against real and perceived supporters of Ouattara," said
Dufka. "Once the armed conflict had reignited, then forces loyal to Ouattara committed
extremely serious violations. And not just in the west of the country but also in
Abidjan."

Commission cannot replace justice

While the truth and reconciliation commission will play an important role in the new
Ivory Coast, Dufka says it can not replace justice.

"It should not be seen as a substitute for some sort of accountability process," she said.
"Because this now tragically-established cycle of violence and impunity that has existed
in Cote d'Ivoire for over 10 years will not be stopped until those responsible for the very
serious violations over the last decade have been held accountable."

The end of the political crisis between Mr. Ouattara and Mr. Gbagbo is an opportunity
but by no means a guarantee for a more peaceful future.

Father Daniel Meledje is a priest in Abidjan's Saint Etienne parish. During these
difficult times, Meledje says, people are seeking a peace that comes from God because
that peace touches everyone's heart. Ivorians are seeking peace so they can live in
happiness. Without peace, he says, people cannot reconcile their differences.
----------------------
South Sudan army, militia clash kills 20 - army (Reuters)
By Jeremy Clarke
April 20, 2011 8:35pm GMT
JUBA, Sudan - At least 20 soldiers were killed in a clash between south Sudan's army
and rebel militia fighters, the army said on Wednesday, the latest violence to unsettle
the region ahead of its independence in July.

Sudan's south voted to separate from the north in a January referendum promised
under a 2005 peace accord that ended decades of civil war. The underdeveloped region,
the source of most of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil, has been beset by violence
which has killed hundreds since the vote.

Twenty southern army soldiers were killed on Tuesday in a clash in the oil-producing
Unity state with fighters loyal to Peter Gadet, a former senior southern army (SPLA)
officer who rebelled this month, the military said.

"They (the rebels) overran a village in Mayom county. They burnt it to the ground
before the SPLA chased them off," said southern army spokesman Philip Aguer.
Two drivers were also killed when two civilian trucks hit landmines in the same
county, Aguer said.

The rebels fought alongside Misseriya tribesmen from the north, Aguer said, adding the
death toll would rise as an unconfirmed number of civilians and rebels were also killed.
That could not be immediately verified independently.

Southern leaders have accused their former civil war foes in the north of arming the
renegades to try and destabilise the region and keep control of its oil, charges Khartoum
denies.

Unity authorities responded to the latest violence by expelling northern Sudanese staff
working in oil-producing areas of the state, underscoring the risk from rising tensions.

"Unity State have ample evidence that these militia are being encouraged, sponsored,
organised and planned by elements in the national government," the state's Information
Minister Gideon Gatpan Thoar said.
Oil is the lifeblood of both economies and how to share the revenues after separation
remains unresolved. Southern oil is currently spilt roughly 50-50 with the north, and the
south will still have to rely on pipelines in the north after July.

The United Nations has said more than 800 people have died in the violence in south
Sudan this year stemming from tribal fighting and clashes between soldiers and at least
seven bands of renegade fighters in the territory.

Analysts have warned any further deterioration could destabilise the whole region.
South Sudan's neighbours include Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Renegade fighters have accused the south's government of corruption and crackdowns
on opposition supporters, charges denied in the southern capital Juba.

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused both SPLA and rebel fighters of
human rights violations during a battle in Upper Nile State in March.

Aguer dismissed the allegations against the SPLA.

The south has fought the north for all but a few years since 1955 over differences in
religion, ideology, ethnicity and oil. The conflict has claimed an estimated two million
lives.
--------------------
Life inside Somaliland's pirate prison (CNN)
By Jane Ferguson
April 20, 2011
Hargeisa, Somaliland - "We want money," say the group of inmates with a smile.
Somaliland's highest security prison hasn't dampened the hustling spirit of its pirate
prisoners. My government handler rolls his eyes. They do this a lot, he explains.

I was told there are over 40 convicted pirates in this facility in Hargeisa, capital of the
tiny breakaway east African state. The authorities say the coast guard has caught close
to 100 in the past two years.

Prison officials tell me that most of the convicts ventured into Somaliland waters from
Puntland, a haven for pirates just down the north Somalia coastline. They rarely hijack
ships in Somaliland waters, because the coast guard has a reputation for catching them,
officials told me. But the pirates often run out of fuel and are forced to come into the
Somaliland port town of Berbera.

The first group of pirates brought out to speak with me refuse to talk without money,
having decided on a union of sorts. Mohammed Ali Orsamen then comes down the
corridor, chancing his luck for some cash but still keen to speak even after I refuse
payment. He is serving fifteen years for piracy.

"I am not a pirate, I am a fisherman," he begins. They all say that, smiles my
government minder. Ali Orsamen does however have strong opinions on piracy. "The
Westerners are doing illegal fishing and arresting fishermen and accusing them of being
pirates," he repeats several times.

To Ali Orsamen, arresting so-called pirates was an excuse for Western fishing
companies to take over Somalia's fishing territory.

"Because of the collapse of the Somali government there is no patrolling of our

territories and that is why there is illegal fishing and those Westerners are entering our
territories, and those pirates are only hijacking ships in Somali waters," he says. "Please
tell the international community to stay away from Somali waters. If we hijack one
Western ship and we kill one Westerner, then they kill ten of us."

Ali Orsamen and his fellow inmates are at the mercy of a new and extremely strict
judicial system in Somaliland. Pirates in the past used to get five to eight years here,
now with the world struggling to combat a major pirate plague in the region, they are
being sentenced from 15 to 20 years each.

Osman Rahim, Berbera's regional court judge, presides over an historic court house in
Berbera, just down the dusty street from the old prison. When suspected pirates are
caught by the coast guard, this is where they end up before being sentenced and
transferred to Hargeisa's high security facility.
Shortly before my visit, a group of suspected pirates had been caught and taken to
Berbera prison, causing much excitement amongst officials. Their boat had been marked
by a coalition warship as a pirate vessel, said officials, and their leader was a well-
known pirate boss.

The man in question, Omar Abdullah Abdi, disagrees. "We were arrested doing our
work - fishing. I don't know why we were arrested," he says. The group of six had
elected him their spokesman, and none of the others are keen to disagree with his
version of events. Pointing out that his boat was marked, Abdi says: "We have not been
charged in court yet. We have nothing to do with these charges."

Rahim explains that Somaliland is taking a very tough stance against piracy, in part to
discourage others from following the practice. "Now when they hear that they can get
20 years and 15 years, everybody is stunned," he adds, "and not going to the sea. That's
why we are sentencing them for a long time - to restrict them."

With millions of dollars to be made by pirates in hijacking ships for ransom, such risks
may seem small in comparison. The hope in Berbera, however, is that these waters gain
a reputation for a fierce rule of law: keeping pirates at bay.
--------------------
Nigeria: Post-Election Violence - 121 Dead - Thousands Displaced (Leadership)
By Samuel Aruwan, Abdulrahman Tonga, Yau Waziri, Sani Muh'd Sani and Abdulaziz
Abdulaziz
20 April 2011
Kaduna/Gombe/Bauchi/Kano — The post-election crisis that swept northern parts of
the country has left no fewer than 121 people dead and hundreds more injured.

According to reliable sources, about 15,000 people have been displaced, many of them
seeking shelter in police stations and army barracks.

The largest number of casualties are from Kaduna where some 50 people are feared
dead and Kano where the figure has been put at 30. The casualty list so far puts the
number of the dead in Gombe at 17, with neighbouring Bauchi State recording 16 and
Katsina State 8.

The commissioner of police in Bauchi State, John Abakasanga, disclosed that four
members of the National Youth Service Corps had been killed, as well as one divisional
crime officer (DCO) and one female corporal.

The state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Father Lawi
Potki, also confirmed that he saw 10 dead people. The secretary of the Red Cross in
Bauchi, Adamu Abubakar, placed the number of the wounded in the state at 17 and
those displaced at 3,500. The Red Cross also confirmed the death of eight people in
Katsina in the aftermath of the violence. According to Abubakar, 500 displaced people
were at the DIC Camp, Gudun village, while many more were sighted at Sha Da Wanka
Barracks and the Bauchi State Police headquarters.

Unconfirmed reports from different neighbourhoods in Kano indicate that 13 people

were killed by the police in a friendly fire in the course of trying to quell the violence.

The state police commissioner, Dan'Azumi Doma, told LEADERSHIP that, officially, he
had received no information of any deaths. He however said 120 people had been
arrested and 94 of them remanded in custody.

The state police commissioner in Gombe State, Suleiman Lawan, was also unable to
confirm the number of casualties but LEADERSHIP gathered from the chief medical
director at the Gombe Specialist Hospital, Dr. James Madi, that five people were
confirmed dead at the hospital and 30 others treated for injuries. Twelve people were
also confirmed dead from the Gombe Federal Medical Centre with 71 receiving
treatment from injuries, even as some people had been discharged.

The deputy inspector-general (DIG) of Police in charge of operations in Abuja, Audu

Abubakar, who was also in Gombe yesterday to inspect the extent of damage, said that
the police would be able to confirm the casualties today. From Kaduna, hospitals are
reported to be overflowing with the injured.

Travellers caught unawares on the Abuja-Kaduna highway spoke of at least eight

deaths. Along the Kaduna- Zaria highway seven persons were reported dead while in
Zaria city, the number of those killed was put at 10. The remaining deaths came from
Kaduna City as well as the spillover in Kafanchan and Hunkuyi.

DIG Abubakar who was also in Kaduna said that more security personnel were being
drafted to the state.
-----------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Darfur peace process entering crucial phase, UN official tells Security Council
20 April – The peace process to resolve the conflict in the Darfur region of western
Sudan region has entered a crucial phase with parties to the dispute considering texts of
key elements that would form the basis of a draft comprehensive agreement, a senior
United Nations official told the Security Council today.

Sudan: UN official warns of threats ahead of formal separation of south

20 April – Key elements of the peace deal that ended the long-running civil war in
Sudan may not be resolved before the south formally separates from the rest of the
country in early July, a senior United Nations official said today, warning that disputes
over these sticking points threaten to pull the parties back into open conflict.