United States Africa Command

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26 May 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

AFRICOM in the Congo: Congo’s challenge: Feeding troops consistently (Stars and
Stripes)
(Congo) Birds of prey hovered near the man-made ponds at the military base in this
jungle city, where U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent to help the struggling
Congolese army learn how to perform the most fundamental of tasks: feeding its
soldiers.

Obama: Libya campaign has limits but Kadhafi will go (AFP)

(Libya) US President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday that NATO's campaign in
Libya has limits but warned pressure will mount on Moamer Kadhafi to quit, even after
Russia slammed the alliance's latest bombing blitz of Tripoli.

Lawmakers question whether Obama is adhering to War Powers Resolution in Libya

(Washington Post)
(Libya) Is President Obama breaking the law in Libya? That question — which both the
White House and congressional leaders seemed to have ducked in recent days — was
raised by several legislators Wednesday morning at a House committee hearing.

Obama, Cameron Claim Agreement on Libya (VOA)

(Libya) U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are
sounding a harmonious tone on their approach to protecting Libyan civilians from
attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's government forces.

List of missing grows in Libyan rebel city Misrata (AP)

(Libya) Inside a small whitewashed building, a former Libyan prosecutor tends to the
list of Misrata's missing. It grows longer — at least 1,000 names so far — as rebels
expand their territory and more families come forward with names of those who
disappeared during the seven-week siege by government forces on Libya's third-largest
city.

SAfrica's Zuma plans Kadhafi 'exit strategy' talks in Libya (AFP)

(Libya/South Africa) South African President Jacob Zuma will visit Tripoli next week,
his office said Wednesday, for talks that officials told AFP would focus on an "exit
strategy" for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

Amnesty: Ivory Coast’s Ouattara Giving 'Green Light' to Violence (VOA)

(Ivory Coast) A new Amnesty International report says war crimes have been
committed on both sides of the political divide during Ivory Coast's violent post-
election standoff.

North May ‘Cleanse’ Sudanese Border Town, U.N. Says (NYT)

(Sudan) After seizing a disputed town on the border of the breakaway region of
southern Sudan on Saturday, the army of northern Sudan is now facilitating a relatively
large influx of nomadic people into the area, according to new United Nations field
reports.

Controversial Leaders Not Invited to Inauguration - SGF (Daily Champion)

(Nigeria) Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Alhaji Yayale Ahmed
has said the government would not invite those he called "controversial leaders" to the
inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Sudanese town of Abyei still tense after burning and looting, UN reports
 Somalia: Ban urges leaders to commit to stability and public service
 In Africa, UN chief spotlights progress in improving women’s and children’s
health
 Africa’s young people vital to sustainable development, says UN chief
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 09:00 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - 18:00 ;

Westin City Center Hotel, 1400 M St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005
WHAT: Evidence Summit on Agricultural Technology Adoption and Food Security in
Africa
WHO: Technology and agricultural experts
Info: http://www.partnership-africa.org/content/usaid-atai-evidence-summit-
agricultural-technology-adoption-and-food-security-africa
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

AFRICOM in the Congo: Congo’s challenge: Feeding troops consistently (Stars and
Stripes)
By John Vandiver
May 25, 2011
KISANGANI, Congo — Birds of prey hovered near the man-made ponds at the military
base in this jungle city, where U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent to help the
struggling Congolese army learn how to perform the most fundamental of tasks:
feeding its soldiers.

Some 45,000 tilapia were supposed to be swimming in the ponds scattered around the
camp, the fruits of an American effort to teach hungry soldiers how to farm their own
food.

In 24 hours, the Congolese defense minister would be visiting the camp for a ceremonial
fish harvest that was to be broadcast on national television.

But Beau Davis, the 28-year-old Texan in charge of the program, was concerned. Would
the harvest be plentiful? How many fish, really, were still in the ponds?

“I need a shotgun,” Davis joked as he scanned the sky for birds. “But it’s not as big of a
problem as another species of predators — with two legs.”

Base workers, hungry and short on cash, have been known to fish the ponds and sell
their catch at village markets.

“I’m a part-time agricultural specialist, part-time baby sitter,” Davis said.

For the past year, Davis has been working with a cadre of Congolese soldiers to raise
cattle, pigs and fish. The team also is growing maize, cassava and other crops as part of
a pilot project that could be replicated at bases across the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.

Generations of military forces here have been living off the land in a different way.
Without a reliable supply chain, troops in the Congo have found it easier to prey upon
civilians, stealing food and whatever else they need, rather than work their own fields.

Now, as the U.S. attempts to transform this unruly army into a more professional force,
military officials say the key could be something as basic as ensuring that troops have
regular meals. Without such necessities, there is little hope that soldiers will cease to
plunder the populations they are supposed to be protecting.

“To the Congolese’s credit, they recognize the weakness in (their logistical) system,”
said a U.S. military official, speaking on background about the military mission in
Congo. “Feeding is an example of that.”

For Davis, the visit by Congolese Defense Minister Charles Mwando Simba offered a
chance to showcase the progress of soldiers in Kisangani as they attempt to build a base
that can supply its own food. He hoped to be able to pull out baskets teeming with
tilapia.

Growing stuff

Davis, a contractor from the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at
Texas A&M, manages a $1.9 million program funded by U.S. Africa Command and the
U.S. State Department. The idea is to develop a sustainable source of food for the
military mission at the camp while testing whether such an initiative can be replicated
in other regions.

A company of 60 Congolese soldiers were converted into agricultural specialists

capable of managing a diverse blend of crops and livestock. Jungle bush was plowed
into farmland and local agricultural consultants from a nearby university were brought
in to lend their expertise.

“That’s for the long-term sustainability, because we aren’t going to be here forever,”
Davis said.

“If we could see this done across the nation, not only will it help in feeding the military,
it could change the view of the army — that they’re not just people who take and take
and take,” Davis said. “There is not a base commander in Congo that doesn’t want a
productive farm on their base.”

But in Kisangani, there are signs of trouble as short-term needs get in the way of the
long-term interests.

Fish, pigs, cattle and crops being cultivated have become potential targets for famished
troops. There’s been at least one casualty: a young calf was found bloodied after being
hacked with a machete. Hungry soldiers, who only get one meal a day at the base, were
suspected.

Fish harvest

Before the arrival of the VIPs, Davis pulled a night shift, trying to discover just how
many fish were under the water’s surface.

During meetings in the capital city of Kinshasa, Davis had heard plenty of lip service
from government officials about how they were interested in building a military that is
self-sustaining.

But over time, Davis said he saw leaders take a genuine interest in the agricultural
initiative and Mwando, the defense minister, had become one of the program’s
strongest advocates.
“It remains to be seen what the (Congolese military) will do on its own,” Davis said.
“Everybody likes the idea when the U.S. is paying.”

After all, it was American taxpayers who paid for the tilapia farms. The fast-growing
fish species could introduce some much-needed protein into the diets of the soldiers on
base.

But would there be enough fish to feed an army?

Not, it turned out, on the day of Mwando’s visit. After a desperate night of fishing,
Davis knew he needed to improvise the next morning. If the ceremonial harvest went
forward as planned, Mwando would likely be pulling fishless nets from the water
before the rolling cameras.

So instead, Davis laid out his meager catch from the night before in an anticlimactic
demonstration of the farm’s yet to be realized potential. The cameras clicked. The fish
were fried for lunch. And Davis pondered a new strategy for a better harvest the next
go-around. Security would be part of that plan, he said.

“As far as the actual fish we harvested, I was very disappointed,” Davis said shortly
after the defense minister’s visit. “We had a lot more theft than we realized.”
-----------------------
Obama: Libya campaign has limits but Kadhafi will go (AFP)
By Imed Lamloum
May 25, 2011
TRIPOLI — US President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday that NATO's campaign
in Libya has limits but warned pressure will mount on Moamer Kadhafi to quit, even
after Russia slammed the alliance's latest bombing blitz of Tripoli.

The African Union meanwhile urged a political solution to the long-running conflict,
which is expected to be one of the main themes of a G8 summit in France on Thursday
and Friday, which Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will attend.

"Once you rule out ground forces, then there are going to be some inherent limitations
to our air strike operation," Obama said, adding however that the aerial bombardment
would eventually force out the Libyan strongman.

The US president told a joint news conference in London with Cameron that Kadhafi's
government was under pressure in "a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear
down the regime forces."

Cameron echoed Obama's view, saying "patience and persistence" were necessary in
Libya.
"We should be turning up the heat in Libya. I think the pressure should be on that
regime," the British leader said.

Their statements came only hours after a senior NATO military official said the Western
alliance is shifting into high gear in Libya in a bid to deliver a decisive blow to Kadhafi's
regime, hitting Tripoli with its heaviest bombardment to date.

NATO must "speed up the systematic destruction of Tripoli's military machine with the
goal of neutralising Kadhafi's forces for good," the official said, adding allies hoped
Kadhafi would fall by late June or early July.

African leaders, meanwhile, urged a political solution as they opened talks on the
troubled North African state in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

And Egypt's foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi said Cairo would send Hani Khallaf as its
envoy to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi to follow up on developments there
and push a political solution.

"I am convinced that only a political solution can lead to a lasting peace and satisfy the
legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people," said Jean Ping, head of the AU
Commission, the pan-African bloc's executive body.

But the "current situation on the ground and the lack of coordination of international
efforts do not favour the search for a solution," he added.

Before the talks even opened in Addis Ababa, the office of South African President
Jacob Zuma said he would visit Tripoli next week.

"President Zuma will stop over in Tripoli for a discussion with Libyan leader Colonel
Moamer Kadhafi, on May 30," the presidency said in a statement.

Presidency sources said the talks would focus on Kadhafi's "exit strategy."

Zuma visited Tripoli on April 10 as part of an African Union delegation that sought to
broker a truce between Kadhafi and the rebels, but their proposals foundered when the
rebels insisted the strongman quit office immediately.

Two sources in the president's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks
would focus on Kadhafi's "exit strategy."

"The purpose is to discuss an exit strategy for Kadhafi. The meeting is still very much in
the planning stages," one official said on condition of anonymity.
A second official said South Africa was working on a transition plan with Turkey,
which last month proposed a "roadmap" to end the Libyan turmoil also envisaging
Kadhafi's departure.

A foreign ministry official said Turkey was ready to help any initiative to end Libya's
turmoil but had had no contact so far with South Africa's leader on an exit strategy for
Kadhafi.

"We have had no particular dialogue so far but it does not mean that we will not have
any in the future," the official said, adding Turkey was ready to contribute to any Libya
peace initiative.

Russia's foreign ministry called NATO's latest bombings of Tripoli a "grave departure"
from UN resolutions on Libya that could lead to a further escalation in violence.

Moscow said the West's attempts to justify the offensive by pointing to the threats being
posed to civilians by Kadhafi's regime ignored the danger of the Tripoli government
digging in.

"Air strikes are not stopping the military confrontation between the Libyan parties and
only creating more suffering among peaceful civilians," the ministry statement said.

Six powerful explosions struck late on Tuesday near Kadhafi's residence, targeted a day
earlier by intensive NATO air strikes, an AFP journalist said.

At a refugee camp near the Tunisia-Libya border, a fire killed four people and injured
one, the United Nations said.

Thousands of people have fled to the camp since violence broke out in Libya in
February.
----------------------
Lawmakers question whether Obama is adhering to War Powers Resolution in Libya
(Washington Post)
By David A. Fahrenthold
May 25, 2011
Is President Obama breaking the law in Libya?

That question — which both the White House and congressional leaders seemed to
have ducked in recent days — was raised by several legislators Wednesday morning at
a House committee hearing.

It came on the same day that Obama, speaking in London, urged patience with the two-
month-old campaign against Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
The hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee was the most public airing so
far of a complaint on Capitol Hill: that Obama has violated the 1973 War Powers
Resolution by not obtaining congressional authorization for the U.S. attacks in Libya.

“The undeniable conclusion is that the president is breaking the law by continuing the
unilateral offensive war in Libya,” said Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), a conservative
freshman testifying before the committee.

Amash has proposed a bill that would cut off funding for U.S. efforts in Libya until
Obama obtains congressional authorization. “The tragedy for our system of self-
government would be if Congress continued to do nothing,” he said.

On Friday, Obama missed a 60-day deadline set by the Nixon-era act that required him
to obtain congressional permission for the operation in Libya. Instead, he sent a letter to
congressional leaders that did not mention the War Powers Resolution but urged that
they pass a resolution of support for the campaign in the violence-torn country.

That resolution has been introduced in the Senate. But Majority Leader Harry M. Reid
(D-Nev.) said Tuesday that it won’t be considered until after the Memorial Day recess,
which lasts all next week.

On Tuesday, in fact, it was clear that the Libya operation has brought about a
remarkable moment in Washington. The White House and Republican and Democratic
leaders on Capitol Hill signaled a common strategy on the War Powers Resolution — a
law governing the key issue of how the United States goes to war. In what seems like a
political magic trick, they appear to be trying their best to ignore the law in the hope
that it goes away.

Asked whether the president still has the authority to continue operations in Libya,
Obama spokesman Ben Rhodes did not mention the resolution specifically.

“I think we addressed that through the letter the president sent up to Congress at the
end of last week, again, reaffirming our ongoing efforts in Libya,” Rhodes said. “So we
believe we have the authorities we need.”

Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) showed little concern that
Obama had missed the deadline. “We’ve had good discussions on Libya,” Reid said.
McConnell also was noncommittal: “Discussions continue.”

On Wednesday in London, there was no sign that the involvement in the Libyan
uprising would let up. Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of a
continued commitment to pressure Gaddafi with military attacks.
“Gaddafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be a let-up in the
pressure that we are applying,” Obama said. “I believe that we have built enough
momentum that as long as we sustain the course that we are on that he is ultimately
going to step down,” Obama said.

Legal scholars say that the War Powers Resolution has been flouted repeatedly by past
presidents. Congress tussled with Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton over the
resolution: in the 1980s, when Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon, and in 1999, when
Clinton ordered airstrikes in the Balkans.

But scholars noted that past presidents often made an argument about why the
resolution didn’t apply to them. As the deadline passed, Obama did not even do that.

Obama’s lack of response “does take this final step of not even bothering to go through
the motions,” said Peter Spiro, a law professor at Temple University.

Spiro said he approved of the president’s decision: He, and some other legal scholars,
say the law deserves to be ignored. The resolution, Spiro said, has been unworkable and
possibly unconstitutional since its enactment.

“President Obama has clearly violated the letter of law. And nobody’s really jumping
up and down that much,” Spiro said. “That’s a reflection of a consensus understanding
that [this] law doesn’t represent ‘the law.’ That the law isn’t the law.”

But, in Congress, some legislators have begun to raise objections. On Tuesday, Sen.
Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee,
asked William J. Burns, a White House nominee for deputy secretary of state, about the
the missed deadline.

“It appears to me that potentially a precedent is being set here that ... is not a good one,”
Lugar told Burns. “I’m hopeful that you’ll convey that back” to the White House.

And on Wednesday morning at the House committee hearing, a series of legislators

blasted Obama as ignoring the resolution — and Congress itself.

“They won’t even acknowledge the 60th day ... the day on which they began violating
the law,” said Rep. Bradley J. Sherman (D-Calif.). “The fault is also with Congress. So
many of us would like to evade the contentious issues.”

Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) testified before the committee about his own proposed
resolution, which would express the “sense of Congress” that Obama should seek
authorization for the operation in Libya.
“If you’re going to go to war and send our troops into harm’s way, you need us — and
the American people — on board,” Rooney said. “What we’re asking for is simple —
that the president respect our role.”

Historians say that the legislators who drafted the War Powers Act were trying to
address two of Washington’s ingrained habits: Presidents usually seek to expand their
powers, and Congress often shies away from inserting itself into ongoing wars, because
the downside of meddling is so high.

The act was intended to stop both, forcing Congress into confrontations that would
check the president’s power.

But, since it was passed, the resolution has been undermined by the very habits it was
meant to overcome.

“It’s just like a [New Year’s] resolution, right? You start off the new year with the desire
to go the gym,” but bad old habits return quickly, said Saikrishna Prakash, a law
professor at the University of Virginia. “You can’t tie your hands with this piece of
paper.”
-------------------
Obama, Cameron Claim Agreement on Libya (VOA)
By Kent Klein
May 25, 2011
London - U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are
sounding a harmonious tone on their approach to protecting Libyan civilians from
attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's government forces.

At a news conference outside the British prime minister's residence, President Obama
and his British counterpart said there would be no letup in efforts to oust the Libyan
leader.

Obama said the NATO military action in Libya has made progress, and pressure on
Gadhafi to step down will continue.

“Well, first of all, I do think that we have made enormous progress in Libya. We have
saved lives as a consequence of our concerted actions,” Obama said.

The president did not say he would commit any more U.S. military resources to the
effort, even though France and some other NATO allies are calling for that.

Prime Minister Cameron said he and Obama agree that the allies should continue
turning up the heat on Libya.
“Then this is a once-in-a-generation moment to grab hold of. It is not a time for us to
shrink back and think about our own issues and interests. This is our issue, and this is
massively in our interests,” Cameron said.

Both leaders agreed that the United Nations mandate that authorized the military
action in Libya does not call for regime change, but the president agreed with the prime
minister that Gadhafi must go.

“It is going to be difficult to meet the U.N. mandate of security for the Libyan people so
long as Gadhafi and his regime are still attacking them,” said Obama.

Obama and Cameron both ruled out sending ground troops to Libya. They agreed that
ridding Libya of Moammar Gadhafi will be a slow, steady process, and the British
leader advised patience and persistence.

The president said there is no secret, super-effective option for using air power to force
the Libyan leader out.

Cameron said he supports Obama's call to restart the Middle East peace process,
including his controversial call for Israel to return to its 1967 boundaries, with mutually
agreed-to land swaps.

“Again, I congratulated the president on his recent speech on the Middle East, which
was bold, it was visionary, and it set out what is needed in the clearest possible terms --
an end to terror against Israelis and the restoration of dignity to the Palestinians,” said
Cameron.

The president said achieving progress toward Middle East peace will require what he
called “wrenching compromise” by both sides. And he said the talks need to resume.

“What I am absolutely certain of is that if they are not talking, we are not going to make
any progress. And neither the Israeli people nor the Palestinian people will be well
served,” stated Obama.

Obama came out strongly against the Palestinians' plan to pursue statehood through a
U.N. Resolution. Cameron again said his government would take a wait-and-see
approach to the issue.

The president and the prime minister showed some difference on their methods of
fighting government debt. Cameron said they might take different paths but hope to
end up in the same place. His government has instituted massive budget cuts, in hopes
of regaining financial health.
On the state of the relationship between the U.S. and Britain, Obama said it is “the
strongest it has ever been.” Some observers have questioned the health of the so-called
“special relationship,” but both leaders, as well as Britain's Queen Elizabeth, have gone
out of their way to say it is not only special, but essential.
-----------------------
List of missing grows in Libyan rebel city Misrata (AP)
By Unattributed Author
May 25, 2011
MISRATA, Libya — Inside a small whitewashed building, a former Libyan prosecutor
tends to the list of Misrata's missing.

It grows longer — at least 1,000 names so far — as rebels expand their territory and
more families come forward with names of those who disappeared during the seven-
week siege by government forces on Libya's third-largest city.

The costs from the bombardment and battles in Misrata are well known. But only now
— after rebels have driven out the last of Moammar Gadhafi's forces and reclaimed the
farms, olive groves and villages on Misrata's outskirts — another aspect of the fight is
beginning to emerge.

It's contained in Tarek Abdel-Hadi's ledger: the disappearance of hundreds of people —

sometimes even whole families — during the onslaught.

"We have to do this and tell the outside world what has happened to these people," said
Abdel-Hadi, a former prosecutor now in charge of the missing persons file.

Some were "forcibly taken away" by Gadhafi's troops, he claimed. Others may have left
of their own accord to escape the relentless violence that once gripped Misrata. Others,
of course, could have been killed and their bodies not yet recovered.

Abdel-Hadi logs each name, age and the date they were last seen. A passport photo is
stapled to the top of each page. The names are then put into a computer database that is
sent to the rebel leadership in Benghazi, as well as human rights groups and social
networking sites in hopes that something can be done.

"We will always ask the outside world for help to find out about what happened to
them," he said. "They can put pressure on Gadhafi to release those that are captured."

One father believes this was the fate of his wife and their seven sons.

Mohammed shuffles through Misrata's rubble-strewn streets clutching their

photographs. He is convinced they were kidnapped by Gadhafi's forces in the closing
days of their siege earlier this month, and has been told they are being held in a town in
government-held territory.
While it is impossible in many cases to determine exactly what happened to the
missing, there appear to be some patterns. Government troops hauled away young men
in the early days of the battle, and later went after families as they retreated.

Mohammed, a quiet 48-year-old who walks with a slight limp, fears his family was
targeted because he's a rebel supporter living in a housing development dominated by
Gadhafi loyalists.

"I have no answer for why they took my family — only Gadhafi knows," said
Mohammed, who gave only his first name because of fears of reprisals or further
endangering his missing wife and children.

"Maybe he wants to use them as human shields," he added before turning his away to
hide his tears.

In the early days of the Libyan uprising in February, Mohammed drove four Egyptians
trying to escape the chaos east to Benghazi. He was unable to return to Misrata by land
because of the fighting along the coastal highway, but eventually returned to Misrata by
sea, catching a ride on a fishing boat.

By that time, government forces had already besieged the city. Mohammed was again
trapped, this time unable to get through the front lines to his family in Kararim, about
12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Misrata.

For six weeks he waited without word, until the rebels finally broke the siege and
expelled the last of Gadhafi's forces in mid-May.

Mohammed raced home the next day to his apartment in a new four-story, peach-
colored block overlooking dusty fields, eucalyptus trees and the pillars of more
buildings under construction.

Signs of the tumult that swept through the area were everywhere: smashed cars stood
empty at odd angles in the parking lot and on the sidewalks; shell casings littered the
asphalt; laundry left out to dry on balconies snapped in the wind.

He ran upstairs to the second floor and found the door to his apartment open a crack.

"I pushed open the door and rushed in, calling out the name of my eldest son, Salah," he
said.

There was no answer. They were gone.

He tried to piece together what happened from his ransacked apartment. The bedroom
shared by his three youngest sons — Youssef, 8, Abdel-Kadr, 5, and Zubeir, 12 — was
charred black, the floor covered with ash and twisted metal.

In the bedroom of his four other sons — aged 13 to 22 — the beds were overturned. The
red Liverpool football club flag was still taped to the wall, an Arabic-English dictionary
still sitting on the desk.

Gadhafi forces had stayed at some point in the apartment. Flies swarmed the rotting
food they had left in the kitchen, but there was no sign of what had happened to
Mohammed's family.

Then a friend of Mohammed managed to speak to his own missing relatives on a

borrowed satellite phone. The man's family told him they were being held in al-Hisha,
between Misrata and Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, and that Mohammed's family was
there, too.

Another man, Mahmoud Abaja, knows exactly what happened to his two missing sons:
He watched Gadhafi's soldiers haul them away.

Over glasses of sweet tea, Abaja and his neighbors recounted how some 40 government
troops stormed into their Misrata suburb of Kirzas in tanks and armored-personnel
carriers on March 16 and moved house to house, rounding people up and spraying
buildings with random gunfire.

They dragged Abaja, a slim 55-year-old with a close-cut white beard, from his house
along with two of his sons, Mohammed, 24, and Salem, 30. The soldiers tied the men's
hands behind their backs and sat them down in front of the local bakery along with
eight others.

"They took seven of them sitting there and threw them into the back of a pickup truck,"
Abaja said.

The soldiers left behind two men who had been shot: one in the legs, the other in the
stomach. Abaja, too, was not loaded onto the truck.

"I'm an old man, that's why they left me," he said.

Abaja said there's been "no word whatsoever of them," but he believes he will see them
again. "I have hope in God that they will come back."

Back in Kararim, Mohammed sifted through the wreckage of his home, scavenging
keepsakes.
From the sooty, blackened floor of his bedroom, he picked up a photograph of his kids
taken around a decade ago, the boys sitting alert in two rows in a white horse-drawn
carriage with red trim.

Mohammed carefully removed the photo from the shattered glass and gilded wooden
frame, and tucked it away.
-------------------------
SAfrica's Zuma plans Kadhafi 'exit strategy' talks in Libya (AFP)
By Jean-Jacques Cornish
May 25, 2011
PRETORIA — South African President Jacob Zuma will visit Tripoli next week, his
office said Wednesday, for talks that officials told AFP would focus on an "exit strategy"
for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

"President Zuma will stop over in Tripoli for a discussion with Libyan leader Colonel
Moamer Kadhafi on May 30," the presidency said in a statement.

Two sources in the presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks
would focus on Kadhafi's "exit strategy".

"The purpose is to discuss an exit strategy for Kadhafi. The meeting is still very much in
the planning stages," one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A second official told AFP that South Africa was working with Turkey on the exit plan.

"The plan is to discuss an exit strategy with Moamer Kadhafi. We are working with the
Turkish government," the official said.

Zuma's spokesman Zizi Kodwa insisted that discussion of an exit strategy was
"misleading," saying the visit was taking place within African Union efforts for Libya to
adopt "the political reforms necessary for the elimination of the causes of the current
crisis."

Turkey last month proposed a "roadmap" to end the Libyan turmoil, with a plan that
called for the removal of Kadhafi to open the way for a comprehensive political
transition.

A Turkish foreign ministry official said the country was ready to help any initiative to
end Libya's turmoil, but has had no contact so far with South Africa's leader on an exit
strategy for Kadhafi.

"We have had no particular dialogue (with South Africa) so far, but it does not mean
that we will not have any in the future," the official told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
"Turkey has announced a roadmap and submitted it to the international community,
including the African Union. We are ready to contribute to any peace initiative" for
Libya, he said.

South Africa's new diplomatic push came as NATO jets blasted Libya's capital, with the
alliance saying it was shifting into high gear in a bid to deliver a decisive blow to
Kadhafi's government.

Zuma visited Tripoli on April 10 as part of a high-ranking African Union delegation to

broker a truce between Kadhafi and rebels, but a peace plan fell through when the
rebels insisted the strongman step down.

South Africa voted for the UN resolution authorising the no-fly zone over Libya, but
has since criticised NATO's bombing campaign in the country and said that it does not
support regime change in Tripoli.

At the same time, South Africa has condemned attacks on civilians by Kadhafi forces,
with Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane denouncing the Libyan leader's
"heinous violation of human rights against his own people."

On Friday the minister accused Kadhafi of lying to South Africa about the fate of Anton
Hammerl, an Austrian-South African photographer.

Hammerl was shot dead by Kadhafi forces six weeks earlier, despite repeated
assurances from the Libyan leader that he was alive.
----------------------
Amnesty: Ivory Coast’s Ouattara Giving 'Green Light' to Violence (VOA)
Selah Hennessy
May 25, 2011
A new Amnesty International report says war crimes have been committed on both
sides of the political divide during Ivory Coast's violent post-election standoff.

A group from Amnesty International spent about two months in Ivory Coast, speaking
to witnesses of a power struggle that erupted after last November’s disputed
presidential election.

Amnesty International deputy director for Africa Véronique Aubert says forces loyal to
former leader Laurent Gbagbo have carried out war crimes. That is also true, she says,
of forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the incumbent president.

"We know that they have executed hundreds of men of all age on political and ethnic
grounds," said Aubert. "We know that women have been raped. There are quite a lot of
testimonies in the report, including on sexual violence."
Amnesty’s investigations focused on crimes carried out in and around Duékoué, a town
about 500 kilometers from the capital, Abidjan.

She says the U.N. Operations in Ivory Coast, or UNOCI, failed to protect the population
from the mass killings and rape that took place there in March.

"We all know that a lot of this happened when the United Nations operation was very
close by, just a kilometer away from the killings in Duékoué," she said. "The UNOCI
was not acting and was not protecting the population the way it had to."

And Aubert says the violence is continuing. The Amnesty report says in the first weeks
of May attacks were carried out against villages inhabited by people believed to be
sympathetic to Gbagbo.

Ouattara has promised to reconcile the two sides of the divide and has asked the
International Criminal Court to probe allegations of serious crimes during the crisis.

But Aubert says Ouattara needs to do more by publicly condemning violence carried
out by the force he set up in March, the Ivory Coast Republican Forces.

"It is his responsibility to exercise strict control over the armed forces and to call for an
immediate end to the reprisals," she said. "He is the president and that is why we are
asking him to publicly condemn those violations and control his forces.

The crisis in Ivory Coast was partially quelled last month when Gbagbo, who had
refused to step down following the disputed election, was captured.
----------------------
North May ‘Cleanse’ Sudanese Border Town, U.N. Says (NYT)
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and JOSH KRON
May 25, 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya — After seizing a disputed town on the border of the breakaway
region of southern Sudan on Saturday, the army of northern Sudan is now facilitating a
relatively large influx of nomadic people into the area, according to new United Nations
field reports.

United Nations officials said the move could mean that the Sudanese government is
trying to “ethnically cleanse” the area, in a bid to permanently change its demographics
and annex the town, Abyei, just weeks before southern Sudan is supposed to split off
from the north and form its own country.

As the July target for the south’s independence draws near, the battles over Abyei have
grown more intense, and the moves by the north have threatened to plunge the two
sides into a conflict that diplomats fear could scuttle the carefully choreographed treaty
arranging for the south to become the world’s newest state.

One United Nations official said a northern Sudanese general revealed this week that
there was a plan to bring 15,000 Misseriya, an Arab and nomadic people, into Abyei in
the coming days, which could have a serious impact on Abyei’s delicate demographics.
Other United Nations officials estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 Misseriya had already
entered Abyei town.

The Misseriya have a long history of being used by the Sudanese government as proxy
forces, and they live in the vast stretches of desert around Abyei, occasionally coming
into Abyei to graze their animals. Abyei’s permanent residents, however, are the Ngok
Dinka.

Abyei straddles the north-south border and has oil (though a relatively scant amount)
and both sides have laid emotional claims to it. A referendum was supposed to be held
this year to decide what the people of Abyei wanted, but it was shelved because of
disputes over who could vote.

If the Sudanese government is intent on settling thousands of Misseriya in Abyei, the

United Nations official said, then this weekend’s attack on Abyei “was planned as
ethnic cleansing strategy.”

“Displace the Ngok Dinka residents and bring in Misseriya, then allow the referendum
to take place,” said the official, who works closely on Sudan issues but was not
authorized to speak publicly.

The strategy is akin to what the Sudanese government, based in Khartoum, did several
years ago when it sent notorious janjaweed militias sweeping across the Darfur region,
at its behest, to capture land belonging to dispossessed ethnic groups that the
government was fighting.

“The north has begun to employ the same kind of scorched-earth tactics we saw
Khartoum use in Darfur,” said Eliza Griswold, who has closely studied Abyei and is a
senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a public-policy institute in Washington.
“All of these battles are brutal struggles for power and resources of land, oil, even water
— waged by any means necessary.”

The Sudanese government has denied any wrongdoing and so has a leader of the
Misseriya community.

“This is absolutely absurd,” said Sadig Nimir, a Misseriya elder, on Wednesday, from
Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. “We have no interest in occupying Abyei. Most Misseriya
are cattle herders and they don’t come to Abyei except once a week on Thursdays to
buy supplies like sugar and oil. They don’t have the desire to live there. They only come
to Abyei to graze.”

He added: “We have no problem with the Ngok Dinka. We have nothing to do with
this. This is a battle between two armies.”

But in a sense, the Misseriya have their own army, made up of heavily armed cattle
herders. On Wednesday, the United Nations said Misseriya militias fired on four
United Nations helicopters in Abyei, though no one was hurt. Reports from witnesses
indicated that marauding Misseriya gunmen have been burning down the huts of Ngok
Dinka and looting their shops, along with United Nations’ warehouses.

Abyei has become the most combustible issue that Sudan must reckon with as it
prepares to split in two. Under a peace treaty signed between the north and south, this
rural, dusty borderland was supposed to be administered by a joint committee and
patrolled by joint forces until its final status was resolved. But in the past few months,
those joint forces have started killing each other, which the Khartoum government used
as a pretext to send in soldiers and tanks over the weekend.

On Tuesday, Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al Bashir, declared that Abyei was now
“northern Sudanese land.”

On Wednesday, Col. Philip Aguer, a spokesman for the southern Sudanese military
forces, said the northern army was “supporting the Arab Misseriya into Abyei as part of
their plan to settle the area.”

“They want to show that they are part of Abyei, which is not true,” he added.

As for the south’s response, Colonel Aguer said, “We wait and see.”

The consensus among most analysts is that neither side actually wants to go to war over
Abyei because both have too much to lose.

The south has less than two months to go before declaring independence and does not
want to risk the complications of the northern government’s not recognizing its
sovereignty. The north is worried about its access to oil (most of Sudan’s oil lies in the
south) and was on the verge of being lifted from punishing American sanctions until
the Abyei crisis erupted.

But analysts are troubled by the echoes of Darfur. Abyei, at 4,072 square miles, is a
speck compared to Darfur, which is the size of France. Millions of people have been
displaced by the violence in Darfur, with most still stuck in squalid refugee camps. But
fewer than 50,000 people have been displaced by the Abyei incursion (50,000 is thought
to be the size of Abyei’s total population).
But there are clear parallels: nomad versus farmer, Arab versus African, a government-
backed force versus civilians who have supported the rebels.

“It’s impossible to understand Sudan’s wars without seeing the basic pattern that
underlies them all,” Mrs. Griswold said.

Many analysts believe Abyei will be a tinderbox until both sides compromise. The
possible solutions are many: simply dividing Abyei territory between north and south,
having the United Nations administer it, holding the referendum or granting the area
its own independence and creating something along the lines of a tiny, landlocked
United Republic of Abyei.

This week, an African Union team is planning to introduce a proposal to northern and
southern leaders. African Union officials would not share any specifics, saying the
issues were far too volatile to discuss publicly.
---------------------------------
Controversial Leaders Not Invited to Inauguration - SGF (Daily Champion)
By Unattributed Author
25 May 2011
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Alhaji Yayale Ahmed has said the
government would not invite those he called "controversial leaders" to the inauguration
of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ahmed made the remark i while briefing newsmen on ceremonies lined up for the
inauguration by the committee in charge.

He said a lot of importance was attached to the inauguration that the government could
not afford to invite any controversial personality to grace the occasion.

The scribe said 40 Heads of Government were invited for the inauguration, adding that
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received acknowledgement from 15 leaders.

He said the committee was still expecting more acknowledgements, adding that the
government would make adequate preparations to host them.

Ahmed put the cost of the inauguration at N1 billion.

He said the 63 political parties and their presidential candidates would also be invited.

"It is very significant to accord to them their status as elder statesmen.

"It is by right, not by our discretion, to invite political parties." Ahmed said.
He gave the assurance that adequate security measures would be made to check any
security breach, adding that the government was aware of such challenges.

"We are satisfied that our security agencies are prepared to tackle security challenges.

"We are not unaware of the security challenges in our country, but our security agencies
are on alert to check any security breach," the SGF added.

In a vote of thanks, Prof. Dapo Afolabi, Head of Civil Service of the Federation urged
the media to continue to report Nigeria positively.

Afolabi lauded the media for contributing to the development and sustenance of
democracy in Nigeria.

--------------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Sudanese town of Abyei still tense after burning and looting, UN reports
25 May – While the Sudanese town of Abyei is now empty with its residents having fled
the recent violence, the situation there remains tense, according to the United Nations,
which called on both sides to cease their hostilities and return to negotiations.

Somalia: Ban urges leaders to commit to stability and public service

25 May – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Somalia’s transitional federal
institutions (TFIs) to demonstrate they are moving the country towards political
stability and social-economic development, saying the Security Council and donors are
losing patience with the tensions within the leadership.

In Africa, UN chief spotlights progress in improving women’s and children’s health

25 May – Visiting with health workers in Ethiopia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
today spotlighted the progress made in improving the health of women and children,
while also stressing the need to do more to avoid needless deaths.

Africa’s young people vital to sustainable development, says UN chief

25 May – One of Africa’s greatest untapped resources is its young people, Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon stressed today, urging the continent to take advantage of the
skills and talents of its youth to promote sustainable development.