AFRICOM Related News Clips 5 December 2011

United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 5 December 2011
USAFRICOM - related news stories
Good morning. Please find attached news clips related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa, along with upcoming events of interest for December 5, 2011. Of interest in todays clips: In Somalia: The AU has renewed earlier calls for a no-fly zone over Somalia and additional sanctions to blockade three ports in Southern Somalia. In Nigeria: A bomb attack in a northern town by suspected Boko Haram Islamists kills three people. In Sudan: Fighting flares up in South Kordofan region between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces. In Mali: Al Qaeda is using hearts and minds tactics on the population in Mali. Provided in text format for remote reading. Links work more effectively when this message is viewed as in HTML format. U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: africom-pao@africom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Top News related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa African Union renews calls for no-fly zone over Somalia, wants 3 ports blockaded (Afrique en ligne) http://www.afriquejet.com/security-no-fly-zone-2011120428798.html 3 December 2011 The African Union (AU) has renewed its earlier calls for a no-fly zone over Somalia and additional sanctions to blockade three ports in Southern Somalia with a view to cutting off supplies to Islamic militants in Somalia. They also welcomed the decision of Ethiopia to support AMISOM and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Kenya's operation in Somalia.
U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Office +49(0)711-729-2687 AFRICOM-PAO@africom.mil
Suspected Islamist bombers kill three in northern Nigeria (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-bomb-blasts-kill-three-150826844.html 4 December 2011 Bomb attacks by suspected Islamist militants Sunday left three people dead in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State, an official and residents said. Sudan 'takes rebel border camp' in South Kordofan (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16021870 4 December 2011 Sudan's military says it has captured a key rebel base in the embattled border state of South Kordofan. A spokesman said soldiers had taken a camp belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Army North (SPLA-N) - a claim denied by a rebel spokesman. Fighting flares in disputed Sudan region (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/12/201112443439155849.html 4 December 2011 Fighting has erupted in a disputed border region between Sudan and South Sudan, with the Sudanese army claiming a strategic victory in its offensive against rebels in the state of South Kordofan. The army said on Saturday it had captured camps on a key supply route after deadly clashes. U.S. sailors buried in Libya will stay there, for now (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/sailors-buried-inlibya-will-stay-in-libya-for-now/2011/11/28/gIQAMxnlDO_blog.html 1 December 2011 By Jason Ukman Remains of sailors from the USS Intrepid are buried a a Protestant cemetery overlooking the harbor in Tripoli. Some may be at a site nearby. Iranian TV station 'faked' 1,370 Somali deaths by US drones (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/12/02/iranian-tv-station-faked-1370-somalideaths-by-us-drones/ 2 December 2011 By Emmy Slater and Chris Woods An Iranian TV station appears to have faked dozens of accounts of US drone strikes in Somalia which it says have killed hundreds of civilians. Gifts of cash, baby clothes, medicine: Al-Qaida uses hearts and minds approach in Africa (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/gifts-of-cash-baby-clothes-medicine-alqaida-uses-hearts-and-minds-approach-in-africa/2011/12/03/gIQAWaraOO_story.html 3 December 2011 The first time the members of al-Qaida emerged from the forest, they politely said hello. Then the men carrying automatic weapons asked the frightened villagers if they could
please take water from the well. Before leaving, they rolled down the windows of their pickup truck and called over the children to give them chocolate. Non-state Fighters Gain Deadlier Weapons (Aviation Week) http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/dti/20 11/12/01/DT_12_01_2011_p32-394021.xml 2 December 2011 As the Libyan regime of Moammar Gadhafi withered and died after months of combat with rebel forces, the weapons that the dictator stockpiled in his 42-year reign came up for grabs. Canada sends special forces to aid African al-Qaida fight (Montreal Gazette) http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada-inafghanistan/Canada+sends+special+forces+African+Qaida+fight/5804679/story.html 2 December 2011 By David Pugliese Canadian special forces troops from Petawawa, Ont., have been sent to Africa to provide training to Mali's military, which is in the midst of a war against al-Qaida insurgents. Tunisian Islamists and secularists face off (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/12/201112314837447708.html 3 December 2011 Thousands of Tunisian Islamists and secularists staged parallel protests outside the interim parliament in a dispute over how big a role Islam should play in society after the country's "Arab Spring" uprising, and subsequent election. Sudan: Bashir Restores Diplomatic Relations (All Africa) http://allafrica.com/stories/201112030218.html 3 December 2011 Sudan President Omar Bashir has reversed his decision to expel Kenya's ambassador in Khartoum, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula said yesterday. UN Council refuses to delay Eritrea sanctions vote (AFP) http://www.modernghana.com/news/364704/1/un-council-refuses-to-delay-eritreasanctions-vote.html 3 December 2011 The UN Security Council on Friday refused to delay a vote next week on taking sanctions against Eritrea so the isolated country's head of state can make his case, diplomats said. President George W. Bushs Trip to Africa: Reflections on Foreign Policies toward Africa http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/1202_bush_africa_kimenyi.aspx 2 December 2011 Former President George W. Bush and his wife are currently touring Africa and visiting Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia from December 1 to 5. The president and Mrs. Bush will use the trip to focus on some of the initiatives that Bush advocated for and strongly
supported while in office. ### -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA DR Congo: Security Council welcomes holding of elections, urges calm 2 December The Security Council today congratulated the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for turning up in large numbers to cast their ballots in this weeks presidential and legislative elections, calling it a demonstration of their commitment to democracy. Libya: Security Council extends mandate of UN support mission 2 December The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in Libya until the middle of March next year, and expanded its tasks to include assisting the North African countrys transitional Government in its efforts to address the threat of arms proliferation. Ethiopia opens additional camp for Somali refugees UN agency 2 December Hundreds of refugees in southern Ethiopia have been relocated from an overcrowded transit centre to a new camp, the fifth one in the area for Somalis fleeing conflict and drought in their homeland, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Sudanese minister for Darfur crimes 2 December The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today requested an arrest warrant against Sudanese Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. DR Congo: UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict welcomes sanctioning of militia leader 1 December The United Nations official leading efforts to combat sexual violence in conflict today welcomed the decision by a Security Council committee to place a militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) under sanctions for instigating acts of sexual assault, including mass rape, in the east of the country. (Full Articles on UN Website) ### -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upcoming Events of Interest:
Tuesday, 6 Dec: Woodrow Wilson Center (WWC) Discussion on In the Middle of the Storm: Development and Governance in the Arab World. Full agenda at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-middle-the-storm-developmentand-governance-the-arab-world WHERE: WWC, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW CONTACT: 202-691-4000; web site: www.wilsoncenter.org SOURCE: WWC event announcement at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/themiddle-the-storm-development-and-governance-the-arab-world Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University Discussion on Preventing Conflict, Managing Crisis: European and American Perspectives. Various speakers will discuss the new book, Preventing Conflict, Managing Crisis: European and American Perspectives, co-edited by Daniel Hamilton, Executive Director of the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR), at this half-day conference. A complete conference agenda can be found at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2570392112/mcivte WHERE: SAIS, Rome Building, 1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW CONTACT: Felisa Neuringer Klubes at 202-663-5626, fklubes@jhu.edu; web site: www.sais-jhu.edu SOURCE: SAIS event announcement at: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University Discussion on International Law and Terrorism: European and American Perspectives. Speakers: John Bellinger, partner at Arnold and Porter LLP and former legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State; Peter Takse-Jensen, Danish ambassador to the United States; Amitai Etzioni, Director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington Universitys Elliott School of International Affairs; and Kurt Volker (moderator), Managing Director of the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR). WHERE: SAIS, Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW CONTACT: Felisa Neuringer Klubes at 202-663-5626, fklubes@jhu.edu; web site: www.sais-jhu.edu SOURCE: SAIS event announcement at: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm ### -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New on www.africom.mil Malaria Remains a Pronounced Threat to U.S. Service Members in Africa
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7474&lang=0 By Lieutenant Colonel Steven Lamb U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs STUTTGART, Germany, Dec 2, 2011 According to Dr. Robert Holmes, a U.S. Air Force major serving as the US Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM) Infectious Diseases Physician, "unlike Africans who chronically may live with malaria, U.S. personnel without immunity can die from malaria within a day or two." NAVEUR-NAVAF Hosts AFRICOM Conference http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7471&lang=0 By Stephen Oleksiak U.S. Naval Forces Europe, 6th Fleet Public Affairs NAPLES, Italy, Dec 2, 2011 General Carter F. Ham, commander, U.S. Africa Command, met with AFRICOM component commanders from Europe and Africa for the semi-annual AFRICOM Component Commander's Conference on the Naval Support Activity in Naples, Italy, November 21, 2011. ### -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL TEXT African Union renews calls for no-fly zone over Somalia, wants 3 ports blockaded (Afrique en ligne) http://www.afriquejet.com/security-no-fly-zone-2011120428798.html 3 December 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The African Union (AU) has renewed its earlier calls for a nofly zone over Somalia and additional sanctions to blockade three ports in Southern Somalia with a view to cutting off supplies to Islamic militants in Somalia. They also welcomed the decision of Ethiopia to support AMISOM and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Kenya's operation in Somalia. The AU ambassadors said the Kenya-led operation in South-Central Somalia, which is carried out in pursuance of IGAD and the AU decisions as well as relevant UN Security Council resolutions, had made major military gains in the country. Together with the military gains achieved in Mogadishu, they create a unique opportunity to further peace and reconciliation in Somalia and bring to a definite end the untold suffering inflicted on the Somali people, the PSC said on Friday. The PSC requested the AU Commission to submit its recommendations to the UN Security Council for an enhanced mandate of AMISOM and to authorize its strengthening to a level and size that are appropriate for the consolidation of peace and security in Mogadishu and South Central Somalia.
AMISOMs current strength is 12,000 soldiers although the AU and IGAD, a regional security body formed by seven states in East Africa which has been seeking the deployment of 20,000 troops to deal with the crisis in Somalia. The AU further called on the UN to agree on a stable financing plan for AMISOM, adding that it was time the funds were drawn from the UN budget. It asked the UN Security Council to consider authorizing funding from the assessed budget to AMISOM, of the required mission support, including the enhanced personnel, force enablers and multipliers and equipment. The AU also requested the Council to boost the allowances for the troops and formed police units provided for in the strategic concept. To deal with the security in Mogadishu, the AU asked the UN Security Council, which is due to meet in New York to discuss the ongoing Kenyan operation in Somalia and sanctions against Eritrea, to consider changing the troops mandate. AU is requesting the immediate partial re-hatting of AMISOM as UN peacekeeping operation in the sector of Mogadishu and its environments with a peace consolidation mandate, while the AU and the TFG-led efforts continue in the rest of the territory. ### Suspected Islamist bombers kill three in northern Nigeria (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-bomb-blasts-kill-three-150826844.html 4 December 2011 KANO, Nigeria Bomb attacks by suspected Islamist militants Sunday left three people dead in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State, an official and residents said. The suspected members of the radical Boko Haram sect, armed with heavy machine guns, threw explosives and fired into a police compound in the town of Azare, setting the buildings on fire, residents said. "They came in a large convoy," resident Usman Musa told AFP, adding that the assailants hung a black banner at the entrance of the police station reading "Allahu Akbar" (God Is Great). Musa said he saw the bodies of a soldier, a policeman and a police employee at a medical centre, where another two policemen were being treated for gunshot wounds. The assailants also bombed and robbed two banks in the town, residents said. Ihola Michael, spokesman to the Bauchi State governor, said state police commissioner Okechukwu Aduba had rushed to Azare.
Aduba told reporters after visiting the scenes of the incidents more than 100 gunmen carried out the attacks. "There were attacks by unknown gunmen on police facilities and banks in Azare early this morning. Three people, including one soldier, a policeman and a civilian were killed in the coordinated attacks, while three soldiers and two policemen sustained gunshot wounds," he said. "The attackers numbered about 100. Over 20 rocket-propelled guns were launched from outside the police area command headquarters which completely devastated the building," he said. He said there was heavy exchange of fire between the attackers and the police which lasted for about four hours. Aduba said police had launched a man-hunt for the gunmen. Militants from Boko Haram, which means "Western Education Is Sin" in the regional Hausa language, have repeatedly targeted police and military, community and religious leaders, as well as politicians, in Nigeria. The radical sect has also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja which killed at least 24 people and coordinated attacks in the country's northeast on November 4 that left some 150 people dead. Another resident, Garba Mohammed, said the assailants bombed two banks and emptied the vaults, making off with the money. Mohammed said unexploded bomb canisters littered the grounds and police kept onlookers away while an anti-bomb squad worked to make them safe. Local reporters said two truckloads of soldiers had been sent to the scene as reinforcement. Boko Haram, which wants Sharia -- Islamic law -- to be adopted across Nigeria, launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead. It appeared to go dormant for about a year before re-emerging with a series of attacks. In September 2010, the sect raided a prison in Bauchi, freeing more than 700 inmates, and claimed to be behind bomb attacks at a military barracks on May 29 when President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in. Sharia law is observed in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states, all of them in the mainly Muslim north. ###
Sudan 'takes rebel border camp' in South Kordofan (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16021870 4 December 2011 Sudan's military says it has captured a key rebel base in the embattled border state of South Kordofan. A spokesman said soldiers had taken a camp belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Army North (SPLA-N) - a claim denied by a rebel spokesman. The SPLA-N fought for the creation of South Sudan during the country's civil war and was left in the north when the south gained independence in July. Khartoum and Juba accuse each other of supporting rebels in the border areas. South Kordofan is one of three areas along the loosely demarcated border which have been hit by conflict since July. The other areas are Abyei and Blue Nile. 'Not present' The Sudanese army says it took control of the SPLA base on Saturday afternoon. Army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP news agency that there were casualties on both sides. "This is a strategic area because it is the gateway to the south. The SPLA receive their weapons and ammunition and supplies through it," he said. It is not possible to verify the army's claim independently because Sudan has banned journalists from the region. According to Reuters news agency, SPLA-N spokesman in South Kordofan, Qamar Dalman, denied the group had soldiers in the area. "Our troops aren't present in that area," he told Reuters. ### Fighting flares in disputed Sudan region (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/12/201112443439155849.html 4 December 2011 Fighting has erupted in a disputed border region between Sudan and South Sudan, with the Sudanese army claiming a strategic victory in its offensive against rebels in the state of South Kordofan. The army said on Saturday it had captured camps on a key supply route after deadly
clashes. "Today the Sudanese army took control of SPLA-N (Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North) camps in the lake Jau area," said Sawarmi Khaled, an army spokesman. "The fighting took place at around 4:30pm (13:30 GMT). There were a number of casualties and injured soldiers on both sides. "This is a strategic area because it is a gateway to the south. The SPLA-N receive their weapons and ammunition and supplies through it." South Kordofan and Blue Nile states served as the ninth and tenth divisions of the southern rebel forces during the decades-long civil war between south and north, but the peace pact that ended the conflict placed the areas they fought for in the north. Many SPLA-N fighters' uniforms still show the flag of the former rebel group that now governs South Sudan, which voted in a referendum for secession. Sudan accuses its southern neighbour of arming fighters in the two states and has taken the matter to the UN Security Council, but South Sudan rejects the charges. Fighting in South Kordofan first erupted in early June, just weeks before the independence of South Sudan, between the Sudanese military and Nuba armed groups who fought alongside the former southern rebels. Saturday's fighting came weeks after rebels in Sudan's Darfur region and in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile announced the formation of an alliance to overthrow the government of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president. The rebels said the alliance, called the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, was bent on "toppling the regime of the [Sudan's ruling] National Congress Party with all possible means" and replacing it with a democratic system. 'Heavy bombardment' The SPLA-N rebels were not immediately available to comment on the army's claimed victory on Saturday. But it follows days of heavy fighting just north of Jau, a lakeside town on a disputed stretch of the north-south border. Yasser Arman, the SPLM-N leader, has said that Khartoum had launched a major military campaign in South Kordofan earlier this week. "There is a heavy bombardment against civilian populations and massive displacement," Arman said in a statement.
"This offensive is going to result in a much bigger humanitarian crisis than the last offensive that started in June." Sudanese troops attacked SPLA-N positions on Wednesday in Buram county with heavy artillery and tanks, according to other rebel sources. A barrage of army air strikes reportedly killed two civilians and badly injured four others in the area. The Sudanese government has prevented foreign aid workers and journalists from visiting the region, making it hard to verify information about the ongoing violence in Sudan's two embattled border states. In addition to the fighting in South Kordofan, there has been evidence of cross-border attacks in recent weeks, the AFP news agency reported. Witnesses said the army bombed a refugee camp last month in South Sudan's neighbouring Unity state, just south of lake Jau, badly fraying relations between the former civil war enemies. The UN refugee agency said last week that the number of people fleeing the unrest in Blue Nile and South Kordofan was likely to reach 100,000 by the end of the year, up from about 80,000 now. ### U.S. sailors buried in Libya will stay there, for now (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/sailors-buried-inlibya-will-stay-in-libya-for-now/2011/11/28/gIQAMxnlDO_blog.html 1 December 2011 By Jason Ukman The remains of 13 American sailors buried in the Libyan capital of Tripoli for more than 200 years may be there for a little bit longer. The sailors were the casualties of a mission to destroy a once-thriving pirate fleet, and their descendants have sought for years to repatriate the remains. Their efforts have been alternately blocked by the Gaddafi government and resisted by defense officials. This week, three months after the ouster of the Gaddafi government, the Senate was on the brink of passing legislation that would have required the Pentagon to seek the return of the remains. But the provision now appears to be on hold. As a result, the repatriation of the officers and crew of the USS Intrepid might not happen any time soon.
The story of the USS Intrepid is part of the history of whats known as the First Barbary War. In 1804, the 13 sailors aboard the USS Intrepid were dispatched with explosives to blow up the Tripoli harbor. The citys ruler had been using it as a base for pirate ships that were pillaging American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, and the covert mission was a last-ditch effort to put an end to the practice. The Americans vessel, however, exploded prematurely its unclear exactly why killing all on board. (Read more on the story of the Intrepid here.) The Navy has respectfully declined to retrieve the remains, saying it believes Libya is the final resting place of the sailors and noting that it is custom to honor the burial grounds of those lost on ships and downed aircraft. There was a formal memorial ceremony held in honor of the sailors and crew in Tripoli in 1949, and the Navy says that U.S. Embassy personnel conducted regular services there for decades afterward. The cemetery that is believed to be the site of most of the remains is U.S. diplomatic property. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert considers the Tripoli Protestant cemetery to be the final resting place of the Intrepid sailors who sacrificed their lives for our nation, Lt. Cmdr. Alana Garas, a Navy spokesman, said in a statement this week, echoing the stance of Greenerts predecessor, Adm. Gary Roughhead. Those behind the grassroots effort at repatriation, however, say the Tripoli cemetery is hardly Normandy. The sailors are not honored there, Michael Caputo, the coordinator for the Intrepid Project, the group that has pressed to have the remains brought back. Theyre stashed there. The Navy has previously raised doubts about whether the remains could be found and identified after 207 years. Caputo said his group has provided the Navy with historical records that should allay those concerns. Veterans organizations have backed the effort, as have key lawmakers on the Hill. At the end of the day the families are not satisfied with the fact that [the military] marched around the place and blew the Bosuns whistle, Caputo said. The Navy should be concerned about the status of some of their earliest heroes, too. In the spring, the House passed legislation that would compel the Pentagon to act. And it seemed likely that the Senate would support a similar provision in the Defense Authorization bill until, according to backers of the measure, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) blocked it. A spokesman for McCain, a former Navy pilot and the ranking Republican on the Armed
Services Committee, said the senator is still reviewing the issue, and has asked the Navy, the Defense POW/MIA Office and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command for their views on it. Supporters of repatriation say theyre stunned. Among those killed aboard the USS Intrepid were Capt. Richard Somers, the commander of the ship, and his second in command, Lt. Henry Wadsworth. A descendant of the lieutenant, William A. Wadsworth, a Republican representative in Connecticuts General Assembly, has been among those to recently rally to the cause for repatriation of the remains. He noted that several of his relatives served in the military and died in the line of duty. And while he has visited their graves, he cant easily do the same with the burial ground of Lt. Henry Wadsworth. Unlike the others, he said, the lieutenants grave has not been treated with the same degree of honor. I think they owe us this much as a family, he said of the military, noting that the family has given rise to senators, soldiers and statesmen, not to mention the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the nephew of the lieutenant. Theres an opportunity to get [Lt. Wadsworth] back now to the United States, said William A. Wadsworth. I think we should take advantage. ### Iranian TV station 'faked' 1,370 Somali deaths by US drones (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/12/02/iranian-tv-station-faked-1370-somalideaths-by-us-drones/ 2 December 2011 By Emmy Slater and Chris Woods An Iranian TV station appears to have faked dozens of accounts of US drone strikes in Somalia which it says have killed hundreds of civilians. Press TV, which was fined 100,000 by Ofcom on Thursday after the station hid the fact that a 2009 interviewee was being forcibly detained in Iran, has reported the deaths of more than 1,370 people in drone strikes in Somalia since September this year, of which 383 are categorised as civilians. But research by the Bureau, published in the Guardian, has found no evidence of the alleged 1,370 fatalities, stemming from 56 claimed drone strikes.
Highly suspect The first known lethal US drone strike in Somalia occurred on June 23 2011. A small number of similar attacks appear to have taken place since then, possibly in conjunction with operations by the French and Kenyan militaries. The Pentagon does not comment on drone strikes, so there are no official figures for the numbers of civilian deaths. For years, the US has been carrying out other covert missions in Somalia, but started using armed drones in Somalia in June. However the number of strikes reported by Press TV are questionable. On September 15 2011, Press TV reported that US drone attacks on the outskirts of Kismayo town, Somalia, had killed nine women and children. It was the first of many claims of drone strike civilian deaths in Somalia. No photographic or video evidence has ever been shown in support. At least four reports are identical in all but place name and casualty numbers, and sources are only named in four of the 56 drone strike reports. The Bureau has been unable to identify sources Hassan Ali and Colonel Aden Dheere, described as Somali military officials or Mohamud Abdirahman, an eyewitness, despite lodging a request with the Somali Government and with Press TVs Iranian HQ. No representatives from the UN, Amisom (African Union Mission in Somalia), NGOs or journalists in Somalia were able to confirm the strikes.Tony Burns, director of operations at Somali charity Saacid, which operates from Mogadishu, said that Press TVs casualty figures are simply not possible. SAACIDs experience has been that Press TV does have a penchant for exaggeration: in the past they have published conflict reports which, in reality, never occurred, and casualty figures that are simply not true. A senior UN official focusing on Somalia agreed, said: Press TV is not a reliable source. It exaggerates and openly fabricates reports. Some organisations have, however, repeated Press TVs claims. The Daily Nation, one of East Africas largest newspapers, has carried details of a number of attacks, for example. Global Research, a Canadian non-profit human rights group, has also given credence to reports. While Press TVs stories have been picked up around the globe, officials at the US embassy in Nairobi insist that the reports are wholly false. And a senior Pentagon spokesman, Lt Colonel Jim Gregory, told the Bureau that: We cannot provide specific operational details; however we believe in providing timely and accurate information when possible about our activities, and we encourage all
international outlets to contact us when they need assistance with their stories. Regarding Somalia, we are supportive of the African Union Mission there and the Transitional Federal Government efforts as they continue to fight terrorism. Propaganda War Jeremy Scahill of the Nation recently exposed secret CIA operations in Mogadishu. He has spoken publicly about US drones operating in Somalia and elsewhere. Scahill believed that there could be innocent reasons for the misinformation, including a benign misinterpretation of events on the ground amid the chaos. And US attacks with other weapons including cruise missiles or airstrikes may be being misreported. Alternatively the reports could form part of a targeted anti-US news campaign, said Scahill. There is an extreme propaganda war going on between Iran and the US at the moment. Youve got to assume that everyone has an agenda. Asked if Press TV had exaggerated the number of drone strikes in Somalia, a spokesman for Press TV in Tehran yesterday declined to comment. The Bureau presented its findings to Press TV in Tehran. Mr Barvasad, a senior Producer at the channel, said he had nothing to add. OFCOM fine Exposure of the Iranian TV stations fake reports comes as OFCOM, the UK media watchdog, this week fined the station 100,000. In 2009 Press TV committed a serious breach of the Broadcasting Code when it aired an interview with Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist imprisoned in Iran. Bahari says that he was interviewed under duress for the channel, and was forced to read from a prepared script: facts which Press TV hid from its its UK viewers. The Bahari interview may not be the sole reason behind OFCOMs decision. In February 2010, US and British diplomats met in London to discuss ways to circumvent Irans blocking of western satellite channels. A WikiLeaks diplomatic cable revealed that the UK government was looking for ways to limit Press TVs UK operations. Direct contact An insider with knowledge of the Bahiri affair told the Bureau this week that the FCO has been in direct contact with OFCOM regarding Press TV - something which the regulator is unhappy with. OFCOM doesnt like the Government being in touch with them on casework. Such action can make them look bad regardless of which way a decision goes.
The source insisted, however, that the decision to fine Press TV was less linked to governmental pressure and more to do with ongoing fallout from the News International scandal. The regulator intends to crack down on all absentee landlords, the source said. The regulator is also insisting that Press TV name on its licence the Tehran-based figure who actually controls its UK-based operations, instead of the stooges currently named. If the channel fails to do so as some suspect Press TV may soon be off the air in Britain. ### Gifts of cash, baby clothes, medicine: Al-Qaida uses hearts and minds approach in Africa (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/gifts-of-cash-baby-clothes-medicine-alqaida-uses-hearts-and-minds-approach-in-africa/2011/12/03/gIQAWaraOO_story.html 3 December 2011 SOKOLO, Mali The first time the members of al-Qaida emerged from the forest, they politely said hello. Then the men carrying automatic weapons asked the frightened villagers if they could please take water from the well. Before leaving, they rolled down the windows of their pickup truck and called over the children to give them chocolate. That was 18 months ago, and since then, the bearded men in tunics like those worn by Osama bin Laden have returned for water every week. Each time they go to lengths to exchange greetings, ask for permission and act neighborly, according to locals, in the first intimate look at how al-Qaida tries to win over a village. Besides candy, the men hand out cash. If a child is born, they bring baby clothes. If someone is ill, they prescribe medicine. When a boy was hospitalized, they dropped off plates of food and picked up the tab. With almost no resistance, al-Qaida has implanted itself in Africas soft tissue, choosing as its host one of the poorest nations on earth. The terrorist group has create a refuge in this remote land through a strategy of winning hearts and minds, described in rare detail by seven locals in regular contact with the cell. The villagers agreed to speak for the first time to an Associated Press team in the red zone, deemed by most embassies to be too dangerous for foreigners to visit. While al-Qaidas central command is in disarray and its leaders on the run following bin Ladens death six months ago, security experts say, the groups 5-year-old branch in Africa is flourishing. From bases like the one in the forest just north of here, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is infiltrating local communities, recruiting fighters, running training camps and planning suicide attacks, according to diplomats and
government officials. Even as the mother franchise struggles financially, its African offshoot has raised an estimated $130 million in under a decade by kidnapping at least 50 Westerners in neighboring countries and holding them in camps in Mali for ransom. It has tripled in size from 100 combatants in 2006 to at least 300 today, say security experts. And its growing footprint, once limited to Algeria, now stretches from one end of the Sahara desert to the other, from Mauritania in the west to Mali in the east. The groups stated aim is to become a player in global jihad, and suspected collaborators have been arrested throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, England and France. In September, the general responsible for U.S. military operations in Africa, Army Gen. Carter Ham, said AQIM now also poses a significant threat to the United States. The answer to why the group has thrived can be found in this speck of a town, where homes are made of mud mixed with straw and families eke out a living either in the fields of rice to the south or in the immense forest of short, stout trees to its north. Its here, under a canopy stretching over an area three times larger than the city of New York, that Sokolos herders take their cattle. They avoid overgrazing by organizing themselves into eight units linked to each of the eight wells, labeled N1 through N8, along the 50-mile-long perimeter of the Wagadou forest. They pay $5 per year per head of cattle, and $3 per head of sheep, for the right to water their animals. When the al-Qaida fighters showed up about 1 years ago with four to five jerrycans and asked for water, they signaled that they did not intend to plunder resources. They stood out in their tunics stopping a little below the knees, small turbans and beards, a foreign style of dress associated with the Gulf states and bin Laden. From the moment you lay eyes on them, you know that theyre not Malian, said 45year-old herder Amadou Maiga. They started to come every four or five days in Land Cruisers, with Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders. At first they stayed for no more than 15 to 20 minutes, said the villagers, including herders, a hunter and employees of the Malian Ministry of Husbandry who travel to the area to vaccinate animals and repair broken pumps. If on Monday they took water from one well, on Wednesday they would go to another, always varying their path. Fousseyni Diakite, 51, a pump technician who travels twice a month to the forest to check the generators used to run the wells, first ran into the cell in May 2010, when he saw four men in Arab dress inside a Toyota Hilux truck, all with AK-47s at their feet. He said the men come with medical supplies and try to find out if anyone is sick.
There is one who is tall with a big chest hes Arab, possibly Algerian. Hes known for having an ambulatory pharmacy. He goes from place to place giving treatment for free, Diakite said. They venture into the camps where the herders sleep at dusk and hand out cash to villagers who join them for prayers, he said bills of 10,000 West African francs (about $20), equal to nearly half the average monthly salary in Mali. Most of the herders sleep in lean-tos in camps at the forests edge. Because these are temporary settlements, they do not have mosques, unlike most villages in this nation twice the size of France that is 90 percent Muslim. In Boulker, a hamlet near the forest, the fighters left 100,000 francs (around $200), instructing locals to buy supplies and build an adobe mosque, Diakite said. They said that for every population center with at least 10 people, there should be a mosque, he said. Along with its poverty, Mali has an enormous geography and a weak central government not unlike Afghanistan, where bin Laden first used the charm offensive to secure the loyalty of the local people, said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to alQaida, now an analyst at the London-based Quilliam Foundation. We used to teach our people about this. Its part of the military plan how to treat locals. This is the environment that keeps them alive, said Benotman, who first met bin Laden in Sudan and who spent years fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan. He said bin Laden gave his fighters specific instructions on how to conduct themselves: Dont argue about the price, just make the locals happy. Become like oxygen to them. AQIM is taking the lesson to heart. Soon after they began taking water, one of the bearded fighters approached a shepherd at the pump to buy a ram. The fighters were looking to slaughter it to feed themselves. The shepherd offered it to him for free too afraid to ask for money, said Maiga, the mans friend. But the stranger refused to take the ram without payment, and immediately handed over a generous sum. They seem to know all the prices ahead of time. They point to a ram and say, Ill buy that one for 30,000 cfa ($60), said Maiga, quoting the highest sum a herder could expect to get for a ram in these parts. They never bargain. AQIM grew out of the groups fighting the Algerian government in the 1990s, after the military canceled elections to stave off victory for an Islamist party. Over the next decade, they left a trail of destruction in Algeria. Around 2003, they sent an emissary to Iraq to meet an al-Qaida intermediary, according to Benotman. Three years later, the insurgents joined the terror family, in what second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri
called a blessed union. Since then, their attacks have taken on the hallmarks of al-Qaida. A pair of explosions this August killed 18 people as they tore through the mess hall of Algerias military academy, with the second bomb timed to hit emergency responders. Al-Qaida in turn appears to be learning from its affiliates, which have used kidnappings for ransom in Algeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. After bin Ladens death in May, investigators found files on his hard drive showing plans to turn to kidnapping to compensate for a decline in donations. AQIM in particular has perfected what analysts call a kidnap economy, drawing on its refuge in Mali, according to diplomats, hostage negotiators and government officials. In 2003, the group kidnapped and transported 32 mostly German tourists from southern Algeria to Mali, where, according to a member of Malis parliament, they struck a deal with local authorities that is still in effect today. The agreement was, You dont hurt us, we wont hurt you, said the parliament member, formerly involved in hostage negotiations, who asked not to be identified because of the danger involved. The government of Mali denies these accusations, but officials cited in diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks make the same assertion. The president of neighboring Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, told his American counterparts in 2009 that Mali is at peace with AQIM to avoid attacks on its territory. Whereas the al-Qaida cell has captured more than 50 foreigners in Algeria, Niger and Mauritania, hardly any of the violence has touched Mali. The cell has also managed to recruit local fighters, including 60 to 80 Tuaregs, the oliveskinned nomads who live in the Sahara desert, according to a security expert. And villagers say they have seen black-skinned sub-Saharan Africans in the pickups speaking the languages of Mali, Guinea and Nigeria. The situation in Mali is they have become locals they are not foreigners, said Benotman. This is really, really very, very difficult to do, and it makes it very hard to get rid of them. One thing still stands in al-Qaidas way: Its hardcore ideology does not gel with the moderate Islam practiced by Malis nomads. Most of them said they were afraid, caught between need for the money al-Qaida offers and wariness of its extremist beliefs. When bin Laden died, the members of the local cell went from well to well to ask people to pray for his soul, according to Amaye ag Ali Cisse, an employee of the Ministry of Husbandry who travels twice a month to the wells to oversee the vaccination of animals. Everyone is uncomfortable, he said. This is a religion that doesnt belong to us.
The herders say the fighters have not tried to impose their ideology by force. Instead, they say that the AQIM members wait until they have seen a herder at least a few times before broaching the subject. It was the third time that I saw them that they started preaching to me, said Maiga. They said that everything they do is in order to seek out God. Herder Baba Ould Momo, 29, said he tries to come up with an excuse to leave when the pickup trucks arrive at the well, because hes afraid the terror cell will pull him in. He said they backed off when they noticed he wasnt interested. The first thing they try to do is invite people to join them in the forest. If they see that the person is wavering, its then that they start preaching saying everything is transitory, said Momo, who like most of the herders wears plastic flip-flops, with a robe of wrinkled cloth. But if the person is categorical in saying No, they leave them alone. In June, Mauritania and Mali led a rare joint attack on the al-Qaida cell in the Wagadou Forest. However, herders say that a week earlier, the al-Qaida fighters told them that an attack was imminent and that they had laid down land mines in the forest. Mauritania blames Malian officials for tipping off AQIM. The herders said that for around two weeks, they didnt see the bearded fighters. Then they returned with a new fleet of Hilux pickup trucks, and with more men. Since then, the fighters tracks have been all over the forest floor, in a map of constant movement, said 60-year-old hunter Cheickana Cisse. They no longer sleep in the same place. Just as Cisse was taking a drink of water at the N7 pump on a recent evening, two pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft cannons and loaded with combatants drove up. The men had chains of ammunition strapped across their chests, and belts loaded with cartridges. They laid their AK-47s in a circle on the ground to create a space to pray, like a symbolic mosque. One of them asked Cisse if he had heard of bin Laden. He said, Were like this with bin Laden, Cisse explained, intertwining his right and left index fingers like a link in a chain. He said, Were al-Qaida. The elderly hunter tried to slip away just as one of the fighters made the call to prayer. And they said, You? Arent you going to pray? They told me to come into the circle. I could feel them watching me, he said. The men kneeled inside the circle of weapons. Four others guarded them, including one who climbed on the roof of the truck. Cisse tiptoed inside and began going through the prayer. I kept stealing glances to see if they were doing the same moves as me, he said.
I know the words, but I was scared. When the group had finished, the four who had kept vigil took their turn inside the circle. Cisse quietly walked away. They didnt try to stop him. ### Non-state Fighters Gain Deadlier Weapons (Aviation Week) http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/dti/20 11/12/01/DT_12_01_2011_p32-394021.xml 2 December 2011 As the Libyan regime of Moammar Gadhafi withered and died after months of combat with rebel forces, the weapons that the dictator stockpiled in his 42 year reign came up for grabs. As the fighting in Libya intensified, concerns within NATO began to grow over the fate of thousands of Russian-made SA-24 man-portable air-defense systems (Manpads) that were in stockpiles. There are ringing indicators that some Manpads have left the country, U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, chief of Africa Command and point man for NATOs Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, recently told an audience here. The first question is, how many [missiles] were there? The weapons are considered to be the most sophisticated portable antiaircraft missiles made by Russia, and they have long been a hot commodity among non-state actors and insurgents shopping the black market. In November, Al Qaedas North Africa affiliate claimed it had acquired part of this deadly arsenal. Speaking with the Mauritanian news agency ANI, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, said that we have been one of the main beneficiaries of the revolutions in the Arab world, especially since the group has acquired Libyan armament, although he refused to describe what the group claims to have. There have also been clashes between the Nigerian army and heavily armed men moving south out of Libya. One fight in early November killed one Nigerian soldier and 13 men in a convoy, while producing a small cache of weapons, including two 14.5-mm machine guns, four 12.7-mm machine guns, several dozen assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and a large amount of ammunition. After a battle in June, Nigerian forces claimed to have seized more than 600 kg (1,320 lb.) of high explosives. And then there are the unsecured chemical weapons. Of the 23 tons of mustard agent that Gadhafi claimed to have in 2003 when he made his bid to remove Libya from the international list of pariah states, there are still 9 metric tons in the Libyan desert. The
program to destroy the stockpiles began in late 2010, and by February all but the last 9 tons had been destroyed. The mustard agent (which is unweaponized) is out there without any sort of knowledge over its security or whether it was being sold, according to nonproliferation expert Paul Walker, director of security and sustainability at Global Green USA. International weapons inspectors are due to arrive in Libya before the end of the year, but the fact that there is so much of this dangerous gas in such an unstable environment is cause for concern. Walker is also concerned about the discovery of two undisclosed chemical weapons sites in Libya, and that the level of security at these sites is uncertain. Still, he cautions, even if terrorists were to obtain some of the mustard agent, it isnt easy to disperse chemical weapons in a manner that would cause a lot of harm to humans. It would be much more practical for terrorists to use conventional explosives than chemical weapons, he says. But back to the missing Libyan Manpads. The U.S. State Departmentwith an assist from the Pentagonhas found and destroyed more than 32,500 excess, loosely secured, illicitly held or otherwise-at-risk Manpads in over 30 countries since 2003, according to a report released in July. Given estimates that more than 1 million Manpads have been manufactured worldwide since 1967, there has been a years-long effort to round up as many as possible to ensure they dont fall into the hands of terrorists or other non-state groups. The report says that while there are an unknown number of these systems in circulation around the world, and the effort to locate them continues, the U.S. believes that most of these systems are either stockpiled in national inventories or have been destroyed. Still, about 20 countries have produced or have licenses to produce Manpads or their components, including China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and Serbia. Since 1975, 40 civilian aircraft have been hit by them, causing 28 crashes and more than 800 deaths. Two of the most recent attacks highlighted are a 2003 hit on a civilian cargo plane upon takeoff from Baghdad International Airportthough the plane landed safely and no one was injuredand a 2007 strike on a cargo plane over Mogadishu that killed 11 crewmembers. Im concerned about heavy weapons mounted on technicals (armed commercial vehicles) far more than [surface-to-air missiles], says Andrew Lebovich, an analyst who covers the Middle East and North Africa for the New America Foundation. I think [SAMs] are still a threat. But its the technicals that are going to make conflict really nasty in the Sahel (an area between the Sahara Desert and the savannas of Sudan), he says. The technicaloften a Toyota Hilux pickup truck with a heavy weaponis the ubiquitous symbol of insurgencies the world over. This cheap troop carrier with easily replaceable parts and durability that makes it an excellent gun truck, can cause a lot of mayhem in a short amount of time. Just a few technicals can deposit dozens of fighters in almost any terrain while laying down a withering barrage to cover their movements. These are the weapons that are going to stay in the field for a long time, Lebovich says. But the weapon that has grown quickly to become the most hated among government
forces battling insurgencies is doubtless the improvised explosive device (IED). Relatively cheap and easy to make and transport, the IED is the biggest killer of U.S., NATO and government troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. A staggering 80% of the IEDs planted in Afghanistan, and 90% of U.S. casualties there, can be traced to IED bombmaking chemicals that come from two legal factories in Pakistan. And while NATO forces know where the factories are, and the brokers who sell the materials, there has so far been nothing they can do to stop the flow of bomb-making chemicals to Afghan insurgents, according to Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, head of the Pentagons Joint IED Defeat Organization (Jieddo). Each year the factories each turn out 400,000 metric tons of ammonium nitratea common fertilizer used by farmers but also a component of some explosives. About 1% of that makes it to insurgents, Barbero says. What we dont understand is how this ammonium nitrate gets from these factories to the insurgents. Once insurgents get the material, it takes 40-60 minutes of processing to make the fertilizer into bomb materials, he says. Echoing U.S. officials who have long complained about Pakistan acting as a haven and resupply point for Afghan insurgents, Barbero says that we cant solve the IED problem in Afghanistan, in Afghanistan. And the bombs keep coming. Compared to this time last year, the number of IEDs found and destroyed is up almost 100%, and the destruction of caches of bomb-making materials is up 200%. Were seeing historic highs of IEDs, with a record 1,600 events in June and July, he adds. Still, Jieddo was given $2.4 billion for the anti-IED fight in 2011, a figure that Barbero expects to remain the same for the next two years. Lt. Col. Thomas Enke, chief of the multinational explosive ordnance control center of the 1st German Netherlands Corps, assigned to NATOs International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, identified trends in IEDs at Rheinmetalls Infantry Days in Unterluess, Germany. He pointed to ammonium nitrate, but added that he expects more homemade explosives such as potassium chlorate and aluminum derivatives, along with new peroxide mixtures to gain use by insurgents and non-state groups. Another trend is the use of mines, artillery shells and other explosives packed with metallic fragments that increase their killing power. The IED isnt confined to Iraq and Afghanistan. Outside those combat zones there are more than 500 IED attacks a month, notably in Pakistan, but also Somalia, Algeria, Russia and Colombia, and increasingly in Mexico, where drug cartels have acquired a sophisticated understanding of complex tactics, techniques and procedures for luring law enforcement and military into elaborate, multiple-IED attacks. The U.S. so far has been spared, though Barbero says there has been some talk about modifying [Jieddos] authority in the future to support other federal agencies domestically in uncovering terrorist networks in the United States. ###
Canada sends special forces to aid African al-Qaida fight (Montreal Gazette) http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada-inafghanistan/Canada+sends+special+forces+African+Qaida+fight/5804679/story.html 2 December 2011 By David Pugliese Canadian special forces troops from Petawawa, Ont., have been sent to Africa to provide training to Mali's military, which is in the midst of a war against al-Qaida insurgents. The members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) are not involved in any fighting, nor do they accompany Malian troops into battle. But the Canadians are providing training in basic soldiering, including communications, planning, first aid and providing medical aid and support to civilian populations. Defence analysts say such training is needed, as Mali and other countries in the region try to counter the growing threat from al-Qaida and armed gangs. al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, operates from bases in northern Mali and is believed to be behind the recent kidnappings of five European tourists and the murder of a sixth. "This is exactly the place we should be in terms of trying to develop a counter-terrorism capacity in the Sahel and in North Africa," said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, head of the Ottawa-based Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. "This is a natural fit for us." Other western nations are providing training to militaries in other countries in the region as part of the international effort to combat AQIM. The Canadian Special Operations Regiment sent one small team this summer to northern Mali to provide instruction for that country's special forces. Another team is currently in the capital city of Bamako providing counter-terrorism skills training and officer training. The teams number fewer than 15 soldiers. AQIM traces its roots to Islamic insurgents fighting the Algerian government. The insurgents have since become associated with al-Qaida and have branched out to conduct attacks in other countries in the region, as well as kidnapping westerners. Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay were held by AQIM after being kidnapped in December 2008. They were released 130 days later amid claims by government officials in Mali that four AQIM detainees were set free in return. AQIM helps finance its operations through kidnappings and weapons and drug
smuggling. The recent kidnappings have significantly hurt Mali's tourism trade, particularly at Timbuktu, once a popular travel destination for adventurers. Mali's government recently chartered a plane to take about 20 tourists out of Timbuktu, while various governments are warning their citizens to stay out of the region. Mali has also sent its soldiers to join French commandos in the hunt for two French men who are among those kidnapped. Earlier this year, the Mauritanian army announced it had killed three AQIM insurgents who had planned to assassinate Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. In early January, AQIM was in the news after two French men were executed during an attempted rescue mission by troops from France and Niger. They had been kidnapped by gunmen in Niamey, Niger. Fowler has said Canadians should be concerned about AQIM. It is the largest of the alQaida "franchises," he notes, and could directly affect Canada's business and foreign development interests in the region. During his captivity, Fowler said AQIM made it clear to him that not only did they despise what they called the "infidel occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan," but that they had the same view of the United Nations and aid workers in the region. All such individuals, according to them, are legitimate targets, Fowler was told. In 2008, AQIM in Algeria used a car bomb in an attack on a bus carrying employees of the Quebec engineering company SNC Lavalin. Twelve of the firm's Algerian employees were killed and 15 wounded. One of AQIM's most significant attacks involved the 2007 bombing of the United Nations office in Algiers, which killed 17 staff and at least 14 other people. The deployment of Canadian special ops to Mali is expected to be an ongoing mission, with small teams moving in and out of the country whenever it is determined that Malian forces need such training, Thompson said. It is similar to another training regime the regiment has undertaken in Jamaica, where it instructs that country's counter-terrorism troops, he added. In 2009, the Citizen reported that CSOR helped train the Jamaican counter-terrorism team that stormed a hijacked CanJet airliner in Montego Bay and captured a mentally troubled gunman without firing a shot. The hijacker had earlier allowed 159 Canadian passengers and two crew members to leave the chartered aircraft. Members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment did not take part in the raid.
CSOR was created in 2006 to help support the Ottawa-based counter-terrorism unit, Joint Task Force Two, as well as to conduct its own missions. Its soldiers have undertaken operations in Afghanistan, but the details of those missions are secret. CSOR trained Malian special forces earlier this year. In February and March, about 15 CSOR members took part in Exercise Flintlock in Senegal. That U.S.-led training event saw CSOR members paired with Malian troops, instructing them in small-unit tactics and other military skills. In addition, the exercise focused on improving the sharing of information and increasing co-ordination between the various countries. Other countries involved in Flintlock included Spain, France, The Netherlands and Germany, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal. Canadian special forces will also take part in the Flintlock exercise to be held in 2012, this time in Mali, Thompson said. ### Tunisian Islamists and secularists face off (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/12/201112314837447708.html 3 December 2011 Thousands of Tunisian Islamists and secularists staged parallel protests outside the interim parliament in a dispute over how big a role Islam should play in society after the country's "Arab Spring" uprising, and subsequent election. Tensions have been running high between the two camps since the revolt in January scrapped a ban on parties that advocate political Islam, paving the way for a moderate Islamist party to come to power at the head of a coalition government. The latest round of protests was sparked when a group of hardline Islamists occupied a university campus near the capital to demand segregation of sexes in class and the right for women students to wear a full-face veil. About 3,000 Islamists gathered outside the constitutional assembly in the Bardo district of the Tunis on Saturday, separated by a police cordon from a counter protest by about 1,000 secularists. The Islamists say the secularist elite which has run the country since independence from France is still restricting their freedom to express their faith. Their rivals say the Islamists are trying to impose an Islamic state in what has been one of the Arab world's most liberal countries.
The Islamist protesters at the rally carried placards saying: "We support the legitimacy of the majority!," "Islamic Tunisia is not secular!," and "No to secularist extremism." High suspicions An Islamist protester, Nourdine Machfer, said the Tunisian people had expressed their will when they handed victory to the moderate Islamist Ennahdha party in an election in October. "It's bizarre. Today in Tunisia we are living in a dictatorship of the minority," Machfer told the Reuters news agency. "They should respect the will of the people, who have made their views known." The Islamists waved Ennahdha flags but also the black banners of the ultraconservative Hizb Tahrir, which has not been legalised in the north African country. Ennahdha issued a statement saying that it did not support the Islamist protest outside parliament. However, secularist opponents said they believed Ennahdha's true agenda was to create an Islamic state by stealth. "The Islamists ... want to use the constitution to take power, and stage a coup d'etat against democracy," said one of the secularist protesters, Raja Dali. "They want to give all the power to the prime minister," she said, referring to senior Ennahdha official Hamadi Jbeli who is his party's nominee to lead the coalition government. Tunisia's struggle to reconcile the rival camps is being watched closely in Egypt, where an Islamist-affiliated party performed strongly in the first phase of a parliamentary election. Simultaneous protest Tunisia became the birth-place of the Arab Spring when a vegetable seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, set fire to himself in protest at government repression. His suicide prompted a wave of unrest which forced president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to step down. Tunisia's revolution inspired revolutions which ousted entrenched rulers in Libya and Egypt, as well as upheavals in Syria and Yemen. Saturday's protest was the first time that both Islamists and secularists had staged simultaneous protest. Shouts and jeers were exchanged between the two groups but there were no clashes.
Ennahdha is in an awkward position because it wants to be seen to be defending the rights of Muslims to express their faith but at the same time it is wary of alarming secularists and Western governments by appearing too close to Islamist hardliners. The latest flare-up of tension is complicating efforts by Ennahdha and its two secularist coalition partners to agree on the make-up of a coalition government. It is also distracting the country's new rulers from addressing the high unemployment and low incomes that are the main preoccupation for ordinary Tunisians. One young man on Saturday stood between the rival crowds with tape over his mouth, a loaf of bread in his hand, and a placard which read: "I am with neither of you I am in favour of jobs and dignity." ### Sudan: Bashir Restores Diplomatic Relations (All Africa) http://allafrica.com/stories/201112030218.html 3 December 2011 Nairobi SUDAN President Omar Bashir has reversed his decision to expel Kenya's ambassador in Khartoum, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula said yesterday. Speaking at Wilson Airport shortly after he arrived from Khartoum, Wetang'ula said Kenya had managed to avert a diplomatic row with Sudan following a High Court ruling to execute an ICC arrest warrant on Bashir if he comes to Kenya. "Sudan had also set out a raft of reprisals that would have affected our economy," Wetang'ula revealed. The reprisals included blocking Kenyan flights over Sudanese airspace, breaking trade links and expelling more than 1,000 Kenyans in Sudan, some of them students. Bashir also intended to expel Kenyans in the UN peace mission in Darfur. Bashir would have boycotted any meetings organised by Kenya as the chair of Igad on the CPA and would have not been receptive to any talks on the Nile waters. Last year Kenya's tea exports to Sudan were worth US$200 million, Kenya's fifth leading forex earner, Wetang'ula said. Wetang'ula was accompanied by Defence minister Yusuf Haji to deliver a special message from President Kibaki to Bashir. "We managed to stop the reprisals and secure a stay for our ambassador who was supposed to leave Sudan at the lapse of 72 hours on Thursday night," said Wetang'ula. He said they told Bashir that "Kenya needs the least problems added in its basket", taking into account the Operation Linda Nchi, the military undertaking in which Kenya is fighting the al Shabaab in Somalia. Wetang'ula briefed PM Raila Odinga who was also at the airport before addressing the media.
Wetang'ula said they assured Bashir that he would not be arrested if he comes to Kenya based on the Vienna Convention on immunities of a President. The ICC has charged Bashir with genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Wetang'ula said the government was going to appeal the High Court ruling. He said this was not interference with the court. "A critique on a ruling is not an assault on the judiciary. Anybody is entitled to criticise a court ruling if he is not happy, including the media," said Wetang'ula. He added that it is important for the three arms of government to work together for the nation. The next Igad meeting will not be in Kenya but in Ethiopia which is the current chair. Meanwhile, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has urged the government to respect court decisions and desist from attacking the judiciary for carrying out its functions. Executive Director Atsango Chesoni said civil society are worried that the conduct of the government in response to the High Court decision to issue a warrant of arrest against Bashir may be an indication of the government unwillingness to cooperate with the ICC in respect to the two Kenyan cases. "We remind the government of its obligation and commitment to cooperate with the ICC in keeping with the strong wishes of the public," Chesoni said in a press briefing accompanied by Gladwell Otieno, Executive Director African Centre for Open Governance. "The government that rides roughshod over its international obligations which it has freely assumed is a government that will not listen to its own people," said Chesoni. She accused the government of being casual and and developing an irresponsible approach to the law at the international level noting that this "will have a casual and irresponsible approach to law at the national level". Chesoni said it was a grave violation of state obligation and a show of disrespect for international treaties for Kenyan government to invite and host Bashir when Kenyans were celebrating the promulgation of the Constitution on August 27, 2010. "The high court is within its rights and duties in keeping with the International Crimes Act of 2010 to operationalise warrants of arrest on a wanted person by the ICC to answer charges of crimes against humanity," she said. Gladwell Otieno urged African governments and Igad in particular to respect the fact that Kenya is on course towards reforming the judiciary. She said through its decision Kenya has now joined a list of countries that fight for international justice such as South Africa which applied for Bashir's arrest warrant before Uganda which issued public statements on his arrest. "We stress the need for Kenya and Africa to recognise that real peace and security in the region will be sustainable only in an environment of justice and accountability not for fear and impunity," Otieno said. ###
UN Council refuses to delay Eritrea sanctions vote (AFP) http://www.modernghana.com/news/364704/1/un-council-refuses-to-delay-eritreasanctions-vote.html 3 December 2011 UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday refused to delay a vote next week on taking sanctions against Eritrea so the isolated country's head of state can make his case, diplomats said. The vote is set for Monday but President Issaias Afeworki does not have enough time to get to New York, according to the UN envoy for the impoverished nation, which is accused of plotting an attack on an African Union summit this year. Several Security Council members, including Russia, China and South Africa, argued in informal talks for the vote to be delayed for two days, diplomats said. But the 15-member body stuck to the schedule demanded by the United States and Gabon, which drew up the resolution. "It is going to be Monday," said Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin after the talks, but he said the details of who would be present are not clear. Some East African ministers are expected to address the meeting by video-link. Afeworki asked in October to speak to the Security Council which sent an invitation this week. Eritrea's UN ambassador Araya Desta told AFP that Afeworki wanted to attend but did not get a visa to enter the United States on time to organize a flight. However US officials said visas were granted within hours of the application being made. Diplomats said Afeworki still had three days to get to the UN headquarters. Council members Gabon and Nigeria drew up the sanctions resolution against Eritrea. Gabon, backed by the United States, had pressed for a vote last Wednesday but they were persuaded to wait until Monday to give Afeworki a chance. Ethiopia and other East African countries have led the campaign outside the council for tougher action against Eritrea. Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993 and the two have remained arch-rivals ever since. A UN report this year accused the Asmara government of involvement in a plot to bomb an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital. Kenya has complained about Eritrea's backing for Shebab Islamist militants in Somalia, while Djibouti has a border dispute with its neighbor.
The UN sanctions monitoring group said in a report released in July that Eritrea was giving political, financial and logistical support to Shebab and other groups. The draft sanctions resolution would widen a travel ban and assets freeze against Eritrean individuals and entities passed by the Security Council in 2009. It demands that Eritrea "cease all direct or indirect efforts to destabilize states, including through financial, military, intelligence and non-military assistance." It also "condemns" the alleged Eritrean plot to bomb the African summit. The government has denied the allegations and the Eritrean ambassador called the resolution "outrageous". Demands in the first draft resolution to ban investment in Eritrea's key mining industry and a government tax on remittances sent back by Eritrean workers abroad have been dropped. The resolution "decides" that Eritrea shall "cease using extortion, threats of violence, fraud and other illicit means to collect taxes outside of Eritrea from its nationals." The document also expresses concern at the "potential use" of Eritrea's new mining revenues to "destabilize the Horn of Africa region". It calls on UN states to use greater "vigilance" in dealing with the Eritrean mining sector. ### President George W. Bushs Trip to Africa: Reflections on Foreign Policies toward Africa http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/1202_bush_africa_kimenyi.aspx 2 December 2011 Former President George W. Bush and his wife are currently touring Africa and visiting Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia from December 1 to 5. The president and Mrs. Bush will use the trip to focus on some of the initiatives that Bush advocated for and strongly supported while in office. Despite demonstrating a unique commitment to the African continent, much like President Clinton before him, Bushs record tends to be underrated and he scored consistently lower than Obama in a 2008 PEW survey that asked individuals from various countries whether each candidate would do the right thing in world affairs. Conversely, Bush has high approval rating on the continent itself, making it instructive to reflect on the former presidents African initiatives, which bring him such admiration from sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, this trip takes place just after the GOP candidates have expressed their views on foreign policy with most GOP candidates looking critically at spending on assistance for development. Bushs most important initiatives focused on alleviating major heath challenges facing
the African people. In 2003, President Bush launched the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was then the largest single effort by any nation targeting a specific disease. The program sought to establish and scale up HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs. According to the PEPFAR program website, during its first phase, PEPFAR supported the provision of treatment to more than two million people, care to more than 10 million people, including more than four million orphans and vulnerable children, and prevention of mother-to-child treatment services. Under President Bush, this program was criticized for its emphasis on abstinence based prevention, but on the whole this initiative was an unprecedented attack against the AIDS pandemic. Bush then targeted another deadly disease with the launch of the Presidents Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005. The PMI had the initial goal of reducing malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 focus countries. Malaria places a huge burden on Africanscausing millions of adult deaths every year and significant reductions in productivity. Results on the PMI website show that the program has major effect in reducing prevalence of malaria, child mortality and related deaths. The Bush administrations African foreign policy did not stop with health initiatives. Bush led the push for the G-8 nations to demand the multi-lateral debt relief initiative (MDRI), which encouraged the IMF, World Bank and the U.S. to reduce the debt burden of highly indebted poor countries. According to the African Development Bank, as of 2009 the MDRI relieved debt for 21 African countries. In 2004, Bush also successfully passed reforms that converted poor country debt into grants. Additionally, Bush tackled security issues. The president was one of the first world leaders to label the conflict in South Sudan genocide. Although, Bush received criticism for not recognizing the indictment of Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court, he did put in place sanctions on oil coming from the Republic of Sudan in order to pressure a peace deal. These sanctions currently remain in place. Bush was also determined to create an Africabased central command for U.S. forces. However, he did not win the support of African leaders to base the command, now called Africom, on the continent, with the base now resting in Germany. Africom, however, is now an implementing partner for the Department of Defense and PEPFAR, supporting training and testing throughout Africa. Following the format of Presidents Carter and Clinton, Bush continues to focus on global health beyond his two presidential terms. His global health cause clbre is the Pink Ribbon Initiative, an organization formed by the George Bush Presidential Center Institute in partnership with the U.N. and the Susan J. Komen Foundation, to expand access to cervical and breast cancer screening in Africa and Asia. Testing for cervical cancer can be done easily with a drop of vinegar quickly highlighting cancerous tissue; however, screening remains unavailable in many parts of Asia and Africa. Both Laura and George Bush will try to build awareness of this issue during their trip this week. Despite the perception that Bush was only involved in counterterrorism, he built an expansive African foreign policy base that bears as much recognition as the Clinton administrations African Growth and Opportunities Act and Global Health Initiative.
The presidents trip is welcome and demonstrates his continued interest on issues that affect the continent. Reflecting on President Bushs initiatives shows that he has not received due credit for his support of Africa and African issues and, despite the misconception that he focused only on terrorism and national security, his commitment to Africa leaves a strong legacy that is difficult to ignore.
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