United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

14 June 2010

USAFRICOM -related news stories

From and About Africa

MAURITIUS SAYS IT IS READY TO PROSECUTE AND IMPRISON PIRATES

Mauritius is ready to try and jail suspected pirates, Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam said yesterday,
joining three other countries in the region that have shown interest in doing the same.

PIRACY NATO, EU SAY REACTING TO RISING SOMALI PIRATE NUMBERS

The Islamist takeover of a pirate haven last month seems to have had no impact on what has become a very profitable
industry, they said, but monsoon conditions meant attacks would now fall sharply until September. More Somali
pirates have taken to the water this year than ever before, NATO and EU forces said on Tuesday, but navies are
combating them more effectively.

ETHIOPIA MASS MURDER CARRIED OUT BY ETHIOPIAN MILITARY IN MALQALA

Reports that have reached the Ogaden Online service desk from Malqala town confirm recent mass murder carried
out by the Ethiopian military deployed in the area. According to eyewitnesses the mass murder took place in the city
of Malqale on May 18, 2010. Those reportedly killed in the murderous reign of the Ethiopian military at Malqale are
reported to include women, children, and the men of advancing age. Eyewitnesses in the city indicated that the
Ethiopian military convened a gathering for all the city dwellers in the city center.

KENYA AT LEAST 3 KILLED, 75 INJURED IN EXPLOSION IN PRAYER MEETING

NAIROBI - At least three people have been confirmed dead and more than 75 others injured on Sunday in
mysterious explosions in Uhuru Park in central Nairobi during a political rally organized by religious leaders to
campaign against the proposed Constitution.

SOUTH AFRICA EMERGENCY LANDING AT LANSERIA AIRPORT

Johannesburg - plane carrying journalists to a World Cup match made an emergency landing near Johannesburg
yesterday, sending sparks flying as its belly-flopped along the tarmac, an airport spokesman said. All those on board
the flight escaped unhurt

SOUTH AFRICA YOUNG US FAN FELL TO HIS DEATH

Cape town - the death of a 14-year-old American tourist while hiking down the famous Table Mountain tourist trail.
A police spokesman said the youngster was with his brother and parents in wet conditions on Saturday when he fell
on a trail known as Skeleton Gorge. The family, who are from Texas, were vacationing in South Africa and
intended to watch some World Cup matches, he added.

SOUTH AFRICA POLICE USE TEARGAS ON DISGRUNTLED WORKERS

South African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of workers protesting over pay in the early hours
of Monday outside the stadium where Germany had just trounced Australia in their World Cup opener.

ALGERIA 9 DEAD IN SUICIDE BOMBING EAST OF ALGIERS

ALGIERS - suicide bomber rammed a truck into the barracks of an elite police unit Friday in a village east of the
capital, Algiers. At least nine people died, including four police officers and one Chinese worker. The suicide bomber
died when he plowed the truck packed with explosives into the barracks. Police shot and killed two suspected
terrorists who were following the truck in another vehicle. A civilian was killed as well, the local officer said.

SOMALIA AL-SHABAAB SEIZE STRATEGIC TOWN IN CENTRAL SOMALIA

Beledweyne residents said they awoke Saturday morning to find heavily armed Al Shabaab fighters patrolling the
town's center and had taken control of the administration building, the jail, and the police station. The area was
vacated overnight by Hizbul Islam rebels, who are also fighting to topple Somalia's UN-backed interim government
in Mogadishu.

SOMALIA CLASH BETWEEN SOMALIA POLICE, SOLDIERS KILLS 13

MOGADISHU - Fighting between Somali government troops and police has killed at least 13 people and injured 14
in Mogadishu after soldiers tried to rob civilians, police said on Sunday. The clash occurred on Saturday in
Hamarjajab district, in the south of the capital."The clashes came after some of the government troops started to rob
a civilian car and the police were trying to stop it," Abdullahi Moalim Kerow, a police officer, told Reuters.

SOMALIA ISLAMISTS KILL TWO FOR WATCHING WORLD CUP

Somali militants killed two soccer fans whom they caught watching a 2010 FIFA World Cup game, the
International Sports Press Association (AIPS) said on its website, according to RIA Novosti.

SOMALIA YEMENI GUARD HURT IN SOMALI PIRATE ATTACK

Somali pirates have opened fire on a Yemeni oil tanker in the Red Sea wounding a guard on board, Yemen's interior
ministry quoted the coastguard as saying on Saturday. "The coastguard in the Red Sea said that Somali pirates
intercepted an oil tanker near the Bab Al Mandab area and opened fire on it, wounding one of the soldiers" on board,
the ministry reported on its website.

YEMEN AQAP KILLS 37 OFFICIALS OUT OF THEIR 40 HVT NAME

SANAA - Yemen's government said Sunday that al-Qaida group has killed 37 senior army and security officials
during the past three years, state media reported. "The 37 officials were among an al-Qaida's 40-name list who were
sought to be killed," said the spokesman, adding that the 37 officials were ambushed by different "Qaida's means",
such as explosive belts or opening fire with heavy weapons.

YEMEN KEY SECURITY OFFICIAL, SOLDIERS KILLED

Gunmen shot dead a senior security official in south Yemen and two soldiers died defusing a bomb near a southern
army camp, officials and witnesses said. A provincial official said Jalal Al Uthmani, a senior security official in the
flashpoint Abyan province, was killed outside his house in a hail of gunfire on Saturday. In neighbouring Dalea, two
soldiers died yesterday when a bomb they were trying to defuse outside the gate of an army camp exploded.

YEMEN TRIBESMEN ALLIED WITH AQAM BLOW UP OIL PIPELINE

Tribesmen allied with al Qaeda blew up a crude pipeline linking Yemen's eastern Maarib province to its Red Sea
coast on Saturday, days after Yemeni forces descended on the area to root out militants, Al Arabiya TV said. Oil
industry sources in Yemen said the pipeline was badly damaged, and the fire was still not extinguished, but
pumping resumed through other parts of the pipeline.
Nilenews

BURUNDI GRENADE BLASTS WOUND 7

Bujumbura - Unidentified attackers detonated hand grenades in different areas of Burundi's capital Bujumbura,
wounding seven people, police said on Sunday, at the start of campaigning for a presidential poll later this month.

ETHIOPIA PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TO VISIT CHINA

BEIJING - Speaker of the Ethiopian House of Federation Degefi Bula will visit China from June 19 to 26 as guest of
Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said a NPC statement
that was issued on Monday.

SOUTH SUDAN RE-APPOINTS VP

hartoum - South Sudan's president Salva Kiir reappointed his deputy, state media said on Saturday, in his first step
to forming a new government to take the underdeveloped region to a 2011 independence referendum.

SUDAN KILLERS OF US AID WORKER ESCAPE SUDAN JAIL

Four men sentenced to death for the murder of a US aid worker and his driver have escaped from prison. A police
spokesman said the men had managed to get out through the jail's drainage system.

DRC IN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS - UN

"The country is confronted with one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world," said Elisabeth Byrs,
spokesperson of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Violence by armed groups such as the
Lord's Resistance Army is "growing unceasingly", she said. "Working in the DRC has become a real challenge for
aid workers due to security reasons and a lack of funding," added the spokesperson.

UN FOR QATARI MEDIATION IN ROW OF ERITREA, DJIBOUTI

The UN Security Council said it was encouraged by the willingness of Eritrea and Djibouti to resolve their border
dispute through Qatari mediation. A council statement said the 15 members "fully support mediation efforts of
Qatar".

CANADA INVITES AFRICAN LEADERS TO G8 MEETING

Toronto - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that the government invited Algeria,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa to attend a special session at the summit. We will be
engaging African leaders as well as key hemispheric partners in order to broaden representation and maximize
results on international development and peace and security issues, Harper said in the statement.