United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 30 January 2012

Please find attached news clips for January 30, 2012, along with upcoming events of interest and UN News Service briefs. Of interest in todays clips: -The African Union selects a new leader, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi. Also, the AU announces a new Chinese-funded headquarters in Addis Ababa. - A well known journalist is gunned down in Mogadishu. - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan wants to talk but Boko Haram isnt willing unless he first frees their captured fighters. -South Sudan seeks to settle its oil dispute while Chinese workers are being held by rebels in South Kordofan. - The noose is tightening in the hunt for Joseph Kony. - Congolese women celebrate graduation from an inaugural rape survival class. - The African Cup of Nations Football tourney has begun with Ghana taking Mali 2-0. This message is best viewed in HTML format.

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) -------------------------------------------Top News related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa African Union selects Benin's president as chairman (AFP) http://www.france24.com/en/20120129-african-union-meets-select-new-chairman-yayinguema-addis-ababa-ethiopia January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author AFP - African Union leaders met Sunday for their first summit since the death of the bloc's founder Moamer Kadhafi, with intense lobbying for its top jobs overshadowing the start of the talks. African Union holds first post-Gaddafi summit (AFP)
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212981549716808.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author African Union leaders are meeting for their first summit since the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the bloc's founder, with the selection of top officials and discussion of crises on the continent dominating the agenda. China funds new home for African Union (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201212820512511633.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author It is a $200m building, the tallest in the Ethiopian capital and the new headquarters of the African Union (AU). It also happens to be entirely the work of China. Radio journalist gunned down in Mogadishu (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/20121295474898100.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author Gunmen in Somalia have shot dead the director of a major radio station in front of his home in Mogadishu, colleagues and witnesses said. Nigeria on edge as Islamist group extends campaign of violence (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/27/world/africa/analysis-nigeriaviolence/index.html?hpt=hp_c1 January 27, 2012 By Tim Lister Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has suddenly shifted his attitude toward the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, as violence spreads across northern Nigeria. 11 Boko Haram militants killed in Nigeria (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/africa/nigeria-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 January 28, 2012 By Nima Elbagir Nigerian security forces killed 11 suspected Islamic militants Saturday in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. Can talking to Boko Haram give peace a chance? (FRANCE 24) http://www.france24.com/en/20120127-nigerians-puzzle-over-goodluck-jonathanchallenge-boko-haram-islamist-youtube January 27, 2012 By Leela Jacinto Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's challenge to the Boko Haram group to identify themselves and state their demands, surprised many Nigerians. Boko Haram's identity and demands are no secret. But can talks bring the peace Nigerians seek? Nigeria's Boko Haram rejects call for talks (Al Jazeera)
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212911219905729.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author A spokesman for the Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected a call by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for talks and threatened fresh attacks, if captured members of his group were not freed. US weighs response as extremist group expands reach across Nigeria (Stars and Stripes) http://www.stripes.com/news/us-weighs-response-as-extremist-group-expands-reachacross-nigeria-1.167077# January 29, 2012 By John Vandiver STUTTGART, Germany A series of high-profile attacks in Nigeria in recent weeks that claimed scores of lives appear to be focused on fueling instability and mistrust between the countrys Christian and Muslim communities, and there is growing concern that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram could be extending its reach and establishing links with other terrorist groups. Sudan looks to soothe oil dispute with South (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/20121281737789922.html January 28, 2012 By an unattributed author Sudan will release loaded oil tankers it had detained in its port, in an effort to end a dispute over oil payments with South Sudan, a Sudanese official has announced. Sudan: Chinese held by rebels in South Kordofan (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16779426 January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author Rebels in Sudan's volatile South Kordofan region say they are holding 29 Chinese workers who became caught up in a battle with the Sudanese army. "The net tightens around Joseph Kony" (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joseph-kony-and-the-international-effort-tobring-him-to-justice/2012/01/26/gIQAYk04TQ_story.html January 27, 2012 By Michael Gerson DUNGU, Congo -- Francoise, age 16, talks quietly, revealing a shy smile only after praise for her tight cornrows. While walking to school four years ago, she and some classmates were captured by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Early results show Kabila party leading parliamentary elections (AFP) http://www.france24.com/en/20120127-congo-republic-early-election-results-showpresident-kabila-party-leading-tshisekedi January 27, 2012
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By an unattributed author AFP - Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila's party is leading the race for parliamentary seats, a provisional tally of votes cast in November polls showed overnight. Congolese women graduate from inaugural rape survival class (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/africa/congo-survivorsgraduation/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 January 29, 2012 By Faith Karimi An inaugural group of Congolese women graduated Saturday from a gender violence survivors program in the nation's east, where armed rebels roam the hills and rape residents. Mandela to return to Johannesburg from boyhood town (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/29/world/africa/south-africa-mandelahome/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author Johannesburg (CNN) -- Nelson Mandela returns to Johannesburg on Sunday while his home in his childhood town -- where he's been living since last year -- undergoes repairs. Zuma: Commodity Price Fall Biggest Risk To Africa (FOX Business News) http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/26/zuma-commodity-price-fall-biggestrisk-to-africa/ January 26, 2012 By Polya Lesova DAVOS, Switzerland -- South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that a sharp fall in commodity prices poses the biggest risk to resource-rich African economies. Dictators, Kleptocrats and Football (allAfrica) http://allafrica.com/stories/201201270100.html January 27, 2012 By Kamau Mutunga, The Africa Cup of Nations kicked off last week in Equatorial Guinea, one of the smallest countries in a continent that's never short of surprises. Nations Cup: Ghana beat Mali 2-0 (BBC Sport) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/16776880.stm January 28, 2012 By Stephen Fottrell Dede Ayew and Asamoah Gyan grabbed a goal each for Ghana against Mali Ghana are on the brink of a place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Mali. ###
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UN News Service Africa Briefs http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA (Full Articles on UN Website) Cte dIvoire must ensure secure space for political participation UN expert 27 January A United Nations human rights expert urged Ivorian authorities today to ensure a secure and peaceful environment for political participation following the violent clashes between the supporters and opponents of President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan last Saturday which led to the death of one person and the wounding of six others. Cholera fight in DR Congo receives $9 million boost from UN fund 27 January The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) received $9.1 million today from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to fight off cholera, which has affected more than 22,000 people and killed 500 over the past year in the central African country. Kenya: UN scales up refugee training to improve assistance in camps 27 January The United Nations refugee agency today announced new strategies to ensure uninterrupted assistance and services in its largest complex in Kenya, including training and mentoring of refugees as well as involving them in the day-to-day running of the Dadaab camps. ### Upcoming Events of Interest: JANUARY 31 WHAT: Public Affairs Program: All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals SPONSOR: Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs WHEN: Tuesday, January 31, 2012; 8:00-915 am WHERE: Merrill House 170 East 64th Street New York, NY 10065-7478 CONTACT: Joanne Myers, Tel: 212-838-4120, ext. 224 SPEAKER: David J. Scheffer is professor and Director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law. As former U.S. Ambassadorat-Large for War Crimes Issues (1997-2001), Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. More: www.carnegiecouncil.org FEBRUARY 1
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WHAT: Arab Spring: The State of the Revolution as it Turns One SPONSORS: The Milbank Tweed Forum WHEN: Wednesday, February 1, 12:25-1:50pm WHERE: New York University School of Law 40 Washington Square South (Between Sullivan and MacDougal) Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge CONTACT: Michael Orey: michael.orey@nyu.edu SPEAKERS: Sujit Choudhry: Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law (Moderator) Isobel Coleman: Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations Mohammad Fadel: Associate Professor, University of Toronto faculty of Law Kristen Stilt: Associate Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law ### -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULLTEXT African Union selects Benin's president as chairman (AFP) http://www.france24.com/en/20120129-african-union-meets-select-new-chairman-yayinguema-addis-ababa-ethiopia January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author AFP - African Union leaders met Sunday for their first summit since the death of the bloc's founder Moamer Kadhafi, with intense lobbying for its top jobs overshadowing the start of the talks. At the start of the two-day summit, which opened mid-morning, the leaders are choosing the next AU chairman to succeed Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The AU chairmanship rotates among African leaders and is held for one year. Late Sunday morning diplomatic sources said Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi was likely to be elected. Two other names have circulated over the past week: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. Obiang, summing up his year in office ahead of the summit, said he regretted that Africa today was "like a chess board where the nations and leaders are like pawns on the board... being manipulated by external powers."
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After a year that saw the AU faced with a post-election crisis in Ivory Coast as well as the Arab Spring revolutions, he said African leaders need to adopt a common front. "We need a situation where African leaders are much more united and show solidarity to deal with the interference from external powers, and deal with the problems facing the continent," Obiang told reporters in Kampala. On Monday, the 18th ordinary summit will also chose the next head of the AU Commission, the 54-nation bloc's executive arm, with South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's challenging incumbent Jean Ping. South Africa said Saturday it was optimistic Dlamini-Zuma, former wife of President Jacob Zuma, can unseat Gabon's Ping, who was first elected in 2008. "Government remains optimistic that Minister Dlamini-Zuma will receive the necessary votes," South Africa's foreign ministry said in a statement. No woman has held the AU Commission post. The election by secret ballot will be held on Monday. Sources close to Ping say he is confident of re-election, counting on support from Frenchspeaking West and Central Africa countries. But Dlamini-Zuma, 62, has launched a tough campaign and has the backing of the 15member Southern African Development Community. Pretoria has been lobbying hard across the continent to drum up support to win the two thirds of the vote needed. The summit, being held at sleek new Chinese-built AU headquarters inaugurated Saturday, and attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, will also focus on boosting "Intra-African Trade." "Growth on the continent has remained robust. Many observers consider that Africa is on the verge of economic take-off. However we are only at the beginning," Ping told the opening, adding that the AU should "speed up the economic integration in the continent. African countries do not trade enough among themselves." Trade between African states currently stands at 10 percent. In comparison, 40 percent of North America's trade is with regional partners and the rate soars to 63 percent in western Europe. Poor infrastructure, especially roads and railways, tariff barriers, reliance on exporting unprocessed goods and a lack of product diversification are some of the obstacles to trade within the continent.
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The African leaders will also discuss the long-running conflict in Somalia, where the AU has a 10,000-strong force protecting the country's fragile Western-backed government from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militia. Regions of war-torn Somalia remains in the grip of a dire famine, but Ping said he was optimistic for the future. "Never before have the prospects of peace in Somalia appeared so real," Ping told the opening ceremony. Insecurity in the Sahel region, where Al-Qaeda linked fighters also operate in several countries, will also be in the focus. A bitter dispute between Sudan and South Sudan over oil pipeline transit fees, heightening tensions between the former civil war enemies, is also hoped to be addressed in sideline talks. Ping in his opening speech urged the two parties to reach a deal. "Sudan and South Sudan... should in the supporting interest of the people conclude in earnest the negotiations on the post-cessation arrangements," he said. ### African Union holds first post-Gaddafi summit (AFP) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212981549716808.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author African Union leaders are meeting for their first summit since the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the bloc's founder, with the selection of top officials and discussion of crises on the continent dominating the agenda. The leaders gathered in Ethiopia will choose the next head of the AU Commission, the 54-nation bloc's executive council. South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's move to challenge the incumbent Jean Ping has made the race tighter. South Africa said on Saturday it was optimistic Dlamini-Zuma, former wife of President Jacob Zuma, can unseat Gabon's Ping, who was first elected in 2008. "Government remains optimistic that Minister Dlamini Zuma will receive the necessary votes," South Africa's foreign ministry said in a statement, hoping she will be the first woman to hold the post. The election will be held on Monday by secret ballot.
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Sources close to Ping say he is confident of re-election, counting on support from Frenchspeaking West and Central Africa countries. But Dlamini-Zuma, 62, has launched a tough campaign and has the backing of the 15member Southern African Development Community. AU chairmanship The leaders will also choose the next AU chairman to succeed Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The AU chairmanship rotates among African leaders and is held for one year. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan could enter the race after Gambia pulled out of the running this week. The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States are campaigning for Jonathan to run for the position. The summit, being held at a sleek new Chinese-built AU headquarters inaugurated on Saturday, will also focus on boosting "Intra-African Trade," the meeting's official theme. The African leaders will also discuss the long-running conflict in Somalia, where the AU has a 10,000-strong force protecting the country's fragile Western-backed government from the al-Qaeda-linked Shabab militia. A bitter dispute between Sudan and South Sudan over oil pipeline transit fees, heightening tensions between the former civil war enemies, is also hoped to be addressed during the two-day talks. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the summit. ### China funds new home for African Union (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201212820512511633.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author It is a $200m building, the tallest in the Ethiopian capital and the new headquarters of the African Union (AU). It also happens to be entirely the work of China. Paid for with Chinese funds and constructed by Chinese workers, the AU's new home in Addis Ababa is concrete evidence of Beijing's desire to increase its influence in Africa. Although some analysts say AU nations will still need and work closely with Europe and the United States, Chinese delegates are the ones being feted at the moment in Ethiopia.
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Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri reports from Addis Ababa. ### Radio journalist gunned down in Mogadishu (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/20121295474898100.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author Gunmen in Somalia have shot dead the director of a major radio station in front of his home in Mogadishu, colleagues and witnesses said. Hassan Osman Abdi, who headed Radio Shabelle, was stopped by two men as he was entering his gate on Saturday. He was shot several times, according to Mohamed Moalim, a relative who stayed in the area. "We don't know who they are, but they shot him mercilessly in the head and shoulders," he said. Mu'awiye Ahmed Mudey, a producer at Shabelle radio confirmed the attack. Radio Shabelle interrupted its programmes to broadcast several verses from the Koran as an expression of mourning for Abdi, the 29-year-old father of three. Somalia, which has been devastated by 20 years of civil war, is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Media rights campaigners, Reporters Without Borders (Reporteurs Sans Frontieres, RSF), reported in December that 25 journalists had been killed there since 2007. "(Hassan Osman) Abdi is the first journalist to be killed in 2012 in Somalia, Africa's deadliest country for media personnel," RSF said in a statement. "Our thoughts go out to his family and fellow journalists, who are yet again mourning a colleague's death," it added. He was the third director of the network to be killed, the group said, recalling the killing of Bashir Nur Gedi in 2007 and Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe in 2009. "Violence against journalists in Somalia is sustained by impunity for those responsible," RSF said. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has some 10,000 troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu to protect the fragile Western-backed Somali government.
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### Nigeria on edge as Islamist group extends campaign of violence (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/27/world/africa/analysis-nigeriaviolence/index.html?hpt=hp_c1 January 27, 2012 By Tim Lister Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has suddenly shifted his attitude toward the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, as violence spreads across northern Nigeria. A week ago, Jonathan warned the group had infiltrated the government and security forces and vowed (again) to stamp it out. But in an interview with Reuters news agency Thursday he said that if Boko Haram identified itself and stated clear demands the government was ready for dialogue. He also acknowledged that military action alone would not stop Boko Haram; and northern Nigeria needed economic development. But Nigeria-watchers think this apparent carrot may have come too late. Boko Haram's purported leader, Abu Bakar Shekau, responded in an audio message: "We're killing police officers, we're killing soldiers and other government people who are fighting Allah; and Christians who are killing Muslims and talking badly about our Islamic religion." Over the last month, Boko Haram has carried out multiple bombings and shootings across the north; hundreds of people have been killed. Its targets are frequently police and government officials, but most of the casualties are civilians. On one day last week, at least 180 people were killed in Nigeria's second city, Kano. (On Thursday, gunmen killed at least 16.) Who are the Boko Haram? One Nigeria analyst describes the Kano attacks as a "breathtaking show of force" by Boko Haram -- one that fits a pattern of bolder and better coordinated attacks over the past year. Joe Bavier, a writer who is a frequent visitor to the region, told CNN that the "federal government has completely lost control of the north-east, despite deploying thousands of troops and establishing a Joint Task Force." Now, he says, "it looks like this insurgency has broken out of the north-east." And what's worrying, he says, is that there's "not a whole lot of visible effort from the federal government to calm things down." Philippe de Pontet, Africa analyst at the Eurasia Group, says that Boko Haram's main aim appears to be humiliate Jonathan's government, tapping into an existing sense of grievance among Muslims in the north. He and other analysts say the government's heavy-handed response has played into Boko Haram's hands.
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"The impulse is to hit back hard and there are political pressures for a crackdown," de Pontet argues, "but Jonathan is so weak in the north that he needs to be careful not to alienate people there further." Long the poorer part of Nigeria, the north lacks infrastructure such as reliable power. Since the end of military rule much of the region has felt excluded from the system of patronage that fuels Nigerian politics. When he acceded to the presidency in April last year, Jonathan broke the unofficial rotation of Christian and Muslim as head of state. Goodluck Jonathan: Nigeria's embattled president Bavier, who is with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, says poverty has fed Boko Haram's ranks. It is no longer a sect of Islamic fanatics but has the support of disgruntled politicians and their paid thugs. One source says young men are being paid as little as $2 a day to take part in the group's attacks. Compounding the situation, the government has so far treated Boko Haram as a security problem rather than a political problem. Because of a lack of trust, security forces find it hard to gather actionable intelligence and different security branches often compete with each other rather than share information. A former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, says the response of the security forces so far has been "abysmal" -- which is probably why the inspector-general of police was fired this week. The State Security Service is probably the most competent branch, he says, but doesn't share intelligence. Bavier agrees: "The security and intelligence apparatus is entirely stove-piped." The scale of the attacks, and the subsequent discovery by police of new pick-up trucks in Kano wired to explode, suggests Boko Haram is not short of money. That in turn sparks another debate. Some analysts believe it is financing its activities through extortion and bank robberies. But the Nigerian government, the United Nations and U.S. officials say there is evidence Boko Haram is part of a wider west African jihadist movement, and has developed links with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. A U.N. report issued last week says arms smuggling throughout the region in the wake of the Libyan revolution is rampant. "Large quantities of weapons and ammunition from Libyan stockpiles were smuggled into the Sahel region," the report said. The weapons included rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and even anti-aircraft artillery. "Some of the weapons may be hidden in the desert and could be sold to terrorist groups like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Boko Haram or other criminal organizations," the U.N. report said.
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Philippe de Pontet of Eurasia says the increasing use of suicide bombings "speak to the real possibility that this movement is getting support, training and possibly finance from outside." But, he says, Boko Haram did not grow out of al Qaeda; nor is there any evidence of foreign fighters among its ranks. Campbell agrees, noting that its recent statements have not included jihadist slogans or anti-western rhetoric. While contacts with other groups are possible, there is no indication of close co-ordination. The U.N. report notes that "although Boko Haram has concentrated its terrorist acts inside Nigeria, seven of its members were arrested while transiting through Niger to Mali." They were allegedly carrying contact details for known al Qaeda members. Just as the jury is out on Boko Haram's relationship with global jihad, so there is great uncertainty about its aims and structure. Different spokesmen focus on different demands, and government officials have said there is no leadership or manifesto they can address. Last month, one Boko Haram spokesman demanded all Christians leave the north within three days, and a subsequent video made by Abu Bakr Shekau, railed against Christians. "They killed us, destroyed our mosques and displaced us," he said. "The Christian religion that you are practicing is not the religion of Allah; rather -- it is unbelief." But John Campbell, now with the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink," says it would be simplistic to regard Boko Haram as a cohesive group motivated mainly by animosity for Christians. There is a strand that follows the strict version of Islam preached by its founder, Mohammed Yousuf; there are opportunists who rob banks and traffic arms; and there are northern politicians drawing on the discontent that Boko Haram represents. Campbell and Bavier also point out that Boko Haram has frequently attacked figures in the wealthy Muslim establishment too -- accusing them of selling out to the federal government and not adhering to Sharia law. Bavier says many of the poor regard the traditional Muslim hierarchy as complicit in their misery. After the 2011 elections, crowds attacked and burned down the home of the Sultan of Sokoto, a pillar of the Muslim hierarchy who had supported Jonathan. Even if Boko Haram's aim is not to split Nigeria into religious camps, the effect of its violent attacks could be hugely divisive, according to de Pontet. "If they continue to escalate," he says, "they could tear apart the ethnic and sectarian tapestry of Nigeria in slow motion." Despite its many problems, Nigeria has natural wealth and a growth rate of 7%. Boko Haram is unlikely to have much impact on the broader economy, but Nigeria's boom is concentrated in the south and may lead to even greater inequality, and a still greater sense of grievance among the marginalized Muslim communities in the north.
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Jonathan's olive branch may be intended to avoid that risk. But there is considerable political pressure on him not to make concessions to terrorists. And there is every sign that some elements of Boko Haram prefer a future of extortion -- and explosions. ### 11 Boko Haram militants killed in Nigeria (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/africa/nigeria-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 January 28, 2012 By Nima Elbagir Nigerian security forces killed 11 suspected Islamic militants Saturday in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The militants belonging to Boko Haram died in a search operation, police said, a day after the group attacked a Mandawari police station in Kano province. Military forces have since cordoned off the area around the provincial capital of Kano, according to witnesses. Gunfire and tracer rounds could be heard and seen during the incident. The west African nation's inspector general of police was fired this week amid a rash of violence. In a single day this month, at least 211 people were killed in the city of Kano -an attack linked to Boko Haram, which has carried out multiple bombings and shootings across the north. On Thursday, gunmen shot and killed at least 16 people and burned their bodies in the northwestern state of Zamfara, according to an official who asked not to be named, citing security concerns. The incident occurred when about 100 armed men blocked a nearby highway, delaying vehicle traffic and taking hostages in the area, a restive region that borders Niger. Some of the hostages stormed the gunmen, resulting in a deadly shootout, the official said. ### Can talking to Boko Haram give peace a chance? (FRANCE 24) http://www.france24.com/en/20120127-nigerians-puzzle-over-goodluck-jonathanchallenge-boko-haram-islamist-youtube January 27, 2012 By Leela Jacinto

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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's challenge to the Boko Haram group to identify themselves and state their demands, surprised many Nigerians. Boko Haram's identity and demands are no secret. But can talks bring the peace Nigerians seek? When Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan challenged the militant Boko Haram Islamist group to identify themselves days after a series of deadly attacks in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, quite a few Nigerians were puzzled. Jonathan noted that if the Boko Haram group identified themselves and stated their demands, he would be amenable to negotiating with the terror group that has seriously threatened the security of Africas most populous nation. If they clearly identify themselves now and say this is the reason why we are resisting, this is the reason why we are confronting government or this is the reason why we destroyed some innocent people and their properties, why not, said Jonathan in an interview with Reuters Thursday. For most Nigerians, it was a rather strange statement. The identity of the group responsible for the deaths of thousands of Nigerians in the past decade is no secret. Whats more, most ordinary Nigerians would be able to parrot the groups demands. How do they know? Well, for starters, its because the clearly identified, self-promoting leader of the group periodically puts out audio and video statements explicitly stating the reasons for Boko Harams attacks and reiterating the groups long-term goals. The most recent statement by Boko Haram chief Imam Abubakar Shekau was released on YouTube days after the January 20 bombings in Kano killed 185 people. Shekau, the terror chief who came back from the dead, also released a videotaped message earlier this month warning Jonathan that his security forces were no match for his group. All of which, made Jonathans challenge to Boko Haram a bit baffling. If Jonathan thinks that by his call, the Boko Haram will jump into a train from Maiduguri [the northern Nigerian birthplace of the group] to Abuja [the Nigerian capital] to talk to him, I think hes wasting his time, said Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, in a phone interview with FRANCE 24. But Sani - a prominent human rights activist and mediator who has helped facilitate talks between the government and Boko Haram in the past - concedes that there was an underlying message in Jonathans latest statement. Jonathans call is an admission that the use of force has proven to be ineffective, he said. Its also the realization that calls for dialogue by people like me for years have proven to be the only viable option. Negotiations: The only solution
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Founded in Maiduguri around 2002, Boko Haram - which in the local Hausa language means Western education is sacrilege aims to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Muslim majority north and a Christian and animist south. Attacks by the group have multiplied since the deadly 2011 Christmas Day bombing of a church. At least 262 people have been killed in 2012, more than half of the estimated 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count. On Thursday, gunmen killed 15 traders in broad daylight and a German national was kidnapped in Kano in the latest incidence of violence. The violence has raised fears that the long-simmering divisions in the oil-rich nation could ignite a sectarian civil war and has increased the pressures on Nigerias embattled president. Nigerian community elders, including Christian leaders, have argued that negotiations with Boko Haram are the only sustainable way to meet the latest internal security challenge. There have been attempts at negotiations in the past, but they have failed due to the lack of political will in the Jonathan administration, according to Sani. Shortly after the August 2011 attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja, which killed at least 24 people, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to negotiate with moderate Boko Haram members. According to Sani, who was involved in the negotiations, some Boko Haram members could be amenable to dialogue but, they dont believe in the government being able to meet their demands and they have been proved right since their suggestions were ignored in favour of the use of force. Turkey as a possible mediator Boko Harams longstanding preconditions for dialogue has been the release of hundreds of prisoners - many of them held without charges as well as a return of seized property, the rebuilding of mosques and schools destroyed by security forces, and compensation to the families of Boko Haram members killed in security operations. Sani believes mediators are required for the talks to succeed. From my knowledge of the group, I think its possible to have a peace dialogue if there will be a peace conference hosted by a third country such as Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia, said Sani. Turkey, according to Sani, would be a particularly effective mediator since the philosophical and ideological basis of Boko Haram is founded on the teachings of Sheikh
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al-Islam ibn Taymiyah, a 13th century Turkish Islamic scholar who sought the return of Islam to earlier interpretations of the Koran. Boko Harams founder, the charismatic Mohammed Yusuf, paid tribute to the 13th century scholar by naming the mosque in his Maiduguri compound after ibn Taymiyah. The ibn Taymiyah mosque was destroyed in the 2009 security crackdown that resulted in the arrest and subsequent death in custody of Yusuf. Senior Nigerian officials are currently in negotiations with some Boko Haram members, according to a Wall Street Journal report. But details on the ongoing talks have not been released and it was not known if Nigerian authorities are seeking any third party moderator. Hes lying. He cannot do it Responding to Jonathans negotiations offer, Shekau, Boko Harams current chief, dismissed the suggestion in his audio message posted on YouTube Wednesday. He's lying. He cannot do it. If Jonathan does not repent as a Muslim, even if I die myself, Jonathan's going to see. He's looking at me like I'm nobody, but he'll see, said Shekau ominously. Tough talk like this does not inspire much confidence in Shekaus willingness or ability to negotiate. Martin Ewi, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, a Pretoria-based, panAfrican policy institute, maintains that as long as Shekau is controlling the shots, the prospects for a peace dialogue are bleak. If Shekau is captured or killed that will create disintegration within Boko Haram ranks and the government can create factions with which it will be able to negotiate, said Ewi. But if the leader is still there and if they have loyalty to him, its difficult to break the group. According to Ewi, the current push for dialogue is coming from the Nigerian elites and public. They are pushing Jonathan to negotiate even though Jonathan does not see the merit in it. But the way things are going now, I dont see how dialogue can happen. Unlike Ewi, Sani is more optimistic about the talks. When confronted with Boko Harams unrealistic hard-line agenda of imposing Sharia law across the multiethnic nation, Sani maintains that the solution lies in a short-term step-by-step process. Sharia law across Nigeria is not achievable, he explains. But if the government reaches an agreement to release Boko Haram members and a ceasefire, the government will have the moral upper-hand. Boko Haram has said it is attacking the police because
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its members have been detained. But if you free them, that will certainly make it difficult for Boko Haram to use it to justify their attacks. The problem though is whether Boko Harams attacks would stop if and when their demands are met. For many Nigerians, its worth the try. ### Nigeria's Boko Haram rejects call for talks (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212911219905729.html January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author A spokesman for the Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected a call by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for talks and threatened fresh attacks, if captured members of his group were not freed. "They should expect imminent attacks on Sokoto [a northwestern city] if they don't release our members," Abul Qaqa said on Saturday. President Jonathan has faced intense criticism for his failure to contain Boko Haram and in a media interview with Reuters news agency this week he urged the group to state its demands and begin dialogue. "If they clearly identify themselves now and say this is the reason why we are resisting... then there will be a basis for dialogue," Jonathan said in an interview with the Reuters news agency in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday. However in rejection to Jonathan's call, Qaqa said in a conference call with journalists in the northern city of Maiduguri, "we don't think dialogue is possible under the current situation." Qaqa cited a government assault on its members as reason for not engaging in talks. "The same day Goodluck Jonathan... said we should come out for dialogue, security agents in Sokoto arrested a large number of our members in raids on their homes," he said. Further attacks Qaqa said the group "will launch attacks in Sokoto similar to the big Kano attacks," if captured members of the group were not released. The January 20 attacks in Kano that killed 185 were the deadliest yet claimed by the group, whose assaults appear to be increasingly daring and have plunged Nigeria into a security crisis in several northern areas.
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In a message posted on the Internet, Boko Haram's purported leader, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau, said he had ordered those attacks because the government had tortured and illegally detained the group's members. Nigerian police raided an alleged Boko Haram hideout in Sokoto city on December 21, killing one suspect and arresting three others, according to a police account. Qaqa said the government had also arrested Boko Haram loyalists in Sokoto, which is the capital of a state of the same name. In August, gunmen attacked a police station in Tambuwal, a town in Sokoto state, killing four policemen and two civilians. Many of Boko Haram's recent attacks have struck police targets. ### US weighs response as extremist group expands reach across Nigeria (Stars and Stripes) http://www.stripes.com/news/us-weighs-response-as-extremist-group-expands-reachacross-nigeria-1.167077# January 29, 2012 By John Vandiver STUTTGART, Germany A series of high-profile attacks in Nigeria in recent weeks that claimed scores of lives appear to be focused on fueling instability and mistrust between the countrys Christian and Muslim communities, and there is growing concern that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram could be extending its reach and establishing links with other terrorist groups. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 253 people were killed in the first three weeks of 2012, including 185 killed in a series of attacks in the northern city of Kano, the nations second largest. Many of the attacks in the past month have specifically targeted Christians and southern Nigerians living in the north, Human Rights Watch said. But there is growing concern that Boko Haram could be seeking ties with other terrorist groups, making it a potential threat beyond the borders of Nigeria. A recent United Nations report on development in West Africa warned of growing concern in the region about possible linkages between Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an al-Qaida affiliated group in north Africa.

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The U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on homeland security also recommended in its own report that the U.S. increase its support for Nigerian counterterrorism efforts. It is critical that the U.S. work more closely with Nigerian security forces to develop greater domestic intelligence collection and sharing with the U.S. Intelligence Community, stated the House report, titled Boko Haram: Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland. Military cooperation is vital to a successful counterterrorism strategy. However, experts on the region caution that closer alignment of the U.S. with Nigerian security forces which experts say are in need of major reform and are known for brutality against civilians in the Muslim-dominated north could shift the focus of a locally oriented extremist group into a jihadist movement that sees the U.S. as its enemy. It also could generate more popular support for Boko Haram among much of Nigerias Muslim population, experts caution. In so far as the U.S. becomes identified with those security services, you are turning popular sentiment in an anti-American direction, said John Campbell, a Nigeria expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. [Boko Haram] rhetoric is very far away from al-Qaida rhetoric. While its quite a big threat to security in Nigeria, its not to the United States. Campbell, who has met with U.S. Africa Command leadership in Stuttgart to discuss the security challenges in Nigeria, said Boko Harams focus could shift if the U.S. decides to raise its military profile in Nigeria as it has in other parts of Africa. Sending in special operations forces to serve as trainers and advisers, like the Obama administration has done in the hunt for leaders of the rebel Lords Resistance Army in central Africa, or engaging in commando raids as it has in Somalia, would be a strategic blunder, Campbell said. Even if its just 20 troops you send, if it becomes known, you better watch out for bombs targeting the American Embassy, Campbell said. Still, while experts caution against putting a military face on the U.S. engagement in Nigeria, some lawmakers say the potential threat to the U.S. needs to be taken seriously. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., who chairs a homeland security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence, hosted a special hearing on Boko Haram in November aimed at raising awareness about the group. Chief among Meehans concerns, which also have been echoed by AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham, is the fear that Boko Haram is collaborating with other terror groups such as al-Qaida in the Maghreb. You see enhanced capacity and more sophisticated targeting [by Boko Haram], which could be an indication that it is receiving training from other organizations, Meehan told Stars and Stripes.
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Such developments pose both security and economic risks for the U.S., which relies heavily on Nigerian oil. If Nigerian infrastructure were targeted, there would be global ramifications, he said. I think there is an appreciation for the importance of Nigeria to the global energy supply, said Meehan, who added that the U.S. needs to think carefully about how it engages in Nigeria. We are cautious and prudent about the role we should be playing. U.S. Africa Command has engaged in limited training missions that include counterterrorism training, and AFRICOM officials confirmed that would continue in 2012. Military officials, however, have expressed frustration with the Nigerian military, which has a history of being unreceptive to U.S. military concepts of protecting the civilian population, some experts say. Its all based on the capacity of the Nigerians to absorb [the training], said Paul Lubek, a leading expert on Boko Haram at the University of California Santa Cruz. Ive been informed by people at the Pentagon that theyve trained special forces companies and they arent even being used. J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa program at the Atlantic Council, who also testified at the House hearing on Boko Haram in November, said the U.S. needs to lend support to Nigeria, though that shouldnt be in the form of more military engagement. Rather, what the Nigerians need most is assistance with policing and intelligence, which is probably best rendered by other U.S. government agencies, Pham said in an email. What AFRICOM in general and SOCAF (Special Operations Command Africa) in particular can do is continue with the efforts to assist Nigerias neighbors better secure their borders and assert internal control over their territories, thus denying Boko Haram the sanctuaries to which it has retreated when faced with Nigerian pressure, Pham said. Within Nigeria, Lubek said, security forces are viewed with suspicion. Nigerian forces tend to employ primitive tactics such as cordoning off areas to round up bearded men, according to Lubek. You cannot humiliate a population and not expect young men to be sympathetic to the insurgency, Lubek said. It is absolutely certain, the army in particular, theyre violating all the principles of counterinsurgency. They arent protecting the population, theyre torturing them. All that just creates support for Boko Haram. U.S. officials, while expressing a commitment to Nigerian counterterror efforts, also have voiced concerns about how Nigerian security forces treat civilians.
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We reiterate the importance of protecting innocent civilians in any law enforcement response to such attacks, said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, in a statement following the attacks in Kano. How the Nigerian leadership will respond to U.S. concerns is unclear. In an interview Thursday with Reuters, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he was open to talks with Boko Haram leadership, an offer rejected in an Internet post purportedly from the groups leader, according to media reports. He also acknowledged that his countrys response to the security challenge would need to include more development in part of the country where there is high youth unemployment. Military confrontation alone will not eliminate terror attacks, Jonathan told Reuters, adding that an enabling environment for young people to find jobs is also needed. Analysts agree that, in addition to diplomatic pressure, more focus is needed on development programs such as agricultural initiatives that could assist the impoverished population and counter any popular support Boko Haram enjoys in the north. To militarize this would be a fatal mistake, Lubek said. Much of the tension in Nigerias north is rooted in political conflict with the wealthier oil-rich Christian south. Those tensions were intensified when Jonathan, a Christian southerner, replaced Umaru Musa YarAdua, a northerner who died just three years into his presidential term in 2010. Jonathans election in 2011 also violated the conventional practice in which the presidency alternated between north and south every eight years. [Jonathan] broke that when he ran in 2011, which marginalized the northern part of the country, Campbell said. You add to that the progressive impoverishment of the north and you have a situation that is fueled by complex political and economic factors. For the U.S, working with civil society organizations in Nigeria, such as groups working for ethnic reconciliation, would be better than getting too close to Nigerian security forces that much of the Nigerian population fears, Campbell added. Weve got to be careful, Campbell said. Sometimes there are situations where the U.S. [military] should do absolutely nothing. ### Sudan looks to soothe oil dispute with South (Al Jazeera) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/20121281737789922.html January 28, 2012 By an unattributed author
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Sudan will release loaded oil tankers it had detained in its port, in an effort to end a dispute over oil payments with South Sudan, a Sudanese official has announced. Landlocked South Sudan began halting oil production last week after accusing Sudan of stealing $815mn worth of the south's oil. Sudan detained the oil tankers loading oil from the south in Port Sudan in response. But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir decided on Saturday to "release the vessels detained in Port Sudan as soon as possible", said Sayed al-Khatib, a spokesman for Sudan's negotiation team. Al-Khatib also said Bashir is ready to sign an agreement with South Sudan's president Salva Kiir "by the end of today''. Al-Khatib said all parties were ready to sign a deal alongside a meeting of East African leaders in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. "This would have meant that we could leave the crisis behind us,'' he said. Former foes The two leaders had met on Friday in Addis Ababa but the talks were unproductive. Sudan admits to taking oil from the South, but says it was to compensate for export fees and use of its refineries. The South this week began to halt oil production after it ordered a complete shutdown over the dispute with Khartoum. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Somali leader Sharif Sheik Ahmed, and Djibouti's Ismael Omar Guelleh also attended the talks in Addis Ababa. South Sudan split from Sudan in July, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the South's revenue. Separately, South Sudan said on Friday it had discovered new figures that it claimed showed the north had colluded with oil companies to provide lower production figures on paper than was actually being pumped from the ground. Stephen Dhieu Dau, the South's oil minister, said in some cases oil production was underreported by as much as 15 per cent. ### Sudan: Chinese held by rebels in South Kordofan (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16779426 January 29, 2012
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By an unattributed author Rebels in Sudan's volatile South Kordofan region say they are holding 29 Chinese workers who became caught up in a battle with the Sudanese army. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said the workers are safe and "in good health". China's foreign ministry confirmed that some of their nationals were missing, but did not specify how many. South Kordofan is one of three areas hit by conflict since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July. Abyei and Blue Nile along with South Kordofan lie along the loosely demarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan. The Chinese nationals are reported to have been working on road construction projects in the area. "Yes, we have captured them," Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the SPLM-N told the AFP news agency. "I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands." He said they were captured - along with nine Sudanese soldiers - after the SPLM-N attacked and destroyed a Sudanese military convoy in the area. Sudan's army said the rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company and captured 70 civilians. "Most of them are Chinese. They are targeting civilians," army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad told Reuters news agency. He said the army had launched an operation to rescue them. ### "The net tightens around Joseph Kony" (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joseph-kony-and-the-international-effort-tobring-him-to-justice/2012/01/26/gIQAYk04TQ_story.html January 27, 2012 By Michael Gerson DUNGU, Congo -- Francoise, age 16, talks quietly, revealing a shy smile only after praise for her tight cornrows. While walking to school four years ago, she and some classmates were captured by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The girls were distributed to soldiers as wives. In the mornings, Francoise cooked. In the afternoons,
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she carried packs on the march. When she tried to escape, the soldiers melted a water container and poured the plastic on her shoulders. Once, when the fighters saw two infants along the path, they crushed them with a pestle. I witnessed that, she says. She recalls seeing Joseph Kony maybe once a year. Kony is the leader of the LRA and perhaps the most hated and hunted man on earth. His followers, she explains, think that he is a supernatural being. He has a power over them. Francoise describes a six-week walk to an LRA camp in a remote part of the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR). Then the sounds of an attacking plane and helicopter. In the chaos, she escaped, arriving home just before Christmas. Her story is eyewitness confirmation of an important event. During the summer, Kony recalled his commanders to the CAR for his first major leadership meeting in two years. On Sept. 12, forces of Ugandas military (known as the UPDF) scattered the LRA fighters. Kony survived and fled. But the net around him tightens. The pursuit of the LRA ranges over 240,000 square miles of jungle terrain in three countries. According to officers at the Joint Intelligence and Operations Center in Dungu, there were more than 300 LRA attacks last year. Units operate in small bands both east and west of Dungu. But Kony is still thought to be in the CAR. Experts on the conflict speculate his current location to be somewhere west of the Chinko River, a few hours by helicopter from his pursuers nearest military outpost. During decades of fighting in the bush, Kony has been protected by a bodyguard of myths. His eyes are said to shine bright red. When he runs, his legs are invisible. His soldiers believe that they were created from Konys blood. They spill the blood of others without compunction. A few hundred of Konys fighters have turned a vast territory into a gathering place of fears. Organizations such as the Eastern Congo Initiative and Invisible Children are constructing an early-warning radio system to warn villages of impending attacks. United Nations peacekeepers protect civilians in Dungu and other towns. But for this region to be repaired, the LRA must be broken. Military forces of Congo and the CAR are incapable. So the task has fallen to Ugandan soldiers, advised by the U.S. military. More than 80 U.S. special operations forces have been deployed to forward operating bases in Congo, the CAR and South Sudan. Their mission is to provide intelligence and assistance to the Ugandan military, which has skilled trackers some of them formerly with the LRA on Konys trail. Over the past few months, the pressure has begun to tell. Small groups of LRA fighters continue attacks on civilians, mainly to secure supplies. But larger gatherings, such as the Sept. 12 meeting, risk disruption. LRA leaders know that mass civilian killings a traditional Kony tactic would call attention to their location. LRA forces have recently
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released some captive women and children. U.S. advisers view this as a sign of stress an attempt to lighten the load of a harried force. The Kony manhunt, however, faces complications. For political reasons, Congos government recently ordered Ugandan forces out of its territory, leaving the LRA with significant sanctuaries. The UPDF which is also fighting al-Shabab in Somalia is stretched thin. Ugandan operations in the CAR and South Sudan involve just a few transport helicopters and a single reconnaissance drone. The whole effort is hampered by a lack of tactical air support, airlift capacity and advanced communications. An American combat mission in this conflict is not contemplated. But the U.S. government should press Congo to readmit Ugandan troops pursuing the LRA. And the U.S. military could aid the UPDF with more advanced air and communications capabilities. A small, final push might remove the LRAs most capable leaders from the field. After a four-year nightmare, Francoise hopes to go back to school. Joseph Kony, the author of nightmares, remains at large in some jungle camp. He is not a supernatural being. He is human, and thus mortal. It is time to prove it. ### Early results show Kabila party leading parliamentary elections (AFP) http://www.france24.com/en/20120127-congo-republic-early-election-results-showpresident-kabila-party-leading-tshisekedi January 27, 2012 By an unattributed author AFP - Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila's party is leading the race for parliamentary seats, a provisional tally of votes cast in November polls showed overnight. Kabila's PPRD party has captured 58 of the 432 seats counted so far in the 500-seat parliament, according to provisional figures seen by AFP. The party had won 111 seats in the last elections in 2006. Second placed was opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's UDPS, with 34 seats. The UDPS had boycotted the 2006 polls, and its leader has denounced the November 28 elections as flawed. Among parties allied to the PPRD, four have obtained between a dozen and over twenty parliamentary seats, while in the opposition camp only two parties has achieved such numbers so far.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) is expected to unveil the remaining figures on Monday next week -- having announced on Tuesday it was postponing the announcement, due Thursday, "until further notice". Electoral candidates and observer groups have charged that polling and vote-counting was chaotic, while candidates have cried foul. In total, almost 19,000 candidates vied at the polls for 500 seats in the National Assembly of the DR Congo, a huge central African country that was wracked by two wars from 1997 to 2003. Eastern provinces are still conflict-ridden, partly over control of considerable mineral wealth. CENI came under heavy criticism in December when it announced the results of the presidential poll, which was held on the same day as the parliamentary elections. It gave victory to outgoing president Joseph Kabila, who first came to office in 2001 and was elected in the first post-war elections in 2006. He defeated Tshisekedi, who rejected the results and pronounced himself president-elect on December 24. The international community has denounced the elections as flawed. Foreign experts from two US groups have since January 5 been working with Congolese electoral officials on the legislative ballot's counting process in a bid to enhance the results' credibility and assuage fears of civil unrest. The CENI announced overnight that it had sought the annulation of elections in seven of the 169 voting districts due to incidents of violence or other interference. It would also recommend the prosecution of about 15 candidates accused of violence. ### Congolese women graduate from inaugural rape survival class (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/africa/congo-survivorsgraduation/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 January 29, 2012 By Faith Karimi An inaugural group of Congolese women graduated Saturday from a gender violence survivors program in the nation's east, where armed rebels roam the hills and rape residents. Eastern Congo residents -- including men and boys -- have faced brutal rapes for years, with the assailants thrusting chunks of wood and guns into them in some cases.
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As part of the program in Bukavu, 180 gender violence survivors took part in activities such as group therapy, dance classes, theater, self-defense and sex education. The six-month program, called City of Joy, also teaches leadership skills with hopes that the women will help bolster peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Upon their arrival, the faces of these women showed signs of despair, discouragement and loneliness," said Christine Deschryver, Congo director of the program. "Over time, they have, little by little, been helped to use their past difficulties as a source of empowerment. ... These women have moved from pain to power and will return to their homes ready to help revolutionize their communities." The program is run by V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls founded by Eve Ensler, the award-winning playwright and author of "The Vagina Monologues." Christine DeschryverCongo's program was created and developed by women on the ground and provides a platform to turn their pain to power, the group said. Eastern Congo is vast and poverty-stricken, but rich in resources such as diamonds, timber and copper. Large parts of the country lack authority, giving government soldiers and homegrown militias free rein to pillage and rape. A study in the American Journal of Public Health last year reported that 1,152 women -or 48 per hour -- are raped daily in Congo, a rate higher than previous estimates by aid agencies. The eastern region is also a hot spot for the so-called "conflict minerals," which led the United States to intervene after human rights groups said the resources are used to fund wars in the nation and neighboring countries. While Congo is among the nations with the largest United Nations peacekeepers, the forces have been ineffective in stopping rapes in the sprawling, remote region. Stability in Congo -- which borders nine countries -- is vital to Africa's Great Lakes area. The eastern region has undermined peace in the nation years after a 1998-2003 conflict left 5 million people dead. At the time, neighboring nations joined the civil war, arming rebel groups of choice to gain access to the vast resources. Some African soldiers later retreated, but some rebel groups remained and are mostly based in the east.
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### Mandela to return to Johannesburg from boyhood town (CNN) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/29/world/africa/south-africa-mandelahome/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 January 29, 2012 By an unattributed author Johannesburg (CNN) -- Nelson Mandela returns to Johannesburg on Sunday while his home in his childhood town -- where he's been living since last year -- undergoes repairs. Mandela grew up in Qunu in the eastern cape province, where he turned 93 in July surrounded by relatives. The former president -- affectionately known by his clan name Madiba -- last appeared in public in the closing ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was briefly hospitalized a year ago for acute respiratory infection, and continues to receive medical care at home. In a statement, President Jacob Zuma said Mandela "continues to be in good health" and urged the public to respect his privacy as he makes the transition to Johannesburg. Despite his rare appearances, Mandela retains his popularity and is considered the founding father and hero of South Africa's democracy. Under South Africa's apartheid regime, Mandela spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of sabotage and attempts to overthrow the government. He was released in 1990 and became president in 1994. ### Zuma: Commodity Price Fall Biggest Risk To Africa (FOX Business News) http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/26/zuma-commodity-price-fall-biggestrisk-to-africa/ January 26, 2012 By Polya Lesova DAVOS, Switzerland -- South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that a sharp fall in commodity prices poses the biggest risk to resource-rich African economies. "This could cause a severe shock," he said at a panel discussion on Africa at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Other risks are that some African nations borrow too much money to finance long-term projects and that people on the continent get disillusioned with democracy because they don't see the benefits, according to the South African leader. Zuma, who noted the fast pace of economic growth in Africa
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over the past 10 years, said the world should "interact with Africa to help Africa, not to help themselves." ### Dictators, Kleptocrats and Football (allAfrica) http://allafrica.com/stories/201201270100.html January 27, 2012 By Kamau Mutunga, The Africa Cup of Nations kicked off last week in Equatorial Guinea, one of the smallest countries in a continent that's never short of surprises. Teodorin Obiang, the playboy son of the country's president, promised the national team Sh87 million for a win against Libya -- in the opening match alone -- in a soccer fanfare that belies deeper problems that ought to be red-carded. Equatorial Guinea is co-hosting the tournament's 28th edition with Gabon, which has forked $500, 000 million towards the biennial soccer fiesta. Located in the western coast of Africa, Equatorial Guinea borders Cameroon and Gabon. It is the least ranked country in the Nations Cup at position 151 worldwide, and sits calmly behind war-torn Yemen and Samoa in the January 2012 Fifa rankings. Obiang, the Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, is famous for all the wrong reasons. He acquired a mansion in Malibu, a Gulfstream jet and Michael Jackson's white, crystalcovered glove last year. That didn't have him turning his pockets inside out. Instead, he promised a further $20,000 (Sh1.7 million) for every goal scored by the Nzalang Nacional (National Lightening), as the national team is christened. And Spanish-born Equato-Guinean midfielder Javier-Angel Balboa did not disappoint home fans when he slotted an 87th minute shot into the top corner of the goalpost, past Libyan goalie Samir Abboud, inside the 35,000-seater Bata Stadium in Bata, the former capital city. The National Lightening won its debut match against Libya with the solo goal and pocketed the $1,020,000. "They use money, I use mentality," Libya's Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta sneered before the game. A memorable quote this one. One, for its refreshing grammar. Two, for its echo of Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saadi, who in a way was the face of Italian football when money was not a problem.

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Anti-poverty activists have protested Obiang's Sh87 million offer in a country which, for eons, was a malaria-infested backwater teeming with gorillas (the mascot of the tournament), giant frogs, green mamba snakes and a population that lived on less than a dollar a day. That was before massive oil reserves were discovered off its Atlantic shores in 1995, whereupon the former Spanish colony ceased being the "armpit of Africa". Petrodollars from the production of 181,400 barrels a day, natural gas and other hydrocarbons account for more than 81 per cent of the government's $6.74 billion budget, according to the CIA World Fact Book. That windfall has pushed the average annual economic growth rate to 41 per cent, which, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is one of the fastest anywhere in the world. Adjusted for purchasing power, Equatorial Guinea has Africa's -- and one of the world's - highest per capita incomes, which rose from $590 (Sh50,000) in 1998 to $50,240 (Sh4 million) by 2005. But, unfortunately, notes the IMF country report, "this wealth has not even led to a measurable improvement in living conditions". Human Rights Watch says "the dictatorship of President Teondoro Obiang Nguema has used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people", and that the country is "locked in a harsh reality of repression and grinding poverty". Equatorial Guinea, Africa's third largest producer of oil after Nigerian and Angola, is ranked at the tail end of the United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI), which, in its assessment, notes that less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water, and that 20 per cent of children die before the age of five. Unicef lists life expectancy here at 51 years. While unemployment in the country of 676,000 people, according to 2009 estimates, stands at 22 per cent, the oil industry only employs slightly over 10,000 people, mostly expatriates, and only a mere 1.23 per cent of the GDP is spent on health services, notes Brendan McSherry in The Political Economy of Oil in Equatorial Guinea. The "resource curse" is such that oil money is spent on misguided projects. Like the construction of a new capital city, Malabo 2, instead of roads connecting villages, new schools or new hospitals. Corruption watchdog Transparency International slots the country, where oil revenues are a "state secret", in the top 10 list of most corrupt states in its 2010 Index starring Somalia, Burma and Afghanistan as the medal champs.
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Carmelo Modu, the marketing director for the 2012 Cup of Nations, told Associated Press that Equatorial Guinea is "a whole country under construction", and that the Cup of Nations will "show the word what we are trying to do". Teodorin Obiang's father, the gaunt 68-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, was in the stadium during the opening ceremony. The Chairman of the African Union is one of Africa's longest serving heads of state, having ascended to the presidency in a bloody 'Coup of Freedom' in 1979 against President Francisco Macias Nguema, his uncle. 'Papa Macias', a bhang smoker, had led the country since it gained independence in 1968. But his autocratic rule was punctuated by megalomaniacal sideshows: He had the governor of the central bank killed before he carted what was left in the public coffers to his pad in his rural village, and almost a third of the country was exiled and 65,000 people murdered, according to the Time magazine issue of August, 1979. But brutality was never going to thwart the dictator's appointment with destiny. A coup led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who was a lieutenant colonel and director of the Black Beach Prison, was imminent. President Macias, Leader of Steel, The Sole Miracle of Equatorial Guinea, The Grand Master of Education, Science and Culture and President for Life was abandoned by the army, captured in a forest, imprisoned, tried in a military tribunal and executed. But President Obiang Nguema, the "liberator", did not bring democracy and freedom to Equato-Guineans. Today, he has one of the world's worst human rights records, according to Human Rights Watch. Petrodollars have helped him consolidate his criminal regime, he condones toxic waste dumping, drug trafficking, pirate fishing, arms and aircraft smuggling and forced child labour, writes Robert Klitgaard in Tropical Gangsters. Klitgaard worked for the World Bank in Equatorial Guinea, where opposition politicians are exiled and dissenters jailed at the torture hellhole that is the notorious Black Beach Prison in Malabo, the current capital city of 150,000 people, according to 2009 estimates. President Nguema's government teems with blood relations: the head honcho of the oil business is Gabrial, Nguema's brother; the inspector general of the Armed forces is his cousin; while his Esangui clan chokes various posts in the civil service. In 2004, Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Premier Margaret Thatcher, wired $285,000 -- according to South African police -- to mercenaries to help topple and replace President Nguema with opposition leader Severo Moto, who is exiled in Spain. The coup was thwarted by soldiers loyal to President Nguema. South African Mercenary leader Nick du Toit, who had been promised millions of oil money and concessions if the coup succeeded, is serving 34 years in Black Beach Prison.
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Thatcher pleaded guilty and was handed a five-year suspended sentence and fined $560,000 by a South African court in exchange for his confession that saw him escape extradition to Equatorial Guinea. So why are such countries allowed to spend millions of public money to host the Nations Cup? Well, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has, in its pitch-hardened wisdom, a policy of encouraging "new" countries to host the Africa Cup of Nations as a way of forcing their governments to build sports infrastructure whose budgets "could otherwise not have been found". CAF uses the tournament as an investment tool, hoping new roads, hotels, airports and media exposure will drive tourism and business, long after the final whistle. And with each new edition, the Cup of Nations has become an important economic glove in the hand of infrastructure development in host nations. But EG Justice, an independent voice of reform in Equatorial Guinea, has warned that "the government hopes the recently completed luxury hotels, golf resorts and shiny monuments will disguise the grinding poverty that dominates the lives of most people in the oil-rich nation. They must not be allowed to get away with this deception". And as Equatorial Guinea shows off its oil wealth amidst festering poverty, Gabon, the co-host, fares slightly better. Oil was discovered there in the early 1970s, relegating dependency on timber and manganese. Oil accounts for 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product that sees Gabon enjoy a per capita income that is four times that of most sub-Saharan countries, according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). But 70 per cent of the citizens remain dirt-poor due to high-income inequalities and financial mismanagement that has seen the richest 20 per cent receive over 90 per cent of the income, says UNDP. That stain aside, and since gaining independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had two presidents, a pointer to its political stability, besides boasting some of the best medical facilities in West Africa: About 90 per cent of the 1.5 million people -- the lowest population density in Sub-Saharan Africa -- had access to healthcare (an estimated 29 doctors per 100,000) by 2004, says UNDP. Gabon, slotted 77th in the Fifa ranking, is parading The Panthers, the national team that thrashed Niger 2-0 in their opener at the new 40,000-seater d'Angondje Stadium, which was built with the help of the Chinese government and will host the finals.
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### Nations Cup: Ghana beat Mali 2-0 (BBC Sport) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/16776880.stm January 28, 2012 By Stephen Fottrell Dede Ayew and Asamoah Gyan grabbed a goal each for Ghana against Mali Ghana are on the brink of a place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Mali. Asamoah Gyan opened the scoring for the Black Stars with a beautifully struck free-kick from just outside the area. Andre 'Dede' Ayew then wrong-footed the Mali defence before slotting home at the near post, after a clever back-flick from Gyan. Mali were unlucky not to score earlier through Cheick Diabate's free-kick, which struck the Ghana woodwork twice. The match in Franceville was a cagey affair in the first-half between two experienced Nations Cup sides. Both teams also picked up a number of yellow cards, with the young Ghana defensive centre-half pairing of John Boye and Jonathan Mensah living dangerously. Mensah was in the side in place of his namesake, captain John Mensah, who was suspended after picking up a red card in Ghana's 1-0 win over Botswana.(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16703214.stm) And the 21-year-old Mensah was lucky to only see yellow for a thumping challenge on Diabate, who stepped up for the resulting free-kick himself, only to see his chipped shot hit both posts after beating Kwaresey. Abdou Traore was then unable to convert the follow-up. Ghana increased their intensity in the second half and got the breakthrough, with Asamoah Gyan opening his 2012 Nations Cup account in some style. The Al-Ain striker curled in a free-kick from just outside the area to Diakite's left, with the pace and curl on the ball leaving the Mali keeper rooted to the spot. Mali responded by taking off Cheick Diabate and sending on Garra Dembele, and should have equalised immediately through striker Modibo Maiga.

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Kwarasey, who looked uncomfortable in the Ghana goal all night, ended up stranded after coming for a corner and opened the goal up for Maiga to head home, but the striker could only nod it just over. That missed opened the door for Ghana to hit back and double their lead, which they duly did through BBC African Footballer of the Year(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16202312.stm) Ayew. Gyan back-flicked deftly into the midfielder's path, before the Marseille man did the rest himself, wrong-footing the Malian defence, before switching feet skilfully and firing home with his left at the near post. The second goal effectively killed off the tie, as Mali had no response and paved Ghana's path through to the last eight, where they join fellow pre-tournament favourites Ivory Coast(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16752181.stm) . Ghana head Group D on six points, but it will go down to the last game as both Guinea and Mali could still theoretically qualify. ### END REPORT

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