United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 9 May 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see below news review for May 9, 2012. Of interest in today's clips: -- Obama Invites Four African Leaders to G-8 Summit -- Al-Qaeda's Strategy Evolves -- Somali Rebels Shell Peacemakers, Nine Dead -- Tunisia Rejects U.S. Interference in Morality Trial U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil DSN (314) 421-2687 or commercial +49-(0)711-729-2687

Headline Obama Invites Four Africa Leaders

Date

Outlet

05/09/2012 Africa Review

US President Barack Obama has invited four African Leaders to Camp David for a G-8 Summit to be held on May 19.

Al Qaeda's BombMakers Evolve, 05/09/2012 CNN Adapt and Continue to Plot

Three months before he was killed by a U.S. drone strike, Fahd al Quso, one of al Qaeda's top operatives in Yemen, spoke at length to a local journalist. He was asked why al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had stopped plotting against the United St...

Somali Rebels Shell Peacekeepers, at Least Nine Dead

05/09/2012 Reuters

Islamist rebels armed with mortars and machine guns attacked African Union forces in Somalia's capital Mogadishu overnight, sparking a battle that killed at least nine people, officials and residents said on Tuesday.

Tunisia Rejects US "Interference" in 05/09/2012 Reuters Morality Trial

TUNIS - Tunisia has rejected as "interference in Tunisian justice" U.S. complaints that the conviction of a television boss in a blasphemy trial raised new fears over free expression.

Somalia Rushes to Make up for Lost 05/09/2012 Africa Review Time

Is the samosa the devil's food? Is the stuff inside it kosher? Is its triangle shape Zionist? These are unusual questions to ask about the humble samosa, but the Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia did.

Mortar Lands on Mogadishu Homes, 05/09/2012 AFP Kills 7

MOGADISHU - Seven civilians were killed and nine wounded after a mortar shell was fired into a crowded neighbourhood of the Somali capital Mogadishu, official and witnesses said Tuesday.

Darfur Blast - 4 Children Dead

05/09/2012 SAPA

KHARTOUM - Four children were killed and four others were wounded when leftover munitions exploded in Sudan's Darfur region, the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission (Unamid) told AFP on Monday.

The AU Must be Proactive

05/09/2012 Herald

President Nelson Mandela in his Long Walk to Freedom said, "I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that ther...

Military Raid in North Nigeria City of Kano Leaves 4 05/09/2012 AP Suspected Islamic Sect Members Dead
KANO, Nigeria -- Nigeria's military says soldiers killed four suspected members of a radical Islamist sect during a raid.

United Nations News Centre Africa Briefs

05/09/2012

United Nations News Centre

- Secretary-General recommends gradual drawdown of UN mission in Liberia - Security Council warns of sanctions if Guinea-Bissau political crisis continues - UN tribunal for Rwandan genocide commutes convicts' life sentence on appeal

News Headline: Obama Invites Four Africa Leaders |

News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: US President Barack Obama has invited four African Leaders to Camp David for a G-8 Summit to be held on May 19. The four leaders will take part in the discussion session on accelerating progress towards food security in Africa, according to the White House Press release. Chairperson of the African Union and President of Benin Yayi Boni, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete and Ghana's President Atta Mills will be attending the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in the US. Reacting to Tanzania's President invitation, so far the only one in East Africa, the Director of the Tanzanian President's Communication, Mr Salva Rweyemamu, said the country was among the initiators of Grow Africa. The international community has been following President Kikwete's decisions aimed at transforming agriculture, Mr Rweyemamu said. In Tanzania, the government has established the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) under Agriculture First initiative. SAGCOT was initiated at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa summit 2010 with the support of founding partners including farmers, agri-business, the Government of Tanzania and private sector companies SAGCOT's objective is to foster inclusive, commercially successful agribusiness that will benefit the region's small-scale farmers, and in so doing, improve food security, reduce rural poverty and ensure environmental sustainability. G8 is a group of eight industrialised countries; namely France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan, the US and Russia.
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News Headline: Al Qaeda's Bomb-Makers Evolve, Adapt and Continue to Plot | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: CNN News Text: By Paul Cruickshank Three months before he was killed by a U.S. drone strike, Fahd al Quso, one of al Qaeda's top operatives in Yemen, spoke at length to a local journalist. He was asked why al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had stopped plotting against the United States. Was it because all efforts were devoted to an internal project? "The war didn't end between us and our enemies. Wait for what is coming," al Quso replied. It seems al Quso, the head of the group's external operations, wasn't bluffing, after the recent discovery of a device designed to be carried aboard an airliner by a suicide bomber without detection. Terror plot foiled U.S. officials describe the device as an evolution of the bomb smuggled aboard a U.S.-bound plane on Christmas Day 2009 by a young Nigerian, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab.

Was foiled bomb plot leaked? Bergen: Bomb maker is 'most dangerous' Bomb similar to 'underwear bomber' The device used in terror plot On that occasion, according to bomb disposal experts, the passengers on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit were very lucky. But al Qaeda's master bombmaker in Yemen, a young Saudi named Ibrahim al-Asiri, was not deterred. Within months, he had designed a device to be hidden inside a printer and sent as air freight to the United States. Only a last-minute intelligence tip from Saudi Arabia led to the discovery of two bombs hidden inside laser printers. Dispatched from Yemen's capital, Sanaa, one had reached an airport in England and was so well-disguised that the first examination of the printer by British police failed to detect the bomb. An evolving capability It's not clear whether al-Asiri built the most recent device, nor have U.S. officials described how it differed from the Christmas Day bomb. One official said that like the earlier device, it was "non-metallic" and therefore much harder for airport security scanners to detect. "It is clear that AQAP is revamping its bomb techniques to try to avoid the causes of the failure of the 2009 device," the official said. Security Clearance blog: Al Qaeda's biggest threat This time, it seems that good intelligence rather than luck foiled the plot. According to White House Chief Counterterrorism Adviser John Brennan, the device never got near an airport. That implies at least that if it left Yemen, it did so overland. But as another official acknowledged, there is no knowing whether other similar bombs may be out there. And as Brennan appeared to acknowledge, intelligence is a key asset when airport security systems are not foolproof in the face of an adaptive adversary. "Being able to take action before any of these IEDs can make their way to an airplane or airport is instrumental in terms of being able to disrupt these types of attacks before they get under way," he told NBC on Tuesday. Al Qaeda's zone of immunity Over the past year, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has carved out what might be termed a zone of immunity in southern Yemen, far beyond the reach of an ever-weakening state. According to one U.S. counterterrorism official, "Those territorial gains have allowed the group to establish additional training camps." Saudi counterterrorism officials believe that the group has taken a back seat in the fighting in Yemen and has instead taken advantage of the breathing space opened by jihadist advances to build up its cell structure and a network of safe houses, according to Mustafa Alani, director of terrorism and security studies at the Gulf Research Center. The most recent edition of the group's online magazine, Inspire, published last week, boasted that a modest laboratory in a rural area of Yemen had produced both the Christmas Day and printer bombs. Now, the article continued, "AQAP has obtained a large deal of chemicals from military laboratories after they conquered Zinjibar (a town on the Arabian Sea) and other towns and cities." The modest lab had been transformed into a modern one, with no "wearisome measures" needed to obtain large amounts of chemicals for explosives. While there is probably a good deal of bluster in the claims made in Inspire, intelligence

officials say al Qaeda's bomb-makers should not be underestimated. The design of the Christmas Day bomb was ingenious, according to counterterrorism officials. A specially sewn pouch in AbdulMutallab's underwear contained the main PETN explosive charge, which was connected to a detonator. The initiation for the device was a syringe in his underwear filled with two easily obtainable chemicals: potassium permanganate and ethylene glycol. PETN is a white, odorless powder than cannot be detected by most X-ray machines. AbdulMutallab revealed to the FBI in his initial interview that he wore the underwear device on several flights during an almost three-week journey through Africa before traveling from Lagos to Amsterdam. As Northwest 253 made its final approach to Detroit, he plunged the syringe, mixing the two chemicals and setting them afire. According to the prosecution, this flame set off the detonator, but the PETN main charge was not detonated. Instead, some of it started burning, creating a fireball on AbdulMutallab's lap. An explosives expert says that a likely explanation for the failure of the underwear device to fully detonate was wear and tear during AbdulMutallab's lengthy transit through Africa. When the device was later examined, al-Asiri's fingerprints were found on it. And it wasn't just innovative bomb-making that gave Western intelligence pause in the aftermath of the Christmas Day plot. It emerged at AbdulMutallab's trial that the FBI found a slip of paper in his shoes on which was written an encryption code. According to the prosecution, this was a password for encryption software used by al Qaeda given to him so he could communicate online with his handlers before boarding Flight 253. Troublingly for Western counterterrorism officials, the documents were encrypted using software easily downloaded from the Internet. The messages do not appear to have been intercepted by Western intelligence agencies. Printer bombs According to security sources, the printer bombs delivered to UPS and FedEx offices in Sanaa in October 2010 were a further advance. Even when one of the suspect printers was isolated in the UK (after two flights), the bomb was not detected by specially trained dogs or an X-ray scanner. There were 400 grams of the high explosive PETN inside the ink cartridge. "The toner cartridge contains the toner which is carbon-based and that is an organic material. The carbon's molecular structure is close to that of PETN," al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula boasted later. The bomb had been timed to explode when the plane scheduled to carry it would likely have been over the eastern seaboard of the United States, according to UK authorities. But the bomb squad had inadvertently defused the device when they had lifted the printer cartridge out. A few weeks after the incident, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins asked Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole whether the bombs would have been detected by the country's current security system. "In my professional opinion, no," Pistole replied. It was the most sophisticated al Qaeda device that Western counterterrorism officials had ever seen, and they said it had the potential to bring down a plane. One of al Qaeda's aims is -- and long has been -- to force the West to spend ever larger sums on aviation security. "(Our goal was to) force upon the West two choices: You either spend

billions of dollars to inspect each and every package in the world or you do nothing and we keep trying again," al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said after the package bomb plot. Small amounts of PETN in check-in luggage, checked bags, and small cargo packages can be detected by the latest generation of trace detection equipment and advanced X-ray systems. But Kevin Riordan, technical director at Smiths Detection, a leading producer of explosive detection systems, said last year that al Qaeda can take steps to hide devices from even the latest equipment. "We'd have to say there is always a way through," he said. "The risk is never removed totally." Body scanners The TSA responded to the the underwear bombing attempt by introducing a new generation of body scanners at the most busy U.S. airports, in an iniative that has proven controversial with the U.S. public. More than 570 are now in operation at 130 U.S. airports. Not all passengers at these airports pass through the detectors. These scanners use advanced imaging technology (known as AIT) to detect anomalies in mass. According to a former senior U.S. security official, the machines have boosted security, but are no panacea. The former official told CNN the machines have a good chance of detecting PETN inside an underweartype device -- perhaps in the order of 80 to 90% -- but cannot guarantee detection. The former official said that due to their high cost, the machines had yet to be installed at many smaller feeder airports in the United States and that overseas airports were also lagging behind in introducing body scanners. While some airports in Europe and other major international hubs had introduced AIT technology, many overseas airports were still relying on a combination of physical search and walk-through metal detectors. The former official told CNN that AIT body scanners would have little chance of detecting so called "body-bombs." In summer 2009, al Asiri fitted out his own brother with a device designed to be inserted in his rectum in a failed attack on the head of Saudi counterterrorism. Insiders in the field of explosive detection are not confident that current detection machines can guarantee detection of all the different emerging devices being developed by bomb-makers like al Asiri, the former official said. The former official expected the TSA to react to the recent threat stream by introducing more physical searches. The former official said they believed the TSA would also need to rely more heavily on behavioral profiling in the future. But given the lack of guarantees when it comes to detection, the former official stressed the hope of U.S. counterterrorism services was always to thwart plots through intelligence gathering before an operative had an opportunity to try to board a plane. The Pakistan connection? Just how al-Asiri became an expert bomb-maker is not clear, though he did study chemistry at a Saudi university. But two years ago, the governor of Marib province in Yemen, Ahmad al Maseeri, told an interesting story. He claimed that a Pakistani expert had trained members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on ways to build and detonate explosive devices. The Pakistani died at some point in 2009, al Maseeri told a Yemeni newspaper, perhaps in an explosives accident. The account has never been confirmed and the bomb-maker never identified. By then, al-Asiri was becoming an accomplished bomb-maker "He is, in fact, undoubtedly one of, if not the largest threats that we face right now," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. "He's smart, determined and quite secretive about his

activities." Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism service believes that al-Asiri has trained several apprentices in how to make sophisticated PETN-based bombs. "They understand that Asiri is going to be killed or captured one day," Alani said. "We're talking about a new generation of very skillful bomb builders and very committed people."
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News Headline: Somali Rebels Shell Peacekeepers, at Least Nine Dead | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: By James Macharia

Islamist rebels armed with mortars and machine guns attacked African Union forces in Somalia's capital Mogadishu overnight, sparking a battle that killed at least nine people, officials and residents said on Tuesday. The al Shabaab militants, who are allied to al Qaeda, were forced out of most of the city last year but have kept up sporadic bomb and suicide attacks. "It was heavy fighting last night ... Two al Shabaab dead bodies are lying here," said Captain Ndayiragije Come, a spokesman from the Burundi contingent of the AU's AMISOM peacekeeping mission in Somalia. "From our side two were injured. They were also shelling our position - they missed their target," he added. Witnesses said shelling from the fighting hit two houses, killing at least seven civilians, four of them from one family. "A big shell landed on a house made of iron sheets. The father, mother and their two sons died, only two children survived with injuries," resident Abdi Gaas told Reuters. "Another shell landed on a nearby house. A mother and her son died. The fragments of the shell killed a boy in another house, we are now burying 7 people," he added. A Reuters reporter saw the dead bodies of seven civilians. No one was immediately available to comment from al Shabaab. The rebel group has waged a bloody five-year campaign to topple Somalia's Western-backed government and impose its harsh interpretation of Islamic law (sharia). The rebels continue to hold swathes of central and southern Somalia but are being squeezed out of some areas by Kenyan and Ethiopian troops, which have launched incursions inside Somalia in support of the beleaguered government. Somalia has been mired in chaos since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The overnight fighting took place in Mogadishu's northern Daynile district, the rebels' last

position after they withdrew from the capital last year, under pressure from AMISOM and Somali government troops. Daynile has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu. In October, the AU said it had lost 10 Burundian peacekeepers in fighting there, but Reuters witnesses said they saw a significantly higher number of bodies. The African troops are keen to keep their hold on the district to help them launch an offensive against the nearby rebel strongholds of Elasha, Lafole and Afgoye. (Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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News Headline: Tunisia Rejects US "Interference" in Morality Trial | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: TUNIS - Tunisia has rejected as "interference in Tunisian justice" U.S. complaints that the conviction of a television boss in a blasphemy trial raised new fears over free expression. U.S. ambassador Gordon Gray said on Thursday he was disappointed that a Tunisian court had fined Nabil Karoui, head of private television station Nessma, 2,400 dinars for broadcasting the animated film "Persepolis", which it found was an attack on moral values and a risk to public order. In his statement, the U.S. ambassador said he hoped the case would be "resolved in a manner which guarantees free expression" when Karoui appeals the verdict. Tunisia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement late on Monday it would not accept interference in the justice system. "The Tunisian government expressed deep surprise at the statement of the U.S. ambassador in which he said he was disappointed by the ruling in the Nessma TV case," it said in a statement published on the official news agency. "The Tunisian government respects the independence of justice, in accordance with international standards and that the freedom of expression in Tunisia is a legitimate right," it said, adding that relations between the United States and Tunisia should be based on respect for sovereignty. Tunisia is struggling to balance religious sensitivities with newfound freedom of expression nearly 18 months after its revolution ousted veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who severely restricted political and media freedoms. The case against Karoui, a staunch secularist, followed Nessma's broadcast last year of "Persepolis", an award-winning film about a girl growing up in Iran. The film includes a scene depicting God, which is forbidden in Islam, and enraged some conservative Salafi Islamists who subsequently attacked the station. The film traces the trajectory of the Iranian revolution, which ultimately transformed Iran into an Islamic Republic. Many Tunisians interpreted the broadcast of the film, shortly before Tunisia's first post-revolutionary elections brought an Islamist party into power, as a political message and a provocation.

The fine was less severe than the prison term Karoui's Islamist opponents had demanded and substantially less than the three year maximum sentence carried by the charges. However, the whole prosecution was criticised by rights groups, including Amnesty International, from the outset.
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News Headline: Somalia Rushes to Make up for Lost Time | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: By Charles Onyago Is the samosa the devil's food? Is the stuff inside it kosher? Is its triangle shape Zionist? These are unusual questions to ask about the humble samosa, but the Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia did. Their verdict was that there was something suspiciously infidel about the samosa, so this worldwide favourite and age-old snack was banned in the areas under their control. In most of the Somali capital Mogadishu, there was no samosa on sale. Now that all the 16 districts of Mogadishu are under the control of the African Union peacekeeping force Amisom, the samosa is back. We were driving by a thriving market in Mogadishu when a Kenyan consultant with Amisom told me the story of the close call the samosa had. Its comeback has been bold. At the corner of the market I saw a vendor sitting behind the largest piles of samosa and mandazi I have ever seen. They basked in their glittering brown majesty under Mogadishu's unforgiving sun. Ingenuous power suppliers It was another example of the fascinating tales of Mogadishu and Somalia. In the night, there are quite many places that are lit. However, we all know that there is nothing like Kenya's KenGen or Kenya Power in Somalia. Trust the Somali, they have come up with a new energy and utilities model. Every street or neighbourhood in Mogadishu has a wealthy and shrewd businessman who has a generator and/or a massive underground water tank, who supplies anything between 20 to 50 homes and establishments near him. That close proximity means you can literarily shout over the fence to your electricity provider if your power is off. Because of this proximity, customer care is intimate and excellent. I gather these electricity suppliers provide a service that is several times better than the big utility companies anywhere else in East Africa. Now that things are beginning to normalise in Mogadishu, I was told the government is holding

talks with dozens of these mini water and electricity providers for a public-private partnership to provide the services. Somalia looks set to have the worlds most unusual energy and water sectors. But will Somalia ever normalise enough for this experiment to happen? At a minimum, the Al-Shabaab would first have to be totally defeated. One cannot be sure that all the pronouncements about the militants being on the run are not borne out of hope, rather than reality. One man who thinks Al-Shabaab is in its dying stages is Amisoms Col Kayanja Muhanga. Col Muhanga heads a battle group of the Uganda troops in Amisom based at the once fabulous but now bullet-riddled Mogadishu Stadium. He explained that part of the Al-Shabaabs strength used to be its technical competence at bomb making, battlefield tactics, and such things. A lot of that was provided by nearly 600 foreigners Americans, Britons, Kenyans, Ugandans, Nigerians, Afghanis, Iraqis, and Pakistanis in its ranks. Most of these had either fled, been killed, or captured, he said. The most objective measure of the Al Shabaabs decline, he offered, was that since the beginning of the year there had been 15 premature bombs that killed suicide bombers before they got to their targets. New freedom The old Shabaab, he said, wouldnt have been that sloppy. I thought he had a point. He should know. In the stadium there is a giant thick metal plate. It is the kind of metal used to build the bodies of the casspir armoured cars and the tanks Amisom uses in Mogadishu. The Shabaab used it to test the most effective bullets at piercing through the casspirs and tanks. There are a couple of bullets that had made clean holes through the thick metal plate. These Shabaab chaps were not boy scouts. Meanwhile, the city is enjoying its newfound peace. A few weeks ago, it had its first bicycle race in 20 years. Mogadishuans have also returned to the beaches, the first time they have been able to do so in 10 years. The men are free to frolic in the water in shorts and bare chest. Not so the womenthis is not Mombasa. Because of strict dress code, the women have to cover their hair and upper body parts, but the younger ones are permitted to wear knee-high leggings. Apparently in the Middle Eastern countries where there are similar dress rules, some clever designers have developed some elegant beach wear for women that the mullahs and sheikhs approve of. I was told it is called the burkini (a combination of burka and bikini). The best measure of sentiment in places like Mogadishu, of course, is not from the soldiers or politicians, but businessmen.

I spoke to a Somali working with an international NGO, who doubles as a real estate developer and land speculator. He told me that properties that were selling for $50,000 a year ago in Mogadishu are now going for $500,000ten times higher. It was getting difficult to find good land to buy in Mogadishu, he mourned. However, opportunities had opened further afield. There was a rush for land in Baidoa, which was captured by the Ethiopians in February, and is now being taken over by Uganda contingent. He had bought 10 acres there recently, he told me with a satisfied grin. Business is booming at Mogadishu seaport too. About 70 ships and big boats dock at the port every month. The buildings at the port were hollowed out over the years of war. The port authority has rebuilt them. However, it still doesnt have money to buy the expensive loading equipment and cranes. Where then did all the loading equipment at the port come from, we ask a port official. From Somali businessmen, he said. Where did they get them from? we asked. Oh, some of it was looted from the port during the wars. We are happy to hire them back from them, he said, it is more important to keep the peace. Indeed.
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News Headline: Mortar Lands on Mogadishu Homes, Kills 7 | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: News24 News Text: MOGADISHU - Seven civilians were killed and nine wounded after a mortar shell was fired into a crowded neighbourhood of the Somali capital Mogadishu, official and witnesses said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear who was behind the shelling late on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks in the anarchic capital, where diehard al-Qaeda allied Shabaab insurgents have launched guerrilla assaults on the government. "Seven people were killed and nine others injured, it was a disaster that shocked everyone," said Dahir Adan, a witness. "Four of the victims were my close relatives. A mother, father and their two sons have all died and two others were injured. We don't know where the mortar round came from," said Abdikarin Gaas, who lives near the scene of the attack. Somali security officials said they were investigating. The Islamist Shabaab abandoned most of their fixed positions in Mogadishu in August, but have vowed to continue to battle the Western-backed government, who are protected by an 11 000 strong African Union force.

Despite the series of attacks, much of Mogadishu has been relatively peaceful since the Shabaab pull out, with businesses resuming, buildings being renovated and people able to move about more freely. The seaside capital has suffered the worst of Somalia's 21 years of chaos that erupted with the ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre. In recent months, the international community has revamped efforts to resolve the protracted unrest that has resulted in the country being carved up by warlords, extremist militia and pirates ruling vast regions. With the term of the current transitional government due to expire in August, Somali leaders are working to establish a new administration which it is hoped will have a nationwide authority.
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News Headline: Darfur Blast - 4 Children Dead | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: News24 News Text: KHARTOUM - Four children were killed and four others were wounded when leftover munitions exploded in Sudan's Darfur region, the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission (Unamid) told AFP on Monday. A Unamid spokesperson said the incident occurred when a UXO (unexploded ordnance) detonated in Jealjeala, 60km from the West Darfur state capital El Geneina. He could not immediately give other details, including exactly when the blast happened. The UN estimates that at least 300 000 people have died as a result of the Darfur conflict, which began in 2003 when rebels from non-Arab tribes in Sudan's far west rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime. The Sudanese government puts the death toll at 10 000. Elsewhere in Sudan, the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said last month it had received reports that three children died in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, when they found a UXO which then detonated. Government troops have been battling rebels in South Kordofan since last June.
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News Headline: The AU Must be Proactive | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Herald News Text: By Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa Minister of Home Affairs President Nelson Mandela in his Long Walk to Freedom said, I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended. And so continues our long walk as the Continent to both political unity and economic liberation. I would also like to quote extensively from the acceptance speech of the first Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity during its launch in 1963, Haile Salassie. I do so because a lot of what was said then is still very relevant today: We name as our first great task the final liberating of those Africans still dominated by foreign exploitation and control, continuing that, Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free. Our brothers in the Rhodesias, in Mozambique, in Angola, in South Africa, cry out in anguish for our support and assistance. Continuing he said, As we renew our vow that all of Africa shall be free, let us also resolve that old wounds shall be healed and past scars forgotten...memories of the past injustice shall not divert us from the more pressing business at hand. We must live in peace with our former colonisers, shunning recrimination and bitterness and forswearing the luxury of vengeance and retaliation, lest the acid of hatred erode our souls and poison our hearts. Going on he said, History teaches us that unity is strength and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to the true African brotherhood and unity. The first task of ensuring the liberation of those Africans still under colonial rule has been virtually achieved. Selassie went further to define the second task which was, Unity is the accepted goal. We argue about means; we discuss alternative paths to the same objective; we engage in debates about techniques and tactics. But when semantics are stripped away, there is little argument among us. We are determined to create a union of Africans...it is our duty and privilege to rouse the slumbering giant of Africa. He continued, But while we agree that the ultimate destiny of this continent lies in political union, we must at the same time recognise that the obstacles to be overcome in its achievement are at once numerous and formidable. Africa's peoples did not emerge into liberty in uniform conditions. Africans maintain different political systems; our economies are diverse; our social orders are rooted in differing cultures and traditions. Furthermore, no clear consensus exists on the how' and the what' of this union. Is it to be, in form, federal, non-federal, or unitary? Is the sovereignty of individual states to be reduced, and if so, by how much, and in what areas? On these and other questions there is no agreement, and if we wait for agreed answers, generations hence matters will be little advanced, while the debate still rages. We should, therefore, not be concerned that complete union is not attained from one day to the next. The union which we seek can only come gradually, as the day-to-day progress which we achieve carries us slowly but inexorably along this course. The formation of the African Union is one of the processes carrying us towards that Union. It is our responsibility to ensure that eventually that goal is attained. It may not necessarily be attained tomorrow but every step we take brings us closer to the ultimate goal of political unity and economic integration. Obviously the Africa that we strive to create is an Africa that is emancipated politically, economically, culturally, socially and spiritually. That emancipation must by definition include that of women. The African Union having declared 2010 to 2020 as the Women's Decade has to ensure there is visible progress in this regard. At the time of the launch of the Organisation

of African Unity, this was also said, Today, travel between African nations and telegraphic and telephonic communications among us are circuitous in the extreme. Road communications between two neighbouring States are often difficult or even impossible. It is little wonder that trade among us has remained at a discouragingly low level. These anachronisms are the remnants of a heritage of which we must rid ourselves, the legacy of the century when Africans were isolated one from the other. These are vital areas in which efforts must be concentrated. Africa was the market for the produce of other nations and the source of the raw materials with which their factories were fed. Can we say we have overcome this legacy? Obviously the answer is no. Even though there has been progress, this has not been sufficient. Infrastructure and connectivity Indeed the vital areas should be the development of infrastructure that facilitates connectivity between and among ourselves by road, rail, air, sea, telecommunications. It is important we should be connected because without connection, we cannot begin trading with ourselves and we will remain as the markets for the products of other nations. We will therefore not be able to utilise our markets for our own benefits as Africa. Connectivity will also encourage us to know one another and our various countries better. At the moment, many African countries have a better awareness of Europe rather than Africa and this can be attributed to the connectivity and the infrastructure that presently exists. There are more flights out of Johannesburg, for instance, to other continents rather than to our own continent. It is critical that we ensure that we build the North-South Corridor, from Cape to Cairo and the East-West Corridor, from Senegal to Djibouti. The construction of these, and other roads, must be accelerated. More than 50 percent of trade from Asia to the West goes through Africa's coastline. All our imports and exports are transported by foreign ships to and from our countries. If we are to improve trade amongst ourselves, we have to look very seriously in participating in areas of ship building and ownership. If we own our vessels, it will be easier and more cost effective to trade between ourselves. We can collaborate with countries of the Indian-Ocean Rim to undertake such crucial, long-term projects. How can we improve tourism among ourselves if we are not connected by road, rail, sea and air? But it is not only the physical infrastructure. We need to align some of the regulations and laws while strengthening our institutions in order to be able to facilitate people, goods and capital flow in and out of our country. Agriculture and food security Africa accounts for more than one-quarter of the world's arable land and is a source of livelihood for 70 percent of our people. However, it currently generates only 10 percent of global agricultural output and imports tens of billions of dollars of food each year. Using our land resources more effectively will enable us to not only contribute to our economic growth, but to ensure we can feed our people ourselves. We will also be able to contribute towards job creation and income distribution. It will also enable us to use the foreign currency which at the moment is being used to import food for other developmental imperatives on our continent. Food security must therefore be something we strive to achieve immediately. Mineral and natural resources Africa is the continent with most possibilities and potential, with its vast mineral and natural

resources including sunshine, wind and bio-diversity. We must use our natural resources more efficiently to benefit our countries and its people. We committed ourselves in the Lagos Plan of Action to, among other factors, co-operate in the field of natural resource control, exploration, extraction and use for the development of our economies for the benefit of our peoples and to set up the appropriate institutions to achieve these purposes; and develop indigenous entrepreneurship, technical manpower and technological abilities to enable our peoples to assume greater responsibility for the achievement of our individual and collective development goals. We need to take control of our mineral resources, in terms of extraction. We should beneficiate and also ensure that we do get sufficient benefit from these mineral resources. At the moment, the company doing the extraction/beneficiation gets the resources while the country and its people receive very little. African demographics At the formation of the OAU, Africa's population was 250 million people. According to a Standard Bank report released in September 2011 entitled, The Five Trends powering Africa's enduring allure, the continent's population currently stands at over a billion and is expected to rise to two billion by 2050. Africa currently enjoys a positive economic outlook with a growing population that stands at just over one billion people. This growing population will support the on-going emergence of Africa's consumer base while robust economic growth and a rising population are colluding to create dynamic improvements in spending power across Africa. Further to this, studies by the African Development Bank recently found that the middle class in Africa is also growing. Critically, Africa's growing population is not only increasingly affluent but also exceptionally young. The report went on to say, Africa's young people will be the driving force behind economic prosperity in future decades, but only if policies and programmes are in place to enhance their opportunities and encourage smaller families. Population change is not the only force shaping Africa's development. But failure to take advantage of the potential demographic dividend could dampen development prospects, while public policies and advocacy to enhance it could reap substantial rewards. Healthcare and education We have to ensure education and healthcare for our populations so they are skilled and healthy. We can work together on the continent to identify institutions of excellence which we can all share without having to duplicate existing efforts, especially in the areas of science, technology, research and development. Our institutional knowledge should be used for our collective benefit. We must also fight wide inequalities. Research has indicated that citizens are more restless in communities with wide inequalities and great differences between the rich and the poor. What, therefore, is the role of the African Union? We must do all this in order to improve the lives of all our people fight poverty and underdevelopment. We must not leave things to unfettered market forces. We must lean towards becoming developmental states and put more emphasis on those areas of economic growth that produce jobs. While every country will have their own national programmes for development, the African Union (AU) should co-ordinate the sharing of experiences among member states, facilitate and

encourage the implementation of agreements and protocols that have been adopted both by the OAU and the AU. But more importantly it should identify a few priorities that will unite us as a continent and that we can do together. It should also mobilise partnerships but in a way that these partnerships do not entrench dependencies but assist us in charting our own destiny. We must also look at the best human resources the Continent has to offer and move away from our narrow national interests. It must also work towards full economic integration and political unity. Economically strong countries must play a bigger role in assisting our continent and the African Union to make a bigger contribute to these programmes. We must ensure as called for by Selassie an adequate (African Union) secretariat able to provide the necessary continuity between meetings of the permanent organs so that the African Union secretariat is well resourced so it can do its work efficiently. l Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is South Africa's Minister of Home Affairs.
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News Headline: Military Raid in North Nigeria City of Kano Leaves 4 Suspected Islamic Sect Members Dead | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: KANO, Nigeria Nigeria's military says soldiers killed four suspected members of a radical Islamist sect during a raid. The raid happened Sunday in Kano, Nigeria's largest city in its predominantly Muslim north. Military spokesman Lt. Iweah Ikedichi said Monday the raid came after soldiers received reports that an area had become a safe haven for the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. The lieutenant said four suspected Boko Haram members were killed, while others were arrested. Boko Haram is waging an increasingly bloody fight against Nigeria's weak central government in its effort to enact strict Shariah law across the multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people and free its imprisoned members. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
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News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 05/09/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nations News Centre News Text: Secretary-General recommends gradual drawdown of UN mission in Liberia 8 May Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended that the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Liberia be reduced gradually by about 4,200 troops in three phases between this year and 2015, when it will have a residual presence of approximately 3,750 soldiers.

Security Council warns of sanctions if Guinea-Bissau political crisis continues 8 May As negotiations towards finding a solution to the political crisis in Guinea-Bissau continue, the Security Council today reiterated its readiness to consider targeted sanctions against those involved in last month's military coup if the situation is not resolved. UN tribunal for Rwandan genocide commutes convicts' life sentence on appeal 8 May The appeals chamber of the United Nations tribunal trying key suspects implicated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda today commuted a convict's life sentence to 35 years in prison after reversing convictions on some counts in his indictment, and upheld the prison terms of two other men. Time to act is now to avert disaster in Africa's Sahel region, UN officials stress 7 May Wrapping up a four-day visit to the epicentre of the food crisis sweeping the Sahel region of West Africa, two top United Nations humanitarian officials today urged the world to meet its commitments, both financial as well as political, to help those in need.
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