United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

23 June 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

World Bank Endorses Africa's Progress

Africa stands to gain from a new decision-making approach by the World Bank
regarding investment priorities.

The lender is ditching its Washington-based decision making and is opting for a
platform where the key issues will be tackled through increased participation.

Cote d'Ivoire: Article Views AFRICOM's Difficulty in Establishing Base in Africa

(OSC)

French military bases established in Africa following the independence of several

countries of the continent have been experiencing their twilight for about a dozen years
now. For example, the recent closing down of Marine Infantry Battalions (BIMA) of the
French army in Abidjan and Dakar, the reduction in strength of French soldiers on the
continent, as well as the blacklisting of the defense and military cooperation
agreements.

Darfur Fighting Kills 50: Sudanese Army (AFP)

(Sudan) Fighting on Tuesday between government troops and rebels of the Justice and
Equality Movement killed 50 people and wounded 101 in Sudan's Darfur region, an
army spokesman said.

Scores Dead in Congo Train Crash (Al Jazeera.net)

(Congo) At least 60 people have died and some 450 injured in a passenger train accident
in the Republic of Congo.

Libya Rights Still Dire: Amnesty International (AFP)

(Libya) Libya's international acceptance is not being matched by reforms to improve the
former pariah state's human rights record, Amnesty International said in a report issued
on Wednesday.

World Bank Approved 7 mln Dollars for Sierra Leone (Xinhua)

(Sierra Leone) The World Bank has given Sierra Leone a credit of 7 million U.S. dollars
to support governance and economic growth in the West African country.
Central African Republic Chasing Ivory-Laden Donkeys (Reuters)
(Central African Republic) Authorities in Central African Republic are chasing heavily
armed ivory smugglers who have threatened villagers as their caravan of donkeys
carries tusks northwards, officials said on Tuesday. The gang entered Dekoa, a town
around 60 km (40 miles) from Mala in the centre of the landlocked country, early on
Tuesday.

GLOBAL: Ghana Tops List of Less Hungry Countries (IRIN)

(Ghana) Ghana, often hailed as a success story in West African agriculture, tops a global
list of 10 countries that have managed to slash their number of hungry people by a huge
margin.

Former Ghanaian President Calls for Support for UN Peacekeeping Operations

(Xinhua)
(Ghana) The former Ghanaian president, John Kufuor, on Tuesday called for global
support for the efforts of the United Nations to strengthen and sharpen the
peacekeeping operations in the world at large.

Nigerian MPs Hurt After Scuffle in National Assembly (BBC News)

(Nigeria) A Nigerian lawmaker has broken his arm in a scuffle in the National
Assembly. Solomon Ahwinahwi is part of a group of Representatives trying to force
the Speaker to step down.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Political reconciliation and basic security the priorities for Somalia, new UN
envoy says
 Security Council deplores deadly ambush of peacekeepers in Darfur
 Somali migrant killed in gun battle between Yemeni forces and smugglers
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, June 25, 2:00 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: USIP – From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Ethnic Conflicts since 1945 and the
Impossibility of their Future Prevention
WHO: Andreas Wimmer, Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow, USIP; Jack Goldstone,
Virginia E. and John T. Hazel Jr. Professor and Director of the Center for Global Policy,
George Mason University; Philip Keefer, Lead Economist, Development Research
Group, The World Bank; Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, Associate Vice President, USIP.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/afghanistan-zimbabwe-ethnic-conflicts-1945-and-
the-impossiblity-their-future-prevention

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, July 1, 10:15 a.m.; Webcast

WHAT: Preventing Violent Conflict: Principles, Policies, and Practice
WHO: Panel Chairs - AMB Marc Grossman, Vice Chairman, Cohen Group; AMB Nancy
Soderberg, President, U.S. Connect Fund; Tara Sonenshine, Executive Vice President,
USIP; Conclusions – Dr. Abiodun Williams, Vice President, Center for Conflict Analysis
and Prevention, USIP.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/preventing-violent-conflict-principles-policies-and-
practice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FULL ARTICLE TEXT

World Bank Endorses Africa's Progress (allAfrica.com)

Africa stands to gain from a new decision-making approach by the World Bank
regarding investment priorities.

The lender is ditching its Washington-based decision making and is opting for a
platform where the key issues will be tackled through increased participation.

It is expected to provide Africa with opportunity to rate its priorities and channel
resources to critical areas such as infrastructure development.

Previously, the Bank came up with uniform programmes for region with little
appreciation of the diversity in terms of resource endowment, governance, and state of
development.

"Africa has undergone tremendous changes over the last decade and our engagement
need to be in line with the new realities hence seize this unprecedented opportunity and
adjust strategy to best support Africa's development challenges," said Shantayanan
Devarajan the chief economist of the World Bank's Africa Region.

He added: "Africa is increasingly opting for home grown solutions to its challenges and
the World Bank is cognizant of these new realities, hence the need to consider how to be
most effective in supporting the progress taking place."

The new strategy is expected to be realised through ongoing consultations undertaken

by the World Bank with governments, development institutions, the private sector,
scholars, think-tanks and other NGOs across the continent.

Since 2005, the institution and its affiliates have engaged Africa on the basis of the
African Action Plan (AAP), giving weight to aid and grants for projects.

This approach has failed to recognise the use of internally generated resources.
However, the rising demand for primary commodities and improved global commodity
prices, have allowed a number of African countries to use internally generated
resources to finance budgets.

For instance, Kenya is financing 95 per cent of its domestic budget from internal
revenue and local borrowing, a shift from the past where the budget was largely
financed through aid and grants.

"African economies have been growing at over five per cent a year over a decade, with
the growth being widespread as 22 non-oil-exporting countries sustaining better-than-
four-per cent growth leading to the fastest decline in poverty levels, high primary
school enrolment and increased usage of mobile telephony for communication and
financial transactions," said Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Bank's Vice President for Africa.

In 2002, donors at Monterrey, Mexico pledged to increase aid to Africa, committing to

provide 0.25 per cent of their annual revenue.

The 2005 G-8 Summit at Gleneagles, Scotland renewed the commitment of the world's
richest nations to support Africa's development and signalled the intention to move
beyond the Monterrey pledges.

At Gleneagles, the G-8 agreed to mobilise 100 per cent cancellation of debt owed to
International Development Association (IDA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
and the African Development Bank (AfDB) by the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPCs), majority of which are in Africa.

At present, 14 completion point HIPC countries in Africa are eligible for relief under the
G-8 proposal, and the number will increase as more of its 32 HIPC countries qualify.

Strong macro-economic policies such as prudent fiscal and monetary policies have
strengthened these economies, enabling them to weather the recent financial crisis.

"While the global crises hit the continent badly through reduced global demand for
commodities, falling commodity prices and decline in remittances, African
policymakers have continued to pursue prudent macroeconomic policies and growth is
expected to rebound to a forecast five per cent this year," said Ms Ezekwesili.

The AAP programme was initiated as aid to Africa increased sharply following the
drive to implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

However, with less than three years before the target date of 2015, there are huge
disparities on the progress across the continent on the eight MDGs.
Cote d'Ivoire: Article Views AFRICOM's Difficulty in Establishing Base in Africa
(OSC)

French military bases established in Africa following the independence of several

countries of the continent have been experiencing their twilight for about a dozen years
now. For example, the recent closing down of Marine Infantry Battalions (BIMA) of the
French army in Abidjan and Dakar, the reduction in strength of French soldiers on the
continent, as well as the blacklisting of the defense and military cooperation
agreements.

France is visibly facing a new era on the continent - an era that the large majority of
Africans see as one of security independence and of self-determination in security
matters. Henceforth, Africans want to ensure their own security and define their own
security strategy by taking into account their needs and their own real threats.

"French army, go away! Go away from our country,! Alpha Blondy, the famous Ivorian
reggae singer sang. This refrain has become a leitmotiv on the African continent. The
people no longer want the French army. In short, they no longer want an army of
occupation.

If there is a loud clamor for the departure of the French troops, obviously, it is not the
establishment of another foreign army, the US army, which would be welcome. This is
the main cause of the difficulties that the White House (the US Administration) is facing
in finding a base for AFRICOM, the command headquarters of the US army in Africa.

No country is willing to accept AFRICOM on its territory. Even the "Yes" of Liberia to
accept AFRICOM could betray a "No" expressed by the African countries at the
sidelines of an AU summit in Addis Ababa some years ago.

Aware of the fact that the establishment of AFRICOM in Africa is coming up against a
refusal, the United States is initiating a new approach through the training of African
troops and the putting in place of reinforced military cooperation.

This is the reason behind the Flintlock 2010 operation organized by AFRICOM at
Kamboinse (Burkina Faso) from 3 to 22 May on the theme: "Fighting terrorism and
trans-border criminality in the trans-Saharan region." The same applies to the
Marrakech meeting.

In fact, 150 soldiers, heads of intelligence services and security and economic
intelligence specialists from some 60 countries reportedly met in Marrakech (Morocco)
from 28 to 30 January 2010 to discuss security in Africa, at the initiative of the African
Federation for Strategic Studies. Among the personalities expected were US General
William E. Ward, the AFRICOM head, and the former antiterrorist judge, Jean-Louis
Bruguere.
The items on the agenda of this meeting were terrorism in the Sahel-Saharan strip,
maritime piracy, armed rebellion, and territorial disputes between states. If the meeting
had taken place as announced by the pan-African press, so much the better. It is a good
initiative that would enable many officials responsible for security on the African
continent to exchange their experiences with other professionals of the sector and
deepen their approach to the problem of security as well as fight terrorism in Africa.

But such meetings should not be a bridge on which AFRICOM should walk to get a
foothold on the continent.

Furthermore, like in Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, the French military bases established in
Gabon, Djibouti, etc., must be dismantled.

The same applies to the US troops based in the Horn of Africa. Does an adage not say
that "it is better to teach someone how fish than to regularly give him fish?"

Without any ulterior motive, it is necessary to teach Africa to be able to ensure its own
security by training African security professionals.

This is more useful than establishing military bases or headquarters on the continent.

Darfur Fighting Kills 50: Sudanese Army (AFP)

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Fighting on Tuesday between government troops and rebels of

the Justice and Equality Movement killed 50 people and wounded 101 in Sudan's
Darfur region, an army spokesman said.

Soldiers attacked JEM positions in Uzban, southeast of El Fasher, after they had moved
in recently and "sown chaos and instability," Sawarmi Khaled Saad was quoted by the
Sudanese Media Centre as saying.

Saad said 43 rebels were killed and 90 wounded, while seven soldiers died and 11 were
wounded.

A JEM source confirmed the fighting and claimed victory.

"There was a battle that resulted in numerous casualties," JEM spokesman Ali al-Wafi
told AFP by telephone.

"We were not able to count the number of dead and wounded because night had fallen,
but one thing is certain: we won the battle."
Officials of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission UNAMID were unable to
provide any details.

The fighting comes a day before the Sudanese government and another rebel
movement, the Liberation and Justice Movement, are to start direct peace talks in Qatar.

JEM signed a framework accord in February in Doha but talks have since run into
problems, and a deadline set for completing the peace deal passed on March 15 without
agreement.

Darfur, an arid desert region the size of France, has been gripped by a civil war since
2003 that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN
figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.

Violence killed 600 people in Darfur in May, the worst monthly figure since the
deployment of peacekeepers in 2008.
--------------------
Scores Dead in Congo Train Crash (Al Jazeera.net)

At least 60 people have died and some 450 injured in a passenger train accident in the
Republic of Congo.

The accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday about 60km from the southern
city of Pointe Noire, Joseph Sauveur El Bez, managing director of the railway operator,
said.

The train was leaving the coastal town of Pointe Noire en route to the capital
Brazzaville when it derailed, throwing four carriages of the train into a ravine.

"There was a grave train accident during the night," El Bez said.

"There are dozens of victims and injured."

He said bodies of the dead and the injured had been taken to morgues and hospitals in
Pointe Noire.

Relatives of the dead and injured filled the railway stations at Pointe Noire and Dolisie,
anxious for news of their loved ones, witnesses in the cities said.

Few details were available of the accident, however, from the rail company or the
government.

The 510km CFCO line is the main link between the capital Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire
on the Atlantic and mainly follows the Congo river.
--------------------
Libya Rights Still Dire: Amnesty International (AFP)

LONDON, England – Libya's international acceptance is not being matched by reforms

to improve the former pariah state's human rights record, Amnesty International said in
a report issued on Wednesday.

"Human rights are suffering in Libya as it continues to stall on reform ... despite the
country’s efforts to play a greater international role," the London-based rights watchdog
said.

Amnesty said it documented floggings for adultery, as well as indefinite detentions,

migrant and refugee abuses, the disappearance of dissidents and security forces'
immunity from prosecution, during a week-long visit to Libya in May.

Hundreds of people languished in jails after serving out their sentences, some of them
held after statements obtained under torture used as evidence, it said.

Mainly African migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers faced arrest, detention and
abuse on their way to seeking sanctuary in Italy or other European Union nations, it
added.

"If Libya is to have any international credibility, the authorities must ensure that no-one
is above the law and that everyone, including the most vulnerable and marginalised, is
protected by the law," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's Middle East and northern
Africa deputy director.

"The repression of dissent must end," the report quoted her as saying.

Amnesty said forces, especially the Internal Security Agency, or ISA, continue to
commit violations with apparently unchecked powers to arrest, detain and interrogate
people suspected of dissent or terrorism.

"Individuals can be held incommunicado for long periods, tortured and denied access
to lawyers," the report said.

However, the rights watchdog added that it had "observed a modest increase in the
flexibility of the Libyan authorities towards criticism."

It noted for instance that families of the victims of a 1996 massacre by security forces of
an estimated 1,200 prisoners are allowed to protest about their case.
But Amnesty said activists still faced harassment including arrest, and while Libya has
released about 15 prisoners of conscience in the past two years, it has failed to
compensate them for violations.

"Libya's international partners cannot ignore Libya’s dire human rights record at the
expense of their national interests," said Sahraoui.

"As a member of the international community, the Libyan authorities have a

responsibility to respect their human rights obligations, and tackle their human rights
record instead of concealing it.

"The contradiction of Libya being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, while
refusing for the body’s independent human rights experts to visit the country is
striking," she concluded.
--------------------
World Bank Approved 7 mln Dollars for Sierra Leone (Xinhua)

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - The World Bank has given Sierra Leone a credit of 7 million
U.S. dollars to support governance and economic growth in the West African country.

The credit "is aimed at implementing Poverty Reduction Strategy and provides
supplementary financing to the three development policy operations in support of
Sierra Leone's transition from post-conflict recovery to sustainable development', World
Bank country director Ishac Diwan said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

The "government finances have been affected by the down turn and revenues have
come down", the credit was to upset the reduction in revenue and allow the
government to deliver basic services, it added.

Diwan urged the government of Sierra Leone to improve key reforms of the public
sector and increase revenues for the proper collection of funds at the port, mining and
telecommunications.

"The efficiency of the economy particularly relating to the public sector needs to be
improved", he said.

This is the third set of financing in a series of World Bank policies to support Sierra
Leone from post conflict to sustainable development.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year loan
totalling 45.4 million U.S. dollars to accelerate economic growth in Sierra Leone.

The loan was designed to raise Sierra Leone's economic growth to 6 percent by 2012 by
increasing investment in infrastructure and developing accessible financial sector.
--------------------
Central African Republic Chasing Ivory-Laden Donkeys (Reuters)

BANGUI, Central African Republic - Authorities in Central African Republic are

chasing heavily armed ivory smugglers who have threatened villagers as their caravan
of donkeys carries tusks northwards, officials said on Tuesday. The gang entered
Dekoa, a town around 60 km (40 miles) from Mala in the centre of the landlocked
country, early on Tuesday.

"This armed gang and more than a hundred donkeys loaded with elephants' tusks
arrived in Dekoa and fired several shots, which scattered the population," said regional
governor Dieudonne Badawapi.

"The decision has been taken to intercept this gang," said a security official, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

"This is the first time a gang as numerous, and carrying as many tusks, as this one, is
crossing the country," said Joseph Bolbo, chief of forest and water management.

The trade in ivory has been banned for years, but poached material can command large
sums on the black market.

Central African Republic, one of the continent's most politically and economically
isolated countries, is already fighting several armed rebel groups and incursions into its
territory by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army insurgents.

--------------------
GLOBAL: Ghana Tops List of Less Hungry Countries (IRIN)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa- Ghana, often hailed as a success story in West African
agriculture, tops a global list of 10 countries that have managed to slash their number of
hungry people by a huge margin.

The list is included in the preliminary findings of a report card on the UN Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based
think-tank.

The eight MDGs range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of
HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015. MDG 1 aims to
eradicate poverty and hunger.

The ODI researchers showed progress towards the MDGs in absolute as well as relative
terms, said Liesbet Steer, a senior researcher at ODI who worked on the report.
The absolute methodology records the progress of countries, while the relative measure
records progress towards achieving the MDG. Steer said the rationale behind the use of
two measures was illustrated by Ethiopia and Ghana.

Ethiopia features in the ODI's list of top 10 countries that have made absolute progress,
but not in its list of countries that have made relative progress, which Ghana topped.

Ghana cut the number of malnourished people - one of the indicators of MDG 1 - by 75
percent between 1990 and 2004; it more than halved the number of undernourished
people from 34 percent to 9 percent in the same period.

Ethiopia, which has struggled with food insecurity, also brought down its percentage of
hungry people quite significantly, from 71 percent in 1990 to 46 percent in 2004.

"Ethiopia has made a significant reduction in the numbers of undernourished, but it has
not managed to halve the number as required by the MDGs," said Steer.

Overall, the strongest relative progress in reducing the number of hungry was made in
Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),
previously the Soviet Union.

In September 2010 the ODI will release detailed findings on what the countries have
been doing right to bring down their numbers of hungry.

The analysis - released ahead of a meeting of the G-8 and G-20 countries, which begins
in Canada on 23 June - also focused on progress towards reaching MDG 4 (reducing
child mortality) and MDG 5 (improving maternal health), which are on the conference
agenda.
--------------------
Former Ghanaian President Calls for Support for UN Peacekeeping Operations
(Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS - The former Ghanaian president, John Kufuor, on Tuesday called
for global support for the efforts of the United Nations to strengthen and sharpen the
peacekeeping operations in the world at large.

Kufuor made the appeals as he was speaking to reports after the opening of a thematic
debate of the General Assembly on the future of peacekeeping. The day-long debate,
with high-level participation from the world body, leading political personalities and
experts, plans to discuss challenges and opportunities since the landmark 2000 Brahimi
Report -- a milestone in the evolution of UN peacekeeping operations.
"I believe that this meeting should give evidence that really, the General Assembly is
rising to the challenge of the expectations of the world. And I believe the world must
support the secretary-general and the president of the General Assembly in the worthy
cause," Kufuor said.

"When you look at the changes coming into the process of peacekeeping, and when you
look at the fact now at the processes rapidly spreading around the globe, you have to
admit that it looks like the world is demanding a policing system, which only the
United Nations seems to have the legitimacy to provide," he said.

Kufuor, born on Dec. 8, 1938, was the president of Ghana from 2001 to 2009 and
chairperson of the African Union between 2007 and 2008.

Kufuor, who met with the press together with Ali Treki, the president of the General
Assembly, said that he thanked Treki for "inviting me to support this very worthy cause
for humanity and on the changes coming into the process of peacekeeping."

Ghana is one of the large contributors to the UN peacekeeping operations in such

countries as Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Lebanon. The West African
country also sent its soldiers as UN peacekeepers in Kosovo.
--------------------
Nigerian MPs Hurt After Scuffle in National Assembly (BBC News)

A Nigerian lawmaker has broken his arm in a scuffle in the National Assembly.

Solomon Ahwinahwi is part of a group of Representatives trying to force the Speaker to

step down.

He was injured when a fight broke out after supporters of the Speaker tried to file a
counter-motion to suspend them from the House of Representatives.

Another Representative, Doris Uboh, was also injured. Mr Ahwinahwi was treated at a
National Assembly clinic before being taken to hospital.

The BBC's Mohammed Aba in Abuja says police tried to detain two photographers who
had taken pictures of the clash but they were eventually freed.

He says the group trying to oust Speaker Oladimeji Bankole are known as the
Progressives. They are from the ruling People's Democratic Party.

Nigerian politics is in a state of flux after the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua in
May.
It remains unclear whether his successor Goodluck Jonathan will contest elections due
early in 2011.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Political reconciliation and basic security the priorities for Somalia, new UN envoy
says
22 June – Encouraging reconciliation between warring political groups and boosting
basic public security are critical to stabilizing Somalia, the incoming United Nations
envoy to the troubled Horn of Africa country said today.

Security Council deplores deadly ambush of peacekeepers in Darfur

22 June – The Security Council has joined the chorus of United Nations condemnation
of yesterday’s ambush by unknown assailants in Darfur in which three soldiers serving
with the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force were killed and a fourth
was seriously wounded.

Somali migrant killed in gun battle between Yemeni forces and smugglers
22 June – The United Nations refugee agency is working with the Yemeni Government
to gain access to a group of Africans who were detained following a weekend incident
in which one man was killed and two women were seriously wounded during a gun
battle between the army and smugglers.