United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

11 February 2010

AFRICOM - Related News

ETHIOPIA: ETHIOPIAN PM MEETS COMMANDER OF US AFRICA

COMMAND (NAM News Network)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held talks here
Tuesday with the commander of the United States Africa Command, General
William Ward.

NIGERIA: U.S. NAVY PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR APS (Daily Triumph)

LAGOS - The U.S. Navy yesterday in Lagos pledged its support to Nigeria
toward the realisation of the Africa Partnership Station (APS).

KENYA: TOP U.S. ENVOY FOR WAR CRIME VISITS KENYA (Xinhua)
NAIROBI - U. S. envoy for war crime issues arrived in Kenya on Wednesday for
a two-day visit for meetings with government officials and members of civil
society.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: DR CONGO, UGANDA, CENTRAL

AFRICAN REPUBLIC DISCUSS JOINT FIGHT AGAINST LRA REBELS
(Xinhua)
KINSHASA - Army chiefs of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo),
Uganda and Central African Republic are meeting here on Tuesday and
Wednesday to assess the operation against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

NIGERIA: ACTING NIGERIAN PRESIDENT SACKS JUSTICE MINISTER

(Voice of America)
ABUJA - Nigeria's new acting president has demoted the Minister of Justice who
opposed his taking temporary power in the prolonged medical absence of the
country's elected leader.

RWANDA: RWANDA CLAMPING DOWN, SAY OPPOSITION (AFP)

KIGALI - The Rwandan authorities are clamping down on political opponents
six months ahead of the presidential election, an opposition party and a rights
group said Wednesday.
BURKINA FASO: EXILE OF GUINEA JUNTA LEADER SPARKS HOPE
BACK HOME (Associated Press)
OUAGADOUGOU - After only a year in power, Guinea's hated coup leader is in
exile, his departure having breathed surprising new life into a country he had
terrorized.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
10 February 2010

• Amid roar of guns, UN-backed health campaign reaches 600,000 women

and children in Somali capital
• Ban voices concern to Sri Lankan leader over recent developments
• UN-backed talks on Western Sahara dispute get under way
• As Niger faces severe food shortages, UN and partners appeal for aid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethiopian PM Meets Commander of US Africa Command
NAM News Network - By Non-attributed Author
10 February 2010

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held talks here Tuesday with the
commander of the United States Africa Command, General William Ward and
expressed gratitude to the US for its support in difficult times of the Ethiopian
Airlines crash off Beirut.

The prime minister, who said the help of the US was what was really expected
from a friend indeed, also briefed the commander about the situation in
neighbouring Sudan and Somalia.

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia is trying its level best to
ensure peace and security in the country, Meles said, adding that supporting the
TFG was the only option to ensure sustainable peace and stability in that county.

The two officials also discussed issues related to continental and regional peace
and security and exchanged views especially on the role of the US in efforts to
ensure peace and stability in Sudan.

General Ward expressed sorrow over the tragic accident involving the Ethiopian
Airlines Boeign 737 which crashed with the loss of all 90 lives on board.

He told journalists later that the US government would continue searching to

find victims of the fatal accident.
The commander also said he held constructive discussions with Meles on peace
and security issues in the Horn of Africa. General Ward said he obtained
valuable ideas from the prime minister regarding ensuring peace and security in
the region.

He expressed the commitment of the US Africa Command to work closely with

the Ethiopian government to address the peace and security issues in the region.
-----------------------
U.S. Navy pledges support for APS
Daily Triumph (Nigeria) - By Non-attributed Author
11 February 2010

The U.S Navy yesterday in Lagos pledged its support to Nigeria toward the
realisation of the Africa Partnership Station (APS).

The APS is an arrangement between the U.S. Navy and some African countries
including Nigeria, to safeguard the coastal waters against the activities of pirates.

Cdr. Chuck Sellers, the Leader of the U.S. naval delegation, said their visit to
Nigeria would afford the two countries the opportunity to forge closer ties and
deliberate on security in the coastal waters.

``The visit will afford both countries to genuinely interact on how best to
continue harmoniously and more importantly, upgrade the Nigeria Navy to
world standards.

``The delegation will be visiting some communities, identify their problem with a
view to making necessary recommendations to the U.S. government for
assistance,’’ he said

Sellers said their one week visit would also be used to have first hand
information on the Nigeria Navy and its challenges.

The U.S. Naval Commander said priority would be given to medical basic
training, communication access, exercises and modules for strengthening the
workability of the APS during the visit.

Cdr James Oluwole, the Commander, Operations, of the Western Naval

Command, said the visit would expose men of the Nigerian Navy to the U.S.
dynamics of waterways surveillance.
-----------------------
Top U.S. envoy for war crime visits Kenya
Xinhua - By Daniel Ooko
10 February 2010
U. S. envoy for war crime issues arrived in Kenya on Wednesday for a two-day
visit for meetings with government officials and members of civil society.

A statement from the U.S. Embassy said Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp, the
Department of State's Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, will discuss
issues of political and legal reform relating to accountability for the instigators of
political violence and war crimes in Central and Eastern Africa.

The statement said Rapp will also discuss the whereabouts of fugitive Rwandan
war crimes suspect Felicien Kabuga and Kenya's cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and Nairobi's ongoing efforts to
develop an effective witness protection program.

The envoy arrives in Nairobi form Rwanda where he maintained his office has
intelligence reports confirming that the alleged financier of the 1994 Genocide
against the Tutsi, Felicien Kabuga is still in Kenya.

"We have intelligence indicating Kabuga is in Kenya," said Rapp, himself a

former Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the ICTR. He had made similar claims late
last year.

"I'm going to Nairobi to talk to the Kenyan authorities about the arrest of
Kabuga, who is still in Kenya," the envoy was quoted as saying by the Rwandan
newspapers on Wednesday as saying.

Kabuga, a wealthy businessman, is accused by the International Criminal

Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for sponsoring the 1994 Tutsi genocide, in particular
the Radio Television Mille Collines (RTLM), and purchasing machetes that were
used by Interahamwe militias to kill over one million Tutsis.

Washington has been putting pressure on Kenya to arrest Kabuga who is

believed to be living in the country.

A five million U.S. dollar bounty has been put on his head, for whoever provides
information leading to the arrest of this fugitive by the U.S. government.

The fugitive is a key suspect of the 1994 Rwandan genocide where he is accused
of masterminding the slaughter of 800,000 people.

Kabuga is said to have been arrested and briefly detained by the Kenyan
immigration authorities but no warrants had been issued on him then. He is also
said to have provided weapons, uniforms, and transportation to Interahamwe
militia.
The ICTR says it has evidence that the Kenyan authorities gave Kabuga a
residence visa and a business permit soon after he arrived in Nairobi.

He is reported to have bought off several politicians and associates of Kenya's

then president, Daniel arap Moi.

Kabuga has evaded arrest when other wanted Rwandan fugitives were caught in
Kenya in the late Nineties -- and again later when private citizens tried to cash in
on the reward placed on his head by the United States.
-----------------------
DR Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic discuss joint fight against LRA
rebels
Xinhua - By Non-attributed Author
10 February 2010

Army chiefs of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Uganda and
Central African Republic are meeting here on Tuesday and Wednesday to assess
the operation against the Ugandan rebel movement, the Lords Resistance Army
(LRA) .

The meeting is attended by chief of general staff of the Ugandan army Aronda
Nyakirimana, his counterpart from Central African Republic Francois Modebu
and Congolese army chief Didier Etumba.

The three countries are engaged in the actions to get rid of the LRA operating in
the three neighboring countries, as well as in southern Sudan.

The LRA has waged one of the longest guerrilla wars in Africa since 1986,
roaming between Uganda, southern Sudan, DR Congo and Central African
Republic. Its guerrilla-style warfare has left tens of thousands dead and 2 million
homeless over years.

DR Congo and Uganda launched a joint military operation against the LRA on
Dec. 14, 2008, declaring they had wiped out 80 percent of the rebel group at the
end of the crackdown in March.

Although the joint military action dismantled the LRA's main base in DR Cong's
Garamba national park bordering both Uganda and southern Sudan, the
notorious group is still able to launch attacks on villages where cases of killing,
looting, rape and child abduction were reported.
-----------------------
Acting Nigerian President Sacks Justice Minister
Voice of America - By Scott Stearns
10 February 2010

Nigeria's new acting president has demoted the Minister of Justice who opposed
his taking temporary power in the prolonged medical absence of the country's
elected leader.

In his first cabinet meeting since lawmakers made him Acting President,
Goodluck Jonathan sacked Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa.

Attorney General Aondoakaa led members of the cabinet in resisting a

provisional transfer of power to Mr. Jonathan, insisting that there was no power
vacuum in Nigeria ten weeks after President Umaru Yar'Adua left for medical
treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to reporters following his demotion, Aondoakaa said he has no regrets.

"No single action I have taken I have regretted," he said. "Every single action I
took was in the interest of this country. No country will say there is a vacuum.
No country, no Attorney General will go to the pages of the papers and say,
'There is a vacuum.' I pledged my loyalty to the vice president. I am the minister
of special duties."

Aondoakaa is replaced as justice minister by former labor minister Adetokunbo

Kayode.

Aondoakaa had a series of highly-publicized confrontations with Information

Minister Dora Akunyili, who broke with the cabinet last week in calling for
President Yar'Adua to hand over power by officially notifying parliament of his
absence.

After Wednesday's cabinet meeting, Akunyili said Acting President Jonathan

exercised his constitutional authority.

"These are presidential powers," said Dora Akunyili. "He has the power to move
any of us."

Nigerian lawmakers Tuesday made Mr. Jonathan acting president. The

constitution says they may do so whenever the president notifies them in writing
that he is going on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of
his office.

But President Yar'Adua did not write to lawmakers before leaving in late
November. So parliament acted instead on the basis of a radio interview in which
the president confirmed that he is in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
Nigeria's Bar Association says such a move is not backed by the constitution.
Some of the president's supporters say they intend to challenge Mr. Jonathan's
appointment in court.
-----------------------
Rwanda clamping down, say opposition
AFP By Non-attributed Author
10 February 2010

The Rwandan authorities are clamping down on political opponents six months
ahead of the presidential election, an opposition party and a rights group said
Wednesday.

"Opposition party members are facing increasing threats, attacks, and

harassment in advance of Rwanda's August 2010 presidential election," Human
Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The New York-based rights group urged the government to investigate all such
incidents and to "ensure that opposition activists are able to go about their
legitimate activities without fear".

An opposition leader who returned from exile last month to run in the elections
was taken in for questioning by police Wednesday.

"The criminal investigation department... today summoned Mrs. Victoire

Ingabire Umuhoza without giving any reason," Ingabire's FDU party said in a
statement.

"Obviously this branch of the executive is carrying out the injunction of the
President of the Republic the day before yesterday...," the group said, referring to
a declaration by President Paul Kagame at a press conference.

Rwandan police spokesman Eric Kayiranga confirmed to AFP that she was
questioned and later allowed to return home.

The Rwanda News Agency quoted Kagame Monday as charging that Ingabire
was "making comments and doing all her activities illegally and as an
'individual' because her party has not been registered."

Her questioning follows the jailing of her assistant Joseph Ntawangundi, who
was sentenced in absentia in 2007 to 19 years by a gacaca court, one of the
grassroots tribunals set up to try perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
The FDU says that Ntawangundi was in Sweden on a training course at the time
of the genocide.

Ntawangundi and Ingabire were last week attacked at a municipal office in the
capital.

Ingabire escaped but Ntawangundi told HRW he was "attacked for about 45
minutes by scores of young men who punched him, kicked and scratched him,
threw him into the air, and ripped his clothes."

Kayiranga played down the incident, saying the two were attacked by people in
the queue who were angered because they were attended to before others who
"had been waiting for days".

HRW said another new opposition party, the Democratic Green Party of
Rwanda, has also suffered "serious incidents of intimidation" by individuals
close to the government and the ruling party.

"The Rwandan government already tightly controls political space," said

Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW.

"These incidents will further undermine democracy by discouraging any

meaningful opposition in the elections," she warned.

In 2009, several meetings of the Green Party and PS-Imberakuri -- another

opposition party -- were broken up by police, HRW said.

PS-Imberakuri finally managed to register in November.

The Green Party still has not succeeded, its members have come under pressure
to give up their political activities, and some received anonymous phone calls
asking for details of Habineza's travel plans, the group said.

"This escalation of attacks against opposition party members does not bode well
for the election," HRW's Gagnon said.

Kagame, who has been in power since the end of the genocide, has been
regularly accused of muzzling the opposition and is widely expected to seek and
secure re-election in August.
-----------------------
Exile of Guinea junta leader sparks hope back home
Associated Press - By Todd Pitman
10 February 2010
After only a year in power, Guinea's hated coup leader is in exile, his departure
having breathed surprising new life into a country he had terrorized, and hopes
are even stirring that the nation will hold its first democratic elections in half a
century.

But true reform may be long way off and his legacy lives on through a military
junta with bloody hands that's still in charge.

Guinea's Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara has been reduced to a feeble shell of his
former self — exiled to Burkina Faso after a bullet grazed his skull during a Dec.
3 assassination attempt by one of his own men. No longer are there nightly
television shows devoted to the dictator's rants, no life-size posters of himself
adorning his own walls. No trucks full of soldiers guarding him.

Camara, an erratic 46-year-old who governed at night, had crammed cabinets

and drawers in his office with looted cash, gold and diamonds, handing them
out "as if he was a king," according to Mamadou Bah Baadikko, who heads a
Guinean opposition party.

Times have quickly changed in tiny Guinea, a bauxite-rich country on Africa's

west coast with the recent appointment of an opposition politician as prime
minister and Camara gone.

"People have a little more hope with him out of the picture," Thierno Sow, head
of Guinea's main independent human rights group, told The Associated Press
from Guinea's capital, Conakry. "But for now it's only hope. There's a long road
ahead."

Guinea "remains a dangerous place," Sow said.

Camara seized power in a coup only hours after strongman Lansana Conte
passed away in December 2008, ending more than three decades of dictatorship.
Appealing to a downtrodden public in one of the poorest capitals in Africa,
Camara promised things would finally change and led a very public drive
against corruption and drug smuggling.

But as the months passed, impunity spiraled so far out of control that soldiers
were hijacking even diplomat's cars in the streets. Camara began hinting he
would run in presidential elections despite a promise not to — prompting a Sept.
28 protest at Conakry's stadium. Camara's red-bereted presidential guard troops
crushed the demonstration with astounding brutality, blocking exits, opening
fire with live ammunition and raping women. At least 156 civilians died in the
massacre.
A U.N. investigation established by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fueled
tensions within the junta over who would take the blame. When Camara
confronted the head of the presidential guard, Lt. Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite,
on Dec. 3, Diakite shot Camara in the head and fled.

"For the population, Toumba has become an improbable hero," Baadikko noted
wryly. "For us, Toumba is a still criminal who needs to face justice."

The wounded Camara was flown to a military hospital in Morocco, but the
Moroccan government abruptly put him on a plane to Burkina Faso on Jan. 13.

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore — who himself took power in a bloody
1987 coup — pushed through a deal in which Camara agreed to remain in exile
while his nation embarks on a transition toward elections later this year without
him.

International pressure helped box the junta into a corner: Europe and the African
Union imposed an arms embargo, a travel ban and froze the assets of most junta
members.

Camara allowed his deputy, Gen. Sekouba Konate, to act as interim leader.
Konate swiftly swore in a new civilian prime minister, Jean-Marie Dore, on Jan.
26. Dore was an opposition politician who was among those beaten by the
presidential guard during the September massacre.

The appointment of an interim government composed of about 32 members —

10 to be appointed by the opposition, 10 by the junta and 12 by unions and civil
society leaders — is also imminent. But skepticism abounds. The junta is still in
charge. The soldiers who carried out the massacre haven't been arrested, much
less punished.

"The question is whether the new government will actually make concrete
changes," Baadikko said. "We've had four civilian prime ministers in four years.
What difference has it made? None."

Each of Guinea's last four premiers was appointed by either the dictatorships of
Conte or Camara. Dore, however, is the first opposition figure to be sworn into
the post.

Corinne Dufka, of Human Rights Watch, told AP she sees positive signs but that
deeds must follow promises.
She said Konate "has recognized the importance of separating the military from
political life" and noted there have been pledges to reform the judiciary and the
security forces.

"That's good news, but it's all still in the balance. If their words don't go beyond
rhetoric, it's going to be business as usual," Dufka said.

Aside from two public appearances in which he was visibly wooden and weak,
Camara has kept quiet since arriving in Ouagadougou. He resides in a guarded,
single-story state villa with a small garden in an upscale neighborhood with his
wife, immediate family and two Guinean doctors, according to a presidential
adviser here who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to
the media.

Still a night-owl, Camara takes strolls after dark through wide, deserted streets,
the adviser said.

He also calls Konate every day, but "doesn't talk much about politics anymore,"
the adviser said. "Every time I've been over there, he's been watching football on
TV" — mainly the recently concluded African Cup of Nations tournament.

The International Criminal Court, which launched a preliminary investigation

the stadium massacre, could eventually issue a warrant for his arrest. A U.N.
inquiry also recommended Camara, along with top members of his presidential
guard, be brought to trial.

Sow said the soldiers who carried out the massacre should be tried, but believes
it's unlikely anytime soon.

"They're roaming the streets freely with guns," said Sow. "The women they raped
are still in hiding, scared, and still being threatened not to speak."

Sow said none of the 110 women who were raped dared testify before a Guinean
commission which carried out its own investigation of the slaughter. The
commission blamed Diakite, the would-be assassin, and absolved Camara and
other soldiers. Opposition leaders say the commission was biased in favor of the
junta.

"The thing you have to understand is that there is still no state in Guinea. Justice
does not exist. Everybody is on their own," Sow said. "The military ... needs to be
completely overhauled. We sincerely hope that will happen, but for now they are
still in charge."
-----------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
10 February 2010

Amid roar of guns, UN-backed health campaign reaches 600,000 women and
children in Somali capital
10 February – Despite fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands of
people in Mogadishu, health workers have fanned out across the war-torn capital
of Somalia in a three-month United Nations-backed campaign that has
immunized nearly 300,000 women of child-bearing age and 288,000 children.

Ban voices concern to Sri Lankan leader over recent developments

10 February – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his concerns about
recent developments in Sri Lanka, where a defeated presidential candidate has
been arrested and Parliament dissolved, to the leader of the South Asian country
and announced plans to dispatch his top political official to the island nation for
further dialogue.

UN-backed talks on Western Sahara dispute get under way

10 February – The latest round of United Nations-backed talks between the
parties in the dispute over the status of Western Sahara kicked off today in New
York state.

As Niger faces severe food shortages, UN and partners appeal for aid
10 February – With 7.8 million people in Niger - or three fifths of the population -
facing moderate to severe food insecurity, the United Nations and its non-
governmental organization (NGO) partners today appealed for international aid
to help the Government of the impoverished West African country overcome
imminent shortages.