United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

19 March 2010

USAFRICOM ­ related news stories

T O P N E WS R E L A T E D T O U.S. A F R I C A C O M M A N D A N D A F R I C A

US, Ghanaian Naval officers jointly patrol Ghana’s high seas (Joy Online)
ACCRA, Ghana ­ The United States Africa Command is collaborating with the Ghana
navy to patrol the country’s high seas. The naval commands say the surveillance has
become necessary to check increasing illegal activities such as drug trafficking, fishing
and dumping of waste along the West coast.

Warships take new strategy against Somali pirates (Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya — An international fleet of warships is attacking and destroying
Somali pirate vessels closer to the shores of East Africa and the new strategy, combined
with more aggressive confrontations further out to sea, has dealt the brigands a setback,
officials and experts said Thursday.

Anti­corruption dominates U.S. Africa policy (Reuters)

DAKAR, Senegal ­ In the eight months since U.S. President Barack Obama's first visit to
sub­Saharan Africa, the army has seized power in Niger, a power struggle in Nigeria
bedevils its government, and Guinea's then leader stands accused of involvement in a
massacre.

Nominees for Nigeria's Cabinet Expected Next Week (VOA)

WASHINGTON, DC ­ Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to
forward a list of ministerial nominees for senate confirmation by early next week
following Wednesday's sacking of the Cabinet.

Sudan signs pact with Darfur group (Aljazeera)

The Sudanese government has signed a framework peace accord with a small Darfur
rebel group, officials have said. The three­month ceasefire agreement, signed with the
Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) on Thursday in Doha, the Qatari capital, came
as talks with the larger Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) stalled.

Nigeria recalls its envoy to Libya (Aljazeera)

Nigeria has recalled its ambassador to Tripoli after Libya's leader suggested that the
country should be partitioned between Muslims and Christians.
South Africa's Jacob Zuma survives no­confidence vote (BBC)
South African President Jacob Zuma has survived a vote of no­confidence called by
opposition parties. The vote follows an admission by President Zuma, who has three
wives, that he has a child out of wedlock.

Three Killed As President Museveni Forcefully Enters Kasubi Tombs (The Monitor)
KAMPALA, Uganda — At least three people were on Wednesday shot dead at the
burial grounds of Buganda kings in Kasubi, a Kampala suburb, as the military used
force to usher President Museveni to tour the destroyed royal mausoleum.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website

Challenges remain for Sierra Leone, despite acknowledgement on corruption

– Ban
UN continues to help Ugandan landslide victims
Madagascar: UN assists relief efforts after deadly tropical storm
As another Darfur ceasefire deal is signed, UN envoy voices hope
UN tribunal renders judgments in appeals by two convicted Rwandans
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UP C O M I N G E V E N TS O F I N T E R EST :

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, March 19; 8:30 a.m., Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Discussion on “Nigeria in Turmoil.”
WHO: Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell; other speakers.
Info: http://fpc.state.gov/events/124194.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, March 19; 9:30 a.m., Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Washington Foreign Press Center (WFPC) Briefing on "Combating Piracy and U.S.
Policy in Somalia."
WHO: Thomas M. Countryman, DoS Bureau of Political-Military Affairs; and Donald Y.
Yamamoto, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs.
Info: http://fpc.state.gov/events/124194.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, March 24; 2:30 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Senate Armed Services Hearing
WHO: Admiral Robert F. Willard, U.S. Pacific Command; General Kevin P. Chilton, U.S.
Strategic Command; General Walter L. Sharp, Commander, United Nations
Command/Combined Forces Command/U.S. Forces Korea.
Info: http://armed-services.senate.gov/e_witnesslist.cfm?id=4483

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, March 24; 3:30 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Hearing on "An Overview of U.S. Policy in Africa" - House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
WHO: Honorable Johnnie Carson, Department of State; Mr. Earl Gast, U.S. Agency for
International Development; Panel II, Princeton N. Lyman, Council on Foreign Relations; Mr.
Almami Cyllah, International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Info: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1168

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FUL L ARTIC L E T E X T

US, Ghanaian Naval officers jointly patrol Ghana’s high seas (Joy Online)
ACCRA, Ghana ­ The United States Africa Command is collaborating with the Ghana
navy to patrol the country’s high seas.

The naval commands say the surveillance has become necessary to check increasing
illegal activities such as drug trafficking, fishing and dumping of waste along the West
coast.

The project will also involve training for Ghana’s Navy and logistical support.

Joy FM’s Sammy Darko will be on the patrol ship and he believes the trip will be a
challenging one.

Expectations

The capacity of the Ghana Navy is soon expected to be boosted to a level where they
can ward off most illegal activities on the high seas.

In recent times, concerns have been raised about the country’s inability to combat drug
traffickers, illegal fishing and dumping of waste on the high seas.

That is because the Navy lacks the equipment and required skills to do so.
But the US Africa Command is hoping to reverse the trend with its African partnership
station.

Pirates on high seas

The object of this program is to improve maritime safety and security on the African
continent.

Under the program, officers of the Ghana Navy will be given professional training and
provided with some logistics to aid in patrol offshore.
For instance, under this exercise the US has given Ghana four defender class boats for
surveillance. These are fast speed boats attached to a vessel to chase out criminals on
the high seas.

The training is considered crucial as the nation prepares to sell its oil in commercial
quantities in the last quarter of this year.

So for the next eight days, my job on this trip will be to observe and if possible, assist in
the arrest of criminals.
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Warships take new strategy against Somali pirates (Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya — An international fleet of warships is attacking and destroying

Somali pirate vessels closer to the shores of East Africa and the new strategy, combined
with more aggressive confrontations further out to sea, has dealt the brigands a setback,
officials and experts said Thursday.

The new tactics by the European Union naval force comes after Spain — which
currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, and whose fishing vessels are frequent
pirate targets — encouraged more aggressive pursuit of pirates and the coalition
obtained more aircraft and other military assets, said Rear Adm. Peter Hudson, the
force commander.

The EU Naval Force attacked 12 groups of pirate vessels, which normally includes
several skiffs and a mother vessel, this month, more than last year. Half of those attacks
were on the high seas and half close to shore, reflecting the new strategy to intercept
pirates before they reach deep water and international shipping lanes.

Hudson told The Associated Press that the force wants to "get up close ... before they
can attack some ships" and use the additional aircraft to spot pirate vessels and send
warships to intercept them.

With calmer waters, March is typically a busy month for pirate attacks. But only two
ships have been taken in the first two weeks of the month, down from four hijackings
over the same period last year, said EU naval spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour. The
number of unsuccessful attacks also dropped. About half of last year's 47 successful
hijackings happened during March, April and May.

Citing operational security, Harbour would not say how close to the coast the ships
now get but noted that the EU Naval Force has the right to go into Somali waters, or
within three miles offshore.
Hudson said it is too soon to tell whether the gains of the new strategy will hold. He
said an improved level of co­operation between EU forces, NATO and U.S. naval forces
based out of Bahrain is also helping.

Some experts agree the international forces have led to a drop in pirate attacks in a
period when they would normally be firing at numerous vessels, climbing aboard on
ladders and taking the crews hostage at gunpoint.

"They are at the moment effectively suppressing what would otherwise be chaos," said
Graeme Gibbon Brooks of Dryad Maritime Intelligence in Britain.

If the pirates aren't detained for prosecution — and most are not — they are disarmed
and put back out to sea on one craft. Harbour said that while the aggressive tactics are
not a long­term solution, they force pirates to find new vessels and weapons before they
can launch more attacks.

Until stability returns to Somalia, young men will continue to risk drowning or
imprisonment for the multimillion dollar ransoms that ships can fetch, experts say.
There are few other job prospects in the impoverished nation, which has not had a
stable government for 19 years.

"The big question is, what is happening about fixing Somalia?" asked Alan Cole, a
lawyer who heads the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's anti­piracy initiative. "Right
now I'm just chasing leaves falling off a tree."

Eleven out of the 81 suspected pirates detained by the EU this month are being held for
prosecution, said Harbour. Many European countries whose vessels have been attacked
by pirates are reluctant to bring suspects home for trial in case they try to claim asylum.

Most of the hundreds of Somalis who are in prison on piracy charges are in Kenya,
which has 18 convicted pirates and 107 suspects on trial, Cole said. They are also
imprisoned in the semiautonomous northern Somali region of Puntland, in the
Seychelles, Maldives, Yemen and Somaliland.
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Anti­corruption dominates U.S. Africa policy (Reuters)
DAKAR, Senegal ­ In the eight months since U.S. President Barack Obama's first visit to
sub­Saharan Africa, the army has seized power in Niger, a power struggle in Nigeria
bedevils its government, and Guinea's then leader stands accused of involvement in a
massacre.

Hardly events in line with the goals that Obama, whose father was born in Kenya,
spelled out to an overwhelmingly positive response, but the United States says it is
undeterred from banging the drum for democracy.
"We are actively implementing the policy priorities that President Obama identified in
his historic speech in Ghana. Those priorities are democracy and good governance,
economic development public health, conflict prevention and mitigation," a spokesman
for the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department said in response to e­mailed
questions.

The message Africans say they are hearing most clearly from Washington is that
corruption is the root of many of Africa's troubles.

"Since the inauguration of President Obama ... I have not seen anything apart from
asking African leaders to fight corruption," said Patrick Wafula, a businessman from
western Kenya, who agreed that governmental corruption was one of the Africa's
biggest problems.

Obama even used this year's State of the Union address to highlight the effects of
corruption in Africa, and his officials have been vocal on the subject.

Visiting Nigeria in January, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted what she called
"unbelievable" levels of corruption in that country, one of Africa's biggest oil exporters,
drawing a link between poor governance and the growth of extremism.

"Persistent corruption ... undermines government institutions at all levels and erodes
confidence in democratic elections as a way of effectuating real change," the State
Department said, citing other examples of U.S. efforts.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

In Niger, the soldiers who took power last month immediately won explicit domestic
support, and tacit Western approval, for their anti­graft stance.

In Senegal on the West African coast, for years seen as a rare example of democracy and
stability in a historically volatile region, high­level corruption is now near the top of the
political agenda.

Aid agency USAID is requesting from Congress $4.4 million this year for its "Governing
Justly and Democratically" program in Senegal, almost ten times the amount it spent on
the same project two years ago. The overall aid budget is rising too: USAID wants $6.7
billion for Africa this year, up from an estimated spend of $5.7 billion last year.

For some Africans, aid handouts do not adequately create the conditions needed for
economic growth and development that Obama, on his visit to Ghana last July, said go
hand in hand with good governance and democracy.
"The United States needs to refocus their policy on Africa in a beneficial partnership,"
said Abubakar Momoh, professor of politics at Lagos University.

"What Africa needs is to be treated with respect ... and given equitable opportunities to
western and American markets that will allow us to grow."

The African Union complained in January that the United States was denying some
African countries access to its markets by withdrawing trade benefits from Madagascar,
Guinea and Niger, citing an "undemocratic" transfer of power in each.

On the continent, emotions were high but expectations of Obama were realistically
modest. Most Africans never believed Africa was going to shoot up America's list of
policy priorities, given its domestic economic turmoil and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Kwesi Pratt, a Ghanaian newspaper publisher, goes further, saying he believes the
Obama administration has distanced itself from Africa. "The Bush administration did
much better for Africa than we are seeing under Obama," he said.

President George W. Bush is highly regarded by many Africans for launching

humanitarian initiatives such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the President's Malaria Initiative.

Still, Emmanuel Gyimah­Boadi, executive director at the Center for Democratic

Development in Ghana, said the emotional connection Africans felt with Obama would
endure.

"For me the Obama presidency is a symbolism associated with direct African heritage
and no matter what happens, it is still significant today as it was when he assumed
office," he said.
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Nominees for Nigeria's Cabinet Expected Next Week (VOA)
WASHINGTON, DC ­ Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to
forward a list of ministerial nominees for senate confirmation by early next week
following Wednesday's sacking of the Cabinet.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan can now appoint his own team of ministers rather
than rely on a Cabinet made up largely of his ailing predecessor's appointees.
Government sources have revealed that at least half of the sacked ministers may be re­
appointed.

Some ministers aligned to ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua have questioned the limits
of the acting president's powers, including his capacity to dissolve the Cabinet.
A leading opposition figure and former senator from Lagos state, Anthony Adefuye,
says the acting president took the right step in dissolving the cabinet to stem divisions
within government and assert his authority.

"There was this rumor that a group of 12 ministers wrote to the [acting] president to say
that, when he made the minor reshuffle, he was not fit to make the reshuffle and so
forth. Now if you begin to have a divided executive like that then something must be
done. It is either you prune it down to the level that you can control or you dissolve it as
he has done," he said.

Appointing a new Cabinet should take weeks, which could slow down the business of
government in Africa's most populous country. The acting president is in talks with the
senate to fast­track approval for his nominees next week.

With elections due in less than one year, the acting president is under pressure to
address a few of the more critical challenges facing Nigeria. Senator Adefuye says the
government should commit itself to improving power supply and electoral reforms.

"I will expect him to look seriously into the issue of power, into the issue of [electoral]
reforms which is in the minds of the people now, and how to ensure that this is done
properly. If you can do these two for the people of Nigeria they will forever be
grateful," he said.

Mr. Jonathan assumed full presidential powers in early February to fill the vacuum left
by the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who had been in the hospital in Saudi
Arabia since November receiving treatment for a heart condition.

Mr. Yar'Adua has since returned but remains too frail to govern. The acting president's
consolidation of power reinforces the view that Mr. Yar'Adua is unlikely to return.
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Sudan signs pact with Darfur group (Aljazeera)
The Sudanese government has signed a framework peace accord with a small Darfur
rebel group, officials have said.

The three­month ceasefire agreement, signed with the Liberation and Justice Movement
(LJM) on Thursday in Doha, the Qatari capital, came as talks with the larger Justice and
Equality Movement (Jem) stalled.

Ali Osman Taha, the Sudanese vice­president who attended the signing of the Qatari­
sponsored agreement, said: "This is an important step which will give momentum to
peace efforts in Darfur."
Qatar has been mediating between various Darfur groups and the government in
Khartoum with a view to finding a lasting peace in Sudan's western region.

Jem dismisses deal

As the signing ceremony got under way, Jem dismissed the deal saying the LJM had no
military force on the ground.

But Al­Tahir al­Feki, a Jem senior official, told the Reuters news agency that his
movement would not immediately act on its threat to walk out of Doha talks in protest
at the deal.

"The ceasefire is meaningless. It is a ceasefire without any fire," he said, speaking just
before the signing.

"We'll not leave Doha. We can't respond now in a reflex reaction. We'll see how it [the
new accord] goes."

Tijani Seisi, leader of the LJM ­ a newly formed umbrella group of 10 movements ­ that
signed the framework deal paving the way for further talks, told Al Jazeera the peace
deal will "underpin confidence between the two parties in order to move into the peace
process".

"There is a need to unite all these movements because peace will only be achieved if
everybody is involved. But the Jem movement does not want to recognise the existence
of the other factions on the ground," he said.

Sudan and the Jem signed a pact in Doha last month, seen as a major step towards
bringing peace to Darfur, but it has since run into difficulty.

Omar al­Saleh, Al Jazeera's correspondent at the talks in Doha, said: "What we

witnessed today is a framework agreement with the government of Sudan and the
ceasefire for three months.

"This is the important thing. The breakthrough came last month when 10 rebel groups
decided to join forces and they called themselves the Liberation and Justice Movement."

But the Sudan Liberation Army, a major faction led by Abdelwahid Nur, has so far
refused to have any negotiations with the government.

Earlier this month it clashed with the army in the fertile Jebel Marra plateau in the heart
of Darfur.
On Wednesday, Sudanese authorities re­arrested 15 members of Jem after releasing
them following a truce with the group.

Adam Bakr, the lawyer representing the rebels, said they were arrested when they went
to Al­Fashir, the capital of north Darfur.

Our correspondent said one of the important things at the signing ceremony was the
presence of some regional players like the foreign ministers of Eritrea and Chad.

Chad and Eritrea have been accused in the past of aiding rebel groups fighting Sudan.

Qatar's diplomatic efforts to find peace in Darfur have been complemented by Western
powerful countries.

US appeal

Scott Gration, the US envoy to Sudan, urged all parties to the Darfur conflict to seize the
"little window" for a peace agreement before presidential, parliamentary and state
elections next month.

"If we can get a jump on a Darfur peace agreement, then we should, because there's
going to be a lot of things keeping us from focusing on Darfur," Gration told reporters
in Nairobi last week before he travelled to Doha.

"The framework agreement "has to be turned into a more formalised agreement ... If
there is going to be a comprehensive and lasting peace in Darfur, all rebel groups need
to be involved."

The conflict in Darfur has pitched ethnic African tribesmen against the Arab­dominated
Khartoum government, claiming up to 300,000 lives ­ from the fighting as well as
famine and disease ­ and displacing 2.7 million people, according to the UN.

Sudan, whose president Omar al­Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal
Court (ICC) over war crimes in Darfur, disputes the toll and says only 10,000 have died.
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Nigeria recalls its envoy to Libya (Aljazeera)
Nigeria has recalled its ambassador to Tripoli after Libya's leader suggested that the
country should be partitioned between Muslims and Christians.

The Nigerian foreign ministry said on Thursday it was recalling its ambassador
because the "irresponsible utterances of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, his theatrics and
grandstanding at every auspicious occasion have become too numerous to recount."
Gaddafi proposed earlier this week that Nigeria should be partioned like India at the
time of its independence in 1947 which led to the creation of Muslim Pakistan.

Gaddafi suggested that a Christian homeland in the south could have Lagos as its
capital while a Muslim homeland in the north would have Abuja as its principal city.

He said the two communities should peacefully agree to share Nigeria's oil and other
natural wealth.

Several hundred people were killed in the past two weeks in sectarian violence in
Nigeria's central Plateau state.

Plateau state, with Jos as its capital, is the de facto buffer between the predominantly
Muslim north and the largely Christian and animist south.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is divided almost in the middle between the
two faiths.
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South Africa's Jacob Zuma survives no­confidence vote (BBC)
South African President Jacob Zuma has survived a vote of no­confidence called by
opposition parties.

The vote ­ the first such move since the ANC came to power in 1994 ­ was defeated by
241 votes to 84 with eight abstentions.

The motion was called by the Congress of the People (Cope) and backed by the
Democratic Alliance.

The vote follows an admission by President Zuma, who has three wives, that he has a
child out of wedlock.

The ANC has a huge parliamentary majority.

Mr Zuma is in Zimbabwe, where he went to try to ease tensions in the fragile unity
government. He is due to return to South Africa later.

President Zuma faced sharp criticism earlier this year after it emerged he had fathered a
child with Sonono Khoza, 39, the daughter of local World Cup boss Irvin Khoza.

He was also accused of failing to declare his financial interests within the allotted
timeframe.

'Let us down'
In proposing the motion, Cope leader Mvume Dandala told the National Assembly:
"The president of our country has let us down. He has let Africa and the world down.

"It is common knowledge how the president has failed this nation by his repeated risky
sexual behaviour, thus weakening the crucial fight against HIV/Aids and setting a poor
example."

Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, a veteran ANC member, dismissed the motion as "a
frivolous waste of time".

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says although Mr Zuma easily survived the
no­confidence vote, it should still serve as a harsh message to the president.

She says many people, even some of his core supporters, have already become
disenchanted with him after just 10 months in office and he must work hard to regain
his popularity.
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Three Killed As President Museveni Forcefully Enters Kasubi Tombs (The Monitor)
KAMPALA, Uganda — At least three people were on Wednesday shot dead at the
burial grounds of Buganda kings in Kasubi, a Kampala suburb, as the military used
force to usher President Museveni to tour the destroyed royal mausoleum.

Four other civilians injured in the shooting were admitted at Mulago Hospital, Lt. Col.
Felix Kulayigye, the army and defence spokesman, said.

"Our soldiers deployed at Kasubi came under a hail of stones thrown by some rascals,"
said Lt. Col. Kulayigye, "They fired in the air in self­defence but, unfortunately, two
people were hit and they died while five were injured."

Daily Monitor, however confirmed that a third person had died in hospital as a result of
bullet wounds. Five security officers and firefighters were also injured.

Government has declined to disclose the identities of the victims, saying the next of kin
will have to be notified first.

The revered heritage site was gutted in a fire on Tuesday night and thousands of people
came to pay their respects at the wreckage yesterday. But the majority of the kingdom
loyals did not want a visit from the President with whom the kingdom has had strained
relations for years.
At around 11am, hundreds of young men, angrily shouting and chanting pro­Buganda
slogans, barricaded the entrances to the burial grounds with large wooden logs, a water
truck and reed poles.

One of them, who only identified himself as Julius, 18, told this newspaper that he was
angry with the President and would not let him in.

Tensions have risen between central government and the kingdom since last September,
with bloody riots in and around Kampala after authorities blocked Kabaka Mutebi from
visiting Kayunga District, which is part of his kingdom.

But the soldiers, mainly drawn from the elite Special Forces commanded by Lt. Col.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the President's son, overpowered the Buganda subjects and
stormed the revered premises under heavy gun fire.

Lt. Col. Kulayigye said an investigation is underway to establish if the tragic deaths,
"could have been avoided".

The Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, announced that he had
appointed the deputy CID chief, Mr Moses Ssakira, to head investigations into the cause
of the fire.

Mr Museveni, speaking to journalists shortly after a chaotic round­the­tomb tour, said:

"I don't know but I am a bit suspicious whether there was no deliberate act [to torch the
burial place] because the people who stay here said they saw fire from behind there."

Hampering investigations But he said investigations could be hampered by the

uncontrolled entry of people to the site since the fire began.

"Unfortunately, these people have interfered with the scene of the crime; if they had not
gone in, in an uncontrolled way, it would have been easier to see if somebody passed
through the fence because there was a reed fence behind," Mr Museveni said.

"But still we are going to investigate and find out whether there was any deliberate act
of arson."

Some of the agitated Buganda subjects huddled in the skeletal remains of the burnt
Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, and blocked President Museveni from accessing the graves of
the fallen kings.

Prince Wasswa Wassajja, trapped at the UNESCO­certified World Heritage Site during
the melee, condemned the military onslaught.
"It's a nightmare; it's very tragic," he said of the fire incident, adding: "It's bad enough
what has happened to our treasured historical site and it's another thing that has
happened by the forceful entrance."

He added: "We are the people who would have welcomed our visitors... I am sure they
(the government) know who has a lot of stake in this."
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UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Challenges remain for Sierra Leone, despite acknowledgement on corruption – Ban

18 March – Welcoming the recognition by Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma
that corruption poses a serious threat to the West African country, Secretary­General
Ban Ki­moon says that while he is encouraged by some improvements in its political
climate, challenges to fostering political tolerance and promoting non­violence remain.

UN continues to help Ugandan landslide victims

18 March – The United Nations is continuing to assist people in eastern Uganda affected
by deadly landslides, which have killed at least 94 people since they occurred earlier
this month.

Madagascar: UN assists relief efforts after deadly tropical storm

18 March – United Nations aid workers in eastern Madagascar are helping local officials
mount relief efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Hubert, which has killed dozens of
people in the Indian Ocean country and left an estimated 11,000 others homeless.

As another Darfur ceasefire deal is signed, UN envoy voices hope

18 March – The top United Nations official in the war­wracked Darfur region of western
Sudan today welcomed an agreement between the national Government and a rebel
group, calling it “another important milestone” on the path towards a comprehensive
peace pact to end the deadly conflict that has engulfed the region for seven years.

UN tribunal renders judgments in appeals by two convicted Rwandans

18 March – A United Nations tribunal today affirmed the conviction and 15­year
sentence of a famous Rwandan singer and composer for his role during the mass
killings that engulfed the country in 1994, and reduced the sentence handed down
against a top official after reversing a number of his convictions.