United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

6 May 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

US Senators Push for Greater Flexibility on Zimbabwe Sanctions (Voice of America)

Africa Action Executive Director Gerald LeMelle says the Zimbabwe Transition to
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (DEERA), sponsored by Senators Russ
Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), and John Kerry (D-
Massachusetts), is needed to counter the excesses of what he calls Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe’s lifelong, hardened critics.

Nigeria President Yar'Adua dies after long illness (Associated Press)

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, long plagued by poor health,
has died at age 58, almost three months after his vice president assumed control of
Africa's most populous nation, Yar'Adua's spokesman said.

Congo Rebel Leader Captured (Associated Press)

KINSHASA, Congo—Civilians who were being recruited to a new rebel movement in
Congo's northwest captured the group's leader Wednesday and he now will stand trial
for war crimes, the government information minister said.

Togolese government resigns (Xinhua)

LOME, Togo - Togolese Prime Minister Gilbert Houngboa on Wednesday tendered
resignation of his government to make way for the formation of a new governing team
following the presidential inauguration.

Mauritians cast vote as PM says confident to be re-elected (Xinhua)

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius - Mauritians voted in the parliamentary election on
Wednesday as the country's prime minister said he was confident to be re-elected.

African leaders launch push against malaria (Reuters)

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - African leaders from 26 countries have launched a fresh
drive to eliminate malaria using a combination of bed nets, insecticides and medication,
Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete said on Wednesday.

Africa mining: Will mineral-rich countries start a cartel like OPEC? (Christian Science
Monitor)
DAKAR, Senegal - African leaders are pushing for tougher terms on mining concessions
after 25 years of structural adjustment – when countries cut red tape and offered
generous tax holidays to foreign prospectors.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Zimbabwe allotted $5.6 million in UN emergency funds to fight measles
epidemic
Senior UN officials take part as African economic forum opens
New UN human rights office to open in Guinea to help prevent abuses
In Ethiopia, refugees and their hosts benefit from UN water and electricity
project
Joint AU-UN force in Darfur still lacking crucial equipment, Ban says
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: Seizing the Moment: Media & Peacebuilding
WHO: Michel Martin, Moderator, Host, Tell Me More, National Public Radio ; Jared Cohen
Member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State; Patricia
Harrison, President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Marvin Kalb, Veteran
Broadcaster and Visiting Expert, USIP; Riz Khan, Senior News Anchor, Al Jazeera English;
Gary Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop; Rebecca MacKinnon, Co-Founder, Global
Voices; Mir Ibrahim Rahman, CEO, Geo TV Pakistan; Frank Sesno, Director, School of Media
and Public Affairs
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/seizing-the-moment-media-peacebuilding

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, May 14, 9:30 a.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: Responsive and Accountable Leadership for a Peaceful and
Prosperous Congo
WHO: Commander of the U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/responsive-and-accountable-leadership-peaceful-and-
prosperous-congo
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

US Senators Push for Greater Flexibility on Zimbabwe Sanctions (Voice of America)

Three U.S. senators have introduced a bill to bring a more flexible approach to sanctions
against Zimbabwe. Africa Action Executive Director Gerald LeMelle says the
Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (DEERA), sponsored
by Senators Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), and John Kerry
(D-Massachusetts), is needed to counter the excesses of what he calls Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe’s lifelong, hardened critics.
―There are very powerful interests who have never liked Robert Mugabe, and this is an
obsession to the point where they want to defeat or ignore anything that may benefit
Zimbabwe if it means that Zimbabwe will be seen in a successful light,‖ he said.

The Senate bill was introduced one day before African leaders begin meeting in Dar Es
Salaam, Tanzania at the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa. With this year’s theme
of the Geneva-based organization focusing on ―Rethinking Africa’s Growth,‖ investors
are expected to engage President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and
Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere on Mr. Mugabe’s plan to transfer majority
control of large firms to black indigenous investors.

Gerald LeMelle said a U.S. revision of a 2001 sanctions law approved by former
President George W. Bush, the Zimbabwe Economic and Democracy Recovery Act
(ZEDERA), is warranted because the tough penalties imposed by President Mugabe’s
foreign opponents have inflicted hardships on the country. He said they are
counterproductive to the goals of promoting democracy and relieving enormous
economic strains endured by the general population.

―That’s the kind of attitude that helps contribute to the poverty and the failed states and
all of the problems that we see in the national security state we are in right now. We at
Africa Action have spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to educate
people as to what is really going on. The key is whether the power of the forces who
have a deep-seated hatred for Mugabe are going to win,‖ argued LeMelle.

By pursuing a U.S. policy that helps rehabilitate the fledgling unity government by
helping poor and middle-class citizens make an economic recovery, LeMelle said
Washington’s new legislation is adapting to the new realities of Zimbabwe’s
transformation that will help pave the way for more representative government under a
new constitution. In any case, he notes, Mugabe allies have demonstrated the futility of
pursuing a stringent sanctions policy by their skills at evading many of the restrictions.

―The DEERA does continue with the targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his closest
people. It gives us a little more flexibility in constantly monitoring who on his team we
are actually targeting the sanctions towards and how that is being monitored. In the
past, several people around President Mugabe have been able to get around sanctions,‖
he noted.

Provisions of the new Senate bill include providing technical assistance to reformist
government ministries, the promotion of agricultural development with policies
consistent with reestablishing the security of land tenure, and curbing illegal diamond
activities by pushing for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process. The
legislation also seeks regional and international cooperation in preparing for future
elections whose conduct can avoid a resort to violence and other abuses.

Another provision, which Gerald LeMelle’s Africa Action advocacy group pushed for
would encourage the start of deliberations on the restructuring, rescheduling, and
perhaps even the cancellation of Harare’s debt to international and private financial
institutions.
--------------------
Nigeria President Yar'Adua dies after long illness (Associated Press)

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, long plagued by poor health,
has died at age 58, almost three months after his vice president assumed control of
Africa's most populous nation, Yar'Adua's spokesman said.

Yar'Adua died at 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Wednesday at the Aso Rock presidential villa with
his wife Turai at his side, presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi told The
Associated Press, his voice cracking with emotion. Adeniyi did not give a cause of
death.

A Muslim, Yar'Adua will be buried on Thursday, Adeniyi said.

Yar'Adua took office in 2007 in a country notorious for corruption and gained accolades
for being the first leader to publicly declare his personal assets when taking office -
setting up a benchmark for comparison later to see if he misappropriated funds. But
enthusiasm for his presidency waned as time passed and he made no headway in
fighting entrenched corruption.

He had tried to peacefully end an insurgency in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta

that had attacked the petroleum infrastructure, allowing Angola to overtake Nigeria as
Africa's no. 1 oil exporter. Those efforts frayed after Yar'Adua became gravely ill.

Yar'Adua went to a Saudi Arabian hospital on Nov. 24 to receive treatment for what
officials described as a severe case of pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac
surrounding the heart that can cause a fatal complication. He failed to formally transfer
his powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, sparking a constitutional crisis in
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 150 million people.

Jonathan assumed the presidency Feb. 9 after a vote by the National Assembly while
Yar'Adua was still in Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers left open the possibility for Yar'Adua to
regain power if he returned to the country in good health. He returned on Feb. 24 but
never reappeared in public and did not assume power again.
Charles Dokubo, an analyst at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, said
Yar'Adua would leave a mixed legacy. Dokubo said many would remember how
Yar'Adua never fulfilled his promises of increasing power supplies and fixing the
nation's shaky electoral system.

Yar'Adua, a soft-spoken former chemistry professor, was propelled into Nigeria's

highest through flawed elections but it marked the first time a civilian won the
presidency from another civilian in a nation once plagued by military coups.

As president, Yar'Adua was also unable to stem religious violence that has long
plagued Nigeria.

The country is split between the Christian-dominated south and its Muslim north. The
country's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands,
has become an epicenter of violence where more than 500 have died since the beginning
of the year in tit-for-tat massacres of Muslims and Christians. Politics, jobs and land
often motivate the killings.

Yar'Adua was committed to ending the violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta had been attacking oil installations,
kidnapping petroleum company employees and fighting government troops. MEND
began its fight in January 2006 to protest the unrelenting poverty of people in the Niger
Delta.

The unrest had cut Nigeria's oil production by about a million barrels a day. Yar'Adua
started formal peace talks earlier this year with MEND and met with Henry Okah, the
group's longtime leader. The entreaties drew more than 8,000 militants into
surrendering their arms as part of a government amnesty program.

"The general amnesty I extended to all militants in the Niger Delta has led to the laying
down of arms and a return of peace," Yar'Adua said in October. But militants later
resumed attacks, saying the government had failed to own up to its commitments
under the amnesty like sharing the nation's oil wealth with the delta.

Born into one of Nigeria's best-known political families in northern Nigeria in 1951,
Yar'Adua earlier worked as a chemistry professor at a university in his home state of
Katsina. He became Katsina's governor and later emerged as the consensus pick among
the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party, run by then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, a
former military dictator.

The 2007 presidential election was meant to end a cycle of military takeovers while
cementing democratic rule with Nigeria's first-ever peaceful transfer of power between
civilian rulers. International observers said the vote was rigged. Thugs stole ballot boxes
and electoral officials thumb-printed stacks of voting cards with police looking on.
However, Yar'Adua wasn't widely considered to have arranged the stolen vote.

"We acknowledge that our elections were not perfect and had lapses and shortcomings,"
Yar'Adua said in his May 29, 2007, inaugural address. "I also believe that out
experiences represent an opportunity to learn from our mistakes."

That admission alone offered a break from the bluster that characterized Yar'Adua's
predecessors, including some of Africa's most famous "Big Men." Many in Nigeria
hailed his announcement that he would be a "servant-leader."

While a careful approach to governance distinguished Yar'Adua from his predecessor,

it failed to move the machinery of government and the public soured on the president
as electric power remained scarce and blocks-long gasoline queues remained common
in Nigeria's major cities.

Yar'Adua also fell ill repeatedly. He flew away on long overseas trips to Germany and
Saudi Arabia, where he availed himself of first-class medical treatment for his chronic
kidney ailments. Meanwhile Nigerians saw little improvement in their own country's
hospitals and health care system.

Even after Yar'Adua moved into the presidential palace, Aso Rock, many of his family
members continued living in the modest family compound where Yar'Adua was born.
He leaves behind his wife, Turai, and nine children
--------------------
Congo Rebel Leader Captured (Associated Press)

KINSHASA, Congo—Civilians who were being recruited to a new rebel movement in

Congo's northwest captured the group's leader Wednesday and he now will stand trial
for war crimes, the government information minister said.

The rebel leader known as Odjani is accused of leading an attack on the capital of
Equateur province last month and other fighting in the region that has forced 200,000
people from their homes. Odjani, who claims to have mystical powers that protect his
fighters from bullets, opened a new front in what was a relatively peaceful corner of
this enormous Central African nation long brutalized by violent rebel groups.

Information Minister Lambert Mende said Odjani was captured by youths he was
trying to recruit in the village of Dongo. The youths handed Odjani to police officers,
Mr. Mende said, and the rebel leader is now being transported to the capital where he
will stand trial before a military tribunal.
Last month, Odjani's fighters briefly defeated a small force of United Nations
peacekeepers and overcame scores of Congolese army troops to capture the airport of
Equateur's capital, Mbandaka, for a day. A Ghanaian peacekeeper and a South African
pilot were killed, the U.N. said. The government said nine insurgents, four soldiers and
two police were killed. A human-rights group said many civilians drowned as they
overcrowded canoes in attempts to flee across the river to the neighboring Republic of
Congo.

"We hope that this latest development, if confirmed, will bring improved stability," said
Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs office.

An estimated 100 people have been killed in more than six months of fighting in the
region, which is Congo's poorest. An unknown number of civilians also drowned when
they tried to escape last month's attack on Equateur's capital, Mbandaka.

It is the latest unrest to roil Congo, whose people suffered through back-to-back civil
wars from 1996-2002 that devastated the mineral-rich nation and dragged in the armies
of half a dozen African countries.

The new group, which calls itself Nzobo Yalobo in the Lingala language, and in French
calls itself the Movement for Independent Liberation and Its Allies, has fed off
grievances about Equateur province being the country's poorest and being
marginalized since its most famous son, former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was ousted
in 1997 by a rebellion that splintered the country among various warlords. Also
marginalized are people associated with another native of the province, former warlord
and Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was arrested last year to face
charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
--------------------
Togolese government resigns (Xinhua)

LOME, Togo - Togolese Prime Minister Gilbert Houngboa on Wednesday tendered

resignation of his government to make way for the formation of a new governing team
following the presidential inauguration.

According to an official communique, President Faure Gnassingbe, who won the March
4 elections and were recently sworn in, praised Houngbo for the "immense work he has
accomplished at the head of the government."

President Gnassingbe also asked Houngbo to "ensure the expedition of current affairs
until the nomination of a new prime minister."
--------------------
Mauritians cast vote as PM says confident to be re-elected (Xinhua)
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius - Mauritians voted in the parliamentary election on
Wednesday as the country's prime minister said he was confident to be re-elected.

Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam said he was confident he would

be returned to office as he voted in the polling station.

The ruling Labor Party and the opposition Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) have
campaigned on strengthening the welfare state and social justice in the Indian Ocean
island with a population of 1.3 million.

A third of electorate have voted as of the noon. Most of the voters said they hope the
new government could help the country fight poverty and crimes.

Paul Berenger, the head of MMM, has also cast his vote.
--------------------
African leaders launch push against malaria (Reuters)

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - African leaders from 26 countries have launched a fresh
drive to eliminate malaria using a combination of bed nets, insecticides and medication,
Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete said on Wednesday.

About one million people die every year worldwide from the disease, of whom 85
percent are in Africa, Kikwete said.

"We believe that if we cover everybody in Africa with bed nets, insecticides and
medication by the end of this year, we will have zero deaths or near zero deaths from
malaria in Africa by 2015," said Ray Chambers, a U.N. special envoy for malaria.

This three-pronged approach had cut malaria cases in the archipelago of Zanzibar to
below 1 percent from 40 percent, Kikwete told a news conference of the African Leaders
Malaria Alliance on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa.

U.S. Malaria Coordinator Timothy Ziemer said the U.S. government has made a budget
request of $680 million for the fight against malaria in 2011. That includes $100 million
for the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, which together account for about
half of the world's malaria cases.

Malaria is caused by parasites transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected

mosquito. The disease costs Africa over $40 billion a year in treatment and sick days.
--------------------
Africa mining: Will mineral-rich countries start a cartel like OPEC? (Christian Science
Monitor)
DAKAR, Senegal - African leaders are pushing for tougher terms on mining concessions
after 25 years of structural adjustment – when countries cut red tape and offered
generous tax holidays to foreign prospectors.

Unlike other African nations, Uganda aims to dodge 'oil curse' Sudan election: Is
Khartoum stealing South Sudan's oil? The new dynamic was on display at a recent
mining conference in Senegal. The chief executive officer of a multinational Africa
mining firm was speaking, but Senegal's president didn't appear to be listening.

Across the hall from President Abdoulaye Wade sat 500 delegates from foreign mining
firms. They had come in March to see which new holes were worth digging in this
continent whose riches are in demand from booming economies like China's.

When the CEO's presentation ended, Mr. Wade treated his visitors to a rhyme: "I never
said, enrichissez-vous." [Enrich yourselves]. "I said enrichissons-nous." (Let's enrich one
another.)

A cheer rose up from the African delegates.

"I think we're at a turning point," says Bonnie Campbell, political science professor at
the University of Quebec in Montreal and author of "Mining in Africa." "There's been a
quarter-century where a certain investment-friendly road has been taken. [Now] there
is a recognition that there needs to be another focus."

A cartel modeled after OPEC?

The capstone of that push, at least for Wade, would be an international alliance of
Africa's mineral-rich nations, modeled after OPEC – a pan-African body that could
influence the price of metals like the cobalt in Chinese-made laptop and cellphone
batteries, 90 percent of which comes from Africa, according to the business watchdog
SwedWatch.

"It's an ambitious but feasible idea," says Mazou Yessouph Faudy, geological director
for Niger's Mining Ministry. "Our economy is falling. As a producer of uranium, it
would be good to involve ourselves in a union of producers that could set the price."

Already, according to estimates by gold mining company Randgold Resources, the

continent produces 30 percent of the minerals required by the US and China.

"[Africa is] going to become a very important player in the commodity and minerals
market," says Roger Dixon, chairman for South Africa's SRK mining consultancy, citing
China's 11.9 percent growth in its gross domestic product, the total of goods and
services produced, in the first quarter of 2010. "With that kind of demand, I think it's a
great opportunity for Africa to move to the forefront of things."

Africa should call mining companies' bluff

The question is how. For African negotiators, seizing the moment may mean
demanding that companies hire more locals, adhere to stricter environmental rules, or
build more roads and schools for local communities.

Those are all accommodations that mining companies find reasonable, says Mr. Dixon.

But an OPEC-like cartel? That's "crazy," says Honorary Prof. Phillip Crowson at
Scotland's Center for Mineral Law and Policy.

"There were attempts to do this with phosphates, iron ore, bauxite, copper – none of
them worked," he says, because too many nations opted out. "Mining companies don't
have to invest, and if the terms aren't attractive, they won't."

Professor Campbell thinks African arbitrators should call their bluff.

"The idea that global companies will go elsewhere, we've always heard that," she says.
"We have to be careful about this discourse that says if you raise a finger, investment
will flee."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Zimbabwe allotted $5.6 million in UN emergency funds to fight measles epidemic

5 May – Some 5 million children in Zimbabwe will receive urgently needed protection
from a growing spread of measles thanks to $5.6 million from the United Nations
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Senior UN officials take part as African economic forum opens

5 May – Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro is in Tanzania to take part in the
latest World Economic Forum on Africa, which got under way today in Dar es Salaam
with a dozen heads of State and government from across the continent participating.

New UN human rights office to open in Guinea to help prevent abuses

5 May – The United Nations is setting up a human rights office in Guinea to help the
Government prevent abuses such as last year’s violent suppression by the then military
junta of mass protests in which 156 people were killed, women raped, political
opponents arrested and their homes looted.
In Ethiopia, refugees and their hosts benefit from UN water and electricity project
5 May – In a bid to improve the lives of thousands of Somali refugees and the
community hosting them in eastern Ethiopia, the United Nations refugee agency has
completed an innovative project to make water and electricity available to residents of
the semi-arid region prone to drought.

Joint AU-UN force in Darfur still lacking crucial equipment, Ban says
5 May – The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in the conflict-
affected Sudanese region of Darfur is nearing full capacity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon says in a new report in which he warns that the mission continues to lack crucial
equipment required to enhance the capability of both its military and police units.