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20 July 2010

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

Obama Spending U.S. Millions On 'Yes', U.S. Lawmaker Charges (Daily Nation)
(Kenya) The Obama administration is spending US$23 million on the referendum
campaign, more than double what had earlier been acknowledged, a US congressman
says.

US Transfers Two From Guantanamo to Other Nations (Voice of America)

(Algeria/Cape Verde) The Defense Department said Monday that Abdul Aziz Naji has
been sent back to his native Algeria, while Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani was
resettled in Cape Verde.

Somali conflict (Leadership Magazine)

(Somalia) The African Union (AU) Summit that began in Kampala, Uganda on 19 July
will arguably be one of the organisation’s most important meetings in a long time and
will probably set the future AU action in trying to settle conflicts in Africa as the
continued political turmoil in Somalia is threatening to spread out across the continent
and wider.

Rebels hit main army base in C.African town (AFP)

(Central African Republic) The army in the Central African Republic claimed control
Monday of Birao, the main town in the north of the country, following an overnight
raid by rebels on its military base there.

Guinea to unveil final results of first round presidential elections (Xinhua)

(Guinea) On Monday evening, Guinea's Supreme Court is expected to announce its
verdict regarding the country's first round of presidential elections that were held on
June 27, according to state radio.

The next revolution is coming to Africa. Cellphones are bringing it. (Christian Science
Monitor)
(Pan Africa) The mobile phone was a Silver Bullet for Africa. It was the entry ticket for
Africans to join the 21st century.
Scientists say vaginal gel cuts HIV-infections by half (BBC)
(Pan Africa) A vaginal gel has significantly cut the rate of women contracting HIV from
infected partners in an experiment in South Africa, researchers said.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Secretary-General urges more serious efforts by parties to end conflict in Darfur
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, July 20, 4:00 p.m., Brookings Institution

WHAT: Improving U.S. Strategies for Africa’s Two Biggest Wars
WHO: Anthony Gambino, Former USAID Mission Director, Democratic Republic of
Congo; Mwangi Kimenyi, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; John Prendergast, Co-
Founder, The Enough Project
Info: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0720_africa_wars.aspx
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Obama Spending U.S. Millions On 'Yes', U.S. Lawmaker Charges (Daily Nation)

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Obama administration is spending US$23 million on the

referendum campaign, more than double what had earlier been acknowledged, a US
congressman says.

"US tax dollar monies are flying out the door to pro-abortion groups committed to
overturning pro-life laws in Kenya," Republican Representative Chris Smith charged on
Friday.

He released new information from the inspector general of the US Agency for
International Development that is sure to stoke the controversy over the Obama
administration's involvement in the constitutional reform process.

A USAid listing provided to Congressman Smith shows that US$2.9 million is being
given to Development Alternatives for "activities related to the constitutional support
process."

This Washington-based NGO suggested 10 years ago that USAid in Kenya "would
benefit by supporting civil society organisations that are advocating for 'efforts to
eventually legalise abortion in Kenya,'" Mr Smith said in a statement.

The chart provided by Donald Gambatesa, the USAid inspector general, also lists an
US$85,363 grant to the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya), which,
according to Mr Smith, launched a campaign in 2008 to liberalise Kenya's abortion law.
Determined Outcome

The United States provided about US$180,000 to the Committee of Experts on

Constitutional Review for office renovation, furniture and equipment, and networking
capability, the USAid chart further shows.

"The Obama Administration should not be spending US$23 million in American tax
dollars on the specific 'Yes' campaign, pushing a determined outcome on the Proposed
Constitution in Kenya," Mr Smith said, equating all US funding for the referendum
process with support for the green camp.

"The US government can be supportive of the process, helping to secure a free and fair
referendum," the congressman added. "But we must respect the Kenyan people and let
them decide for themselves. US dollars should not be used to tell the Kenyan people
how to vote."

These disclosures via Mr Smith came on the same day that the US embassy in Nairobi
said it was suspending or ending USAid grants to nine Kenyan organisations found to
be supporting the Yes campaign.The US embassy said at the same time that it has
provided about US$11 million in support of the referendum process, the Associated
Press reported.

The AP quoted embassy spokeswoman Katya Thomas as saying the nine grants had
originally been funded to carry out neutral activities related to the referendum. A
primary contractor gave sub-grants to other groups using language that had not been
approved by the embassy, Ms Thomas added.

Democratic Reforms

"We don't fund the Yes campaign, but around the region, not just in Kenya, through
USAid, we support constitutional democratic reforms," Ms Thomas told the AP.

Congressman Smith had earlier revealed that 10 Kenyan organisations receiving

referendum-related funding from USAid were using the money to promote Yes votes.

Mr Smith is one of three Republican members of Congress who charge that the Obama
administration has violated a US law prohibiting use of public funds to support of
oppose abortion.

The three argue that the Proposed Constitution will permit virtually unlimited access to
abortion for Kenyan women.
An anti-abortion NGO based in the US state of Illinois meanwhile announced it is
circulating a petition calling for rejection of the Proposed Constitution.

Abortion opponents in Kenya "need to know that they have allies around the world
who stand in solidarity with them," the World Congress of Families said.
--------------------
US Transfers Two From Guantanamo to Other Nations (Voice of America)

The United States has transferred two detainees from its military prison at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, to other countries.

The Defense Department said Monday that Abdul Aziz Naji has been sent back to his
native Algeria, while Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani was resettled in Cape
Verde. A statement said the U.S. coordinated with the two countries' governments to
ensure a secure transfer.

The Guantanamo prison houses alleged terrorists, many held for years without trial.
The facility has been widely criticized by human rights groups.

President Barack Obama ordered the facility to be shut down within a year after he took
office in January 2009. However, the deadline passed amid difficulty in finding places
to put the detainees.

More than 40 other countries have accepted at least one prisoner. The U.S. says 178
detainees remain at the facility.
--------------------
Somali conflict (Leadership Magazine)

The African Union (AU) Summit that began in Kampala, Uganda on 19 July will
arguably be one of the organisation’s most important meetings in a long time and will
probably set the future AU action in trying to settle conflicts in Africa as the continued
political turmoil in Somalia is threatening to spread out across the continent and wider.

High on the AU’s agenda is the Somalian political quagmire. Concern is growing that
extreme Islamists under the guidance of al-Shabaab – which Washington describes as
increasingly being tied to al-Qaeda’s global agenda – is unwavering in its plan to reform
Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state.

The AU Summit was expected to discuss the future role of the AU peacekeeping
mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to solve the Somalian issue. There was strong suggestion
early on that there will be a request to increase the AMISOM troop strength from the
existing 6 000 to 20 000.
In the aftermath of the 11 July Kampala bombings, President Yoweri Museveni of
Uganda indicated that he plans to increase the Ugandan contingent to 6 000 from the
existing 2 000.

al-Shabaab made the opening move and set the stage for the AU Summit by initiating
the two bombings in the Ugandan capital. One bomb went off at a popular Ethiopian
restaurant and the second across the city at a rugby field where hundreds of spectators
were watching the Fifa Soccer World Cup final being played in Johannesburg. A total of
76 people were killed.

The message of the bombings, al-Shabaab’s first strike outside Somalia days before the
AU Summit, is clear: al-Shabaab is willing to go transnational with its terror campaign
against any country involved in Somalia, and it has said as such.

After the bombings, a spokesperson of al-Shabaab warned: “We are sending a message
to every country who is willing to send troops to Somalia that they will face attacks on
their territory.”

He added that Burundi, with 2 500 troops – the second-largest troop contributor to
AMISOM after Uganda – “will face similar attacks if they don’t withdraw.”

Selection of targets

The selection of Kampala and an Ethiopian restaurant as the first target of what may
become a spate of al-Shabaab terror attacks across Africa, is no coincidence. Not only is
Uganda the largest contributor of personnel to AMISOM, but Ethiopia – fearful of
Islamic fundamentalists gaining the upper hand in Somalia – intervened in 2006 in that
country with tacit American support to halt if not defeat the growing popularity of the
Islamic fundamentalists and has done so ever since.

The AU has been battling, largely unsuccessfully, for years to get an African military
force, called the African Standby Force, ready to intervene in the many conflicts and
internal unrest in Africa such as in Somalia.

Critics argue that al-Shabaab’s confidence to launch an attack in the capital of one of the
main contributors to AMISOM is indicative of the AU’s inability to act.

American friendship dangerous

It further serves as warning to countries which participate in or support AMISOM that

they should be prepared for retaliation attacks which include the United States.
The involvement of the US in its support for AMISOM, which takes on many forms,
and its backing for the unsteady and weak Transitional Federal Government in
Mogadishu, makes American targets a logical consequence.

As a staunch ally of Uganda, the 11 July attack should serve as a message to countries
with close links to the US.

The reaction from the US to the Kampala bombings was predictable, and the attitude in
Washington will no doubt increase tension in the Horn of Africa.

Not only is Uganda an indispensable US ally in a troublesome part of Africa, it serves at

the moment as a trusted co-campaigner in the fight against radical Islam in Somalia,
which is key to Washington’s global fight against terror. To lose such a reliable ally at
the moment would be a disaster.

Then, to top it all off, according to various sources there lies a large reserve of oil in
Uganda’s Lake Albert basin.

US President Barack Obama, in a recent interview with the SABC, warned that al-
Shabaab represents a growing threat to the region and added that Washington will
“redouble” its efforts against al-Shabaab.

Certain analysts are speculating that in light of the Kampala bombings, some leading
neighbouring states, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti – where the US Africa
Command has a base with a couple of thousand troops stationed – may reconsider their
future policy vis-à-vis the Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia.

Shocked by the brazenness of the attacks, they might have come to the conclusion that
the threat emanating from Somalia can no longer be viewed as one to be left in the
hands of a poorly supported intervention force, but that they may rather have to
consider involving themselves in a forceful engagement which is multilateral in its
military and political capabilities.

The AU meeting in Kampala should shed more light on what the next step will be.

In the interim, only time will tell if the message of al-Shabaab was taken seriously
enough and if more innocent victims are going to die as a result of political and
religious extremism.
--------------------
Rebels hit main army base in C.African town (AFP)

BANGUI – The army in the Central African Republic claimed control Monday of Birao,
the main town in the north of the country, following an overnight raid by rebels on its
military base there.
The pre-attack was carried out by disgruntled members of a rebel group which has
signed up to a peace process designed to lead to elections in the impoverished country,
military and rebel sources said.

"Units of the Centrafrican Armed Forces (FACA) at the moment control the town of
Birao, and we are in a position to say that this morning's attack was the work of
dissidents of the Movement of Centrafrican Liberators for Justice (MLCJ)," the source
said on condition of anonymity.

FACA regained control of the town by midday, but no casualty toll was available,
according to the military source.

The MLCJ is among rebel movements to have signed up to a peace process with the
government of President Francois Bozize.

The leader of the MLCJ confirmed Monday that the attack was made by former
members of the group.

"The attack was carried out by bandits excluded from the MLCJ who called themselves
dissidents," Captain Abakar Sabone told AFP.

"These men are led by Abdallah Admed, a Sudanese who took Central African
nationality," he told AFP.

Initially the attack was blamed on the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace
(CPJP), which itself claimed it had taken Birao. However, Sabone and the military
source said there was no organised CPJP involvement.

"Given the situation in the area, there is no doubt that some CPJP deserters were
alongside them. But they weren't organised by the CPJP. That is for certain," said
Sabone.

The attack came days after the government and ex-rebels began meetings in Paoua in
the northwest to verify the list of names of former fighters involved in the disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process.

Demobilised rebels are entitled to a food allowance while waiting to become fully part
of the DDR process. The management and payment of such allowances leads to many
disputes.

The attacks were condemned by the CAR government, which said they would not be
allowed to derail the peace process.
"If the government works to meet its commitments, it is up to the [rebel leaders] to meet
theirs. We are not going to be dragged along forever in this spiral of violence, nor forget
that the world is progressing around us," government spokesman Fidele Gouandjika
told AFP.

Former rebel leader, Jean-Jacques Demfouth, whose People's Army for the Restoration
of Democracy has also signed up to the peace process, said the attacks could not stop
"irreversible" progress in the country.

"Everything we do must contribute to this peace that we hold so dear, and acts against
it can only be deplored," he told AFP.

The poor, landlocked country is gripped by a humanitarian crisis due to such clashes, as
well as violence against villagers by the Ugandan rebel Lord?s Resistance Army, which
has fled military operations in neighbouring Uganda.

The United Nations, which has 300 troops from the UN Mission in the Central African
Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) based in Birao, has estimated that there were 162,000
internally displaced people in the CAR at the end of 2009.

There are also 31,000 refugees from Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in
the country, and 137,000 Central African refugees in southern Chad and Cameroon.

The peace process is designed to open the way for much-delayed polls. The country's
electoral commission has proposed October 24 as a new date, but it has not yet been
approved by Bozize.

Birao, which lies 800 kilometres (500 miles) to the northeast of Bangui, has been
historically controlled by the former rebel Union of Democratic Forces, who signed a
peace accord with the government in 2007.
--------------------
Guinea to unveil final results of first round presidential elections (Xinhua)

CONAKRY, Guinea - On Monday evening, Guinea's Supreme Court is expected to

announce its verdict regarding the country's first round of presidential elections that
were held on June 27, according to state radio.

The radio said the decision will be broadcast live from the Supreme Court.

The verdict will not only give the two names of the candidates who will contest in the
second round, but will announce the decisions on the complaints filed by the 21 election
losers regarding the handling of the polls.
The National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) published provisional results
days after the elections, showing the leading candidates were Cellou Dalein Diallo and
Alpha Conde with 39.72 percent and 20.67 percent of the votes cast.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Guinean government announced the holding of a

major consultative forum of representatives of public institutions, including the
National Transition Council (CNT), the National Communication Council (CNC), the
Economic and Social Council (CES), the CENI, the Special Forces for Security of the
Electoral Process (FOSSEPEL), the Supreme Council and representatives of various
governmental ministries.

The objective is to avoid any malpractice in the run-off like those reported in the first
round.

At the same time, the participants will examine reports written by electoral observer
missions and analyze observations made by political parties and other players in the
socio-political life of the West African country.

A source close to the prime minister's office confirmed that after the holding of the
forum, the final date for the second round of elections will be fixed.
--------------------
The next revolution is coming to Africa. Cellphones are bringing it. (Christian Science
Monitor)

NAIROBI, Kenya - Revolutions typically happen dramatically. One day, the shah of
Iran is sitting pretty on his peacock throne, and the next, he is gone.

Revolutions have been happening all over the African continent and at fairly regular
intervals. The stories are numerous of coups and countercoups, and it's not for no good
reason that Africa has typically sat at the bottom of the political stability indices. Even
here, though, there comes a point at which you cannot go any lower. It's called
"oversold." The political stability index for Africa has bottomed out, in fact.

During the tumult, vast African populations were just bystanders. The State and its
paraphernalia – or rebel militias – might descend on your district every few years but,
otherwise, things went on as they had. There was a single TV station to tell you what
happened, and the world went by.

It was a little biblical, with nature prone to ravage the land and famine just one failed
harvest away.

But that's changing, and mobile phones are the engine of that change.
This year, in most parts of Africa, statistically, there will be one mobile phone per adult.
In Kenya, that equates to 20 million mobile phones where just ten years ago there were
15,000. It is an extraordinary curve when you plot it. More Africans have a mobile
phone than access to a clean toilet.

The mobile phone has connected all these bystanders, to one another and now to the
world.

The mobile phone was a Silver Bullet for Africa. It was the entry ticket for Africans to
join the 21st century.

Today, in Kenya, it is a mobile wallet, a phone, and a 3G internet-enabled device. Sixty

percent of Africa's population is under 24. That means this moment of maximum
change, a one off convergence with the 21st century, is happening with a very young
population.

No disrespect, but revolutions are not undertaken by grandparents.

So you find this new generation of 21st-century Africans: young, connected, and
embedded into the information economy. And you look at the average age of the
African leadership and you see the widest spread you are ever likely to find. And you
see an entirely new perspective on African political
risk.

It's all about meeting the aspirations of a young, urbanized, and very demanding
population. It's very disjunctive.

Where the state was like Gulliver, the phone has given the citizens a net with which to
capture their Gulliver.
--------------------
Scientists say vaginal gel cuts HIV-infections by half (BBC)

A vaginal gel has significantly cut the rate of women contracting HIV from infected
partners in an experiment in South Africa, researchers said.

They said the gel, containing Aids drug tenofovir, cut infection rates among 889 women
by 50% after one year of use, and by 39% after two and a half years.

If the results are confirmed it would be the first time that a microbicidal gel has been
shown to be effective.

Such a gel could be a defence for women whose partners refuse to wear condoms.
New ways of curbing the spread of HIV are badly needed, particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa, where nearly 60% of those infected with the virus are women.

Many women are often forced to take part in unsafe sex, and are biologically more
vulnerable to HIV infection than men, making a gel they apply an attractive option.

Welcoming the results, UN agencies said they would convene an expert consultation in
South Africa next month to discuss the next steps with the product.

'Just pennies'

The results of the three-year study, which was completed by the Centre for the Aids
Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa), are being presented at an
international aids conference in Vienna and were published on Monday by the US
magazine Science.

An easy-to-use microbicidal gel proven to significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection
would be a very important breakthrough in the fight to control the spread of HIV/Aids.

The best way to minimise the risk of infection during sex is to use a condom - but this is
not an option for many women around the world who find it difficult to insist that a
man take the necessary precautions.

As a result, women have become particularly vulnerable to infection in recent years and
in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the Aids pandemic is most severe, they make up nearly
60% of those who are infected with the virus.

To compound the problem, science has shown that women are biologically more at risk
of infection than men.

An effective gel would finally give women the chance to do something to protect
themselves from infection - to take control of their own sexual health.

However, several earlier trials have produced disappointing results, and even the
results of the latest trial - impressive though they are - underline that a gel is far from a
fail-safe form of protection.

The latest results also need to replicated in a much bigger trial.

But provided a gel could be made widely accessible to women in some of the world's
poorest countries, where it is needed the most, it could help to transform many lives for
the better.
The gel was found to be both safe and acceptable when used once in the 12 hours before
sex and once in the 12 hours after sex by women aged 18 to 40 years.
Salim Abdool Karim, one of the two leading co-researchers, told reporters in Vienna
that the 889 women involved in the trial, conducted in the coastal city of Durban and a
remote rural village, had largely used the gel as directed.

They were also given condoms and advice about sexually transmitted diseases, and
tested for HIV once a month.

After 30 months, 98 women became infected with HIV - 38 in the group that got
tenofovir in the gel and 60 in the group that got placebos.

"We showed a 39% lower incidence of HIV in the tenofovir group," Dr Karim said.

Tenofovir, he added, lowered the risk of infection by 50% at 12 months but then the
efficacy declined.

Women who used the gel more consistently were much less likely to be infected, he
said.

He added that he did not know how much each dose would cost but said the
applicators and gel cost "just pennies".

"Boy, have we been doing the happy dance," Dr Karim, from the University of
KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, said.

'Hope for women'

"It's the first time we've ever seen any microbicide give a positive result that you could
say was statistically significant," said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The researchers say women who used the gel also showed a significant reduction in
genital herpes, a common sexually transmitted infection, which itself increases the risk
of HIV infection.

The UN's HIV/Aids agency noted that nearly 20 years of research had gone into
microbicides that can be controlled by a woman, independent of her partner.

"We are giving hope to women," said Mr Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAids.

"For the first time we have seen results for a woman-initiated and controlled HIV
prevention option."
A microbicide, he said, would be a "powerful option for the prevention revolution and
help us break the trajectory of the Aids epidemic".

Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, welcomed

Caprisa's findings.

"We look forward in seeing these results confirmed," she said.

"Once they have been shown to be safe and effective, WHO will work with countries
and partners to accelerate access to these products."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Secretary-General urges more serious efforts by parties to end conflict in Darfur

19 July – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has again urged all parties to the conflict in
Darfur to seriously pursue peace, citing ongoing violence, displacement and human
rights violations in the region despite several years of United Nations-backed attempts
to end the hostilities.