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26 August 2010

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

AFRICOM prepared to train Somali troops if called upon, general says (Stars and
Stripes)
(Somalia) As Islamic militants stepped up their assault on the U.S.-backed government
in Somalia this week, U.S. Africa Command’s top officer said he is prepared, if called
upon, to lend more support to the embattled Somali military.

Former U.S. diplomat tackles Sudan north-south issues (Reuters)

(Sudan) A retired U.S. ambassador has gone to Sudan to try to help settle north-south
disputes on sharing wealth and power ahead of a referendum on independence for the
south, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

Congo Republic's heavy use of D.C. lobbyists prompts questions (Washington Post)
(Congo Republic) In 2006, the Congo Republic launched a Washington lobbying
campaign that has now cost about $9 million and involved more than 100 conversations
and meetings with members of Congress, their staffs and African advocacy groups,
according to lobbying disclosure reports.

Outsourcing a U.S. war: Ugandans in Iraq (San Francisco Bay View)

(Uganda) Observers say the U.S. has long outsourced the Iraq occupation to troops
from some of the world’s poor nations, such as Uganda, Angola, India and Bangladesh,
and that many of the mercenaries due to replace other U.S. troops will also come from
those countries, especially from Uganda.

Mass rape in Congo reignites questions on efficacy of UN force (Christian Science

Monitor)
(Congo) The attacks, which occurred in late July and were confirmed this week by the
UN peacekeeping mission, have raised questions about just what the UN Organization
Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is supposed to accomplish.

UN Short on Funds to Feed 600,000 in CAR (Voice of America)

(Central African Republic) The United Nations World Food Program says tens of
thousands of people in Central African Republic face malnutrition if the WFP cannot
secure urgent funding.
Could Al-Shabab Attacks Bring Down Somalia's Government? (Time)
(Somalia) After a series of bombings on Tuesday that culminated with the brazen
killing of at least 30 people, including six members of parliament, al-Shabab has shown
itself to be more powerful and Somali state officials tell TIME they fear the Western-
backed government could fall any time.

China’s new scramble for Africa (Financial Times)

(Pan Africa) The sight of large delegations from Africa in Beijing is becoming
commonplace. China is now South Africa’s largest trading partner.

UN chief offers anti-piracy options (AP)

(United Nations) A full-blown international tribunal for Somali pirates is among
options the U.N. chief proposed Wednesday to better prosecute ongoing ship attacks off
the African coast.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Mass rapes underline urgency of consolidating peace in eastern DR Congo – Ban
 Security Council debates legal options for pursuing pirates off Somali coast
 Kenya: UN agency ‘trains trainers’ on curbing disaster risk
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AFRICOM prepared to train Somali troops if called upon, general says (Stars and
Stripes)

STUTTGART, Germany — As Islamic militants stepped up their assault on the U.S.-

backed government in Somalia this week, U.S. Africa Command’s top officer said he is
prepared, if called upon, to lend more support to the embattled Somali military.

Al-Shabab continued to clash with Somali and African Union forces in a series of deadly
battles on Wednesday, one day after the al-Qaida-linked group launched a brazen
attack at a Mogadishu hotel that left more than 30 people dead, including several
government officials.

The surge in violence, denounced Tuesday by White House officials, comes at a time
when the U.S. is looking for ways to beef up aid to Somalia’s fragile Transitional
Federal Government and curb the growing influence of Islamic militants.
AFRICOM provides training to some African Union forces who deploy to Somalia as
part of a peacekeeping force that defends Somalia’s weak government from being
toppled. However, Gen. William “Kip” Ward said AFRICOM also is prepared to
provide that training directly to Somali troops.

“To the degree that the Transitional Federal Government and its military structure
requires and asks for that same thing, we are prepared to do that,” Ward said during an
interview Monday at his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. That decision would have
to be made by the White House, not AFRICOM, he said.

The U.S. has stopped short of directly training Somali forces, opting instead to work
with Ugandan and Burundian troops. AFRICOM could lend support to Somali troops
with small unit training to foster better relations, improve leadership and teach the
proper role of militaries in society, he said.

“We are prepared to do all of that given it’s aligned with our overall policy and
strategy,” said Ward, who added that the U.S. policy on Somalia is under review in
Washington.

But he said he doesn’t foresee U.S. forces engaged on the ground in Somalia. Rather, the
support will come in the form of logistical assistance, training and equipment.

“It doesn’t mean you have to have U.S. forces on the ground to make a difference,” he
said.

Despite the deployment of about 6,000 African Union troops to Somalia, al-Shabab
continues to occupy more and more territory within the country, which has not had a
functioning government for two decades.

As al-Shabab continues to assert itself across much of southern Somalia, fears of the
country serving as a safe haven and training ground for foreign jihadists are growing
within the military community.

U.S. military officials are cautioning that an influx of foreign fighters into the country
could bring a wave of more unpredictable jihad to the broader region. After gaining
experience alongside al-Shabab, those freelancing jihadists could stray from the main al-
Shabab mission, officials said.

“Another issue we’re starting to see that we need to get out ahead of is ... an increasing
number of foreigners coming to get training and operational experience,” said an
American military official speaking under condition of anonymity because his work
requires that his identity be protected. “We might start to see non-sanctioned attacks
with individuals who have come to Somalia and spent a year or two in the training
camps. It might be more dangerous than an al-Shabab directed attack.”
When al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a pair of deadly bombings last month in
Uganda -- a country targeted for deploying troops to defend Somalia’s government
from a militant takeover — it signaled a new tactic for the al-Qaida inspired group.
Many analysts feared more such bombings could be on the horizon as al-Shabab
attempts to discourage surrounding nations from deploying troops to Somalia.

As al-Shabab takes control over large swaths of territory, the larger long-term security
threat could come from foreigners getting trained to take the fight back home —
wherever that may be, the military official said.

The threat of Somalia as a home base for al-Qaida also is coming under more intense
scrutiny from some Washington lawmakers, who say places such as the Horn of Africa
and Yemen could prove to be the most immediate terrorist threat facing the U.S.

According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials are growing increasingly concerned
about al-Qaida in Yemen collaborating with allies in Somalia to plan attacks against the
U.S. Lawmakers are calling for more aggressive action against al-Qaida in the area
around the Horn of Africa.

“It’s very possible the next terrorist attack will see its origins coming out of Yemen and
Somalia rather than out of Pakistan,” Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., told the Journal.

For two decades, the international community has been vexed by Somalia and its
violent unrest. Over the years, different clans and militias have vied for control. The
society is as fractured as ever, but al-Shabab appears to be the most potent force now in
operation.

Much about al-Shabab remains unknown, including the number of troops in its ranks
and the ways it finances its operations, military officials said. Despite its harsh tactics
and imposition of a severe form of Islamic law, or Shariah, al-Shabab is tolerated in
some areas because they can provide some measure of security, the military official
said.

“We see al-Shabab control expanding, so we can surmise from that that if you get the
support of the people ... that’s how you stay (in power),” the official said.

Meanwhile, elements of al-Qaida under intense pressure in Afghanistan, Iraq and

Pakistan could find a home in Somalia if Al-Shabab succeeds. “I think it is inevitable
they will look at other places for operating environments,” the official said. “We’ve
been saying that for a decade, but certainly it is trending that way.”
--------------------
Former U.S. diplomat tackles Sudan north-south issues (Reuters)
WASHINGTON – A retired U.S. ambassador has gone to Sudan to try to help settle
north-south disputes on sharing wealth and power ahead of a referendum on
independence for the south, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

The two sides need to resolve sensitive issues including demarcating the border,
defining citizenship and sharing oil and Nile waters in the case of either result in the
January 9, 2011 referendum -- secession or unity.

The plebiscite culminates the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which
ended Africa's longest civil war. The conflict claimed 2 million lives, mostly through
hunger and disease, and destabilized much of east Africa.

Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, left for Sudan
on Tuesday as part of a beefed up U.S. team trying to help the two sides ahead of the
referendum, which most analysts believe will lead to southern secession.

"Ambassador Lyman will provide a senior-level presence in Sudan dedicated

specifically to working with the CPA parties to reach consensus on outstanding CPA
implementation issues, such as citizenship, border demarcation and resource sharing,"
said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

The State Department said Lyman left to join U.S. special envoy Scott Gration for talks
with both sides this week. Lyman will shuttle between Khartoum and Juba, with
periodic consultations in Washington.

Analysts agree time is running short especially on defining the border, a problem
similar to the one which sparked conflict between neighboring Eritrea and Ethiopia
when they separated.

Most of Sudan's oil wealth is believed to lie along the disputed north-south border, and
defining the frontier has remained in deadlock for years.
--------------------
Congo Republic's heavy use of D.C. lobbyists prompts questions (Washington Post)

Over the past five years, the authoritarian regime of the Congo Republic has leaned on
Washington lobbyists to help with an image problem.

Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of the one of the world's poorest countries, had
been accused in court and in lawsuits of diverting tens of millions of dollars in national
oil profits to hidden bank accounts, then using the money to buy mansions in France
and to finance spending sprees in Paris, Dubai and New York. His main antagonist was
a New York investment firm that had accused him of misspending funds in a lawsuit
seeking to to get paid on an old debt.
Sassou-Nguesso reached out for help on Capitol Hill. In 2006, the Congo Republic
launched a Washington lobbying campaign that has now cost about $9 million and
involved more than 100 conversations and meetings with members of Congress, their
staffs and African advocacy groups, according to lobbying disclosure reports.

A main focus of the effort was to persuade Congress to stop the profitable business of
investment funds like the one that had embarassed Sassou-Nguesso.

Experts on the Congo Republic and African debt say the lobbying effort financed by the
small central African nation has been unusual in its cost and intensity. Impoverished
countries struggling to provide food, water and medical care to citizens rarely pay out
millions to retain the services of high-powered D.C. lobbyists.

The Congo Republic made clear that its legislative priorities included "responding to
allegations of misconduct directed at President Sassou-Nguesso by creditors of the
Republic of Congo," according to reports filed in Washington.

The Congo Republic's lobbyists took the lead among African nations in pushing for
Congress to enact "vulture fund" legislation that would prevent foreign investors from
reaping windfall profits by buying up at basement price the debts of poor countries and
then suing the countries to repay in full. The Congo Republic, which settled most of its
outstanding debts to investment firms in a confidential 2008 agreement, said it was
seeking protection for all poor African countries, such as Rwanda, Ethiopia and Sierra
Leone.

In the House, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) stepped forward to sponsor a bill that won
support from 33 co-sponsors, including many members of the Congressional Black
Caucus. She introduced it 2008, and reintroduced it in 2009.

Waters told the British news media a year ago that she was unaware that the Sassou-
Nguesso government had been involved in pushing the legislation. Last week, she
acknowledged that lobbyists for the Congo Republic submitted proposed legislative
language to her office in 2007 and met with her and her staff to shape the final bill.
Records show that the Congo Republic's lobbying team has met or spoken with
Waters's office 40 times since 2006, including two meetings with her personally.

Waters said the legislation is part of her long-standing effort to help impoverished
African nations. She said the Congo Republic's lobbying against these investors, paid
for by state oil revenue, may well be in the interest of the Congolese people.

"Poor countries have the same right to hire lobbyists and lawyers as more affluent
countries," she said.
To groups supportive of the legislation, like TransAfrica and Jubilee USA, Waters and
her colleagues are taking on a powerful segment of the financial industry and
preserving scarce African resources for their people. Every year, African nations pay
about $14 billion in debt costs to wealthy nations and international institutions while
receiving less than $13 billion in international aid, advocacy groups estimate.

But John Clark, a professor at Florida International University and an expert on the
Congo Republic, said members of Congress, including Waters, should be wary of
lobbyists for Sassou-Nguesso and should scrutinize the country's "grotesque" record of
neglecting its citizens.

"She has a duty not to take at face value that any benefit she gives to the Congolese state
will go directly to the Congolese people," Clark said. "The purpose of the lobbying is to
cover up this nasty reality of authoritarian politics and to protect the leadership's
personal finances. The money of the state is spent on the elite and has little to do with
the lives of ordinary people."

The trail of Congo Republic funds was exposed by Elliott Management, a New York
hedge fund that sued the Congo Republic for repayment of an estimated $100 million in
debt purchased on the secondary market. The company declined to discuss its dispute
with the Congo Republic.

In 2005, the firm alleged in court that it found the Sassou-Nguesso regime had diverted
tens of millions of dollars of state oil shipments into shell companies secretly owned by
a top presidential deputy. (A British court agreed the country had concealed its oil
assets in hidden accounts.) The Congo Republic's ambassador to the United States,
Serge Mombouli, said embezzlement charges are unproved.

Other groups then alleged that Sassou-Nguesso used oil profits for his personal benefit.
A lawsuit brought by French humanitarian organizations claimed that three African
leaders, including Sassou-Nguesso, embezzled from their countries' treasuries for
personal luxuries. A preliminary French police investigation in 2007 turned up $205
million in French property for the three, including Sassou-Nguesso family holdings of
five mansions in or near Paris and a $224,492 car.

In a visit to France last year, Sassou-Nguesso said the assets were typical for a world
leader.

"All the leaders of the world have castles and palaces in France, whether they are from
the Gulf, Europe or Africa," he explained.

In 2006, the Congo Republic retained the D.C. law firm Trout Cacheris to handle several
assignments, including working with the International Monetary Fund to win
impoverished-nation status and dealing with charges made against Sassou-Nguesso.
Trout Cacheris has turned to numerous subcontractors for help: the Livingston Group,
run by former House speaker Bob Livingston; Chlopak Leonard; the former Amani
Group, led by former representative Bill Gray; and the communications firm Public
Private Solutions.

John Richards, the primary Congo Republic lobbyist who led several discussions on
Capitol Hill about banning vulture funds, said Sassou-Nguesso properly sought to stop
a creditor's campaign to disgrace and bankrupt the nation.

He said the investment firms "utilized their own in-house communications capacities
and outside PR consultants to conduct a global smear campaign against the Congolese
government."

Sassou-Nguesso, he said, wants legislation because, like a cancer survivor, he "knows

firsthand that a cure is needed."

Lobbyists for the Congo Republic worked closely with Waters as well as a coalition of
U.S.-based religious, human rights and environmental groups.

Jubilee USA, a group of religious and human rights groups, also worked with Congo
Republic lobbyists. Melinda St. Louis, a Jubilee deputy director, said her group relied
on lobbyist Richards for technical expertise, because he had the unusual experience of
helping defend a country against a vulture fund lawsuit.

"Trying to come up with legislation to deal with this niche behavior requires some
technical expertise that we don't have," St. Louis said.

However, St. Louis said her group has tried to "keep an arm's-length relationship" with
the Congo Republic government.

In an interview last year, Waters said poor nations need protection from vulture funds.
At that time, she said that she would not seek legislation to protect dictators who are
"known to be stealing" from their people and that she was not aware that the Congo
Republic's lobbying team was involved in the push for legislation.

Waters, who is facing an ethics charge on a separate matter before the House Ethics
Committee, now says her earlier comments did not accurately describe her staff's
dealings with the Congo Republic lobbying team.

In a statement last week, she confirmed that lobbyists had submitted a proposed bill
and were consulted in vetting her legislation. She declined to answer questions about
Sassou-Nguesso and allegations that he diverted state money.
Clark, of Florida International, said vulture funds are unpopular for a reason, but he
said liberal groups are naive in partnering with the Congo Republic to fight them.

"We may not have warm feelings toward the vulture funds. But one positive thing they
are doing is shedding light on the [government] accounts," he said.
--------------------
Outsourcing a U.S. war: Ugandans in Iraq (San Francisco Bay View)

Last week the Pentagon proclaimed that the last U.S. combat forces had left Iraq. This
after an armored unit drove out of the country and crossed the border into Kuwait.
However, there will still be 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

An Iraq veteran turned war critic, Camillo Mejia, said that 4,000 U.S. troops who are
leaving Iraq will be replaced by 7,000 employees of private military contractors. Other
observers say the U.S. has long outsourced the Iraq occupation to troops from some of
the world’s poor nations, such as Uganda, Angola, India and Bangladesh, and that
many of the mercenaries due to replace other U.S. troops will also come from those
countries, especially from Uganda.

The New York City-based Black Star News publishes many critics of U.S. foreign policy
in Africa, and Black Star’s Ugandan-American Editor Milton Allimadi is among the
most outspoken critics of U.S. use of Ugandan mercenaries, elsewhere in Africa and in
Iraq.

“This is not surprising,” declares Allimadi. “It’s a disturbing development and

something needs to be done to really stop this because Ugandans are being victimized
by the dictator, Yoweri Museveni, and now in collusion with the United States
government.

“And another reason why this is very disturbing: It’s an extension of what the U.S. has
been doing for a couple of years now with respect to Uganda – outsourcing of torture of
people interdicted by the United States to Uganda. And this was well documented in a
report by Human Rights Watch that has not garnered sufficient attention.

“The report is called ‘Open Secret: Illegal Detention and Torture’ by the Joint Anti-
Terrorism Task Force in Uganda. It was published last year, April 8, 2009, and it says
that the United States provided not only training, but also $5 million for Ugandan
security agents to torture individuals detained in Uganda, which is illegal according to
the Leahy Amendment, an amendment by Sen. Patrick Leahy, which prohibits U.S.
cooperation or funding or training for any government that is torturing its individuals
or committing human rights abuse.

“It needs to be investigated by the Senate and by Congress.”

In Kampala, former Ugandan soldiers fill out application forms for jobs with the
Dreshak company in Iraq. Ugandan security guards make $600 to $1,000 per month
over a year-long contract in Iraq, reports Middle East Online, far less than the $15,000
that Western recruits are paid but 20 times the average income in Uganda. – Photo:
Middle East OnlineBlack Star News contributor Michael Kirkpatrick has traveled in
Northern Uganda, the wartorn home of the indigenous Acholi people, and written
about Blackwater, Dreshak and KBR’s recruitment in refugee camps, otherwise known
as Internally Displaced Persons or IDP camps, which he first observed in 2007.

“Back in 2007, I traveled to Northern Uganda at the invitation of some Acholi friends of
mine,” says Kirkpatrick. “This was an opportunity for me to see how that part of the
country was rebuilding after a 20-year rebel insurgency.

“While I was there, I met a young woman who was there from the British High
Commission, and she was studying a local language in the city of Gulu, which is the
largest city in Northern Uganda. And she was there to learn this obscure tribal African
language because she needed to train translators in Iraq. Well, I thought this was odd,
that the Acholi language was being spoken in Iraq.

“Well here what I learned was that there were Acholi, young Acholi men, being
recruited by military contractors to go to Iraq and they obviously needed translators
because these young men did not speak English, so they needed translators in Iraq to be
able to instruct and direct these military contractor employees.

“I’ve come to learn even since then that the recruitment of Ugandans is a very common
practice by these military contractors. There are a lot of things going on in East Africa
that require the U.S. presence there. And currently, right now, there are recruiting
stations in the capitol city of Kampala and there are regularly long lines of Ugandans
waiting to get jobs.

“For Ugandans, this isn’t an act of fighting Al Qaeda. This isn’t an act of justice or
spreading democracy in the Middle East. For them it is purely an economic issue. They
need the jobs; they need the money. From my point of view, we are exploiting a
desperate people. We’re bribing them with money to carry weapons into a war that is
not theirs.”

Asked whether recruiting stations belong to private military contractors or the U.S.
military, Kirkpatrick responded: “They are private. They are not U.S. military. They are
not manned or stationed by U.S. military. But believe me, the U.S. military is paying
their bills.”

Kirkpatrick also says that private for-profit companies do not have to report casualties
or open their accounting books to anyone.
--------------------
Mass rape in Congo reignites questions on efficacy of UN force (Christian Science
Monitor)

Johannesburg, South Africa – The Rwandan rebels came down into the eastern
Congolese town of Luvungi and occupied it for four days, systematically looting local
homes and gang-raping more than 150 women and children.

Less than 20 miles away, two dozen soldiers from the world's largest United Nations
peacekeeping force sat apparently unaware, seemingly unable to come to the village’s
aid. The peacekeepers even made mobile patrols through some of the villages
surrounding the occupied town of Luvungi itself, only to find that the rebels – the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), whose members are blamed
for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – simply ran into the woods to hide, only to return
when the UN forces were gone.

The attacks, which occurred in late July and were confirmed this week by the UN
peacekeeping mission, have raised questions about just what the UN Organization
Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is supposed to accomplish.

"During the attack [the rebels] looted [the] population's houses and raped several
women in Luvungi and surrounding areas," Stefania Trassari, spokesperson for the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was
quoted as saying by Al Jazeera’s English service on Monday.

"International Medical Corps [a private aid group] reported that FDLR systematically
raped the population during its four-day stay in Luvungi and surrounding areas," Ms.
Trassari said. “A total of 179 cases of sexual violence were reported.”

In eastern Congo, rape is so prevalent as a method of war, both by armed militias and
by the Congolese Army itself, that the UN calls it the “rape capital of the world.” It's
also now become much more common among civilians in the war-torn areas.

The lingering violence in eastern Congo is one of the reasons the UN deployed some
20,000 peacekeepers in what is the most expensive peacekeeping mission in the world.

Yet, as the UN peacekeeping mission winds down – at the insistence of Congo's

government – it is cases like the Luvungi mass rapes that raise questions about whether
the government is ready to pick up its “primary responsibility” for security and
protecting Congolese civilians from still-present armed groups.

If it is not ready, human rights activists ask, then what is the purpose of the UN
peacekeeping mission?
“The situation in the [Congo] is getting more and more horrific, and this is just one case
that we know about in which rape is used as a weapon of war,” says Sipho Mthathi, the
office director of Human Rights Watch in Johannesburg. “The issue of civilians being
attacked is there whether the UN attacks these militias or not. So as far as we are
concerned, this requires urgent action. Either the UN figures this out, or they must be
disbanded and something else should be put into its place.”
--------------------
UN Short on Funds to Feed 600,000 in CAR (Voice of America)

The United Nations World Food Program says tens of thousands of people in Central
African Republic face malnutrition if the WFP cannot secure urgent funding.

In Central African Republic, the United Nations World Food Program says it needs an
additional $15 million in funding over the next eight months to continue feeding
600,000 people there.

The World Food Program said an influx of refugees from Democratic Republic of
Congo late last year strained its resources in CAR. Without additional funding, the WFP
says it could run out of food in November.

WFP Country Director Sitta Kai-Kai says this drop in food aid will endanger some of
the most vulnerable populations.

"We feed up to 600,000 people in different categories from people living with
HIV/AIDS to refugees to displaced persons to pregnant and lactating women and also
children under the age of five," said Sitta Kai-Kai. "We also have a school feeding
program. It is the only program where children of school-going age in primary schools
have one meal a day, sometimes two, depending on our funding."

Kai Kai said without additional funding by October, when schools reopen, school
attendance will decline and rations will be reduced for the 150,000 students receiving
school meals.

She said the impact will be felt at nutrition centers as well, as rations will have to be cut
for some 17,000 already acutely malnourished children and 15,000 pregnant and
nursing women.

It can take up to five months for food to reach the landlocked country, and Kai Kai said
the WFP needs $6.6 million by September to make it to the end of this year in CAR.

"Six-point-six million will help us a great deal," she said. "That will permit us to borrow
food immediately from other countries in the subregion and also buy food locally."
If additional funding is not received within the next two months, Kai Kai said the
World Food Program would have to reduce assistance for 100,000 internally displaced
people and refugees, primarily from Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She
said food assistance for others would have to be suspended entirely.
--------------------
Could Al-Shabab Attacks Bring Down Somalia's Government? (Time)

Just a few months ago, the going story on al-Shabab, an Islamic insurgent group in
Somalia, was that it could carry out well-coordinated, very deadly attacks, but posed no
existential threat to the country's central government, weak as it may be.

Now, after a series of bombings on Tuesday that culminated with the brazen killing of
at least 30 people, including six members of parliament, al-Shabab has shown itself to
be far more powerful than that, and Somali state officials tell TIME they fear the
Western-backed government could fall any time.

Tuesday's attack saw just two al-Shabab fighters storm the Muna Hotel in Mogadishu
early in the morning, gunning down bystanders outside and hotel staff, armed guards
and parliamentarians inside before blowing themselves up. The fact that they
succeeded in killing so many people at a hotel frequented by security forces and
politicians, many of them armed themselves, was a striking symbol of the government's
impotence.

"The government does not have enough power to defeat al-Shabab and to secure the
safety of Mogadishu," Ali Osman, a senior official in the Ministry for Industry, tells
TIME. "This is shameful for the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] and I cannot
really say there is a government — it is just a name."

The Transitional Federal Government was formed in 2007 with the backing of the
international community. It remains in power thanks mostly to 6,000 African Union
peacekeepers who protect Villa Somalia, home to President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, as
well as the airport, the docks and a few city streets around them. Last week, the AU
announced that the first of 2,000 additional troops had begun to arrive — part of plans
to fulfill an earlier AU promise for 8,000 soldiers — but that didn't stop al-Shabab from
launching a new offensive on Monday in which 40 people were reportedly killed. After
the massacre at Muna Hotel on Tuesday, 10 more people were killed Wednesday in a
third day of fighting.

Al-Shabab leaders have vowed more attacks soon. "Al-Shabab will attack the enemies of
Allah in our country and will continue until they are removed and Somalia comes
under Islamic rule," al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohadum Rage told TIME.
"There will be many other places that will be attacked both in the country and, if
necessary, outside the country. Al-Shabab will not be stopped."
Such words might once have been seen as empty threats, but no longer. Al-Shabab has
gained strength with surprising speed since it emerged in 2006 from the ruins of a more
moderate Islamic government that had brought some stability to Somalia until Ethiopia
invaded late that year. The group now controls much of southern Somalia, including
the lucrative port of Kismayo, and seeks to impose Taliban-style sharia law across the
country.

Last December, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a medical-

school graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, killing 24 people including three
government ministers. Then, in July, bombers staged double attacks in Kampala,
Uganda, on the night of the World Cup final that left 74 people dead. Uganda has
supplied about half of the AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

Analysts and members of the government attribute some of al-Shabab's bloody success
to an influx of money and training from foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. On
Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. now believes a branch of al-
Qaeda in Yemen is working closely with al-Shabab.

The trouble is figuring out the best way to respond. The U.S. and other allies of the
Transitional Federal Government have often said that the TFG represents Somalia's best
hope for peace, but are reluctant to send the sort of military or financial support that
would allow it to turn the tide against al-Shabab. In July, the former U.N. representative
for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, said the Somali government had only received
$3.5 million of $213 million pledged at a donor conference in 2009.

But whether there's much foreign governments could do, short of sending huge
numbers of troops into Mogadishu, is up for debate. The TFG is riven by internal
fighting, defections, corruption and financial bankruptcy. It holds a tiny piece of the
Somali capital and, without the thousands of AU troops stationed in Mogadishu, would
fall quickly.

Somali officials — many of whom also receive their salaries from foreign governments
— say that such a state of affairs cannot last, if only because al-Shabab will make good
on its threats and oust the government from power. "We aren't getting the international
support that we were promised," Mohammed Omar Talha, the deputy speaker of
parliament, tells TIME. "If we do not attack them in their places, they will attack us in
the presidential palace. So we cannot wait."

That sentiment was echoed by another MP, Mohammed Abdi, who predicted the TFG
would fall soon without help. "The situation is worse than before, let's not hide the
truth," Abdi tells TIME. "If the AU and the international community don't come in the
next few weeks to help us I don't think we'll have a government of Somalia.
-------------------
China’s new scramble for Africa (Financial Times)
The sight of large delegations from Africa in Beijing is becoming commonplace. The
latest to arrive is led by Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa.

China is now South Africa’s largest trading partner. Indeed, the Chinese are doing
business and striking deals all over Africa. Other recent examples, worth billions to the
recipient countries, include deals to import coal from Mozambique and oil from
Nigeria. China’s traders pop up all over Africa, and its construction companies have
built roads, railways and buildings from Lesotho to Egypt.

Some western commentators – and some Africans, too – have decried China’s
burgeoning relationship with the continent as a new form of colonialism, based on the
search for minerals. But such criticism is largely misplaced.

Western-led development strategies, however well meaning, did not break the cycle of
under-development in Africa. So Chinese investments, made for sound business
reasons and boosting employment and growth, offer new hope and an alternative way
forward. The infrastructure that the Chinese are building will also have positive spin-
off effects for industries outside of natural resources. Chinese traders have brought
cheap consumer goods to Africa. And, as labour costs rise at home, Chinese
manufacturers may look at Africa with new interest, as a base for production.

Former colonial powers are in a weak position to lecture China on Africa. And, having
preached the virtues of competition, the west cannot really grumble about being outbid
by the Chinese in the race for natural resources in Africa.

Yet, inevitably, there are qualifications to this happy picture. One reason that African
governments often love doing business with the Chinese is that they are much less
likely to condition their investments on improvements in government. This pragmatic,
business-first attitude has a lot to be said for it. Investment, even in despotic countries,
usually brings benefits to ordinary people.

But there are limits – or there should be. Propping up vicious governments in Sudan or
Zimbabwe – both favoured business partners of the Chinese – does no favours to those
countries’ people. Ultimately, it will damage the reputation of China and its economic
interests in Africa. The Chinese government has prided itself on taking a long-term
view of China’s own development. It should apply the same long-term logic to Africa –
and take a more discerning attitude to its business partners.
-------------------
UN chief offers anti-piracy options (AP)

UNITED NATIONS - A full-blown international tribunal for Somali pirates is among

options the U.N. chief proposed Wednesday to better prosecute ongoing ship attacks off
the African coast.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered the Security Council seven options for
grappling with the piracy problem, ranging from simple legal support for individual
nations to a full international court established by the council, the U.N.'s most powerful
body.

Ban also condemned Tuesday's deadly hotel attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu
-- the latest example of violence and anarchy that has plagued the country for two
decades. Gunfire and a suicide explosion killed 32 people in the attack by militants on a
small hotel.

Piracy has become a lucrative business for organized criminal gangs who board ships in
the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean -- one of the world's busiest sea lanes -- and hold
them, their crews and cargos for ransom.

Ban said that during the past seven months there have been 139 piracy-related incidents
off Somalia's coast. Thirty ships have been hijacked. Seventeen ships and 450 seafarers
currently are being held for ransom.

The 15-member Security Council has imposed sanctions on pirates and authorized
countries to pursue them in Somalia's territorial waters, using "all necessary means to
repress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."

But prosecution of accused pirates has proved difficult, even for the United States. Last
week, an American judge dismissed piracy charges against six Somali men accused of
attacking a Navy ship off the African coast.

Issuing his ruling in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson
concluded that the American government failed to make the case that the men engaged
in piracy during an alleged April 10 attack on the USS Ashland in the Gulf of Aden.
Defense attorneys had argued that the Ashland defendants did not meet the U.S. legal
definition of piracy because they did not take command of and rob the amphibious
dock landing ship.

The so-called Contact Group on Somalia, comprising neighbors and other interested
countries, has been discussing various legal options for dealing with the piracy
problem. But Russia, a Security Council member, earlier this year asked Ban to present
options and for the council to get involved.

The Security Council welcomed Ban's options. It said Ban's proposals provide "a solid
base for future work in order to enhance international, regional and nations cooperation
in bringing pirates to justice."

The options are: basic support for nations in prosecuting suspected pirates;
establishment of a Somali court, applying Somali law, in a third state in the region; two
variants for helping a regional state or states to establish a special court inside its
existing judicial system to conduct piracy trials; a regional court establishment by
regional states and the African Union; a international "hybrid" tribunal with national
participation by a state in the region; a full internatinal tribunal, established by the
Security Council.

In a statement read by Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the council president, the
group said it understood the challenges in prosecuting the alleged pirates, including the
limited judicial capability and prison capacity of area nations.

Ban said all of his options require the political will and financial commitment of U.N.
member states. Needed are a host state, and a structure for prosecuting and
imprisoning a large number of suspects arrested at sea.

The secretary-general said Kenya and Seychelles had stepped up in the fight against
piracy and Tanzania and Mauritius indicated they would join them. Eleven member
states have prosecuted or have convicted nearly 600 Somali men of piracy in the past 18
months, he said.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when warlords overthrew a
longtime dictator and then turned on each other, plunging the country into chaos.

A transitional government was established in 2004 but only controls a few blocks in
Mogadishu and depends on the 5,100-strong African Union peacekeeping force. Islamic
insurgents control much of the capital and are trying to topple the fragile government.
-------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Mass rapes underline urgency of consolidating peace in eastern DR Congo – Ban

25 August – The recent savage rape and assault of scores of civilians in the remote and
troubled far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a “brutal reminder”
of the obstacles faced in keeping the peace in conflict zones, Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon said today.

Security Council debates legal options for pursuing pirates off Somali coast
25 August – Commending the efforts undertaken so far to combat piracy off the coast of
Somalia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed that more can be done, as the
Security Council debated legal options to help bring the perpetrators of such crimes to
justice.

Kenya: UN agency ‘trains trainers’ on curbing disaster risk

25 August – A United Nations workshop to “train trainers” on disaster risk reduction
kicked off today in Kenya with the hope that participants apply the lessons learned
elsewhere in Africa.