United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

8 February 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Obama: US to recognize Southern Sudan (Associated Press)

(Sudan) President Barack Obama says the United States intends to formally recognize
Southern Sudan as a sovereign, independent state in July.

Sudan Leader Will Accept Secession Vote (New York Times)

(Sudan) With the announcement of final voting results, President Omar al-Bashir of
Sudan said Monday that his government would accept the choice of the long-embattled
region of southern Sudan to separate from the north, setting the stage for the creation of
the world’s newest country this summer.

US Air Force Upgrades Arba Minch to Int’l Airport (Addis Fortune)

(Ethiopia) The US Air Force is upgrading Arba Minch Airport, which serves as a
domestic airport in Southern Regional State, after signing an agreement with the
Ethiopian government, in November 2010, reliable diplomatic sources disclosed to
Fortune.

US aid deal for Malawi delayed (Associated Press)

(Malawi) A deal to give Malawi $350 million in U.S. aid will not be signed this week as
planned because more talks are needed, the U.S. Embassy said Monday.

Tunisia calls up army reserve to tackle violence (Reuters)

(Tunisia) Tunisia asked military reservists to report for duty and warned police they
would be fired for skipping work on Monday, in a new drive to restore order three
weeks after an uprising overthrew the president.

Tunisian lawmakers approve emergency powers (AFP)

(Tunisia) Tunisian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Monday to give the interim
government emergency powers following the suspension of ousted leader Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali's party.

AU mediators in Abidjan for last-ditch talks (Associated Press)

(Ivory Coast) An African Union representative says an investigation team is meeting
Monday with members of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's government in a last-
ditch effort to find a peaceful resolution to the political crisis.

11 Cameroonian officials kidnapped in Bakassi peninsula (Xinhua)

(Cameroon) Eleven Cameroonian officials were kidnapped and two soldiers were
killed in the Central African country's troubled Bakassi peninsula, the local government
said on Monday.

Five possible solutions for kidnappings in Africa's Sahel region (Christian Science
Monitor)
(Pan Africa) Kidnappings in Africa's Sahel region in recent years present policy makers
with a tough question: what is the best way to deal with and prevent kidnappings by Al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb?

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Progress on DR Congo’s path to stability, but shortfalls hamper efforts – UN
envoy
 Sudan: UN hails South’s vote for independence, but cautions on tasks ahead
 UN warns floods in southern Africa could lead to food shortages
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday and Wednesday, February 8-9, 2011; National Defense

Industrial Association, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC
WHAT: Defense, Diplomacy, and Development: Translating Policy into Operational
Capability
WHO: Keynote Speakers include ADM Michael Mullen, USN, Chairman, Joint Chiefs
of Staff; BG Simon Hutchinson, GBR, Deputy Commander, NATO Special Operations
Forces Headquarters; ADM Eric T. Olson, USN, Commander, U.S. Special Operations
Command; Gen Norton A. Schwartz, USAF, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
Info: http://www.ndia.org/meetings/1880/Pages/default.aspx

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, February 9, 2011; Johns Hopkins School of Advanced

International Studies
WHAT: Elections, Society and State in Guinea After 2011
WHO: Siba N'Zatioula Grovogui, director of the Department of Political Science's
International Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University
Info: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Obama: US to recognize Southern Sudan (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the United States intends to formally
recognize Southern Sudan as a sovereign, independent state in July.

Obama made the announcement Monday in a statement congratulating the people of

Southern Sudan for "a successful and inspiring" referendum.

Election officials said Monday that more than 98 percent of ballots in the Jan. 9 vote
were for independence. That means South Sudan will become the world's newest
country in July.

Obama said that after decades of conflict the image of millions of southern Sudanese
voters deciding their own future was an inspiration to the world. He also said it's
another step forward in Africa's long journey toward justice and democracy.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's
earlier story is below.

The United States said Monday it is reviewing its designation of Sudan as a sponsor of
terrorism after the African nation accepted the outcome of an independence referendum
by South Sudan.

Election officials said Monday that more than 98 percent of ballots in the Jan. 9 vote
were in favor of independence, meaning South Sudan will become the world's newest
country in July.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton commended the Sudan government for
accepting the outcome.

She said in a statement that the designation will be lifted if Sudan does not support
terrorism for the preceding six months and provides assurance it will not do so in
future. It must also fully implement a 2005 peace agreement that ended a two-decade
civil war between the north and south that killed more than 2 million people.

"We look forward to working with southern leaders as they undertake the tremendous
amount of work to prepare for independence in July and ensure the creation of two
viable states living alongside each other in peace," Clinton said.

The mainly Christian south and mainly Muslim north must still negotiate citizenship
rights, oil rights and border demarcation. Virtually all of southern Sudan's budget
comes from oil revenue, and the north wants to maintain fuel supplies from the south.
Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes in the western
Sudan region of Darfur, on Monday backed the vote results and said he wanted to be
the first to congratulate the south on its new state.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news conference in Washington that
the government of Sudan has made clear that it wants normal relations with the United
States.

He said the U.S. was willing to lift the terror designation if Sudan met the requirements
of U.S. law.

Sudan has been on the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism since 1993.
--------------------
Sudan Leader Will Accept Secession Vote (New York Times)

KAMPALA, Uganda — With the announcement of final voting results, President Omar
al-Bashir of Sudan said Monday that his government would accept the choice of the
long-embattled region of southern Sudan to separate from the north, setting the stage
for the creation of the world’s newest country this summer.

According to the final count, announced in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, 98.83 percent of
the more than 3.8 million southern Sudanese voted to separate from the north in what
appeared likely to be a sweeping landslide decision. In many parts of the country the
vote was over 99 perecent.

Sudan has endured two long and brutal civil wars between the Arab north and the
mostly Animist and Christian south, spanning from the early years of independence
from Britain to 2005, when a peace agreement was signed, setting the stage for the
referendum.

Both President Bashir and the southern president, Salva Kiir, were in attendance for the
historic announcement as street celebrations spread through the southern capital, Juba.

“Today we received these results and we accept and welcome these results because they
represent the will of the southern people,” President Bashir said in a statement on state
television, according to Reuters.

He also said that along with southern independence would come an Islamist
renaissance in the north.

With the referendum vote now official, actual independence is expected to be declared
on July 9, when the peace agreement that set the stage for the vote expires.
Across the vast, African, oil-producing south, voters overwhelming chose to secede
from the Arab north, which through conflict and marginalization helped keep the south
one of the poorest and least-developed regions in the world.

In the frontier Unity state, nearly 500,000 people voted — but only 90 voted for unity
with the north.

In Juba the day has been met with jubilation.

“This is what people have been expecting, and longed for, and have achieved it,” said
Aleu Garang Aleu, a spokesman for the southern referendum bureau. “People will
party. There will be disco. There will be dances. People are warming up for the
celebration now.”

Thousands of Sudanese from around the world, particularly the United States, who fled
during the years of war, have returned home to rebuild the south, and Juba is
considered one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.

Now the south will have to focus on the intricate process of formally disentangling itself
from the north.

On Monday the government said that it had plans to build a brand-new capital for the
soon-to-be-country, and that designs had already been submitted.

“The government of South Sudan decided a new capital is needed,” said the southern
information minister, Benjamin Marial. “The present capitals of Africa were established
by colonial administrations, it was not established by the citizens themselves.”

“We want to do our own thing,” he said.

Last month the government announced that an official name for the country – South
Sudan – had been proposed.

But issues regarding citizenship, oil-revenue rights and the contested and volatile
region of Abyei remain unresolved.

Furthermore, both the southern and northern armies have failed to demobilize tens of
thousands of soldiers.

According to the 2005 peace agreement that ended the civil war special integrated units
including soldiers from both the north and south patrol particular points in the region.

But last week clashes exploded between soldiers within some of the integrated units
stationed in the frontier state of Upper Nile, killing at least 50, when the different halves
of the unit were ordered to separate and redeploy, and they squabbled over the
weapons. Up the Nile from Sudan, large-scale protests have, threatened to put
President Hosni Mubarak out of power after a 30-year rule.. President Bashir, who has
been in power nearly 18 years, faces many of the same economic pressures.

Protests broke out in Khartoum on January 30 , and plans for more have appeared on
Facebook.

President Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of

atrocities committed in the Darfur region of Sudan, similar to those committed during
the civil war with the south.

The United States has said that recognizing southern independence could lead the way
to the lifting of economic sanctions on the north.
--------------------
US Air Force Upgrades Arba Minch to Int’l Airport (Addis Fortune)

The US Air Force is upgrading Arba Minch Airport, which serves as a domestic airport
in Southern Regional State, after signing an agreement with the Ethiopian government,
in November 2010, reliable diplomatic sources disclosed to Fortune.

Located five kilometres from the town’s centre, the airport first become operational in
November 1998. It has a runway dimension of 2,800 metres by 45 metres, but lacks
crucial facilities such as fire fighting equipment, aeronautical MET, and air traffic
services are not available. However, it can land aircraft the size of a Boeing 737.

The US Air Force is extending the runway and upgrading the airport to international
standards with modern facilities, according to these diplomatic sources. When
completed, the upgraded airport, one of 12 airports in Ethiopia of which four are
international, will have the capacity to land a Boeing C-17 Globemaster, a large military
transport aircraft that has been developed for the US Air Force since the beginning of
the 1980s.

No official statement was made from either side about why the US Air Force is
spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the airport in Arba Minch, located
505km south of Addis Abeba.

However, the area holds regional military strategic importance for the US due to the
high threat of terrorism in neighbouring Somalia and a concern for possible regional
instability following the expected independence of Southern Sudan, the diplomatic
sources told Fortune.

The mobilisation of construction materials and clearing the area of wild bushes by
Orchids Construction, a subcontracted local construction firm, was underway last week.
Heavy-duty graders and four excavators were unearthing the area near the airport,
while 20 Nissan Diesel (UD) trucks could be seen carrying mounds earth out of the
project compound.

A mountain of wood, piled up after clearing from the construction site, has been visible
on the opposite side of the airport’s gates, according to eye witnesses in the town
Fortune spoke to. The project site is under heavy military guard, with US troops seen
patrolling the area, according to these eye witnesses.

The project, estimated to cost not more than 50 million dollars, will be good for the
economy of the area that is known as a tourist destination. At the time of writing, all the
rooms at Paradise Lodge, a private lodge, were rented out to expatriates working on the
project, while the lodge is extending its 18 tukul rooms and facilities with new
constructions underway, according to residents in Arba Minch.
--------------------
US aid deal for Malawi delayed (Associated Press)

BLANTYRE, Malawi – A deal to give Malawi $350 million in U.S. aid will not be signed
this week as planned because more talks are needed, the U.S. Embassy said Monday.

Embassy spokesman Benjamin Canavan did not elaborate on what was holding up the
Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement on power projects announced in
January.

"We remain in dialogue with the Malawi government," Canavan said, adding the
Millennium Challenge Corporation is committed to "working with nations that are
committed to good governance, economic freedom and investments in their citizens."

Canavan said officials from the program — which dates from George W. Bush's United
States presidency — and the Malawi government have been working for three years "to
develop a much-needed investment for Malawian people in the power sector."

He would not say when the deal would be finalized.

The delay comes after the German government announced it was decreasing aid to
Malawi following Malawi's failure to repeal laws that criminalize homosexuality, and
its enactment of laws seen as restricting media freedom.

Malawi, among the world's poorest countries, was condemned around the world for 14-
year-sentences handed out to a gay couple on charges of unnatural acts and gross
indecency. President Bingu wa Mutharika later pardoned them, but said it was only on
"humanitarian grounds" and expressed support for his country's anti-gay laws. At the
time, U.S. presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said the convicted men weren't
criminals and called for an end to persecution and criminalization" of sexual orientation
and gender identity.

Dozens of African countries have anti-gay laws.

--------------------
Tunisia calls up army reserve to tackle violence (Reuters)

TUNIS - Tunisia asked military reservists to report for duty and warned police they
would be fired for skipping work on Monday, in a new drive to restore order three
weeks after an uprising overthrew the president.

Security officials in the coalition government put in place after President Zine al-
Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia have said there is a conspiracy by officials close to
the old administration to spread chaos and take back power.

After days of gunfights and looting immediately after Ben Ali was pushed out, it had
seemed security was being restored but since last week violence has flared again,
raising new questions about Tunisia's stability.

The military has for weeks been in the streets helping keep order and filling the gap left
by a police force whose ranks have been thinned by desertions and absenteeism.

"The Defence Ministry has called on retired members of the army, navy and air force ...
to go to the regional centres of conscription and mobilisation nearest to their place of
residence," said a ministry statement reported by the official TAP news agency.

Tunisia's uprising against Ben Ali's authoritarian rule inspired protest movements
elsewhere in the Arab world, notably in Egypt, and its halting progress towards
stability is being watched closely in the region.

Britain announced its foreign minister William Hague will have talks with officials in
Tunisia on Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking Western official to visit since Ben Ali
was overthrown.

PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

In a further effort to help restore order, Tunisian lawmakers voted to give interim
president Fouad Mebazza the power to rule by decree, allowing him to bypass
parliament.
Addressing the chamber, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said those powers
were needed to allow the government to respond quickly to the challenges it faces.

The Interior Ministry urged police to play their role in bringing back security.
Public respect for the police is low because many Tunisians blame them for carrying out
acts of violent repression during Ben Ali's rule, and suspect them of trying to
undermine the new government after he fled.

"The Ministry of Interior calls on police officers to guarantee the security of the country
and to act to help all those who ask their help in case of danger," the official news
agency quoted the ministry as saying.

"In cases where police leave their workplace to answer urgent calls they must return as
soon as the emergency is dealt with. If they do not return they will be considered as
having left their job," the ministry said.

At least five people have been killed in provincial towns since Friday, including two
shot dead in the northern city of El Kef when police tried to disperse protesters.

There were no reports of any deaths or injuries on Monday but protesters clashed with
police again in El Kef and set fire to buildings in the town, local media reported.

In the Tunisian capital, about 300 employees of the foreign ministry staged a protest
rally outside their workplace to demand that the minister, Ahmed Ounaiss, step down.

He had angered many Tunisians by lavishing praise on French Foreign Minister

Michele Alliot-Marie, who is under fire at home from opposition politicians who accuse
her of having cosy relations with Tunisia's ousted administration.
--------------------
Tunisian lawmakers approve emergency powers (AFP)

TUNIS — Tunisian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Monday to give the interim

government emergency powers following the suspension of ousted leader Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali's party.

Of 195 deputies present in the 214-seat lower house of parliament, 177 voted in favor of
the bill, 16 against and two lawmakers from Ben Ali's RCD party abstained, said Lazhar
Dhifi, a member of the social affairs and human rights commission which submitted the
text.

The Senate is to vote on the bill Wednesday before it can be ratified by interim president
Foued Mebazaa.

If approved by the two houses of parliament, the text will give Mebazaa power to rule
by decree and sidestep a parliament dominated by the Constitutional Democratic
Assembly (RCD), which was suspended on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi told deputies they had to
approve the measure in order to bring peace to a country still mired in turmoil three
weeks after Ben Ali was deposed in a popular revolt.

"Time is precious. Tunisia has real need of rule by decree to remove dangers," he said at
the first parliamentary session since Ben Ali's overthrow.

"There are people who want Tunisia to go backwards but we must honour our martyrs
who fought for liberty," Ghannouchi said.

As lawmakers debated the bill, hundreds of demonstrators massed outside to demand

the "dissolution of parliament", known as the long-feared RDC's former power base.

Sunday, interior minister Fahrat Rajhi announced the suspension of all activities of the
RCD as a first step towards its dissolution.

Eighty percent of deputies belong to the RCD, which had a monopoly on power under
Ben Ali and could still stand in the way of reform.

The RCD claims two million members out of a total population of 10 million and
remains a well-organised political group which could mount a strong political
campaign.

Under the suspension, the RDC is banned from organising meetings and public
gatherings while its offices have been shut down.

The interim government moved to suspend the party in part to stem renewed bouts of
violence that have broken out after it relaxed a curfew imposed on January 12.

The interim government, which replaced top police chiefs and the governors of all of
Tunisia's 24 provinces just days before, had hoped the move would help calm the
unrest.

But protesters and opposition politicians are calling for a more thorough shakeup,
judging some of the newly named governors too close to the old regime and the RDC.

In unrest northwest of the capital on Sunday 40 people were injured, one badly burned
in the torching of a police station, in the town of Kef, hospital sources said.

In the southern town of Kebili, one youth died after he was hit by a tear gas canister
during clashes with security forces, the state news agency TAP reported.

An interior ministry source said that two people were killed and 13 injured, including
four policemen, in street protests in Kef on Saturday.
Several hundred demonstrators had been calling for Kef police chief Khaled Ghazouani
to be sacked for abuse of power, according to TAP.

By Monday calm was restored in the town with soldiers patrolling the streets, local
union official Raouf Hadaoui told AFP by telephone from Tunis.

TAP meanwhile reported the arrests of two members of the security forces suspected
over the deaths of two detainees in Sidi Bouzid, in the centre of the country.

It was in Sidi Bouzid that a young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, died after setting himself
on fire on December 17, triggering the uprising.
--------------------
AU mediators in Abidjan for last-ditch talks (Associated Press)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – An African Union representative says an investigation team is

meeting Monday with members of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's government in a
last-ditch effort to find a peaceful resolution to the political crisis.

The African Union last week asked the presidents of Chad, Mauritania, South Africa,
Tanzania and Burkina Faso to find a peaceful way to install the internationally
recognized election winner, Alassane Ouattara, as president. AU representative
Ambroise Nyonsaba says the leaders sent a team of 15 experts to Abidjan Sunday.

Nyonsaba said Monday that the team will eventually be followed by the presidents,
who will try to organize a face-to-face between Gbagbo and Ouattara, both who claim
to be the elected president of Ivory Coast.

The AU mediation team has one month to publish its recommendations.

--------------------
11 Cameroonian officials kidnapped in Bakassi peninsula (Xinhua)

YAOUNDE - Eleven Cameroonian officials were kidnapped and two soldiers were
killed in the Central African country's troubled Bakassi peninsula, the local government
said on Monday.

The separate attacks were linked to rebels surfacing in recent years in the peninsula,
part of the oil-rich the Gulf of Guinea region. Bakassi is also known for repeated attacks
by pirates.

The officials were kidnapped on board a boat off the coast on Sunday after attending a
ceremony. Two gendarmes were shot on Monday on the peninsula by unidentified
gunmen.
An Africa Marine Commando (AMC) is suspected to be behind the attacks, the latest in
a series by the group to press for a swap of its members in detention.
--------------------
Five possible solutions for kidnappings in Africa's Sahel region (Christian Science
Monitor)

Since 2007, kidnappings and murders of Westerners in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger by
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have presented Sahelian and European
policymakers with terrible dilemmas: Should militaries try to rescue hostages? Should
governments pay huge ransoms to terrorists? How can authorities prevent
kidnappings? How can governments work together to neutralize AQIM?

I am exploring these questions in a three-part series. Part one cataloged kidnappings.

Part two argued that ransoms are preferable to rescues because rescues are risky,
ransoms save lives, and ransom payments have not produced a clear increase in
kidnappings. This final installment moves past the ransoms-vs-rescues debate to assess
the pros and cons of different preventive solutions. At the end, I offer a combined
approach.

Solution One: Do less

Before considering what more Sahelian and European governments could do about
kidnappings, it’s worth asking whether they should do less. Should governments leave
kidnapping victims to their fates? Clint Watts writes, “I’m against ransoms entirely and
almost always against rescues…If you want to travel to Timbuktu and study ancient
texts, you’re on your own! Good luck and don’t lose your head out there!”

Pros: Reducing the role of European and Sahelian governments in kidnapping crises
could deny cash to AQIM, avoid messy rescues, and prevent AQIM from achieving
symbolic victories. Refusing to play the ransom-or-rescue game could reduce AQIM’s
incentives to kidnap Europeans and let governments shift from reaction to action.

Cons: Leaving kidnapping victims to their fates might be politically impossible for
Sahelian governments (who face pressure from Europe to act and who want to avoid
being perceived as weak or incompetent) and European governments (who face
domestic pressures to intervene and who want to avoid bad press resulting from
deaths). Additionally, victims’ families might try to pay kidnappers, enriching AQIM or
endangering private negotiators.

Solution Two: Reduce the Number of Victims

Kidnappings have already reduced European travel to the Sahel. Government policies
such as issuing travel warnings, cutting exchange programs, requiring tourists to
register with local authorities, and taking precautions regarding government
employees’ movements give AQIM fewer targets. Further moves could include
mandatory information sessions for tourists on avoiding kidnappings, convoy
arrangements for travel between destinations, or encouraging Europeans to hire
security escorts.

Pros: The fewer targets that are available to kidnappers, the fewer kidnappings there
will be.

Cons: Travel will already decrease on its own. Even with increased precautions, some
travelers will still be at risk, either through misfortune or recklessness. Discouraging
tourism could also hurt Sahelian economies.

Solution Three: Dialogue and Rehabilitation

At least one Sahelian country, Mauritania, is trying to engage militants in religious
dialogue and rehabilitate them. Working with Muslim leaders, governments can attack
the religious justifications for terrorism. Governments could send preachers into
communities where AQIM is known to operate; these preachers could denounce the
group and engage clerics who sympathize with AQIM in public debates to undermine
their religious credibility. Finally, dialogue could involve listening to the grievances of
AQIM members and attempting to find solutions.

Pros: Dialogue could decrease support for AQIM by combating the ideological
component of terrorism and addressing community grievances that drive recruitment.
Rehabilitation could reduce AQIM’s membership and undercut the demand, often
made in hostage crises, that governments free jailed militants.

Cons: Dialogue could legitimize AQIM’s demands, broaden the group’s platform, and
waste government resources. Failed rehabilitations could, at great financial and political
cost to Sahelian governments, allow for recidivism among militants.

Solution Four: Political and Economic Reform

Governments, in attempting to address root causes of terrorism, could make various
political reforms, for example:

Identifying and purging closet AQIM sympathizers in government

Conducting listening tours, especially in isolated areas
Allowing disenfranchised political groups more autonomy
Moving to nullify AQIM’s demands by adopting more Islamic values in government,
for example raising the profile of Islamic advisory councils or giving a larger role to the
shari’a.
Economic interventions would center first on identifying the networks that kidnap and
sell victims to AQIM. Based on the findings, policymakers would attempt to prevent
potential kidnappers from becoming kidnappers by involving them in alternative
economic activities, for example by offering subsidies to pastoralists and unemployed
youth.
Pros: Political and economic reform could hurt AQIM’s ability to recruit and reduce
whatever public support the group enjoys.

Cons: Where will the money and the political will come from? Even if money is
available, Sahelian governments could undertake political reforms or launch economic
programs and kidnappings might continue. Even worse, failed reforms might hand
rhetorical victories to AQIM.

Solution Five: Force

Preemptive force includes what we’ve already seen in the Sahel: attacks on AQIM,
surveillance that leads to arrests and foiled plots, intergovernmental military
operations, and training missions by Western armies. Some of these efforts have
succeeded. Others, particularly moves toward cooperation, seem promising. Yet some
observers call for more force, especially a long-term Western military presence in the
Sahel.

Pros: A French or American force or a larger commitment by Sahelian governments

could transform the fight against AQIM from isolated battles into a systematic
campaign to destroy the organization. A larger force could patrol larger areas, reducing
AQIM’s range of movement and capacity to seize victims.

Cons: A permanent campaign against AQIM, especially coupled with greater Western
involvement in the Sahel, could radicalize other groups in the region, increasing
AQIM’s membership even as casualties mounted on both sides. Such a campaign might
entail serious expenditures of blood and treasure, sacrifices out of proportion to the
problem that AQIM poses.

Conclusion
I favor an approach that incorporates some, but not all, of these ideas. I reject two
proposals: First, despite my sympathy for Clint’s perspective, I think that for both
European and Sahelian governments, doing nothing is not politically possible.
Governments will feel compelled to respond to hostage crises. Second, I think an
increased and sustained Western military presence in the Sahel would do more harm
than good. While training missions and limited cooperation can accomplish much,
deploying French or American troops to the Sahel would likely produce a backlash that
extended beyond AQIM, and would have unpredictable effects throughout the region.

I think working on multiple lines simultaneously is the best course. Partly, I am

suggesting that Sahelian governments do more of what they are doing now. Increasing
intergovernmental military cooperation is a good idea because it could reduce AQIM’s
freedom of movement and result in more successful strikes against the group. Dialogue
and rehabilitation efforts are worth pursuing – and expanding – in order to drain
AQIM’s recruiting pool and delegitimize its religious stances. I do not think that
Sahelian governments need to adopt shari’a, but I do think that holding listening tours
and reforming or strengthening Islamic advisory councils could communicate that
governments take believers’ concerns seriously.

Where possible, I suggest governments disrupt the kidnapping economy, either by

taking strong steps to reduce unsafe travel or by offering incentives for would-be
kidnappers to seek alternative paths. Economic losses from reduced tourism are real,
but lives lost will also generate bad press and hurt economies. Finally, I suggest
Sahelian policymakers experiment with new strategies, because it seems the answer to
preventing hostage crises lies in approaches that incorporate various ideas.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Progress on DR Congo’s path to stability, but shortfalls hamper efforts – UN envoy

7 February – United Nations peacekeepers are making “important headway” on the
difficult road towards bringing stability to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), but shortfalls in funds and military equipment are constraining their efforts, a
top official said today.

Sudan: UN hails South’s vote for independence, but cautions on tasks ahead
7 February – The United Nations today hailed the announcement of the official results
of South Sudan’s referendum – which showed that an overwhelming majority opted for
secession – and called on both sides to agree quickly on a host of issues stemming from
the separation and to resolve the future of a disputed area.

UN warns floods in southern Africa could lead to food shortages

7 February – Heavy rainfall and flooding in of southern Africa have damaged large
areas of farmland and crops, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) said today, warning that communities in poorer parts of the region could
experience food shortages in the coming months.