United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 29 July 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA U.S. Recognizes Libyan Rebels (VOA) (Libya) The United States has granted Libyan rebel leaders full diplomatic recognition as the governing authority of Libya. The U.S. came to this decision after serious engagement with the rebel's Transitional National Council, or TNC, where rebel leaders affirmed their commitment to pursue democratic reforms that are inclusive geographically and politically. The TNC also pledged to disperse any funds under their control in a transparent manner for the benefit of all the Libyan people. Leader of Rebel Military in Libya is Reported Killed (NYT) (Libya) The head of the Libyan rebels said Thursday that the leader of the oppositions military forces, General Abdul Fattah Younes, had been assassinated, along with two rebel colonels. But few details were provided about a murky attack that, if confirmed, would represented a major blow to the effort to topple Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Militants Bedevil Famine-Relief Efforts (WSJ) (Somalia) Fighting erupted in Somalia's capital Thursday, as African Union peacekeepers launched an offensive against Islamist militants they say are preventing humanitarian aid from reaching famine victims in areas the group controls. Manager of small Emirati oil tanker says vessel and 17-man crew freed unharmed (AP) (Somali) Seventeen crew members of a small Emirati oil tanker captured by pirates this month off the coast of Somalia have been freed unharmed along with the ship, the vessels manager said Thursday. Eritrea behind AU summit attack plot - U.N. report (Reuters) (Eritrea) Eritrea was behind a plot to attack an African Union summit in Ethiopia in January and is bankrolling al Qaeda-linked Somali rebels through its embassy in Kenya, according to a U.N. report. South Sudan Becomes African Union's 54th Member (VOA)

(South Sudan) The African Union has admitted the newly independent nation of South Sudan as its 54th member. Displaced Ivorians 'Too Afraid to Return' (IPS) (Cote dIvoire) More than half a million people remain displaced by Ivory Coast's postelection conflict and many are too afraid to return home for fear of ethnic reprisals, Amnesty International says in a report. Brumskine Appeals to Voters for Change in Direction (AllAfrica) (Liberia) Campaigning for Liberia's presidential election in October has shifted into high gear, with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf seeking a second six-year term. Charles Brumskine, a 60-year-old lawyer who ran third in the country's first post-war poll in 2005, is the Liberty Party standard-bearer. Somalia: America's Role in Somalia's Humanitarian Crisis (AllAfrica.com) Glen Ford for Black Agenda Radio explains how US militarization has contributed to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. (Somalia) Even as US militarization of the Horn of Africa has contributed massively to the threatened starvation of millions, the Americans have announced an escalation of drone attacks against Somalia and the establishment of a Marine task force for the region. A United Nations spokesman describes the food and refugee emergency in Somalia as the 'worst humanitarian crisis in the world' with millions at immediate risk. Not coincidentally, the epicenter of the disaster is the area where Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia meet, which is also a focus of US Special Forces, surveillance and logistics activity. UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website y Ban to appoint experienced Dutch diplomat to head UN mission in Cte dIvoire y Eritrea planned massive attack against African Union summit, says UN report y UN refugee agency seeks additional funding for Horn of Africa emergency -----------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST: None at this time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT U.S. Recognizes Libyan Rebels (VOA) By Unattributed Author July 28, 2011 The United States has granted Libyan rebel leaders full diplomatic recognition as the governing authority of Libya. The U.S. came to this decision after serious engagement

with the rebel's Transitional National Council, or TNC, where rebel leaders affirmed their commitment to pursue democratic reforms that are inclusive geographically and politically. The TNC also pledged to disperse any funds under their control in a transparent manner for the benefit of all the Libyan people. The U.S. announcement was accompanied by an agreement among all of the countries taking part in a meeting of 30 Western and Arab nations in Turkey to similarly recognize the TNC after five months of fighting against government forces. The other reason for granting recognition to the TNC is to send a very clear message to the present leadership of Libya that the future of the country does not include Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. Participants in the Libya Contact Group reminded Gadhafi and his associates that their responsibilities and obligations under international law continue and that they will be held responsible for any crimes against humanity and war crimes. According to Libyan council members, the plan for a political transition includes having rebels, now based in the eastern city of Benghazi, reach out to other regions of Libya not currently represented on the council. Together, they would form an interim government to rule in Gadhafi's place and then guide the country through democratic reforms, and ultimately the election of a new government. A practical consequence of officially recognizing the TNC is that it could give the rebels access to more than $30 billion in frozen assets that once belonged Colonel Gadhafi. So far, Kuwait and Qatar have donated, in kind, roughly $100 million the rebels. Other countries have made moves to free frozen Libyan assets, for example France renewed a previous pledge to unfreeze $250 million in assets in coming weeks for the rebels. And Italy pledged to unfreeze $100 million. It is time for Colonel Gadhafi to release his military stranglehold on Libya, depart from power, and permit a peaceful transition to representative government - one that serves the best interests of all Libyans. ---------------Leader of Rebel Military in Libya is Reported Killed (NYT) By KAREEM FAHIM July 28, 2011 TUNIS The head of the Libyan rebels said Thursday that the leader of the oppositions military forces, General Abdul Fattah Younes, had been assassinated, along with two rebel colonels. But few details were provided about a murky attack that, if confirmed, would represented a major blow to the effort to topple Col. Muammar elQaddafi. There were loud gasps at a news conference in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Libya, as the head of the opposition Transitional National Council, Mustapha Abdul Jalil,

announced the deaths. He said that one of the people responsible had been arrested, and suggested that the suspect had implicated others in the attack. But, adding significant confusion to the episode, Mr. Abdul Jalil said that the three men had been killed after General Younes was summoned back to Benghazi to appear before a judicial committee to discuss military matters and that the bodies had not been recovered. Every effort would be made, he said, to find those criminals and the bodies of the martyrs. General Younes, who had a long friendship with Colonel Qaddafi and served both as the head of Libyas special forces and the interior minister, was a contentious figure in the rebel movement. Though his defection soon after the February uprising was seen as a major boost to the rebels, he was an object of suspicion for many of the revolutionaries who wondered whether he had really switched sides. For months, a continuing public rivalry between Gen. Younes and another rebel military leader, Khalifa Hifter, contributed to a pervasive sense of chaos in the ranks, as both men claimed to command the fighters in the field. His record as a military strategist was also decidedly mixed. In March, when he took over leadership of the rebel fighters, General Younes said he had thousands of fighters under his command including a large contingent that was making its way towards Tripoli. Under his leadership, and despite significant air support by NATO warplanes, the rebel fighters were for months held to a stalemate in the eastern part of the country. -------------Militants Bedevil Famine-Relief Efforts (WSJ) By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS in New York and MUSTAFA HAJI ABDI in Mogadishu, Somalia July 28, 2011 Fighting erupted in Somalia's capital Thursday, as African Union peacekeepers launched an offensive against Islamist militants they say are preventing humanitarian aid from reaching famine victims in areas the group controls. The offensive is the newest sign that famine in parts of east Africa is becoming the area's worst humanitarian crisis in a generation. Soaring food prices, the worst drought in 60 years and a feeble international response have conspired to throw much of the Horn of Africa into crisis. Aid groups say the calamity has been exacerbated in parts of Somalia by al Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked group that controls the country's hardest-hit areas. The group has prevented aid workers from reaching more than 2 million people in the areas now classified as suffering from famine, called Bakool and Lower Shabelle, in

southern Somalia, aid groups say. Access for international media has been limited, hindering global awareness and likely crimping donor response, they say. "This is a political emergency, not a humanitarian emergency," said Gerald Martone, director of humanitarian affairs for the International Rescue Committee, a New Yorkbased relief organization. "A drought doesn't mean a famineit's the political instability that's the oxygen of a famine." United Nations officials say international donations have fallen about $800 million short of the $1.87 billion needed to respond to the east Africa crisis. The global recession, lack of awareness of the crisis and unwillingness to give to an area controlled by a terrorist group likely explain the poor response, they say. On Thursday, the American Red Cross announced a pledge of up to $1 million for the area. Thursday's fighting in Mogadishu erupted when African Union peacekeepers attacked al Shabaab militants, whose presence had been growing in the capital in recent days. In comments to the Associated Press, a peacekeeper spokesman called it a "short tactical offensive operation" designed to protect aid workers responding to the crisis. "This action will further increase securityand ensure that aid agencies can continue to operate to get vital supplies" to hard-hit areas, the spokesman told the AP, which reported that at least six people had been killed in the violence. The U.S. has designated al Shabaab a terrorist organization. U.S. officials have cited growing links between its members and al Qaeda's Yemen-based branch. In recent years, al Shabaab has shown indications of expanding its footprint outside Somalia, claiming responsibility for triple suicide blasts a year ago in Uganda's capital, Kampala, that killed 76 people. Al Shabaab officials in recent weeks have made contradictory statements about whether aid workers would be allowed into Somalia's crisis zones, which are rapidly expanding. The largely amorphous group, which enjoys varying degrees of support from local clans, has no clear command-and-control structure, Africa experts say, further complicating talks on aid efforts. The militant group forced aid agencies out of the country in 2009 and early 2010, likely making the region more vulnerable to its current drought. The aid groups said the militants had demanded massive taxes and prohibited female employees from doing certain jobs.

In all, nearly 12 million people across the Horn of Africa, comprising Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia, are affected by what experts are calling the worst humanitarian crisis, in both scope and severity, since Somalia's early 1990's famine. Tens of thousands are estimated to have already died in recent months due to disease and malnourishment. Displacement is compounding matters, with more than 500,000 refugees now in huge camps along Somalia's border with Kenya and Ethiopia, according to international relief organization Oxfam. Many in Somalia, having lost their livestock to the drought, have left their farmsand the clutch of al Shabab in some instancesin the southern rural areas to try their luck in makeshift camps in Mogadishu. One such camp, on grounds where capital residents once grazed cattle, now holds thousands of refugees in huts made of sticks, plastic and tattered clothes. Muslimo Hudow, a 37-year-old mother, says she walked with her seven children for 15 days, covering more than 200 kilometers, before catching a ride on a truck for the remaining 260 kilometers to the capital and this camp. "The drought wiped out everything we had," said Ms. Hudow, who said her family lost its 12 goats and 18 cows, their only source of livelihood. "This is a catastrophe like I have never seen." She said three of her seven children, ages two to 12, died of malnutrition since arriving in the camp. Others are said to have been prevented by al Shabaab from trying to leave the crisis areas. "Al Shabaab does not allow people to freely move and look for a better life," said Hassan Mohamed, a displaced father in the Mogadishu camp. He said his family escaped from an al Shabaab camp in the darkness of night. Al Shabaab says aid groups have exaggerated the crisis and exploited it for political aims, by undermining the militants' control over parts of the population and its efforts to propagate its view of an Islamic society. When al Shabaab expelled aid groups in the past, it argued that food aid distorted markets and gave local farmers less incentive to work. "Those who are claiming to be aid agencies are carrying out a displacement mission in Somalia," said Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, an Al Shabab spokesman, told reporters Monday. "They have uprooted thousands of people from their farms and homesand we know they have hidden agendas to undermine Islamic society in Somalia."

Al Shabaab began as the militia arm of a network of Sharia courts that vied to govern Somalia before the 2006 invasion by Ethiopia and subsequent international efforts to bolster a non-Islamic federal government. Al Shabaab became a counterinsurgency operation, attracting the attention of Al Qaeda and global Jihadists, according to Bronwyn Bruton, who wrote a report on the country as a fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations. Al Shabaab gained its terrorist designation from the U.S. in 2008. Such a move can complicate aid efforts, and the U.S. subsequently reduced aid to Somalia, concerned that some of it was being diverted into Al Shabaab's hands. Ms. Bruton estimates that the group is about 10,000 strongseveral hundred of them hardcore terrorists, the rest thugs and bandits under the age of 15. The U.S., the largest donor to the region, pledged another $28 million to Somalia and its refugees in Kenya earlier this month, on top of its $431 million in aid this year to the Horn of Africa. "The relentless terrorism by Al Shabaab against its people has turned an already severe situation into a dire one that is only expected to get worse," said Sec. of State Hillary Clinton last week, in announcing the additional aid. ------------Manager of small Emirati oil tanker says vessel and 17-man crew freed unharmed (AP) By Unattributed Author July 28, 2:45 AM DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Seventeen crew members of a small Emirati oil tanker captured by pirates this month off the coast of Somalia have been freed unharmed along with the ship, the vessels manager said Thursday. The MV Jubba XX was reported captured on July 16 as it made its way from Umm alQuwain in the United Arab Emirates to the port of Berbera in the breakaway northern Somali province of Somaliland. Omar al-Khair, general manager of Emirates International Shipping, the ships manager, told The Associated Press the tanker was freed late Wednesday following negotiations involving Somali tribal elders and government officials in Puntland, a semiautonomous northern region neighboring Somaliland. They were very helpful and very cooperative, he said of the Puntland officials. This is good news, really.

No ransom was paid, though pirates did steal money, clothes and other belongings from the crew, al-Khair said. The brigands also made off with the vessels satellite phones and other communications equipment, leaving the crew with just a regular Somali mobile phone, he said. An official working for ship owner Jubba General Trading Co., Sayyad Alawi, confirmed the tanker had been freed. The UAE-flagged Jubba XX was carrying less than 4,000 tons of refined fuel when it was hijacked off the coast of Mukalla, Yemen. Al-Khair said its crew included four Somalis, along with sailors from Sri Lanka, India, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sudan, Bangladesh. It is expected to dock later Thursday in the Somali port of Bosasso before continuing its journey to Berbera, al-Khair said. Piracy has grown in recent years off the coast of war-ravaged Somalia, which is now being gripped by a devastating drought. The Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years. ------------Eritrea behind AU summit attack plot - U.N. report (Reuters) July 28, 2011 By David Clarke NAIROBI - Eritrea was behind a plot to attack an African Union summit in Ethiopia in January and is bankrolling al Qaeda-linked Somali rebels through its embassy in Kenya, according to a U.N. report. A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia and Eritrea said the Red Sea state's intelligence personnel were active in Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya and Somalia, and that the country's actions posed a threat to security and peace in the region. "Whereas Eritrean support to foreign armed opposition groups has in the past been limited to conventional military operations, the plot to disrupt the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January 2011, which envisaged mass casualty attacks against civilian targets and the strategic use of explosives to create a climate of fear, represents a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics," the report obtained by Reuters said. The plan was to attack the AU headquarters with a car bomb as African leaders took breaks, to blow up Africa's largest market to "kill many people" and attack the area between the Prime Minister's office and the Sheraton Hotel -- where most heads of state stay during AU summits.

The U.N. said while past Eritrean support for rebel groups in both Somalia and Ethiopia had to be seen in the context of an unresolved border dispute with Addis Ababa, the new approach was a threat to the whole of the Horn and east Africa. "The fact that the same Eritrean officers responsible for the planning and direction of this operation are also involved, both in supervisory and operational roles, in external operations in Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia and Sudan implies an enhanced level of threat to the region as a whole." Asmara has repeatedly denied any involvement in funding rebel groups in the region. In June, it rejected claims it had anything to do with the Addis Ababa bomb plot as "nonsensical remarks" with no legal basis. Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador Araya Desta said the U.N. report claims were "ridiculous and absurd", and said that all the allegations in the report had come from Ethiopian officials and the Ethiopian military. "Eritrea has never, never participated in any terrorist acts ... There is no reason why we should send people to bomb the African Union," Desta told Reuters. "We renewed our membership in the African Union this year, and, while our representatives are in Addis Ababa, to bomb the African Union? This is ridiculous and absurd," he said. The U.N. has slapped an arms embargo on the Red Sea state, as well as a travel ban and an assets freeze on Eritrean political and military leaders who it says are violating an arms embargo on Somalia. "MAKE ADDIS ABABA LIKE BAGHDAD" Ethiopian intelligence officials uncovered the plot to set off multiple bombs in Addis Ababa at the AU summit, an event typically attended by more than 30 African leaders, in January this year. The U.N. report said all but one of the people arrested received all their training and orders directly from Eritrean officers. The other detainee was also in regular contact with an Ethiopian rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). "Although ostensibly an OLF operation, it was conceived, planned, supported and directed by the external operations directorate of the Government of Eritrea, under the leadership of General Te'ame," the report said.

The equipment seized included C4 plastic explosives in food sacks, gas cylinders, detonators and a sniper rifle. General Te'ame told one of the plotters that the plan was to make "Addis Ababa like Baghdad", according to the report. However, in an interview with U.N. investigators, one of the men arrested, Omar Idriss Mohamed, said the aim was not to kill African leaders but to show them that Ethiopia was not safe. "By so doing, some people may start to listen to what Eritrea is saying about Ethiopia. Some Arab States will be sympathetic to this view," he was quoted as saying. According to the U.N. report, Omar is an OLF member who was approached by the Eritrean security services though Colonel Gemachew. Omar, who visited Eritrea in 2009 and 2010, became the Addis team leader for the plot. The U.N. report included a letter from Romania confirming a sniper rifle found in the possession of one of the bomb plotters had been sold to Eritrea in 2004. The report included slips showing payments to the plotters in Addis Ababa through money transfers. The plotters told the U.N. that an Eritrean colonel had arranged for the transfers via intermediaries in Sudan and Kenya. Ethiopia routinely accuses Asmara of supporting rebel groups. In a shift of policy, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared in April it would support Eritrean guerrillas fighting to overthrow President Isaias Afewerki. The report also included copies of payments slips from Eritrean officials in Kenya's capital Nairobi to known members of Somali rebel group al Shabaab. It said the payments were to the tune of $80,000 a month. "The Monitoring Group has obtained documentary evidence of Eritrean payments to a number of individuals with links to al Shabaab," the report said. "The documents obtained were received directly from the embassy of Eritrea in Nairobi, including payment vouchers marked 'State of Eritrea'," the report said. "The embassy of Eritrea in Nairobi continues to maintain and exploit a wide network of Somali contacts, intelligence assets and agents of influence in Kenya." Eritrea's UN envoy denied his country was involved in helping al Shabaab and suggested the payment slips could have had the names falsified.

----------South Sudan Becomes African Union's 54th Member (VOA) By Unattributed Author July 28, 2011 The African Union has admitted the newly independent nation of South Sudan as its 54th member. The AU says it has received the required number of votes supporting the South Sudan's admission to the Pan-African body. South Sudan gained its independence on July 9 following a referendum that was part of a peace deal that ended a bloody 21-year civil war with the north. It became an official member of the United Nations on July 14. South Sudan and its northern neighbor, Sudan, are still trying to work out disputes over borders and oil revenue. Representatives from the two countries are expected to resume AU-mediated talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, next week. --------------Displaced Ivorians 'Too Afraid to Return' (IPS) By Unattributed Author 28 July 2011 Doha More than half a million people remain displaced by Ivory Coast's postelection conflict and many are too afraid to return home for fear of ethnic reprisals, Amnesty International says in a report. The London-based human-rights organisation says that forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the president, were reportedly involved in killings and other abuses during their battle to oust Laurent Gbagbo. "Serious human rights violations including torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions have been committed in Ivory Coast since the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo on April 11," the 44-page report released on Thursday said. It said both sides had committed crimes. Gbagbo's removal in April ended months of violent power struggle over a disputed election in November 2010. Most of the abuses, and all of the killings, that Amnesty International documented happened in April and May, as the West African country - the world's biggest cocoa

producer - was still emerging from a conflict that killed at least 3,000 people and displaced more than a million. The report further said the crimes, which were worst in the volatile west of the country, a tinderbox of ethnic and land tensions, had created a climate of fear preventing tens of thousands of refugees from returning home for fear of reprisals. "It is therefore not surprising that the number of displaced people and refugees, the overwhelming number of whom belong to ethnic groups perceived as supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, remains very high," the report said. Some 670,000 Ivorians remained displaced at the end of June, it said, quoting UN refugee agency figures, and 55,000 people were still displaced in the main commercial city of Abidjan. Commission of inquiry Much of the persistent lawlessness, including beatings and intimidation of civilians, was being perpetrated by ethnic fighters from Ouattara's Dioula tribe called Dozos. These are allied to his former armed group which is currently being integrated into the national army. Ouattara signed a decree on Wednesday establishing a commission of inquiry into crimes committed during the post-election crisis, giving it six months to reach conclusions. He also wants to try Gbagbo and his senior aides currently detained in the north of the country for war crimes, aims which may fit ill with his goal of reconciling in a deeply divided country. The Hague-based International Criminal Court has been carrying out preliminary research and may soon order an investigation into the most grave crimes committed during the post-election civilian conflict. Amnesty International recommended it be expanded to cover all crimes committed since a rebellion cut the country in two in 2002. Gbagbo's supporters complain that not a single member of Ouattara's camp has been arrested for alleged crimes, despite evidence of abuses by the former rebel troops.

"In order to end this cycle of violations and reprisals, it is essential to ensure justice for all victims, whatever their political affiliation or ethnic group," Amnesty International said. -----------Brumskine Appeals to Voters for Change in Direction (AllAfrica) By Unattributed Author (Interview) July 28, 2011 Campaigning for Liberia's presidential election in October has shifted into high gear, with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf seeking a second six-year term. Charles Brumskine, a 60-year-old lawyer who ran third in the country's first post-war poll in 2005, is the Liberty Party standard-bearer. Brumskine, who earned a Master of Laws degree at Southern Methodist University in Texas in the United States, served as president pro temp of the Liberian Senate before fleeing the country following a fallout with former President Charles Taylor in 1999. Brumskine was interviewed in Monrovia last month by AllAfrica's Boakai Fofana and Reed Kramer. Excerpts: Let's begin with the current situation in the country. How do you evaluate the changes that have taken place since the civil war ended? In terms of fundamental change, not much has happened over the last five to six years that would sustain our attempt at democracy. What you have going on is rather cosmetic in nature. We have missed a glorious opportunity. Ellen should have hit the ground, using the bully pulpit and changing this country. But instead she tolerated and encouraged corruption. I am afraid we're running the risk of violence again. People are really hurting. When you hear a Liberian say that he was better economically under [former warlord and president Charles] Taylor than he's doing now, you know something is fundamentally wrong and that there's a need for change. It does appear that an impressive rebuilding process is taking place. Why do you argue that this is cosmetic? Why is it that Liberia went to war? Why did we kill ourselves for 14 years? Why did we destroy the country? Was it because we didn't have running water in Liberia? No. Was it because we didn't have electricity in some parts of Monrovia? No. Was it because the road from here to Buchanan was not paved? No. The absence of those things were not the cause of the war. They are the consequences of war. Corruption [and] the lack of good governance - those are the issues that caused us to go to war. Until we determine those things that need to be corrected, those things that need to be addressed so we won't have a relapse, we remain fragile. We remain, in a technical sense, a failed state. You believe the President is doing very little to address these fundamentals?

Very little, if any. Let's start with corruption. You have a situation where, in the president's office, U.S.$150,000 was withdrawn from the social security account as revealed by the John Morlu's audit report. Nobody knows what happened to that money. President Sirleaf will admit that she's failed. She will tell you that [corruption] is systemic. We knew that. That's why leadership is important. Look at governance. It's regrettable that President Sirleaf's mindset is still in the 60s and the 70s. We are yet to hold elections for a chief in Liberia. So the people at the base of the governance pyramid still do not know who their leader is. The president is appointing chiefs, dismissing chiefs - contrary to the constitution of Liberia. For the first time in the history of our country, we have a president who has acquired authority to appoint city mayors. You don't need to be a specialist to know that a city mayor in a liberal democracy is elected by the people. That isn't done in this country. So where are we heading with regards to governance? Not very far. We haven't done anything with regards to reconciliation. Understandably, President Sirleaf cannot reconcile Liberia because she is an embodiment of the problems of this country. Liberia is 164 years old this year. The first popular election we had in this country was 1985. Mrs. Sirleaf was elected to the Senate. She refused to take her seat. They agitated until they brought war to Liberia. That is no secret. In 1997, we had our second popular election. President Sirleaf lost. She brought war to Liberia. She was indicted by the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] for giving financial support to Charles Taylor. Fortunately for the Liberian people, 2005 saw someone like myself making a conscientious decision to give opposition politics a new face. You know I lived in the United States before, and, if I say so myself, I was doing pretty well there. But I came home in 2003. When I lost, I didn't return to the States seeking greener pastures. I did not wage war against my people. I stayed here. Liberian people have begun to understand that you can lose an election and wait for a second chance. If you had won, what would you have done differently? I always find it difficult answering hypothetical questions. Let me tell you what I intend to do next year. I will be more of a domestic president than an international president. I am going to spend more time in the villages and the districts of Liberia than in the capitals of western countries. I want to adapt the palaver hut concept where we go around the country, talking with our people. Give the victims of war an opportunity to vent their frustrations, to talk about the ills that have been meted out to them and ask

our brothers and sisters who have perpetrated the violence to come and apologize. We're going to push that. Our reconciliation process will start with the schools. We're going to have a program for scholarships to students who are B-plus to go to university. In exchange, they will sign an undertaking to work for the government during the annual vacations. We are going to build a sort of domestic peace corps. Send them into the interior of Liberia where they going to be conducting vacation schools for younger kids who either didn't have the opportunity to go to school or had deficiency during the previous semester. We will have them working as clerks in paramount chiefs' offices, in the superintendents' offices, learning how to build clinics and roads and schools. Kids from Bassa will be assigned to Lofa. Kids from Lofa will be assigned to Cape Mount. Kids from Cape Mount will be assigned to Grand Kru. Just imagine a young child spending four annual vacations in a different culture. They will learn how to speak each other languages. They'll learn each other's cultures. We will, for the first time, give teeth to Liberia's unification policy. Politicians always talk about this but they do nothing to enhance the policy. Corruption - Mrs. Sirleaf is never going to be able to deal with corruption because she's failed the first test. President Sirleaf is perceived as being corrupt. I have to make sure that as a leader I will keep above the fray. To do that, the law of the land has to be applied indiscriminately. If your friend or your senior partisan breaches the law or is accused of corruption, that person must be turned over to the law for prosecution. The Jallah Town Road project - $ 1.5 million squandered. After a lot of outrage from the public, what did President Sirleaf do? She assigned the minister as advisor in the mansion - basically promoting this guy. What do you think came to the minds of the average Liberian. Oh, that fellow alone didn't eat the money, the president must have eaten some too. It may not be true but this is an issue of perception. Look at what happened the other day in Grand Bassa. The President of Liberia gets to this foreign company and she is given a white envelope. And the British man says to her: This is for your special market fund. I will not have a special fund as president of Liberia. No president should have such a fund that is not subject to public scrutiny because obviously, it becomes a conduit for corruption. President Sirleaf requested from Mittal Steel vehicles for members of legislature at the value of about U.S.$3.5 million - at the time when the contract of Mittal Steel was pending before the legislature for rectification. These are things that we must stop. We

must not allow it to happen in the new Liberia. I mean we can go on but I'll give you chance to bring in another question. Why were the discussions between you and [soccer star and former presidential challenger] George Weah about a merged ticket not successful? We gave it our best, and it didn't work out. People have to share common values in order for them to be able to move together. Can the political opposition hope to win if you can't unify against the incumbent? All of us in the opposition understand among ourselves that Ellen must go. At the end of the first round, we're going to come together. I believe that with all my heart. Having said that, I am looking forward to winning on the first round. If not, we believe we're going on the second round and we're going to be number one. The political map of Liberia favors our candidacy. People who believe President Sirleaf can win should answer a simple question: which counties can she win? I am a Bassa man. I am going to win Rivercess , Grand Bassa - I am talking about 65 percent of the votes in each of those counties. My running mate is a Kpelle man. Together we are going to win Margibi, Bong, Lower Lofa, Lower and Upper Nimba. We're going to take at least 35 percent of Montserrado County. Can you draw support from other areas and work to reconcile the country? During the last election, you alienated the Islamic population with some of your pronouncements. What will you do differently this time? I don't agree that I am incapable of reconciling. In 2005, we came second in Nimba Country [after] Dr. Joe Kortor, a son of Nimba county, came into the race at the 11th hour. Nimba is like a second home for me. I am very popular in Nimba county. You're right about the Islamic community. We did not do as much as we should have done in 2005. We allowed the opposition to define us to the Islamic community. That is not happening this year. We are working with our friends that are our brothers and sisters in the Islamic community. And I believe we are going to win the majority of the votes in the Islamic community. I enjoy a very strong support with that group today. So you are confident about your chances? Yes. I have no doubt that the people understand the message. All we're asking for an environment where the votes of the people can be accurately reflected. If it is the will of the people that I do not win, I will appreciate that, like I was told in 2005 that I did not

win. But this time, I will make sure that it is the result of the people and not the results of someone else. --------------Somalia: America's Role in Somalia's Humanitarian Crisis (AllAfrica.com) Glen Ford for Black Agenda Radio explains how US militarization has contributed to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. (Somalia) Even as US militarization of the Horn of Africa has contributed massively to the threatened starvation of millions, the Americans have announced an escalation of drone attacks against Somalia and the establishment of a Marine task force for the region. A United Nations spokesman describes the food and refugee emergency in Somalia as the 'worst humanitarian crisis in the world' with millions at immediate risk. Not coincidentally, the epicenter of the disaster is the area where Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia meet, which is also a focus of US Special Forces, surveillance and logistics activity. The Americans blame the al-Shabab resistance for exacerbating the drought emergency, but for at least two years the Americans have used food as a weapon of war in Somalia, in an effort to starve out those who might be supporting the Shabab. The US has armed an array of militias operating near the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders, making normal agricultural pursuits all but impossible, and the current world-class catastrophe, inevitable. Whenever the US ratchets up its armed interventions in Somalia, disaster follows. Four years ago, after the Americans instigated an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia to overthrow an Islamist government that had brought a semblance of peace to the region, it set off what the United Nations then called 'the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa - worse than Darfur.' Today, many of those same refugees are confronted with the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet - once again, largely courtesy of the United States. 'The Obama administration has upgraded Somalia and Yemen as hotspots in its endless war-making. The original crime - the one from which all the other horrors flow - was the theft of Somalia's government, and the crushing of its people's dreams for peace. The American proxy aggression, largely conducted through Ethiopia and now Kenya, and much of it directed from Djibouti, the actual headquarters of the US Africa Command, AFRICOM, is the root cause of the social disintegration of Somalia, which has pushed much of the population to the edge of extinction. These are the crimes against humanity that international courts should be prosecuting. Instead, the International Criminal Court has become a tool of the aggressor, and even proposes to deploy the US military as its deputies, to enforce its warrants: justice turned upside down.

The newly activated marine task force will augment America's stepped up drone attacks against the Shabab, an escalation of Obama's second shooting war in Africa, and war number six, globally. In addition to the Marines and the drones, the US recently committed $45 million to equipment and training for the Ugandan and Burundian soldiers that are all that props up the puppet Somali government in Mogadishu, the capital. The Obama administration has upgraded Somalia and Yemen as hotspots in its endless war-making, claiming al-Qaida operatives in the region are even more dangerous to the US than their counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan - which essentially tells us that al-Qaida isn't really all that relevant to why America is spreading war and misery all over the planet. What is clear, is that the world's greatest humanitarian -threat lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue --------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website Ban to appoint experienced Dutch diplomat to head UN mission in Cte dIvoire 28 July Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced his intention to appoint Bert Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative for Cte dIvoire and head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the West African country. Eritrea planned massive attack against African Union summit, says UN report 28 July The Eritrean Government planned a massive attack on an African Union meeting held earlier this year, according to a new United Nations report that states that this was just one of multiple violations of Security Council arms embargoes committed by the small East African nation. UN refugee agency seeks additional funding for Horn of Africa emergency 28 July The United Nations refugee agency today revised upwards the amount of funds it requires to effectively respond to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, asking donors to provide an additional $8.6 million on top of the $136.3 million already requested for its humanitarian operations in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.