United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 8 Aug 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA Somalia's al-Shabab rebels leave Mogadishu (BBC) 6 Aug 2011 - Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist rebels have pulled out of all positions in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, government and rebel spokesmen say. Allies struggling to complete Libya mission: Experts (AFP) 7 Aug 2011 - French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has denied France is getting sucked into an endless war but admitted "we probably underestimated the resistance that would be put up by Gaddafi's forces," in televised comments. Libya rebels in western offensive (BBC) 6 Aug 2011 - Libyan rebels in the country's west say they have launched an offensive towards key towns on the Mediterranean coast. North Africa Al-Qaeda can't attack Europe (AP) 6 Aug 2011 - Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), born of a former insurgent group in Algeria, remains motivated to attack former colonial power France. It currently holds four French hostages, and French officials have named the group the biggest terror threat to France and its interests. But according to experts, the group has limited operational capacity. Tripoli residents break Ramadan fast by 'candlelight' (AFP) 7 Aug 2011 - Ahmad and his family stocked up on food for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan but daily power cuts in the war-stricken Libyan capital mean supplies are rotting in the freezer. Sudan security seize newspaper (AFP) 7 Aug 2011 - Sudanese security forces on Sunday seized all the copies of Al-Ahdath newspaper from the printers, its editor in chief said, in the latest sign of a clampdown on independent media in Khartoum. Competing claims over key town near Tripoli (CNN)

7 Aug 2011 - The Libyan government said Sunday it had retaken the key town of Bir alGhanam after losing it briefly to rebel forces, but a rebel commander said his forces were holding onto the town. Sudan halts Southern oil shipment over duties (Al Jazeera) 6 Aug 2011 - Sudan has halted an oil shipment from landlocked South Sudan in a dispute over customs fees. AU declares August 15 as Sensitisation Day for Somali refugees (The Nation) 7 Aug 2011 - The Africa Union Commission on Sunday declared August 15, a African Voice Day to sensitise African leaders to provide support for the humanitarian situation in East Africa, particularly in Somalia. UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website y UN envoy welcomes news of Al-Shabaab vacating Somali capital y UN urges rapid response to measles outbreak in Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia y Cte dIvoire: UN forces help in rescue operations after deadly bus accident y Wonder treatment on front line of UN battle against acute malnutrition y Audit of DR Congos debt necessary for transparency, UN human rights expert says -----------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST: WHEN/WHERE: August 7, 2011/Cape Verde WHAT: Presidential Election INFO: http://www.cfr.org/media/world_events_calendar.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT Somalia's al-Shabab rebels leave Mogadishu (BBC) By Unattributed Author 6 Aug 2011 - Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist rebels have pulled out of all positions in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, government and rebel spokesmen say. President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed declared the rebels defeated after they left overnight on trucks. However, al-Shabab described the move as a "change of military tactics". The conflict has hampered aid efforts in the famine-hit country, with the militia barring some aid agencies from central and southern areas it controls.

African Union peacekeepers and government forces have for years been contained to small areas of the capital but have recently been gaining ground. The pull-out followed reports of gun battles in the capital on Friday night. Sheikh Ahmed told a press conference: "The Somali government welcomes the success attained by the Somali government forces backed by Amisom [peacekeepers] who defeated the enemy of al-Shabab." 'Counter-attack' However, a spokesman for the al-Qaeda-linked rebels, Ali Mohamed Rage, told a local radio station there would be no withdrawal from other regions of southern Somalia. "The retreat by our forces is only aiming to counter-attack the enemy. People will hear happy news in the coming hours," he said. "We shall fight the enemy wherever they are." A spokesman for the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia said the force was treating the rebel withdrawal with caution in case it was a trap. Soldiers would not immediately deploy across Mogadishu, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda told the BBC. Some analysts have suggested the Islamist insurgents withdrew because funding from the Arab world had dwindled and they had become militarily weaker. Parts of the capital, where there are camps for displaced people, were last week among three areas newly declared by the United Nations to be suffering famine. There are now a total of five famine zones in the country. The UN says some 640,000 children are acutely malnourished in Somalia, while 3.2 million people are in need of immediate life-saving assistance. --------------Allies struggling to complete Libya mission: Experts (AFP) By Unattributed Author 7 Aug 2011 - French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has denied France is getting sucked into an endless war but admitted "we probably underestimated the resistance that would be put up by Gaddafi's forces," in televised comments.

"We cannot speak of getting bogged down," he insisted. "We are five months into our operations... no one talked about a lightning war." The Western coalition behind the bombings of Gaddafi's military assets, coordinated by NATO and mostly waged by France and Britain, launched its campaign under a UN mandate to protect civilians from a violent crackdown. The allies soon added calls for Gaddafi to quit power. "The international community wants Gaddafi to go," said Jean-Yves Moisseron of the IRD research institute. "But with the current distribution of forces and control of the territory, there can be no political solution without Gaddafi," he added. "There is therefore no way out. They are bogged down for some time and it is not certain that Gaddafi will leave because the international community and France in particular does not have the means for a long war." France's Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said Thursday the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would come home from the Libya mission for maintenance next week, but insisted the French airstrikes would continue. The French navy's website said Thursday it would take "several months" to complete work on the ship that has been engaged in the operation since March 22. Italy has pulled out an aircraft carrier from the NATO-led Libya mission and Norway on Monday withdrew the last of its fighter-bomber jets. Britain made up for this by adding four Tornado jets. France and Britain last month softened their earlier line on Gaddafi, whose departure from Libya they had demanded, saying that he could stay in Libya if he gave up power under a negotiated settlement. Sources have claimed there has been contact between the coalition, Gaddafi's regime and the rebel council, whose representatives have also met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but there is still no sign of a breakthrough. Longuet said France was committed to striking Gaddafi's military assets for as long as needed for him to quit power and called on Libyans in Tripoli to rise against him. Juppe said the rebel National Transitional Council's ground forces were "making progress in the south and the west of the country" and international forces would "continue to put this military pressure" on Gaddafi.

The rebels on Friday said a NATO strike had killed Moamer Gaddafi's youngest son Khamis and 31 others, a claim denied by the authorities in Tripoli. But observers played down the rebels' advances and said tribal divisions in Libya make it difficult to coordinate an uprising, especially during the current Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. "Libyans are willing to fight for their land but when it comes to waging war on other (tribes') territory it's a different matter," said Patrick Haimzadeh, a former diplomat and author of a book on Gaddafi's regime. Moisseron of the IRD added that Gaddafi himself has been allied from the start with certain powerful tribes while, for example, "the Berber tribes of Jebel Nefusa are ready to defend their territory but will not go to Tripoli." Questions are meanwhile arising in France over the legitimacy of the military campaign. One senior member of parliament, Jean-Jacques Candelier of the Communist party, called for a commission to be set up to examine its aims. --------------Libya rebels in western offensive (BBC) By Unattributed Author 6 Aug 2011 - Libyan rebels in the country's west say they have launched an offensive towards key towns on the Mediterranean coast. Commanders say they have captured the town of Bir al-Ghanam, 50 miles (80km) south of Tripoli, from forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. However, there has been no official comment from the Libyan government. Hundreds of rebel fighters have moved from the mountain town of Yafran to the front lines, where heavy fighting has taken place, AP news agency reports. It quotes rebel fighters as saying the initial aim was to "liberate Bir al-Ghanam" before moving on Zawiya, a key city on the Mediterranean coast about 50km (30 miles) away. Meanwhile, Reuters news agency quotes rebel spokesman Mohammad Zawawi as saying fighters were also advancing on the government-held oil town of Brega, further east. "There's a big movement on all fronts around Brega, we are attacking from three sides," he said. Landmines

However, he added that troops were advancing slowly because government forces had sown landmines on the approaches to the town. Late on Saturday, rebel commander Col Jumma Ibrahim told AP that opposition forces had captured Bir al-Ghanam and had moved a few miles beyond it. "Now he (Col Gaddafi) can only defend himself against us," he said.

"Our main destination is Tripoli but we cannot jump directly to Tripoli. We go one by one." The assault is being seen as an attempt to open a new front and break the military deadlock that has emerged. Rebels have been fighting government forces since March but Col Gaddafi's regime still controls much of the west, with its stronghold in Tripoli. The rebels hold the east, with pockets in the west. These include the Nafousa Mountains, where Yafran is located, and the city of Misrata on the coast, east of the capital. Earlier in the week, government forces launched a counter-offensive against rebels near the strategic western town of Zlitan. Rebels had reached the city's eastern suburbs but were being hampered by a lack of ammunition. --------------North Africa Al-Qaeda can't attack Europe (AP) By Unattributed Author 6 Aug 2011 - Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), born of a former insurgent group in Algeria, remains motivated to attack former colonial power France. It currently holds four French hostages, and French officials have named the group the biggest terror threat to France and its interests. But according to experts, the group has limited operational capacity. In interview with AP in Paris, with two bodyguards in tow, anti-terrorism judge Marc Trevidic suggested AQIM is being forced to work hard to control parts of its traditional territory in the Sahel region along the southern Sahara. "It's been shown that AQIM is only able to strike in its own zone, killing tourists ... We have seen [no] significant foreign operation in Europe ... organised by AQIM," he said.

Still, AQIM is active in offering statements of support to would-be terrorists in Europe, Trevidic said, citing recent case files. "It's incitation, but without a structure behind it," he said. The group is "holed up, and already has troubles controlling its zone ... Only when a terror group is very strong in its own territory will it begin exporting." Many European officials are more concerned, however. In June, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba called AQIM a growing menace that could spread beyond its base unless Western nations step up efforts to counter it. It has already rendered large parts of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria off-limits to foreigners. French counterterrorism and intelligence officials say its main source of income comes from ransom payments from hostage-takings, sometimes in the millions of dollars. Trevidic, member of a special unit of the French judiciary devoted to fighting terrorism, spoke at length about changes in the global fight against Islamic radicals following the death of Osama Bin Laden, 10 years after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. Over the last decade, the Iraq war "shuffled the cards", he said, by luring dozens of youths from France home to western Europe's largest Muslim population to fight US forces. The global crackdown against terrorism in Europe and elsewhere has largely driven Islamic militants underground: the recruiting of young fighters in mosques and openair training camps is largely a thing of the past, Trevidic said. The newer phenomenon is "self-radicalisation" online, with Internet-savvy Islamist youths watching videos and reading inflammatory texts that are a virtual-world call to arms. "Today, there is not a single case where group members weren't recruited on the Internet," Trevidic said. American officials, too, he said are "starting to discover this danger from within". "They've always reasoned in the United States that 'you just have to monitor movements, airplane passengers ... and everything will be fine. Well, no," Trevidic said. With NATO forces conducting air raids, bombing strikes and surveillance missions over Afghanistan and Pakistan, that region is no longer the training ground it once was for Al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies, he said. Instead, the potential Al-Qaeda operational bases to watch today are the Somalia-Yemen area around the Gulf of Aden, where AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has operated, along with AQIM's zone.

"There's always the possibility of a bombing ... but something really organised, like on the scale of 11 September, is a bit exaggerated," Trevidic said. "The [task is] making sure that no group becomes powerful enough, because afterward, they in fact can do what they want." "That's the lesson of 11 September. Let's be clear: to have allowed training camps in broad daylight, to have let this Taliban-Al-Qaeda alliance do what it wanted, gave them the possibility to organise a massive attack." Trevidic reserved judgment about what the "Arab Spring" with autocratic regimes toppled in Tunisia and Egypt and those of Libya, Syria and elsewhere under tremendous pressure would mean for the future of counterterrorism. Trevidic also said it's too early to judge the long-term impact of France's ban on facecovering Islamic veils, enacted in the spring and that has drawn fury in some militant Islamic circles. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, amateur video posted online that showed the arrest of a woman who refused to remove her niqab drew chatter among jihadists, with one Internet forum user calling on AQIM to "take action". The regional government office confirmed Friday that the woman was stopped by police Sunday in Aulnay-SousBois, north of Paris. The video showed her yelling at officers about her rights, and then being driven away in a police vehicle. She has been fined and charged with resisting arrest, and the case is now in the hands of a judge, the government office said. --------------Tripoli residents break Ramadan fast by 'candlelight' (AFP) By Ahmed Shobiye 7 Aug 2011 - Ahmad and his family stocked up on food for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan but daily power cuts in the war-stricken Libyan capital mean supplies are rotting in the freezer. Tripoli residents have complained for weeks of dire petrol shortages. Now power and water cuts have made their daily lives even worse during the summer months, at a time when the price of a cooking gas canister has shot up 50-fold. This is excruciating during Ramadan when observant Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk before families get together for "iftar" sunset meals, a time to socialise and give thanks. "Since the start of Ramadan (last week), we have been breaking the fast by candlelight," said Ahmad, as he shopped in a market in a western area of the capital.

"We can live without air conditioning but not without a fridge," he said. "The power cuts sometimes last 24 hours." Even before Ramadan started on August 1, Ahmad, who declined to give his surname, stocked up on food to try to ensure there would be plenty to lay on the iftar table. "But much of the food we've been keeping in the freezer has rotted," he said. Across town, in the eastern suburb of Janzur, 20-year-old Khaled complained of the water cuts. Tripoli residents normally receive mains water a few hours a week that is stored in tanks on the roof, with a pump system to ensure a steady flow inside the home. But power cuts mean the pumps are idle and the faucets dry. And to find a gas canister for cooking in Tripoli is no easy task. The few available fetch the equivalent of $50, compared to the one-dollar price tag before Libya's anti-regime insurgency broke out in February. Food prices have also skyrocketed. The Tripoli government, which has vowed to bring in food subsidies, says the rebels and their NATO allies are causing petrol and electricity shortages in regime-controlled areas to push the people to rise up against the authorities. On Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim charged that rebels in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli, had sabotaged a pipeline that feeds into the country's sole refinery. "The rebels closed one of the vales of the pipeline and poured large quantities of cement on it in Al-Rayania region," Kaaim said. He said the pipeline fed fuel and gas to the refinery in Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, that was used to generate electricity. Kadhafi's regime has also accused NATO of bombing a gas turbine in the same region, as well as a high-voltage power station southwest of the capital. Kaaim also charged the NATO alliance with aiming "to create a humanitarian crisis in Libya," and of helping rebels to seize an oil tanker ladden with 37,000 tonnes of petrol.

The 182-metre (600-foot) "Cartagena" docked on Thursday in the rebel-held port of Benghazi in eastern Libya, with rebels on board saying they seized it from government control between Malta and Tripoli. A rebel soldier coming ashore in Benghazi told reporters that the vessel had been intercepted with the help of NATO last week "quite close to Tripoli." The Kadhafi regime has repeatedly denounced NATO's sea blockade, saying it was preventing the import of basic supplies and violating UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 to protect the country's civilians. Imports reaching Tripoli now come overland from neighbouring Tunisia, which has also been hit by a strike at a refinery that is threatening supplies reaching the Libyan capital. --------------Sudan security seize newspaper (AFP) By Unattributed Author 7 Aug 2011 - Sudanese security forces on Sunday seized all the copies of Al-Ahdath newspaper from the printers, its editor in chief said, in the latest sign of a clampdown on independent media in Khartoum. "The security forces came to the printers and they took all the copies of the newspaper, without giving an explanation," Adil al-Baz told AFP. The newspaper was running a series of articles this month, called "The days of Carlos in Khartoum," about the notorious international terrorist "Carlos the Jackal." Carlos -- a Venezuelan whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez -- was seized in Sudan in murky circumstances in 1994. It is not the first time the paper has been barred from distribution. But Sudan has experienced a tightening of press freedom in the wake of South Sudan's secession last month. Several newspapers with links to the south were closed, including the popular Arabic daily Ajras al-Hurriya, and numerous journalists are on trial for reporting the alleged rape of a female opposition activist by security forces. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has accused the Sudanese authorities of harassing and prosecuting journalists in a bid to stop them making embarrassing revelations about human rights violations. ---------------

Competing claims over key town near Tripoli (CNN) By CNN Wire Staff 7 Aug 2011 - The Libyan government said Sunday it had retaken the key town of Bir alGhanam after losing it briefly to rebel forces, but a rebel commander said his forces were holding onto the town. Bir al-Ghanam is about 85 kilometers (53 miles) southwest of the Libyan capital Tripoli. Its capture is significant because little else stands between Bir Al-Ghanam and the Libyan coastline where Tripoli is situated. After rebels gained control of the town Saturday, one rebel fighter told CNN the "next step" was Tripoli. Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi told reporters in Tripoli on Sunday that rebel forces had the town for only a few hours. Bir al-Ghanam "is now back in the hands of the honorable brave tribes, with its surface back in normal life and under the control of the legitimate government of Libya," Al-Mahmoudi said. But Nasr Abu al Qassem, who was in Zintan, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Bir al-Ghanam, said rebels remained at the front line in Bir Al-Ghanam and were being reinforced. The situation in the town was stable, he said. Some grad rockets were fired at the town from a distance Sunday morning, but no rebels were injured, he said. Rebel commanders said 1,500 opposition members joined in Saturday's battle, which lasted five hours. Rockets and gunfire were exchanged from both sides, and rebels took on Gadhafi fighters from three fronts. At least eight rebels were killed and dozens more were wounded, according to medical sources. Casualties inflicted on Gadhafi forces were not immediately known. The fighters in Saturday's attack were part of what some have dubbed a Mad Max army -- a fleet of pickup trucks modified to take heavy weapons speeding across the desert. Most of the men were civilians before the fighting broke out. For months, rebel fighters -- who have controlled the eastern city of Benghazi and other areas -- have been trying to move closer to the capital. They are seeking the ouster of Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for 42 years. --------------Sudan halts Southern oil shipment over duties (Al Jazeera) By Unattributed Author

6 Aug 2011 - Sudan has halted an oil shipment from landlocked South Sudan in a dispute over customs fees. An estimated 600,000 barrels of crude oil were halted in Port Sudan on Friday, signalling rising tensions between the two countries. South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan last month, owns 75 per cent of the region's 500,000 barrels-a-day of oil production. But it relies on Sudan's cross-border pipeline to sell it. Sudan has demanded that the South pay a transit fee of $32 per barrel to use its port, pipeline and refineries. That amounts to about a third of South Sudan's export value at current market prices. Customs authorities halted Friday's shipment due to a row over the payment of duties. A spokesman for the foreign ministry in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, said: "Customs asked for the fees to be paid. They paid last time but not this time." Khartoum and Juba have failed to reach an agreement on the sharing of oil revenues, which until recently they divided equally. Last month, Sudan's parliament approved a 2011 budget that included an annual income of $2.6bn for transit fees - roughly the same amount it expected to lose from Southern oil production. Asia is the primary market for Sudanese oil, with China buying more than half. --------------AU declares August 15 as Sensitisation Day for Somali refugees (The Nation) By Unattributed Author 7 Aug 2011 - The Africa Union Commission on Sunday declared August 15, a African Voice Day to sensitise African leaders to provide support for the humanitarian situation in East Africa, particularly in Somalia. A statement in Addis Ababa by the Commissions Information and Communications Department, said that the day would be used to build a momentum towards a proposed conference slated for August 25 in Addis Ababa. The conference is intended to raise funds in support of the Somali refugees in various camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

It stated that AU will on the occasion renew its appeal to member states, the African private sector and the international community to make donations for increase humanitarian assistance to affected populations in the Horn of Africa. Dr. Jean Ping, the AU Commission Chairperson, had also urged all member states and other stakeholders to contribute to the ongoing efforts aimed at providing food to the victims of drought, famine and conflicts in Somalia and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. As part of the preparations for the conference, Mr. Jerry Rawlings, the High Representative of the Chairman of the AU for Somali, would embark on sensitisation tour to some African countries for fund raising. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that there are more than 11 million Somali refugees in various camps located in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. --------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website UN envoy welcomes news of Al-Shabaab vacating Somali capital 6 August The United Nations envoy for Somalia today welcomed the news that the Islamic insurgent group Al-Shabaab has begun to leave the capital, Mogadishu, and called on the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation's government to use the opportunity to ensure aid delivery to civilians in need. UN urges rapid response to measles outbreak in Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia 6 August The United Nations on Saturday voiced alarm at the plight of Somali refugees in the Dollo Ado camps in south-eastern Ethiopia following an outbreak of suspected measles, and called for urgent action to assist an already vulnerable population. Cte dIvoire: UN forces help in rescue operations after deadly bus accident 5 August United Nations peacekeepers in Cte dIvoire today helped local authorities in rescue and recovery operations after a crowded bus crashed from a bridge into a lagoon in Abidjan, the largest city, killing 46 people according to provisional estimates. Wonder treatment on front line of UN battle against acute malnutrition 5 August As thousands of desperately malnourished children from famine-wracked Somalia pour into United Nations refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, small sachets of a peanut-based paste are often all that stands between them and almost certain death. Audit of DR Congos debt necessary for transparency, UN human rights expert says 5 August A United Nations human rights expert today urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to undertake an audit of the countrys debt as

part of a broader effort to improve transparency and accountability in the impoverished nations public sector.