United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 20 March 2012

Good morning. Please see today's news review for March 20, 2012. This new format is best viewed in HTML. Of interest in today's report: - After Qadhafi, Libya's east tires of Tripoli too - 6 Convicted for Watching Arab Spring News in Zimbabwe - Joseph Kony victims back online campaign - NATO failed to investigate Libya civilian deaths: Amnesty U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687)

Headline

Date

Outlet

After Qaddafi, Libya's The Christian 03/19/2012 east tires of Tripoli too Science Monitor
When the western city of Misurata came under siege during Libya's revolution last year, Adnan alBaghathi grieved for his countrymen. After Misurata residents fled to his town of Benghazi 20 hours to the east by boat he arranged lodging for them and or...

6 Convicted for Watching Arab Spring 03/19/2012 New York Times News in Zimbabwe
Six political activists in Zimbabwe who gathered last year to watch and discuss television news broadcasts of the Arab Spring protests were convicted Monday of plotting to overthrow the government.

Joseph Kony victims 03/19/2012 BBC back online campaign

With a controversial US film putting the spotlight on Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, the BBC's James Copnall reports on those in South Sudan and Uganda who believe he must be captured or killed at all costs.

NATO failed to investigate Libya civilian deaths: Amnesty

03/19/2012 Reuters

NATO has failed to properly investigate or provide compensation for civilian deaths caused by its air strikes during the seven-month operation in Libya that helped bring about the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Amnesty International said on Monday.

War-riven Somalia's Agence Francenational theatre 03/20/2012 Presse (AFP) reopens after 20 years

Somalia's national theatre reopened in the war-ravaged capital Mogadishu for the first time in 20 years Monday with the president voicing hope it would mark a watershed in the long quest for peace.

As violence reigns, some flee north Nigeria

03/20/2012

Associated Press (AP)

A town hall meeting called by Christians to discuss funeral arrangements turned into a bloodbath in northern Nigeria when members of a radical Islamist sect opened fire with assault rifles.

Somali rebel mortars kill 5 near presidential 03/19/2012 Reuters palace

At least five people were killed when a salvo of mortars targeting Somalia's presidential palace missed and landed on a nearby refugee camp overnight, residents and the African Union's peacekeeping force said on Monday.

GBissau ex-military intelligence officer 'killed'

03/19/2012

Agence FrancePresse (AFP)

Guinea-Bissau's ex-military intelligence deputy chief was shot dead by men in military uniform in the capital hours after polls closed in a presidential vote, sources told AFP Monday.

Libya 'determined' to have Kadhafi spy chief extradited

03/19/2012

Agence FrancePresse (AFP)

Libya's vice-premier said Monday his country was determined to have Moamer Kadhafi's ex-spy chief, also wanted by the International Criminal Court, extradited to stand trial on home soil.

Malawi protesters torch police station as 03/19/2012 Reuters discontent rises

Anti-government protesters torched a police station in Malawi's capital on Monday, raising tension in the destitute country that was last year rocked by the police killing of 20 people in similar protests.

Nigeria: FG, Boko 03/19/2012 AllAfrica.com Haram Talks Collapse

The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, SCSN, which is negotiating with the Federal Government on behalf of the Boko Haram sect on how to put an end to the spate of bombing in the country has accused the Federal Government of insincerity on the peace i...

U.S., Gabonese Medical Teams Unite during MEDACCORD 12

03/19/2012

Mississippi Army National Guard

While working together during U.S. Army Africa-hosted Medical Accord Central 12 exercise March 5 -16, 2012, U.S. and Gabonese military physicians took the opportunity to learn and grow together, and through this process realized just how much they have in ...

United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs

03/20/2012

United Nations News Service

UN peacebuilding body enhancing partnership with African Development Bank

News Headline: After Qaddafi, Libya's east tires of Tripoli too | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: The Christian Science Monitor News Text: When the western city of Misurata came under siege during Libya's revolution last year, Adnan al-Baghathi grieved for his countrymen. After Misurata residents fled to his town of Benghazi 20 hours to the east by boat he arranged lodging for them and organized food deliveries.

Today, however, he has no love lost for Misurata's residents, claiming they have monopolized top posts in the new Tripoli-based government and sidelined easterners, who spearheaded the uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. "Everyone sacrificed during the revolution," Mr. Baghathi grumbles. "It doesn't belong to any one town or region." So now, eastern Libyans like Baghathi who chanted "no east, no west, Libya is one" during the revolution are backing a nascent eastern political movement that is moving to break away from Tripoli. On March 6, about 2,800 political and social activists gathered in an old soap factory near Benghazi to announce the formation of an interim council that would pave the way for the creation of an autonomous government. Return to federalism? Easterners hope that such a return to federalism, which prevailed here before Mr. Qaddafi took over, could provide them with better community services and a greater share of the spoils from Libya's oil industry, which is largely concentrated in the east and south. "We see none of our country's great oil wealth," laments Mukhtar Jabir of Benghazi. "All we know is oil is pumped from under our feet and goes to pay for health and education somewhere else." But the eastern move toward autonomy could also have serious ramifications for the fragile state that has emerged from the ruins of Qaddafi's 42-year rule. While many proponents say such a move must be accomplished through democratic means, regional militias could take up arms to defend their territories and plunge the nation into a new civil war. To reverse decades of marginalization, easterners seek to develop a quasi-state with its own legislature and court system. The local government would run education, housing, and health ministries, while foreign affairs would be kept in the hands of the central government. "We in the east and the south have been marginalized the past 50 years," says conference organizer Abu Bakr Bueira. "All the major positions, jobs, and money are in Tripoli, not Benghazi." Former royalty involved Participants at the March 6 conference chose Ahmad Zubayr al-Sanussi, a relative of the monarch whom Qaddafi overthrew in 1969, to lead the interim council. The monarchy that ruled from 1951 to 1969 was based in eastern Libya. The aristocratic elite came from eastern cities. Foreign ambassadors called Benghazi home. For the first 12 years of the monarchy, Libya comprised three republics: Cyrenaica in the east, Tripolitania in the west, and Fezzan in the south. To mitigate fears that heavily populated Tripolitania would dominate the sparsely inhabited provinces of Cyrenaica and Fezzan, colonial powers pushed through a federalist form of government with a high degree of regional autonomy. The federalist system was abolished in 1963 after Libya began pumping oil and regional veto power over the nascent industry's activities proved unmanageable. Qaddafi overthrew the monarchy six years later, leading to a steady decline in the

east's fortunes. When revolution erupted in Benghazi last year, many easterners were optimistic the uprising would restore the province's past glory. Most of the members of the interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), hailed from the region. Tripolitania controls parliament When the capital of Tripoli fell, though, easterners' hopes were dashed. The NTC moved its offices from Benghazi to Tripoli. The top positions in the first post-Qaddafi cabinet were allocated to Tripolitanians. When the NTC announced its election law in February, Tripolitania was allocated 102 seats in the 200-seat parliament, while Cyrenaica only received 60. While the allocation was supposed to be proportionate to population, it was based on the 2006 census, conducted under Qaddafi and now distrusted. "Qaddafi manipulated figures for his own purposes," says Farag al-Kaza, a US-trained engineer and leading proponent of federalism. "People from Chad, Niger, and Mali were taken from the desert and given Libyan citizenship." Same as the old boss? It is not only technocrats who support federalism. Among those attending the March conference were a number of military defectors and militia leaders who fought to overthrow Qaddafi. "We did not battle the old regime so a new one could rule us," says fighter Muhammad Mismari, who lost a brother during the revolution. But when asked if easterners were prepared to fight again to achieve their aims, he dismissed the suggestion. "We are one country and one people. But we want our rights, and we won't let Tripoli dictate to us." Muhammad Kikhia, a college dean whose brother Mansur was Libya's foreign minister in the 1970s, agrees. "We have to go through a democratic system to convince people. This is a peaceful movement, there will be no violence." But others, such as Mr. Bueira, are more uncompromising: "If no federal system is adopted across Libya, and we still feel the east is threatened, there is a possibility of separation." Such talk has unsettled the NTC. "We are not prepared to divide Libya," NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil said March 6. Despite hailing from the east himself, he vowed the NTC would "use force" to defend the country's integrity.
Return to Top

News Headline: 6 Convicted for Watching Arab Spring News in Zimbabwe | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: New York Times News Text: JOHANNESBURG Six political activists in Zimbabwe who gathered last year to watch and discuss television news broadcasts of the Arab Spring protests were convicted Monday of plotting to overthrow the government. The penalty could be 10 years in prison. They are to be sentenced Tuesday. Some 45 activists, students and trade unionists were arrested last February while

attending a meeting convened by Munyaradzi Gwisai, a lecturer at the law school at the University of Zimbabwe and former member of Parliament for Zimbabwe's main opposition party, to discuss the implications of the anti-authoritarian uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Gwisai and the others were planning to start a similar uprising in Zimbabwe aimed at toppling President Robert G. Mugabe, who has been in power for three decades. Most of the defendants were later released, but six, including Mr. Gwisai, were charged with serious crimes. Lawyers for the accused said the meeting was an academic discussion, not a planning session for a revolution. The judge in the case, Kudakwashe Jarabini, said in court that while watching videos of the Arab uprisings was not a crime, the organizers intended to incite hostility toward the government by playing them, according to people in the courtroom.. Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has been in a tenuous unity government with the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, since the 2008 election. Mr. Tsvangirai won the most votes but dropped out of the race because of violence against his supporters. International pressure led to the creation of a unity government. But Mr. Mugabe retained the most crucial government posts, particularly those that control the police and army. Mr. Mugabe's party has been pushing hard for new elections, hoping to win power again in its own right while Mr. Mugabe, whose health has grown more fragile as he ages, remains alive. But the M.D.C. and many activist and analysts have argued against holding elections before a new constitution is drawn up and crucial institutions, like the election commission, have been reformed. An estimated 350 people died in violence during the 2008 election. Shortly after the 45 activists were arrested last year, a lawyer working for them reported that a dozen had been tortured to try to force them to testify for the state: beaten with broomsticks, metal rods and blunt objects, and that six had been lashed, prompting a letter of concern from the United Nations torture investigator, Juan E. Mndez. Dewa Mavhinga of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a collection of hundreds of civic groups, said that it appeared that the window for change in Zimbabwe was closing. It is an indicator that we are really going towards elections and that the democratic space that was previously somewhat open is quickly closing down, Mr. Mavhinga said. There is no crime that has been committed. It is a political issue that is being dealt with a politicized and severely compromised judiciary.
Return to Top

News Headline: Joseph Kony victims back online campaign | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: BBC News Text: With a controversial US film putting the spotlight on Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, the BBC's James Copnall reports on those in South Sudan and Uganda who believe he must be captured or killed at all costs. In a refugee camp in the shade of giant mango trees, a Congolese man called JeanRoger is calling for US soldiers to capture the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army,

Joseph Kony. "We need a military intervention. [President Barack] Obama must make an effort to finish with Kony," he says in a firm voice. "The LRA has killed a lot of people, and raped a lot of women, and they kidnap children to train them to become like them. They must be stopped." "If the LRA can be stopped, we can return to Congo. But I don't know when it will happen. Uganda Kony screenings 'stopped' The recent Kony 2012 film, which has been viewed millions of times, has attracted criticism for simplifying the problem of the LRA. But Jean-Roger and other victims believe the only thing that matters is to stop the rebel movement. There are more than 5,000 refugees in the Makpandu camp in South Sudan, the majority from the Democratic Republic of Congo, others from the Central African Republic. Those are the two countries where the LRA now operates, though its fighters - many of whom are children - sometimes launch raids into South Sudan too. 'World must act' Another refugee, Modeste, a grey-haired man with a bright floral shirt, also wants foreign troops to help out. His four daughters, aged between five and 14, were kidnapped when the LRA attacked his village in DR Congo. "I think they must be dead," he says simply, perhaps not wanting to voice the other, horrifying prospect - that they have been kept as sex slaves. "I want governments all over the world to act, we must finish the LRA. The world should get enough forces to attack, and kill all of them," he says. A short walk away, Jeanne is preparing dinner in front of her simple thatched hut. She will grind groundnuts into a paste, and add some cassava leaves. She is wearing a camouflage top, giving her a strangely military appearance - a bitter irony considering it was the LRA's fighters who drove her from her home. "Some of the people from my village were killed, and I don't know what happened to the others. "If the LRA can be stopped, we can return to Congo. But I don't know when it will happen." Although the Kony 2012 film has prompted renewed calls for action against the LRA, several forces have been fighting them for years. The LRA is no longer in Uganda, but the Ugandan army is chasing after them from

bases in South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR). The Congolese, Central African and South Sudanese armies are involved too. But not always with much success. The LRA's current strength is estimated at a few hundred, but they still terrify many times this number. "We receive regular refugee arrivals due to ongoing LRA attacks in Congo and CAR. They (LRA) also conduct hit-and-run attacks inside South Sudan," says Mireille Gerard, the head of the UN refugee agency in South Sudan. 'Arrow boys' In the South Sudanese state of Western Equatoria, some residents have taken matters into their own hands. A dozen men brandish their weapons - one AK-47, some old rifles they describe as "home-made", and the bows and arrows that have given them their name, the Arrow Boys. In June last year they rescued two people, including a 13-year old girl kidnapped by the LRA from the village of Kidi, about 12km from the town of Yambio, close to the DR Congo border. That incident was the last time the LRA struck in South Sudan, but their impact over the last few years has been dramatic. "The damage Kony has inflicted on our people in Western Equatoria is actually far greater even than the losses that we incurred during our 22 years of civil struggle with the Khartoum government," says Sapana Abuyi, the deputy governor of Western Equatoria. It is a startling statement. Two million people are estimated to have died during Sudan's second civil war, although Western Equatoria was less affected than other parts of South Sudan. The frequency of LRA attacks has now fallen in South Sudan, in part due to the efforts of the Ugandan troops, and the Arrow Boys. But Mr Abuyi is still wary. "We cannot rule out more attacks, because they use guerrilla tactics and they can hit at any time." US role He also calls on the US advisors to the Ugandan troops to do more, particularly in tracking the movements of the LRA fighters, who often operate in small groups in the forest. So far the Americans, who number 100 throughout the region, are there to advise not fight, following President Barack Obama's directives. So what can the Americans do, if they are not allowed to go into combat?

"Primarily, our advice and assistance is along the lines of planning the fusion of operations and intelligence, logistics planning, and bolstering their communications," the US team's leader Capt Layne told the BBC. Hunting Kony in a region as heavily covered by forest is akin to "looking for a needle in a haystack" according to the captain. Would he prefer to kill or capture Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court? "As long as we rid the region of Joseph Kony, we're happy, however that happens," he says. Col Joseph Balikudembe is the Ugandan who is leading Operation Lightening Thunder against the LRA. The Ugandans have not yet got hold of Kony despite a quarter-century of efforts, but the colonel is still optimistic. "His time is numbered, he will be captured," he says. "It took time to capture Osama Bin Laden, but eventually he was killed. Kony will have his time too." The senior officer denies charges made by some campaigners that the Ugandan military has kept the war running for so long as it justifies high military spending and allows officers to make money from the conflict. The Kony 2012 film, made by the US campaign group Invisible Children, has shone an unprecedented global light onto the LRA. It has been heavily criticised in some quarters. "In elevating Kony to a global celebrity, the embodiment of evil, and advocating a military solution, the campaign isn't just simplifying, it is irresponsibly naive," regional expert Alex de Waal wrote. Dialogue Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala has campaigned against the LRA for many years. He supports the film as a way of raising awareness. But he believes the military option is not the right one. "When we talk about a military intervention, people who think they are powerful think it is the only way to solve a problem. "They think that by the gun you can solve the problem, but instead you aggravate it. "To me military intervention is not a solution. I would encourage dialogue." In a camp for South Sudanese displaced by LRA attacks near the town of Nzara, that view would not be supported by everyone. "The LRA don't want to see you as a human being,' says Charles. "If they see a human,

they kill him with a machete or shoot him with a gun. That is why we fear them." Some of the displaced people here have begun to return home. But many remain. "If Kony is arrested, that can solve the problem," says David, hurrying through his words in his anxiety to stress the point. "The abduction of the children and the killing of people make us afraid, that is why most of the people don't want to go back to our homes." These people have not seen the Kony 2012 film. But they are vociferous in their demand for Joseph Kony to be stopped by any means necessary.
Return to Top

News Headline: NATO failed to investigate Libya civilian deaths: Amnesty | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: NATO has failed to properly investigate or provide compensation for civilian deaths caused by its air strikes during the seven-month operation in Libya that helped bring about the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Amnesty International said on Monday. Echoing similar criticisms aired this month by Russia, Amnesty said scores of Libyans, who were not involved in the conflict, had been killed or injured in NATO bombings but there had been no proper investigations into their deaths. "NATO officials repeatedly stressed their commitment to protecting civilians," Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty, said in a statement. "They cannot now brush aside the deaths of scores of civilians with some vague statement of regret without properly investigating these deadly incidents." Inquiries should determine whether any civilian casualties resulted from a breach of international law, and if so, those responsible should be brought to justice, Amnesty said. The NATO military mission, authorized by the United Nations Security Council, began on March 31 last year with the aim of protecting civilians under attack or threat of attack. NATO forces carried out some 26,000 sorties including some 9,600 strike missions and destroyed about 5,900 targets before operations ended on October 31. PRECAUTIONS Investigators for the U.N. Human Rights Council concluded earlier this month that NATO had caused civilian deaths but had taken extensive precautions to ensure civilians were not killed. Amnesty agreed NATO had made significant efforts to minimize the risk of civilian casualties, through precision bombing and warning where strikes would occur. However, the rights group said that did not absolve NATO from carrying out

investigations into any deaths, or making reparations to victims or families of those killed. Survivors and victims' relatives interviewed by Amnesty said they had never even been contacted by NATO. Amnesty said NATO itself had documented 55 cases of civilians, including 16 children and 14 women, being killed in air strikes in Tripoli, Zlitan, Majer, Sirte and Brega, often in private homes with no clear evidence of any military purpose. Another 34 people, including eight children, were killed in three separate attacks on two houses in Majer with no explanation for why they were targeted, Amnesty said. NATO's most recent response to Amnesty stated it "deeply regretted any harm" its air strikes had caused but said it no longer had a mandate to carry out any activities in Libya. Two weeks ago, Russia criticized the U.N. investigators for failing to adequately probe civilian deaths caused by NATO during last year's uprising, saying children and journalists had been killed. "In our view, during that (NATO) campaign many violations of the standard of international law and human rights were committed, including the most important right, the right to life," said Maria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva, a diplomat at the Russian mission to the U.N. in Geneva. Russia had criticized NATO action which it said should have been limited to protecting civilians and not helping the overthrow of Gaddafi.
Return to Top

News Headline: War-riven Somalia's national theatre reopens after 20 years | News Date: 03/20/2012 Outlet Full Name: Agence France-Presse (AFP) News Text: Somalia's national theatre reopened in the war-ravaged capital Mogadishu for the first time in 20 years Monday with the president voicing hope it would mark a watershed in the long quest for peace. "Somalia has historic literary traditions that date back more 700 years... and I feel that resuming such traditions will play a role in the peace process," President Sharif Sheik Ahmed said in a speech at the open-air Chinese-built theatre. The fragile Western-backed government, which is waging an uphill battle against Islamist Shebab militants in the Horn of Africa nation, claimed it was a sign that things were slowly improving in the pockmarked seaside capital. "We are here and watching performances for the first time in many years today because of the stability we have in Mogadishu and this is because of the sacrifice made by the national armed forces," Prime Minister Abduweli Mohamed Ali said at the opening ceremony. But he added with a tinge of nostalgia: "I used to come at this theatre during the halcyon days when it looked better than today, I wish the good look of the theatre will be resumed."

The hardline Shebab have resorted to guerrilla tactics after the majority of fighters abandoned fixed bases in Mogadishu in August in what the Islamists claimed was a tactical retreat but the African Union peacekeeping mission said represented a military defeat. The Shehab last month also lost control of their strategic base of Baidoa to Ethiopian troops and pro-government Somali forces, the second major loss in six months. The Shebab and other militia groups have tried to exploit the power vacuum in Somalia, which has had no effective central authority since plunging into war 21 years ago when president Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled. The highlight of the programme was a drama about good parenting. "The reopening of the theatre after 20 years represents a major move towards the establishment of entertainment... people need life and fun not just violence forever," said Abdirsak Ali, who attended the ceremony. "The future looks bright now, Somali literary traditions were about the fade completely but now that the theatre was reopened, people will at least have somewhere to go for entertainment," said Adan Mohamed, another theatre-goer. Fadumo Moalim, a mother of three, however voiced concerns about safety, citing the Shebab's opposition to forms of entertainment it claims are proscribed in Islam. The Shebab "target cinemas and football matches so that do you think they will spare a theatre where hundreds of people watch performances. I think this is not the suitable time to bring people in numbers at a place like the national theatre." Ismail Yasin, who lives near the complex, echoed her comments. "Security is the prime subject here. If the government can ensure security the idea to reopen the national theatre is good, otherwise the place could turn into a suicide bomber's target. Kenya sent its troops into southern Somalia to fight them last October blaming the Shebab for the abductions of several foreigners. Ethiopian forces entered Somalia a month later, entering the west of the country. Analysts have nevertheless warned that the Shebab remain a major threat in the Horn of Africa nation.
Return to Top

News Headline: As violence reigns, some flee north Nigeria | News Date: 03/20/2012 Outlet Full Name: Associated Press (AP) News Text: NNEWI, Nigeria A town hall meeting called by Christians to discuss funeral arrangements turned into a bloodbath in northern Nigeria when members of a radical Islamist sect opened fire with assault rifles. At least 20 members of the Igbo ethnic group died in that attack Jan. 6. More attacks

have followed, targeting the largest Christian group living across Nigeria's Muslim north. Many Igbos are now fleeing the north, even as state officials and others downplay the exodus, likely out of fear of sparking retaliatory violence. The Igbo are one of the three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria. Based in Nigeria's eastern states, the Igbo became largely Catholic after being colonized by the British. Many became successful traders who spread throughout Nigeria. In the country's Muslim north, Igbo traders often dominate car parts sales and other markets. That often leaves Igbo traders the most exposed during ethnic and religious violence that has routinely gripped Nigeria since independence from Britain in 1960. "We're everywhere there's a clash between any two groups of people because we're a people who live all over the place," said Maja Emeka Umeh, the spokesman of Anambra state in Nigeria's east. "They end up killing our people." A failed 1966 coup, led primarily by Igbo army officers, sparked violence targeting Igbo people throughout Nigeria's Muslim north. About 10,000 people died in the resulting riots and many fled back to eastern Nigeria ahead of secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declaring the region and much of Nigeria's oilproducing southern delta its own nation. Most recently, the Igbo have been targeted by the Boko Haram Islamist sect, which has killed more than 360 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. In a message to journalists at the start of the year, the sect threatened to begin killing Christians living in the nation's north. The attacks came soon after. People have been fleeing, with many taking buses to other parts of Nigeria. In Nnewi, a city in the south, attendance for Masses at St. Michael De Archangel noticeably rose from those who had returned, the Rev. Michael Onyekachukwu said. The total number of displaced people is difficult to come by. While Nigerian Red Cross officials acknowledge Igbos fled the north, they declined to offer specific figures. Government officials also downplayed the number of those fleeing, saying many had returned to the north. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, has decried the killings by Boko Haram. "Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won't even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house," Jonathan said Jan. 8 at a church service in the capital, Abuja. There's another fear at play the specter of retaliatory violence targeting Muslims living in the south. In February 2006, Christians in Onitsha burned the bodies of slain Muslims and defaced mosques following protests over the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad. A local human rights activist estimated at the time that at least 80 Muslims had been killed in Onitsha. Umeh, the spokesman of Anambra state, said government officials would try to put down any unrest. But he made a point to mention the 1994 death of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo man arrested over allegedly defacing the Quran in Nigeria's northern city of Kano. Rioters broke into jail, beheaded him and carried his head around the city on a spike.

"Nigerians, the federal government, the state government, other authorities, they looked the other way," Umeh said.
Return to Top

News Headline: Somali rebel mortars kill 5 near presidential palace | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: At least five people were killed when a salvo of mortars targeting Somalia's presidential palace missed and landed on a nearby refugee camp overnight, residents and the African Union's peacekeeping force said on Monday. Somalia's al Qaeda-aligned al Shabaab rebel group said they fired more than a dozen mortars at the heavily fortified presidential compound, their second attempt to strike at the heart of the embattled government in less than a week. Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the AU force known as AMISOM, said some mortar rounds crashed into a camp for Somalis displaced by war and famine about 500 meters from the presidential palace. "No mortar landed in the palace - they landed on an IDP camp and killed about six civilians," Ankunda told Reuters. Mogadishu resident Ali Hussein, who lives next to the squalid settlement, said one mortar killed five members of a single family. Ankunda said it was not clear where the short-range mortars were fired from. Villa Somalia, as the presidential compound is known, is normally beyond the range of mortars launched from outside the Somali capital. The militants did not disclose their firing point, but a location within Mogadishu would embarrass AMISOM and the government, which last week claimed they had secured all of Mogadishu. While al Shabaab pulled out of the capital in August and African Union forces have been securing neighborhoods vacated by the Islamist rebels, the coastal city remains prone to regular attacks by suicide bombers and roadside explosions. "See how we are serious," said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military operation. "We shall continue attacking the palace with suicide bombings and shells." In a separate incident, al Shabaab attacked a building housing security forces in Mogadishu's Alikamin area, between Bakara market and Mogadishu stadium. "We attacked security forces in a house. We killed them and destroyed the building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire last night," Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdirahman, who the militants' refer to as the governor of Mogadishu, said. Residents reported heavy gunfire in the area overnight but could not confirm casualties.
Return to Top

News Headline: GBissau ex-military intelligence officer 'killed' |

News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Agence France-Presse (AFP) News Text: Guinea-Bissau's ex-military intelligence deputy chief was shot dead by men in military uniform in the capital hours after polls closed in a presidential vote, sources told AFP Monday. Colonel Samba Diallo, accused of involvement in a 2009 bombing that killed the country's then army chief, was shot dead late Sunday as he was seated at the terrace of a restaurant across from his home near the city centre, a soldier, a witness to the attack, and an NGO representative said. All the sources requested anonymity. "They shot at him over five times," a police source said, adding that Diallo's body was taken to his home. A security official who went to Diallo's home overnight confirmed his death. Diallo was deputy director of military intelligence until April 2010, when he was arrested with other top officers on suspicion of involvement in the 2009 attack. He was released after eight months in detention, and has held no army position since then. Voters in Guinea-Bissau cast ballots for a new president Sunday in a first round of polls seen a key test for the west African state whose chronic instability has fed a booming cocaine trade. If no clear winner emerges, the vote will go to a second round in April. Guinea-Bissau achieved independence from Portugal in 1974, the only west African nation to do so through armed combat. But ever since then, the army and state have remained in constant, often deadly conflict, with the result that no president has ever completed a full term in office. Three have been overthrown in coups and one was assassinated in office in 2009. Sunday's election came after the last president, Malam Bacai Sanha, died in January following a long illness. Although the three-week election campaign was peaceful, some fear violence or even another military intervention if the army does not approve of the winning candidate. Nine candidates are in the running, including Carlos Gomes Junior, 62, who stepped down as prime minister to run for the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (APIGCV), and ex-president Kumba Yala who was overthrown in a 2003 coup.
Return to Top

News Headline: Libya 'determined' to have Kadhafi spy chief extradited | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

News Text: Libya's vice-premier said Monday his country was determined to have Moamer Kadhafi's ex-spy chief, also wanted by the International Criminal Court, extradited to stand trial on home soil. "We are determined to get (Abdullah) Senussi back, because this man has committed crimes against Libyans," Mustafa Abu Shagur said on his arrival in Mauritania where Senussi was arrested Friday. "He must answer for these in Libya, before Libyan courts," he said. Mauritania has received a flurry of extradition requests, with both France and the ICC in The Hague keen on prosecuting Kadhafi's feared former right-hand man. Interpol has issued a so-called "red notice" for Senussi on behalf of Libya "for fraud offences including embezzling public funds and misuse of power for personal benefit". Senussi, brother-in-law to the slain dictator Kadhafi and said by some to have been the "black box" of the former Libyan regime, is still in the hands of Mauritanian police. The country is not party to the treaty that set up the ICC and officials want to carry out their own investigation before it considers any extradition requests. Senussi was detained Friday night at Nouakchott airport after arriving on a regular flight from Casablanca in Morocco, using a false passport. Amnesty international said on Saturday that Senussi should be tried by the ICC in the absence of a functioning judiciary in Libya. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Senussi on June 27, saying he was an "indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity, of murder and persecution based on political grounds" committed in the eastern city of Benghazi. He could also be held accountable in Libya for the Abu Salim prison massacre of 1996 when more than 1,000 detainees were gunned down. Mauritanian legal expert Brahim Ould Ebetty warned that the extradition requests would have to be examined by a court and a final decision could "take some time if rules and procedures are followed". Ebetty said France has "the best argument to make" for extradition. Senussi faced an international arrest warrant after a Paris court sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment for involvement in the downing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in September 1989. The plane was carrying 170 people from Brazzaville to Paris via N'Djamena. That attack -- along with the bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, in which 270 people were killed -- led to a UN-mandated air blockade of Libya in 1992.
Return to Top

News Headline: Malawi protesters torch police station as discontent rises |

News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: LILONGWE - Anti-government protesters torched a police station in Malawi's capital on Monday, raising tension in the destitute country that was last year rocked by the police killing of 20 people in similar protests. The latest outbreak of violence followed the weekend arrest of the chairman of the government's Human Rights Commission. The commission had sharply criticised the administration of President Bingu wa Mutharika for the July 2011 crackdown, accusing his government of using unjustifiable violence and arrests to intimidate its critics. Police spokesman Davie Chingwalu said the anti-government protesters had become violent after a demonstration they were holding was broken up. "(They) set on fire a police station, a police vehicle and a house belonging to one of our officers after we stopped a rally, which could have potentially sparked more violence because of rising political tensions," he said. Activists last week gave the president a 60 day deadline to account for his wealth, address the chronic fuel and dollar shortages that have added to the misery of the poor, and to restore diplomatic ties with former colonial master and major aid donor Britain. Similar demands led to the July protests. Aid-dependent Malawi is searching for a lifeline after major donors cut funds over concerns about suspected human rights abuses and creeping autocracy. The government is trying to persuade an International Monetary Fund delegation that arrived at the weekend to restart the funding, but Mutharika has no plans to meet the envoys. Malawi's $79 million three-year loan programme with the IMF is on hold due to disagreements over Mutharika's handling of the economy. There is a $121 million hole in the current budget, in part due to the suspension of the IMF loan programme. Britain and the United States have suspended aid packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars, putting pressure on a budget that relies on aid for about 40 percent of its funding. Mutharika, a former World Bank economist who was first elected in 2004, said if foreign aid donors were not happy, they should simply pack their bags. In recent days, the police have stepped up their presence in major cities. The economy has seen GDP growth averaging 7.4 percent in recent years thanks to bumper maize harvests after farm subsidies were introduced, something that started in 2005. But life has become increasingly difficult in the past year due to shortages of fuel, medicine and foreign currency.
Return to Top

News Headline: Nigeria: FG, Boko Haram Talks Collapse | News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com

News Text: The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, SCSN, which is negotiating with the Federal Government on behalf of the Boko Haram sect on how to put an end to the spate of bombing in the country has accused the Federal Government of insincerity on the peace initiative which has led to the collapse of the talks between both parties. President of the council, Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmad and the Secretary, Mr Nafiu BabaAhmed represented the sect in the talks with government team. A statement issued, yesterday, by Dr Datti, however, explained why the talks broke down. According to Datti, "as a concerned elder and President of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, SCSN, I felt very disturbed with the turn of events and the increasing cycle of massive violence in our country, and especially in the Northern and Muslim part of Nigeria. We in the SCSN, therefore, made enquiries as to how to reach the current leadership of the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda Awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram. "Our enquiries led us to a reporter who we realised maintained close and valuable professional contact with leadership of the sect. Through this gentleman, we contacted the leadership of the sect and established from them that as Muslims they were prepared to consider 'Sulhu' which means 'broad reconciliation' regarding the dispute between them and the government. "It was at this juncture, that I and the Secretary General of the SCSN, on behalf of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria contacted the Federal Government at the highest level and intimated them of this great possibility of reconciliation and peaceful resolution of the crisis. This was on Monday, March 5, 2012. "My delegation was well received and a high-ranking civilian officer was appointed immediately to liaise with us towards a successful resolution of the crisis. To our shock and dismay, no sooner had we started this dialogue, Nigerian newspapers came out with a lot of the details of the meeting held. "This development has embarrassed us very much and has created strong doubts in our minds about the sincerity of the government's side in our discussion as the discussion is supposed to be very confidential to achieve any success. "In view of this unfortunate and unhelpful development, we have no option but to withdraw from these early discussions. We sincerely regret that an opportunity to negotiate and terminate this cycle of violence is being missed." It was, however, gathered that another reason why the Boko Haram representatives backed down from the talks was the reluctance by the Federal Government to release top shots of the sect from custody. The government was said to be preparing the release of some of the foot soldiers of the Islamic sect while still holding on to the sect leaders who have been arrested.
Return to Top

News Headline: U.S., Gabonese Medical Teams Unite during MEDACCORD 12 |

News Date: 03/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Mississippi Army National Guard News Text: LIBREVILLE, Gabon, Mar 19, 2012 While working together during U.S. Army Africa-hosted Medical Accord Central 12 exercise March 5 -16, 2012, U.S. and

Gabonese military physicians took the opportunity to learn and grow together, and through this process realized just how much they have in common. One significant common thread connecting the nurses and physicians of the U.S. Army Reserve 94th Combat Support Hospital (CAS) and members of the Gabonese Military Health Services is the understanding that although a career in medicine can be rewarding, to get there is a long and arduous journey. "One thing I have noticed is the nurses of both groups have realized how many shared experiences they have, and physicians realize the commitment to the general practice of medicine is the same," said Colonel Paul Phillips III, an orthopedic surgeon with the 94th Combat Support Hospital of the U.S. Army Reserve. Phillips said missions like this offer his team an opportunity to experience the challenges many of their counterparts face on a daily basis. American doctors recognize the differences in resources between the two medical teams and assess, then adjust the training focused to increase the experiences and capacity of the Gabonese physicians. Like physicians in the United States, Gabonese doctors spend many years in school and are committed to ongoing professional development. "We go to school 21 years total, with eight years in medical school, but we are always learning," said Captain Fidele Miyabe, Gabonese Military Health Services doctor. For the Gabonese, working alongside medical personnel from another country can be both rewarding and reassuring. "We like working with other doctors. It is good to know we are familiar with many of their techniques, and it is also good to refresh and learn together," said Lieutenant Stephane Oliveira, a physician with the Gabonese Military Health Services. While the first week consisted of lectures on topics including combat stress, burn injuries and the many types of trauma doctors must be prepared for, the second week gave the participants a chance to team up and navigate their way through a large-scale disaster response. "The practical exercise was mutually beneficial; we were able to mix our plan with the Gabonese plan so it was a learning experience for both of us," said Major Billy W. Wooten, assistant chief nurse with the 94th Combat Support Hospital. The exercise involved manning multiple points to facilitate receiving and treating patients, as well as simulating the hectic environment medical teams often find themselves thrust into during both man-made and natural disasters. "Overall this exercise really helped all of us better understand their assets and capabilities highlighting what the Gabonese bring to the table," Wooten said. Once the exercise is complete, a closing ceremony will end the event and all participants will leave with a better understanding and appreciation for the challenges their brothers and sisters in the military medical profession face.
Return to Top

News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 03/20/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nations News Service News Text: UN peacebuilding body enhancing partnership with African Development Bank 19 March The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are strengthening their partnership in support of post-conflict countries in the continent that are on the agenda of the institution, its former chair told the General Assembly today.
Return to Top