United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 3 April 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 3, 2012. This new format is best viewed in HTML. Of interest in today's report: - Al Shabaab targets Kenya - Senegal's new president inaugurated - ICC says Kony will be arrested before end of year

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) Headline Al-Shabaab threatens Kenya after twin blasts Date 04/02/2012 Outlet Africa Review

Kenya's prime minister Raila Odinga has blamed Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab for Saturday's twin blast that rocked the coastal city of Mombasa as the militant group warned Kenyans to brace for a protracted war.

Heads of State arrive for Macky Sall's inauguration

04/02/2012

Africa Review

Five of the 15 heads of state invited for the Monday inauguration ceremony of Senegal's President-elect Macky Sall arrived in Dakar Sunday night, sources said.

Uganda: Joseph Kony Will Be Arrested This Year - ICC

04/02/2012

AllAfrica.com

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor voiced confidence on Saturday that fugitive LRA rebel Chief Joseph Kony will be arrested this year, praising the role of a viral online campaign.

Nigeria: Soldiers Won't Leave Northern Roads - - FG

04/02/2012

AllAfrica.com

The federal government has stated that soldiers will not be removed from northern roads now, just as calls by some northern political elite asking for the withdrawal of military men from the roads in the north have been condemned. The army has vowed to kee...

Raid hits Nigeria Islamist sect Boko Haram 'bomb factory'

04/02/2012

BBC

Nigerian security forces have raided a suspected bomb-making factory, killing at least nine alleged Islamist militants, officials say.

Sudan governor to troops: 'Take no prisoners'

04/02/2012

al Jazeera

Al Jazeera obtains footage of governor of Southern Kordofan apparently condoning war crimes in orders to Sudanese army.

Tribe in south Libya threatens to declare separate state, 2nd secession move this 04/02/2012 month

Washington Post

TRIPOLI, Libya -- A Libyan tribe threatened Wednesday to declare a separate state in Libya's south after days of bloody battles with a rival tribe, the second such move toward secession this month.

French court backs Rwanda suspect extradition Tunisia: Tarek Maaroufi - Nation's Most Notorious Jihadist, Returns Home

04/02/2012

al Jazeera

A French court agrees to extradite French-Rwandan national accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.

04/02/2012

AllAfrica.com

Last weekend, thousands of Salafis filled the streets of Avenue Habib Bourguiba demonstrating in support of the Qur'an. It was overshadowed though by the actions of some climbing the clock tower and confronting a theater group staging a separate event at t...

ECCAS, ECOWAS Take Steps to Counter Piracy, Robbery at Sea, and Illegal 04/02/2012 Maritime Activities

U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs

COTONOU, Benin, Apr 2, 2012 -- More than 250 representatives from more than 20 African nations attended the official opening ceremony of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Maritim...

United Nations News Service

04/03/2012

UN News Service

- Ban urges leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to meet to end border clashes - Head of UN cultural agency urges warring factions in Mali to safeguard Timbuktu

News Headline: Al-Shabaab threatens Kenya after twin blasts | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: Kenya's prime minister Raila Odinga has blamed Somali Islamist group AlShabaab for Saturday's twin blast that rocked the coastal city of Mombasa as the militant group warned Kenyans to brace for a protracted war. Stung by the loss of life and the threat such attacks pose to the country's multi-billion tourism industry, Mr Odinga condemned the attacks that left one dead and 33 others injured. "We cannot allow a terror group to disrupt our security and our economy, he said. "Our resolve to ensure safety prevails here (Kenya) forced us last year to send our security forces in Somalia to hunt and rid this country of terrorists that threaten our peace, he said. Mr Odinga made the remarks after visiting the site of one of the blasts in Mtwapa, Kilifi County on Sunday accompanied by several ministers. Warning Al-Shabaab rebutted Mr Odinga's remarks with a press statement released through their twitter handle @HSMPress on Sunday afternoon. In the statement, the group warned of insecurity in Kenyan cities as long as Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) continue their offensive in Somalia. "The deteriorating insecurity in Kenyan cities is an embodiment of Kenya's misguided policies that place foreign interests above its national interests and the security of Western nations above the security of its citizens, thereby wasting the lives of its men and its resources for no

real gain," the statement said.

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News Headline: Heads of State arrive for Macky Sall's inauguration | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: Five of the 15 heads of state invited for the Monday inauguration ceremony of Senegal's President-elect Macky Sall arrived in Dakar Sunday night, sources said. Those who arrived were the presidents of Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. Other heads of state expected Monday are Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan, Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Benin's Yayi Boni and Togo's Faure Eyadema, presidential sources said. The venue has been changed from the Constitutional Council building to the multi-million-dollar Meridien Prsident hotel near Dakar which hosts important conferences. US President Barack Obama has also sent a delegation headed by Daniel W. Yohannes, the director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Other members of the American delegation are assistant secretary of state for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, American ambassador to Senegal and Guinea Bissau Lewis Lukens, and the commander of Africom, General Ham Carter. A significant arrival on Sunday night was French Foreign Minister Alain Jupp, who pledged his country's continued cooperation and support to the government of Senegal. Organising committee Other personalities expected at the inauguration ceremony are African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping and representatives of international institutions. The expanded list of invitees and the change of venue from the restricted Constitutional Court building marked a change of plan by the inauguration organising committee which earlier on had announced the ceremony would be relatively low key. After he is sworn in by the Constitutional Council, President Sall will thereafter attend a handover ceremony with outgoing president Abdoulaye Wade at the presidential palace. Senegal has cultivated a history of peaceful transfers of power, starting with founding president Leopold Sedar Senghor who passed on power in 1981 to Abdou Diouf who in turn handed over in 2000 to Abdoulaye Wade. Sources close to the incoming leadership say following the inauguration, President Sall will immediately thereafter dissolve the national assembly ahead of legislative elections planned for June this year.
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News Headline: Uganda: Joseph Kony Will Be Arrested This Year - ICC | News Date: 04/02/2012

Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor voiced confidence on Saturday that fugitive LRA rebel Chief Joseph Kony will be arrested this year, praising the role of a viral online campaign. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the California-based Invisible Children group, and its 30-minute "Kony 2012" video seen by more than 100 million people, had helped bring more pressure to capture the alleged war criminal. "Invisible Children will I think produce the arrest of Joseph Kony this year," said MorenoOcampo, after meeting the makers of the video -- a sequel to which is set to be released in the next few days -- in Los Angeles. "That is the impact of the campaign. The Invisible Children movie is adding the social interest that the institutions need to achieve results," he added. "We need this... attention to make the political leaders interested." Kony, originally from Uganda, is wanted by the Hague-based ICC for leading a grim campaign of rape, mutilation and murder, kidnapping boys to serve as child soldiers and girls as sex slaves. The United States recently sent 100 special forces to help flash out Kony . The African Union said Friday it was boosting coordination between armies in the four countries to find Kony. Uganda is due to take the lead in running the 5,000-strong joint force. Moreno-Ocampo said the fugitive head of the Lord's Resistance Army is believed to be hunkered down somewhere in the Central African Republic, protected by a 300-strong rebel force. And he stressed it was important that Kony be brought to justice rather than be killed in an attempt to capture him. "With the support of the US, the planning will be different and the support including helicopters will be different," said the ICC prosecutor, adding: "It's not about killing soldiers, it's about arresting Joseph Kony." "I don't think US troops will do it. Ugandan troops, supported by the US working with the Central African Republic, they will do it," he said. "I hope he's arrested... because putting him on trial will make a difference," he said, adding that a trial was important because "you demystify him, you expose his crimes." Once arrested, it would likely take two to three years for him to come to trial, he added.
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News Headline: Nigeria: Soldiers Won't Leave Northern Roads - - FG | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: The federal government has stated that soldiers will not be removed from northern roads now, just as calls by some northern political elite asking for the withdrawal of military men from the roads in the north have been condemned. The army has vowed to keep them for now until the Boko Haram sect is smoked out of its various hideouts.

High-level security sources contacted by LEADERSHIP yesterday declared that soldiers will not be withdrawn from the streets in northern cities until the reason that informed their deployment exists no more. Also, the coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre, Gen. Sarkin Yaki Bello, in an exclusive interview with SOJA, a magazine of the Nigerian Army, in its latest edition, said that as far as the military is concerned, those making such a call might be encouraging the sect. He stated: "Withdrawal of the military! To be replaced by who? (He laughs). That is the question! What is the alternative? So, for us professionals, I think that question is ill-advised and we don't support it. I cannot just see the rationale of somebody saying that we should withdraw the military from the streets where they are. In the first place, they have been deployed because of a particular security challenge and when that challenge is over, the military could be withdrawn. "Even me, as a commander, in an operation, I had occasions to deploy soldiers to a particular place and also after sometime, having achieved my objective, I redeployed them or withdrew them to another place. So, if the security situation improves, or if the reason for what they are there for no longer exits, then, there is no reason why they should continue to be there. So, I am telling you that, wherever you see the military, I'm sure it's a child of necessity for them to be there. As I told you, the Nigeria Police, let me say, is the lead agency as far as law enforcement in the country is concerned." "If the military is called upon to support the civil authority, there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe those who are calling for the withdrawal of the military are the perpetrators of the crime. Maybe because of the existence of the military, they have not been given the opportunity to perpetuate the crime. I really cannot conceive of somebody saying that the military should just be withdrawn from some cities and the rest." According to Gen. Bello, making use of the military to quell riots or for civilian purposes is not restricted to Africa alone but a global phenomenon. He cited how the military has been performing wonderfully well in America's infrastructural development. "After all, we go round the world and we see the military all over Washington DC, as I told you, and some other places. The military are not only out in disaster management areas; in natural disasters and everything, the military are always there. And that is what our training is for. Thank God in Nigeria, and in the West African sub-region, we don't have much natural disasters like earthquake, hurricane and other things, but the little we have, like flood and other things, you always find the military coming to the rescue. In any case, that is our role as enshrined in the constitution. So, I think people who are making this call are just being mischievous," he said. Disturbed by the socio-economic hardship being experienced by the people of northern Nigeria as a result of massive deployment of military personnel in most states of the region, leading stakeholders have called for withdrawal of the armed forces from the streets, as exclusively reported by this newspaper recently. Speaking after one of the meetings held at Maizube Farms, belonging to former head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, elder-statesman and former minister of finance, Malam Adamu Ciroma, who chaired the meeting, said that the summit had acknowledged the tension generated by the massive deployment of soldiers in the northern region and it had directed that the concerns should form part of the communiqu that would be sent to the federal government for redress. But if signals coming from the military and the presidency are anything to go by, the quest to

demilitarise the northern part of the country would remain wishful thinking. Suicide bomber kills self, injures others in Kaduna Meanwhile, a late-evening explosion rocked the Ungwan Muazu area of Kaduna metropolis yesterday, killing a man suspected to have been in possession of the explosive. LEADERSHIP learnt that two other people were injured in the explosion which caused pandemonium as residents who feared another bomb attack scampered for safety. The explosion was said to have gone off around 6.40 pm when the man suspected to be carrying the bomb emerged from his house apparently to go and plant the explosive. "I was coming out of Ungwan Muazu when I heard the sound behind me. I turned back and people were running. The bomb killed the person who carried it and injured two persons at the scene," an eyewitness who claimed to be present when the explosion took place said. The place was cordoned off after men of the state special security outfit, Operation Yaki, were mobilized even as residents ran in different directions following the confusion created by the explosion. When contacted, the state police public relations officer (PPRO), deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Aminu Lawal, confirmed the explosion. "It happened and we have mobilized our anti-bomb squad to the place. However, based on the report I got from the place, I can confirm that one person died," he said.
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News Headline: Raid hits Nigeria Islamist sect Boko Haram 'bomb factory' | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: BBC News Text: Nigerian security forces have raided a suspected bomb-making factory, killing at least nine alleged Islamist militants, officials say. The raid, in the Okene district of Kogi state, came after the authorities discovered the facility they believe was run by the Boko Haram sect. Two members of the security forces were killed in the firefight. Boko Haram has launched a series of deadly attacks across northern Nigeria since 2009. Sunday's raid took place much further south, in Kogi state, and involved helicopters and dozens of security personnel, according to local media. "There were some skirmishes between some hoodlums and the military," Jacob Edi, a spokesman for the state governor, told AFP news agency. Officials said they believed the hideout belonged to Boko Haram, and described the nine people killed as "terrorists". Boko Haram's name means "Western education is sinful" in the Hausa language, and their stated aim is to overthrow the national government and install an extreme form of Islamic law. Their attacks, mostly in the north of the country, have killed hundreds of civilians, both Muslim

and Christian.
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News Headline: Sudan governor to troops: 'Take no prisoners' | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: al Jazeera News Text: Al Jazeera obtains footage of governor of Southern Kordofan apparently condoning war crimes in orders to Sudanese army. The governor of Sudan's Southern Kordofan has been filmed addressing troops before a battle with rebel fighters urging them to "take no prisoners". In footage obtained by Al Jazeera, Ahmed Harun, the state governor who has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in Darfur, is captured on camera telling his soldiers to take strong action against anyone who comes in their way. Southern Kordofan holds most of Sudan's remaining known oil reserves, after South Sudan seceded in July 2011, taking its oilfields with it. Southern Kordofan has become a strategic asset for Khartoum, but rebels there want to follow Juba and be granted independence from Khartoum. The footage shows Sudanese troops stationed in a captured base involved in a gun battle with rebel forces. Harun is addressing his soldiers before they enter rebel territory by saying: "You must hand over the place clean. Swept, rubbed, crushed. Don't bring them back alive. We have no space for them." An army commander standing near Harun then says: "Don't bring them back, eat them alive." General Jogot Mekwar, who is from the Southern Kordofan rebel forces after watching the video told Al Jazeera: "What Ahmed Harun says is inhumane. He wants to enslave people, and he has a hatred against humanity." "From our perspective, the things he says are the reason the court has issued an arrest warrant." Accusations denied Sudan's government said Harun's comments were "not interpreted correctly," Rabi Abdel Atti, a senior adviser to Sudan's information ministry, told Al Jazeera from Khartoum on Saturday. "He is not ordering the soldiers to kill civilians but to kill rebels; this is war," Abdel Atti said. "What was said by the Southern Kordofan governor to the soldiers is in the context of mobilisation of soldiers to confront and to chase the rebels to the south where they are coming from. "What do you want us to do if rebels come and invade the area and threaten civilians and disturb peace and security in the area? I think that what is said by the governor is absolutely correct to confront those.

"They are coming to kill our soldiers and our soldiers have a right to kill them." Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Khartoum, said people in Sudan felt Harun's comments should not be taken out of context. "People here are saying that this statement by Ahmed Harun should not be taken as a literal order to the Sudanese soldiers to kill those rebels and not to take any prisoners," he said. "They said Ahmed Harun was smiling, he was in an unofficial way talking to those soldiers in a situation which is locally understood ... as a way to raise the fighting spirit of the soldiers but not giving them a specific and definite order to kill. "However, it can be understood outside Sudan as a literal statement, given that Ahmed Harun has been accused by the ICC with those crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. "In that context it can be very much understood as going in the same direction and the kind of evidence of what has been levelled against Harun." ICC charges Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, told Al Jazeera the video footage was part of a pattern of behaviour for Harun. "A commander has a responsibility to ensure that his troops are not violating the law. He cannot encourage them to commit crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "'Take no prisoners' means a crime against humanity or a war crime, because if the prisoner was a combatant it is a war crime and if the pisoner was a civilian it's a crime against humanity. "In both cases, it confirms the pattern that Mr Harun should be arrested and brought before the ICC to stop the crimes." In 2007 the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Harun for his alleged role targeting rebel groups in Darfur by funding and arming the Janjaweed armed group to incite attacks against civilian forces. The charges against him constitute some 50 counts of atrocities including murder, mass rape and torture. Harun has always denied the accusations, and was quoted as saying the violence "never happened in the first place". According to the UN, tens of thousands have fled the violence in the Nuba Mountains region since July 2011. The world body has called for an investigation into reports of human rights abuses in the territory. Sudan's government has dismissed those accusations, and in turn has accused rebel groups, many of whom fought alongside South Sudan during decades of civil war with the Khartoum government, of launching a rebellion to try and control the territory. Tensions have been high since Harun, who is a member of Sudanese President Omar alBashir's National Congress Party won the state governorship election, in a vote that some opposition groups said was rigged.

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News Headline: Tribe in south Libya threatens to declare separate state, 2nd secession move this month | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: TRIPOLI, Libya A Libyan tribe threatened Wednesday to declare a separate state in Libya's south after days of bloody battles with a rival tribe, the second such move toward secession this month. The breakaway threats are the latest evidence of turmoil after the fall of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi's autocratic regime last year. One sign is the resurfacing of old grievances and tribal conflicts Gadhafi suppressed. Tribal leaders in eastern Libya announced earlier that they were considering forming an autonomous state, called Barqa, over almost half of the country. The state would have its own parliament, police force, courts and capital in Benghazi, the country's second largest city. That was seen as expressing frustration with decades of neglect by Gadhafi and the inability of the new government, the National Transitional Council, to improve the situation. Though Benghazi leaders deny it was their intention, critics warned of the possibility of Libya's breaking up into at least two parts. On Wednesday, tribesmen in the south, echoing some of the same complaints, also threatened to split from Libya's central government in Tripoli. The conflict there is between the African Tabu tribe and Arab tribes in south Libya, including the Abu Seif tribe in the city of Sabha and Zwiya in Kufra, near the border with Chad. Fighting between Tabu and Abu Seif tribes in the past three days has left more than 50 dead in Sabha. Fighters fired mortars, automatic rifles and rockets with a range of 10 kilometers (six miles). The tribes were fighting in the city's main streets, and the central government in Tripoli failed to intervene effectively. Tabu leaders said that they would declare their own state to protect their people. The Tabu, along with other African tribes, were the original inhabitants of south Libya. The Tabu were heavily suppressed under Gadhafi. Eissa Abdul-Maged, a Tabu leader, said Wednesday his tribe is subjected to genocide, but the Libyan government in Tripoli has not intervened. We are being massacred right in front of the NTC's eyes, he told The Associated Press. He said a village in Kufra, close to Libya's border with Chad, was burned to the ground, and fighter jets pounded civilians. Al-Warfali said that Abu Seif forces used fighter planes to attack Tabu military bases. This is a genocide, he charged. A Paris-based Tabu official, Jomode Elie Getty, who was an official with the NTC but resigned on Tuesday, accused the NTC of siding with Arabs in attacks on Tabu tribesmen. He called for U.N. intervention. Underlining the volatility of the situation, a leader of the Zwiya tribe, Mohammed al-Zwiya, said

that his tribe would fight anyone who calls for dividing Libya into separate states. Last month, similar tribal strife erupted between Tabu and Zwiya, leaving scores dead and injured.
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News Headline: French court backs Rwanda suspect extradition | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: al Jazeera News Text: French court backs Rwanda suspect extradition A French court agrees to extradite French-Rwandan national accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. French-Rwandan relations have long been complicated by tensions over the 1994 genocide in Rwanda [EPA] A French court has agreed that a suspect should be extradited to Rwanda to face charges of genocide in the central African state, it what would be the country's first extradition of one of its citizens. The court ruling in Rouen on Friday followed an international arrest warrant issued in December for Claude Muhayimana, a French-Rwandan dual national who is accused of taking part in genocide and crimes against humanity. The extradition can only go ahead if the French government gives its accord, and France has never allowed French nationals to be extradited. France has previously extradited Rwandan citizens to Tanzania to face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for Rwanda but has never sent anyone to Rwanda itself for trial over the 1994 genocide. Western countries and the ICTR had long hesitated to transfer indicted genocide suspects living abroad or detainees to Rwanda's national jurisdiction, fearing they would be denied a fair trial. International standards Kigali abolished the death penalty in 2007 and has committed to ensuring that indictees sent back home for trial will be treated according to international standards. Muhayimana, a 51-year-old municipal employee in Rouen, denies any role in the genocide in which 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, died, and is planning to appeal the decision to extradite him, his lawyer Geraldine Boitieux said. She said her client would be happy to be judged by a French court or by the ICTR but not by a Rwandan tribunal. "My client believes he has no guarantee that he will be judged by an impartial court given the current situation there," she said. The Rwandan ambassador in Paris, Jacques Kabale, said in a statement he was "satisfied" with the Rouen court's ruling and said it set a precedent. Kabale insisted Muhayimana would

be given a fair trial in his native land. Rwandan-French relations have been tense in recent months, especially after the publication of a book by journalist Andrew Wallis alleging that France secretly provided military, financial and diplomatic support to the Hutus during the genocide. US immigration trial In a separate case, a woman who US prosecutors say lied about her role in the Rwanda genocide to obtain US citizenship will go on trial for the second time after a jury failed to reach a verdict in her case last month. Beatrice Munyenyezi was indicted in June 2010 on two charges of lying on immigration and naturalisation papers. Prosecutors said she commanded extremist Hutu militia and ordered the rapes and killings of Tutsis in 1994. The jury deadlocked on March 15 after four days of deliberations in New Hampshire. Prosecutor John Capin said on Friday that Munyenyezi's new trial date is September 10. Munyenyezi, who became a US citizen in 2003, did not testify. She had faced deportation to Rwanda if convicted, and her citizenship would have been stripped.
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News Headline: Tunisia: Tarek Maaroufi - Nation's Most Notorious Jihadist, Returns Home |

News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Last weekend, thousands of Salafis filled the streets of Avenue Habib Bourguiba demonstrating in support of the Qur'an. It was overshadowed though by the actions of some climbing the clock tower and confronting a theater group staging a separate event at the Municipal Theater nearby. Some news that went unnoticed though was the return of Tarek Maaroufi, a Tunisian who had recently been released from Belgian prison after serving for a number of terror charges, who arrived and also attended the Salafi show of force last Sunday. According to Sayf Allah bin Hussayn (better know as Abu Ayyad al-Tunisi), who co-founded the Tunisian Combat Group (TCG) with Maaroufi in June 2000 and currently the leader of the salafi-jihadi group Ansar al-Shari'ah in Tunisia (AST), in an interview this past Friday with the Tunisian Le Temps newspaper, Maaroufi's stay would only last ten days. Though it is possible that Maaroufi may be visiting family, he lived his entire adult life in Brussels and was stripped of his Belgian citizenship while imprisoned in January 2009. Therefore, it is highly unlikely Maaroufi will be returning to Belgium. This raises two important questions: (1) does Maaroufi still believe in the global jihadi worldview and (2) where does he plan to go after his stay in Tunisia (if he even decides to leave)? Answering these two questions may help determine what his future course is and what it may mean for Tunisia. Regarding the first, when Maaroufi landed at Tunis-Carthage International Airport, ANSAmed reported that Maaroufi "was happy to have seen that jihad is also in the minds of Tunisians." This suggests that even though he was imprisoned for nine years, he still had a zeal for jihadism. It is believed that Maaroufi's jihadi career stretches as far back as 1991 when he first made contact with Rachid Ramda, currently serving a life sentence in France, who is linked to the 1995 Paris Metro bombings, and headed the various European Groupe Islamique Arm (GIA) cells.

While in Brussels, Maaroufi was known for being associated with the GIA and was the leader of the "Brussels cell," a group of individuals that supported various jihadi fronts during the 1990s with money, recruitment, and the forgery of documentation. Maaroufi was originally arrested in 1995 and sentenced to three years along with eleven others for planning a terror attack in Europe. He would be released only a year later and was put on three years' probation. The arrest and probation, though, did not deter further activities within the jihadi movement. He began to recruit individuals for the jihad in Chechnya against the Russians. Maaroufi later traveled to Afghanistan in 2000, where he formed the TCG with Abu Ayyad. After returning to Belgium, he would be implicated in many terrorist plots, and one of the most notorious attacks. He was linked to the US Embassy in Paris plot broken up in September 2001, the Kleine Brogel NATO Air Base plot in the fall of 2001, and the Philips Tower plot in 2002. Maaroufi was also associated with cells that were eventually broken up and whose members were arrested in Frankfort and Milan. Maaroufi's claim to fame though is the facilitation and planning of the assassination of Ahmad Shah Mehsud, former leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, two days prior to the 9/11 attacks. Maaroufi would eventually be charged twice, first in 2003 and then later in 2004 for his involvement in terrorism activities and sentenced accordingly six years and then five years in prison, suggesting he was released two years early. The main modus operandi of Maaroufi's "Brussels cell" was facilitating document forgery and recruiting individuals to fight abroad. As such, based on Maaroufi's background, one could surmise that he may be attempting to tap into the swell of Tunisian Salafi youth that are outraged by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's slaughter of their Sunni brethren. Such speculation could be bolstered by Abu Ayyad's remark in an interview with As-Sabah last week that "we have a large group of young people who want to go out to jihad in Syria." Based on past relations between Abu Ayyad and Maaroufi, and the fact that Abu Ayyad leads AST, it is possible that Maaroufi may be recruiting individuals to go fight in Syria--or that he may end up doing so if he remains in Tunisia. During the height of the Iraq war, Tunisia was a key staging area where fighters from Europe and North Africans West of Libya would go prior to making their trip to Syria and then later into Iraq. These networks may be re-established for the jihad in Syria, and Maaroufi could ultimately play a role in their regeneration. The flow of fighters into Syria could be a future issue for Tunisia. Unlike many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Tunisia was unaffected by major violence following the Soviet jihad of the 1980s following the return of foreign fighters. One of the main reasons for this was a lack of promotion on the part of the former Tunisian regime to send unwanted individuals abroad. Though the current government is not promoting jihad abroad, the access to information through the internet has changed the game. There are already reports of Lebanese, Palestinians, Libyans, Yemenis, and Europeans joining the Syrian jihad. The last thing Tunisia needs though is a group of hardened fighters returning in a few years while the country is still transitioning to a better future leading to potential instability, especially if the economy continues to sputter. This is why although Maaroufi may only be in Tunisia for ten days, more should be paying attention, or at least determining his true intentions. Aaron Y. Zelin is a researcher in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University. He maintains the website Jihadology.net and co-edits the al-Wasat blog.
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News Headline: ECCAS, ECOWAS Take Steps to Counter Piracy, Robbery at Sea, and Illegal Maritime Activities | News Date: 04/02/2012 Outlet Full Name: U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs

News Text: COTONOU, Benin, Apr 2, 2012 More than 250 representatives from more than 20 African nations attended the official opening ceremony of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Maritime Safety and Security Conference held on March 28, 2012. Top military officials, distinguished diplomats, and civilian ministers of agencies with maritime security authorities from ECCAS and ECOWAS attended the opening ceremony, which began with the host nation of Benin's military band playing their national anthem. Other guests representing the United Nations, the African Union, Europe and the United States were also in attendance. The event concluded with ECOWAS and ECCAS signing a communiquu agreeing on the submission of the draft Memorandum of Understanding and Operational Agreement to the respective Regional Economic Community Secretariats. The U.S. Africa Command and Africa Center for Strategic Studies organized and facilitated the conference. The conference was held to charter a way for cooperation between both African communities to provide regional maritime security in the central and western African regions and among member states to combat piracy, robbery at sea, and other illicit activities at sea in the Gulf of Guinea. "This is a meeting of technical experts from West and Central Africa on ways to achieve strategic synergies in the maritime domains of two regional economic communities," said Lieutenant Colonel Abdourahmane Dieng, head of ECOWAS security. "This initiative comes at a time when the menace of and threat posed by piracy is touching the pillars of the economy of both the coastal and land locked states in our region. Within West Africa, and the Gulf of Guinea in particular, we can identify a series of trans-border crimes such as hijacking, armed robbery, illegal migration, illicit fishing, toxic waste dumping, human trafficking, illegal drug trafficking, piracy and hostage taking." These security threats have economic, political, and environmental impacts that require regional cooperation to resolve. It is in this vein that the initiative was taken by ECOWAS and ECCAS to explore possibilities of developing a Memorandum of Understanding to suppress piracy, armed robbery and other illicit maritime activities committed at sea in the area off the coast of West and Central Africa. With 58 incidents of maritime crime in the first 10 months of 2011, the West African coast is rated in the top ten of piracy hotspots in the world. Last year, the Benin coast had 44 attacks, according to an ECOWAS official. This prompted Benin's President Boni Yayi to call on the international community to focus on the Gulf of Guinea, according to Dieng. This request led to the provision of U.N. Resolution 2018, which encouraged the states of ECOWAS and ECCAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat illicit activities at sea. According to Ambassador Robert D. Zontan, director of International Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (M.F.A) for Strategic Studies in Benin, the seminar was a meeting to discuss strategic ideas. "This is a meeting that is strategically paramount for us because the issue of piracy is focal for Benin," said Zontan. "This meeting of a huge interest to ECOWAS, ECCAS and the world." Zontan said the negative effect of piracy and armed robbery at sea initially prompted Benin to establish Operation Prosperity, an ongoing partnership with Nigeria and Togo to fight piracy and other illegal activities in their coastal areas by providing joint counter-piracy patrols. Having

enjoyed the success of the operation, they could move forward in another way by establishing a framework for multilateral cooperation, he said. "For Benin, we've been challenged by piracy situations," said Erick Franck Saizonou, director of United Nations liaison office for Benin's M.F.A. "Piracy has been a challenge for us, and has impacted negatively on our economy. Thus, we opened up to more communities for cooperation." Rather than fighting illegal maritime issues single-handedly, ECOWAS and ECCAS officials came together to focus on providing unified enforcement efforts and agreement, which also allows the two African economic communities to respond to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 2018 and 2039 regarding maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. "This initiative, which has been put in place by ECOWAS in collaboration with ECCAS, and of course supported by the government of United States, is quite laudable," said Colonel Austin Anyalechi, of the Nigerian Army Engineers and the defense attache to Cotonou. "It is laudable in the sense that in recent time, the menace of piracy and armed robbery at sea has continued to create a lot of concern to the world and the West African regions. All efforts have been made by individual nations, but no single nation can combat the problem of piracy alone. That's why it calls for the need for synergy. With the two economic communities coming together under this kind of arrangement, I am very optimistic that it is actually going to yield the desired result of curbing the menace of piracy and sea robbery, and other related forms of maritime insecurity, arising from various criminalities. " This is why the seminar put together by U.S. Africa Command and ACSS is very timely and helpful, Anyalechi said. "I believe once the member states collaborate, synergy will be achieved as an approach to combating piracy at sea," he said. According to Anyalechi, the potential benefits of this agreement and collaborative efforts cannot be overemphasized. "It will make our maritime domain safe and secure, because its benefits come with economic growth and national development," Anyalechi said. "Without security we cannot talk about development, so maritime security should be a concern for any nation that is being disturbed by the activities of pirates and sea-borne criminals. And I believe that at the end of this seminar a very fruitful deliberation would have been made that would give us the directions to actually combat this menace." This Important conference resulted in a communiquu signed by both Regional Economic Communities to recommend that ECCAS, ECOWAS and their member states continue to develop the Memorandum of Understanding and a multi-lateral agreement for submission and eventual adoption by the States.
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News Headline: United Nations News Service | News Date: 04/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: UN News Service News Text: Ban urges leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to meet to end border clashes 2 April Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed his deep concern over the continued fighting along the border between Sudan and South Sudan and urged the two countries' leaders to meet as soon as possible and ensure a quick end to the conflict.

Head of UN cultural agency urges warring factions in Mali to safeguard Timbuktu 2 April The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today voiced concern about the risks posed by the latest fighting in Mali to the World Heritage site of Timbuktu and called on the parties to safeguard the country's cultural heritage.
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