United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 20 April 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 20, 2012. This e-mail is best viewed in HTML. Of interest in today's report -Bashir says fighting the only way to resolve differences with South Sudan -Somalia sets $500 bounty on Shabaab militants -Nigeria: Senate to Jonathan - Crush Boko Haram now -Russia to help track down Ugandan rebel LRA in D+R Congo

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687)

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Bashir says fighting the only way to resolve differences 04/19/2012 Xinhua News Agency with South Sudan Somalia sets $500 bounty on 04/19/2012 News24 Shabaab
Mogadisgu - Somalia has set a $500 award for anyone who captures or kills a militant from the al-Qaeda-linked militant group of al-Shabaab which has been attacking government and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu.

Nigeria: Senate to Jonathan 04/19/2012 AllAfrica.com Crush Boko Haram Now

Worried by the seemingly intractable challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, the Senate Wednesday issued a stern admonition to the Presidency to deploy all arsenals at its disposal to crush the Islamic sect whose terrorist activities ...

Russia to help track down Ugandan rebel LRA in DR Congo

04/19/2012 Xinhua News Agency

KINSHASA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to take part in the exercise to track down the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Russian Ambassador to the Central African count...

Cops raid 'Boko Haram'

04/19/2012 News24

bomb factory
Lagos - Nigerian authorities have discovered a house allegedly being used by Islamist group Boko Haram to manufacture bombs in the country's northeast, an official said on Wednesday.

Kenya: Al Shabaab Leader Escapes From Garissa Nigeria fuel subsidy budget will fall short: c.bank

04/19/2012 AllAfrica.com

A senior al-Shabaab commander has mysteriously escaped from police and prisons custody in Garissa.

04/19/2012 Reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's 2012 budget allocation to pay fuel subsidies will run out before the end of the year, risking Africa's second biggest economy raiding its oil savings and borrowing more, the central bank governor told Reuters.

Nigeria: Boko Haram - Niger Delta Youths Vow to Protect Jonathan's Presidency

04/19/2012 AllAfrica.com

Port Harcourt -- Following recent threat by Boko Haram Islamic sect to bring down the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan, youths of the Niger Delta have vowed to protect the presidency.

Somalia: Islamists Strike At Departing Ethiopians, Three Killed

04/19/2012 AllAfrica.com

Dhusamareb -- Heavily armed militants from the Al Shabaab insurgents have on Thursday ambushed an Ethiopian convoy alongside Ahlu Sunna fighters, a government-allied Sunni Islamist group control central Somalia, reports said.

Guinea-Bissau coup leaders 04/19/2012 CNN announce transition plan

Guinea-Bissau's military announced Wednesday that it would hand over power within days to a civilian transitional government that would rule for up to two years.

Ghana seeks $6 bln China loan drawdown for social projects

04/19/2012 Reuters

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana said on Thursday that the $6 billion it is seeking from the Export-Import Bank of China through an existing $13 billion Chinese credit facility would fund new transport, education and health projects in the West African state.

UN chief says S.Sudan infringing on Sudan sovereignty

04/19/2012 Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday termed South Sudan's seizure of a disputed oil field in Sudan an "illegal act" and called on both countries to stop border clashes spiraling into war as the United States warned of a "worrying" ...

USS Simpson, U.S. Coast Guard Participate in Cape Verde lead AMLEP Operations

U.S. Naval Forces 04/19/2012 Europe-Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

Six members comprising a team of Cape Verde's Coast Guard, Maritime and Judicial Police, joined eight members of a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and sailors from the guided-missile frigate USS Simpson (FFG 56), March 27 through April ...

24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Honors Fallen Marines While at Sea

04/19/2012

24th Marine Expeditionary Unit

Marines and sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group gathered together to honor Corporal Derek Kerns and Corporal Robby Reyes during a memorial ceremony aboard the USS Iwo Jima April 18, 2012.

United Nations News Centre United Nations News 04/19/2012 Africa Briefs Service

-Sudan and South Sudan do not need another war, Ban stresses -UN tribunal dismisses genocide suspect's bid to have transfer to Rwanda stayed -Head of UN peacekeeping discusses cooperation with senior official of West African bloc -Ban voices concern ove...

News Headline: Bashir says fighting the only way to resolve differences with South Sudan |

News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Xinhua News Agency News Text: ...South Sudan to withdraw from Heglig, which lies on the north side of the 1956 border and was captured by the South Sudanese army. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit said last month that Heglig belonged to his country, but both Khartoum and the African Union denied the claim. The pan-African body, along with the UN, called for an unconditional withdrawal of the South Sudanese troops from Heglig. Related: Sudan's president declares war on South Sudan, vows to topple Juba gov't ...
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News Headline: Somalia sets $500 bounty on Shabaab | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: News24 News Text: Mogadisgu - Somalia has set a $500 award for anyone who captures or kills a militant from the al-Qaeda-linked militant group of al-Shabaab which has been attacking government and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu. "Now, consider that every al-Shabaab is just like a commodity that will earn you cash," Mogadishu mayor Mohamud Ahmed Nur was quoted as saying in a government statement. Addressing Mogadishu residents on Wednesday, Nur said the government would offer $500 for every "captured or killed terrorist", according to the statement. Islamist militants withdrew from the capital in August but continued to launch deadly guerillastyle attacks against Somali and African Union troops. Kenyan and Ethiopian forces are also battling al-Shabaab militants from entrenched positions in the southern and central parts of the lawless Horn of Africa country. The cash reward is likely to appeal to many Somalis in an impoverished country where hundreds of thousands of Somalis were left on the brink of starvation following last year's famine. - Reuters
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News Headline: Nigeria: Senate to Jonathan - Crush Boko Haram Now | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Worried by the seemingly intractable challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, the Senate Wednesday issued a stern admonition to the Presidency to deploy all arsenals at its disposal to crush the Islamic sect whose terrorist activities in the past two years have led to the death of hundred of Nigerians and destruction of properties

worth millions of naira. Following the adoption of a motion on the April 8 terrorist attack in Kaduna, the upper chamber especially called on the federal government to immediately resolve the Boko Haram insurgency in order to avoid national disintegration and anarchy. Saying that the current security challenge should not be seen as a northern problem alone, the Senate also urged its committees on National Security, Intelligence, Defence and Army, Police Affairs, and Interior, to intensify their oversight functions over the security agencies in the country with a view to improving their capabilities in handling the current security challenges. Presenting the motion, the lead sponsor, Senator Mohammed Sani Salleh lamented that the terrorist attacks have continued unabated nationwide despite the assurances of our security agencies of being on top of the situation. He expresses sadness that the attack, which happened in the very centre of the Kaduna city in spite of the numerous road blocks and checkpoints in the city, claimed mainly Okada riders, food vendors, commuters, passersby and motorists. He added that the Kaduna blast, which was a stark reminder of the Madalla blast of last December, the blast, killed 13 lives, injured 32 and destroyed properties worth millions and brought untold hardship on victims, relatives and residents of the city. Senators, who spoke on the motion, warned that the country risks disintegration if the activities of the extremist sect are not nipped in the bud. They also lamented the inefficiency of the security agencies as well as the porous nature of the boarders. In his ruling, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided over Wednesday's plenary noted that national security should be topmost on government's agenda adding that if not critically tackled, it could result to anarchy. Ekweremadu, however, called on northern governors to be fully engaged in the fight against the spate of bombings and fashion out ways to stem the tide. "We will not discuss and disperse that will not happen any longer. We will set up measures to follow up on the situation. I don't believe money is the issue if we articulate ideas we can get the money even if we have to borrow." In his contribution, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia) said: "We are at war. When we are at war we need to do the needful. We are at war with those that want the country to break up. But I don't believe this people will break up Nigeria. It is only when we fail to do what we need to do that the country will break. Security has to step up to the challenge. We are aware of lack of corporation among the security agencies. As we speak to you there are no boarder patrols." He also decried that there has not been enough resolutions from the northern elders and political class as was witnessed during the militancy days and kidnapping saga. On his part, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (ACN, Ekiti) noted that Nigerians are beginning to make a mockery of the resolutions reached by the senate following previous debates of similar motions without effective implementation by the executive. Adetumbi asked: "Where is the power of the Senate to make things happen?" Adding: "Nigerians are tired of the condemnations of these attacks. They are asking whether there is a government in place. The government has failed to guarantee security of people's lives and properties. The Boko Haram issue is not a religious, ethnic or political one; it is a security matter that must be tackled urgently".

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News Headline: Russia to help track down Ugandan rebel LRA in DR Congo | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Xinhua News Agency News Text: KINSHASA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to take part in the exercise to track down the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Russian Ambassador to the Central African country Anatoly Klimenko has said. Klimenko was speaking on Tuesday after holding a meeting in Kinshasa with the Congolese interim defense minister, Luzolo Bambi Lessa. "Russia is equally willing to send a mission of military experts in DR Congo to help in the reinforcement of capacity and modernization of the DR Congo Armed Forces (FARDC)," the Russian ambassador said. In this regard, the Russian diplomat revealed that his country had provided 10 scholarships for a five-year training program for Congolese officers in his country, so that they can come back and train other military officers. The two personalities also spoke about the military cooperation agreement signed between the two countries in 1999, which is expected to be ratified. The United Nations and the African Union recently announced their military intervention to track down LRA and its leader Joseph Kony, with the deployment of 5,000 soldiers from the Regional Intervention Force which brings together troops from the three concerned countries including Uganda, DR Congo and the Central African Republic.
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News Headline: Cops raid 'Boko Haram' bomb factory | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: News24 News Text: Lagos - Nigerian authorities have discovered a house allegedly being used by Islamist group Boko Haram to manufacture bombs in the country's northeast, an official said on Wednesday. The raid in Adamawa state led to the recovery of explosives and bomb-making materials, according to Gbenga Jayeoba, head of secret police in the state. "We located a house in Wuuojabbe district in Jimeta where IEDs and other forms of explosives are manufactured," Jayeoba said of the Monday night raid. Items recovered from the house included 30 pieces of electronic detonators, 19 improvised explosive devices, 50kg of ammonium nitrate, fuses and 20kg of phosphorous. The owner of the house, allegedly a Boko Haram member, was not there at the time of the raid. His wife told authorities he had not been there for about three days. She was not arrested as she was apparently unaware of the alleged bomb-making activities.

The US embassy in Nigeria warned on Wednesday that Boko Haram may be planning attacks against hotels or other areas in the Nigerian capital Abuja. The Islamist sect has carried out scores of attacks, mainly in Nigeria's predominately Muslim north, that have killed more than 1 000 people since mid-2009. - AFP
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News Headline: Kenya: Al Shabaab Leader Escapes From Garissa | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: A senior al-Shabaab commander has mysteriously escaped from police and prisons custody in Garissa. Nordeen Mburugu is a senior commander in charge of training for al-Shabaab and is suspected to have been behind the June 2010 Uhuru Park grenade attack in which six people died and scores were injured. He escaped from the Garissa law court cells on Monday while awaiting for a hearing of his case. The cells are manned by the police. Prison guards transported Mburugu from Garissa prison where he was remanded to the courts for hearing. They discovered that he was missing when his name was called out for mention. He was facing charges of being a member of an organised criminal gang. Mburugu allegedly belonged to an al-Shabaab cell in Nairobi's Majengo slums. He was captured in Somalia by the Kenya Defence Force in February this year. Yesterday, anti terrorism police confirmed that he had escaped from custody. North Eastern Provincial police chief Leo Nyongesa said the police had launched investigations to establish how Mburugu escaped. A senior prisons boss, who requested anonymity, exonerated the department from blame saying the suspect was under police custody when he escaped. Police sources said Mburugu was first arrested following the 2010 Uhuru park grenade attack but was later released when they failed to gather enough evidence to charge him in court. The police however established that he had made numerous trips in and out of Somalia. Mburugu was put on the anti-terrorist police unit's watch list after it was established that he was involved in recruiting and training youth from Kenya. Mburugu was reportedly recruiting young men from Majengo to join alShabaab. There are an estimated 2,000 Kenyan youths fighting in al-Shabaab. Yesterday, a senior policeman described Mburugu as a "dangerous and well trained man." He said that he may have escaped with the connivance of court orderlies and prison wardens. Mburugu was apparently trained in Somalia before being sent back to Kenya to recruit youth. Last year former Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia said the government was profiling Kenyans who may have been recruited into al-Shabaab.Kimemia had promised amnesty to youth members. "Our internal security has borne the adverse effects of the AlShabaab menace, and the government has no plan to negotiate with the militant group," he said. "We urge them to surrender. We want to get to them, and if they are willing to come home, we will assist them," Kimemia told a press briefing last year.
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News Headline: Nigeria fuel subsidy budget will fall short: c.bank | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's 2012 budget allocation to pay fuel subsidies will run out before the end of the year, risking Africa's second biggest economy raiding its oil savings and borrowing more, the central bank governor told Reuters. Nigeria scrapped subsidies on gasoline imports on January 1, potentially saving the country over 1 trillion naira. But more than a week of strikes and protests erupted across the country against the higher cost of motor fuel, forcing the government to partially reinstate them. The 2012 budget signed by President Goodluck Jonathan last week allocated 888 billion naira for fuel subsidy payments. If this is insufficient they will have to find more money or stop paying, which is unlikely given public reaction in January. "With oil prices where they've been since the beginning of the year I'm sure that we will be exposed to that amount long before the year runs out," Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit. "If I was asked for advice I'd simply say pay what you have in the budget and simply stop paying. (If not) They take the money from the excess crude account (or) you've got to borrow money." Jonathan came to power last April promising to tackle Nigeria's wasteful governance, and Sanusi praised the budget last month for being more fiscally disciplined. Africa's biggest crude oil exporter is supposed to save money over a benchmark price, which was $72 a barrel in the 2012 budget, into an excess crude account to cushion the economy against potential oil price shocks. But the account has been repeatedly raided by politicians and despite record high oil prices it contained only $3.5 billion earlier this year, down from some $20 billion in 2007. It won't last long if subsidy payments overshoot. Nigeria's total debt is about 20 percent of GDP, which is comfortable compared with other African countries, but, Sanusi argues, poor for a country pumping as much oil as Nigeria. Debts are rising despite high oil revenue and economists are concerned that borrowing is increasingly internal, which means from banks and pension funds. If the government fails to pay then other parts of the economy are at risk. OIL RELIANCE Nigeria relies on crude exports for more than 80 percent of government revenues and budgets for this amount based on the benchmark oil price and assumed production, which was set at 2.4 million barrels per day this year. This is at the top-end of actual production last year and if there are any output shortfalls, which have been common in the past, government will have to borrow to cover any shortfall. "(The output) assumption was too optimistic ... based on the most rosy forecasts of operating environment," Sanusi said. "When you've got militancy, you've got production shortages, you've got natural operational

failures, a more conservative output figure to begin with would have been better." High oil prices have enabled Nigeria's economy to grow at more than 7 percent a year but poverty is rising. Jonathan pledged before his election last year to improve Nigeria's woeful electricity system by privatising the power sector and to reform the oil sector, to weed out corruption and save the indebted national oil firm NNPC. The ambitious Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which was supposed to change everything from taxes to the structure of the NNPC, has been stuck in parliamentary dispute for years. Reforms are running months behind schedule and risk being blocked off by politicians who benefit from the status quo. "Clearly we should have made much more progress than we've made," Sanusi said. "The PIB is a major disappointment ... after several years (it) is about to start again its tortuous path through the national assembly. "In many of these areas you've clearly got vested interests."
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News Headline: Nigeria: Boko Haram - Niger Delta Youths Vow to Protect Jonathan's Presidency | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Port Harcourt Following recent threat by Boko Haram Islamic sect to bring down the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan, youths of the Niger Delta have vowed to protect the presidency. South-South Youth Leaders Forum and Association of Ethnic Nationalities in Niger Delta, in a statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, described the statement credited to Boko Haram as a grand design by some northern elders to destabilise the country. The statement by Amachree Odiadom and Mike Udofia, vowed to counter any such move by Boko Haram and called on the Inspector General of Police to immediately declare the leader of the sect wanted and commence a massive man hunt for him. The group expressed worry over the silence by the northern political leaders and elites on the said comment, stressing that it was becoming clear by the day that Boko Haram was set up by some political class in the north to forcefully take over power from President Jonathan. Calling on northern leaders and elites to caution Boko Haram, the youths said they would not hesitate to cut supply of petroleum products to the north and occupy oil and gas fields in the South, if they fail to call their subjects to order. The Niger Delta youths also urged the Federal Government to discontinue any plan to negotiate with Boko Haram.
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News Headline: Somalia: Islamists Strike At Departing Ethiopians, Three Killed |

News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Dhusamareb Heavily armed militants from the Al Shabaab insurgents have on Thursday ambushed an Ethiopian convoy alongside Ahlu Sunna fighters, a government-allied Sunni Islamist group control central Somalia, reports said. Locals said At least three Ethiopian soldiers were confirmed to have been killed in landmine blast that ripped through an army convoy traveling on a road between Wabho and Daac, two small villages in Somalia's Galgadud region of central Somalia. A Senior Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ) Official, confirmed the attack by Al Shabaab, but denied any casualties on their soldiers and the Ethiopians. He added that The Ethiopian forces and his fighters fought back with heavy artillery fire. On the other hand, Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman of Al Shabaab militants for the military operations told a rebel-run Radio station based in Elasha Biyaha, south of Mogadishu that they have inflicted heavy loss upon the Ethiopian troops during their ambush attack.
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News Headline: Guinea-Bissau coup leaders announce transition plan | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: CNN News Text: Guinea-Bissau's military announced Wednesday that it would hand over power within days to a civilian transitional government that would rule for up to two years. Two dozen political parties have signed an agreement to set up a National Transition Council, said Lt. Col. Daba Naualna, a military spokesman. That council would run Guinea-Bissau for a two-year period, at the end of which a new president and parliament would be elected, Naualna said. The country's judiciary and military will remain in place during the plan, and the military says it will submit to civilian power once those institutions are set up. Military commanders seized power from interim President Raimundo Pereira and former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. last Thursday, keeping them in custody for what it said were "security reasons." The coup took place just before the second round of presidential elections scheduled for April 29, sparking international condemnation and calls for a return to civilian rule by the African Union, Western powers and the regional Economic Community of West African States. There was no immediate response to Wednesday's announcement. The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau "until the restoration of constitutional order," while ECOWAS has said it has "zero tolerance for power obtained by unconstitutional means." Naualna said Pereira and Gomes would be released "when we have a government and subsequently a Ministry of Interior which could provided security to all citizens." The military command has said the revolt was in response to a "secret deal" between the government and Angola to allow Angolan troops in the country to attack the military. Angola said it has a number of troops in Guinea-Bissau to help reform the country's armed forces, but said it would unilaterally withdraw them.The junta insisted that the African Union, whose rotating presidency is currently held by Angola, supports intervention by Angolan forces.

Coups and coup attempts are common in Guinea-Bissau since it won independence from Portugal in 1974. To date, no democratically elected president of the country has served a full five-year term. Pereira became interim president after the January death of incumbent Malam Bacai Sanha after a long illness. Sanha had become president in September 2009 after the assassination of his predecessor.
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News Headline: Ghana seeks $6 bln China loan drawdown for social projects | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana said on Thursday that the $6 billion it is seeking from the Export-Import Bank of China through an existing $13 billion Chinese credit facility would fund new transport, education and health projects in the West African state. Ghana, which is heading toward presidential elections in December, had said in August last year that it was seeking to land the $6 billion loan from the ExIm Bank, but had not said how it planned to use the funds. President John Atta Mills landed one of the biggest Chinese loan agreements in Africa when he visited China in 2010 and signed a framework totalling $13 billion. Ghana is currently using some $3 billion from the China Development Bank through the framework for energy infrastructure and roads. The drawdown of another $6 billion loan could raise concerns about Ghana's public finances. The country is already struggling to stick to a 2012 deficit target of 5.2 percent of national output excluding oil due to higher-than-expected wage claims and the continued cost of fuel subsidies. Vice President John Mahama met with the head of the ExIm Bank last week to discuss details of the proposed loan deal, Deputy Finance Minister Seth Terkper said, adding the talks "went well" but that they remained in the early stages. "It was one of the first meetings we had when we arrived in China," Terkper said. He said Ghana was hoping to use the funds for road building, schools and hospitals, as well as to improve water and electricity infrastructure. Terkper said Ghana was seeking the new social infrastructure loan in three $2-billion tranches. But he said the government was going into the negotiation aware that the intended projects may not generate the needed funds for repayment. Ghana became the continent's newest oil and gas producer when it started pumping from its Jubilee field in December 2010. It is also the world's second largest cocoa grower and a major African gold miner. But the Bank of Ghana on April 13 warned that a slide in the value of the local cedi currency which has fallen more than 11 percent so far this year versus the greenback, "could act to offset the gains made in macroeconomic stability." The Bank raised its prime interest rate 100 basis points to 14.5 percent in an effort to support the cedi.

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News Headline: UN chief says S.Sudan infringing on Sudan sovereignty | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday termed South Sudan's seizure of a disputed oil field in Sudan an "illegal act" and called on both countries to stop border clashes spiraling into war as the United States warned of a "worrying" escalation in rhetoric. Clashes along the ill-defined border between the former civil-war foes has led to a standoff over the Heglig oil field after it was seized last week by troops from South Sudan, which declared independence last year. "I call on South Sudan to immediately withdraw forces from Heglig. This is an infringement on the sovereignty of Sudan and a clearly illegal act," Ban, the U.N. secretary-general, told reporters. "I also call on the government of Sudan to immediately stop shelling and bombing South Sudanese territory and withdraw its forces from disputed territories," he said. "I have impressed on both governments the necessity of ending the fighting and returning to negotiations. They have yet to heed our call." Mounting violence since Sudan split into two countries last year has raised the prospect of two sovereign African states waging war against each other openly for the first time since Ethiopia fought newly independent Eritrea in 1998-2000. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir all but declared war against his neighbor on Thursday, vowing to teach South Sudan a "final lesson by force" after it occupied Heglig, while Juba accused Bashir of planning "genocide." "The escalation of rhetoric on both sides is indeed worrying and it's only fanning the flames," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, the president of the U.N. Security Council for April, told reporters. "The effort ought to be made to reduce the flames, douse them, and return to the table to resolve the outstanding issues that have made relations between north and south so difficult in the wake of independence," she said. On Tuesday, the 15-nation U.N. Security Council discussed the possibility of imposing sanctions on Sudan and South Sudan if the fighting does not stop. Distrust runs deep between the neighbors, who are at loggerheads over the position of their border, how much the landlocked south should pay to transport its oil through Sudan, and the division of national debt, among other issues. Both are poor countries - South Sudan is one of the poorest in the world - and the dispute between them has already halted nearly all the oil production that underpins both economies. South Sudan has accused Sudan of launching air strikes on some of its major oilfields. Sudan has denied launching air strikes but said its ground forces had attacked southern artillery positions that had fired on the north.

South Sudan has said it would only withdraw from the Heglig oil field if the United Nations deploys a neutral force there. South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July, six months after a referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war that killed more than 2 million people.
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News Headline: USS Simpson, U.S. Coast Guard Participate in Cape Verde lead AMLEP Operations | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs News Text: Six members comprising a team of Cape Verde's Coast Guard, Maritime and Judicial Police, joined eight members of a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and sailors from the guided-missile frigate USS Simpson (FFG 56), March 27 through April 18, 2012, in African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP) operations. AMLEP is the operational phase of Africa Partnership Station (APS), a program that aims to strengthen maritime partnerships to improve safety and security in Africa. "AMLEP is a program [with] the United States, African and European countries in a reinforced measure to help enhance law enforcement presence in their territorial waters," said U.S. Coast Guard Chief Maritime Enforcement Specialist Lee Conroy, LEDET team leader attached to Simpson. "The purpose is to protect by suppressing and intercepting maritime-transnational illicit violations." Units involved in AMLEP include maritime forces from Cape Verde, Spain and the United States. In addition to USS Simpson, the Spanish Ocean Patrol Vessel (OPV) ESPS Vencedora (P-79) participated in AMLEP. "It's been a demonstration of force," said Cape Verde Coast Guard Sergeant Adjunct Elisangelo Baretto. "The sailors and U.S. Coast Guardsmen on the ship have been very useful. It's great that, because of AMLEP, the bad guys are going to start thinking twice before they attempt to transit our coastal waters." Working from the counternarcotics and maritime security (COSMAR) Interagency Operations Center in support of AMLEP is one U.S. representative from the Joint Interagency Task Force (South), based out of Key West, Florida, along with three U.S. Coast Guard liaisons. "The Coast Guard has had a large presence in Northwest Africa over the past few years," said Conroy. "To be a part of this, we are building partnerships and ties with African countries." Cape Verde is leading this combined AMLEP operation, providing all operational tasks from the COSMAR. "This group that we have been working with is forward leaning and very proactive," added Conroy. "Sergeant Baretto has a lot of drive and a lot of enthusiasm for this mission and for Cape Verde's Coast Guard. I've learned a lot of positive leadership just from his interaction with his people." Two vessel boardings took place during the AMLEP operation, resulting in fines levied for a fisheries violation. "Our goal was to do as much as we could," said Baretto. "At the start of the mission we were

thinking big. I think that is the right way to think, with high expectations. I hope in the future we can have more U.S. Navy ships involved in Cape Verde." AMLEP operations directly support APS through building and reinforcing international partnerships that are focused on providing maritime safety and security in Africa.
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News Headline: 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Honors Fallen Marines While at Sea | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit News Text: Marines and sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group gathered together to honor Corporal Derek Kerns and Corporal Robby Reyes during a memorial ceremony aboard the USS Iwo Jima April 18, 2012. Kerns and Reyes died during a training accident in Morocco, April 11, when the MV-22 Osprey they were flying in crashed while participating in the bi-lateral training exercise called African Lion 12. Both Marines were crew chiefs with the 24th MEU's aviation element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron VMM-261 (Reinforced), based out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. The memorial took place in the ship's hangar bay, where the service members stood in formation centered around photos of the two Marines against the backdrop of a clear sky and blue water. Two of Kerns' and Reyes' fellow crew chiefs shared a few words and stories about their friends during the ceremony. Lance Corporal Michael Garrison, who had known Kerns since air crew school, described him to the crowd as a "skinny kid from Jersey who always had a story for everything that was going on." "I knew him for three-and-a-half years; it doesn't seem real," said Garrison. "He was an outstanding friend, an outstanding father, husband, crew chief and brother to everybody. There was never a down time with him; he was always happy." Corporal Lucas Schmidt stepped to the podium and explained that Reyes "wasn't the kind of guy who stuck out in a crowd. And that's the way he liked it." He described his friend by informing the service members that Reyes extended his enlistment to remain a VMM-261 "Raging Bull" for the current 24th MEU deployment, and that when others complained about what seemed like meaningless work, Reyes would roll with it and laugh it off. "I will never forget him, and we could all learn a thing or two from a man like Robby Reyes," said Schmidt. Toward the end of the ceremony, Sergeant Major Ricky Jackson, the senior enlisted Marine for VMM-261 (reinforced), marched front and center of his Marines, stood at attention and conducted a ceremonial roll call. This procedure consisted of Marines within the unit responding to the sergeant major as he called their names. When Jackson called Kerns' and Reyes' names, there was only silence. Roll call was followed by the playing of taps and a three-shot-volley rifle salute.

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Smith Jr., the commanding officer of VMM-261 (reinforced), who had flown recently with both Kerns and Reyes, honored them by defining a crew chief's role in the Marine Corps. Airplanes require constant work and it doesn't matter whether it's hot, cold, or raining. A crew chief's job is extremely under-appreciated, but they're the reason aircraft keep flying and they do it with a smile on their face, he said. Colonel Frank Donovan, commanding officer of the 24th MEU, paid homage to Kerns and Reyes by focusing on the future. "Today we honor them through words; tomorrow we honor them through actions," he said. Smith's comments to the Marines concluded in similar fashion. "There's no greater way to honor Kerns and Reyes than to continue to do the things we've already done. Everyone counts on us, and I count on you," he said. "The next time we do something amazing I can look at each one of you in the eye and know that we're honoring their memory. Because that's exactly what they would have wanted."
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News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 04/19/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nations News Service News Text: Sudan and South Sudan do not need another war, Ban stresses 19 April Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Sudan and South Sudan to end their hostilities, stressing that they must avoid a return to conflict, which has already cost them millions of lives over two decades. UN tribunal dismisses genocide suspect's bid to have transfer to Rwanda stayed 19 April The appeals chamber of the United Nations tribunal trying key suspects implicated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda today dismissed a motion filed by an indicted suspect in which he requested a stay of his transfer to the Rwandan judicial system for trial. Head of UN peacekeeping discusses cooperation with senior official of West African bloc 18 April The United Nations top peacekeeping official had discussions with a senior official of the sub-regional bloc of West African States on issues of mutual interest between the two organizations, including how to better work together, during a visit to the region this week. Ban voices concern over arrests of public officials in Mali 18 April Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced concern over a fresh wave of arrests of high-ranking public officials in Mali, at a time when numerous efforts are being undertaken to help the country overcome the various challenges it is facing.
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