United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 26 April 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 26, 2012. This e-mail is best viewed in HTML. Of interest in today's report: -Kiir says Khartoum has declared war - Is it possible Joseph Kony is dead? -Malaria infections surge in Congo -US offers more aid to drought hit Horn of Africa U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) Headline Kiir says Khartoum has 'declared war' Date Outlet

04/25/2012 The Herald

BEIJING/ADDIS ABABA/ NAIROBI -- South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said yesterday that Khartoum had "declared war" on his country, as violence between the world's newest nation and Sudan intensified. Kiir's comment -- in a meeting with his Chinese counterp...

Battle over oil at heart of Sudanese conflict

04/24/2012 France 24

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir (pictured) said Tuesday that northern rival Sudan had declared war on his country. France24.com takes a closer look at a conflict with roots deep underground in the oilfields.

South Sudan frees prisoners to defuse tensions

04/26/2012 Reuters

JUBA/BEIJING (Reuters) - South Sudan freed Sudanese prisoners of war on Wednesday in a gesture it hopes will help defuse tensions between Khartoum and Juba whose armies have been embroiled in escalating cross-border fighting that has threatened to tip into...

Oil workers assess damage after Sudan border fight

04/25/2012 Reuters

HEGLIG, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudanese oil workers took stock of damage to the economically-vital Heglig oilfield on Tuesday after recent fighting with South Sudan left a power station in ruins, a warehouse gutted and a pipeline spilling out acrid crude.

Is it possible Joseph Kony is dead?

04/25/2012 News24

Djema - The hunt for alleged war criminal Joseph Kony is heating up on international radars, but Ugandan foot soldiers who have spent years searching for the man are starting to ask a question their top commanders prefer to ignore: Is it possible he is dea...

East Africa: Is EA Unable 04/25/2012 AllAfrica.com to Stop Kony?

Questions as to whether the international community and, in particular, the East African governments, have any interest in stopping Joseph Kony's two-decade reign of terror in the region have emerged, with calls for sustained international efforts to bring...

U.S. says LRA's Kony "significantly degraded"

04/25/2012 Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed efforts to hunt down fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony have "significantly degraded" his ability to wreak havoc across central Africa, but more needs to be done before he can be put out of operation, U.S. officials sai...

Africa Review International community 'getting Somalia all wrong, again'

04/25/2012 Africa Review

For a man who was right in the hurly-burly of Somalia's first attempt at uniting the country after the warlords' reign of terror that followed the collapse of the central government in 1991, former prime minister Ali Khalif Galaydh cuts a laid-back if self...

Saving Somalia

04/25/2012 Foreign Policy

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- For the United Nations, the war-torn Somali capital is one of the ultimate "hardship posts." The U.N.'s few foreign employees based there are entitled to lucrative hazard stipends in exchange for living in one of the world's most dang...

Mali gets post-coup government, priority is crisis in north

04/25/2012 Reuters

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's interim leaders named the country's first post-coup government on Wednesday, to help in their struggle to restore political stability and allow the army and regional powers tackle a crisis in the rebel-held north.

Mali rebels release Swiss 04/25/2012 France 24 hostage

A Swiss missionary who was taken hostage in the rebel-held Malian city of Timbuktu just over a week ago has been handed over to troops from neighbouring Burkina Faso, according to militant Islamist group Ansar Dine.

U.S. offers more aid to Xinhua News 04/25/2012 drought-hit Horn of Africa Agency
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States is offering an additional 120 million dollars in aid to help the drought-hit Horn of Africa countries to cope with the crisis, the White House said on Tuesday.

Libya's NTC chief satisfied with outcome of 04/25/2012 Africa Online Algiers visit
Tripoli, Libya - The chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustapha Abduljalil, has said that his recent visit to Algeria will help resolve the differences between the two nations, especially border control issues and the presence of ...

HRW Reports On Rights Abuses in Blue Nile

04/25/2012 AllAfrica.com

Civilians are bearing the brunt of abuses in Sudan's simmering border conflict in Blue Nile state, Human Rights Watch said today, based on a research trip in April 2012 into Blue Nile.

Africa: Does the Continent Need a Different Approach to Peacekeeping?

04/25/2012 AllAfrica.com

The issues of conflict in Sudan are those that I follow closely, which for various reasons, have had my attention since I started swapping MTV channels for news channels close to a decade ago. During my second year of undergrad, the events happening in Sud...

Charles Taylor verdict

04/26/2012 Washington Post

expected in international court's war-crimes trial

THE HAGUE -- For the thousands of young men whose limbs were hacked off, the verdict will come way too late. Too late as well for the teenage boys sent into battle high on dope. And for the pubescent girls turned into rebel warriors' sex slaves, who will h...

Malaria infections surge in Congo: MSF

04/25/2012 Reuters

DAKAR (Reuters) - Malaria cases treated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) more than tripled to 155,000 last year from two years previous, the aid agency said on Tuesday.

U.S. Africa Command Observes World Malaria Day

04/25/2012

US AFRICOM Public Affairs

STUTTGART, Germany, Apr 25, 2012 -- U.S. Africa Command is stepping up efforts to prevent one of the biggest killers in Africa with the establishment of the East African Malaria Task Force, April 25, 2012.

News Headline: Kiir says Khartoum has 'declared war' | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: The Herald News Text: BEIJING/ADDIS ABABA/ NAIROBI South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said yesterday that Khartoum had declared war on his country, as violence between the world's newest nation and Sudan intensified. Kiir's comment in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart came after Sudanese warplanes bombed South Sudan's oil-rich border regions overnight, as violence persisted despite international calls for restraint. The South Sudanese leader is in Beijing on an official visit aimed at shoring up ties with China. The Asian giant has been a key ally and the largest economic partner of diplomatically isolated Khartoum. It (the visit) comes at a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbour in Khartoum has declared war on the Republic of South Sudan, Kiir told China's President Hu Jintao. President Kiir told the Chinese leader that he hoped China and the international community could offer support and help to his country, Chinese state television reported. President Hu urged South Sudan and Sudan to remain calm and resolve the conflict through peaceful negotiations, repeating earlier statements by China's foreign ministry. The top priority is to actively co-operate with the mediation efforts of the international community to stop the armed conflict in the border region, Hu was quoted as saying by the government broadcaster. The African Union's peace and security body also met yesterday to discuss the escalating conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, and the on-going political crises in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, urging an immediate end to the conflicts. AU security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra called for an immediate end to hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan, and the implementation of agreements brokered by the pan-African body. We need to see the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan not only put an immediate end to armed hostilities . . . but also to see these two brothers and neighbours implement all accords that have been put forward by the African Union panel, he said. Yesterday's meeting was attended by the AU peace and security members and international observers from Canada, China, the European Union and United States.

Turning to Guinea-Bissau and Mali, Lamamra said, It is important . . . to find fast, equitable, just and durable solutions to the conflict in Guinea-Bissau and in Mali, at the meeting's opening. There is a need to restore constitutional order and preserve the territorial integrity of the Republic of Mali, he added. Meanwhile, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki yesterday called for a ceasefire in Sudan and South Sudan. Kibaki who was addressing Parliament in Nairobi said Kenya which hosted protracted negotiations that led to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 urged for an end to the escalating hostilities between the neighbouring nations. Having played the role of an honest mediator to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Kenya calls for a ceasefire and an end to the escalating hostilities. Sudan and South Sudan must not return to war, Kibaki said. Kibaki said Nairobi welcomed the withdrawal from the oil rich area of Heglig by South Sudan and also implored the continued aerial bombardments in Bentiu town in South Sudan's Unity state, and called on the country and its neighbour, Sudan, to embrace peace. He added that the stability of Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan are critical to the prosperity of the Great Lakes region. The recent clashes between Sudan and South Sudan along the oil-rich disputed border have sparked fears of all-out war between the two nations. It is the worst violence since South Sudan separated from the North in July. AFP/Xinhua.
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News Headline: Battle over oil at heart of Sudanese conflict | News Date: 04/24/2012 Outlet Full Name: France 24 News Text: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir (pictured) said Tuesday that northern rival Sudan had declared war on his country. France24.com takes a closer look at a conflict with roots deep underground in the oilfields. President Salva Kiir, of the newly independent South Sudan, said on Tuesday that neighbouring Sudan had declared war on his country. Indeed, tensions between the two appear to be spiralling out of control: Sudanese air raids targeted the South Sudanese border region of Unit on Tuesday, according to reports, and ground attacks may be next. Religious antagonism has certainly factored into frictions between the majority-Muslim north and the mostly Christian south starting in the late 50s. But ever since South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, the north and south have been facing off over how to divide oil revenue. The oil question is the catalyst for this very old and complex conflict, analysed Daniel Litvin, director of Critical Resource, a British consulting firm specialised in natural resources. The matter is urgent, as both countries' economies are largely dependent on oil. The agreement granting independence to the south stipulated that both south and north would receive 50% of the money coming in thanks to Sudanese oil. But neither the south, home to 80% of the two countries' oil fields and responsible for the majority of daily oil production, nor the north, which controls the refineries and oversees exportation, is satisfied.

The conflict springs from this interdependence. The main problem is that South Sudan thinks, rightly or wrongly, that the north is imposing exorbitant taxes for use of its pipeline, Henry Hall, Africa specialist for Critical Resource, told FRANCE 24. Consequently, the south is looking to build a pipeline that would circumvent the north and instead go through Kenya and Uganda much to the north's annoyance. Border tensions But the oil problem is not merely a matter of dividing revenue. The biggest and highest quality oil sources are located along the border in regions over which both north and south claim sovereignty. South Sudan came under fire from the international community when on April 10 it asserted military control over the disputed Heglig oil field. Under international pressure, Salva Kiir's armed forces withdrew from the site on April 20. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir travelled to the oil field on April 23 and declared with [South Sudan], one can only negotiate with guns and bullets. All these incidents and the explosive context of fighting over oil have led many to conclude that armed conflict is indeed inevitable, assessed Henry Hall. One world power that has reason to hope widespread violence is avoided is China. [China] is the one that has made Sudan an important oil power, Daniel Litvin noted. Beijing indeed imports 5% of its oil from Sudan, which is, after Angola, China's second biggest African oil source. For China, Sudan is an oil seeker's dream, as it need not worry about competition from the US; Sudan is on the US list of countries financing terrorism. But with no end in sight to the conflict between South Sudan and Sudan, that dream is looking more and more like a nightmare.
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News Headline: South Sudan frees prisoners to defuse tensions| Top News| Reuters | News Date: 04/26/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: JUBA/BEIJING (Reuters) - South Sudan freed Sudanese prisoners of war on Wednesday in a gesture it hopes will help defuse tensions between Khartoum and Juba whose armies have been embroiled in escalating cross-border fighting that has threatened to tip into all-out war. Sitting atop one of Africa's most significant oil reserves, Sudan and South Sudan have been unable to resolve a dispute over oil revenues and border demarcation since the South gained independence in July. Nearly all oil production has now stopped and the border fighting in contested oil-producing regions has grown more intensive, prompting China, which has economic interests in both countries, and the African Union to push for a diplomatic deal. "The SPLA (South Sudan's army) handed over prisoners of war to the ICRC. They were 14 who were captured during the battles of Heglig from April 10-15," Philip Aguer, spokesman for South Sudan's army, said in Juba. Aguer was referring to the Heglig oilfield which the SPLA had captured earlier this month, but later withdrew from, under international pressure. Juba has since accused Sudan's armed forces of bombing its territory, a claim Khartoum denies. South Sudan's government and its army have said the deal had been brokered by Egypt during its foreign minister's visit to both countries about 10 days ago, and Aguer said the prisoners

would be flown back to Khartoum via Cairo. The prisoners are expected to arrive on Thursday morning, Sudan's state news agency SUNA said in a brief report. Aguer said the men were mostly Sudanese from the north as well as one South Sudanese who he said had been recruited as a mercenary, adding the Sudanese army was holding at least seven SPLA members as prisoner of war. "We have requested that they be released if they have not been killed," he said. Clashes appear to have ebbed following weeks of cross-border fighting after Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti said Khartoum was ready to resume talks on security issues, a day after President Omar al-Bashir had ruled out negotiations. Earlier, residents of Bentiu, about 80 km (50 miles) from the contested border, said the area had come under attack from Sudanese fighter jets, saying they feared their dusty town might be the next target in the conflict. "I do not want war to come back," Nyachar Teny, an old woman, said in a local market damaged by the Monday air strike in which at least two people had been killed. "It seemed like everyone was finished with war." A Reuters correspondent in Bentiu said he did not hear any air strikes on Wednesday, after days of bombardment in the area. Sudan has denied carrying out any air strikes. CHINA, AU DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE The United States, China and Britain have all urged both sides to return to the negotiating table and end the fighting along the poorly marked 1,800 km (1,200 miles) long border. China has significant oil and business interests in both African nations and is one of Sudan's closest allies. Western powers hope Beijing will overcome its reluctance to get involved in the conflict and help resume talks. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir cut short a visit to China meant to improve ties strained after Juba expelled the head of a China-led oil consortium it accused of helping Khartoum "steal" southern oil. A government official in Juba and the Chinese foreign ministry gave no reason why the Shanghai leg of Kiir's visit had been cancelled. China said it would send its Africa enjoy to Khartoum and Juba to help with talks. The enjoy, Zhong Jianhua, is expected to work with the United States on the issue, China said. "This is the second time he will go to Sudan and South Sudan to promote talks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said. The African Union urged both sides to resume talks, which have collapsed several times, to strike a deal within three months or face a binding ruling. The AU's Peace and Security Council issued a seven-point roadmap late on Tuesday that called on both sides to cease hostilities within 48 hours and called for the "unconditional" withdrawal of troops from disputed areas. Both nations face severe economic crises with fuel shortages and rising food rising which will

make it difficult to fund an all-out war for a long time. The approaching rain season will hamper any sustained ground fighting.
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News Headline: Oil workers assess damage after Sudan border fight | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: HEGLIG, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudanese oil workers took stock of damage to the economically-vital Heglig oilfield on Tuesday after recent fighting with South Sudan left a power station in ruins, a warehouse gutted and a pipeline spilling out acrid crude. Officials are eager to resume output from Heglig, which accounted for about half of Sudan's 115,000 barrels a day of production before South Sudan seized the field earlier this month. The fighting edged the countries close to an all-out war. But interviews with workers in the area during a government-organised tour of the main facilities on Tuesday suggested getting life and work back to normal in the volatile area would take some time. "We don't have coveralls. We don't have anything. Everything was taken away, everything," said Ibrahim Yousif, a field base manager in Heglig for the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) consortium that runs the field. A nearby pipeline that runs to a terminal in Port Sudan was charred and still spurting out some oil after workers put out a fire that had raged there for days. The Heglig facilities processed crude from a combined output of about 50,000 to 55,000 barrels per day but production has stopped since the fighting started, he said. Another oil worker also said the Heglig region had been producing 50,000 to 55,000 bpd, and a third said it had been pumping around 50,000 bpd. Both said output had totally stopped and declined to say when full production might resume. GNPOC is run by state-owned China National Petroleum Co (CNPC), Malaysia's Petronas and India's ONGC. South Sudan announced on Friday it would withdraw from Heglig after facing intense international pressure. Sudan says it took the region by force. Both have blamed the other for damaging the oil facilities during the fighting. At the site, one of the main crude storage tanks, where oil is stored before it is pumped into the pipeline, was bleeding crude from one side, forming a puddle in the dry, reddish earth. Down the road, the charred remains of two tanks stood on the dusty road and men in military fatigues patrolled the area in pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns. POWER STATION Mustafa Abdusalam, an engineer working for the Sudanese government, accused South's army (SPLA) of purposefully sabotaging the tank. "They tried to put a detonator (in it) or something, but they failed, so they went to the other side and used bullets," he said. Some of the worst damage was to the main power station, where charred strips of metal hung down from the top, and many sections were heavily burned.

"You cannot run anything without electricity, so it is the most important part of the CPF (central processing facility)," Abdusalam said. Also adding to difficulties, many of the basics needed to provide telecommunications and transportation in the area were damaged or stolen, oil workers said. One fire truck was stolen and another destroyed, Yousif, the GNPOC worker, said. "We are trying to restore life here and restore services and make ... it easy for people to work. It's not easy to work in a war atmosphere," he said. Battered swivel chairs, printers with multicolored wires spilling out and scraps of cardboard lay in piles nearby. A large warehouse made of corrugated metal was also totally destroyed. The corrugated metal walls were charred and bent and the roof had caved in. Bits of ash and shattered glass crunched underfoot inside. Yousif said only about 120 of the tens of thousands of oil workers he estimated worked in the region have returned. Those that have were staying in a chemical laboratory because the regular living units had been ransacked, he said. "This reminds many of our colleagues of the first beginnings of the project," he said, referring to the time when GNPOC set up in Sudan while the civil war between north and south was still raging.
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News Headline: Is it possible Joseph Kony is dead? | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: News24 News Text: Djema - The hunt for alleged war criminal Joseph Kony is heating up on international radars, but Ugandan foot soldiers who have spent years searching for the man are starting to ask a question their top commanders prefer to ignore: Is it possible he is dead? Ugandan army officials say the Lord's Resistance Army leader is alive and hiding somewhere within the Central African Republic. Rank-and-file soldiers, however, say intelligence on Kony is so limited that if he dies, or is already dead, his foes might never know and could wind up chasing a ghost through this vast Central Africa jungle. In interviews last week with an Associated Press reporter who trekked with them in the jungle, soldiers in one of many Kony-hunting squads said their task in the Central African Republic could no longer be described as a manhunt. The soldiers, who requested anonymity for fear of punishment, said for years there has been no LRA presence in the areas they patrol. The soldiers are growing increasingly disillusioned, complaining of boredom and having to carry around heavy guns they never expect to use. "Our commanders don't want you to know the truth," one of them said on the banks of the Vovodo river, his colleagues nodding in approval. "They want to keep us here, but up to now our squad has never come across any rebels." Another soldier said: "We are bored. We have nothing to do. We are mobile every day but we never see the enemy." Kony, an enigmatic rebel leader who has lived in the bush for the last 26 years, last month became the subject of intense international focus after US advocacy group Invisible Children

made a popular online video purporting to make him famous. He has been silent since 2008, when the Ugandan army raided his forested base in north-eastern Congo. Source of discontent Ugandan officials say Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, fled to the Central African Republic hours before the aerial attack, but LRA attacks have been frequently reported in Congo recently. Ugandan troops left the Congo last year after Congolese authorities asked them to go. Soldiers told the AP they should be in Congo for the hunt. Ugandan officials say the LRA, which has no more than 200 men scattered in small groups all over Central Africa, is hard to eliminate completely because the jungle is where the rebels are most comfortable. Last year US President Barack Obama sent 100 troops to help regional governments fight the LRA. The Americans play an advisory role in Uganda, the Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, countries that have been affected by the LRA over the years. Even in extremely dry spells, according to the accounts of Ugandan soldiers who have fought Kony since the 1990s, the rebels can survive on filtered clay, which they mix with honey and then roll into something that resembles a sausage. One piece is enough to satiate a man for several days. Ugandan soldiers call this concoction Kony's dry ration. Colonel Joseph Balikuddembe, the top Ugandan commander of the anti-Kony mission, said the war on the LRA cannot be rushed. To eliminate the rebels and their top leaders, he said, Ugandan troops must live like the rebels, on scant provisions, to catch them in the jungles. But this method is a source of discontent among soldiers who are poorly paid - most earn about $100 per month - and who feel that they are being used to justify an expensive war against a degraded rebel force that offers no resistance. Some openly wonder if Kony is still alive. Impossible test of endurance Their amusement comes from using their cell phones to watch pornography and charging the phones' batteries with solar panels during long treks. Otherwise, they are forced to walk miles every day through unforgiving terrain, facing jungle threats including crocodiles, elephants and poachers. The makeshift clinic at a military base in Nzara, South Sudan, is packed with anti-malaria medication that will be spent when the rains fall and mosquitoes become rampant. The jungle experience also demands personal sacrifice from the soldiers because they can't communicate with their families for months and then years, and sometimes go hungry. In February, when supplies were slow in arriving, some members of a 60-member Konyhunting squad tried and failed to eat a wild yam that is a favourite of the LRA's. It is called abato, and a mature one is about the size of a baby's folded hand. "We tasted the yams and they were sour," said Ugandan Pvt Godfrey Asiimwe. "I don't know what the LRA do to those yams to make them edible and delicious. We hear they enjoy them." And some soldiers, in an impossible test of endurance, are forced to walk on broken limbs. Last Thursday, halfway through a 14km walk through the jungle, a soldier stumbled and fell

badly. He tried to stay the course but eventually broke down and asked to be carried around. His colleagues resisted and he limped on. The next day he was bundled onto a military helicopter that also carried the stinking remains of a soldier killed in a crocodile attack on Wednesday.
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News Headline: East Africa: Is EA Unable to Stop Kony? | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Questions as to whether the international community and, in particular, the East African governments, have any interest in stopping Joseph Kony's two-decade reign of terror in the region have emerged, with calls for sustained international efforts to bring the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to justice. A regional initiative backed by the United Nations and the African Union and comprising Uganda, Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the four African countries most affected by the activities of the renegade international crimes fugitive-recently launched a joint military task force, made up of 5,000 soldiers, to pursue the rebel fighters. But should the East African Community and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development not treat the Kony menace the same way it has dealt with the Al Shabaab terror group in Somalia? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that only Uganda has directly suffered from the terrorist activities of the LRA; but indirectly, the entire East Africa region has borne the brunt of his attacks as both tourists and foreign investment flee. The LRA was formed in the 1980s in Uganda and for over 15 years its attacks were mainly directed against Ugandan civilians and security forces, which in 2002 dislodged the rebels. Recruitment of children They then exported their activities to Uganda's neighbouring countries, with practices that include the recruitment of children, rapes, killing and maiming, and sexual slavery. To help address the threat and the impact of the LRA, the international community and, in particular, the UN has contributed through political, peacekeeping, human rights, humanitarian and development activities. Its efforts are carried out in support of the AU and the governments and people of the four affected countries in collaboration with other partners. "It is very crucial because we're in this area the size of California that has no road infrastructure, no communication infrastructure and very little protection infrastructure," says Matthew Brubacher, a disarmament and political affairs officer with the Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in response to queries from The New Times. "It is extremely important. Hardly any of these forces could sustain their deployment without international support - that's just on the military side," said Brubacher, who has focused on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration issues involving the LRA for close to a decade. Since the beginning of this year, more than 4,200 people have been displaced as a result of LRA activity in DRC's Orientale Province, in the country's east. The UN is helping build early warning systems in the country, such as high-frequency radios powered by solar power, so that communities in the region can report twice a day and warn if there is any LRA activity i

n their area - an important factor given the distances involved. In light of the recent growing global public awareness of the LRA, Brubacher noted the special circumstances affecting those who serve with it. "They are basically like islands, they don't really move between each other," he said. "They can warn the village south of them 'we saw an LRA group, they're moving south' and that village can warn the people don't go out to your fields today. "Every member of the LRA is a victim - that's very unique in such an armed group," said Brubacher. "Every defector who comes out himself has been abducted and forced to kill." Last week senior UN and AU officials arrived in Chad on a joint mission to warn its Government that the country could be the next destination of the LRA. The rebel group has already slipped into parts of South Sudan where security has been compromised by the renewal of hostilities between Juba and Khartoum. "The current pressure against LRA rebels could lead them to organise an incursion into other countries," the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) has said. The UN Special Representative for Central Africa and head of UNOCA, Abou Moussa, and the Special Envoy of the African Union for the LRA issue, Francisco Madeira, met Chad's President Idriss Dby, where they briefed his Government and its development partners on this issue and advocated for preventive measures against it. UNOCA noted that the Central African Republic (CAR) is considered the "epicentre of the LRA" and it shares its northern border with Chad, making the latter a potential target for the group led by Joseph Kony. The two officials plan to make the same preventive diplomacy effort in Sudan, as it shares borders with two countries where the LRA is said to be active, CAR and South Sudan. Earlier this month, the pair met with LRA victims in the DRC. Since 2008, the LRA is believed to be responsible for at least 2,400 deaths, 3,400 kidnappings and more than 440,000 internally displaced or refugees. In November 2011, the African Union Peace and Security Council established a Regional Intervention Force, with headquarters in South Sudan, as part of renewed efforts to eradicate the LRA.
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News Headline: U.S. says LRA's Kony "significantly degraded" | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed efforts to hunt down fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony have "significantly degraded" his ability to wreak havoc across central Africa, but more needs to be done before he can be put out of operation, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. President Barack Obama this week extended the mission of some 100 U.S. military advisers dispatched last year to help African government forces battling Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), accused of terrorizing the region for decades through murder, rape and kidnapping

children. The U.S. officials told a congressional panel on Wednesday that the operation had made some initial progress, but underscored the challenges as the United States seeks to help four African states scour an inaccessible region roughly the size of California. "The common assessment is that he has been significantly degraded and is in a survival-andevasion mode at this point," Amanda Dory, deputy assistant secretary for African Affairs at the Defense Department, said. "Those are encouraging signs to us, that are shared with our partners." The U.S. deployment is part of a series of international moves to ratchet up the pressure on Kony, whose LRA rebels are notorious for hacking off limbs and abducting children. They have taken refuge in the steamy jungles straddling the borders of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The anti-Kony campaign has also received a major public U.S. relations boost after an activist group released a video entitled "Kony 2012" that became an Internet sensation and won a series of celebrity endorsements. LOOKING FOR RESULTS The U.S. military deployment has won broad bipartisan support in the United States, but lawmakers pressed the officials on Wednesday for word on how long it might take to bring Kony and his henchmen to justice. "One of our biggest challenges with the mission collectively is expectations management," Dory said, citing difficult access and limited infrastructure in the targeted border area. "It's a very challenging terrain in which to find a small number of needles in a haystack," Dory said. Donald Yamamoto, deputy assistant secretary for African affairs at the State Department, said the U.S. mission was making progress in building regional military cooperation and improving programs such as cellphone alert networks, which local villages can use to warn of impending LRA attacks. He said the United States believed Kony was down to about 150 active fighters and that defections from the group were increasing, although he said it appeared those in the field were stepping up their attacks. "In the last three months the number of attacks by Kony's group has increased. But we are trying to limit those areas of operations," Yamamoto said, saying it was still proving difficult to pinpoint Kony's possible whereabouts. "Kony is such an elusive character, and he travels very stealthily, so it is difficult," he said. Military forces on the ground have encountered numerous obstacles, often trekking through hanging vines and dense foliage that cut visibility and wading chest-deep through crocodileinfested rivers. Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time wanted to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments, fled northern Uganda in 2005, spurring a cat-and-mouse chase that has gone on for years.

While some in the region had hoped the greater U.S. involvement in the hunt would bring quick results, Obama has emphasized that the troops' mission would be to assist regional forces with intelligence and logistics, and that they would not engage in combat except in self-defense.
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News Headline: Africa Review - International community 'getting Somalia all wrong, again' |

News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: For a man who was right in the hurly-burly of Somalia's first attempt at uniting the country after the warlords' reign of terror that followed the collapse of the central government in 1991, former prime minister Ali Khalif Galaydh cuts a laid-back if self-effacing figure, with a suaveness no doubt shaped by decades of travel and living in the United States Having attended close to all national conferences called to chart a way out of the 'Somali mess', the erudite Dr Galaydh is under no illusion where the current peace effort, lauded internationally and increasingly seen as viable with an envisaged election later this year-- the first in decadesis headed. "It is rushed, and an exercise in futility." Dr Galaydh says that the international community has failed to wrap its head around the complexities that have for years stalked the elusive search for a functioning government in Somalia. Get act together One of the first Somalis to achieve a doctorate in the early 70s, he says the top-down approach that has been handed to Somalia fails to capture why a country rightly or wrongly believed to have few of the tribal or religious divides that haunt other African nations just cannot get its act together. He zeroes in on the fall of the all-powerful Siad Barre as the root cause. "Nobody inherited the mantle [of a national leader] or had any claim of being a nationally oriented opposition group, he says in an interview, leading to a free-for-all clan-based warfare by warlords, including that of the feared Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Yet, Dr Galaydh adds, the seeds for this discord had already been sown by the imposition by its British and Italian colonial masters of a centralised government on a society that was pastoral and used to solving complex issues through simple institutions such as the powerful Gurti elders system. Vacuum filled When the colonial powers, having had only a strategic interest in Somalia withdrew, the resulting vacuum was filled by the army in the absence of key functioning nationalistic institutions such as a civil service. This is the background that Dr Galaydh, who is cagey about his political interest in the run up to elections, says the international community is missing, having found few sound nationalistic political parties and institutions to use as vehicles in the peace effort. Intervening attempts have largely fallen through with unhappy outcomes, with the collapse of

one, the pseudo-government in 2006 led by the Ethiopia-allied warlord Abdullahi Yusuf leading to the breakaway from the jihadist Islamic Courts of what is now Al-Shabaab, the terror group. "To this day there hasn't been a decisive effort to bring back the different groups together, says Dr Galaydh, adding that current roadmap is also doomed to fail because Somalis feel it has been imposed on them. "It is mostly civil servants and junior diplomats who are doing the Somalia stuff. You have one man who represents the UN, and in Nairobi a whole host of embassies that have the resources and capacity to call for national meetings, he says. Faulty system "Most of these are taking place outside Somalia while the main players, the Somali people are not engaged. He particularly criticises the proposed system of picking an assembly to ratify a new constitution as not representative enough, especially in the absence of strong national institutions". "The constitution is a wonderful document; it is very well written and has used up millions of dollars. But not even 5,000 Somalis have seen it. There has been no room for discussing critical issues, such as systems of government or representation. "In my judgment, and I am not being harsh or critical or negative, it is an exercise in futility. He instead proposes what he terms a bottom-up devolved approach where, the disparate Somali regions come up with their own representatives that would then define the relationship between themselves and the national government in Mogadishu, which would be responsible for vital services and international relations. Not unlike the cantons of Switzerland, the regions would be powerful but proscribing to the national government, with elders forming a grouping not unlike a House of Lords. Forced statehood This would be in keeping with a growing school of thought that holds that nationhood is being forced on Somalia, when the historical political system on the ground has never supported a centralised state. If Dr Galayadh strikes an acutely contrarian tone to what the world has been saying recently, including at the London Lancaster House conference in February, some would say it is in keeping with the political forces he has aligned with for decades. He admits he was associated with the motley and fledgling opposition groups formed to oppose Barreunder whom he served as Industry minister before their eventual fallout that led to his flight from the country. Their effort achieved nothing other than to further splinter Somalia into regions largely aligned by the country's strong and convoluted clan systems. He counters this. "What I was interested in was more of a national alternative to Siad Barre, he says in his characteristically measured sentences delivered in a clipped tone. Ironically Dr Galaydh, according to sources a wealthy man in his own right, strikes one as belonging to the Somali intelligentsia, the upper crust of the country's sizeable diaspora driven out by the

ravages of war and failed government, and as such could ironically fit into the outsider category that he criticises. For a Somali leader of such stature, Dr Galaydh has dabbled in various industries including founding a telco in Dubai that he was managing in the immediate post-Barre period, and also as a consultant for a high-end tourism project fronted by assassinated Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri and which was felled by the global financial crisis. He largely divides opinion in Somalia, where he is generally viewed as an aggressive and ambitious politician, even if not necessarily popular, as reliable sources in the country described him. Among the criticisms is his involvement in the last two years in the effort to form yet another regional government in the disputed northern territory of Somalia of Sool, Sanag and Cayn (SSC) dominated by the Darrod clans. He leads the advisory council of the new stateKhaatumo-- controversially announced earlier this year at what is now known as the Taleh Conference, referred to as the G9. Extremely hostile Recently, Somaliland, which is extremely hostile to Khaatumo as it believes it was formed to sabotage its bid for international recognition and sits on part of its own territory, accused him of backing a militia group in clashes that led to the deaths of scores this year. He denies the allegations: Not at all. I am not in the least behind the clashes. What I am interested in and have always advocated for is dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the issues between Somaliland and Khaatumo, he said. His rise to the high-table Somalia politics at the turn of the last decade is notable for its steepness. He helped form the Somalia Business Council which afforded him the platform to attend the 1999 national peace conference at Arta, Djibouti and which led to the formation of the convulsive Transitional National Government (TNG) the year after. Picked as prime minister by the TNG's first President Abdikassim Salad Hassan, hismelf a former Barre loyalist, he lasted for only a year until October 2001, falling to a vote of no confidence in his government after the transitional parliament claimed that he had failed to deliver. Self-interest element While there may be an element of self-interest in his push for greater autonomy for Khaatumo State, which like the breakaway Puntland proposes to remain within the Somalia Federation, it is his assertion that Somalia return to the near-Sisyphean task of a fresh peace effort kickstarted by a national meeting this time "inside Somalia" that catches the eye. Isn't this treading water, at the expense of peace for the ordinary Somali? "We are doing this [rushed peace effort] at our own peril. If it fails it is the Somalis who will be blamed, not the international community; they will say, see, yet again they were given an opportunity for peace and they did not seize it." "Yet the international community is in a hurry and says we don't have the time' to invest in a process where the people feel engaged and have a sense of ownership. Somalia's natural political systems suggest that those who back a devolved system have a point.

But given the huge resources and time expenditure, and the threat that Somalia poses to its neighbours, many would be forgiven for giving short shrift to the idea of yet another "fresh" start.
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News Headline: Saving Somalia | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Foreign Policy News Text: MOGADISHU, Somalia For the United Nations, the war-torn Somali capital is one of the ultimate "hardship posts." The U.N.'s few foreign employees based there are entitled to lucrative hazard stipends in exchange for living in one of the world's most dangerous cities. But for Turkish aid worker Orhan Erdogan, it is his family's home base. Erdogan, a 45-year old veteran of crisis zones such as Darfur, moved from Istanbul to Mogadishu last August as the aid group he works for, Kimse Yok Mu, ramped up its efforts in response to the severe famine in the Horn of Africa. His four teenage children are now in school in neighboring Kenya, but Erdogan and his wife live together in Mogadishu. "My family lives here to share the reality with me," Erdogan said. He doesn't downplay the risks. "Our lives are always in danger; one can expect to die any time in Somalia. However, the satisfaction of delivering aid to starving people who face death keeps us working, whatever the security situation is." COMMENTS (3) SHARE: Share on twitterTwitter Share on redditReddit More... Erdogan is far from alone. Turkish Ambassador C. Kani Torun, Ankara's first Somalia-based envoy since 1991, estimates there are between 150 and 200 Turkish nationals currently based in the country. At least 500 more Turks -- many of them with little experience abroad -- came to volunteer in the months after the famine was declared, a period that corresponded with the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice. The influx of Turkish aid workers has corresponded with a fresh interest by the Ankara government in Somali affairs. In 2010, Turkey established itself as a key international player in Somalia by hosting an international conference in Istanbul that focused on security and investment in a country more often thought of for piracy and social chaos. Then last August, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a landmark trip to Mogadishu, traveling with his family and a plane full of ministers and advisors. They only stayed for the day, but the visit -- the first by a non-African leader in more than 20 years -- made a lasting impression. "In Turkish culture, it is believed that something good will come out of all bad experiences," Erdogan wrote in an article for Foreign Policy last October. "In Somalia, too, this disaster [the 2011 famine] can mark the beginning of a new process by focusing international humanitarian efforts and global attention on the plight of the region." Turkey's leadership in Somalia has left some international players impressed (the Turks are "ballsy," one Western analyst told me), others skeptical ("cowboys," said a Western aid worker), and most a bit of both. But there's no question that Turkish aid workers have received a warm welcome among Somalis, achieving a level of access that their Western counterparts can only dream of. "Prime Minister Erdogan smashed that wall that made Mogadishu a no-go zone," Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Nur said. "That was the best gift that Somali people can have in the last 20 years. It completely changed the face of Mogadishu" and marked the start of a series of visits

by foreign ministers from other countries, he said. Make no mistake: Mogadishu is still extremely dangerous for foreigners, especially humanitarian workers that hail from Europe and the United States. In a grisly incident last December, a disgruntled member of Mdecins sans Frontires' own local team gunned down two of the group's longtime employees in Mogadishu. A month later, U.S. Navy SEALs staged a nighttime raid to rescue an American aid worker and her Danish colleague who had been kidnapped in central Somalia and held for three months. Kidnapping risks are so high and security so unpredictable that until recently few foreign aid workers were able to spend any significant time in Mogadishu, and many areas in the south continue to be considered totally inaccessible. One Western aid worker employed by a government with a long history of humanitarian engagement in Somalia said that he has only ever traveled to the capital once in seven years on the job -- and then only for a day. Remarkably, there have been no reports of Turkish nationals being killed or kidnapped in Somalia. As I walked through camps for displaced people in Mogadishu, children and adults alike shouted out in excitement, "Turkei! Turkei!" -- the presumed nationality of anyone obviously not Somali. An ambulance with Turkish lettering drove by, two white faces in the front seats and no apparent security. Turkish aid workers in the camp wore bright-colored vests bearing the emblems of their organizations, not body armor. It's a far cry from the typical U.N. approach of rolling into a camp in an armored personnel carrier, sporting flak jackets and helmets, and encircled by a group of well-armed peacekeepers. How have the Turks managed to avoid the security pitfalls that have befallen the many outsiders who have come to Somalia -- with cash, solemn pledges to help restore stability, and notions about governance -- since the government fell in 1991? "Because they are welcome here!" said a Somali businessman. "They decided to stay, even if it's too risky here, [because] they help the people." He said Somalis see Turks around town, going to mosque, without obviously displaying the fear characteristic of most foreigners. "Somalis see them coming and going every day and they are pleased," he said. Their shared Islamic faith provides an underpinning for strong Somali-Turkish relations. But it is also the Turks' understated approach to working in Somalia, and their willingness to provide direct assistance (even, according to several aid workers, in the form of hard cash), and Ankara's engagement at the highest levels -- especially with Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) -- that has gone far to earn Turkey favored status in Somalia. "With the Turkish mentality, as a Muslim, we aren't separating ourselves from the public," said Serhat Orakci of the Turkish aid group IHH, which drew international attention in May 2010 when it sponsored the Gaza-bound flotilla that was violently raided by the Israel Defense Forces. IHH has had a presence in Somalia for 15 years and boosted its efforts there in response to last year's famine. "We live near to people, we stay in cheap hotels, we don't go to luxury restaurants, sometimes we visit their homes and eat with them," Orakci said. Asked if this approach is a formal policy of IHH, Orakci laughed, wiping beads of sweat from his temple. He wore a slightly wrinkled dark suit, despite the afternoon sun. "This is our lifestyle. In Turkey also we live like this. It's not something we planned and teach our staff; this is our way." The famine was crucial in bolstering popular support in Turkey for heightened engagement in Somalia, aid workers and diplomats said. "A lot of Turkish news channels came to Mogadishu and broadcast images of starving Somalis," Orakci said. Turkish people were moved at a time when they were fasting and making sacrifices for the holy month of Ramadan -- "it had a big effect," he added. And with Turkey's economy on the rise, logging 8.5 percent growth in 2011,

people increasingly have the means to give. Aid groups launched large public campaigns that generated tens of millions of dollars for famine relief. The combination of this private support and help from the government in Ankara has had a powerful effect. During his visit, Erdogan announced plans to reopen Turkey's embassy in Somalia, a pledge he made good on in November. Turkish money -- nearly $350 million between private donations and government contributions combined, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry -- paid for the reconstruction of hospitals and visits by Turkish doctors, opened schools, sent hundreds of Somali students to Turkey on scholarships, and rehabilitated the airport, among other projects. Last month, Turkish Airlines began twice-weekly flights to Mogadishu from Istanbul. Its first commercial jet landed at the city's international airport to much fanfare and a welcoming party that included the Somali president. Measured by dollar amount, Turkey's contributions over the past year are on par with other international actors long engaged in Somalia. But Turkey is doing a better job of "marketing their assistance," said E.J. Hogendoorn, the Horn of Africa director for International Crisis Group. Because the Turks are seen as having a novel approach and strong relations with TFG officials, they could have a major influence on the political process. "The big question will be whether Turkey will learn [the context of Somalia] quickly enough to not get duped by the TFG," Hogendoorn said, explaining that Somali leaders have become expert at playing international actors off of each other to get what they want. "Somali elites have been doing this for 20 years," he said, a nod to the two decades since Somalia's central government fell and various leaders and factions have vied for power. Others are less charitable about Turkey's method for distributing humanitarian aid. Rashid Abdi, an independent Nairobi-based Somalia analyst, called Turkey's initial approach "uncritical" and "nave," but he said that Turkish leaders have demonstrated some willingness to learn from criticisms -- for one, the importance of engaging Somali leaders outside of the capital and not "mistaking Mogadishu for Somalia." But Abdi is critical of Turkish aid groups and government agencies' habit of casting aside longstanding methods for delivering assistance. "Bypassing the traditional mechanisms for aid delivery in Somalia did not make them effective; it just created the conditions for that aid to be captured by mafia-types in the TFG and elsewhere," Abdi said. "I'm not a great defender of the Somalia aid industry. But there's no other mechanism [in the country] that delivers aid better. Solo efforts in Somalia don't work." While Turkey's approach to aid delivery hasn't yet tarnished its reputation in Somalia, it is likely to reinforce the view among the political class that Turkey is yet another outside power that can be easily manipulated. Somali leaders see Turkey's humanitarian efforts "as a banner of heaven to wean off of Western aid," Abdi said. Istanbul will host another international conference on Somalia in June, which is currently slated to be the last major gathering before the TFG's mandate expires and -- if the process goes according to plan -- a more representative government under a new constitution comes to power. (Popular elections are still a ways off.) Analysts say that Turkey clearly has strong opinions about Somalia's political process -- this conference may be the moment Ankara attempts to translate its humanitarian good deeds into political leverage. Sitting in the garden of a pleasant but unpretentious guesthouse in a Nairobi suburb during a rare visit to Kenya, Turkish Ambassador Torun didn't offer many specifics about Turkish policy toward the transition, but suggested that Western concern about possible TFG efforts to extend its mandate were misplaced. He said that his experience working with Somalia's current leaders contradicts the "rumors" in Nairobi and Western capitals that the TFG is angling for an extension. "They [TFG leaders] want to complete this transition period as soon as possible, so

I don't see that they are spoiling the process," Torun said. Turkey is thought to have close ties with several leading politicians in the transitional government, in particular with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, whose wife (one of three) is said to reside in Turkey. Regarding Sharif's role in Somalia's post-transition political landscape, Torun was diplomatic but unambiguous: Sharif's position will "depend on the Parliament's decision; however, I think he should have a role." That's a markedly different opinion from the view held by many observers of Somali politics. Sharif has been "completely inept," said a Horn of Africa analyst who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. "It was a big mistake in 2009 to have elected him -- and this is a view echoed by Somalis on the streets. He has ... squandered every opportunity to fix Somalia. I hope to God that he retires somewhere quietly." Torun didn't shy away from discussing the economic opportunities also driving Turkey's engagement. "The Turkish approach to Africa is a kind of win-win situation," he said, pointing out that Turkey has opened 31 new embassies across the continent since 2005. "In some parts of Africa we already have historical and cultural links, but we want to extend these links and open up for business." Turkish private investment in Africa has risen sharply over the past decade. In 2000, there was "scarcely any" Turkish investment on the continent, according to the Turkish Ministry of Economy. That began to change in 2003, and by late 2011, investment exceeded $5 billion. The government's engagement with Somalia has fueled private sector interest. A representative of Turkey's largest business alliance, TUSKON, said that Somalia is increasingly on the radar of Turkish investors, particularly for its potential in construction, building materials, real estate, mining, and agriculture industries. While these economic considerations are a factor, Torun emphasized that in Somalia the interest is primarily humanitarian, and he shrugged off critics of Turkey's go-it-alone approach. "The typical Somalia approach by the international community, especially Western governments, deals with politicians -- that's it. Conferences, conferences, endless conferences. And people don't have any trust, any confidence in this," Torun said. "All the money we use we bring to Somalia through our government and agencies, and Somalis use it directly. If they deliver food, they deliver it themselves. If there is need for medical relief, we bring Turkish doctors." But it is precisely this emphasis on patronage that analysts say overlooks the importance of Somali initiative and dangerously reinforces the expectation of handouts that has left Somalia dependent on aid and trapped under the thumb of warlords in the first place. With longer-term projects -- like building hospitals and roads -- the Turks have established a reputation of professionalism, said a non-Somali analyst. "But when it comes to emergency assistance, their approach has very much been charity-based, which is the traditional Muslim way of doing zakat [giving alms] and is done without much analysis, without much consideration for the longer term," the analyst said. "You see someone who's hungry, you give them food. You see a government that's in crisis, you give them cargo." It's a course long charted by a host of international actors, with little lasting positive impact. After Somalia's more than 20 years of war, even skeptics hope Turkey can find that delicate balance between partnership and tough love. Turkey's new humanitarians could be game changers -- if they can avoid wearing out their welcome.
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News Headline: Mali gets post-coup government, priority is crisis in north | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's interim leaders named the country's first post-coup government on Wednesday, to help in their struggle to restore political stability and allow the army and regional powers tackle a crisis in the rebel-held north. Soldiers who took power on March 22 hold all three key security posts, according to a decree signed by the interim prime minister and president and read out on state television. The rest of the cabinet is made up of civilians, mostly technocrats and Malians who worked outside the country during the rule of ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure.
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News Headline: Mali rebels release Swiss hostage | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: France 24 News Text: A Swiss missionary who was taken hostage in the rebel-held Malian city of Timbuktu just over a week ago has been handed over to troops from neighbouring Burkina Faso, according to militant Islamist group Ansar Dine. AFP - A Swiss woman who was abducted in rebel-held Timbuktu in northern Mali last week was released Tuesday and handed over to troops from Burkina Faso. Beatrice Stockly, who is in her 40s, was brought to the meeting point in a pick-up truck wearing a black dress and turban before being quickly whisked away by helicopter, reported an AFP journalist, who was barred from disclosing further details until the aircraft left Malian airspace. The Swiss foreign ministry thanked "all the people and the authorities who worked" on the operation, "in particular authorities from Mali and Burkina Faso." Stockly was the last Westerner living in Timbuktu, where she worked as a social activist, and refused to leave after the legendary desert city fell to the Islamist Ansar Dine rebels on April 1. She is "is fine, considering the circumstances," the ministry statement said. Ansar Dine's assault on Timbuktu was backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A source in Timbuktu previously said Stockly had originally been in the hands of a private militia that wanted to sell her to AQIM. Two sources in Timbuktu, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that Ansar Dine had battled the kidnappers for Stockly and were prepared to free her. A loose alliance of Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of the political chaos in Mali's capital that followed a March 22 army coup by capturing the country's vast desert north, including Timbuktu. But that alliance has splintered since the initial offensive. Ansar Dine has sought to impose sharia law in areas under its control and has distanced itself from the Tuareg nationalist cause.

Security sources said Sunday that the Islamist group had rejected any intervention from humanitarian groups regarding Stockly, saying they preferred to deal directly with the Swiss government. Switzerland's foreign ministry said Monday it was in contact with the group holding Stockly, but declined to discuss any pending rescue operations. Stockly was first captured roughly 10 kilometres outside Timbuktu by an unidentified armed group, security sources in the area previously told AFP. They then tried to move her further away from the city but were confronted by the Ansar Dine fighters who now control Timbuktu. "There was an exchange of fire," said one source, and the kidnappers "were forced to abandon the hostage." Following Stockly's release, 19 hostages remain in the hands of AQIM and an Al-Qaeda splinter group called Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJOA) in the Sahel. Among them are seven Algerian diplomats abducted at gunpoint on April 5 from their embassy in Gao, another key northern Malian town under rebel control. A MUJAO member told AFP by telephone on Tuesday that the group had agreed to release the prisoners following talks with Ansar Dine. "We made an agreement with our brothers from Ansar Dine," the MUJAO member said. In Bamako, the new leaders appointed earlier this month after the military junta agreed to stand down are struggling to form a transitional government. Aside from re-establishing civilian rule, the government will also have to plot a strategy to reclaim the north from the collection of rebel groups that now control it. The 15-nation west African bloc (ECOWAS) has floated the prospect of a military intervention, but the details of the operation are far from resolved.
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News Headline: U.S. offers more aid to drought-hit Horn of Africa | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Xinhua News Agency News Text: WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States is offering an additional 120 million dollars in aid to help the drought-hit Horn of Africa countries to cope with the crisis, the White House said on Tuesday. The aid aims to prevent a worsening of the situation on the ground in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia as the lateness and insufficiency of rains are expected to have a "significant" negative impact on crop production there, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. He said over 9 million people remain in need of emergency assistance since the worst drought in 60 years struck the Horn of Africa in 2011, and the additional contribution has brought total U.S. aid to more than 1.1 billion dollars. "We urge the international community to continue their support and assistance to those in need

of emergency assistance in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia with the objective of building resiliency in order to save lives," the spokesman added.
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News Headline: Libya's NTC chief satisfied with outcome of Algiers visit | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Online News Text: Tripoli, Libya - The chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustapha Abduljalil, has said that his recent visit to Algeria will help resolve the differences between the two nations, especially border control issues and the presence of some members of the Mouammar Kadhafi family in Algeria. Speaking Monday night on national television, Abduljalil said he was satisfied with the outcome of the 15-16 April visit. He said one issue that stood high on the agenda was the presence of the Kadhafi family members. Kadhafi, the former Libyan strongman, was captured and killed in his hometown of Sirte (central Libya) on 20 October, 2011. Abduljalil said some top officials of the former Libyan regime had also taken refuge in Algeria. He said that the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and other Algerian officials had promised to let the Algerian judicial authorities cooperate with Libya in its bid to issue arrest warrants against those Libyans. According to Abduljalil, who was visiting Algiers for the first time since assuming leadership of the NTC, Algeria had indicated it was not ready to welcome or serve as a base for anyone who might threaten Libya. Since the fall of the regime of Kadhafi, Libya's relations with Algeria had been strained, principally because of the presence of Kadhafi's three sons and his second wife, Safia, in Algeria. Even though Algiers claims to have welcomed them on 'humanitarian grounds', their presence and the reluctance of Algeria to recognize the Libyan NTC strained that relationship for several months. However, Algiers' decision to impose severe restrictions on the Kadhafi's family members, especially his daughter, Aisha, who has called for a revolt against the NTC in Libya, seems to have doused the diplomatic tension
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News Headline: HRW Reports On Rights Abuses in Blue Nile | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Press Release Civilians are bearing the brunt of abuses in Sudan's simmering border conflict in Blue Nile state, Human Rights Watch said today, based on a research trip in April 2012 into Blue Nile. As in neighboring Southern Kordofan, which Human Rights Watch visited in August 2011, civilians in Blue Nile continue to endure Sudan's indiscriminate bombing and other abuses, even as new conflict between Sudan and South Sudan threatens to engulf the wider border

area. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Blue Nile, which the government has largely shut off from the outside world, described indiscriminate bombings in civilian areas, killings, and other serious abuses by Sudanese armed forces since armed conflict broke out there in September 2011. The testimony indicates potential war crimes may have occurred, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations (UN) and African Union should insist that Sudan end indiscriminate bombing in civilian areas, and immediately allow aid into the state. The Security Council should urge the Sudanese Government to allow a full and impartial investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights into events in both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, said Human Rights Watch. "The fighting in Blue Nile has turned its people into refugees, forcing them to abandon their homes and livelihoods," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The horrific accounts of extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and mass looting and destruction of property need to be investigated, and those responsible held to account." Little information has emerged about events in Blue Nile. Sudan has not granted journalists, independent monitors, or aid groups access to Blue Nile state or to neighboring Southern Kordofan, where conflict erupted last June. Since the United Nations mandate for a peacekeeping operation in the region expired in July 2011, there have been no UN monitors on the ground to document the initial impact of the fighting on civilians in Blue Nile, where conflict spread in September. The research in Blue Nile indicates that Sudan's bombing campaign has killed, maimed, and injured scores of civilians since September and destroyed civilian property including markets, homes, schools, farms, and aid group offices. Refugees in South Sudan as well as internally displaced civilians inside Sudan told Human Rights Watch that aerial bombing since September in their residential areas forced them to flee their homes. Most of those interviewed had abandoned their villages and farms between September and November and were on the move inside Blue Nile for several months with limited access to food or water. More than 100,000 people are refugees in South Sudan and Ethiopia, and another 100,000 are still displaced in Blue Nile, including groups of potentially several thousand who are stranded in remote areas. The states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, where violence began three months earlier, lie north of the border with South Sudan, and have populations who were aligned with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) during Sudan's long civil war. In both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, conflict broke out amid increased tensions between Sudan's ruling National Congress Party and the northern sector of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) over security arrangements in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur, set a June 1, 2011 deadline for all SPLA forces to leave Sudan. The northern sector of the SPLM, now known as SPLM-North, contended that the peace agreement gives the parties six months to withdraw after completing popular consultations, which had not yet occurred when violence broke out. The consultations are mandated under the peace agreement so that people in both states can decide on their system of governance while remaining part of Sudan. On the night of September 1, fighting started in Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile, between the

Sudanese armed forces and SPLA remnants who were there under the terms of the peace agreement. Witnesses from Damazin told Human Rights Watch that government soldiers used tanks and heavy weapons to destroy civilian property, including residential homes and the Malik Agar cultural center. Soldiers and national security forces then rounded up suspected members of SPLM-North, arresting people in their homes and in the streets, and looted extensively. On September 2, President al-Bashir announced a state of emergency in Blue Nile and dismissed the state's SPLM-North governor, Malik Agar, replacing him with a military commander. The next day authorities announced that SPLM-North was banned, seized their offices, and arrested party leaders and members across Sudan. Shukri Ahmed Ali, the local administrator in charge of Roseris, a town neighboring Damazin, and an SPLM-North member who had fled the town with other party leaders, told Human Rights Watch that on September 3 soldiers at a checkpoint between Roseris and Damazin shot dead two of his family members and his driver, and seriously injured a third relative, as they were entering Damazin, apparently believing the commissioner himself was in the car. "Sudanese authorities clearly targeted known opposition party members and civilians they perceived to be opposition supporters, in total disregard for basic human rights," Bekele said. "Sudan needs to hold abusive forces accountable, and release all illegally held detainees." In the following days, hundreds of men in Damazin, Roseris, and other towns were taken to military barracks, national security offices, and other places of detention. Many were held for weeks or months without charge. Former detainees told Human Rights Watch they were beaten, made to sleep in crowded rooms, deprived of sleep, food and water, and witnessed executions of other detainees while in detention. Lawyers following the detentions estimate that more than 200 people are still being detained or are missing. The Sudan attorney general's office announced in March that it had completed investigations of 132 detainees and accused them of crimes against the state and espionage. Authorities have refused to provide information to the lawyers about prosecutions, access to the detainees, a full list of their names and whereabouts, or the exact charges against all of them. Sudan has refused to sign an agreement with SPLM-North granting access for humanitarian aid for Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, as proposed by the United Nations, African Union, and League of Arab states. "By shutting out the world, including human rights monitors, Sudan is only reinforcing concern that it is trying to hide heinous crimes," Bekele said. For witness accounts of the attacks in Blue Nile state, see below: Indiscriminate Bombing of Civilian Areas Human Rights Watch visited 12 bomb sites and interviewed witnesses and victims of several attacks. In one example, at around 2 p.m. on November 10, an aircraft described by witnesses as an Antonov plane dropped at least 9 bombs on the village of Balatoma, killing 11 people - 9 of them instantly - including at least 2 young children, and injuring 21 others. Kirge Koja Doto, a 28-year-old mother who was pregnant at the time, was sitting in the market in Balatoma when a bomb fell nearby. "We heard the sound of the plane and looked up and saw it and heard the explosion," she recalled. "I lay on the ground. The people near me were crying. I tried to get up and walk but

could not. I realized my leg was hit," Doto's left leg was blown off. She now lives confined to a small grass hut in Doro refugee camp, in South Sudan. Reports of witnesses in Blue Nile indicated several other apparently indiscriminate bomb attacks on towns and villages in Kormuk county at the end of 2011 in which civilians were killed. In one early October 2011 attack on Mayar village, west of Kormuk, bombs reportedly fell on a home killing seven civilians. Human Rights Watch observed destruction to aid group offices in the Yabus area. Refugees crossing into South Sudan have been hit by indiscriminate bombing at Guffa and Alfuj border crossings. On March 26, 8 bombs were dropped on Alfuj, where a group of several hundred refugees had gathered before crossing into refugee camps in South Sudan. The bombs injured four civilians and killed livestock. Human Rights Watch saw one crater at Alfuj and witnesses described several others in the bush where the refugees were staying, some distance from the town. Sudan uses unguided munitions, often rolled out manually from Antonov cargo planes in a manner that does not allow for accurate delivery. Use of weapons in a civilian area that cannot accurately be directed at a military objective makes such strikes inherently indiscriminate, in violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said. International humanitarian law obliges both parties to the armed conflict to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to the civilian population. SPLA-North fighters should not operate or initiate attacks from residential areas and to the extent feasible should avoid operating in populated civilian areas where their presence is likely to have a harmful impact on civilians, said Human Rights Watch. Impact of the Bombing The indiscriminate bombing spread palpable fear among the civilian population in Blue Nile. In all areas visited in Sudan and South Sudan, including refugee camps in South Sudan, residents had dug foxholes for shelter in the event of a bomb attack. Displaced people living in Blue Nile told Human Rights Watch they had limited access to food, water, and medicine and were surviving on wild fruits and plants. Their children have no access to school. Thousands of people are reportedly stranded in remote areas, needing help to leave, or in places to which Sudanese government forces have blocked access, particularly at Maghaja, in Bau locality. The approaching rainy season is expected to make access from Blue Nile to refugee camps in Southern Sudan or Ethiopia impossible within weeks. Sudan has a clear obligation to allow aid groups to access all parts of the state, Human Rights Watch said. The laws of war require all parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief for civilians in need, conducted without any adverse distinction. Attacks on Civilians, Killings After fighting broke out in September in Damazin, Sudan's forces moved south, advancing on Kormuk, a rebel-stronghold they captured in November. Community leaders who fled to South Sudan told Human Rights Watch that Sudan government forces clashed with SPLA-North forces and conducted military operations in dozens of villages along the main road to Kormuk. Following the government's takeover of Kormuk, forces also conducted military operations in villages around the Ingessana mountains. Clashes have continued in that area, with

unconfirmed reports that on April 15 shelling by government forces killed 11 displaced civilians in Khor Maksa. A teacher from Bau, a strategic town in the foothills of the Ingessana mountains, told researchers that in December he saw soldiers enter the town from three directions and fire on civilians. He estimated that they killed 10 men and boys, including the guard of his school and a 14-year-old shepherd boy. He said that neither was a combatant or was carrying weapons. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify the deaths of the other eight people. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that SPLM-North party members were executed. In elSilek village, southwest of Bau, the dead bodies of six civilian members of SPLM-North were found with feet and hands bound, their throats slit, and with gunshot wounds in the head, following a battle between Sudanese government forces and SPLA-North in mid-September, an SPLM-North official who found the bodies hours after the executions told Human Rights Watch. He said all six were unarmed civilian members of the party. It was not possible for Human Rights Watch to independently verify the circumstances of their killing. In line with international law, both Sudan forces and SPLA-North are required to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties during military operations, and deliberate targeting of civilians and extra judicial killings are always strictly prohibited, and constitute a war crime. In many locations, including Damazin, witnesses saw Popular Defense Forces (PDF), an auxiliary force drawn from Fellata and other nomadic ethnic groups whose members Sudan is actively recruiting, leaders who were interviewed told Human Rights Watch. Sudan has long used PDF in its regional conflicts and their participation has exacerbated local conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan for decades. The rules of international humanitarian law apply equally to these forces and the Sudanese army, Human Rights Watch said. Arbitrary Arrests, Extrajudicial Executions As fighting broke out in Damazin and other towns where SPLA-North forces were present, witnesses told Human Rights Watch, government forces rounded up, detained, verbally and physically abused, and killed civilians based on their presumed ties to SPLM-North and its armed wing, SPLA-North. Scores of detainees were released only after being forced to renounce their political affiliation, local groups reported and former detainees told Human Rights Watch. A 23-year-old man from Roseris, now living in South Sudan, told Human Rights Watch that national security officers arrested and removed him from his house, accusing him and his 36year-old brother of being SPLA-North soldiers, and detained them in a crowded cell for more than 3 weeks. "They tied our hands and put us in the land cruiser and beat us with belts, feet, hands and said, 'We are going to use you,' and, 'You will see many things,'" he recalled. "If you complained that people are sick [the commander] would say, 'Let them die, they are kufar [infidels]." During his detention, he saw other inmates badly beaten and, on one occasion, he saw a military official shoot two men in the head at close range outside the cell, killing them instantly. Upon his release, the national security officials pressured him to work with them and ordered him to check in every day. Issa Daffala Sobahi, a 33-year-old guard for a state minister who is a known SPLM-North member in Damazin, told Human Rights Watch that soldiers arrested him on the morning of September 2 at the minister's home, beat and shackled him, and insulted him by calling him

"kufar" [infidel] and saying,"You don't know Allah." He said they detained him in their military compound with other civilians arrested that morning. "They took people to the river and shot them," he told Human Rights Watch. "I myself was taken to the river with three others on the second day. They killed two of us." Soldiers threatened to kill him, but did not. "They said, 'You are all with Malik [the governor], we are going to kill you," he recalled. Later the same day, he saw the soldiers shoot a woman who was carrying a baby as she resisted arrest. He managed to escape from the prison compound that night. The lawyers following the detention cases believe that the more than 200 people still detained are held in detention centers in Blue Nile or in prison in Sennar and Sinja, in neighboring Sennar state. Abdelmonim Rahama, a well-known poet and adviser to the former governor of Blue Nile who was arrested on September 2, has been held without access to lawyers or family in various locations. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly called on Sudan to make known the names of all those in detention, their whereabouts, and charge or release all political detainees.
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News Headline: Africa: Does the Continent Need a Different Approach to Peacekeeping? |

News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Opinion The issues of conflict in Sudan are those that I follow closely, which for various reasons, have had my attention since I started swapping MTV channels for news channels close to a decade ago. During my second year of undergrad, the events happening in Sudan, particularly in the western region of Darfur, were reminiscent of those that happened in Rwanda, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The Janjaweed militia, who I envisioned as fierce looking men mounted atop galloping horses, with robes flying behind them and ruthlessly killing their fellow country-men and women on ethnic grounds in Darfur - cut too familiar a picture of the Interahamwe militia who wreaked havoc in Rwanda. Notwithstanding, there were differing dynamics but the violence meted out to the victims hit close to home. That is why, when Rwanda announced its peace-keeping mission in Darfur - I was one of many who was immensely proud of my country's actions, which simply refused to stand back and watch a repeat of Rwanda's tragedy happen in Sudan. Both the peacekeeping operations, under the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), were largely aimed at supporting the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the north-south war in Sudan. The CPA ushered in the successful 2010 national elections and later, South Sudan's secession in 2011. With bated breath, the world watched as the world's youngest country celebrated its new-found independence, and geared for an exciting albeit tough road ahead of transformation and development. Peacekeeping operations

would hopefully close shop in the near future, with the promise of two countries looking forward to and owning the process of their stability and growth, for the first time in over two decades. Alas, this wasn't to be. A utopian aspiration at best, some have said. In not less than a year after its secession, South Sudan is perilously close to war with Sudan over the Heglig oilfieds. With Sudan's President Omar el Bashir referring to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) as "insects" that need to be "eliminated for once and for all," dialogue between the two countries looks a dismal possibility. All this, in addition to South Sudan's cycles of intercommunal violence. This renewed tension is likely to affect the wider region, including in Darfur where peacekeepers have not only helped restore peace and security but also directly supported the development of the local communities. In light of all this, my question is: have the last seven years of peacekeeping operations in Sudan been wasted efforts? What does the recent conflict mean for our brothers' and sisters' peacekeeping endeavors to better the lives of those they are meant to support? Ideally, peacekeeping is supposed to be temporary, but on-the-ground realities on the African continent show that this isn't so. The same questions apply to the peacekeeping operations in the DRC, which due to editorial constraints of space, is another story for another day. All in all, perhaps it is time that peacekeeping concepts are revisited, and the question remains - is a different approach to peacekeeping on the African continent needed?
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News Headline: Charles Taylor verdict expected in international court's war-crimes trial | News Date: 04/26/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: THE HAGUE For the thousands of young men whose limbs were hacked off, the verdict will come way too late. Too late as well for the teenage boys sent into battle high on dope. And for the pubescent girls turned into rebel warriors' sex slaves, who will harbor unspeakable memories until they die, no matter what the court decides. But on Thursday morning, a full decade after the vicious Sierra Leone war was quelled, the U.N. Special Court for Sierra Leone will hand down a verdict on the responsibility of former Liberian president Charles Taylor in promoting and financing the butchery in West Africa. The decision handed down by the court in a leafy suburb of The Hague will mark a milestone in an accelerating and sometimes controversial effort to create an international justice system. Taylor will become the first sitting or former head of state to be judged for conduct in a war that was considered by still-emerging international standards so treacherous as to be illegal. Prosecutors allege that he used his power as president of neighboring Liberia to advise and provide resources and weapons to Sierra Leone's rebels, whose uprising he viewed as similar to the guerrilla movement he had led in his own country. Some critics say such courts have become an impediment to ridding the world of some unsavory leaders, who cling to power for their own protection. But international justice activists counter that the goal is to make atrocities dangerous for wartime leaders, so that they will think twice before ordering or committing them. We have the International Criminal Court, permanent, increasingly powerful, casting a long shadow, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said recently. There is no going back. In this new age of accountability, those who commit the worst of human crimes will be held responsible.

As soon as the recent war in Libya wound down, for instance, Moammar Gaddafi's son Saif alIslam and his intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, were charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) here for their roles in supervising the killing of civilians during the uprising against Gaddafi's rule. The rebels have refused to hand over Saif al-Islam, however, and Senussi is being held in Mauritania while the government there figures out what to do with him. Gaddafi also was charged, but he was killed soon after his capture by rebel forces. The pace of the proceedings in The Hague's tranquil international courtrooms has been cited as one of the major problems with the half-dozen international courts headquartered here. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, for instance, has been grinding away for nearly two decades, at a cost of more than $120 million a year financed mostly by taxpayers from U.N. member countries. In addition, international justice has pursued only war leaders whose prosecution is politically acceptable, such as despised African warlords or the losing side in the former Yugoslavia. Moreover, the United States has refused to ratify the 1998 treaty founding the ICC, fearing that U.S. troops or officials could get dragged into uncontrollable proceedings by victims of U.S. foreign wars. The greatest challenge, in my view, facing international justice at this point is whether it is capable of taking on cases which powerful states consider undesirable, said Guenael Mettraux, a veteran defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Elise Keppler, a Human Rights Watch lawyer specializing in international justice, said international prosecutions remain a form of victor's justice, because powerful countries, including the United States, refuse to extend the international court's authority beyond certain limits. In the 1980s, when the International Court of Justice ruled against the United States for mining a harbor in Nicaragua, the Reagan administration used its sway in the U.N. Security Council to block compensation to the Sandinista government. Why Bashir and not Bush? Keppler asked, referring to Sudanese President Omar Hassan alBashir, charged with war crimes in the Darfur conflict, and the U.S. president who launched the Iraq war. The reason is the U.N. Security Council. The court's jurisdiction is limited. A slow process In addition to Taylor, several other senior leaders are facing possible prosecution for their purported roles in atrocities. But the wheels of justice seem particularly slow in the international courtrooms of The Hague, where witnesses come from afar and marshalling evidence is difficult and expensive. So far, I do not think that states have quite decided to trust international justice unequivocally and endow it with the resources and capability necessary to make it most effective, Mettraux said. The best-known case was that of former president Slobodan Milosevic, who directed Serbian forces from Belgrade during Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990s. Milosevic stood trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia here. But he died in prison in 2006 before a verdict was handed down. In addition, Radovan Karadzic, a psychiatrist who was president of the Bosnian Serbs during the war in Bosnia, was arrested in 2008 after a decade as a fugitive and is being tried by the

Yugoslavia tribunal. His military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, was taken into custody in May, after 15 years on the run. Although apparently in ill health, he also was brought to The Hague to stand trial. Elsewhere, former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was jailed by the ICC last year on charges of crimes against humanity and is in a Dutch jail awaiting trial. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant in 2009 against Sudan's Bashir, the only sitting head of state to be indicted. But he has ignored the summons and continues to run Sudan as it heads toward war with the breakaway state of South Sudan. The court in action A number of lesser figures, including militia leaders and lower-ranking military officers, have been convicted and are serving time in U.N. prison facilities here. Others have been charged but are still at large. Among the most notorious of those at large, charged with war crimes in 2005 by the ICC, is Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army, who proclaims himself a divine envoy and has terrorized people in areas that have fallen under his control in Uganda, the Central African Republic and Congo. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, meanwhile, has issued warrants against four Lebanese accused of participating in the 2005 car-bomb assassination of former prime minister Rafiq alHariri. But the Lebanese government refused to hand the suspects over because of resistance from the powerful Hezbollah movement. The court decided in February to try them in absentia.
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News Headline: Malaria infections surge in Congo: MSF | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: DAKAR (Reuters) - Malaria cases treated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) more than tripled to 155,000 last year from two years previous, the aid agency said on Tuesday. The increase shows an upsurge in the prevalence of the deadly mosquito-borne parasitic disease, but it was still unclear what was behind the increase in the number, MSF said ahead of world malaria day on Wednesday. "It's very difficult to give a scientific answer ...(but) you have to imagine where these people are living, in swampy areas, with pools of water and bad drainage," MSF official Corry Kik said. Such environments are breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that carry the disease. The eastern region of the vast central African nation remains unstable nearly 10 years after the signing of a peace deal ending a civil war that killed millions. Malaria is the leading cause of death in the DRC, killing nearly 300,000 children under five every year. The medical charity said it had treated 45,000 malaria cases in the DRC in 2009 and double that in 2010. In the first three months of 2012, MSF registered another 85,000 cases, suggesting that the

figures continue to rise, Kik, who is medical coordinator for MSF's operations in the Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, said. World Health Organisation data shows that malaria killed about 655,000 worldwide in 2010, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. New research, however, suggests it killed twice as many as previously thought.
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News Headline: U.S. Africa Command Observes World Malaria Day | News Date: 04/25/2012 Outlet Full Name: US AFRICOM Public Affairs News Text: STUTTGART, Germany, Apr 25, 2012 U.S. Africa Command is stepping up efforts to prevent one of the biggest killers in Africa with the establishment of the East African Malaria Task Force, April 25, 2012. AFRICOM epidemiologist Dr. Refaat Hanaa, said the task force formed in December and will meet July 24 July 26 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss ways to combat the disease, which kills some 600,000 African children each year. Besides Tanzania, other partners in the task force are Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda. Hanaa was one of the several AFRICOM medical experts answering questions today at the World Malaria Day informational tent in front of the Kelley Theater. Wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "Malaria Bites" the experts handed out fliers, talked about mosquito nets and sprays and offered a chance to look at some of the common malariacarrying mosquitoes and their larvae under a microscope. The information was geared mostly toward AFRICOM personnel who may travel to Africa, where malaria is one of the most serious health threats they'll face. "The first step is get to know who you're fighting," said Dr. (Lieutenant Colonel) Steven Baty, a veterinary epidemiologist for Public Health Command Region - Europe. "If we can identify the mosquitoes in the area that are going to carry malaria then we can look at prevention programs." Because AFRICOM personnel often travel in small groups to the continent, it's important to stay healthy. "Each person is critical," said Lieutenant Colonel Jose Nunez, chief of the AFRICOM Health Protection Branch. "If you have one person go down, that person can't do his or her job." The Stuttgart Health Clinic annex at Kelley Barracks is a one-stop shop for AFRICOM personnel traveling to Africa. The clinic provides health screenings, immunizations, malaria prophylaxis and mosquito repellents. "It is the best travel readiness clinic in the entire (Department of Defense)," said Dr. (Major) Robert Holmes, AFRICOM's infectious disease physician. The clinic celebrated its one-year anniversary this week. Holmes said the clinic handled 3,500 patient visits in its first year, including about 750 related to travel to Africa.

"It's a huge capability," Major General Barbara Faulkenberry said of the clinic, an arm of the main Stuttgart Army Health Clinic at Patch Barracks. Treated mosquito nets are also available to personnel traveling to the continent. Mosquito nets are one of the best ways to prevent malaria, and are a focus of some of AFRICOM's outreach efforts to partner nations. In March, the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa handed out some 18,000 nets to residents in Ethiopia, part of ongoing effort to distribute nets, rope and nails. Other AFRICOM efforts to combat the spread of malaria include a series of training events in Tanzania designed to improve diagnostic techniques and a malaria awareness event as part of the annual MEDFLAG exercise last year in Ghana.
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