United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

1 March 2010

USAFRICOM -related news stories

From the Beltway/ From and About Africa

TOP 5 FROM THE BELTWAY

Carson Cites 'Powerful Success Stories' and Reiterates U.S. Commitment to Political
and Economic Progress (AllAfrica.com)
WASHINGTON, DC - In an interview this week, the lead policymaker on Africa for the
U.S. administration, Johnnie Carson provided an overview of U.S. policy priorities and
listed the reasons he's bullish on Africa.

Carson Articulates Obama Policy on Africa (Mshale.com)

WASHINGTON, DC - The top U.S. envoy for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State
Johnnie Carson, met with reporters February 24 and answered questions on a wide
array of issues: Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, and China’s operations
in Africa.

US supports Nigeria's acting president (AFP)

WASHINGTON, DC - The United States said Friday it backed Nigeria's acting
president Goodluck Jonathan and voiced concern that ailing President Umaru
Yar'Adua's return from abroad might be a reckless bid by his advisers to advance their
own interests.

Kadhafi call for jihad unacceptable: UN top official (AFP)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The United Nations and European Union rallied behind
Switzerland Friday after Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's call for jihad against the
country, with a top UN official branding the move unacceptable.

Sudan former foes strike pre-vote deal on contested census (AFP)

JUBA, SUDAN - Former foes in north and south Sudan have struck a deal on contested
census results by boosting the south’s representation in the national parliament, a
southern leader said on Friday.

TOP NEWS FROM AND ABOUT AFRICA

Kenyan security officer killed on Ethiopian border (INDYMEDIA)
Nairobi - Hundreds of armed tribal militiamen from Ethiopia have killed a Kenyan
security officer and abducted five others in a cross-border raid along the two countries'
porous border. The militiamen were reportedly retaliating over the Kenyan security
forces' efforts to repulse them from crossing over into Kenya.

Mauritania: Army kills 3 in attack on armed convoy (Reuters)

Nouakchott - Mauritanian soldiers killed three armed men and took 18 prisoner after
attempting to stop a convoy in the remote northeast of the country, army sources told
Reuters on Saturday.A clash between an armed group and the Mauritanian army
occurred on Friday near Chegga in northeast Mauritania next to its Algerian and
Malian border," one of the sources said. The armed group was travelling in a convoy of
SUVs and trucks and included citizens of Mauritania, Algeria and Mali, according to
the sources.

Liberia: religious clashes now in Liberia-churches set on fire (News24)

Monrovia - Liberia's government has imposed a curfew in the northern county of Lofa
after religious clashes killed four there on Friday. The fighting near the Guinean border
was the third outbreak of violence between Muslim and Christian communities in West
Africa this year. Witnesses told Reuters on Friday that rioters had burnt down the
Catholic, Baptist and Episcopal churches in the area.

Somalia: AU wants Somalia declared no fly zone

Addis Ababa - The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has asked the
UN to impose a no-fly zone on Somalia and block sea ports through which foreign
groups supply logistics to the insurgents.

Uganda: US pushing for new law against LRA

American legislators are pushing for a law that will see another phase of military action
to apprehend Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. The new move seems to go against media
campaigns by the Ugandan army advising remnants of the rebel group to surrender.
“Military action should have come way back in 2003 (at the peak of LRA brutality).
Many lives would have been saved in Sudan, DR Congo and Uganda,” said Uganda
army spokesman Lt Col Felix Kulaigye in an interview with The EastAfrican. “For now,
our main emphasis is not combat operations. It is media operations to encourage those
who want to come out to do so,” Lt. Col Kulaigye said in a separate interview.

AQN: Growing Australia - Yemen links alarm anti-terror squad

COUNTER-TERRORISM agencies are increasingly concerned about deepening links
between a group of Australians under surveillance because of their connections with
the Sydney terror cell and Islamic militants in Yemen, widely regarded as "the new
Afghanistan" for al-Qa'ida. Security agencies are monitoring the movements of at least
20 Australians who have travelled to Yemen in recent years, including friends and
family of the nine men recently convicted and sentenced to up to 28 years in prison for
preparing for a terrorist act in Sydney.

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

AQN: 11 die in Qaeda-linked attack in Philippines

ZAMBOANGA - Al Qaeda-linked Muslim militants killed 11 people in the southern
Philippines on Saturday, hours after two hostages they were holding walked free, the
government said.

AQN: CIA bomber 'only intended to kidnap spy'

THE Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan claimed in
a video made before he died that he only intended to kidnap a Jordanian intelligence
officer, before he stumbled on an unexpected opportunity to attack a large group of
Americans. The double-agent initially planned to capture or kill his Jordanian handler,
who he was luring with videos and coordinates of Taliban and al-Qa'ida positions.

AQN: Al-Qaida growing in strength and numbers in Africa

WASHINGTON -- Al-Qaida's terror network in North Africa is growing more active
and attracting new recruits, threatening to further destabilize the continent's already
vulnerable Sahara region, according to U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials.

AQN: Credit crunch hits Al Qaeda hard

Paris- Al-Qaeda is running out of cash, experts say, with traditional sources of financing
under increasingly tight surveillance and donors demotivated or suffering from the
financial crisis. As a result, the heart of the network founded by Osama Bin Laden is
busy financing its own survival while counting on partners, often relatively unknown,
to organise attacks against traditional targets, they say. "Yes, I do think they are short of
money," said Richard Barrett, United Nations pointman for monitoring Al-Qaeda and
Taliban activities. "Donations have dried up a lot," said Barrett, a former anti-terrorist
chief at Britain's MI6 intelligence agency.

Somalia: Pirates move on land...seize UN aid trucks

Mogadishu - Somali pirates in Puntland seized food aid trucks and their drivers to
obtain the release of detained comrades, officials said Friday, in a rare land attack by the
sea bandits. The five trucks had been contracted by the UN's World Food Programme
and had finished delivering food aid in the Galkayo area. The pirates hijacked five
trucks with nine people onboard and took them to their base in Garaad. They are
demanding the release of their colleagues arrested recently by the Somaliland security
forces," Abdullahi Mohamed, a security official in Galkayo, said by phone.

Niger: junta vows to stay out of presidential election (INDYMEDIA)

Niamey - Niger's coup leader says no member of the military junta will be allowed to
stand in the country's presidential election.

Sudan President rejects to postpone elections (INDYMEDIA)

Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday rejected demands by some
political parties to postpone the general elections, scheduled for April this year.

Somali pirates free Indonesian ship for $7.5 million (INDYMEDIA)

Mogadishu - Somali pirates have received the largest ransom of $7.5 million for
releasing an Indonesian ship carrying chemicals and its 28 crew. In the meantime, the
Somali pirates also shot dead a Yemeni fishing captain who delivered a cargo of
weapons to the Somali government's officials at Puntland seaport of Bosaso.

Somalia: Al-shabab insurgents bar WFP assistance (News24)

Mogadishu - Al-shabab insurgents on Sunday barred the World Food Programme
(WFP) from operating in SOmalia.

Egypt: Egypt needs change Says ElBaradei (News24)

Cairo - The former head of the UN nuclear watchdog has warned that Egypt could face
a popular uprising if the ruling system doesn't respond to peaceful appeals for change.

Uganda: President accused of grooming his sun to succeed him (News24)

Kampala - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son as head of an
elite army unit which will have special responsibility for his security, the Ugandan
military said. "The President should be ashamed by this. How will he then deny that he
is not grooming his son to succeed him," said Hussein Kyanjo, defence spokesperson for
the opposition Forum for Democratic Change. "Why should the President appoint his
son to be in charge of his security as if we do not have other military officers to do the
same job?" he added.

Nigeria: Jonathan to start sweeping changes

ABUJA— ACTING President Goodluck Jonathan is set to swing into action this week
with the exercise of full presidential powers.

Kenya: Militias Turn into Criminal Gangs

Nairobi — Militias which perpetrated some of the worst violence in the last general
election have transformed into criminal gangs and pose a grave threat to the nation's
security.

Burundi: Former VP for presidential candidate in June election

Bujumbura - Burundi's opposition Democratic Alliance for Renewal (ADR) chose its
leader, former vice-president Alice Nzomukunda, as its candidate for the presidential
election due to begin in June.
Nigeria: Christians decry police inaction in church burnings
Compass Direct News is reporting that the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) in Zamfara state has told them that he was disappointed in the lack of response
by state police to recent church burnings by Muslim youths, writes Dan Wooding,
founder of ASSIST Ministries. “It is unfortunate that there has been no response from
the police, and even the state governor has refused to meet with us,” the acting state
chairman of CAN, said the Rev. Edwin Okpara.

Nigeria: Group asks N/A Assembly to impeach Jonathan

ABUJA—A northern socio-cultural organization, the Nupe Congress has called on the
National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against Acting President,
Goodluck Jonathan for violating the 2009 Appropriation Act by stopping the dredging
of River Niger without recourse to the National Assembly. Addressing newsmen in
Abuja yesterday, the National Secretary of the Congress, Alhaji Yabagi Yusuf Sanni said
the diversion of the N19billion meant for the dredging of River Niger to the reclamation
of lands in the Niger Delta was illegal.

Nigeria: US doctors to attend to President Yar'Adua

Information Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili has dropped another bombshell saying
she is fed up with the “lies” told by some presidential aides about the health of
President Umaru Yar’Adua. However, four American doctors are due in Nigeria this
weekend to attend to the ailing President. They are expected to collaborate with some
Nigerian doctors to reappraise the President’s health status. Their findings will
determine to a large extent the next line of action of Acting President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan this week.

Uganda: Rwanda Government Protests over Fugitive General

Kampala — The warming Uganda-Rwanda diplomatic relations appeared headed for
trouble once again after Kigali formally protested to Kampala at the weekend over
reports their run away former army commander, Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, is
allegedly hiding here.

Niger: Once-taboo topic of hunger spoken again (Washington Post)

NIAMEY, NIGER - Now that the military has ousted President Mamadou Tandja, aid
agencies are speaking out about the food crisis in Niger, with good reason: The country
is facing its worst food shortage in years.

Rwanda's Genocide: The Untold Story (Wall Street Journal)

BISESERO, RWANDA – A new documentary claims small teams of white men
described as "French soldiers," clad in fatigues and riding in jeeps or trucks, participated
in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Electoral Reforms Crucial For A Credible Poll Says Ugandan Opposition Leader
(Voice of America)
WASHINGTON, DC - Ugandan opposition, civil society, and donors have argued that
without meaningful electoral reforms a free and fair election is impossible, a view
shared by the leader of the main opposition party.

DR Congo minister says southern African countries move to single visa zone
(Xinhua)
KINSHASA, DRC - The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) opened a
ministerial meeting here on Thursday to discuss ways to establish a single visa zone.