United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

6 April 2010

USAFRICOM -related news stories

From and About Africa

Algeria arrests Malian led cell suspected for supporting Qaeda

Algiers - Algerian authorities arrested a cell that was planning to supply militant groups with
food, medicine, and electronics. Algerian newspaper El-Khabar quoted a security source as
saying that that the cell was planning to support groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda Organization in
the Islamic Maghreb. He said the cell was led by a Malian who entered Algeria four weeks ago,
claiming he was a date trader. The source said the cell was active in transferring money, food,
and medicine to Al-Qaeda members in the desert and on the borders with Mali and Niger. At a
cache in Tamanghasset province, 1,900 kilometers south Algiers, authorities found rice,
medicine, money, and electronic, he said.

Uganda Sudan / LRA Rebels connection

Kampala — The Sudan government is in touch with the Lord's Resistance Army command and
has given the rebels fresh supplies of food and medicines, a captured commander has said. The
LRA political commissar, Okello 'Mission', told journalists in Kampala that he was part of the
LRA team that trekked to the Darfur region in Sudan where they met officers of the Sudan
Armed Forces (SAF) on October 4, 2009. He said their delegation was led by Caesar Acellam
and they met with the SAF brigade commander in Darfur, Col. Hamdou, and an un-named
lieutenant colonel said to be the regional chief of intelligence. He said Khartoum solicited for the
meeting. "The subject of the discussion was to resume the partnership with the government of
Sudan," Okello Mission said.

Nigeria Police to Deploy Female Officer to Liberia

Lagos - Female police officers from Nigeria will be deployed to Liberia for peace keeping
operations, Inspector General of Police Obonna Onovo has said. Onovo made the remarks
yesterday during the visit of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations (UN) to Liberia (SRSG) Madam Ellen Margrethe to the police headquarters in Abuja.

Nigeria Nigeria and the United States Sign Historic Agreement tomorrow
New York — in the first major bi-national agreement with an African country in a long time, the
United States will on Wednesday sign a historic comprehensive commission pact with Nigeria in
New York. Under the bi-national commission agreement, the two countries would be
cooperating in four areas. The areas, according to the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States,
Professor Adebowale Adefuye, are trade and energy; Niger Delta; electoral reform; and peace
and security. The agreement is expected to be followed by the visit of Acting President Goodluck
Jonathan to the United States for the nuclear security summit which holds between April 11 and
14. Diplomatic sources in Washington told THISDAY that the Acting President had already
accepted President Barack Obama's invitation to the summit.
US-Nigeria create new 'strategic partnership': State Dept
The United States on Monday announced the launch of a US-Nigerian Binational Commission to
bolster bilateral ties on energy, regional security, good governance and a range of other issues.
The new "strategic partnership" makes Nigeria the first African nation to be afforded such a
status under the Barack Obama administration.

Taliban Attack on US consulate is revenge for Drone attacks

"We accept the attacks on the American consulate. This is revenge for drone attacks," Tehreek-e-
Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq said over telephone from an undisclosed
location. "We have already told you that we have 2,800 to 3,000 fidayeen (suicide bombers). We
will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans," he said.

Egypt Court orders release of Brotherhood leaders

Cairo - An Egyptian court has ordered the release of 16 senior members of the banned Muslim
Brotherhood who are accused of forming terrorist cells, the Islamist group said on Monday.
Police had arrested Brotherhood deputy chief Mahmud Ezzat and 15 senior members in February
on charges of forming "secret terrorist groups" and plotting to overthrow the government. The
order by the Cairo criminal court came on Sunday, the group said on its website. A security
official confirmed the order.

DRC UN sees end of Congo mission in 2011

New York - The United Nations has prepared a plan for a three-year phased withdrawal of the
world body's biggest peacekeeping force from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according
to a United Nations report released on Monday. UN diplomats have said privately that Kabila is
eager to demonstrate before next year's elections that he is not dependent on UN blue helmets to
provide security. But Ban made clear that Congo's army and police are not yet up to the task in
the country's turbulent east.

DRC Nine UN, government forces killed during Enyele tribe insurgent attack
Clashes with insurgents in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo left nine members of
Congolese and UN forces dead as the army regained control of Mbandaka airport, the
government said Monday. Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito also said that nine insurgents from
the Enyele tribe were also killed in the attack on the airport in Equateur province on Sunday.

DRC army regains control of Mbandaka

Kinshasa - FARDC, the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has regained
control of the northwestern city of Mbandaka, hours after Enyele insurgents claimed to have
snatched it in a surprise attack, according to the military."The army controls the city and the
situation is calm," the governor of Equateur, Jean-Claude Baende, declared late Sunday, adding
the Enyele insurgents were routed by the government forces who were pursuing the disbanded
elements. The governor, who has stayed in the capital Kinshasa since last week, said the
incursion caused a heavy loss of lives and that some assailants were captured in the fighting. He
did not give details.

DRC army retakes airport after clash

Kinshasa - UN-backed government forces retook a Congolese provincial airport on Monday after
heavy fighting with rebels that killed two UN workers, an army officer said.
Mozambique 29 Somali nationals arrested en route to South Africa
Maputo - Twenty nine undocumented Somali nationals were arrested in central Mozambique as
they tried to use the southern African nation to get to South Africa, police said on Monday.
Ernesto Serote, police spokesperson in Zambezia province, said the 29 illegal immigrants were
arrested on Sunday in two minibuses - one of them driven by an off-duty police officer.

Mozambique Gender award for president of Mozambique

Maputo Mozambican President Armando Emilio Guebuza has been awarded the 2009 African
Gender Award for his inclusion of a large number of women in his government. He is the fourth
African statesman to receive the award, which was shared by former South African president
Thabo Mbeki and Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade in 2005, and was made to Rwandan
president Paul Kagame in 2007.

Police fear third wave of German Jihadists

Anti-terrorism authorities are increasingly worried about a ―third
generation‖ of German Jihadists travelling – often as whole families – to
the lawless tribal region on the Afghan-Pakistan border, according to a
Monday media report. This third wave follows predecessors the
September 11 terrorists and the Sauerland group and are believed to be
travelling to terror training camps in the Waziristan region, the report in news magazine Der
Spiegel said. Nearly 100 names are on the list of suspects held by the Federal Criminal Police
Office (BKA). They are distinct from their forerunners in that they are generally younger and are
moving as families, rather than fitting the more traditional profile of angry, single men.

Guinea Bissau UN, AU envoys take 'firm message' to G.Bissau troops

"The delegation from ECOWAS, the African Union and the UN arrived yesterday (Sunday) in
the afternoon and left in the evening. It gave a firm message to express the consternation of the
international community over the events of April 1 in Bissau," said a member of the UN team in
Bissau contacted by telephone from Dakar.

Sudan US Group Calls on International Community not to Legitimize Sudan Elections

Khartoum - The U.S.-based Save Darfur Coalition – an alliance of more than 190 faith-based,
advocacy and human rights organizations – said the decision by some opposition parties to
boycott this month’s election in Sudan underscores the lack of legitimacy in the process.

Sudan AU Observer Kufuor says AU is neutral in Sudan elections

Khartoum - Ghana's former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is hea ding the African Union
(AU) Observer Mission in Sudan's elections said on Monday that the continental body was
neutral in the vote stressing that it did not favour any of the contesting political parties. The AU's
interest, he said, was the smooth conduct of the elections to help return Africa's largest country
to peace and stability.

Sudan opposition calls for a month-long poll delay to make elections ‘credible’
Khartoum – Former Sudanese prime minister Sadig al-Mahdi’s Umma Party set today as the
deadline for the government to postpone the country’s first multiparty vote in 24 years by a
month or face an opposition boycott of the poll. The Umma Party issued eight demands that
included a four- week delay, a freeze on ―oppressive security laws‖ to make the election credible
and putting state media under a neutral authority. The party would withdraw from the April 11-
13 vote if the demands were not met, the party’s political bureau head Sarah Nugdallah said in
Khartoum. ―If these demands are not agreed on by Tuesday the Umma Party will boycott the rest
of the elections, ‖ she said.

Sudan US Signals Support for 'Brief' Sudan Election Delay

The Obama administration indicated Monday that the United States would support a "brief"
delay in Sudan's elections set for next week, if it would help resolve complaints about the
electoral process. The U.S. envoy to Sudan Scott Gration is in Khartoum working with
government and opposition party officials on election procedures.

South Africa moves to cool tensions over extremist's death

Johannesburg - South Africa's ruling party on Monday brushed off accusations of fuelling racial
tension amid fears of a bloody backlash over the killing of far-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche.

Morocco Are Christians at Risk?

In early March, observers watched as around 20 long-time Christian orphanage
workers were expelled from the country they called home. The incident, and
others which followed it, have brought to light the debate surrounding
Christianity in the Kingdom. Despite guarantees of freedom, it would appear that
the government is taking a stronger approach of late to proselytism, both real and
perceived. The Moroccan Dispatches shares a recent incident in which an
Egyptian Catholic priest was expelled from the country. Catholics have operated
for longer, but purposefully have not engaged in proselytizing. So it came as a
surprise that a Catholic priest was also detained and then exported during last week's crackdown.
Place where a cross used to hang in Meknes' medina where Catholics teach Moroccans
languages and career skills in this building do not engage in proselytism but have caught up in
the anti-Christian sentiment following the recent expulsions of Christians. Last week, the cross
was knocked down and beaten into pieces.