United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 15 February 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. With today's news review for February 15, 2012, U.S. AFRICOM PAO is introducing a new format that is best viewed in HTML. New features include icons and links to provide more options to the reader. Clicking on the text icon takes you directly to full text of the story; the paperclip icon links to the article's original source; and the envelope icon allows you to email the article. Of interest in today's report: - Roger Kaplan, a US-based reporter covering Atlas Drop 12 in Mali, writes a story examining the current security situation in Mali. - SECDEF Panetta defends the defense budget before Congress. - South Sudan accuses Sudan of bombing disputed border town. - Nigerian newspaper reports the South Koreans have extended CT assistance to Nigeria. U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687)

Headline War Comes to Mali: Al Qaeda Advances Under Covers of Tribal Conflict

Date 02/20/2012

Outlet The Weekly Standard

Mali Defense Forces abandoned the towns of Mnaka and Lr to Tuareg rebels over the weekend of February 4-5, following two weeks of back-and-forth assaults by both sides that underscored the gravity of the situation in this staunch U.S. ally in West Afric...

Panetta answers harsh criticism of defense 02/14/2012 budget in Senate

Stars and Stripes Washington D.C. Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Accept a smaller but finely tuned Defense Department budget proposal essentially as constructed, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Congress on Tuesday. But members seemed unlikely to go along.

Panetta defends cuts to military in budget 02/14/2012 plan

Associated Press (AP)

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the nation's top military leader are defending the Pentagon's slimmed-down, $614 billion budget, telling senators it's time to show they are serious about reducing the deficit.

Sudan bombed disputed border town: S.Sudan military

02/14/2012

Reuters

JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan accused its northern neighbour Sudan on Tuesday of bombing the disputed border town of Jau, killing four soldiers and breaking a non-aggression pact the two former civil war foes signed last week. Sudan denied the cha...

Boko Haram: S/Korea to assist Nigeria on counter terrorism

02/14/2012

Vanguard

The republic of South Korea disclosed, Tuesday, that it was ready to share her experience in the handling of terrorism issues and challenges with Nigeria following increased Boko Haram attacks facing our nation.

Cyclone Giovanna strikes Madagascar

02/14/2012

Aljazeera

A category four cyclone has struck Madagascar's eastern shores, killing at least one person and causing power shutdowns in some major towns, local authorities say.

Will President Wade push Senegal toward 02/14/2012 an uprising?

Christian Science Monitor Online

As Senegal prepares for a pivotal presidential election on Feb. 26, some citizens and outside observers are weighing the possibility of a popular uprising akin to last year's Arab Spring revolts, with large numbers of Senegalese taking to the streets in de...

Sierra Leone president forced out UN envoy

02/14/2012

Thomson Reuters - Africa Online

FREETOWN (Reuters) - The United Nations was pressured by the president of Sierra Leone to cut short the tour of its mission chief ahead of an election later this year, the envoy said in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday.

Nigeria's sect Boko Haram says killed 12 soldiers

02/14/2012

Thomson Reuters - Africa Online

MAIDUGURI/KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram said on Monday it killed 12 soldiers in an attack in the northeast town of Maiduguri but security forces denied any of its officers had been killed and said it shot dead sect members.

Pandemic Disaster Response Exercise Wraps up in Ghana

02/14/2012

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs

ELMINA, Ghana, Feb 14, 2012 -- Participants in Ghana's National Government Pandemic Disaster Response Tabletop Exercise summarized lessons learned, potential gaps in the current plan and made suggestions for improvement on February 10, 2012, the final day ...

Djiboutian, U.S. Partnership Adds to Djibouti's Largest Hospital

02/14/2012

CJTF-HOA Public Affairs

DJIBOUTI, Djibouti, Feb 14, 2012 -- U.S. service members transferred two anesthesia machines from Camp Lemonnier's Expeditionary Medical Facility to Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti, Djibouti, February 6, 2012.

United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs 02/14/2012

United Nations News Service

- UN genocide tribunal in Rwanda elects new officials - Madagascar: UNICEF prepares to help victims of deadly cyclone - Smuggling and trafficking of Somalis must stop, UN human rights expert says - UN partners to improve early warning system for African...

News Headline: War Comes to Mali: Al Qaeda Advances Under Covers of Tribal Conflict | News Date: 02/20/2012 Outlet Full Name: The Weekly Standard News Text: By Roger Kaplan February 20, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 22 With U.S. forces in Mali Mali Defense Forces abandoned the towns of Mnaka and Lr to Tuareg rebels over the weekend of February 45, following two weeks of back-and-forth assaults by both sides that underscored the gravity of the situation in this staunch U.S. ally in West Africa. Mnaka, in the northeast, Lr in the northwest, and Kidal in the far northeast demarcate the Malian portion of the vast triangle in the southwestern Sahara that the Tuareg call the Azawad, their traditional heartland. The stakes in the recent Tuareg offensive include the security, if not the actual possession, of the important Niger river town of Gao in the east and Timbuktu in the center-north. Gao, a major commercial port and population center, has not been reported to be under attack. But conflicting claims by both sides suggest Timbuktu or its suburbs have been the scene of heavy fighting in the past week. Government spokesmen concede the fall of Niafounk, the next major river town (and a county capital) south of Timbuktu. Niafounk is only 125 miles from Mopti, gateway to sub-Saharan Mali and center of a monthlong military

exercise jointly sponsored by the United States and Mali and involving elements from the U.S. Army and Air Force as well as several of Mali's neighbors. American specialists in security and counterterrorism, including Special Forces units, have been visiting Mali for several years as part of a long-term commitment to bolstering the Sahel countries' abilities to resist attacks by jihadists and assorted gangstersthey sometimes overlapwho use the Sahara as a sanctuary. The U.S. Army's Africa Command, which has been functional since the mid-2000s, trains African militaries in the humanitarian as well as security uses of the skills they are learning from our forces. In a complex environment that is political as well as military, and facing a situation in which refugees are leaving northern Mali for Niger and Mauritania, the Malians and their neighbors are likely to find a humanitarian capability is needed alongside better equipment, training, and motivation. Meanwhile in Mali's capital, Bamako, which lies on the river about 280 miles southwest of Timbuktu, President Amadou Toumani Tour met with political leaders over the weekend to inform them that his intention remains to step down on schedule in three months following the election of his successor, in conformity with the constitution's two-term limit. At the same time his spokesmen indicated that the government is open to negotiations with the rebels concerning their grievances but not their territorial demands. Tour, known as President ATT, remains extremely popular in the predominantly black-African-populated regions of central and southern Mali, and observers note that his refusal to use the emergency in the north to extend his term represents a regard for constitutional government unusual in this part of Africa. While ATT, in the hope of forestalling the Tuareg rebels from exploiting the political uncertainty in Bamako, is demanding a consensus on security issues among the governing and opposition parties, it has not escaped notice here that the rebels are also banking on the coincidence of presidential politics in the key countries involved in the northern Mali crisis. Mali's presidential contenders inevitably will be under stress to sharpen their positions if the crisis deepens and pressure mounts to develop a winning, or at least a clear, response to it. Already, there have been demonstrations in Bamako and elsewhere, led by members of military families, calling on the government either to supply the Mali Defense Forces (MDF) with adequate equipment, including munitions, or to pull the troops out of battleground areas. But Tuareg strategy is a factor in presidential politics elsewhere as well. The running issue in Senegal, the key neighbor to the west that provides Mali with an outlet to the sea for its exports, notably cotton, is whether President Abdoulaye Wade will be able to determine his succession or even stay in power beyond the time he had pledged to retire. France, regularly accused by Malians of covertly supporting the Tuareg cause as a way of destabilizing the Sahel countries and making them more susceptible to French influence, is in the midst of its own presidential campaign, in which Nicolas Sarkozy is, not entirely without reason, accused of plotting foreign policy surprises to serve his political ends. Algeria, the major regional power, is fixated on who will succeed its ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. And of course the United States is in the early stages of what promises to be a heated presidential contest in which clear thinking about foreign crises will not be a priority among politicians. Last week's fighting and MDF losses, confirmed by MDF spokesman Capt. Seydou Coulibalay, indicate that the reports concerning the collapse of the Mali-Tuareg peace signed in 1996 are only too accurate. A key question for American military analysts is the extent to which the Tuareg MNLA (National Liberation Movement of the Azawad), which is claiming credit for the offensive, is, at least tactically, working with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI). The Tuareg are not known for violent religious zealotry, but as a small people with true grievances, they are no strangers to the adage about the enemy of one's enemy. There is a consensus among observers here that Mali is suffering some of the unintended consequences of

NATO's splendid little war in support of Libya's anti-Qaddafi forces last year. They note that the renewal of irredentism among the Tuareg and the resort to arms of several of the new or newly reconstituted national liberation movements amongst this nomadic Berber people, culturally distinct from the Mand-related groups in Mali's south, followed directly on the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime. Tuareg serving in the Libyan armed forces, as well as auxiliaries who fought for the regime during the civil war, returned home, according to military analysts, with huge stocks of modern weaponry and a renewed appreciation of military power as an instrument of political change. AQMI benefited from the Libyan civil war to the degree it has involved itself in the new Libyan regime but also, perversely, to the degree it has found ways of convincing the Tuareg that they can be helpful in the ancient Saharan conflicts left unresolvedin some ways exacerbatedby the end of colonialism 50 years ago. Although there is no evidence AQMI fighters took part in last month's offensive in the north, an upsurge of their hit-and-run activities has been felt throughout the region. Malian officials insist they are dealing with bandits flying under the false flags of Islam and tribal-ethnic politics. Keen to protect the Malian model of democratic and economic liberalization in Africa, American diplomats and military officials find themselves dealing with a new front in the continuing clash of civilizations. Surely they are prepared for all the complexities thatone may hopethey have learned to expect. Roger Kaplan, a longtime contributor, is embedded with the 53rd Airlift Squadron, United States Air Force.
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News Headline: Panetta answers harsh criticism of defense budget in Senate | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Stars and Stripes - Washington D.C. Bureau News Text: By Chris Carroll WASHINGTON Accept a smaller but finely tuned Defense Department budget proposal essentially as constructed, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Congress on Tuesday. But members seemed unlikely to go along. Squaring congressionally mandated budget cuts with strategic aims had been difficult, Panetta said, but DOD officials are confident that next year's proposed $614 billion budget and planned spending reductions of $487 billion over a decade still allow for effective national defense. Among the concessions to a smaller budget, Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee, are fewer troops, smaller fleets of ships and aircraft, delayed or canceled procurements, and pay and benefits changes. This is a zero-sum game, he told the committee a day after the Pentagon released details of the proposed fiscal 2013 budget. There is no free money here. The need to balance competing strategic objectives is taking place in a resource-constrained environment. The prospect of the Obama administration's defense budget proposal moving unimpeded through Congress seemed close to nil on Tuesday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., attacked both the budget process and the motivation behind it. Instead of addressing waste and mismanagement in the Pentagon, he said, DOD leaders are cutting troops, planes and ships, all of which he deemed necessary, given continuing global threats and the recently announced strategic pivot toward the Asia-Pacific region. Respectfully, this doesn't add up, McCain said. Unfortunately, this defense budget continues the administration's habit of putting short-term political considerations over our long-term national security interests.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said that while Panetta was only carrying out his duties under the law in cutting the defense budget, the DOD is bearing the brunt of years of financial irresponsibility throughout the government. As I look at what you've had to do to meet the bottom line requirements of the Budget Control Act, it represents, in my opinion, unacceptable risk to our national security, he said. Panetta said DOD has a part to play in budget cutting, and Congress needs to take seriously the threat of uncontrolled spending. We have tried to step up to the plate and do our duty here, he said. In weighing how you address this issue, you've also got to take into consideration the national security threat that comes from the huge deficits and the huge debt that we're running. When asked, Panetta essentially threw the threat of sequestration and potential cuts of over $1 trillion if Congress doesn't find a way to further cut the budget back in legislators' laps. Panetta has said the current U.S. defense strategy can't be carried out under such a drastically reduced budget. Our approach was to not pay any attention to it, he said. If it's going to take place in January 2013 ... then it's going to take place under its mindless procedure. On the question of additional rounds of base closings, which DOD recommended Congress study in the budget, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the department should look to bases overseas before considering cuts within the United States. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., warned Panetta and Dempsey that Congress wouldn't go along with new rounds of base closings, which increase short-term costs and eliminate defense infrastructure that Inhofe says is still needed. This is supposed to be our No. 1 concern up here, defending the country, Inhofe said.
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News Headline: Panetta defends cuts to military in budget plan | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Associated Press (AP) News Text: WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the nation's top military leader are defending the Pentagon's slimmed-down, $614 billion budget, telling senators it's time to show they are serious about reducing the deficit. Panetta was telling the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the cuts have been carefully planned and there's little room for changes. He cautions that the reductions will hit all 50 states and will result in early retirement for thousands of service men and women. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey says the reductions will not lead to a military in decline, but rather will help the armed forces maintain their decisive edge and "help sustain America's global leadership." The two are testifying before a House panel the day after President Obama's budget was unveiled. They're joined there by the Pentagon's comptroller, Robert Hale. The defense officials can expect to meet resistance from lawmakers who have expressed reservations about gutting the department and eroding the country's national security. The proposed defense budget for the year beginning Oct. 1 includes $525.4 billion in base spending and another $88.5 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The total is nearly $32 billion less than this year's budget.

"It was this Congress that mandated, on a bipartisan basis, that we reduce the defense budget, and we need your partnership to do this in a manner that preserves the strongest military in the world," Panetta said in the written testimony, which was obtained by The Associated Press. "This will be a test of whether reducing the deficit is about talk or action." Defense officials have laid out plans to find about $260 billion in savings over the next five years, including moves to slash the size of the Army and Marine Corps, cut back on shipbuilding, and delay the purchase of some fighter jets and other weapons systems. The plan also slashes war spending. Money for Iraq and Afghanistan will drop from $115 billion this year to $88.5 billion, with less than $3 billion spent for security in Iraq. It also cuts in half the amount spent on training and equipping Afghanistan's security forces -- a key element to the U.S. effort to gradually withdraw forces and transfer security responsibility to the Afghans. While military personnel still would get a 1.7 percent pay raise, retirees would get hit with a series of increases in health care fees, co-pays and deductibles. The impact would be greater on those who are under 65 and are likely to have another job, as well as on those who make more money. Senators on Monday also complained that President Obama and his defense team have made no plans to deal with an additional $492 billion in across-the-board military cuts that will occur in January 2013 if Congress doesn't act to avoid them. Panetta said that since it is now apparent what the current cuts will do, he hopes that Congress will be convinced to avoid the additional 2013 reductions. Dempsey, in his written testimony, said that even though there are fewer than 90,000 troops deployed in combat, compared with more than 200,000 just two years ago, the military must spend money to reset and restore itself. War-torn equipment must be replaced, weapons need to be modernized and troops need to be retrained, he said. "We will have to do all of this in the context of a security environment that is different than the one we faced 10 years ago," Dempsey said. "We cannot simply return to the old way of doing things, and we cannot forget the lessons we have learned."
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News Headline: Sudan bombed disputed border town: S.Sudan military | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan accused its northern neighbour Sudan on Tuesday of bombing the disputed border town of Jau, killing four soldiers and breaking a non-aggression pact the two former civil war foes signed last week. Sudan denied the charges and said it was respecting the agreement. Relations between the two countries have plunged after talks failed to halt an oil export dispute, end violence in border areas and resolve other issues relating to the South's secession last year under a 2005 peace deal. The governments signed a non-aggression pact just two days before the reported bombing. The agreement, brokered by the African Union in Addis Ababa, aimed to defuse tensions over the row, which officials have warned could trigger a war. South Sudan's army spokesman Philip Aguer said a Sudanese Antonov cargo plane dropped several bombs on a military base in Jau, a town straddling the poorly defined border.

"I doubt the non-aggression pact means anything on the ground," Aguer told Reuters, adding four soldiers from the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army were killed in the bombing. Al-Sawarmi Khalid, Sudan's military spokesman, said the accusation was false. "We stress absolutely that the Sudanese armed forces did not bomb any area inside South Sudan, and that we are respecting the non-aggression agreement we recently signed," he said. "There is no reason for us to bomb the South, because we are not at war with the South." Juba and Khartoum routinely trade accusations of sponsoring insurgencies in each other's territory. In December, the two armies clashed in Jau, which is close to many of the South's oil fields and abuts Sudan's restive South Kordofan state.
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News Headline: Boko Haram: S/Korea to assist Nigeria on counter terrorism | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Vanguard News Text: By Kingsley Omonodi The republic of South Korea disclosed, Tuesday, that it was ready to share her experience in the handling of terrorism issues and challenges with Nigeria following increased Boko Haram attacks facing our nation. Making the disclosure when he visited the minister of defence, South Korean ambassador to Nigeria, Jong Hyun Choi whose country has been having territorial issues with North Korea, noted that his country have one of the best counter terrorism forces and program in place saying South Korea was willing to share such expertise with Nigeria to help her checkmate terrorist threats. Disclosing that his country will be hosting a summit on security and terrorism which is the second of its type and that president Jonathan has been invited to the summit, the ambassador expressed hope that Nigeria will present a report on the activities of the sect to the world leaders. Emphasizing his country's readiness to partner Nigeria fight terrorism, Jong Hyun Choi,said Korea is prepared to share its experience in counter terrorism with Nigeria and that the military attache to Nigeria will arrive Abuja next month to discuss modalities for exchange of military personnel for training. Korean defence chiefs will also visit Nigeria in June this year to strengthen defence ties.
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News Headline: Cyclone Giovanna strikes Madagascar | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Aljazeera News Text: A category four cyclone has struck Madagascar's eastern shores, killing at least one person and causing power shutdowns in some major towns, local authorities say. In the eastern port city of Tamatave, schools and offices were closed for a second day on Tuesday as heavy rains and powerful gusts struck the seaboard after Cyclone Giovanna hit the island. "One person died in Brickaville after an electricity pole fell on her," Alain Mahavimbina, the top official in the capital Antsinanana, told the Reuters news agency. The eye of the storm made landfall south of Tamatave.

"Tamatave is like a ghost town," Joel Milamaro, a resident told the Reuters news agency. "The roads are deserted." In Antananarivo, the authorities cut off power and ordered drivers to stay off the roads and businesses to shut their doors as torrential rains persisted into Tuesday. John Yoon-Yak Davis, the country director of the aid organization Care International, said preliminary assessments showed 60 per cent of homes were partially or completely damaged in some districts. Wood homes have lost roofs, more traditional structures made of palm leaves and bamboos have been completely destroyed. There is going to be great need in terms of reestablishing infrastructure and food supply for the population." Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist, Steff Gaulter, says Giovanna has a well-defined eye, indicating that it is a very big storm. 'Imminent danger' A special weather bulletin in the morning gave warning of "imminent danger". Data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center showed sustained winds of around 231km per hour driving the category four cyclone into Madagascar. Twitter, the micro-blogging site, was also abuzz with reports from the island, with one user saying that heavy winds were "damaging structures and everything" in its wake. Madagascar is prone to cyclones and tropical storms, especially in the rainy season from February to May. In 2008, Cyclone Ivan hit Madagascar, killing more than 80 people and leaving over 200,000 homeless. The US space agency NASA's website said the cyclone was expected to weaken as it moved across the world's fourth largest island, where foreign firms are mining nickel and ilmenite and exploring for oil. "It is expected to move into Mozambique Channel and may re-intensify," NASA said. Another Twitter user tweeted at 2:16pm local time that Cyclone Giovanna was expected hit Maputo in 48 hours. Madagascans have set up a citizen reporting platform to map the various areas of need.
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News Headline: Will President Wade push Senegal toward an uprising? | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Christian Science Monitor - Online News Text: By Brendan Harrison, Guest blogger As Senegal prepares for a pivotal presidential election on Feb. 26, some citizens and outside observers are weighing the possibility of a popular uprising akin to last year's Arab Spring revolts, with large numbers of Senegalese taking to the streets in defense of their political rights. Another, even more troubling scenario would entail a violent postelection standoff between the entrenched incumbent and forces loyal to his would-be successor, as occurred a year ago in Cte d'Ivoire. The fact that such outcomes are even being discussed illustrates how far Senegal has fallen under the stewardship of President Abdoulaye Wade, who is seeking a third term in office.

Senegal is one of the few African countries that has never experienced a coup d'tat, and it is often considered among the great postcolonial success stories with respect to its record of civilian rule. In Freedom House's Freedom in the World report, Senegal has been rated at least "partly free" since the mid-1970s, and even climbed into the "free" category during Wade's first presidential term. Wade was quite popular at home and abroad when he first came to power. He had forged his reputation as an opposition leader during the two-decade presidency of Abdou Diouf, and faced arrest in the violent aftermath of the 1988 elections, which the opposition had denounced as fraudulent. His rise to the presidency as the candidate of the Democratic Party in 2000 marked a significant milestone for the country, which had known only two presidents since independence in 1960, both from the Socialist Party. However, political tensions increased during Wade's second term, which began in a climate of doubt surrounding the legitimacy of his 2007 reelection. Since that year's poll, the government has amended the constitution more than a dozen times, and the public has grown resentful of the 85-year-old Wade's apparent attempts to ensure that his son Karim eventually succeeds him as president. Political sources of popular frustration have been compounded by high unemployment rates, continual power outages, and the flagrant misuse of public funds. Some 48 percent of Senegalese are unemployed, and 54 percent live below the poverty line, even as energy and housing costs are on the rise. Electricity shortfalls have already triggered civil unrest. In June 2011, power was cut to homes in Dakar for nearly 30 hours, leading demonstrators to attack the headquarters of the national power company. Security forces responded with a harsh crackdown. In an egregious example of wasteful spending, the government recently erected an enormous, North Koreanmade statue called the Monument of African Renaissance at a cost of $27 million, and Wade has said he is entitled to 35 percent of any revenue generated by visits to the site. It is in this atmosphere of political and economic disrepair that Wade has decided to run for a third term, a step many view as unconstitutional. The Constitutional Council, siding with the president, reasons that because the twoterm limit was imposed in 2001, it does not apply retroactively to Wade's first term. At one point in the summer of 2011, the administration also attempted to lower the vote threshold for a first-round victory from 50 percent to 25 percent, in a bid to avoid runoff elections. The move set off violent opposition protests. More recently, on Dec. 22, opposition Socialist Party youth leader Barthelemy Dias allegedly shot and killed a man during a confrontation with Wade supporters in Dakar. Since then, clashes between protesters and police have become increasingly violent, spreading throughout the country and touching the lives of ordinary citizens. On Jan. 30 in Podor, a quiet town some 300 miles north of Dakar, two civilians were killed when police fired live rounds at protesters. Growing antigovernment sentiment has fueled the formation of several new opposition movements with mass appeal. Foremost among these are Y'en a marre, or enough is enough, and the June 23 Movement (M23). The latter is a coalition of 60 opposition and civil society groups, while Y'en a marre is led by socially engaged hip-hop musicians from the group Keurgui, who strike a chord with younger Senegalese. However, this popular mobilization has not resulted in a strong and unified opposition. The well-known singer Youssou N'Dour hoped to challenge Wade in this month's election, but the Constitutional Council rejected his candidacy on the grounds that he lacked enough valid signatures. A total of 14 candidates remain, and none appears likely to pose a serious threat to Wade in the first round. Many Senegalese feel that Wade has taken everything and they have nothing left to lose. If the incumbent is seen as having stolen the election, the country's long record of peaceful transfers of power could come to an end. France, the United States, and the United Nations have begun to take notice of the deteriorating situation, but Foreign Minister Madicke Niang recently rebuffed external criticism of Wade's bid for a third term, saying, Senegal has nothing to learn from anybody concerning democracy. The international community will clearly need to show unity and determination in insisting that the upcoming vote be conducted fairly, transparently, and peacefully; that the police refrain from using excessive force against protesters both before and after the election; and that any postelection complaints be adjudicated impartially, in accordance with the rule of law and democratic norms. There are only two weeks left before the balloting, but it is not too late to shore up Senegal's wavering democracy. A version of this post appeared on the blog "Freedom at Issue." The views expressed are the author's own.

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News Headline: Sierra Leone president forced out UN envoy | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters - Africa - Online News Text: By Simon Akam FREETOWN (Reuters) - The United Nations was pressured by the president of Sierra Leone to cut short the tour of its mission chief ahead of an election later this year, the envoy said in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. Michael von der Schulenburg, who had been expected to stay until next year but has just left, told his headquarters in a December 22 letter that the United Nations' credibility and success story in the West African state risked being undermined if it caved in to "unreasonable and unjustified pressures". A spokesman for the United Nations would not comment on the letter while a spokesman for President Ernest Bai Koroma denied he had ever called for the United Nations to withdraw the mission chief. The election, slated for November, will be a test of what the United Nations has touted as a success story for a reconstruction effort following 11 years of war that ended in 2002. The removal of the outspoken Schulenburg risks disrupting international oversight of the vote as his replacement will have little time to become established in the local political scene. "There can be little doubt, that the decision by the President to force my early departure will be seen - rightly or wrongly - by virtually every Sierra Leonean as an effort to remove a potential obstacle to his re-election and as opening the door to manipulating the election outcome in his favor," Schulenburg wrote in the letter. "I also feel that we should engage the President directly over his sudden flair of hostility towards me before giving in to his request for my departure," he added in the letter to Lynn Pascoe, U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs. Schulenburg was expected to run the U.N.'s Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone until after November's elections, but left this month. Several diplomats contacted by Reuters said he had been withdrawn as a result of pressure from the president. The United Nations has not given any reason for Schulenburg's early departure. In New York on Monday, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said: "I can't comment on leaked internal communications." When asked if Koroma had called for the U.N. envoy's departure, Unisa Sesay, the president's spokesman, said: "As far as I know, that did not happen." Sierra Leone's civil war lasted 11 years and left some 50,000 dead. It finally came to an end in 2002, after a British military intervention stiffened a floundering U.N. peacekeeping mission. U.N. troops withdrew from Sierra Leone in 2005 but the body retains a 200-head mission with a mandate to help ensure the forthcoming election is peaceful and credible. In the letter, Schulenburg warned that the United Nations risked losing the opportunity to claim Sierra Leone as "our success story". "Many Sierra Leoneans (as indeed many among the international community) may see the U.N. as readily caving in to unreasonable and unjustified pressures without making even the slightest attempt to protect the position as the Secretary-General's representative in this country," he said.

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News Headline: Nigeria's sect Boko Haram says killed 12 soldiers | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters - Africa - Online News Text: By Ibrahim Mshelizza and Garba Mohammed MAIDUGURI/KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram said on Monday it killed 12 soldiers in an attack in the northeast town of Maiduguri but security forces denied any of its officers had been killed and said it shot dead sect members. Boko Haram, which wants Islamic law more widely applied, has killed more than 250 people this year in bomb and gun attacks on cities across the north of Africa's most populous nation. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner, has been criticised for not getting to grips with the sect, whose attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and deadly. Nigeria's population of over 160 million people is split roughly equally between a Muslim north and a Christian south. Although the majority of the strikes are in the sect's home region in the far northeast, where Nigeria borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the group is increasingly striking in other northern cities. Security experts and Jonathan have said Boko Haram has ties with jihadist groups outside Nigeria, including al Qaeda's north African wing. Problems of poverty, which is more severe in the north than the south, and government corruption feed the unrest. "Yesterday (Sunday) we carried out an attack on military formations at Baga town on the shores of Lake Chad as well as on the JTF in the selected areas of Maiduguri where we killed 12 soldiers and many civilians," Abu Qaqa, Boko Haram spokesman, told reporters by phone in Maiduguri. The joint task force (JTF) in charge of tackling the unrest in the northeast, where Boko Haram first emerged in 2003, dismissed the allegation and said it had achieved a victory. "Yesterday soldiers of the JTF were attacked in Budum ward of Maiduguri by Boko Haram sect members. In the exchange of fire following the attack 12 sect members were killed while two members of the JTF sustained injuries." ARRESTS Nigeria's state security service (SSS) last week recaptured the main suspect in a deadly Christmas Day bomb attack outside the capital Abuja which killed 37 people. He had escaped from police custody in January in suspicious circumstances, prompting Jonathan to sack the chief of police and his deputies. The SSS also said they arrested Abu Qaqa on February 1 but the sect said the security forces had captured a different senior member of the sect called Abu Darda. Reporters in Maiduguri have said Abu Qaqa is still speaking on behalf of the sect, while the SSS have declined to comment again on who is in custody. "I wish to state that arresting our leaders will not deter us in anyway but rather it emboldens us to be more vicious in our operations," Qaqa said on Monday. In the northern city of Kaduna, security forces wounded the director of finance for the state government after he forced his car into Government House.

Reuben Buhari, spokesman for the governor, said earlier on Monday that the car was loaded with explosives and the government worker was shot because he was suspected of being a suicide bomber. The police said investigations were ongoing but made no mention of a bomb. "The driver drove dangerously in a suspicious manner towards the Government House gate. The security personnel stopped the lone occupant, but instead of stopping, he forced himself through the exit gate and found his way into the Government House," Ballah Magaji Nasarrawa, Kaduna police commissioner, said in a statement. "The security agencies thereafter, opened fire and shot the suspect on the leg and lower abdominal part of his body." Jonathan has said Boko Haram has infiltrated parts of government and security forces. Boko Haram's attacks in northern Nigeria have rapidly overtaken sabotage strikes on oil pipelines and kidnappings by militants hundreds of kilometres away in the southern Niger Delta as the country's biggest security threat. Although an amnesty in 2009 significantly reduced violence in the southern oil region, there is still regular unrest. Pirates shot dead the captain and the chief engineer on a cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria on Monday, an International Maritime Bureau (IMB) official said, the latest in a string of attacks on vessels off the coast of Africa's No. 1 oil producer.
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News Headline: Pandemic Disaster Response Exercise Wraps up in Ghana | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs News Text: By Petty Officer First Class Steve Owsley ELMINA, Ghana, Feb 14, 2012 Participants in Ghana's National Government Pandemic Disaster Response Tabletop Exercise summarized lessons learned, potential gaps in the current plan and made suggestions for improvement on February 10, 2012, the final day of the exercise. Approximately 120 civilian and military representatives from five African nations, the United States and international aid organizations participated in the exercise which was hosted by the government of Ghana, organized by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), supported by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM) and funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The exercise assisted the Ghanaian government in assessing its pandemic influenza preparedness and identifying and validating how the Ghanaian Armed Forces might assist in Ghana's National Pandemic Disaster Response Plan. The participants were divided into five groups (operations, health, security, communications and logistics) to address key issues and events related to a worse-case pandemic emergency. Exercise facilitators stressed civilian-military cooperation, as well as regional cooperation, as crucial aspects of an effective response plan. At the exercise's conclusion, each group did an after-action review, discussing exercise outcomes, lessons learned and gaps identified during the week. Participants were asked to identify three areas that should be sustained and three areas that needed improvement. Each group briefed facilitators on their aspects of the plan. During the closing ceremony U.S. Navy Commander Carlos Williams, MD, MPH Director, Education and Civil Military Medicine Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM), began his speech by thanking the Ghanaian government, "Your hospitality and the effort that you made to ensure the success of your

workshop and tabletop exercise was amazing." The week-long exercise dealt with a simulated pandemic outbreak of influenza designed to stress test the Ghanaian government's pandemic response plan. "I believe that every person leaves here today with a better understanding of the complex issues involved in responding to a pandemic disaster," said Williams, "Ghana will be better prepared for any disaster in the future because of the hard work you have done this week." Williams praised the participant's efforts throughout the week, but urged them to stay engaged after leaving Elmina. "The Tabletop exercise is over, but the work of preparing is not," said Williams. "Take what you have learned this week, go forward and continue preparing your country for disaster. One thing we can expect is that disasters will happen; if not a pandemic, then a flood, oil refinery explosion, or other event that can lead to great human suffering." Throughout the exercise several presenters reinforced the point that planning and tactics used to fight a pandemic outbreak of influenza can also be used to combat the effects of other disasters. Ebenezer Kofi Portuphy, National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) said, "60-70 percent [transfers] because it is response to emergencies, you have the same model and the same challenges." Communication and unity and teamwork were stressed throughout the exercise. Ghanaian Armed Forces Brigadier General Dan Mitsio praised the U.S. Government's understanding of Ghana's willingness to learn. Mitsio addressed the participants and facilitators when he said "I commend all of you for the way you buried yourself into the experience. I wish that back home we will continue to communicate and hold each others' hands." Ghana's Central Region Minister Ama Benjiwa-Doe officially closed the exercise with her speech praising the participants and emphasizing her increased confidence in Ghana's Pandemic Disaster Response Plan. "I believe the exercise will advance our plan. I dare say we will subdue any pandemic outbreak or any other emergency." Benjiwa-Doe reaffirmed Ghana's commitment to continued pandemic disaster preparedness. "I realize we need more trainingmore investment in prevention of disasters. I assure you, this (exercise) will not go to waste. Ghana will continue to build our country's resilience to disaster." Benjiwa-Doe praised AFRICOM, other U.S. based agencies, and international agencies and then officially declared Ghana's National Government Pandemic Disaster Response Tabletop Exercise closed. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed the overall concept for the tabletop exercise scenario, which ran from February 7-10. This tabletop exercise is part of a series of engagements organized and facilitated by U.S. AFRICOM through its Pandemic Response Program (PRP) to assist African militaries improve their capacity to support the response of their civil government to a pandemic influenza outbreak or similar disaster. PRP is funded by USAID as part of its umbrella program Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Initiative. Implemented by the U.S. military, PRP is structured like a traditional USAID project with a focus on long-term sustainable results and focuses on the whole of government approach. PRP's objectives are to train senior and mid-level military leaders, government agencies and international aide organizations in cooperative disaster management and humanitarian assistance situations, with a particular focus on pandemic preparedness; while ensuring military, government agencies and aide organizations in participating "pandemic preparedness" nations have developed detailed plans of action directly supporting national plans; and

to conduct exercises to test the implementation of these plans and identify deficiencies.
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News Headline: Djiboutian, U.S. Partnership Adds to Djibouti's Largest Hospital | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: CJTF-HOA Public Affairs News Text: By U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Caya DJIBOUTI, Djibouti, Feb 14, 2012 U.S. service members transferred two anesthesia machines from Camp Lemonnier's Expeditionary Medical Facility to Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti, Djibouti, February 6, 2012. The EMF upgraded their anesthesia capabilities, leaving the two machines as excess equipment. The excess machines were delivered to enhance Djiboutian medical care. "It feels very nice to have the machines from Camp Lemonnier," said Dr. Elias Said, Peltier General Hospital medical director. "Work can be done better and easier with them. They are smaller than the previous ones we have and can be easily (moved) from one room to another." "The hospital treats more than 2,000 emergency cases a year in five operating rooms; three which have the outdated machines," Said stated. "Children will benefit from the equipment as the machines can be used in pediatric cases, unlike the older equipment," he added. The outdated anesthesia machines can be unsafe for patients, U.S. Navy Lieutenant (Doctor) Heather Yurka said. She said the newly-acquired machines are also more modern and increase patient safety during surgery. Peltier General Hospital is a training hospital for the region, said Mark Mitchell, U.S. Agency for International Development Djibouti program officer. "Many doctors will be able to use these machines and train on them." Djiboutian citizens aren't the only ones who work and train at Peltier General. Djiboutian and American medical staffs often exchange medical professional knowledge there. Because of a 2008 cooperative agreement between Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and Peltier General Hospital, Camp Lemonnier Expeditionary Medical Facility personnel enjoy a working relationship with the hospital. Yurka stated that, under the agreement, she and EMF personnel exchange best practices with the hospital staff several times a week. "We give surgical care to the individuals here," Yurka said. "EMF personnel use this equipment here and train with the anesthesia techs and anesthesiologists on how to use and maintain the equipment. (The training) enables us to practice (medicine) the way we would in the United States."
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News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 02/14/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nations News Service News Text: UN genocide tribunal in Rwanda elects new officials 14 February The United Nations tribunal dealing with the worst war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda announced today that it has elected a new President and Vice-President. Madagascar: UNICEF prepares to help victims of deadly cyclone

14 February The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said today that it has pre-positioned enough emergency supplies to assist 100,000 people in Madagascar, where a tropical cyclone has made landfall, bringing torrential rains and intense winds. Smuggling and trafficking of Somalis must stop, UN human rights expert says 14 February The smuggling and trafficking in innocent Somalis must end, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today, expressing deep shock over the recent boat disaster in the Gulf of Aden that resulted in the death of 11 people, while another 34 are still missing. UN partners to improve early warning system for African communities 14 February A new partnership involving the United Nations will ensure the rapid dissemination of weather updates from African meteorological experts to disaster managers in vulnerable communities. UN working with Mali's neighbours to relocate refugees from border areas 14 February The United Nations said today it is working with Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania to relocate refugees fleeing renewed fighting in Mali to safer locations away from the border areas, as thousands continue to arrive on a daily basis.
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